VileGar, the Trainer locking deck!

[Raikou Trainer]

This is the deck I'm planning on using during Battle Roads on the 19th, since Gengar treated me pretty well during Spring Battle Roads last season (I won one with Cursegar), and I just need to refine the list a bit more. First, the list:

Pokemon- 24

4 Gastly (SF)
3 Haunter (AR w/Hidden Poison)
2 Gengar (SF)
1 Gengar (Curse)
1 Gengar lv. X
2 Oddish (LA Psychic type)
2 Gloom (LA Psychic type)
2 Vileplume (UD)
4 Spiritomb (AR)
1 Azelf (LA)
1 Slowpoke (UD)
1 Slowking (HG/SS)

Trainers- 0! You'll find out why soon!

Supporters- 20

4 Bebe's Search
4 Pokemon Collector
4 Looker's Investigation
4 Cyrus's Conspiracy
2 Palmer's Contribution
2 Judge

Stadiums- 3

3 Broken Time-Space

Energy- 13

7 Psychic
4 Call
2 Warp

Basically the strategy is to prevent the use of Trainers throughout the game and use Gengar SF's Poltergeist to punish opponents that play lots of Trainers. Of course, since you would be under a Trainer lock as well, you need to rely on Supporters/Spiritomb to set up. Ideally you'd want to start with either Gastly or Spritomb Active, since both can lock Trainers on the first turn.

Spiritomb is there mainly to set up your Vileplume/Gengar, while establishing a Trainer lock early game.

Gengar (SF) is your main attacker, since Poltergeist can reach insane levels if your opponent can't get rid of their Trainers. Gengar lv. X is there primarily to get rid of this deck's biggest weakness- Dialga G lv. X. The Cursegar is there as a backup in case your opponent is able to keep their T/S/S count low, and can move damage around with Curse just in case.

Vileplume is basically a bigger, badder Spiritomb, since it's Allergy Flower stop Trainers from being played and also works while Vileplume is Benched.

Slowking is a tech that I'm using, since it can rearrange the top three cards of either player's deck. You can use this to make sure that your opponent draws Trainers or anything that won't help.

Since this deck stops both players from playing Trainers, I'm not running a single Trainer! Instead, I'm running a heavy Supporter line.

Bebe's Search and Pokemon Collector are both there for obvious reasons.

Looker's Investigation allows you to look at the opponent's hand and determine if Poltergeist would KO the opponent's Pokemon. Unless your opponent has a small hand, always choose yourself for the shuffle and draw effect, as your hand can get pretty big pretty fast.

Judge is there for added disruption.

Palmer's there for recovery.

I'm sure some of you are wondering why Cyrus's Conspiracy is in this deck when I don't run any TGI Trainers in my deck. Simple. You can choose to grab a Supporter and a Basic Energy, but not the Trainer. Since Roseanne's Research has been rotated out of Modified, Cyrus is the only Supporter left that can search for Basic Energy.

Broken Time-Space is there in case I need to evolve quickly.

Call Energy are a must-play at 4, since it can get me Basics on turn 1 when I can't play Supporters.

Warp Energy is there just in case Vileplume gets dragged up to the Active spot via Luxray GL lv. X, or if Spritomb is being 'Chatterlocked' (Chatot MD using Chatter to prevent Spiritomb from retreating)

Well, rate and review. If anyone has any suggestions for techs other than Slowking, I'd love to hear them. Who knows, there might be one that I haven't thought of yet! (and I've thought of many!)

 

[FurretFTW!!1!]

Your supporter line is ridiculous even for this deck. CurseGar is nice, but even with the options it gives, I'd always prefer another SF in most situations. You need to play Unown [Q] and 2-1 Uxie [why don't you? xP]. I'd play 6 Psychic, 4 Call, 3 Warp, and the Supporter line would look like:
4 Bebe's
4 Collector
2 Looker's
2 Cyrus's
1 Palmer's
1 Judge
2 Copycat

 

[Raikou Trainer]

CurseGar is nice, but even with the options it gives, I'd always prefer another SF in most situations.

That's definitely an option, but will still require a bit of testing to determine which one I'll go with.

You need to play Unown [Q] and 2-1 Uxie [why don't you? xP].

I was definitely thinking of playing Unown Q, but couldn't find room. I personally don't think Uxie is really necessary, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

I'd play 6 Psychic, 4 Call, 3 Warp, and the Supporter line would look like:
4 Bebe's
4 Collector
2 Looker's
2 Cyrus's
1 Palmer's
1 Judge
2 Copycat

I'd play the Energy like that if I replace the Cursegar with the SF version. The Cyrus, Palmer, and Judge I'm fine with cutting them down, but I have to insist on keeping Looker at 4 and not running Copycat. Looker is just too useful in this deck to not have 4 of them.

 

[Dechrissen]

I'm pretty much new to the Pokémon TCG and all the lingo. I don't understand why people always suggest using Uxie Lv. X... it doesn't seem all that useful to me. Can someone explain this to me? :(

 

[donavannj]

I'm pretty much new to the Pokémon TCG and all the lingo. I don't understand why people always suggest using Uxie Lv. X... it doesn't seem all that useful to me. Can someone explain this to me? :(

Uxie from Legends Awakened is useful because it has the PokePower called Setup, which allows you to draw cards into your hand until you have 7 cards, when you play it from your hand, and has an attack that needs only one of any kind of energy in case you have to put it as your active for a bit, and because of this flexibility, is in many decks. Uxie Lv. X is often suggested because it is some slower paced drawing power than Uxie that allows you to not whittle your deck down so quickly later in the game when you may need that extra draw power, but don't wanna deck yourself (running out of cards and not being able to draw from your deck at the beginning of your turn means you lose the game) and it can do 60 more damage than Uxie for only 1 energy more in case you need to set it as your active to get rid of something or stall while you power up your main attacker for one more turn. That and it's a quick level-up of Uxie, which, like I said, most competitive decks run as it is. Draw power is VERY IMPORTANT in tournaments, especially if it's on a Pokemon as a PokePower or PokeBody.

That help any?

 

[Dechrissen]

Yeah thanks that helps a bunch. But, would it be okay to run just the Uxie without the Lv. X in a deck? I mean, is that still useful? Because I don't have Uxie Lv. X, but I have 2 Uxie, and I've basically given up all hope of getting one because it's so expensive.

Also, what does "tech" mean?

 

[donavannj]

Yes. Most people do run just a single Uxie because they have so much draw power in their Trainers/Supporters or on another Pokemon that is more precise than Uxie.

A tech, to my understanding, is a Pokemon or Pokemon evolution line added into a deck that doesn't fit with the main deck strategy but is added as a counter to a major deck type or two. You'd have to include the necessary energy if its attacks have costs that require an energy type you don't have, though.

 

[Dechrissen]

Ohh I understand tech now, thanks very much :)

 

[Rocket_Executive]

I don't like cyrus in this deck, I think you'd be better off with a straight up uxie line to draw into your energy instead of wasting a valuable supporter space just to get one energy. If you ran seeker you could reuse it a few times, and seeker+broken time space is an awesome way to basically heal an injured gengar.
Instead of 1-1 slowking, I would put one uxie and one mr. mime from call of legends. Uxie for obvious drawing power, and mr. mime so you can see what your opponent has in their hand and know what the best course of action is. Gengar sf is a gamble because you never know how if they have enough t/s/s in their hand for poltergeist to be a knock out; with mr. mime you can see, and then decide between poltergeist, shadowroom, or curse gengar.