Pokémon TCG: Expanded Deck Tech - Gardevoir ex + Zacian V (2025 Upgrade)

Greetings! Today, we'll explore 2 decks with Zacian V CEL 16, from Sword & Shield: Celebrations, which deals more damage according to how many basic Psychic energies are attached to it. To get these energies, we'll use Gardevoir ex sv4pt5 29.

We also decided to use Gardevoir NXD 57, a recursive Pokémon that doubles your basic Psychic energies. It is essential in both lists we'll explore today.

So, without further ado, let's first go over our main Pokémon, Zacian V, and then move on to our lists!

Zacian V's ability lets us, in our turn, get 1 Basic Psychic Energy sv3pt5 207 from our deck and attach it to one of our Pokémon. Afterward, we'll shuffle our deck and pass our turn automatically, which isn't that great.

Its main attack deals 60 base damage plus 30 extra damage for each Psychic energy attached to it.

With 8 Psychic energies, for instance, it'll deal 240 extra damage. With the 60 base damage, that's 300 damage, and that's not considering Gardevoir NXD 57, which doubles these energies!

Gardevoir ex sv4pt5 29's ability, Psychic Embrace, lets us move basic Psychic energies from the discard pile and attach them to one of our Psychic Pokémon. However, if we do, that Pokémon gets 2 damage counters for each energy we attached this way.

Gardevoir NXD 57's ability, Psychic Mirage, doubles the number of Psychic energies attached to our Pokémon.

For instance, if Zacian V CEL 16 has 6 Basic Psychic Energy sv3pt5 207 attached, this ability doubles them to 12 energies. So, its attack will deal 360 extra damage in addition to 60 base damage. That's 420 damage!

Ralts SIT 67's attack prevents enemy Pokémon from attacking in the next turn.

Kirlia SIT 68's ability, Refinement, draws 2 cards if we also discard a card from our hand. Preferably, we'll discard 1 Basic Psychic Energy sv3pt5 207 with it.

Stadiums

Old Cemetery CRE 147 sabotages opponents that don't play Psychic Pokémon. When they attach energies to their non-Psychic Pokémon, that Pokémon will get 2 damage counters.

As for Mystery Garden MEG 122, it draws cards. If we discard one basic energy from our hand, we'll draw cards according to the number of Psychic Pokémon we have in play.

Tools

Fighting Fury Belt BKP 99 makes our basic Pokémon deal 10 extra damage and gives them 40 HP when attached.

It will be very powerful on Zacian V CEL 16, as this way it will have 260 HP. And, of course, the 10 extra damage also doesn't hurt.

As for Technical Machine: Evolution sv4 178, it will help us evolve Ralts into Kirlia. It's the fastest way to get to Gardevoir.

Decklist

Deck Structure

Attackers

Dedenne ex

Dedenne ex's attack, Tail Swap, lets us pick one of our benched Pokémon and move all the damage counters on it to the opponent's active Pokémon.

Main "Baby" Attackers

Scream Tail sv4 86's attack, Roaring Scream, lets us pick one enemy Pokémon (benched or otherwise) and deal 20 damage for each damage counter on Scream Tail.

This list also plays Fighting Fury Belt BKP 99, which gives 40 extra HP to the Pokémon it is attached to and makes it deal 10 extra damage to the opponent's active Pokémon.

Cresselia LOR 74's attack, Moonglow Reverse, lets us move 2 damage counters from each of our Pokémon to 1 enemy Pokémon.

Flutter Mane PRE 43 is great in two different ways. Its ability prevents the opponent's active Pokémon from using abilities if Flutter Mane is our active Pokémon. Furthermore, its main attack deals 90 damage and lets us move 2 damage counters from our Pokémon to enemy Pokémon however we like.

Recursive Pokémon

Tapu Lele-GX

Its ability, Wonder Tag, lets us get a Supporter from our deck and add it to our hand, but only when we play Tapu Lele from our hand to our bench.

ACE SPEC

This tool gives 100 extra HP to the Pokémon it is attached to.

Suggestion:

Decklist

This version takes advantage of the damage counters our Psychic Pokémon get from Gardevoir ex sv4pt5 29's ability to deal more damage. It also plays Munkidori PRE 44.

Recursive Pokémon

Munkidori

Munkidori's ability, Adrena-Brain, lets us move 3 damage counters from our Pokémon to enemy Pokémon however we like.

With it, we'll have a way to use the damage counters from Gardevoir ex sv4pt5 29's ability when we attach energies to our Pokémon.

"Rule Box" Pokémon

Mew ex sv3pt5 151's ability, Restart, draws 3 cards.

Furthermore, because this is a Psychic Pokémon, it can also be an "attacker" in this list. Its attack costs 3 colorless energies, which is quite easy to get. With Gardevoir ex sv4pt5 29's ability, it's quite efficient.

Fezandipiti ex SFA 38's ability, Flip the Script, draws three cards if one of our Pokémon was knocked out on the previous turn.

ACE SPEC

Pros

These decks consistently draw cards, either because of Mystery Garden MEG 122 or Kirlia SIT 68's ability.

They also deal a lot of damage with Zacian V CEL 16 and as such can easily knock out Pokémon with a lot of HP in Expanded, such as TAG TEAM-GX Pokémon, VStar Pokémon, VMax Pokémon, VUnion Pokémon, stage 2 Pokémon ex, and Mega Pokémon ex. Of course, Gardevoir NXD 57, by doubling our Psychic energies, is also critical.

Gardevoir ex sv4pt5 29 is an excellent energy engine, as it filters energies in our discard pile. Because of it, our deck will give us better cards when we draw.

Cons

However, these lists are a bit slow, and we'll need time to set up. So, you should always get your Ralts ready as fast as possible. Otherwise, you won't be able to progress your main game plan.

Decks that use sniper strategies, like Greninja VUnion or Kyogre SHF 21, will be a problem.

Decks that use spread strategies, like Dragapult ex PRE 73, Dragapult VMAX RCL 93, and Absol ASR 97/Yveltal SFA 35, will also be a problem.

If you enjoyed playing Zacian V CEL 16 in Standard in 2023, before it rotated out of the format in 2024, this is a good opportunity to play it again. It was quite powerful with Gardevoir ex sv4pt5 29, but now we'll take advantage of Kirlia SIT 68's combo and Mystery Garden MEG 122 to make it even more powerful. Zacian V CEL 16 still has a lot of potential in Expanded.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!