GENGEIST (Gengar EX / Gourgeist)

[Wookiee Scholar]

Hello all! I am a newbie here, first post! I am not playing competitively (at least not yet), I just play against my son at home. He, on the other hand, does play somewhat competitively being part of a local league, playing in league challenges, and even talking his mother and I into taking him to Regionals in Philadelphia a couple of months ago. I know this is not a perfect deck, I am just looking for something fun to play against him. Any and all comments and suggestions are welcome!!!

Pokemon:

• 
  4 Joltik (PhF)
  4 Lampent (PhF)
  4 Pumpkaboo (PhF)
  2 Gourgeist (PhF)
  3 Gengar EX
  2 Celebi EX
  1 Malamar EX

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:

• 
  4 Juniper
  2 N
  2 Skyla
  2 Lysandre
  3 Battle Compressor
  2 Vs. Seeker
  2 Startling Megaphone
  2 Ultra Ball
  2 Float Stone
  2 Super Scoop Up
  1 Max Potion
  1 Escape Rope
  1 Sacred Ash
  2 Dimension Valley

Energy:

• 
  4 DCE
  4 Mystery Energy
  4 Rainbow Energy

Strategy:
The idea here is to use Gengar as the primary attacker early, while using a Gourgeist with a Rainbow (Grass) energy and a Float Stone as a high HP meat shield that still only provides one Prize Card, In the meantime, Night March Pokemon are being discarded to prepare for bigger end game attacks from whatever Night March attackers remain. Celebi is there to provide Gourgeist access to Night March, and Malamar is there simply to frustrate my opponent (just a tactic I personally enjoy).

Note: If it matters, my son runs a Pyroar/Charizard deck, a Plasma deck, a Virgen deck, and a Yveltal deck.

THANKS!!!

 

[Ironman131]

I would drop the 2 super scoop up, i would also drop the 2 float stones, and the sacred ash. I would drop the sacred ash because it hurts your nightmarch attacking. The mystery energy will be enough to retreat your pokemon. That opens up 5 spots. I would put in 1 Virizion EX, 2 more N, 1 Ultra ball, and 1 computer search or dowzing machine.

 

[Wookiee Scholar]

Ironman - thanks for the feedback. You are right about Sacred Ash, I didn't read it closely, thought it was "UP TO 5 Pokemon"...but alas it IS 5 Pokemon, and you are totally right, that is a big problem! Thanks!

 

[Luxiel]

You realize your list is a bait to a Joltik-only start, right? I would try to squeeze in 1 or 2 Pokémon Fan Club, just so you can get the right basics to hit while you focus on discarding the night-marchers.

 

[Wookiee Scholar]

Luxiel - I have had that happeen once already. Although, doesn't any Night March Deck run that risk?

 

[onionsaur]

Luxiel - I have had that happeen once already. Although, doesn't any Night March Deck run that risk?

True but something like fan club can help that. Also I liked the idea of having scoop ups because if you did have a joltik out you can scoop him up and discard him instead of losing a prize for him.

Or maybe 1-2 Cassius instead of scoop ups.

 

[Wookiee Scholar]

I like the idea of the Cassius, as I can then Battle Compressor Joltik into the discard pile.

I was thinking that maybe a couple of robo substitutes might be interesting in this deck. Might give me an extra round or two to get everything setup, and continues the theme of slowing my opponent from grabbing prize cards.

Thoughts?

 

[Luxiel]

Just remember they can't be used as starting pokémons. But they actually fit quite nicely with the theme.
Pokemon Fan Club and Scoops are really needed just so you can fix a Joltik only start. Running 17 basics, but making them 4 joltiks and 2 (!) Celebis is asking for a bad start.

My Ballista deck runs 1 voltorb and 1 exeggcute and I run into a bad start with them from time to time, I can only imagine how often bad starts will happen with a list like this without enough means to get out of it.

 

[Wookiee Scholar]

Sorry for what is probably a stupid question, but here goes:

Why is Celebi EX considered a bad start? I get the Joltik with its low HP, but Celebi has a reasonable amount of HP and a low retreat cost, so while it is far from the optimal start I thought it was serviceable... :-(

Thanks for your suggestions, I appreciate the feedback!

 

[Gengar master]

Sorry for what is probably a stupid question, but here goes:

Why is Celebi EX considered a bad start? I get the Joltik with its low HP, but Celebi has a reasonable amount of HP and a low retreat cost, so while it is far from the optimal start I thought it was serviceable... :-(

Thanks for your suggestions, I appreciate the feedback!

No stupid questions. I believe Celebi EX is a bad start because without using a switch/escape rope, you have to waste an energy attachment for the turn just to retreat it.

 

[Mora]

That and it's a very frail EX. 110 isn't too hard to hit if you aren't able to get it out of the Active spot.

 

[Kecleon-X]

^ To expound upon this, you might not even want to go the Gourgeist route that game, and if you start Celebi, you have essentially a free two prizes for an opponent with a Lysandre and the ability to deal enough damage.

Hm. Looking at your list, I might consider using less Gengar EX and dropping the Malamar EX to focus more on consistency, like VS Seeker and Battle Compressor. Keep in mind that you can also run one-of Supporters (Pokemon Fan Club and Iris come to mind) and Battle Compressor them away, only to VS Seeker them when needed. It's a really awesome thing that I think you might want to take a look into. As for changes I would make with any solid number, I have these that I might recommend:

-2 Gengar EX (I actually like the idea of using at least one of these in this, as you can make some math easier with the rest of the Night March blokes.)
-1 Malamar EX (Both of these are for reasons aforementioned)
-1 Celebi EX (It's rather frail and it can be a bad start if you don't want to go the Gourgeist route.)
-2 Float Stone (To be explained further on in this message)
-1 Sacred Ash (You would be putting your source of damage output back in the deck. If your opponent runs Lysandre's Trump Card, they're going to be using that to stall you out, anyway, so I don't usually find the need to run cards like these. Although, if you do want to, I might consider using Max Revive or something of the sort if need be.)
-4 Rainbow Energy (You won't need them if you drop the Malamar, especially since you won't be feasibly attacking with Celebi EX, though I can say that I have legitimately used my Rush In Keldeo EX to win a game before. It felt odd.)

Here's what I would add in:

+1 Battle Compressor (Consistency, and removing clutter from your deck. Consider the following: If your deck is filled with clutter, just what would you draw? These aren't just used for getting rid of Night Marchers! I find these are extremely useful in even Stage 2 decks.)
+2 VS Seeker (Consistency. It's really impressive, especially since you can Compressor Supporters into the Discard Pile to snag them with VS Seeker.)
+2 Ultra Ball (Consistency and the ability to discard Night Marchers from your hand.)
+2 Dimensional Valley (Consistency, seeing as you primarily want to attack with Pumpkaboo, yes? With this, rest assured, you will be able to set up quickly. If you find they clutter up the deck too much, you can simply Battle Compressor them away.)
+3 Silver Bangle / Muscle Band (More damage. If you find that you want to attack with Gengar aside from his first attack, then you can change these to Muscle Band to accommodate him.)
+1 Switch / Escape Rope (Switch might be better for you considering the fact that you might want to knock things out in one hit, and that usually means the thing in the active spot. You don't need Float Stone because you're going to be using Mystery Energy, so you won't have to spend all that much to retreat. In fact, you can simply attach a Mystery Energy to Gourgeist and discard it for the Retreat Cost. 'Tis why I say remove Float Stone for these.)