Gallade and Gardevoir TCG Deck

UPDATE: Here's a link to an updated Gallade and Gardevoir Deck. Click Here

The Pokémon TCG Diamond and Pearl: Secret Wonders set offers new cards with awesome synergy and attacks to play with. And as a player, one will surely look for the best card the set should offer first, the Pokémon Lv. X. This set includes two Pokémon Lv. X, Gardevoir and Honchkrow. Being a Lv. X, we will take its evolution line as basis and from that I would pick Gardy than Honchy.

Gardevoir's evolution line is consist of 4: Ralts as the Basic, Kirlia as the Stage 1 and Gardevoir and Gallade as the Stage two. Gallade is the new addition in the Family and unlike his pre-evolved form he is not Psychic but Fighting. This is good news because Dark types will be popular when the next set arrives (because of Darkrai Lv. X from DP:GE).

I included 4 SW Ralts because its the one with the highest HP but you can use the DF-60 version for added attack (especially when Blissey is popular to your area), Kirlia SW to reuse Supporter Card for setup. I also added 2 versions of Gardevoir, the PK version for massive attack (anti-Blissey) and the SW version for supporting. Gallade is there for added offense and to help the Lv. X's attack.

Now, we need a decent secondary attacker with the finest sync with our primary attacker. The best choices are from the Psychic or Fighting types. Since Gardy Lv. X needs the opponent's Pokémon to have lowest HP, a high HP spreader may be paired to it. I choose Lucario for the job. It's ideal to run a 2-2 Lucario because Riolu has 60 HP and a potential starter K.O., the fact that most of the starters are mainly Colorless and weak to Fighting. Lucario can also attack while attacking with a decent amount. Having all of this Pokémon we need to setup fast and we need a starter Pokémon to fetch Supporters early. Stantler is there for this job.

The Trainers and Supporters must give additional setup and draw power to setup Gardevoir SW fast. Four Celio's Network or Bebe's Search is a must for Pokémon search. I also included Roseanne's Research or Holon Mentor for faster Basics, drawer like Prof. Oak's Visit and TG's Mars. I added TG's Wager to refresh the hand cards, in case you lose, then use Gardevoir's Telepass to use the opponent's drawers in his/her discard pile. Other Trainers are deck necessities like Night Maintenance and Warp Point. I added Rare Candy and Windstorms for faster setup and to get rid of nasty Cessation Crystals.

Energies are the basics with the mix of Multi and DRE.

Here's my own decklist:

Title: Gallade/Gardevoir Lv. X Deck
Author: Angelo de Villa

Pokémon (20):

1x Gardevoir Lv. X SW-131
1x Gardevoir PK-9
2x Gardevoir SW-7
2x Gallade SW-6
3x Kirlia SW-53
4x Ralts SW-102 or DF-60
2x Lucario DP-6
2x Riolu DP-61
3x Stantler SW-113

Trainers/Supporters (24):

4x Celio's Network or Bebe's Search
2x Roseanne's Research or Holon Mentor/Mr. Stone's Project
3x Team Galactic's Wager
2x Team Galactic's Mars
3x Professor Oak's Visit

3x Rare Candy
3x Night Maintenance
2x Windstorm
2x Warp Point

Energies (16):

6x Psychic Energy
4x Fighting Energy
4x Multi Energy
2x Double Rainbow Energy

Another version of this deck subtracts 1 Stantler to give way for 1 Lucario Lv. X.

Until next time!

Gardevoir Lv.X, Bring that Pokémon Down!

Special Thanks to PokéGym for the Images

The third Diamond and Pearl set, Secret Wonders, houses a lot of powerful Pokémon. One of these is Gardevoir Lv. X. Being a Level Up Pokémon we must also take into consideration its previous level and whole evolution line.

There are currently 4 Ralts in the format, 1 being a δ delta species, 2 of which are standard 50 HP Basics and 1 DP SW with 60 HP. I do prefer the DF-60 Ralts with Psychic Boom, for it can KO Blissey fast.

When talking about Kirlia, the best one is the new SW version that allows you to reuse your Supporter cards from your Discard Pile. This is really game breaking for some instance that your Supporters are all used up.

Now let's take a look on Gardevoir. Its PokéPower is genius! The ability to use your opponent own Supporter Card in his or her discard pile is superb! Its attavk, Psychic Lock is also good to restrict your opponent's PokéPowers.

Gardevoir Lv. X gives worry free switching with its PokéPower, Teleportation. Its attack, Bring Down, is awesome for bench attacking decks, just be sure to use it wisely or else you'll end up being KOed yourself.

This cards are really powerful. I have a weird feeling that we'll be seeing this lineup a lot this season.

Get Amp'd With Ampharos!

Special Thanks to PokéBeach for the image.

Ampharos (SW-1/132) is a great addition to the Bench attacking Pokémon Family in TCG! It has a solid 130 HP, a understandable +30 weakness to Fighting, a nice -20 resistance to Metal and quite massive 3 retreat cost.

Its Primary function is its PokéBody Jamming.

PokéBody: Jamming
After your opponent plays a Supporter Card from his or her hand, put 1 damage counter on each of your opponent's Pokémon. You can't use more than 1 Jamming PokéBody each turn.

Having Amphy in the Bench may restrict the opponent in using Supporter cards or he or she may face the consequence of putting 1 damage counter on all of his or her Pokémon.

Its Cluster Bolt attack do 70 damage for 1 Lightning and 2 of any kind. Use it and you'll have the option to discard all Lightning Energies attached to Amphy and do 20 damage to your opponent's Benched Pokémon that has energy cards attached to it. A good counter attack to Magneton PK, Honchkrow MT, Blaziken PK, Typholosion MT and the future Leafeon Lv. X that leaves energized Pokémon on the Bench.

Being a Stage 2 Pokémon means that a deck with Amphy must have Rare Candies to speed up its Bench appearance. This Pokémon is indeed one of the most precious additions to Pokémon TCG.

"Empoleon meet your new teammate, Ampharos!"

Pokémon TCG Diamond & Pearl: Secret Wonders

The next DP expansion, Secret Wonders, is really the best expansion yet. It features additional 130 cards and new Pokémon Lv. X, Gardevoir and Honchkrow and an expected but not yet confirmed Garchomp as the set's secret card. Its theme decks, Powerhouse and Lavaflow are based in the more improved version of Electivire and Magmortar. It also houses Kanto Starters, Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise which are way too powerful!

Since Pokémon is under Neutral Grounds management here in the Philippines, they announced that DP:SW will be available on December 5th.

This set is really the best. I myself is thinking of buying a Booster Box for it.

Blissey, A Tough Egg to Crack

Special Thanks to PokéBeach for the image.

Blissey is invading the nation. The Pokémon TCG community is currently seeing a huge mass of players using Blissey as their primary Pokémon. There are slight variations thou, but the main strategy is to power-up its Happy Chance attack.

Zapped Egg is a variation of the Blissey deck having Raichu MT as its energy engine. Its main strategy is setup Raichu to energize Blissey until being KOed. When Blissey has the insane number of energies, off it goes to KO anyone in its way. Having Trainers to speed up setup and vast amount of Lightning and Boost energies, Blissey's attack is limitless.

Another Blissey variation is called Grass Time which includes Celebi MT and Exeggutor MT. Its starter Pokémon, Celebi can use Sprouting in the early game to stall Grass energies. Then, in the later part of the game, Celebi can also use Leaf Tornado to manipulate energies to either Blissey or Exeggutor. Its secondary attacker, Exeggutor can also attack using insane amount of energy and stall up to two Grass energies to your Pokémon. This deck revolves around this synergy, playing energies and making them stay by retreating and manipulating them. Since it needs a lot of retreating, just in case the going gets tough, it is packed with Trainers such as Warp Point, Switch and Super Scoop Up.

The third variation of Blissey is the BlissCatty. It is composed of Delcatty PK and Sableye CG. The deck makes use of the added effect of Blissey's Happy Chance attack that fetches a basic energy card from the Discard Pile. While Delcatty can discard an energy to draw three cards and Sableye can see the top card of your deck and discard it if you want, Blissey can use those discarded energies to power up its own attack all at once. It has the basic Trainer line with a slight twist in the Energy line adding Holon Energy WP and Holon Energy FF with Psychic and Fire to Retreat and surpass Weakness.

Other variations are really limitless. Some are using it with Magneton PK that shares its energy greed attack. Some are using Lucario for Balance. Some are even using it with Manectric MT and Crobat MT! The possibilities are endless.

Since Blissey can stand on its own, any card added with it to attain its full potential will make any deck victorious! Truly, Blissey is a tough egg to crack.

TCG at its Best

Special thanks to PokéBeach and PokéGym for the images.

Today TCG Players all over the world are having trouble on having their Decks tuned up for the HP-On Modified format. It requires cards that will cover all EX expansion from Holon Phantoms to Power Keepers and DP expansions from the base Diamond and Pearl up to the future releases.

Since there are modifications in the weakness and resistance of Pokémon on DP expansion, most of the trainers are using DP Pokémon as their new prime attackers. This really means "Bye bye Delta Species, reign of Sinnoh Pokémon start!" New Pokémon Lv. X and powerful PokéPowers and PokéBodies, what more can you ask for!

Trainer line haven't changed a bit, leaving the legendary Holon Engine along the way. Since EX Delta Species expansion is rotated out, many of the powerful trainers vanished. But again, DP expansions is the "Start of Something New" in Pokémon TCG. One of the greatest addition is the so-called Holon Farmer reincarnation, Night Maintenance from DP-MT. (See the Picture)

Energy line is still solid. With the addition of new basic energies, Metal and Dark, the game play is now more enjoyable. We are hoping for more special energies. (A special Psychic Energy? Hmm... is that possible?)

As a summary, Pokémon TCG is becoming to be bigger and better. Having all the new addition and all new gameplay it is a good experience for both beginners and professional.