Competitive Pokémon of the Week - Gardevoir

I haven't disappeared; I've just been a bit busy this week with my summer class and other things. So, let's get back to the Pokémon, shall we? This week, we'll be talking about a Pokémon that was saved by the Fairy type: Gardevoir.

Gardevoir, up until Generation 6, was a pure Psychic-type Pokémon. While it was still very beautiful, it was easily countered by anything with a Dark-, Bug-, or Ghost-type move. When Gardevoir was given the Fairy type as its secondary type, and given the ability to Mega Evolve, its competitive use became more common and far more viable in the typical metagame.

(Lunasnightmare's [DeviantArt] interpretation of Gallade and Gardevoir.)

So, why should you consider a Gardevoir for your team in Generation 6?
- It may be somewhat fragile, but unless people are aware of exactly how to counter its typing, it has enough time to Mega Evolve and inflict some serious damage with Moonblast and/or Psychic.
- People try to use Dark-type moves against it surprisingly often. Nowadays, Gardevoir is only damaged normally by them due to them being super-effective against Psychic and not effective against Fairy...meaning that it can take ~2-3 hits from even the nastiest of Dark-type moves.
- It's not affected by Dragon-type moves, including Outrage. If you have a Dragon-versus-Dragon matchup in Double Battle, have the dragon use Protect during the turn it will be hit, and have Gardevoir or another Fairy in the other slot, and chuckle as the raging beast can't do anything.
- Its Special Attack is 125 normally, which shoots up to 165 when in Mega form. While Alakazam and its Mega form have 10 points of Special Attack more than Gardevoir, Alakazam's other stats are not as balanced...and, it's still a pure Psychic-type.

Should you take Gardevoir or Gallade?
It's your choice. The two work very differently from each other; Gallade is a Psychic/Fighting type, meaning that it's not effectively damaged by Psychic- or Dark-type moves. Gardevoir has Fairy coverage, making it more viable to use against dragons. You could very well have both a Gardevoir and a Gallade on hand and use one or the other depending on the situation. At this point, both can counter Dark-types with ease, between Gallade's Fighting-type specialization and Gardevoir's Fairy-type specialization.

Gardevoir is now becoming more common in Generation 6's competitive world, though it is still not the most prevalent of Pokémon. Whether you catch a Ralts in the wild and raise it into adulthood, or obtain a Gardevoir from a country far away through the GTS (like I did with my Irish Gardevoir), he or she will be a more than welcome addition on your team.