Blech... Shadow Ball?! ON ALAKAZAM OR GARDEVOIR?! ARE YOU MAD?!
Ghost-type attacks are PHYSICAL! Putting it on Alakazam (Attack base stat: 50) is worse than putting it on Gardevoir (Attack base stat: 65).
Strange, though, that it decreases SP.DEF when it is a physical attack, huh?
BASE STATS:
Pokémon HP ATK DEF SPD SP.ATK SP.DEF Total
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Gardevoir 68 65 65 80 125 115 = 518
Alakazam 55 50 45 120 135 85 = 490
Judgement:
Alakazam's only advantages are in Speed and Special Attack. Gardervoir could possibly last longer against Psychic's biggest enemy (Dark), though. If you were to concentrate all of your Effort Values into SP.ATK and SP.DEF and its best IV is SP.DEF, Gardevoir could give Dark Pokémon a run for their Pokémoney (especially if you give Gardevoir a good Special attack, like Thunderbolt). Another reason it'd last longer is because of a higher HP base stat. Of course, things may vary from Pokémon to Pokémon of the same specie, based on Individual Values and Nature. It could turn out that you could get a Gardevoir faster than an Alakazam. Or an Alakazam with more HP than a Gardevoir.
LEVEL-UP MOVES:
Gardevoir: (Total: 10)
Growl, Confusion, Double Team, Teleport, Calm Mind, Psychic, Imprison, Future Sight, Hypnosis, Dream Eater
Alakazam: (Total: 12)
Teleport, Kinesis, Confusion, Disable, Psybeam, Reflect, Recover, Future Sight, Role Play, Calm Mind, Psychic, Trick
Gardevoir has 5 unique moves. Alakazam has 7.
Gardevoir's pros:
- Double Team: If you got a pretty good Gardevoir (like mine. Whoo.), you'd probably wouldn't want to switch it out. So, raising its evasiveness would be better than decreasing your foe's accuracy (Alakazam's Kinesis, which is 80% accurate.).
-Imprison: If you're going against another Gardevoir, it'll most likely have the same moveset (Psychic/Thunderbolt/Calm Mind/[your choice] is a common moveset used by most playrs). And most Psychic Pokémon have Psychic. This would be very useful in a 2-on-2 battle: You have Gardevoir and a Pokémon weak to Psychic attacks. Your opponent has their own Psychic Pokémon out. Using Imprison, you won't have to fear for your Fighting Pokémon's safety (except from its other weaknesses.).
-Hypnosis/Dream Eater combo - Hynosis is OK. It's 60% accuracy leaves something to desire (like Spore, with its 100% accuracy), but Dream Eater is pretty cool. 100% accurate, 100 power (with a 1.5% power multiplyer for STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus.).), and 1/2 the damage dealt heals the user. It's just getting the foe to stay asleep might be the problem.
Alakazam's pros:
-Disable: If it connects (a mere 55% accuracy), you might disable a useful move of your foe's. IF it connects.
-Recover: Do I really need to explain this one?
-Reflect: havles damage inflicted by physical attacks for five turns done to your team. Pretty useful for a Pokémon like Alakazam who has terrible Defense (and even better for a Pokémon with high Defense: even harder to KO with physical attacks!).
-Trick: Could prove to be strategically useful. Especially if your opponent has an item they rely on (such as Leftovers to heal every turn, or Soul Dew to boost Latios's and Latias's Special stats). Just give Alakazam a crappy item to hold (like a Berry that's only good for Pokéblocks) or no item at all.
-Role Play: If you run across a Shedinja, not only would you make it vulnerable to every single attack, but you'd make Alakazam completely immune to everything except Bug, Ghost, and Dark.
Judgement:
Perhaps Alakazam has better unique moves in total, but those'll probably be rarely used, anyways. What's good about their moves is what they have in common, really.
EGG MOVES:
Gardevoir: (Total: 5)
Disable, Will-O-Wisp, Mean Look, Memento, Destiny Bond
Alakazam: (Total: 5)
Encore, Knock Off, Fire Punch, Thunderpunch, Ice Punch
Gardevoir's pros:
Well, looks like Disable ISN'T unique to Alakazam after all. And Will-O-Wisp is nice (75% accurate for instant burning). Mean Look could prove to be usefull in situations. Memento is interesting (lowers foe's Attack and SP.ATK by 2 levels if the user is KOed). Destiny Bond is... meh (turns out the effect only lasts for the next turn. Use it if Gardevoir is faster than the foe, and you know it'll be KOed this turn).
Alakazam's pros:
Encore is alright if your foe just used a move that'll be useless aginst Alakazam. Knock Off would be a better choice than Trick: does some damage, Alakazam doesn't lose its held item (so, you could instead give Alakazam a useful item), and the foe still loses their item (for the rest of the battle, anyways). The last three are good because they'll help enforce it's good SP.ATK rating with a variety of attack types to use.
Judgement:
Gardevoir has better Egg Moves in term of strategy. Alakazam has better Egg Moves in terms of all-out offense.
TM/HM COMPATABILITY:
Gardevoir: (Total: 27)
04 (Calm Mind), 06 (Toxic), 10 (Hidden Power), 11 (Sunny Day), 12 (Taunt), 15 (Hyper Beam), 16 (Light Screen), 17 (Protect), 18 (Rain Dance), 20 (Safeguard), 21 (Frustration), 24 (Thunderbolt), 27 (Return), 29 (Psychic), 30 (Shadow Ball), 32 (Double Team), 33 (Reflect), 34 (Shock Wave), 41 (Torment), 42 (Facade), 43 (Secret Power), 44 (Rest), 45 (Attract), 46 (Thief), 48 (Skill Swap), 49 (Snatch), H5 (Flash)
Alakazam: (Total: 28)
01 (Focus Punch), 04 (Calm Mind), 06 (Toxic), 10 (Hidden Power), 11 (Sunny Day), 12 (Taunt), 15 (Hyper Beam), 16 (Light Screen), 17 (Protect), 18 (Rain Dance), 20 (Safeguard), 21 (Frustration), 23 (Iron Tail), 27 (Return), 29 (Psychic), 30 (Shadow Ball), 32 (Double Team), 33 (Reflect), 34 (Shock Wave), 41 (Torment), 42 (Facade), 43 (Secret Power), 44 (Rest), 45 (Attract), 46 (Thief), 48 (Skill Swap), 49 (Snatch), H5 (Flash)
Gardevoir has 1 unique TM (Thunderbolt). Alakazam has 2 (Focus Punch and Iron Tail).
Judgement:
TMs help remove unique moves (Gardevoir can now learn Reflect, and Alakazam can now learn Double Team). And Gardevoir's unique TM is better than Alakazam's two. Both Focus Punch and Iron Tail are physical moves. Attack isn't Alakazam's forté. While Thunderbolt's power of 95 goes well with Gardevoir's somewhat-high SP.ATK rating. Most of the rest are TMs almost any Pokémon can learn (Facade, Secret Power, Rest, Attract, etc.). It's your choice as to what TMs they should know, if any.
ABILITIES:
Gardevoir:
Synchronize (If Pokémon with Synchronize is Burned, Poisioned, or Paralyzed, the foe received the Special Condition).
Trace (copies Defending Pokémon's ability)
Alakazam:
Synchronize (If Pokémon with Synchronize is Burned, Poisioned, or Paralyzed, the foe received the Special Condition).
Inner Focus (Pokémon with ability won't ever flinch)
Judgement:
Synchronize is probably the better choice for both Pokémon, since the odds of a Special Condtion in battle is usually pretty likely (especially Paralysis). However, which is better of their secondary abilities is completely situational.
-Gardevoir with Trace: In a 2-on-2 battle, it'd be great for Gardevoir if it ran across a Pokémon with Levitate. Thus, it would never have to worry about being hit by foe's Ground attacks, and your other Pokémon could use Earthquake without you worrying about it hitting Gardevoir.
-Alakazam with Inner Focus: If you opponent has flinching moves (Bite, Astonish, etc.) or if one of their Pokémon has King's Rock, you'll never have to worry about Alakazam flinching.
Of course, it's not like you can change a Pokémon's ability whenever you want, though (sans GameShark/Action Replay, of course). Whatever you catch it with is what you get.
Well.... there's my long-winded analysis to hopefully help with the ever-so-popular "Alakazam or Gardevoir" question. If you see someone ask this question on another boad, feel free to copy and paste my post there (with credits to me, please).
Personally? I like Gardevoir. One reason is because it can learn Thunderbolt. Another is because it's cuter.
