OU Spotlight: Mega Gardevoir

By Teclis. Art by Sparkl3y.
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Introduction

Mega Gardevoir art by Sparkl3y

Gardevoir was not a dominant Pokémon in OverUsed in old generations, and it was almost never seen in any tier before XY, where it got a Mega Evolution and became one of the most terrifying wallbreakers of the tier after Aegislash's ban. At the beginning of ORAS, a time when base 100 Speed was considered slow, Mega Gardevoir's usage was declining steadily as Mega Metagross was becoming more popular to respond to the new Fairy-type Mega Evolutions, Mega Diancie and Mega Altaria, both of which competed with Mega Gardevoir for a slot on the team. But TDK's Fairy Spam team made people remember how strong Mega Gardevoir was, and it rose in usage to where it stands today. Mega Gardevoir can be a very dangerous wallbreaker; and even though many teams carry common answers to it, Mega Gardevoir can take advantage of its fourth moveslot to limit its counters, with Will-O-Wisp crippling Steel-types such as Mega Metagross, Jirachi, and Mega Scizor, Taunt to shut down Chansey, or Thunderbolt to easily deal with Skarmory.

Mega Gardevoir's most important quality is undoubtedly its incredible base 165 Special Attack. This, in conjunction with a great ability in Pixilate and access to a strong and spammable move in Hyper Voice, hits horribly hard against almost everything that does not resist Fairy. It also allows Mega Gardevoir to completely destroy fat teams thanks to the Psyshock + Focus Blast combo. Mega Gardevoir also has a more-than-decent base 135 Special Defense, which allows it to tank at least one hit from special attackers, though its low Defense makes it quite easy to revenge kill. A Fairy / Psychic typing is nothing but good, giving Mega Gardevoir a Dragon immunity and the capability to decently endure Psychic- and Fighting-type attacks. Last but not least, Gardevoir has a fantastic movepool that allows it to hit the entire metagame for at least neutral damage: Psyshock, Focus Blast, Hidden Power Fire, Thunderbolt, Will-O-Wisp, Taunt, and Calm Mind make KOing even easier.

However, Mega Gardevoir is not perfect: the current prevalence of Pursuit in the metagame is a huge problem for it; common Pokémon like Tyranitar and Weavile are able to remove Gardevoir from the game with a little prior damage. However, the main issue for Mega Gardevoir in OU is the popularity of Steel-types, which means that it has to rely on its fourth move to deal with whatever your opponent has.

Playing with Gardevoir

Mega Gardevoir

Gardevoir is a very straightforward Pokémon. It will almost always run Hyper Voice and Psyshock as STAB moves, which allow it to hit most of the metagame for terrifying damage. The third slot is taken by Focus Blast, and the fourth slot varies: Will-O-Wisp allows Gardevoir to catch both Scizor and Skarmory on the switch; Calm Mind, although uncommon nowadays, allows Mega Gardevoir to break through stall and balanced teams with ease, giving it the capability to OHKO its common checks, Heatran and Ferrothorn, at +1 with Focus Blast; Taunt will be the best move against fat stall teams, allowing Mega Gardevoir to prevent Chansey from using Soft-Boiled or Thunder Wave. This EV spread lets Gardevoir tank two Latios's Psyshocks if Stealth Rock is not on the field and Speed tie with other base 100 Speed Pokémon such as Manaphy or Charizard.

Offense is probably the toughest match-up for Mega Gardevoir, though it might still be able to get one kill each time it joins the fray. Mega Gardevoir's notable checks include Mega Metagross, Mega Scizor, and Klefki, so if it is running Will-O-Wisp, try to burn them as soon as possible, as this will just make Mega Metagross and Mega Scizor useless and greatly reduce Klefki's longevity. If you are running Taunt, just click Hyper Voice or Focus Blast to damage Mega Metagross or Mega Scizor; if you face a Klefki, don't hesitate to keep it Taunted. Calm Mind is perhaps the most useless move against offense: using it would just make you lose the momentum or the opportunity to damage Mega Gardevoir's checks. In general, just use Mega Gardevoir as a way to heavily weaken the potential counters to the other Pokémon of your team; if your opponent's team manages to KO it, each single Pokémon of his team probably has taken damage, which should help your offense breakers clean up house. Don't hesitate to switch Mega Gardevoir out as much as possible to increase its longevity.

Against balanced and stall teams is when Mega Gardevoir is putting its best foot forward. If you are playing against stall, the only Mega Gardevoir counter you will probably encounter is Chansey, but this is where Taunt is extremely useful: Chansey won't be able to 1v1 Mega Gardevoir, and you will have an opportunity to just 6-0 the opposing team. A Healing Wish should be considered as a partner, as it would allow Mega Gardevoir to take one or two hits from the likes of Quagsire or Skarmory. Notice that Amoonguss won't be OHKOed by Psyshock, so be sure it is a bit weakened before using the move (though he can not take Hyper Voice + Psyshock. Playing against balanced teams has similar problems as facing offense: you have to predict when your opponent is going to send in his Mega Gardevoir counter (Heatran, Ferrothorn, Scizor or Skarmory) and cripple it with the appropriate move. Once said counter is weakened (for example after Heatran takes a Focus Blast), it is almost over and Mega Gardevoir should be able to win by spamming Hyper Voice. However, when you are facing balanced teams, you have to be far more cautious because most of the opposing Pokémons can potentially hit you quite hard; even though Hyper Voice does around 80% to most Pokémon that are used on these teams, that doesn't mean Mega Gardevoir is invulnerable, and some of the survivors, like Clefable and Slowbro, can cripple it with moves such as Thunder Wave. Mega Gardevoir's physical bulk does not allow it to take physical moves—even from uninvested Pokémon—easily. For example, a Skarmory's Brave Bird does around 60% to Mega Gardevoir, which can be fatal in the long term. A Healing Wish user and entry hazard support are greatly appreciated.

Playing against Gardevoir

Mega Gardevoir is the kind of Pokémon you never want to face, since it is perfectly able to KO two or three Pokémon of your team if it predicts your switches right. If you are using offense, remember that is quite hard to OHKO, so try to deal chip damage with faster VoltTurn users such as Tornadus-T, Raikou, and Mega Manectric as much as possible before trying to revenge kill it. The main advantage when playing offense against Mega Gardevoir is that it can almost never get a free switch on the field, so it is far easier to pressure with these threats than when you are playing the more passive Pokémon of balanced and stall teams, since Mega Gardevoir's base 100 Speed is low for an offensive Pokémon. If you predict correctly Mega Gardevoir's switch ins, it should not be a huge problem to deal with.

Facing Mega Gardevoir with fatter teams is a bit more problematic, since it will outspeed most of your squad and be able to inflict terrible damage to your Pokémon. The main goal will be to cripple it with a status to prevent it from coming into the field easily. For example, Clefable can take a Hyper Voice quite well and paralyze Mega Gardevoir with Thunder Wave, which will help your Pokémon outspeed and deal some damage to it, with the help of some lucky paralyzes; similarly, Heatran can use Toxic on it and stall it with Protect and repeated switches. When you are playing stall, try to keep your likes of Chansey and Amonguss healthy enough to be able to tank at least one or two hits and other possible chip damage, which could come from a potential Pursuit user such as Weavile and Tyranitar.

Regardless of your playstyle, using Steel-types is the best way to beat Mega Gardevoir. Offense can run common checks like Jirachi, both specially defensive and Choice Scarf variants, Mega Scizor, or Mega Metagross (which is basically mandatory given the influence of Fairies, Latios, and Latias on the tier). Balance can also run Pokémon like Chople Berry Ferrothorn, Skarmory, as well as the aforementioned Pokémon.

Fitting Gardevoir on your team

Mega Gardevoir is not hard to add to a team nor to build around; its wallbreaking abilities make its number of checks and counters limited and give it a place in every squad that struggles against fat teams. Though it takes a Mega Evolution slot, no Fairy-type, bar other Mega Evolutions, can hit as hard with a decent Speed tier. Mega Gardevoir appreciates hazard support, which can help it OHKO or 2HKO some Pokémon more easily, most of the Stealth Rock setters, like Landorus-T and Garchomp, can also deal with its checks such as Mega Metagross and Klefki, so they are almost mandatory on the team. Pokémon like Weavile or Choice Scarf Keldeo are great offense breakers and late-game sweepers that enjoy Mega Gardevoir's ability to deal damage to such a large portion of the metagame. Weavile itself is just terrifying to deal with for offenses, and it is a great partner for Mega Gardevoir, which can also help it by luring the likes of Mega Scizor and Klefki, which are also common Weavile switch-ins, and KOing them with Hidden Power Fire. Weavile can also Pursuit trap, even without a Choice Band, the opposing Gengar or Tornadus-T that otherwise can be annoying for Mega Gardevoir. Choice Scarf Jirachi is also a great teammate, since it can be annoying for offense team but also has access to Healing Wish, which is a huge help for Mega Gardevoir against fatter teams, giving it a second chance to sweep. Last but not least, since Mega Gardevoir is a kind of a glass cannon, pivots are very useful to bring it on the field while grabbing momentum: Tornadus-T, Raikou, Landorus-T, Rotom-W are solid VoltTurn users that are really helpful for Mega Gardevoir, regardless of what it is facing.

Conclusion

Though Mega Medicham and Mega Pinsir are rising in usage, and Mega Gardevoir has to compete with Mega Diancie (which has a better utility in the metagame right now), Mega Gardevoir is still an amazing wallbreaker, and you will never regret to use it!

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