VileGar: Teched and Loaded

Hey guys, Peter Bae once again to talk to you about the deck VileGar. I know probably half of you are tired of articles on VileGar, but lately it’s been losing popularity with the rise of Machamp Prime, Gyarados, DialgaChomp, and the ever popular LuxChomp. However, I’m here to talk to you about VileGar and how it can be teched outside of its mainstream decklist to bring you to a higher playing level.

So VileGar… What is it?

Flying coach is only temporary. Prepare for a first class deck!

VileGar is a newly-introduced deck with the release of the set Undaunted and basically the only new “top tier” deck that came out within the past few months. It was considered godly back then because of Vileplume’s everlasting Trainer-lock with the Poké-Body “Allergy Flower”, which would build up Trainer counts in your opponent’s hand so one can use Gengar SF’s “Poltergeist” for a ridiculous amount of damage. Because of this amazing synergy, it received a huge amount of hype, but it slowly died down due to the results it gave.

Despite having topped in numerous Battle Roads, it did not win half the time. Instead, the deck that stood out among all was DialgaChomp. Due to this, the Blaziken FB LV.X tech became huge, lowering the popularity of VileGar further, especially with Blaziken FB LV.X also being a great counter to Vileplume. Not to mention the fact that the deck is incredibly slow and if you did not get the initial Spiritomb start, it usually leads to a lost match.

So how is VileGar going to prove itself to be a top tier deck and be on that dreadful list of Top 5 or Top 4 decklists? Well, first of all, the new set Triumphant came out with bunch of Supporters and Pokémon that could help VileGar to prove itself to be a top tier deck. So let’s get talking!

Potential Techs

Twins
This is possibly the best Rupporter for VileGar ever introduced. Twins allows you to grab any 2 cards from your deck when you are down in prizes. This has proven itself to be amazing in VileGar. Players tend to sacrifice their Spiritomb for a faster set up. 99% of the time you will be down in prizes because of your Spiritomb and the incredibly slow set up, thereby allowing you to use Twins to its maximum potential.

Rescue Energy
I think this is a must for all VileGar decks. This was also introduced in Triumphant and has proven itself to be a very good card in VileGar so far. It is a special energy that provides 1 C energy. The best part about this card is that when your Pokémon with Rescue Energy attached is Knocked Out by damage from an attack, the whole Pokémon line will go to your hand rather than the discard pile. This results in instant recovery of your Gengar SF, allowing you to abuse “Fainting Spell” to its maximum potential. Also, with Twin, this is easily searchable.

pokebeach.comSeeker
Seeker is one of those cards that can be sprinkled into every deck and find a very good use in any way possible. It works especially well with VileGar, in my opinion. First of all, when I play VileGar with all my techs, I feel that my bench space is always too full to put it to good use, so I use Seeker to pick up Pokémon such as Azelf or Uxie to reuse or to put down my tech Pokémon to turn the tide of the match. Also, I’ve been recently working on a very cool deck idea where I use Seeker to pick up my Vileplume to give me a free turn of Trainers than put it all back down with Broken Time-Space. Sure it hasn’t been very successful to the point where it is competitive, but it’s a fun idea you can use.

Seeker can also be used for donks. Another use is to swap out your Gengar for a different Gengar. You know your opponent has a Luxray GL LV.X, Dialga G LV.X, or Garchomp C LV.X in hand (or other vital Pokémon cards)? You can Seeker your other Gengar on the bench (as you will usually have 2), then drop down a Gengar Prime instead. Attach, retreat, then send the Pokémon in hand to the Lost Zone! Seeker brings much versatility to VileGar, which could bring it to top tier.

Darkrai & Cresselia LEGEND
This is personally my most favorite tech from Triumphant. I talked about it in one of the Card of the Day articles, but, if you missed it, I’ll briefly talk about it here. Basic stats are pretty average: 150 HP, 2 Retreat Cost, x2 weakness to Fighting and Psychic, no resistance, and your opponent taking 2 Prizes when it is KO’d, which is horrible.

So why tech this card? Well, because of the attack “Moon’s Invite”. Surprisingly, for a LEGEND, it carries a 1 energy attack. For 1 P Energy, you can redistribute any number of damage counters on your opponent’s board in any way you like. This means that you can easily get 2~3 knockouts by moving damage counters from your opponent’s damage Pokémon, or move a lot of damage counters to 1 tank Pokémon to Knock it Out. I’ve pulled this off many times, especially where I was able to Knock Out 2 Uxie and 1 Azelf for the game. It is quite fun and worth a try. The drawback, however, is the 2 Prize giveaway, but with Seeker and Warp Energy, it should be no problem.

pokegym.netGengar Prime
Haha. Seems like a no-brainer, but still most people are sticking to just Gengar from Stormfront. I see no reason why you shouldn’t play Gengar Prime as a tech even with the Lost World missing. This one card can bring you so many different options to the deck that I believe it is vital to run it. First of all, the stats are equal to or better than all the other Gengar right now. It has an additional 20 HP, so a total of 130 HP, the same -20 Colorless resistance, and a horrible x2 Dark weakness. His Poké-Body is pretty good because, when Gengar is active and you KO your opponent’s Pokémon, the Pokémon is sent to the Lost Zone. This is a great disruption as you could bring a Pokémon close to death with your Stormfront Gengar, than use Gengar Prime to Knock it Out, thus removing it from the game.

The main reason I believe Gengar Prime should be teched in every VileGar is because of his first attack, “Hurl into Darkness”. As I stated above, it can be used primarily with Seeker for that element of surprise to catch them off guard and Lost Zone their Pokémon from the hand, or just plop it on to the bench, load it up, and send it up at the same time. His second attack also combos very nicely with Gengar LV.X. “Cursed Drop” lets you distribute 4 damage counters to your opponent’s board in any way you like. This can be used to KO your opponent’s Gengar SF to avoid “Fainting Spell” or to set up for the “Compound Pain” spread strategy.

The 1/1/1/1
This is a crazy idea that I once came up with and had some success with, and it is worth looking into. What I mean by 1/1/1/1 is 1 Stormfront Gengar, 1 Arceus Gengar, 1 Gengar Prime, and 1 Gengar LV.X. Yes, it does sound ridiculous, but it works quite well. It gives amazing versatility to the deck at the cost of consistency. Stormfront Gengar is primarily used for “Poltergeist” and “Shadow Room” snipes (basically the your power house).

You can bench your Arceus Gengar to use “Curse” to 1-shot knockout your opponent’s Azelf and Uxie with “Shadow Room” as “Curse” lets you move 1 damage counter to any of your opponent’s Pokémon (not from your Pokémon though). Also, it is used as your secondary attacker, dealing 60 and an additional 10 damage to a benched Pokémon, then switching out with “Shadow Skip”. Gengar Prime is used for disruption with “Hurl into Darkness” and to combo with the Arceus Gengar. After using “Shadow Skip” with the Arceus Gengar, you can switch in your Gengar Prime, and, if your “Shadow Skip” Knocks Out a Pokémon, that Pokémon will be sent to the Lost Zone instead because your Gengar Prime is now active.

Gengar LV.X is used for “Level-Down” to counter Dialga G LV.X and to just have a lower HP target to deal with if they are a LV.X Pokémon. However, it is very much possible and viable to drop the Gengar LV.X for another Gengar SF for more consistency.

Conclusion

I know that there are many more techs that can be used for VileGar; however, I wanted to go over the newer techs that have just been introduced, which can bring VileGar to top tier. I really do believe that, with the perfect amount of techs, VileGar is a force that shouldn’t be overlooked. Despite the recent drop in popularity because of the lack of Battle Road wins, I believe that VileGar will be a strong contender with the amount of versatility and the consistency boost it has received, and can compete on an equal level with all other top tier decks.

Reader Interactions

29 replies

  1. dunnod

    People will disagree with the Gengar Prime but I personally believe its a very good tech. I mean its like hitting a heads on a Cyrus Initiative, except they won’t ever get the card back. It sets up for Shadow Room kills and opens up the avenue for a spreading strategy. It adds a disruption aspect to the deck. Not only will people want to get rid of T/S/S from their hand, they also would want to get rid of Pokemon out of their hand too :P

  2. dunnod

    People will disagree with the Gengar Prime but I personally believe its a very good tech. I mean its like hitting a heads on a Cyrus Initiative, except they won’t ever get the card back. It sets up for Shadow Room kills and opens up the avenue for a spreading strategy. It adds a disruption aspect to the deck. Not only will people want to get rid of T/S/S from their hand, they also would want to get rid of Pokemon out of their hand too :P

  3. Peter Bae

    Oh my god.. I knew I forgot somethhing really really important that I should have added… Cyrus’s Initiative… DAMMIT! :(

  4. Matthew Tidman

    I’ve been running the Gengar Prime since I pulled it at a prerelease and I have to say it’s one of the best techs against Dialga G Lv.X as you can use Hurl Into Darkness to Lost Zone it before your opponent can level up his or her Dialga G. Hadn’t even considered running the CurseGar, though, even though Curse and Shadow Skip both have a lot of synergy with Gengar Prime.

    • Peter Bae  → Reynolds

      lol thank you :D I’m really sorry that I couldn’t bring this article in to non Triumphant tech. I was thinking all night and I knew I was missing a whole bunch of cards and than I saw today and was like CRAP this is what I forgot… so.. i’ll just let you know some of em XD

      Ditto LA (great against mirror)
      Umbreon UD (great against mirror)
      Cyrus’s Initiative (Really good mid-Late game when your set up and have no reason to play any supporters, so why not play something useful xD)
      Mewtwo Lv.X (helps SP Match up)
      Toxicroak G Promo (owns Luxray GL Lv.X, you already run psychic XD)

  5. Travis Yeary

    Gengar Prime + Lv.X = Multiple pokemon a turn being sent to the lost zone per turn via compound pain. I’ve won some matches with that before

  6. Perry Going

    you didnt mention an umbreon tech… but nice article. my vilegar is very teched out.
    a few techs you could have mentioned:
    ditto la
    spiritomb TM
    gliscor UD
    mewtwo Lv X
    mismagius UD
    toxicroak g promo

    • Peter Bae  → Perry

      It was pretty late when I was writing this article and somehow was stuck with all these tech options other than liek 1 or 2 cards taht everyone knows. So I decided to put out some newer cards from triumphant that can bring VileGar to tier 1 XD however, if my brain was functioning properly, I would have mentioned cards such as
      Ditto LA
      Ditto TM
      Cyrus’s Initiative
      Mewtwo Lv.X
      Toxicroak G
      and more

  7. thomas clip

    My VileGar build has 1 Gengar Prime and 3 of both Twins and Seeker… Has helped me a lot so far!

    • Peter Bae  → thomas

      thats awesome :D have you tried pairing it up with Curse Gengar? :P the 1/1/1 build xD or I call it destiny cloud fist (for this Starcraft 2 fans *huskystarcraft*) lol. Despite the loss in little consistency if you go with 1/1/1, the amount of options it opens up is just amazing

      • thomas clip  → Peter

        No I have not been using your 1-1-1-1 thing, but maybe that would help… I have been having a lot of trouble against DialgaChomp though, any thoughts?

        • Peter Bae  → thomas

          DGX has always been a troublesome match up.. even a DGX tech lol XD. However, running 1/1/1/1 seems to have been a very good choice of “tech” for DGX. Curse Gar, SF Gengar will snipe around their Uxie and Azelf for easy prizes. You ccan drop the LvX, than level down their DGX, and knock out dialga G with Gengar (assuming it’s active). Than seeker one of your bench spots, or just any Gengar, bust out your Gengar PRime and Lost Zone DGX, assuming he did not see your Gengar Prime and just got the DGX for the next turn.

  8. John Rea

    “This is possibly the best Rupporter for VileGar ever introduced”. LOL

  9. tim h

    ‘Twins
    This is possibly the best Rupporter for VileGar ever introduced. ‘ Typo

    ‘Aso, with Twin, this is easily searchable.’ typo (twins not twin)

  10. tim h

    ‘Twins
    This is possibly the best Rupporter for VileGar ever introduced. ‘ Typo

    ‘Aso, with Twin, this is easily searchable.’ typo (twins not twin)

  11. Anonymous

    The three most important cards in VileGar besides the main pokemon are:

    1) Rescue Energy – You must play three. Fainting Spell alone is worth having Gengar out, even if you don’t attack.
    2) Seeker – You must play atleast two. “PokeTurn” your crobats/damaged Gengars.
    3) Crobat G – Takes atleast two prizes a game.

    Cards not needed:

    1) Twins – You should be fast enough. I can’t find space to even sacrifice for this waste.
    2) Gengar Prime – Bleh. No thanks. 2 SF Gengars is NOT consistant.

    • Peter Bae  → Anonymous

      Seriously, I understand your point of view, but I don’t like uptight players like you who won’t try different builds regardless of consistency to figure out different variation of the deck. Trying different tech ideas are definite must in building a top tier deck, and all the choices I mentioned + others mentioned in the comment sections are well worth being put in to the VileGar deck. I mentioned the consistency Problems with running 2 Gengar SF, and using all 3 Gengars, but the benefits of it too. Thanks for your suggestion. If you really want to be the best of the best player, you should prob start testing out different techs. Just a suggestion. I prob don’t have the right to say this, but I’m sure many top players agree

      • Anonymous  → Peter

        I tech all the time. I know how to do it. I’ve played competively on and off for 6-7 years. You should check out my DialgaChomp list (1-2 Drifblim line UD and SF, Froslass GL). I took two 2nd places with it at BR and it’s a ridiculous list.

        I just ran my VileGar build at a cities and went 4-1. It works. And I’ve tried the prime. Fainting Spell is just too good to pass up.

        So the moral of lesson is, you aren’t a master at this game and i’m not either, we are probably equal, don’t judge someone you don’t know.

        P.S. Lol @ Gengar 1-1-1-1 line

        • Anonymous  → Anonymous

          I changed my mind after reading your DialgaChomp BR article. Hell of an original teched out list bro. I am better than you.

        • Peter Bae  → Anonymous

          woops for the late reply. Im not gonna go on a hissy fit on whose better or not.. If you read a lot of my DialgaChomp articles, I never really went in to teching the list, but want it to get it as consistent as possible because I expected to see many VileGar. Sometimes, teching out your deck is not better than getting the most consistent build

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