Mega Gengar ex

What Mega Gengar ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 56 lists we counted, this deck runs 13 to 23 Pokémon, 23 to 37 Trainers and 5 to 15 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Darkness.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « mega-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: 5 to 15 out of 60, when half the 132 decks we track run 11 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. Mega Gengar ex 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: 23 to 37 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 132 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 19 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 9 to 21 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 91 of the 132 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

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

Mega Gengar ex is in all 56 lists, 2 copies of it. Its Ability is called Shadowy Concealment, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « If 1 of your {D} Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent's Pokémon ex, that player takes 1 fewer Prize card. The effect of Shadowy Concealment doesn't stack. »

How Mega Gengar ex actually wins

Mega Gengar ex attacks with Void Gale for 230. It needs 2 Darkness Energy attached, and it has 350 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: "Move an Energy from this Pokémon to 1 of your Benched Pokémon."

The cost of Void Gale 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.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Mega 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.

Mega Gengar ex is a Mega Evolution ex, and that is the most expensive rule in the game: your opponent takes 3 Prize cards instead of one the turn it goes down. They need 6 to win the game, so 2 well-placed knockouts on that card beat you, where it would take 6 knockouts 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 Mega Gengar exStage 2	350	Void Gale	230		Fighting ×2	2

The core: the 4 cards every list runs

These 4 cards appear in all 56 lists, without a single exception. That is 17 of the 60 slots. The other 43 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 17 slots break down: 7 Trainers, 2 Pokémon, 8 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 17 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 132 decks we track fix 26 or more. This one leaves more room than most, and two players can build it very differently.

4 of those 4 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Mega Gengar ex (2 to 3), Lillie's Determination (2 to 4) and Rare Candy (1 to 4), plus 1 more. Add those spreads up and you get 16 copies the 56 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
2–3	Close Mega Gengar ex	PFL 56	Pokémon
2–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer
1–4	Close Rare Candy	MEG 125	Trainer
5–15	Darkness Energy	MEE 15	Energy

The 146 cards that change from list to list

146 cards fight over the 43 slots that are left: 8 above three lists in four, 122 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Boss's Orders at 98 %, Buddy-Buddy Poffin at 86 % and Ultra Ball at 86 %, plus 5 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Janine's Secret Art, at 54 %: 30 of 56 players took it, 26 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 2 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Dudunsparce (14 lists out of 56) and Dunsparce (14 lists out of 56).

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
98 %55/56	Close Boss's Orders	1–3	MEG 114	Trainer
86 %48/56	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	2–4	TEF 144	Trainer
86 %48/56	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
82 %46/56	Close Haunter	1–4	PFL 55	Pokémon
80 %45/56	Close Night Stretcher	1–4	ASC 196	Trainer
79 %44/56	Close Poké Pad	2–4	POR 81	Trainer
75 %42/56	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
75 %42/56	Close Pecharunt ex	1–2	SFA 39	Pokémon
63 %35/56	Close Munkidori	1–4	TWM 95	Pokémon
59 %33/56	Close Gastly	1–4	POR 48	Pokémon
57 %32/56	Close Gengar ex	1–2	30C 90	Pokémon
54 %30/56	Close Janine's Secret Art	1–3	PRE 112	Trainer
54 %30/56	Close Special Red Card	1–2	CRI 82	Trainer
45 %25/56	Close Dawn	1–3	PFL 87	Trainer
41 %23/56	Close Toxel	1–3	PFL 67	Pokémon
41 %23/56	Close Toxtricity	1–2	PFL 68	Pokémon
41 %23/56	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
41 %23/56	Close Risky Ruins	1–3	MEG 127	Trainer
38 %21/56	Close Judge	1–3	POR 76	Trainer
36 %20/56	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–4	DRI 176	Trainer
29 %16/56	Close Gengar	1–3	POR 50	Pokémon
27 %15/56	Close Gastly	1–4	PFL 54	Pokémon
27 %15/56	Close Energy Recycler	1–2	DRI 164	Trainer
27 %15/56	Close Mega Signal	1–2	MEG 121	Trainer
25 %14/56	Close Dudunsparce	1–2	TEF 129	Pokémon
25 %14/56	Close Dunsparce	1–3	JTG 120	Pokémon
25 %14/56	Close Yveltal	1	MEG 88	Pokémon
23 %13/56	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
23 %13/56	Close Grimsley's Move	1–4	PFL 90	Trainer
23 %13/56	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
21 %12/56	Close Punk Helmet	1–3	PFL 92	Trainer
21 %12/56	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–3	DRI 180	Trainer
20 %11/56	Close Energy Switch	1–4	MEG 115	Trainer
20 %11/56	Close Switch	1–3	MEG 130	Trainer
18 %10/56	Close Gastly	2–4	TEF 102	Pokémon
18 %10/56	Close Chi-Yu	1–3	PBL 59	Pokémon
18 %10/56	Close Shadowy Darkness Energy	1–2	PBL 83	Energy
16 %9/56	Close Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
16 %9/56	Close Binding Mochi	1–2	PRE 95	Trainer
16 %9/56	Close Dark Bell	1–4	PBL 75	Trainer
16 %9/56	Close Energy Retrieval	1–2	SVI 171	Trainer
16 %9/56	Close Hilda	1–3	WHT 84	Trainer
16 %9/56	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
14 %8/56	Close Haunter	1–3	POR 49	Pokémon
14 %8/56	Close Tatsugiri	1–2	TWM 131	Pokémon
14 %8/56	Close Morty's Conviction	1–2	TEF 155	Trainer
13 %7/56	Close Wally's Compassion	1–3	MEG 132	Trainer
11 %6/56	Close Mega Darkrai ex	1	PBL 48	Pokémon
11 %6/56	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
11 %6/56	Close Morpeko ex	1	PBL 55	Pokémon
11 %6/56	Close Pecharunt	1–4	SVP 149	Pokémon
11 %6/56	Close Cyrano	2–4	SSP 170	Trainer
11 %6/56	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
11 %6/56	Close Eri	1	TEF 146	Trainer
11 %6/56	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
9 %5/56	Close N's Zoroark ex	2	JTG 98	Pokémon
9 %5/56	Close N's Zorua	2	JTG 97	Pokémon
9 %5/56	Close Seviper	1–2	PFL 62	Pokémon
9 %5/56	Close Gengar ex	1	TEF 104	Pokémon
9 %5/56	Close Team Rocket's Factory	1–2	DRI 173	Trainer
9 %5/56	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
9 %5/56	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
7 %4/56	Close Scraggy	2	WHT 57	Pokémon
7 %4/56	Close Eternatus	1	PFL 69	Pokémon
7 %4/56	Close N's Reshiram	1	JTG 116	Pokémon
7 %4/56	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
7 %4/56	Close Rosa's Encouragement	1	POR 84	Trainer
7 %4/56	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
7 %4/56	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
5 %3/56	Close Okidogi ex	2	SFA 36	Pokémon
5 %3/56	Close Scrafty	2	WHT 58	Pokémon
5 %3/56	Close Absol	1	SFA 30	Pokémon
5 %3/56	Close Crobat	1–2	CRI 51	Pokémon
5 %3/56	Close Haunter	1	TEF 103	Pokémon
5 %3/56	Close Team Rocket's Sneasel	1	DRI 128	Pokémon
5 %3/56	Close Zubat	1–2	SFA 27	Pokémon
5 %3/56	Close Friends in Paldea	4	PRE 109	Trainer
5 %3/56	Close Crispin	3	SCR 133	Trainer
5 %3/56	Close Lumiose City	2	POR 77	Trainer
5 %3/56	Close Dizzying Valley	1	PFL 88	Trainer
5 %3/56	Close Fennel	1	BLK 82	Trainer
5 %3/56	Close Gravity Mountain	1	SSP 177	Trainer
5 %3/56	Close Jamming Tower	1–2	TWM 153	Trainer
5 %3/56	Close Max Rod	1	PRE 116	Trainer
5 %3/56	Close Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy
5 %3/56	Close Neo Upper Energy	1	TEF 162	Energy
4 %2/56	Close Spiritomb	2–4	MEG 87	Pokémon
4 %2/56	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	2–3	MEG 104	Pokémon
4 %2/56	Close Salandit	3	POR 15	Pokémon
4 %2/56	Close Salazzle ex	3	POR 16	Pokémon
4 %2/56	Close Fan Rotom	1–2	SCR 118	Pokémon
4 %2/56	Close Zarude	1–2	PBL 56	Pokémon
4 %2/56	Close Dudunsparce ex	1	JTG 121	Pokémon
4 %2/56	Close Yveltal	1	SFA 35	Pokémon
4 %2/56	Close Academy at Night	2–4	SFA 54	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Roxie's Performance	3	CRI 81	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Surfer	3	SSP 187	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Battle Cage	1–2	PFL 85	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Brock's Scouting	1–2	JTG 146	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Hassel	1–2	TWM 151	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Nighttime Mine	1–2	ASC 197	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Perilous Jungle	2	TEF 156	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Powerglass	2	SFA 63	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Gravity Gemstone	1	SCR 137	Trainer
4 %2/56	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
4 %2/56	Fire Energy	6	MEE 2	Energy
2 %1/56	Close Mega Absol ex	3	MEG 86	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Scolipede	3	TWM 117	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Venipede	3	TWM 115	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Carvanha	2	PFL 60	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Duskull	2	PRE 35	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Eevee	2	SSP 143	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Hoothoot	2	SCR 114	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Mega Scrafty ex	2	ASC 135	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Sableye	2	PFL 59	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Umbreon	2	30C 91	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Whirlipede	2	TWM 116	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Cinccino ex	1	CRI 73	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Dusclops	1	PRE 36	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Dusknoir	1	PRE 37	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Galarian Linoone	1	ASC 131	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Galarian Zigzagoon	1	ASC 130	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Honchkrow	1	PFL 58	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex	1	DRI 136	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Marnie's Impidimp	1	DRI 134	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Marnie's Morgrem	1	DRI 135	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Mega Sharpedo ex	1	PFL 61	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Murkrow	1	PFL 57	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Noctowl	1	SCR 115	Pokémon
2 %1/56	Close Carmine	4	TWM 145	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Crushing Hammer	4	POR 71	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Colress's Tenacity	3	SFA 57	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Gwynn	3	PBL 78	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close N's PP Up	3	JTG 153	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Pokémon Center Lady	2	MEG 123	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	2	DRI 178	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Bianca's Devotion	1	TEF 142	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Canari	1	ASC 185	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Drayton	1	SSP 174	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Energy Search	1	POR 72	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Lacey	1	SCR 139	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Lucky Helmet	1	TWM 158	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Redeemable Ticket	1	JTG 156	Trainer
2 %1/56	Close Mist Energy	1	TEF 161	Energy

The most common Mega Gengar ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 17 slots come from the core, the cards all 56 lists run. The remaining 43 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 22 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 20 Pokémon, 32 Trainers and 8 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 56 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.

One thing to fix before you play: there is no ACE SPEC card in these 60. Players split that slot so many ways that none of their cards climbed high enough to get in, and 53 of the 56 lists carry one. Take Unfair Stamp, the most chosen, and drop a card from the bottom of the table to make room.

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

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: 20
2 Mega Gengar ex PFL 56
2 Haunter PFL 55
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Pecharunt ex SFA 39
1 Munkidori TWM 95
4 Gastly POR 48
2 Gengar ex 30C 90
2 Toxel PFL 67
2 Toxtricity PFL 68
1 Gengar POR 50
2 Gastly PFL 54

Trainer: 32
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
3 Rare Candy MEG 125
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
3 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Janine's Secret Art PRE 112
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
2 Dawn PFL 87
2 Air Balloon ASC 181
2 Risky Ruins MEG 127
1 Judge POR 76
2 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176

Energy: 8
8 Darkness Energy

Total Cards: 60

How many different cards Mega Gengar ex needs, and how long it will last

You need 150 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 4 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

53 of these 56 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 13 took Unfair Stamp, 9 took Grand Tree and 6 took Hero's Cape. The flex table shows you all 10. 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 Unfair Stamp and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time, and the answer is a good one: not one of the 4 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation. This deck walks through the change whole.

What Mega Gengar ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 13 of the 132 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, Cynthia's Garchomp ex and Mega Lucario ex, plus 10 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 13 decks out of the 132 we track. The other 119 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 28 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex, N's Zoroark ex and Dhelmise, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

When an attack does nothing at all

There are two ways to hurt the Pokémon across the table, and the game does not treat them the same. An attack with a number printed next to it deals damage. An attack with no number, whose text just says "place 2 damage counters", does what the rules call an effect. That matters, because a handful of Pokémon have an Ability that prevents the effects of your opponent's attacks, and their card spells it out in brackets: damage is not an effect.

The other way round, this deck attacks with counters too: Gengar ex with Chaotic Pain. Those attacks have no damage number printed next to them at all. In front of a Pokémon that shuts off effects, they place nothing. Zero.

Of the decks we track, 9 play a Pokémon like that, and they are in the table below. The day you see one come across the table, stop counting on your counters. You need an attack with a real number written on it. You have one: Void Gale, on Mega Gengar ex, for 230.