Gengar ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Gengar ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 17 lists we counted, this deck runs 16 to 19 Pokémon, 34 to 37 Trainers and 6 to 8 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Darkness and Metal.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « gengar-ex ». Every card named in that label turns up in the tables below, which is what makes it a fair name for the deck.

Look at the Energy: 6 to 8 out of 60, when half the 97 decks we track run 10 or more. This one is lean. It lives on cheap attacks and leans on Trainers to find the right Energy at the right moment rather than stockpiling it.

It takes a while to set up. Bastiodon is a Stage 2 Pokémon: you put down the baby, you evolve it, and then you evolve it again. Three cards stacked before anything attacks. That is what the hardest-hitting decks cost you, and it is also where they crack — a fast opponent can bury you before the line is standing.

Look at the Trainers: 34 to 37 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 13 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 15 to 22 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 57 of the 97 decks we track bring that many or more. Only one Stadium sits on the table at a time: the one you play sends the one already there to the discard pile.

What Tools and Stadiums do — the two Trainer families we skipped here — and why the Energy count says so much: how to read a deck list.

What the card in this deck's name actually does

Gengar ex gives this deck its name. Here is what is written on it.

Gengar ex is in all 17 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Gnawing Curse, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Whenever your opponent attaches an Energy card from their hand to 1 of their Pokémon, put 2 damage counters on that Pokémon. »

How Gengar ex actually wins

Gengar ex attacks with Tricky Steps for 160. It needs 2 Darkness Energy attached, and it has 310 HP. And the number is not everything the card says. There is one more line printed under the attack, and it is the one everybody skips: "You may move an Energy from your opponent's Active Pokémon to 1 of their Benched Pokémon."

The cost of Tricky Steps decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 2. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 2. We have not found anything in this list that attaches Energy faster than that, so plan on holding out for a turn before you swing. Those turns still get played: you fill your Bench, you build your lines, and you keep something back to rebuild with when your attacker falls.

Energy is not your only clock. You still have two steps to climb before Bastiodon is standing in front of you, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Grand Tree, a single copy in the list, goes into your deck for an evolution. Careful, though: only 15 of the 17 lists bring it, so it is a choice, and players are still arguing about it.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Gengar ex back to the Bench you have to discard 2 Energy attached to it. Retreating does not cost you your turn, you can step back and still swing right after. What it costs you is the 2 Energy you spent 2 turns attaching, and you start that climb again from nothing. Pack a card that moves it for free, or send it up knowing it stays up.

Gengar ex, Fezandipiti ex and Pecharunt ex carry the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when one of them falls. They need 6 to win: 3 well-placed knockouts on those cards beat you, where it would take 6 anywhere else on your Bench.

The attackers in the deck's core, with their best attack, its cost and their Weakness

Pokémon	HP	Attack	Damage	Cost	Weakness	Retreat
Close Gengar exStage 2	310	Tricky Steps	160	Darkness + Darkness	Fighting ×2	2
Close BastiodonStage 2	160	Hammer In	160	Metal + Metal + Colorless	Fire ×2	4
Close Pecharunt exBasic	190	Irritated Outburst	60×	Darkness + Darkness	Fighting ×2	1
Close ShieldonStage 1	100	Smithereen Smash	50	Metal + Colorless	Fire ×2	3

The core: the 13 cards every list runs

These 13 cards appear in all 17 lists, without a single exception. That is 35 of the 60 slots. The other 25 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 35 slots break down: 19 Trainers, 10 Pokémon, 6 Energy. Trainers outweigh everything else put together, which is the mark of a deck that goes and fetches its cards rather than waiting to draw them.

10 of those 13 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Bastiodon (2 to 3), Shieldon (1 to 2) and Pecharunt ex (1 to 2), plus 7 more. Add those spreads up and you get 17 copies the 17 lists do not agree on, inside the core itself.

What "3 to 4" means in the copies column, what the "TWM 130" code under each name is for, and why we count dozens of lists instead of one: how to read a deck list.

The cards present in every list counted, with the number of copies

Copies	Card	Printing	Kind	Rotation
2–3	Close Bastiodon	PBL 62	Pokémon	stays
3	Close Gengar ex	TEF 104	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Shieldon	PBL 61	Pokémon	stays
1	Close Fezandipiti ex	ASC 142	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Pecharunt ex	SFA 39	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
3–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
3	Close Antique Armor Fossil	PBL 72	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Fossil Quarry	PBL 76	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Rare Candy	MEG 125	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
2–8	Darkness Energy	MEE 7	Energy	stays

The 36 cards that change from list to list

36 cards fight over the 25 slots that are left: 9 above three lists in four, 21 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Colress's Tenacity at 94 %, Poké Pad at 94 % and Handheld Fan at 94 %, plus 6 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Dark Bell, at 47 %: 8 of 17 players took it, 9 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 2 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Haunter (4 lists out of 17) and Morty's Conviction (4 lists out of 17).

Why a card at 45 % is not a bad card, and what order to buy all this in: how to read a deck list.

The cards some lists run and others don't, most common first

Lists running it	Card	Copies	Printing	Kind
94 %16/17	Close Colress's Tenacity	2–3	SFA 57	Trainer
94 %16/17	Close Poké Pad	3–4	POR 81	Trainer
94 %16/17	Close Handheld Fan	1–3	TWM 150	Trainer
94 %16/17	Close Night Stretcher	2	ASC 196	Trainer
88 %15/17	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
88 %15/17	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
82 %14/17	Close Haunter	1–2	PFL 55	Pokémon
82 %14/17	Close Munkidori	1–2	TWM 95	Pokémon
82 %14/17	Close Dawn	1–3	PFL 87	Trainer
71 %12/17	Close Yveltal	1	MEG 88	Pokémon
59 %10/17	Close Gastly	3	POR 48	Pokémon
47 %8/17	Close Dark Bell	1–2	PBL 75	Trainer
41 %7/17	Close Gastly	3–4	PFL 54	Pokémon
41 %7/17	Close Magnetic Metal Energy	1	CRI 85	Energy
35 %6/17	Close Crushing Hammer	2–4	POR 71	Trainer
24 %4/17	Close Haunter	1–2	POR 49	Pokémon
24 %4/17	Close Morty's Conviction	1	TEF 155	Trainer
18 %3/17	Close Mega Gengar ex	1	PFL 56	Pokémon
18 %3/17	Close Hilda	1–3	WHT 84	Trainer
18 %3/17	Close Shadowy Darkness Energy	1–4	PBL 83	Energy
12 %2/17	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
12 %2/17	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
12 %2/17	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–3	DRI 176	Trainer
12 %2/17	Close Janine's Secret Art	1–2	PRE 112	Trainer
12 %2/17	Close Battle Cage	1	PFL 85	Trainer
12 %2/17	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
12 %2/17	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Dudunsparce	2	TEF 129	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Dunsparce	2	JTG 120	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Haunter	1	TEF 103	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Binding Mochi	1	PRE 95	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Gravity Gemstone	1	SCR 137	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Pokégear 3.0	1	SVI 186	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer

The most common Gengar ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 35 slots come from the core, the cards all 17 lists run. The remaining 25 come from the table just above, working down it: the cards the most players chose, each at its most common copy count, until the total lands on 60.

This list is nobody's list in particular. It takes, slot by slot, what the most people played, under the guardrails a judge would hold you to: never more than four copies of a card, and one ACE SPEC. Behind the core it took 14 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 19 Pokémon, 34 Trainers and 7 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 17 lists we counted are all from players who came in the top twenty of their tournament. Nobody publishes the lists of the players who lost. So what you have in front of you is what the players finishing near the top bring most often.

The text under the table is the one the game expects: copy it, paste it into the deck manager, and the list builds itself.

There is no price total on this page. The readings we have are Cardmarket's, in euros, and the shop link further down sends you to TCGplayer, which quotes in dollars. Putting a euro figure next to a dollar shop would be one currency too many. The French and German pages carry the total.

Why we only read lists from players who came in the top twenty of their tournament, and what that changes about every percentage on this page: how to read a deck list.

Pokémon: 19
3 Bastiodon PBL 62
3 Gengar ex TEF 104
2 Shieldon PBL 61
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Pecharunt ex SFA 39
1 Budew ASC 16
2 Haunter PFL 55
1 Munkidori TWM 95
1 Yveltal MEG 88
3 Gastly POR 48
1 Haunter POR 49

Trainer: 34
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
3 Antique Armor Fossil PBL 72
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Fossil Quarry PBL 76
2 Rare Candy MEG 125
2 Ultra Ball MEG 131
3 Colress's Tenacity SFA 57
3 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Handheld Fan TWM 150
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Grand Tree SCR 136
2 Dawn PFL 87
2 Dark Bell PBL 75

Energy: 7
6 Darkness Energy MEE 7
1 Magnetic Metal Energy CRI 85

Total Cards: 60

What Gengar ex costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 49 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 13 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 17 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 15 took Grand Tree and 2 took Secret Box. You are allowed ONE ACE SPEC card in your whole deck, so a single copy covers it whatever it costs. New to this deck? Take Grand Tree and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 4 of the 13 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Gengar ex, Fezandipiti ex, Pecharunt ex and Buddy-Buddy Poffin. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 9 of the 35 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Gengar ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting and Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 20 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Mega Lucario ex and Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, plus 17 more decks. The table below takes them one at a time, and those are the lists you practise against first before an event.

This table counts one thing, Weakness, and that comes to 20 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 77 do not attack into yours, and this table says nothing about them. You will still run into them.

Going the other way, your attackers are Darkness and Metal, and 33 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Alakazam / Dudunsparce, Dragapult ex / Dusknoir and Slowking, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Gengar ex deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 17 tournament lists harvested between 16 August 2026 and 23 August 2026, 13 cards turn up in every single one, 35 slots out of 60. The remaining 25 change from player to player, with 36 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

How many lists is this counted on, and where do they come from?

17 lists, played across 17 different tournaments, harvested between 16 August 2026 and 23 August 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 17 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Gengar ex?

With the whole core: 13 cards, 35 slots. Inside it, buy the 19 Trainer slots and the 6 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 10 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Colress's Tenacity at 94 % and Poké Pad at 94 %.

What beats Gengar ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Fighting and Fire, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 20 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Cynthia's Garchomp ex, among others.

Will Gengar ex survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 4 core cards out of 13 carry the letter H, starting with Gengar ex, Fezandipiti ex, Pecharunt ex and Buddy-Buddy Poffin.

Are a lot of people playing Gengar ex?

We have read 17 lists of it, which puts it 85th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 17 entries for it, 0.04 % of the field, across all its players. That figure is theirs.

These pages are about the same corner of the game. If you came away from this one still wondering about something, start with one of them.