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With Scarlet & Violet, thePokemon TCGmeta changed and brought a lot of new decks. As always, there are different decks aimed at different playstyles; you can find pretty offensive decks, others that focus on chipping the opponent’s deck, and others whose main focus is to stall and hit hard only when they can do it.
But there’s a deck that shines above the rest because it has a unique system for winning matches, and it is Gardevoir ex. This deck is very special because it focuses more on blocking the opponent’s moves and tactics than attacking, giving you enough time to set them up when it’s time to attack.
Updated July 11, 2025, by Jesús Cruz:As the Paradox Rift expansion got released, and it had more than enough time to settle in, almost every deck of the meta suffered a lot of changes. This expansion introduced the Future and Ancient Pokemon system, which works like what we saw with Fusion and Rapid Strike: these cards have special synergies and work wonders if appropriately combined.
Thanks to this new system, we got Scream Tail, which looks almost blatantly designed to fit into a Gardevoir ex deck, as it deals damage depending on how much damage it has received before attacking. That’s not all, as there are cards like Jirachi and Professor Sada’s Vitality; these are cards that enhance this deck and take it to the next level.
Gardevoir ex SVI (x2)
Reversal Energy PAL (x2)
Gardevoir Ex Deck Key Cards
Here’s a breakdown of all the important cards in this deck:
Ralts, Kirlia, And Gardevoir Ex
Raltsis an important member of this deck, not only because it evolves into Gardevoir but also becauseSilver Tempest’s Ralts (SIT)has an attack namedMemory Skip.It dealsten damageandlets you block an attack of your opponent.It has a lot of usages, mainly when you are losing the match, as itgives you the chance to build a Gardevoir more easily.
On the other hand,Kirlia will work as your deck’s engine.This is thanks to its ability,Refinement, which lets you draw two cards only if you discard a card first.
The Battle VIP Pass cards will be excellent to discard with Kirlia’s Refinement, asthey are useless after turn one.
Lastly, the protagonist of the deck, Gardevoir.You have two different Gardevoir cards, but both work like a charm on the deck.
First up isShining Arcana Gardevoir, which willlet you look at the top two cardsof your deck,and if youfind an Energy card, you canattach it to any of your Pokemon.The idea is to attach the Energy cards you find to this card, as it has an attack namedBrainwave, which will deal 60 damage plus 30 per Energy card attached to it.
And then,Gardevoir ex.This fantastic cardhasan ability named Psychic Embrace.With it, you canattach as many basic Psychic Energy cards you find in your discard pileas you wish in any way you like to your Pokemon. However, be careful; if you do, you’ll also have to attach two damage counters to it.
While Gardevoir Ex can attack via Miracle Force, you won’t use this attack during matches.
Scream Tail
Scream Tailis a great attackeryou can use if Shining Arcana Gardevoir doesn’t show up during your matchesoryou need to attack your opponent’s bench.This can all be done viaRoaring Scream.
Roaring Screamdeals 20 damage for each damage counter(which means ten damage)on Scream Tail.Gardevoir Ex’sPsychic Embrace deals 20 damagefor each time you attach an Energy Card to Scream Tail, so that’s how you can accumulate damage on Scream Tail easily.
Scream Tail has 90 HP but can go up to 190 HP with theToughness Cape.If you are attacking with Scream Tail and you find it, don’t hesitate to attach it to it.
You can change the Toughness Cape for theAncient Booster Energy Capsulein case you don’t want to take many risks.
Radiant Greninja
To use Gardevoir ex’s Psychic Embrace, you must have someEnergy Cards in the discard pile.To put your cards there, you’ll have to useRadiant Greninja.Radiant Greninja has an ability namedConcealed Cards.It’ll let youdraw two cardsfrom your deck, but only if youdiscard an Energy Cardfrom your hand.
If you don’t find Energy cards to send to the discard pile, you may always useFog Crystal, which lets youdraw a Psychic Energy cardand a Psychic-type Pokemon card from your deck to your hand.
Mew
PlayingMewon thefirst turnisa great idea, as it has an ability named Mysterious Tail, which lets you look at the top six cards of your deck andtake an object from it.Ideally, you’d attempt to pull a Battle VIP Pass from there, as it can give you a significant advantage from turn one.
It’s not strictly necessary to do this, sodon’t worryif you don’t find Mewor the Battle VIP Pass on your first turn. You have alternatives like theLevel Ball and the Ultra Ball.
Iono
Ionois an excellent card for whenyou are behind in a match, as it has a great effect. Upon using it, both players have to send their hands to the bottom of the deck. Then,bothcandraw a card for each Prize Card left to claim.
For example, if your opponent is ahead of you and only has a couple of Prize Cards left to claim, while you have six, you may draw six cards while your opponent will draw two. This completelystalls your opponent’s strategy, leaving them without many options to continue.
Professor Turo’s Scenario
Professor Turo’s Scenariomakes it to this deck because Gardevoir Ex needs to damage the rest of your Pokemon cards to make its ability work. Using this card isthe quickest way to get them out of danger.With Professor Turo’s Scenario, you canretrieve one of your Pokemon in play to your hand, regardless of whether that Pokemon is on the bench or in the Active Spot.
Sending a Pokemon to your hand from the bench or the Active Spotwill instantly heal it.It will also give you all the attached items and Energy Cards.
Gardevoir Ex Deck Strategy
To hit the ground running, you’ll have to start your match bytrying to pull out cards like Battle VIP Pass or Level Ball, which lets you draw any Pokemon with less than 90 HP from your deck to your hand. They let youdraw Pokemon like Ralts, Mew, and Manaphyeasily. After that, you’re able to always draw the rest of the Pokemon you need with an Ultra Ball.
Your aim in the first few turnsis topull out Memory Skip Ralts and Kirliafrom the deck and put them into play. After that, you must find more Ralts and Kirlia cards through Level Balls to bulk your bench. Lastly, you’ll need either Boss Orders or Iono.
If you find complications trying to pull out any Pokemon you need,you can use Artazon, which willlet you search for a Basic Pokemon without a Rule Box on your deck to put it on your bench.
Now that you have Memory Skip Ralts,be aware of how quickly your opponent is building their strategy,and when they are ready to attack, you can use Boss Orders tobring your opponent’s attacking Pokemon(you know the drill; Lugia VSTAR, Giratina VSTAR, etc.)to the Active spotand thenput Memory Skip Ralts, use Memory Skip, and block it.
Also, be aware thatyou’ll have to discard Energy cards whenever you may; that’s how you’ll trigger Gardevoir ex’s Psychic Embrace and supply the rest of the Gardevoir cards and Scream Tail (if you’ll use it) with Energy.
With this,you’ll force your opponent to either switch(which will make them waste their Energy cards)or hang on the fieldwhile preparing for an extra attacker. You’ll have enough time to catch a Scream Tail or Gardevoir to attack.
you’re able to quickly set Gardevoir up by picking one of your Ralts from the bench and using a Rare Candy.Rare Candy lets you evolve Ralts directly to Gardevoironly if you have a Gardevoir in your hand. Of course, this card has a drawback, as you can’t use it on your first turn or on any Pokemon you just pulled from your deck in the same turn you want to use it.
Gardevoir Ex Common Threats
There are many cards thatcan disable Gardevoir’s strategy.Here’s a list of the most common ones:
Lost Box
This deck is very susceptible against Lost Box enginesas it doesn’t have a proper way to deal damage to the Comfeys that set the engine while Cramorant protects them. That’s whyyou’ll have to give some use to Scream Tail and Boss’s Orders.
The strategy is to try topull a Scream Tailand startsuiting it via Gardevoir Ex.Set as many Energy Cards as you may to Scream Tail to accumulate a lot of damage. Then, you cango ahead and attack the Comfeys on the bench.
If you don’t have a Scream Tail on your deck, they’ll be on your Prize Cards. If that happens, try to find and use a Hisuian Heavy Ball, which lets you replace the Scream Tail in the Prize Cards for itself.
Alternatively, you can neglect your opponent the chance to have a wide bench full of Comfeys throughCollapsed Stadium. With this card,each player cannot have more than four cards on their bench.
Stadiums In Play
There will be moments when you won’t have any Stadium to play, and your opponent has a very annoyingPath to the Peakon the field. Path to the Peakis a problem because it won’t let any of your Gardevoir cards use their abilities.
To get rid of it, you must use your own stadium.Artazon and Collapsed Stadiumare your weapons to deal with this one.
