Gengar SF / Metagross SV - Deck Analysis

Gengar is either loved or hated. The cards existence alone modifies the way decks are built, and when facing a deck containing this Pokemon card, you modify your strategy in order to avoid the deadly (pun intended) “Fainting Spell”.

This is a deck I’ve been working on for a few weeks, ever since I came across the idea of combining Metagross SV and Gengar SF. “Gravitation” is a very unique Poke-Body, which pretty much acts as +20 damage for every single attack, both for yourself and your opponent. Now how does Gengar take advantage of this unique Poke-Body? Well most of the support Pokemon being used in today’s metagame, normally have 80 or 70 HP, namely Uxie LA, Mesprit LA, Azelf LA, Crobat G PL and Claydol GE. Reducing the HP of all these Pokemon by 20, allows Gengar to target them with “Shadow Room” and get immediate OHKO’s. Not only this, but now 50 HP Basic Pokemon are also OHKO’d, and 60 HP Basic Pokemon are too with a single Crobat G’s “Flash Bite”.

The main strategy I have developed for the deck so far is to target all the support Pokemon your opponent is using, and let the laws of probability with “Fainting Spell” handle the Active Pokemon that threatens to KO Gengar SF.

Now you may be thinking a single Unown G ruins your plans for this main strategy, but Platinum: Supreme victors also provided Gengar SF with a new weapon to get by them. Relicanth SV is a huge asset to Gengar SF, as 2 Unown G’s in play means Relicanth SV can do the same damage as “Shadow Room” on Pokemon such as Claydol GE, which are probably one of the Pokemon that have an Unown G GE attached to them. With all of this in mind, I now present to you the list that I will continue to improve upon on Apprentice and most likely at my next autumn Battle Road.

The list is very straightforward and focuses on consistency, what I consider the most important aspect when building a deck. Unfortunately at my Battle Road, I did not do as well as I expected. Unown G’s where everywhere, I think some decks were even running 3, but I always had bad luck when trying to use Relicanth SV effectively, due to bench issues or not having a Fighting Energy or Multi Energy in my hand. The list I used at the Battle Road only had a single Fighting Energy, and now I have added a second one, as Relicanth SV is a very vital support Pokemon in this deck.

Also going against this deck was the heavy use of both Nidoqueen RR and Palkia Lv.X GE. Nidoqueen RR proved to be a problem as if I didn’t OHKO Pokemon on the bench; both “Shadow Room” and “Poltergeist” become relatively weak attacks as your opponent can easily manage the damage output from both attacks. Palkia Lv.X GE really made this deck cringe, as both Metagross SV and Claydol GE have heavy retreat costs, and aside from the 2 Switch (previously 2 Warp Points) means after using them both, it will be very hard to retreat either of them and will grant your opponent’s a lot of free turns.

I still really like the deck, and my testing has shown it is a very clear favorite over any and all Gyarados SF decks so far, and another plus for pairing Gengar SF with Metagross SV is that it may ruin plans your opponent has to get around “Fainting Spell” by making your own Gengar’s more vulnerable and easy to KO with less powerful attacks.

So what do you think? Can this deck be a dominant force or is Gengar SF better being paired with Machamp SF as its main companion? Let me know what you think of this deck!