Is Gengar VMAX the new best deck?

Hello trainers! We’re at a pivotal moment where we are seeing tons of Fusion Strike products being opened, and cards are being acquired from the newest expansion. Collectors are trying to get their favorite arts, scalpers are trying to get their hands on products, but most importantly, gamers are trying their luck with trying to build the hottest deck on the block! There are so many new strong cards that were released in this expansion that it’s hard to pick which ones will make the greatest pokemon online decks. That being said, I know for certain that Mew VMAX and Inteleon VMAX will be at the top due to their ability to hit hard while setting up consistently. Both use different tactics to draw their Prize Cards however they’re equally effective; only time will tell which deck will become more populous. One new deck aims to take both of those new archetypes down with ease: Gengar VMAX. Its unique Dark-typing, along with the support it received from being a Single Strike Pokemon, is so strong in our current format, and I think it’s going to be tough for most decks to handle: some may even call this deck a “nightmare” to play against! Let’s chat about one of my favorite new decks from Fusion Strike, Gengar VMAX!

I booted up my Pokemon Trading Card Game Online app, loaded up some PTCGO codes, and then traded those Pokemon online codes to trade for this deck. I was very excited, and it honestly didn’t take that many PTCGL codes to make the deck. If you’re looking to buy some codes, we sell them here on PTCGO Store, and I highly urge you to check out our competitive pricing and swift delivery! Let’s talk about the newest way to play Gengar VMAX today!

The main strategy behind this deck depends on the matchup that you are up against. Gengar VMAX is very hard-hitting but tends to suffer against Fighting-type decks because it is weak to them. Umbreon VMAX is very strong at targeting certain Pokemon due to its Dark Signal ability. However, it has a tough time against Grass Pokemon (though that typing isn’t super common). Keep in mind that these Pokémon are both Single Strike, so this deck kind of plays out like a “toolbox”-esque strategy. Houndoom gives you all the support you need to accelerate energy at the small cost of dealing 20 damage to that Pokemon. This trade-off is okay, though, since, with Gengar VMAX, you’ll have the ability to OHKO opposing VMAXs for very little effort. Our entire deck is based around the Single Strike engine, so we greatly benefit from this exclusive card pool. We’ll go over those cards a little later!

First Turn: You’re going to want to go first, preferably to mount a turn two attack onto the opponent. Find a Gengar V out of the deck and attach energy to it. Follow this up by finding 1-2 Houndour and potentially an Umbreon V. This is an ideal setup.

Second Turn: Find Houndooms and evolve as many Houndour in play as you can. If you only found one Houndour on the first turn, try to find a second one and bench it this turn. Evolve into Gengar VMAX. Start swinging into your opponent’s attacker that they are setting up - if that Pokémon is not active, try to use Boss’ Orders to bring it into the active or consider using Umbreon VMAX. Both are great options!

Third Turn + Onward: Stream attacks with Gengar VMAX and use Switch to reset the negative effect on Gengar’s second attack. Have Umbreon V on the bench prepared to VMAX so you can use the Dark Signal ability - this is vital for applying pressure at opportune times. Make sure you have two Houndoom in play at all times. This ensures that you can power up any attack in your deck within a single turn.

4 Houndour BST 95

4 Houndoom BST 96

3 Umbreon V EVS 94

2 Umbreon VMAX EVS 95

3 Gengar V FST

2 Gengar VMAX FST

1 Crobat V SHF 44

4 Marnie CPA 56

4 Professor's Research CEL 23

2 Boss's Orders SHF 58

4 Quick Ball SSH 179　

4 Urn of Vitality BST 139

4 Evolution Incense SSH 163　

3 Switch SSH 183

4 Tower of Darkness BST 137

2 Level Ball

2 Vitality Band

4 Hiding Dark Energy

4 Single Strike Energy BST 141

2 Gengar VMAX - This Pokémon is an absolute beast when it comes to the standard format. 320HP is the gold standard for VMAX Pokémon right now, and Gengar VMAX is right on the money. Darkness-typing is very good with the upcoming release of Fusion Strike because it means you can hit Mew VMAX for weakness, and it also means you can hit Dragapult VMAX for weakness. The Fighting-type weakness isn’t great, considering that Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX will still be a menace. However, that archetype should die down with the release of Mew VMAX to hit everybody’s favorite multi-strike bear for Psychic weakness. Gengar VMAX comes with two horrifying attacks - the first is great for pressuring Pokémon V in the early game and potentially getting a KO. The second attack with a few Single Strike Energy cards has the ability to OHKO an opposing VMAX, especially with the help of a Vitality Band (to aid in hitting 320 damage). The three retreat cost on this card is hefty, but it’s okay because we won’t be moving this Pokémon anyways! It will most likely mean that our Leafeon VMAX matchup is rather poor, though (or at least you initially think - we have solutions to this later [see Hiding Energy]). I’m proud to say that is probably the only downside to this card!

3 Gengar V - This card isn’t really anything special. However, I just wanted to note that Dark Slumber can be situationally good to put Pokemon to sleep in order to buy a turn. Pain Explosion is decent at finishing off Pokémon that weren’t KO’ed and helps to throw off the Prize Trade.

2 Umbreon VMAX - This is our other attacker in the deck that helps to balance out Gengar VMAX’s weakness! Umbreon VMAX provides a lot of value to the deck besides being an alternate attacker - Umbreon VMAX has a valuable ability that acts as a Boss’ Orders, it supplies an alternate weakness, and it also comes with a very handy Pokémon V! Umbreon’s attack hits for 160 damage which can be boosted by Single Strike Energy, which means we can bring up Pokémon V and OHKO them with relative ease. We can 2HKO Pokémon VMAX as well very easily.

3 Umbreon V - A very good V, this Pokémon will help us to cut through pesky walls as Zamazenta V. Umbreon hits pretty hard for a basic and provides some niche attacks that can put in work on the opponent.

4 Tower of Darkness - This is my favorite Stadium card within all of the Standard format right now because it is a one-sided card against most matchups (besides the mirror). Drawing two cards is so advantageous. The card actually encourages you to play multiple copies of itself since you can use those additional copies as fodder to draw more cards! There’s really no reason why you shouldn’t play four copies of this card in every Single Strike deck right now. This also works as a great counter to Path to the Peak and new Stadium cards in future expansions.

4 Urn of Vitality - An absolute must in pretty much any Single Strike deck, you just go through energy cards so quickly that this card needs to see the play! Otherwise, you risk running out of energy mid-game. Urns allow you a lot of command over how you can use Single Strike Energy’s 20damage buff each turn. Urn is also a consistency out for Tower of Darkness. I considered running three in this deck because, unlike previous iterations of this archetype that played Single Strike Urshifu VMAX, our main attacker doesn’t discard the energies anymore; therefore, three may be the only count necessary, and four is overkill. Unsure on this one.

3 Switch - Having a card for mobility is essential in any deck, and Switch just so happens to be one of the best options available. Switch is great because it resets the effect on Gengar VMAX’s second attack by pivoting you to the bench; when a Pokémon goes to the bench, you remove all effects on that Pokémon. Hence, you can stream Gengar VMAX’s second attack twice in a row (or more if needed)!

2 Level Ball - This is a new inclusion within Single Strike decks, mostly because old Single Strike lists that utilized Urshifu VMAX could abuse Capture Energy. Now, Gengar VMAX requires multiple Dark Energy to attack, leaving no room for Capture Energy to satisfy a (C) cost in the attack cost. Level Ball aims to help smooth that over and gives us extra outs to find Houndour. Houndour is currently the only out we have with Level Ball.

2 Vitality Band - This handy tool doesn’t have a crazy effect: it just adds 10 damage into your total attack’s damage. Although that doesn’t seem like much, 10 damage in this deck is oftentimes the tipping point between getting an OHKO on a VMAX or whiffing it by 10 damage. Since Gengar VMAX does 250 damage with its second attack, with three Single Strike Energy, you’d deal 310 total damage. Most VMAX Pokémon tend to have 320HP, which means we have to push through 10 more damage - we can do this with the fourth copy of Single Strike Energy or by attaching a Vitality Band. We can’t usually depend on our fourth copy of Single Strike Energy being in the deck (and not in our Prize Cards), so consider our two copies of Vitality Band to be our fifth and sixth copy of SS Energy.

4 Hiding Energy - An amazing card for mobility that is aided by Switch. Since Gengar VMAX has a three retreat cost, this card is essential in order to help move us in and out of the active spot!

This deck is one of the most aggressive decks to play in the format, and it has options to either play very hard-hitting or very methodically. If you like straightforward pokemon online decks that don’t have a singular weakness, this deck is the deck for you then. This deck doesn’t require too many PTCGL codes because it only needs a few cards from the new expansion, so it’s perfect for beginners and veterans alike. I’d suggest nabbing some Pokemon TCG Live codes and building this deck online because this deck will only get stronger. Until next time, have fun!

 

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