In the 2008-2009, the metagame early in the year was pretty centralized – with only 6 sets to choose from (DP-LA), Kingdra and AMU had emerged as the top contenders, both being dominant at the local level, while also placing highly at Regionals. Then, November 2008 brought the release of a set that would completely flip the metagame upside down – DP Stormfront. Stormfront featured SEVERAL cards (Dusknoir, Magnezone, Raichu Lv. X, Machamp, Gyarados, Regigigas Lv. X to name just a few) that were extremely hyped and had potential to be top tier-archetypes. Among these cards was Gengar – a card that was perfect for a format that relied so heavily on Poke-Powers to draw cards rather than Supporters. Several cards would be released in later sets to help support Gengar in its quest to punish opponents for relying on Uxie and Claydol to keep their decks consistent. But which version of Gengar was the best? Theory didn’t really pan out in practice this year, and several different Gengar variations saw results at all levels of tournament. Let’s take a look at a few of these archetypes from 2009, and the wide array of tech cards that Gengar had at its disposal.
Contents
- Tournament Placings and Notable Decklists
- Skeleton List
- What the Tech?
- Historical decks vs Modern recommendations
- Conclusion
Tournament Placings and Notable Decklists
City Championships came right after the release of Stormfront, and the metagame in my local area was pretty interesting. While I’m not sure if this happened around the country, in Wisconsin, Gengar flew under the radar in favor of some of the more flashy cards out of Stormfront – Dusknoir and Regigigas in particular. Kingdra and AMU saw a lot of play as well – Kingdra was extraordinarly consistent, and very straightforward to play, while the best counters for AMU had not yet been printed. Gengar was a strong as well, but it was definitely missing something – it could struggle to get the last few damage counters on Uxie and Claydol, and couldn’t quite KO them with Shadow Room. Fainting Spell was still a powerful ability, though, and had the potential to steal a lot of games.
Platinum base came in February, and gave Gengar many of the strengths it needed to succeed – some in ways that weren’t expected. While the SP decks that emerged were generally comprised of only SP pokemon, Crobat G was a nifty tech that saw play in a lot of different decks for the next three years. Gengar arguably made even better use of it than the SP decks did – Shadow Room came 10 short of KOing Uxie, and 20 short of KOing Claydol. One Crobat and/or one PokeTurn were all you needed to solve that problem. Gengar now had an easy way of cutting off the opponent’s draw support early in the match, while Fainting Spell could often pad the lead. In addition, SP decks typically ran a much higher count of item cards than other decks, which made Gengar’s Poltergeist a much more reliable source of damage. Even non-SP decks that ran Crobat G were also making cuts to fit in 3 or 4 PokeTurns.
After Gengar had clearly made a name for itself at the front of the metagame, the counterplay started to take effect. Unown G – an uncommon from Great Encounters – started getting slotted into basically every deck. It had a unique ability where it could attach itself as a pokemon tool to any of your pokemon, and protect them from any effects of an attack other than damage. Because Gengar’s Shadow Room attack reads “Place 3 damage counters” not “do 30 damage,” Unown G would protect the opponent, and it became easier to keep their draw engines alive (SP decks also appreciated this card because it protected their unevolved pokemon from Machamp’s Take Out attack.) This format also did not have a Windstorm or Tool Scrapper that could easily remove Pokemon Tool cards, so playing around Unown was practically impossible for Gengar by itself.
Many decks also started running extra ways to get around the effects of Fainting Spell, which only triggered when Gengar was KO’d by damage from an attack. Skuntank G was fairly common, as poison would KO Gengar between turns and get around the Poke-Power. Crobat G was an additional way decks could get around the harmful ability. Rising Rivals was the May set this year, and Nidoqueen was immediately seen as an all-star in Gengar decks. The Maternal comfort Poke-body allowed Gengar to play around effects like Poison and Crobat G, and it gave Gengar a solid source of damage that didn’t rely on the opponent having Trainer cards in their hand. This version of Gengar was probably the most hyped going into the end of the season, and saw a lot of play at Nationals and Worlds – although it didn’t get the results it was looking for. Here are some lists that performed well at high-level events.
| Pokemon | Trainers | Energy |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Gengar 2 Haunter 4 Gastly 2 Nidoqueen 1 Nidorina 2 Nidoran 2 Claydol 2 Baltoy 2 Unown G 2 Crobat G 2 Uxie | 4 Roseanne’s Research 4 Bebe’s Search 2 Looker’s Investigation 4 Rare Candy 4 Poké Turn 2 Warp Point 1 Night Maintenance 1 Luxury Ball 3 Broken Time-Space | 4 Call Energy 6 Psychic Energy |
Gengar/Nidoqueen, also known as “MotherGar” was the hottest deck on the block at the time in my division (seniors). It also saw a lot of hype alongside SP variations in the upper divisions, but it fell pretty flat. The best result it achieved was a Top 16 finish at the World Championships. Nidoqueen saw a lot of excitement because it not only had a strong attack, but the poke-body meant that Skuntank G and Crobat techs were much less effective at taking KOs while avoiding Fainting Spell. Many of the extra slots in this deck were devoted to consistency – both Claydol AND Uxie seeing play here, as well as a strong line of supporters (although Looker’s Investigation was sometimes used to disrupt the opponent rather than further your own setup).
| Pokemon | Trainers | Energy |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Gengar 2 Haunter 4 Gastly 2 Starmie 2 Staryu 2 Claydol 2 Baltoy 2 Crobat G 2 Uxie 2 Unown G | 4 Bebe’s Search 4 Roseanne’s Research 2 Looker’s Investigation 1 Cynthia’s Feelings 4 Rare Candy 3 PokeTurn 2 Warp Point 1 Night Maintenance 1 Luxury Ball 3 Broken Time-Space | 7 Psychic Energy 4 Call Energy |
Starmie didn’t see a whole lot of play in Gengar decks during this era – but this version tied for the best placement of any Gengar version. Matthew Lambou used this list to take Top 8 at the US National Championships. Because Unown G prevented the effects of Gengar’s Shadow Room, an additional attacker was needed to keep Gengar in the Game. Starmie LA can snipe 50 damage (not damage counters) to any pokemon that has a poke-power or poke-body, allowing it to take down Claydol even after Unown G was attached. (The math also works out perfectly – 30 on a Baltoy from Gengar + 50 to the Claydol from Starmie is an exact knock out.) Hitting poke-bodies was a welcome addition to this deck as well – one of Gengar’s biggest problem matchups was Flygon. Even though the matchup is still hard, you at least have an out to dealing consistent damage to the Flygons. There were also a surprising amount of tech cards in 2009 that had poke-bodies: Azelf MT, Ditto LA, and Sableye SF to name a few.
| Pokemon | Trainers | Energy |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Gengar 2 Haunter 4 Gastly 2 Cresselia Lv.X 2 Cresselia 1 Nidoqueen 1 Nidoran 2 Claydol 2 Baltoy 2 Unown G 1 Uxie | 4 Bebe’s Search 4 Roseanne’s Research 2 Looker’s Investigation 1 Lucian’s Assignment 4 Rare Candy 4 Poke Blower + 2 Night Maintenance 2 Warp Point 1 Luxury Ball 2 Miasma Valley 1 Moonlight Stadium | 6 Psychic Energy 4 Call Energy |
Cresselia didn’t see as much play after the release of Nidoqueen either, but I would imagine that this was likely the most popular tech before the release of Platinum. It’s a little trickier to set up because it has to be active in order to level up, but its poke-power is worth it. It plays as a combination of Crobat G and Nidoqueen, as you can move a damage counter off of Gengar and place it anywhere on the opponent’s side of the field. its attack is also nifty, potentially allowing you to snag an extra prize card if you can set up the KO properly. This could make it easier to take that last prize card after getting out to your early lead. Even after the release of later sets, Nathan Woolery took the above list to a top 64 finish at US Nationals.
Skeleton List
| Pokemon | Trainers | Energy |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Gengar 2 Haunter 4 Gastly 2 Claydol 2 Baltoy 2 Unown G 1 Uxie | 4 Bebe’s Search 4 Roseanne’s Research 2 Looker’s Investigation 4 Rare Candy 2 Warp Point 1 Luxury Ball 1 Night Maintenance | 6 Psychic Energy 4 Call Energy |
The cards above will appear in most Gengar lists – there might be a couple of slots that are dropped if you opt for a really unique variant (I’ve seen some with 3 Call Energy, or a thinner Gengar line because of thicker evolution lines – we’ll get to that) but for the most part, if you are sticking to Gengar + a smaller, secondary attacker, these are the cards you will start with. 15 Slots is a lot to work with for your techs, so let’s talk about what you can fill out your deck with.
What the Tech?
Because Gengar is so reliant on its first attack to take KOs, strategies that prevent this can be troublesome to deal with. Gengar’s poke-power is a coin flip, and can be played around in a couple of ways, so it isn’t a super reliable way to grab prizes. Gengar’s 2nd attack requires the opponent to have Trainer cards in their hand, which can be problematic if the opponent plays all of them as quickly as possible, or if the opponent puts them back into their deck (it was fairly common to use Claydol and Bebe’s Search to thin the number of trainer cards in your hand). As a result, Gengar is often paired with secondary attackers that make it easier to grab the last couple of Prize Cards that Gengar won’t get by itself.
Cresselia Lv. X was one of the “attackers” that was often paired with Gengar. While it didn’t come out and deal large chunks of damage like some of the other options, the ability of Moon Skip to take an extra prize card could be huge when trying to clean up the end of a match. Both of these cards were mostly used, however, for their poke-powers. Placing 10 damage on a target was often enough to grab a KO – Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit were all common threats in range of a KO after 1 single damage counter, while Claydol only needed 2. You’ll notice in the top 64 list that played Cresselia Lv. X and Nidoqueen that there is no Crobat G – with an extra Lv. X line as well as a stage 2 line, finding space for both the Crobat as well as the Poke Turns would be difficult. Practically every non-Cresselia version of Gengar will want at least 1, if not 2 copies of Crobat G.
Starmie was another attack option that mostly flew under the radar, but was very consistent for what it was trying to accomplish. Being able to hit for 50 damage, even through Unown G is HUGE for a Gengar deck, and attacks like this have almost always been strong in pokemon. (look at how strong Rayquaza ex delta was in 2007, for example.) Starmie also had a cool niche of being able to OHKO Infernape e4 Lv. X with just a single extra damage counter from Crobat G, thanks to its x2 weakness to Water.
To my knowledge, Matthew Lambou’s top 8 Nationals Decklist has not ever been found, so it’s possible there were other cool techs in his list that we do not know about. Star Boomerang is not a bad attack either, and it’s possible that Rainbow Energy (or even a Water energy to search with Roseanne’s) saw play to give the deck a hit and run strategy, similar to Shuppet in 2010. Bouncing Starmie into your hand and pushing up Gengar with Fanting Spell to threaten the opponent is not a bad strategy – and you also had a couple of other options to hide behind in this era, such as Mewtwo Lv. X or Mr. Mime MT.
Kyle Lesniewicz won the Indiana State Championships in 2009 using Dialga G as a tech option with Gengar. Deafen locked Item and Stadium cards in the opponent’s hand, which meant that Poltergeist was much more likely to hit for a decent amount of damage once the Gengar was set up. Locking Stadium cards in the opponent’s hand was pretty cool as well, since you could throw down a Miasma Valley (shown later in this post) and rack up damage on your opponent’s benched pokemon, making it easier for Gengar to do its job. Second Strike was also a nice attack to clean up with late in the game.
Gengar/Machamp (Aka “GeChamp”) was one of the more popular variants of Gengar decks. It was very much built to be as anti-SP pokemon as possible, with Gengar capitalizing on their high amount of trainer cards, while Machamp outright KO’d any pokemon that wasn’t an evolved pokemon. Gengar also hit the two pokemon that SP decks used most frequently to take response KOs to Machamp for weakness- Uxie Lv. X and Toxicroak G (non-promo). Gengar could, as mentioned before, also potentially cripple the opponent’s draw engine with Shadow Room, allowing Machamp to take the remaining KOs later in the match.
While this deck was among the stronger versions when it set up properly, inconsistency really hampered this deck’s ability to perform at the top level. Setting up 2 different stage 2 pokemon wasn’t the most difficult thing to do in this format, but both pokemon wanted to get out as early as possible in specific matchups, and getting the specific stage 2 you wanted online as early as possible could be a bit of a struggle. Double Rainbow and Scramble Energy also rotated at the start of this year, so you often had to rely on having the proper basic energy type at the right time. This deck did place 2nd at the British Columbia Regional Championships, though.
Casey Smith made top 64 at US Nationals with a unique Gengar deck that used Alakazam MT. Power Cancel allowed you to shut down opposing poke-powers which was useful for 2 reasons – shutting down Claydol and then KOing it with Gengar meant your opponent would never get to take advantage of their strong draw engine. However, even when Claydol could not be KO’d, shutting down Cosmic Power prevented the opponent from emptying their hand of 2 potential item cards, while at the same time you could discard your extra trainer cards in the mirror match.
While Gallade e4 didn’t see tournament results and wasn’t really played at this time, some speculation in the Snowpoint Temple Facebook group has started on whether or not Gallade e4 would make a suitable partner for Gengar. The Lv. X’s poke-body sets up Gengar nicely to grab KOs on Claydol and Uxie, while Chop Up from the base form can soften up attackers for later in the match. Gallade Lv. X also gives you a strong secondary attacker that the opponent can’t really play around – Aimed Cut should 2hko the vast majority of pokemon in this format.
Zangoose was a cool tech option used by Jason Martinez – the 2nd place finisher at Worlds in the Juniors division. Invite and Strike was a very disruptive ability that allowed Jason to pull up pokemon that might have a difficult time retreating (like Claydol). Chop Up is the same attack featured on Gallade e4 above, allowing you to spread damage around your opponent’s field. However, Zangoose being a colorless type means that it hits Flygon RR for weakness, which is one matchup that Gengar always seems to struggle with.
Ditto LA was a nifty tech that was extra strong in the mirror match. You could potentially drop a basic pokemon out of nowhere and surprise your opponent by copying Shadow Room, as you already play the energy to use the attack. In response, if you were able to empty your hand of item cards, you could safeguard yourself from being KO’d in response, as Ditto doesn’t have any poke-powers, and only takes 30 from Shadow Room.
Ditto was another potential option that could deal significant damage to Flygon RR, since Gengar plays a lot of evolution pokemon. Getting 3 energy onto Ditto could be tough, though. Lucian’s Assignment was an option that you had to try and circumvent this energy cost, and was also seen in some Cresselia versions.
Once Supreme Victors released in 2010, Relicanth was a cool option that didn’t see a lot of play in most areas, but was fairly popular near me. Relicanth did more damage depending on the amount of Pokemon Tools your opponent had in play, and it was a great surprise option in a format that used Best of 1 during the Swiss part of the tournament. It was great against SP decks that relied on Energy Gain to get their attacks off quickly, but it was also solid against any deck that threw down Unown Gs to protect their Claydols. Again, because Relicanth snipes damage and not damage counters, it will go through Unown G. The Fighting Energy cost meant this was mostly relegated to GeChamp decks.
Filler Trainer Options
All 3 of these cards saw play in different versions of Gengar. Poke Blower was very popular pre-Platinum, as it could function both as a Gust of Wind card, or as a way to place an extra damage counter on the opponent’s side of the field. It continued to see play in Cresselia versions of the deck, as pulling up a pokemon to KO with Cresselia could be game-winning. PokeDrawer was a really cool consistency option, and wasn’t that hard to pull off in a deck that ran both Claydol and Uxie to draw through the deck quickly. It was very useful to search out one or two specific pieces that you were missing in order to take a KO. Pokedex is the most filler of these trainer cards, but it does allow you to speed through your deck, and essentially means you are playing with only 56 cards, raising your odds to find the specific cards you need to run the opponent over early.
All three of these stadiums also saw play in various different Gengar decks. Broken Time-Space was by far the most popular of the three, as it allowed you to evolve into Gengar quickly, and pressure the opponent before they had a chance to set up and equip Unown G to anything. Most versions of Gengar also relied on setting up multiple evolution lines, so it not only benefitted Gengar to evolve early, but also Machamp, Starmie, Claydol, and Nidoqueen. The other two stadiums were nice in versions that didn’t rely on multiple evolution lines to win games. Miasma Valley is particularly strong in a version running Dialga G, as you can lock the stadium into play and build up damage on your opponent’s benched pokemon. Miasma is also cool in Cresselia builds, as it makes it easier for Cresselia to take that last KO. Moonlight Stadium is nice for Cresselia as well, as it makes setting the Level X up much easier.
Historical Deck Choices vs Modern Recommendations
Gengar lists that performed well back in 2009 are probably pretty close to what might be played now, but there were definitely some other decisions that were very strong at the time, but would be a much weaker addition to a retro library. When I played in 2009, I was in the Seniors division, and Gengar was the deck to beat heading into nationals. I played Gengar myself, and I think I played mirror matches in 4 out of my 9 rounds – many of my friends had similar experiences. Because Gengar was such a popular deck at the event, many Gengar lists upped to 3, or even 4 copies of Unown G, and many SP decks did the same to protect their Uxies and Azelfs from Shadow Room, and to protect their other pokemon against the GeChamp variant. This is probably not ideal for Gengar decks in Retro Libraries today as A) most libraries only carry 1 copy of each deck in the format. You won’t have to worry about playing against 4 other Gengar players, and B) it makes mirror matches absolutely disgusting. You go back and forth using Poltergeist on each other with very few items in hand, and then when you finally take a KO, Fainting Spell activates, and leads to many coin flips to determine the outcome of games.
Some Gengar decks at the time decided to forego a secondary attacker, and run extremely buffed consistency options such as 3-3 Claydol, Uxie Lv. X, or 3 Crobats with the maximum amount of PokeTurns. While this might be strong in specific metagames (one that was very centralized around the mirror, or metagames with lots of SP decks that didn’t use Dialga G), this is also very un-ideal for libraries that carry 1 copy of everything. Gengar with no secondary attacker struggles against practically anything that can keep trainers out of their hand, and any evolution deck (Kingdra, Flygon, Gyarados) will have an absolute field day against this kind of Gengar list.
Pachirisu GE was another tech option that performed well at UK Nationals – earning 2nd and Top 8 at the event. In theory it’s cool because it acts as a “4th Call Energy” in their list while also having the second attack to blow the opponent out of pokemon tools. However, Smash Short cannot discard Unown G. It also seems cool on the surface to potentially grab multiple copies of Energy Gain, but Gengar relies on the opponent having trainer cards in their hand to do damage. Discarding multiples of these Pokemon Tool cards might slow the SP decks down, but it’s also going to hinder your ability to take prize cards.
Conclusion
Gengar, despite relying on multiple evolution cards to function, has a huge amount of tech options available to keep games fun and interesting. The balance of Shadow Room and Poltergeist also leads to some fun mind games with opponents, and requires very skillful risk management. The diverse metagame of 2009 is among the best in Pokemon’s history, and I hope this article shed some light on just how fun the matches can be. Thanks for reading, and I will catch you all at the next article!
PTCG Retro Library 