Fairy GLC Deck

When I first learned about Gym Leader Challenge a few months ago, I noticed Fairy was excluded from the guide on the GLC website. I took that as a challenge and decided to cook up some competitively viable Fairy decks that could compete with top tier threats. Since Fairy has weaker Pokémon than every other type, I think it's important to put pressure on opponents early before they're able to establish a board Fairy can't compete with. To do so, Turbo Fairy aims to achieve a strong turn 2 attack. Both of the Stage 2 energy accelerators can cheat evolution rules, so it's actually not too difficult to pull off!

General Strategy

Setting up with Turbo Fairy is pretty straight forward and similar to other decks. The ideal scenario is to start going second with a Brigette, Gloria, or Ball Guy in your starting hand, but of course that is often not the case. When you don't start with a Pokémon search supporter in hand, attack with Lead on Xerneas or Clefairy to get one for turn 2, or find Cottonee so you can evolve into Whimsicott to search one out on your second turn. Grass trainers should feel at home setting up with this deck because of Whimsicott and Shiinotic, which are pretty much identical to Roserade and Grotle/Grovyle. Once Shiinotic is in play, you should be able to quickly develop your board and reliably find Pokémon for the rest of the match.

Fairy may lack strong attackers, but it can hit surprisingly good numbers if you're able to get a lot of energy into play. To achieve this, Turbo Fairy relies on Togekiss and it's Serene Grace ability to pump energy from the top of the deck into play, but don't let that distract you from the humble hero of the deck: Florges. Florges is the most important Pokémon in Turbo Fairy, and should be prioritized over Togekiss most of the time. Florges is so good because it makes attacking easier while also conserving the energy Togekiss so desperately needs to provide value. This build should aim to set up Florges first, and save Togekiss for when it's impossible to power up an attacker with manual attachments.

It hurts to say this as a devoted Fairy player, but Fairy has arguably the weakest attackers in the entire format. Because attacking options are so limited, Turbo Fairy relies mostly on basic attackers that can be easily recovered and reused throughout a match. Xerneas and Tapu Fini are simple, high HP basic attackers, and are typically the Pokémon the deck will be attacking with first in a match. Once you're set up and have lots of energy in play thanks to Togekiss, you can start attacking for big numbers with Clefable. Despite being a Stage 1, Clefable is also relatively easy to recycle thanks to the fact the deck plays 3 Pokémon recovery items and has Shiinotic to search for Fairy Pokémon once a turn. Lastly, let's talk about Mimikyu. Experienced trainers may recognize this little dude, and that's because it's an identical clone of the Mimikyu commonly played in Psychic. Copycat is a strong attack, especially combined with Florges, which makes the attack cost just 1 energy! Despite it's strength, Mimikyu relies heavily on the style of attackers your opponent is playing, so decide when to use it, and if it's worth recycling based on your matchup.

Cards to Keep Track Of

When playing Turbo Fairy, it's important to always be aware of your outs to Pokémon recovery and energy acceleration. That's because you'll need both in order to reuse and power up attackers multiple times throughout a match. Once your opponent takes their first knockout, you should be good to start using your Pokémon recovery. These cards serve the purpose of keeping attackers in the deck so they're accessible with Shiinotic. The rods provide an added bonus, letting the user shuffle in discarded basic energies alongside Pokémon, which is great if you haven't used Togekiss/Max Elixir, or if you plan on reusing Togekiss after a Devolution Spray/Scoop Up Net.

Matchups & Counterplay

Turbo Fairy struggles against decks that prevent it from effectively using Mimikyu. In most cases, that includes decks that operate on attacks with unique conditions like Hydro Pump, or decks with high HP Pokémon that attack for less damage than they have HP. Luckily, these types of decks are usually setup dependent, which means a well timed Parallel City can really set them back. The best matchup for Turbo Fairy is easily Psychic Spread, which the deck is currently undefeated against. Thanks to Wonder Energy, the Turbo Fairy player gets to keep a Pokémon on the field that is immune to damage counters. Wonder Energy combined with a smart Scoop Up Net play makes it extremely difficult for Psychic Spread players to get enough damage counters on the field to effectively make use of Lunala/Dusknoir.

I'm still relatively new to GLC, but to my knowledge Fairy has been considered a joke in the community for a long time. I think I've conquered this common judgement after investing countless hours into building and refining Turbo Fairy. I won't claim the deck is top tier, but I can confidently say that it can compete with and win against the best decks in the format. If you've ever wanted to try Fairy in GLC give this list a shot, it's a lot of fun!

Deck List