Gengar C Article

So this past weekend I won Illinois States and the weekend before I got 4th place at Missouri States. I figured I’d share with everyone the deck I used and explain a little bit about it.

Gengar C

Pokémon
3 x Gastly
2 x Haunter
3 x Gengar
1 x Gengar LV.X
2 x Garchomp C
2 x Garchomp C LV.X
1 x Mewtwo
1 x Mewtwo LV.X
2 x Baltoy
2 x Claydol
1 x Uxie
1 x Uxie LV.X
1 x Crobat G
1 x Azelf
Trainer/Supporter/Stadium
4 x Cyrus’s Conspiracy
3 x Bebe’s Search
3 x Roseanne’s Research
1 x Palmer’s Contribution
1 x Luxury Ball
4 x Pokémon Communication
1 x SP-Radar
3 x Poké Turn
3 x Rare Candy
2 x Energy Gain
Energy
4 x Double Colorless – Special
4 x Call – Special
4 x P – Basic

You may take a look at this deck and think, “How in the world does this work, and what’s the point?” You wouldn’t be the first. The deck doesn’t have any inherent synergy or any special combo to it. This makes it seem a little weird, but let’s take a look at what some of the main cards do and it will begin to fall into place.

Gengar SF Stormfront 18Gengar
This card is pretty well known. One Psychic energy to put 3 damage counters on anything, or 6 damage counters if that Pokémon has a Poké-Power. Fainting Spell, its own Poké-Power, lets you flip a coin when it’s Knocked Out and take a prize if you get heads. Free retreat, 110 HP both make this a solid card.

Garchomp C LV.X
For three C energy it can do 80 damage to anything on the board. Since this is an Pokémon SP it can also take advantage of Energy Gain, reducing the energy cost to two C energy. If only there was an energy card that provided two C energy so that you could power up Garchomp C LV.X quickly… (hint: Double Colorless Energy).

Honestly that’s really it. I wanted to give Gengar another shot in this format. Gengar is such a good card on its own, but it just doesn’t have the attack power to be a deck by itself. What I had found from previously playing Gengar was that even just a mediocre secondary attacker was usually enough to pull the deck through when the game got tough. That, and the fact that you can cram a ton of stuff into a Gengar deck, since it doesn’t require a whole lot of resources.

I also wanted to do something with Garchomp C LV.X and DCE. The two cards just seemed too good to not play together. I was exploring the idea of a donking starter that would benefit from DCE, like Ambipom G, but I didn’t know what else to put in. I realized that Garchomp C LV.X didn’t need a lot of resources either, so I decided to combine the Gengar and Garchomp C LV.X deck into one.

I now had a pretty amazing attacking deck. On the first turn I could do 60 with Ambipom G, even before they got a turn. I could put 6 damage counters on anything that had a power, anywhere on the board. I could near instantly do 80 damage to anything on the board. I could attack anything, with either damage or effects, very quickly and with very little setup and energy. I found through testing though, that the Ambipom G weren’t needed, and thus they aren’t in the final list you see above.

Garchomp C LV.X Supreme Victors SV 145 Pokemon CardThe deck is very fast. Mostly because at any given point in the game you only need half your deck. It’s not necessary to have both Gengar and Garchomp C LV.X out at the same time. Just focus on whichever one you need for that match. The rest can be shuffled back in with Claydol or Pokémon Communication. Most decks have complicated strategies that rely on many different Pokémon to be in play together. With Gengar C, you just pick and choose what you get out.

You also win differently. Sure you take all 6 Prizes just like any other deck, but it’s the Pokémon you focus on that’s different. Most decks focus on taking out the opponents main attacker so they have nothing to retaliate with, but with Gengar C you just Knock Out anything you can attack, which is everything. Most of the time there are enough Uxie, Azelf, Claydol and other 80 HP or less Pokémon out, many with Poké-Powers, that you can take a prize every time you attack.

Sure you’re not hurting the thing that’s attacking you back, but you’ve put your opponent on a clock. They have to win the game in 6 turns or else you’re going to take all your prizes. Another reason you don’t have to always worry about the defending Pokémon is the you have Gengar’s Poké-Power, Fainting Spell. While you’re hitting their bench, they’re probably just hitting your active.

If that active happens to be a Gengar, then you’ll probably get to flip for Fainting Spell when it gets Knocked Out. Thus you could get even more prizes and even take out their attacker, all without attacking it.

There are plenty more tricks and details to the deck, but that’s a basic overview and a copy of the list I won Illinois States with. Feel free to discuss matchups and ask questions, and I’ll interject where I can with my own insights.

Reader Interactions

21 replies

  1. Ryan Graham

    This deck looks like a lot of fun to play, and could be very powerful at the same time. I wouldn't mind putting together my own list and playing this out. Thanks for the insight!

  2. Collan Baker

    I had actually thought about making a “Gengar C” deck a few months ago but just couldn't picture the two having any synergy…but apparently it doesn't need it. Great job in states!

  3. PokeMontoya

    Pokemon dont always need synergy to make a deck work. Ever hear of Intimidation? Here my issue after worlds 3 of the 4 of us who made the deck were playing it in the open play room late into the night and some guy says “Hey i thought of putting those 2 together but just didnt think they would work well together.” Come on now give the guy better credit than that. its very original I havent seen this idea whatsoever in any other report or post.

  4. PokeMontoya

    Congrats on the Idea and the win nice to see something different take on the format!

  5. Adam Capriola

    Creative deck! I wouldn't have guessed this would be able to take States.

    How much do you use the Uxie Lv.X? And I'm kinda surprised you can get away with only 3 Candy and no BTS.

    What kinds of decks did you play vs at states?

  6. Collan Baker

    Haha I wasn't commenting negatively, I was just saying that I didn't think the deck would work…but it obviously does. The following “Great job in states” should have given you a hint that it wasn't a negative comment.

  7. Collan Baker

    Haha I wasn't commenting negatively, I was just saying that I didn't think the deck would work…but it obviously does. The following “Great job in states” should have given you a hint that it wasn't a negative comment.

  8. rawreth

    Wow, amazing deck. It's so quick and because it's all sniping, it doesn't even need to do that much damage to get 6 prizes.

    Very great idea.

  9. Zachary Slater

    Yeah, I would take out the Uxie X. Just seems like too much of a hassle to get out as well as only having a 1-1 line.

    I'd max out the Rare Candy line for that card. Maybe add more Psychic Energy as well.

  10. JPN-Gallade

    Wow, so this is the very deck list that won Illinois States in the Masters Division? Wow, it is a very interesting build. It is also a very good deck list too. I really like it. You really described the deck in a very informative fashion. Thanks to this article, I think I can just already build that deck and play test it, as well as learn the strategy of it.

    Very well written article. I would also like to say congratulations to you for winning Illinois States with this deck. This deck just looks awesome!

  11. Zachary Slater

    Hmm… perhaps.

    I doubt it will be a popular build though because of first impressions.

  12. doeiqts

    The Uxie Lv.X isn't exactly needed, but it's nice when you get it out and it can take advantage of DCE. It's really nice if you start with Uxie.

  13. Michael Randolph

    Great job man, i once ran a build very similar to this during a local tournament because i wanted to dragon rush people whom always knocked out my claydol. It can work so well if you get the cards you need. I would drop the 1-1 mewtwo x line for metagross SV because he makes all your opponents Uxie's, Azelf's, Mesprits, and Claydols a OHKO with shadow room. Essentially that would make Gengar just as effective as Garchomp C if the opposing pokemon has a poke power.

  14. Nick

    Wow, someone at our league came up with a VERY similar deck on their own! They wanted to combine what they thought were some of the most post powerful cards in the format, initially as a joke, but it started doing very well and went undefeated in a dollar tournament this past Saturday. I like the creativity, and from what I've seen from the person at my league, it's surprisingly quite a good deck. Nice job!

  15. PokeMontoya

    Dude I must thank you for this My son ran it in Colorado and WON!!!! I get a free ride to nats because of your deck! The only change we made was we went to 2 uxie and no X. THANKS!!!

  16. PokeMontoya

    Dude I must thank you for this My son ran it in Colorado and WON!!!! I get a free ride to nats because of your deck! The only change we made was we went to 2 uxie and no X. THANKS!!!

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