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Roar of the Haunted (Gengar EX / Pyroar)

My Little Keldeo

Submarine Reflection!
Advanced Member
Member
Pokemon: (13)

  • 2 Gengar-EX (PHF)
    3-3 Pyroar (FLF)
    1 Sigilyph (DRX/LTR)
    2-1 Dragalge (FLF)
    1 Wobuffet (PHF)
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: (35)

  • 4 Professor Sycamore
    4 N
    2 Colress
    1 Lysandre
    2 Blacksmith
    2 Diemension Valley
    2 Virbank City Gym
    3 Ultra Ball
    3 Robo Substitute
    3 Muscle Band
    3 Float Stone
    2 VS Seeker
    1 Starling Megaphone
    1 Escape Rope
    1 Professor's Letter
    1 Computer Search ACE SPEC
Energy: (12)

  • 4 Basic Pyschic Energy
    5 Basic Fire Energy
    3 Double Colorless Energy

Strategy:

The basic strategy of this deck is to use Gengar-EX's Dark Corridor attack to damage and poison your opponent's active Pokemon, then switch into a locker that best resists that Pokemon or has immunity. You can also use Gengar's Night Attack to pick off weakened Pokemon that escaped with little health left. This is best reserved for a late game play however.

We have a nice selection of locking Pokemon to choose from. Pyroar and Robo Substitute are our preferred walls, as the former can't be damaged by most commonly played Pokemon, and the latter stops the opponent from taking a prize. In addition, I'm running Sigilyph as another anti-EX option, particularly for dealing with Mega Evolutions. Lastly, Wobuffet can lock an opponent out of Abilities, thus giving it all around utility. Since we're constantly shifting Gengar to the bench, this is pretty easy to pull off. I feel like much of the time there simply isn't a need to hold a particular Pokemon in the active slot, since Dark Corrdor can realistically two-shot almost any Pokemon when you factor in poison, Virbank, and Muscle Band. Your main attacker is relatively safe unless your opponent wants to waste a Lysandre.

Pyroar also has a secondary function: countering VirGen, as well as Metal. These are arguably two of the deck's worst matchups. Verdant Wind and Steel Shelter prevent the Pokemon in these decks from being poisoned, which significantly reduces Gengar's offensive power. Fortunately, these two decks have something else in common: they rely on basic Pokemon to do their dirty work and are weak to fire. In these matchups, Pyroar steps into the attacking role, but there's no penalty in running a thick line, since it's hardly dead weight in other matchups . This is also why I decided to go with Pyroar over Trevenant.

The matchup I can see hurting the most is Seismitoad. I'm not sure exactly how popular the Toad is going be in the future, but I see some obvious synergy with Garbodor and the Flare Hyper Gear. There's nothing in this deck that is absolutely wrecked by Toad, but a moderate amount of disruption can keep it from setting up.

Edit: List modififed to reflect changes from playtesting.
 

Elbow

Klinklang V Plz
Member
I honestly don't think Dimensional valley is needed here. If you can attack with Gengar EX for a psychic and a DCE, which takes 2 energy cards, whats the help of the Dimensional valley? It is sort of helpful with the sigilpyh and the wobbuffet, but honestly you don't attack with those pokemon too often. I'd make it a 2-2 or even a 1-3 Valley to Virbank line. If you're playing pyroar or donphan safeguarders, you'll need the poison more then the energy attachment.
Also the rainbow would be better for something else, like more draw or energy...probably another bike or skyla.
I think you can drop the letter for a psychic energy. You don't run a skyla to search for the letter, so I think with the small energy line it will be much better.
I think you'll need a recovery card in this deck, so either a sacred ash, energy retrieval (for pyroar), or Lysandres Last Resort could replace an escape rope. You run 7 switches already with the float stone and the robo substitutes.
No blacksmith?
 

GadgetJax

Traveling Storyteller and Card Faker
^
|

No, I think you should keep the Dimension Valley. Those basic P Energy cards can't be discarded by enhanced hammer, which will ruin the format with the help of the 'toad. Gengar can now attack with P C. Wobbuffet, if needed to attack, can hit for P, and Sigilyph can use Psychic for P C. Though, be careful. Being a Stadium card, it can be difficult to keep yours in play, especially with Virbank, Fighting Stadium, Shadow Circle, and Training Center all being popular right now.
 

My Little Keldeo

Submarine Reflection!
Advanced Member
Member
Dimension Valley's come in handy several times during playtesting. i actually started with only Virbanks then added the Dimension Valleys because they drastically reduced my reliance on special energy. Even if the card were to only last one turn before being replaced, I can (theoretically) attach another energy next turn to not have to depend on it. I also like having the one Virbank in case I do need to boost Gengar's damage a bit. Enhanced Hammer is going to see a lot of play, and Xerosic to a lesser extent, so the less one needs to rely on special energy, the better.

As for Blacksmith, it was literally the 61st card" that ended up being cut, and ever since I have regretted not being able to squeeze one (or two) in. In retrospect though, I've found myself hardly using Xerosic, and it doesn't really contribute do the deck's strategy. I envisioned it as a Seismitoad counter, but always found myself chucking it away. I wouldn't even replace it with Enhanced Hammer for that reason, but putting a Blacksmith in is definitely tempting. I'm considering a pair of Skyla or two as well (I could probably get away with one thanks to VS Seeker) to pull out Stadiums and whatnot as needed. I might drop the bike altogether.

I ended up taking Trump Card out because I wasn't using it, and I was afraid of recyling my opponent's Hammers and other resources. I've never been in a situation where I've had to recover Pokemon, but Energy Retrieval is worth considering.

Thanks for the input! I'll play with the list a little more tonight.
 

Elbow

Klinklang V Plz
Member
With only 4 psychic energy cards you wont get the full effect of dimension valley. Lets say you attach 2 psychic energies to both of your gengar EXs, then you don't have anything to attach to another gengar EX, sigilyph or wobbuffet. Lets say you attach 1 fire and 1 psychic instead, then you'll reduce the odds of surprise attacking your opponent with pyroar. And with only 3 DCEs, if your opponent out-stadiums you, then your DCEs will have to be put on ineffectively.
I really think you need more energies here, maybe more stadiums, and a dowsing machine over comp search.
 

Talkingcat

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I totally love this deck concept.

I experimented with this deck list a few times, and have some questions:

- Why 2 Gengar EX and not 3? I get that Gengar doesn't get KO'd that often because he is retreating behind those walls, but he's just a Mewtwo and a Lysandre away from a 1HKO. If the other Gengar is prized, the centrepiece of the strategy is gone.
- Consider 2 Sigilyph? With Mega-Manectric and possibly Mega-Gengar around, this could be extremely useful. With it playing a huge role potentially, risk of getting prized seems worth trying to reduce.
- How about PUF Pyroar in one the Pyroar slots? I tested this earlier and it was very helpful for dragging out the Pokemon I wanted to hit. Very useful synergy with blacksmith, obviously.
 

PkmnTrainerRed

Top 8 Trainer
Member
Talkingcat said:
I totally love this deck concept.

I experimented with this deck list a few times, and have some questions:

- Why 2 Gengar EX and not 3? I get that Gengar doesn't get KO'd that often because he is retreating behind those walls, but he's just a Mewtwo and a Lysandre away from a 1HKO. If the other Gengar is prized, the centrepiece of the strategy is gone.
- Consider 2 Sigilyph? With Mega-Manectric and possibly Mega-Gengar around, this could be extremely useful. With it playing a huge role potentially, risk of getting prized seems worth trying to reduce.
- How about PUF Pyroar in one the Pyroar slots? I tested this earlier and it was very helpful for dragging out the Pokemon I wanted to hit. Very useful synergy with blacksmith, obviously.
I definetly agree. Also I think if he is going to have the walls he could add in a Latias EX or an Aegislash EX
 

Talkingcat

Aspiring Trainer
Member
PkmnTrainerRed said:
I definetly agree. Also I think if he is going to have the walls he could add in a Latias EX or an Aegislash EX

Actually I picked up a Latias EX to test with this. With fire and psychic in the deck already it is a lot less clunky to run it.

I have no idea how useful it will be though. You are already running a bunch of Pyroar so can take out Pyroars. And better than Latias EX does. - 60 + discard + muscle band hits the magic number, whereas Latias EX attack is only 70, which even with a muscle band won't 1HKO Pyroar *or* Suicune.

Bright down is an interesting ability. Quite a few popular or reasonably popular attackers have abilities- e.g. Virizon EX, Genesect EX (unless it has G-Booster), Darkrai EX, Dragonite EX, Malamar EX, Aegislash EX and Mew EX, plus of course Pyroar and the Safeguards. But with Sigilyph and Pyroar you are very well protected against those already. So what it really gives you is protection against evolved attackers with abilities- but really there aren't many or indeed any that are that popular these days. Off the top of my head there is only really Empoleon, that still sees some play. Could be great against a rogue deck that pulls off some implausible attacks with a stage 1 or 2, I suppose.
 
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