[Update 12 Sep 2024] The Gardevoir ex deck’s reign at the top ended up being short-lived to say the least. At the World Championships, just one player—Luo Tian Qing from China, who finished 12th—made the top 30 with this deck. One key reason why the Gardevoir ex deck has fallen off to sharply and rapidly is how long it takes to be fully set up. Being a deck built around a Stage 2 card, the Gardevoir ex deck isn’t as fast a deck as many of the other leading metagame decks right now.

As if that weren’t enough, the Gardevoir ex deck is hard-countered by the current Best Deck in Format (BDIF)—the Regidrago VSTAR deck—for exactly that reason. By the time the Gardevoir ex deck is fully set up, the Regidrago VSTAR deck is often way too far ahead for a comeback to be viable. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ve seen the last of the Gardevoir ex deck as a serious threat to go deep in tournaments.

[Update 10 Jun 2024] Saying that the “Munkidori build [made] inroads in the international meta as well” turned out to be an understatement—that quote certainly aged well. This is because at the Pokémon North America International Championships (NAIC), the Gardevoir ex deck’s new Munkidori build utterly dominated the tournament.

A remarkable eight of the top 12 players including every player who finished between second and seventh place used the new variant of this deck at the last major tournament before the World Championships in Honolulu, to be held in August. Though it’s too soon to definitively say it, Munkidori’s introduction might just have catapulted this deck to the coveted status of Best Deck in Format (BDIF).

[Update 5 Jun 2024] Following the release of Mask of Change [SV6], many players across Japan began using a variant of this deck that makes use of the set’s Munkidori card. That build has already seen considerable success: Ryusho Sasamura placed second with it at Champions League Sapporo and more recently, Shinji Mori took that deck variant to eighth place at the Japan Championships.

Once Twilight Masquerade [TWM] has been out for longer following its recent international release on 24 May, expect the Munkidori build to make inroads in the international meta as well.

It may seem counter-intuitive to run a Pokémon TCG deck with multiple “glass cannons”. However, this Gardevoir ex deck uses this concept of frail but hard-hitting Pokémon to tremendous effect. When paired with this deck’s signature Pokémon and its Ability, this deck can do a lot more than what one might initially assume.

The Gardevoir ex card from Shiny Treasure ex [SV4a] is as useful for setup as it is for attack. Its Psychic Embrace Ability attaches a Psychic Energy card from the discard pile to one of the player’s Psychic-type Pokémon. The Pokémon receiving the Energy card then has two damage counters placed on it. While this may seem to be a negative effect, it makes perfect sense when considering what other Pokémon are in this deck.

To get the most out of Psychic Embrace, use it to power up Scream Tail from Ancient Roar [SV4K] and Drifloon from Scarlet ex [SV1S]. Both Pokémon have attacks that increase in power as damage accumulates. Thus, although they have low maximum HP totals, they can do a great deal of damage via Psychic Embrace before they succumb—likely sooner rather than later. It’s also why Drifloon remains unevolved in this deck; no Drifblim card has an attack that powers up with more damage sustained.

Once Scream Tail and Drifloon have gone down, Gardevoir ex should be well-placed to finish opponents off. Dealing 190 damage for three Energy cards, Miracle Force will often serve as this deck’s final blow. However, in the event that the opponent is using a Pokémon VMAX, Zacian V from the VSTAR Special Set [SP6] and its Behemoth Blade is just the thing to clinch the W.

The latest prices show that the total cost of all the cards in a Gardevoir ex deck is at least ¥6,000 (~US$40).

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