Gardevoir from Secret Wonders has been one of the most dominant cards in one of the most dominant decks of all time since its release this season.
History:
It started off by winning multiple City Championships shortly after its release along with another popular deck at the time, Magmortar/Typhlosion. When Great Encouters was released, many players (including myself) thought that the release of Claydol, Pachirisu and other cards would at least make it so other decks could compete with Gardevoir/Gallade. This became true to an extent. GG still won the majority of State Championships but Magmortar decks weren't too far behind, with some even taking out GG in top cuts. Banette decks popped up as well. With the release of Claydol they were able to pump out Banettes more consistently and constantly OHKO Gardevoir and Gallade. It looked like just maybe the format was fine, I mean we would surely see Magmortar and Banette win some Regionals, right? Uh.....
Regionals 2008 around the country saw a sickening number of GG variants at the top tables. Here in California, it wasn't even that popular beforehand and yet it completely dominated the top cut at the Sierra Nevada Regional. It won nearly every Regional in the Masters division in the United States. It seemed like a lot of the top players decided to go with GG for this event series, so maybe that had something to do with it, but still, after the success of Magmortar/Blaziken and other things at States, players were able to more readily prepare their GG and came out on top even more often. That's ok, we were getting a truly amazing set before Spring Battle Roads started: Majestic Dawn. It would definitely "fix" the format and Call Energy would allow many decks to setup quicker and be able to deal with Psychic Lock, right???
Spring Battle Roads saw a lot of Empoleon variants win. Empoleon was the next "big thing" and its matchup with GG was tolerable. During this time an event some of you may know of, called the "Lafonte Open" was held in Chicago where Pooka from this board won with Empoleon/Bronzong (DING DONG!) against a field of many top players. This seemed to spring a new archtype and after Pooka's success against GG during that particular tournament, many felt like we would see something else win U.S. Nationals. After all, people had to be holding their "secret decks", right???
While many top players used something other than Gardevoir/Gallade at U.S. Nationals in Masters, including but notlimited to: Eric Craig, Chris Fulop, Colin Moll, David C., Mike Pramawat, Ben S., Bobby Malec, Erik Nance, Ross Cawthon, Steve Silvestro, John Silvestro, Jimmy Ballard, Omar I., Alex Brosseau, Frank Diaz, John Kettler, Tyler Ninomura, Chris Bianchi, Andrew K.,, Luke Reed, Kyle Sucevich, myself and many others, the deck was still seemingly everywhere. With that many good players using something else, GG wasn't going to win U.S. Nats, was it really?
Guess what? It did! And it was 3/4ths of the Top 4 in Masters. It caused many, many headaches for the judging staff, players and friends alike. The deck was able to legitimately take a 3-5 minute turn often, resulting in several time extensions, stalling, etc. It was hard to beat the deck on time. You had to play different versus it. For example: I had to set up a Magmortar Lv. X with my deck vs. GG Round 3 just so I could Flame Bluster something for a prize to win the game on time, just because my opponent's turns were taking forever. I had to completely alter my deck's stategy. This changes the game for the worse. While I did go 2-2 versus GG at U.S. Nationals 2008, my two losses came at the worst times: the last round and top cut. I'm sure this was near the same for many. But hey, the deck doesn't warrant a ban? Does it? I think it does.
Counters:
Gardevoir/Gallade has had many counter attempts come against it. The most played and perhaps best counter all season have been Banette variants. Banette/Gyarados/Cresselia, also known as "Arithmetic" by Jimmy Ballard was able to take a Regional played by Erik Nance and placed in several others. Even then, Banette did not "autowin" versus GG, but was able to take it down at a higher clip than anything else previously. Still, as previously mentioned, GG dominated the majority of that event series.
Then, came Banette/Blissey at U.S. Nationals 2008. While Banette/Blissey had been around since Secret Wonder's release, the deck had been revived (it was a card!) for Nats, with a huge focus on Crystal Beach and Cessation Crystal. This would prove to be effective as many GG ran little to no Windstorms or counter Stadiums. Beach and/or Cessation would end up locking the GG player, allowing the Banette player to overwhelm them. Unfortuantely, GG still won Nationals.
The many GG counters throughout the season have not dominated nor won more than GG because they can't beat everything else. They can't even beat the majority of everything else. They also have not won a lot because there is no deck that can just autowin versus Gardevoir/Gallade. With Psychic Lock and Team Galactic's Wager, there is always a chance you can win a game with GG.
Top 5 reasons why GG is broken:
1. Psychic Lock: This should be fairly obvious, but shutting off Poke-Powers is a broken part of Gardevoir's lone attack that also does damage. The effect is also uncounterable, meaning that you can't stop it or turn it off with any card. Your best hope is to draw into every trainer/evolution you need without using powers.
2. Psychic Cut: Gallade's sickening ability to do lethal damage to every pokemon in the format but Wailord on turn two is simply bad for the game. It is also often able to get 2-3 or more of this attack off per game. Sometimes even more due to the use of Sonic Blade prior to knockout.
3. Dusknoir: Dusknoir is a disgusting aspect of Gardevoir/Gallade because it is abused in this particular deck more than any other deck could possibly abuse it. Dusknoir's Dark Palm Poke-Power keeps your opponent at a three-bench all game long, or you get off an insane turn and return an attacker or support pokemon (Claydol) and ruin their field. This is particularly annoying when combined with Psychic Lock. Not being able to "explode" while you are not able to use Poke-Powers is quite unfair and unbalanced. Add Dusknoir's attack, Hard Feelings to the mix and you have a card that doesn't even allow anyone to make a comeback. Hard Feelings is able to just place 10 damage counters (100 damage) when your opponent is down to one prize. This often results in the deck's last prize and is impossible to stop.
4. Team Galactic's Wager: When combined with Psychic Lock and Dusknoir, Wager is broken. Shutting off Poke-Powers and limiting your opponent to a three-bench with a possible three-card hand is ridiculous. This is also often game-breaking if played on turn two or three with a Psychic Lock. The opponent can sometimes just "draw dead" and basically lose the game right there. On top of this, it is impossible to build or try to surprise a GG player because of Wager.
5. Time: Gardevoir/Gallade is perhaps the most abusive of the clock of any deck in the game's history. With its ability to take long turns with the use of a Supporter, Telepass, Cosmic Power, Dark Palm, and before Great Encounter's release, Keen Eye, the deck is able to take full advantage of swiss rounds in particular. Often, opponents get a mere 8-10 turns vs GG in swiss rounds at the most. The deck is also frequently able to get a prize when time is called very easily, resulting in several wins on time. It is also able to win nearly every sudden death game with ease. When matches go to a game three in the top cut, GG is at a monster advantage because it can simply just get an early Gallade and take a couple of prizes with Psychic Cut to win. This is basically impossible to stop early on in a game considering Gallade has 130 HP.
6. Bring Down: Ah, the wonderful Gardevoir Lv. X and her cute little Bring Down attack. This move adds even more problems for opponents in games. You've got their Gallade(s) to flip all their prizes in the game, their Psychic Locks are only doing 50-60 damage and that's not enough at this point, Dusknoir is only going to swing for one prize late, and you're up in the game! How do you lose? Your pokemon all have less HP and can be Brought Down! Oh no! For a mere double-psychic cost, Gardevoir Lv. X is able to draw late prizes or early ones. I even remember I lost a game because my opponent got a T2 Gardevoir Lv.X and brought down both my Baltoys while I tried to set up Claydol at a State. Try stopping that!
Yeah, I said I was doing a Top 5, it turned out to be 6, that just shows how broken the deck is!
Possible bans/restrictions besides Gardevoir:
1. Dusknoir and Crawdaunt ex: Dusknoir makes the deck truly disgusting when combined with the other broken combos in GG. By banning it, you would eliminate one of the most frustrating and unpreventable aspects of GG and the format. Of course, you would also have to ban Crawdaunt ex as it is still broken when combined with Team Galactic's Wager and Psychic Lock. Although it's attack isn't as effective as Hard Feelings, Crawdaunt ex would still be annoying and lame.
2. Gallade: Psychic Lock would still be a powerful deck, but without the use of its big hitter, the deck wouldn't be dominant. Gallade makes for donking the opponent an option, it wins sudden death and it is basically uncounterable as well. This would be a good ban.
3. Restricting Gardevoir and Gallade: What I mean by this is that you wouldn't be able to use both Gardevoir and Gallade in the same deck. They would have to be in separate decks. This would make it so you don't have the broken combo together. It is truly unbalanced that both can fit in a deck and come from Ralts/Rare Candy or Kirlia.
Conclusion:
My Name is Chad Harris and I've been a part of many other decks besides Gardevoir/Gallade this season. I've helped and was one of the first to win with Blaziken/Magmortar, was responsible for many's success with Leafeon/Magmortar at U.S. Nationals, and many rogues throughout the year. I played GG once this season, at Regionals and I didn't win the whole thing with it, but let me tell you, I was disgusted when I played it.
When a player like Mikey F., who got 4th at U.S. Nationals this year says he wants the card/deck in Gardevoir banned when he even used and won a trip/invite to Worlds 2008 and $1,500 in scholarship, you know something is truly wrong. When a player like Drew Holton, who got 2nd at U.S. Nationals this year says he wants the card/deck in Gardevoir banned when he even used and won a trip/invite to Worlds 2008 and $3,000 in scholarship, you know something is truly wrong. When every player, good or not so good has tried to counter the deck all season long with little success, you know something is truly wrong. When a card/deck is garnering comparisons to such broken decks as Feraligatr (Neo Genesis) and Slowking/anything, you know something is truly wrong.
There is still slightly over one month until Worlds 2008 occurs. There is still enough time to do something. Thanks for reading.
History:
It started off by winning multiple City Championships shortly after its release along with another popular deck at the time, Magmortar/Typhlosion. When Great Encouters was released, many players (including myself) thought that the release of Claydol, Pachirisu and other cards would at least make it so other decks could compete with Gardevoir/Gallade. This became true to an extent. GG still won the majority of State Championships but Magmortar decks weren't too far behind, with some even taking out GG in top cuts. Banette decks popped up as well. With the release of Claydol they were able to pump out Banettes more consistently and constantly OHKO Gardevoir and Gallade. It looked like just maybe the format was fine, I mean we would surely see Magmortar and Banette win some Regionals, right? Uh.....
Regionals 2008 around the country saw a sickening number of GG variants at the top tables. Here in California, it wasn't even that popular beforehand and yet it completely dominated the top cut at the Sierra Nevada Regional. It won nearly every Regional in the Masters division in the United States. It seemed like a lot of the top players decided to go with GG for this event series, so maybe that had something to do with it, but still, after the success of Magmortar/Blaziken and other things at States, players were able to more readily prepare their GG and came out on top even more often. That's ok, we were getting a truly amazing set before Spring Battle Roads started: Majestic Dawn. It would definitely "fix" the format and Call Energy would allow many decks to setup quicker and be able to deal with Psychic Lock, right???
Spring Battle Roads saw a lot of Empoleon variants win. Empoleon was the next "big thing" and its matchup with GG was tolerable. During this time an event some of you may know of, called the "Lafonte Open" was held in Chicago where Pooka from this board won with Empoleon/Bronzong (DING DONG!) against a field of many top players. This seemed to spring a new archtype and after Pooka's success against GG during that particular tournament, many felt like we would see something else win U.S. Nationals. After all, people had to be holding their "secret decks", right???
While many top players used something other than Gardevoir/Gallade at U.S. Nationals in Masters, including but notlimited to: Eric Craig, Chris Fulop, Colin Moll, David C., Mike Pramawat, Ben S., Bobby Malec, Erik Nance, Ross Cawthon, Steve Silvestro, John Silvestro, Jimmy Ballard, Omar I., Alex Brosseau, Frank Diaz, John Kettler, Tyler Ninomura, Chris Bianchi, Andrew K.,, Luke Reed, Kyle Sucevich, myself and many others, the deck was still seemingly everywhere. With that many good players using something else, GG wasn't going to win U.S. Nats, was it really?
Guess what? It did! And it was 3/4ths of the Top 4 in Masters. It caused many, many headaches for the judging staff, players and friends alike. The deck was able to legitimately take a 3-5 minute turn often, resulting in several time extensions, stalling, etc. It was hard to beat the deck on time. You had to play different versus it. For example: I had to set up a Magmortar Lv. X with my deck vs. GG Round 3 just so I could Flame Bluster something for a prize to win the game on time, just because my opponent's turns were taking forever. I had to completely alter my deck's stategy. This changes the game for the worse. While I did go 2-2 versus GG at U.S. Nationals 2008, my two losses came at the worst times: the last round and top cut. I'm sure this was near the same for many. But hey, the deck doesn't warrant a ban? Does it? I think it does.
Counters:
Gardevoir/Gallade has had many counter attempts come against it. The most played and perhaps best counter all season have been Banette variants. Banette/Gyarados/Cresselia, also known as "Arithmetic" by Jimmy Ballard was able to take a Regional played by Erik Nance and placed in several others. Even then, Banette did not "autowin" versus GG, but was able to take it down at a higher clip than anything else previously. Still, as previously mentioned, GG dominated the majority of that event series.
Then, came Banette/Blissey at U.S. Nationals 2008. While Banette/Blissey had been around since Secret Wonder's release, the deck had been revived (it was a card!) for Nats, with a huge focus on Crystal Beach and Cessation Crystal. This would prove to be effective as many GG ran little to no Windstorms or counter Stadiums. Beach and/or Cessation would end up locking the GG player, allowing the Banette player to overwhelm them. Unfortuantely, GG still won Nationals.
The many GG counters throughout the season have not dominated nor won more than GG because they can't beat everything else. They can't even beat the majority of everything else. They also have not won a lot because there is no deck that can just autowin versus Gardevoir/Gallade. With Psychic Lock and Team Galactic's Wager, there is always a chance you can win a game with GG.
Top 5 reasons why GG is broken:
1. Psychic Lock: This should be fairly obvious, but shutting off Poke-Powers is a broken part of Gardevoir's lone attack that also does damage. The effect is also uncounterable, meaning that you can't stop it or turn it off with any card. Your best hope is to draw into every trainer/evolution you need without using powers.
2. Psychic Cut: Gallade's sickening ability to do lethal damage to every pokemon in the format but Wailord on turn two is simply bad for the game. It is also often able to get 2-3 or more of this attack off per game. Sometimes even more due to the use of Sonic Blade prior to knockout.
3. Dusknoir: Dusknoir is a disgusting aspect of Gardevoir/Gallade because it is abused in this particular deck more than any other deck could possibly abuse it. Dusknoir's Dark Palm Poke-Power keeps your opponent at a three-bench all game long, or you get off an insane turn and return an attacker or support pokemon (Claydol) and ruin their field. This is particularly annoying when combined with Psychic Lock. Not being able to "explode" while you are not able to use Poke-Powers is quite unfair and unbalanced. Add Dusknoir's attack, Hard Feelings to the mix and you have a card that doesn't even allow anyone to make a comeback. Hard Feelings is able to just place 10 damage counters (100 damage) when your opponent is down to one prize. This often results in the deck's last prize and is impossible to stop.
4. Team Galactic's Wager: When combined with Psychic Lock and Dusknoir, Wager is broken. Shutting off Poke-Powers and limiting your opponent to a three-bench with a possible three-card hand is ridiculous. This is also often game-breaking if played on turn two or three with a Psychic Lock. The opponent can sometimes just "draw dead" and basically lose the game right there. On top of this, it is impossible to build or try to surprise a GG player because of Wager.
5. Time: Gardevoir/Gallade is perhaps the most abusive of the clock of any deck in the game's history. With its ability to take long turns with the use of a Supporter, Telepass, Cosmic Power, Dark Palm, and before Great Encounter's release, Keen Eye, the deck is able to take full advantage of swiss rounds in particular. Often, opponents get a mere 8-10 turns vs GG in swiss rounds at the most. The deck is also frequently able to get a prize when time is called very easily, resulting in several wins on time. It is also able to win nearly every sudden death game with ease. When matches go to a game three in the top cut, GG is at a monster advantage because it can simply just get an early Gallade and take a couple of prizes with Psychic Cut to win. This is basically impossible to stop early on in a game considering Gallade has 130 HP.
6. Bring Down: Ah, the wonderful Gardevoir Lv. X and her cute little Bring Down attack. This move adds even more problems for opponents in games. You've got their Gallade(s) to flip all their prizes in the game, their Psychic Locks are only doing 50-60 damage and that's not enough at this point, Dusknoir is only going to swing for one prize late, and you're up in the game! How do you lose? Your pokemon all have less HP and can be Brought Down! Oh no! For a mere double-psychic cost, Gardevoir Lv. X is able to draw late prizes or early ones. I even remember I lost a game because my opponent got a T2 Gardevoir Lv.X and brought down both my Baltoys while I tried to set up Claydol at a State. Try stopping that!
Yeah, I said I was doing a Top 5, it turned out to be 6, that just shows how broken the deck is!
Possible bans/restrictions besides Gardevoir:
1. Dusknoir and Crawdaunt ex: Dusknoir makes the deck truly disgusting when combined with the other broken combos in GG. By banning it, you would eliminate one of the most frustrating and unpreventable aspects of GG and the format. Of course, you would also have to ban Crawdaunt ex as it is still broken when combined with Team Galactic's Wager and Psychic Lock. Although it's attack isn't as effective as Hard Feelings, Crawdaunt ex would still be annoying and lame.
2. Gallade: Psychic Lock would still be a powerful deck, but without the use of its big hitter, the deck wouldn't be dominant. Gallade makes for donking the opponent an option, it wins sudden death and it is basically uncounterable as well. This would be a good ban.
3. Restricting Gardevoir and Gallade: What I mean by this is that you wouldn't be able to use both Gardevoir and Gallade in the same deck. They would have to be in separate decks. This would make it so you don't have the broken combo together. It is truly unbalanced that both can fit in a deck and come from Ralts/Rare Candy or Kirlia.
Conclusion:
My Name is Chad Harris and I've been a part of many other decks besides Gardevoir/Gallade this season. I've helped and was one of the first to win with Blaziken/Magmortar, was responsible for many's success with Leafeon/Magmortar at U.S. Nationals, and many rogues throughout the year. I played GG once this season, at Regionals and I didn't win the whole thing with it, but let me tell you, I was disgusted when I played it.
When a player like Mikey F., who got 4th at U.S. Nationals this year says he wants the card/deck in Gardevoir banned when he even used and won a trip/invite to Worlds 2008 and $1,500 in scholarship, you know something is truly wrong. When a player like Drew Holton, who got 2nd at U.S. Nationals this year says he wants the card/deck in Gardevoir banned when he even used and won a trip/invite to Worlds 2008 and $3,000 in scholarship, you know something is truly wrong. When every player, good or not so good has tried to counter the deck all season long with little success, you know something is truly wrong. When a card/deck is garnering comparisons to such broken decks as Feraligatr (Neo Genesis) and Slowking/anything, you know something is truly wrong.
There is still slightly over one month until Worlds 2008 occurs. There is still enough time to do something. Thanks for reading.
(No offence to any Yugioh players out there). Gardevoir is just as fair as that FRLG pidgeot, and the holon engine. You just need to work around it. 