Standard Gengar / Crobat: A Match Made in Troll Heaven

[Anthony Orosco]

So I recently dismantled my old Fairy deck, and I thought "Hey! I really need to make a deck that is not only good, but REALLY trolly!" When I talked about what I was planning to do with all of the people I meet with at my local cardshop/Pokemon League, I was greeted with the biggest eye-rolls and sighs of all time. So, after doing a little trading and research I finally have my first draft!

-Pokemon-

• 3x Zubat 30/83 Generations
• 3x Golbat 31/83 Generations
• 3x Crobat 33/119 Phantom Forces
• 3x Gastly 33/83 Generations
• 3x Haunter 34/83 Generations
• 3x Gengar 60/162 Break Through
• 2x Remoraid 32/162 Break Through
• 2x Sushi Master, er, I mean Octillary 33/162 Break Through

-Trainers-

• 4x Dimension Valley
• 4x Ultra Ball
• 3x Lysandre
• 3x Professor Birch's Observation
• 3x Teammates
• 3x Brigette
• 3x Level Ball
• 2x Sacred Ash (With your main attacker being only 130 base HP, this card can really save your... ash?)
• 2x VS Seeker
• 2x Super Scoop Up
• 2x Professor Sycamore
• 1x Rare Candy
• 1x Wally
• 1x Town Map

-Energy-

• 6x Psychic Energy

So the strategy for this deck is to put damage all over the field with the bats, then Gengar can swoop in with Creep Show for the Insta-Kill. Crobat has no retreat cost, and neither does Gengar so if needed Crobat can take the active position to put 30 damage on anyone. Assuming a Dimension Valley is out, you can use Skill Dive for free and Creep Show for 1 Psychic Energy which is why there is only 6 total Energy. With Crobats ability to put the minimum damage needed for Creep Show on any Pokemon, no Pokemon is safe. Please let me know whatever you think this deck could utilize to become faster or stronger!

 

[Master Golurk]

Have you tested this deck out yet? If so, did you find any difficulties getting 2 separate stage 2 pokemon into play?

 

[Not Cool!]

I've seen a couple decks like this on tcgone, albeit I haven't been on in a while.

-3 Birch. No need for it when you can just N.

-1 Lysandre. If you run a ton of VS Seeker, you won't need three. But if you're not running 4 VS Seeker, you're doing it wrong.

-2 Teammates. No real need for Teammates when Level Ball can grab most of your goodies.

-1 Town Map. You don't really need it. Night March plays Town Map because some Night Marchers or DCEs (with most lists just running DCEs and that's it) that are crucial to winning the game. You have a beefy 3-3-3 line of Stage 2s as it is, so you don't really need it.

-2 Brigette. Too much searching with not enough basics. You only have 8 basics, why 9 Brigette? Besides, you can just Level Ball those basics.


+3 any combination of N/Shauna. Most people swear by N, but this deck can get kills pretty fast.

+1 Rare Candy. Consistency issues. (note: Golbat and Crobat don't work with Rare Candy or Wally)

+1 Wally. Say you have a Gastly out t1. Evolve into Haunter t2 using game mechanic, then use up Wally to evolve into Gengar t2.

+2 VS Seeker. Reuse your old Supporters. Need a Lysandre you just used? He can do that. Fresh hand? Grab Sycamore or Shauna.

+2 Psychic Energy. If you can't find DValley or Giratina shows up and blocks your Stadium, your Gengar needs two Psychic Energy to start hunting.

Consider adding Pokemon Catcher, but I can't really help with finding a place for it.

 

[Anthony Orosco]

Have you tested this deck out yet? If so, did you find any difficulties getting 2 separate stage 2 pokemon into play?

I have proxied the few cards I don't have, and so far besides one match against a Banette that wouldn't let me evolve (Rude...) I didn't have a lot of trouble.

 

[Anthony Orosco]

I've seen a couple decks like this on tcgone, albeit I haven't been on in a while.

-3 Birch. No need for it when you can just N.

-1 Lysandre. If you run a ton of VS Seeker, you won't need three. But if you're not running 4 VS Seeker, you're doing it wrong.

-2 Teammates. No real need for Teammates when Level Ball can grab most of your goodies.

-1 Town Map. You don't really need it. Night March plays Town Map because some Night Marchers or DCEs (with most lists just running DCEs and that's it) that are crucial to winning the game. You have a beefy 3-3-3 line of Stage 2s as it is, so you don't really need it.

-2 Brigette. Too much searching with not enough basics. You only have 8 basics, why 9 Brigette? Besides, you can just Level Ball those basics.


+3 any combination of N/Shauna. Most people swear by N, but this deck can get kills pretty fast.

+1 Rare Candy. Consistency issues. (note: Golbat and Crobat don't work with Rare Candy or Wally)

+1 Wally. Say you have a Gastly out t1. Evolve into Haunter t2 using game mechanic, then use up Wally to evolve into Gengar t2.

+2 VS Seeker. Reuse your old Supporters. Need a Lysandre you just used? He can do that. Fresh hand? Grab Sycamore or Shauna.

+2 Psychic Energy. If you can't find DValley or Giratina shows up and blocks your Stadium, your Gengar needs two Psychic Energy to start hunting.

Consider adding Pokemon Catcher, but I can't really help with finding a place for it.

That sounds reasonable, I don't have 4 VS Seekers I can put in but that will be my new top priority. The relatively low amount of energy was a slight problem, so I was already thinking of putting in more energy so you just laid my doubts to rest. All of your suggestions have been super helpful, thanks for your advice!