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Gengar Lv 44
Yesterday’s card showed that we are
still waiting for a truly playable Salamence to be
printed. There are no such issues with today’s Pokémon.
Gengar SF features in some of the most common decks in
the format thanks to its low Energy costs, sniping
ability, and of course the dreaded Fainting Spell. If
this new Gengar is going to replace it in any decks, it
had better be something special.
Just like its Stormfront cousin, this
Gengar has 110 HP (low for a Stage 2), a +30 Weakness to
Dark (only really a problem against Tyranitar, or decks
using Weavile SW’s Dark Engage), and a useful Resistance
to Colourless (helpful against Flygon). It also has no
Retreat Cost, which is always great as it allows you to
conserve Energy.
Gengar’s Pokémon Power, Curse, is
like a less good version of Cresselia LV X’s Full Moon
Dance. It allows you to move one damage counter from one
of your opponent’s Pokémon to another. This can be a
useful way of getting the last 10 damage needed for a KO
(for example if you use Gengar SF’s Shadow Room against
a 70 HP Uxie), or it can work with the LV X’s Compound
Pain attack to make sure you hit the Pokémon you want
to.
Where this Gengar is inferior to the
SF version is when it comes to attacks. While SF Gengar
can hit hard for very little Energy, this Gengar needs
[P][P][C] to use Shadow Skip (so no boost from Upper
Energy). The damage output isn’t hugely impressive
either, at just 60 + 10 to a Benched Pokémon.
Luckily, there is something more to the attack, and that
is its optional switching effect. With this, it’s
possible to hit-and-run with Gengar and send up another
Pokémon (such as Mr Mime MT or Spiritomb AR) to lock
and/or frustrate your opponent. For what it does though,
Shadow Skip is still an expensive and, more to the
point, slow attack.
So, is this new Gengar good enough to
take the place of its SF counterpart? Hmm . . . not
exactly, though it is a possible tech for a standard
Gengar deck. It’s slow and lacks the massive disruption
capabilities that Fainting Spell provides. What it does
do is open up the possibility of playing a different
kind of Gengar deck: one focused on spreading damage in
conjunction with Gengar LV X. It probably won’t be as
effective or popular as Gengar SF, but it is an
interesting card nevertheless.
Rating
Modified: 2.5 (nice Power, overcosted
attack, outclassed by Gengar SF)
Limited: 3 (if you can get it out,
spread is an effective strategy here)
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