恐惧与恐慌——Gengar VMAX 一瞥

Hey everyone Gabriel Smart is back with another article! I hope you all have been enjoying Fusion Strike as much as I have! This brand new set has exceeded my expectations, and has made the game even more enjoyable to me! Fusion Strike has provided us with so many new amazing cards like Mew VMAX (Fusion Strike) Genesect V (Fusion Strike), Inteleon VMAX (Fusion Strike), 耿鬼VMAX (Fusion Strike) and so much more. With all the change that has happened in the format, one thing hasn't changed, and that is Single Strike's viability in the format! If you are looking for any of these cards in this article, make sure to check out PTCGO Store. They have the best deals for PTCGO codes. Let's dive into Single Strike Gengar!

When translations were originally released for 耿鬼VMAX, it immediately gained an incredibly high amount of attention. Many players viewed the deck as a slam dunk meta-changing deck. As time progressed, people began to compare Gengar VMAX, and Single Strike Urshifu closely, and came to the conclusion that Single Strike UrshifuVMAX (Battle Styles), was simply the better choice. Over the past week or so there has been significant debate on which one is better, and from my testing, I think both have their strengths and weaknesses, but I currently prefer playing both of them in my deck!. Let's take a look at my Single Strike box list!

1 Crobat V SHF 44

2 耿鬼 V FST 156

4 猎犬 BST 95

2 月亮伊布 V EVS 94

4 猎犬 BST 96

2 耿鬼 VMAX FST 271

2 umbreon vmax evs 95

1 單擊戰士 V BST 85

1 一击熊掌 VMAX BST 86

4 Marnie CPA 56

4 教授的研究 SSH 209

2 Boss's Orders RCL 154

4 进化香 SSH 163

3 精彩球赛 SSH 164

4 快速球 SSH 216

4 生命之瓮 CRE 229

3 开关总和 160

2 活力带 SSH 185

1 黑暗之塔 BST 137

4 捕获能量 DAA 201

1 战斗能量高中 120

4单击能量 BST 183

1 隐藏 {D} 能量 DAA 175

耿鬼V is actually one of the more interesting cards that people don't give enough credit to. Its first attack Dark Slumber does 40 and puts the active Pokemon asleep. In some rare circumstances, this can prevent your opponent from attacking the next turn and will swing a game in your favor. Its second attack “Pain Explosion” for 3 Dark Energy does 190 and deals 30 to itself, which is not a very strong attack, but provides decent damage output from a two prize attacker.

The main star of this deck is 耿鬼VMAX (Fusion Strike)! Clocking in at 320 HP, it is one of the hardest Pokemon in the game to one shot. Its first attack “Fear and Panic” reads This attack does 60 damage for each of your opponent's Pokémon V and Pokémon-GX in play. This attack provides great damage output for a very small amount of energy. Gengar’s second attack is where it truly shines! GMAX Swallow Up deals a massive 250 damage, and during your next turn, this Pokémon can't attack. Although the second effect can sting sometimes, the big difference this attack has over Single Strike Urshifus GMAXOne Blow is that it does not have to discard all of its energy when attacking. Paired up with Single Strike Energy, GMAX Swallow Up will be capable of one-shotting almost every Pokemon in the game! As of right now, there are 2 Gengar VMAX on the list. I feel like this is the sweet spot for the card because we have so many other attackers that we can use!

Most pokemon online decks need a solid teammate to provide support to one another, and Umbreon is the perfect match! Umbreon's “Dark Signal” ability provides a free gust effect once per game, and its attack Max Darkness deals a respectable 160 damage. 月亮伊布 VMAX will be a crucial part of our strategy every game, and its ability makes this deck one of the most aggressive in the format! Currently, I have two Umbreon VMAX on the list, and that has felt like the perfect number.

Every train needs fuel to run, and Houdoom (Battle Styles) is this deck's fuel to keep our attackers attacking turn after turn! Houndooms Single Strike Roar reads “you may search your deck for a Single Strike Energy card and attach it to 1 of your Single Strike Pokemon. Then, shuffle your deck. If you attached Energy to a Pokemon in this way, put 2 damage counters on that Pokemon.” This ability is truly one of the most defining effects in the game and will allow all of our attackers to continuedly to attack. Four Houndoom is a must!

Moving onto another Single Strike Pokemon in the deck we have 單擊戰士 V(Battle Styles)! Although our deck is mainly focused on Gengar and 月亮伊布 VMAX, it is still crucial to have a card that deals with fighting weak Pokemon. Urshifus Impact Blow deals a respectable 180 damage, and will give us the flexibility to handle every fighting weak deck in the game easily! Currently, I have just one Single Strike Urshifu V, and that has felt like enough. At some point, I could see a second copy being added in the future.

Last but not least we have 單擊戰士 VMAX (Battle Styles)! Now, this may come as a surprise to you, but I still play one Urshifu VMAX in the deck! With cards like Duruladon VMAX (Evolving Skies) beginning to nudge its way back into the meta, and Zamazenta (Sword and Shield) being a part of the meta, having that option to GMAX One Blow and tear through any abilities that may hinder our other Pokemon, really provides astonishing flexibility for this deck. Although powerful, this card will not see play in every game, meaning that one copy is substantial as of right now.

Typically, 很棒的球 is not played on this deck. Over time though, I have found that this deck's biggest crux is the inability to set up your evolutions quickly enough. With so many moving parts, it is critical to have as many search options as possible. Having Great Ball provides that little extra consistency boost, that will greatly decrease dead drawing, and will allow our deck to thrive. Currently, three Great Ball feels like the sweet spot.

Originally Tower was a four-of in this deck. Over time though, I have come to the conclusion that 很棒的球 has provided a much bigger boost to consistency than Tower ever did. Our Single Strike deck is one of the rare decks that does not suffer too severely from Path to the Peak, so Tower felt like more of a “win more” card, rather than a necessity. Currently, I have just one slotted into this list, but you can cut all three Great Balls, and add back three 黑暗之塔 if you chose. At this time, I am comfortable playing just one.

Now, this is a card that we don't see in Single Strike decks every day! First and foremost, I would like to give credit to Zach Lesage for this idea. 活力带 has been included in the deck to adjust the damage output numbers to our favor. 耿鬼VMAX with three Single Strike Energy deals 310 damage, which is just short of knocking out multiple VMAX Pokemon. Having Vitality Band allows us to deal 320 damage, which can be the difference between winning, and losing a game.

Lastly, we have 隐藏能量! As our Single Strike deck is more heavily focused around dark type Pokemon, having energy that provides our dark Pokemons free retreat, will give our deck more flexibility. Gengar VMAX's second effect, unfortunately, leaves it unable to attack during your next turn, so having the option to easily retreat it out of the active spot is really nice to have!

These are my thoughts on Single Strike Gengar! I have been having oodles of enjoyment playing games with this deck, and I believe that it is going to succeed in the meta! I think that Gengar is severely underrated, and its potential is going to shine in upcoming Online and IRL tournaments. Thank you all for reading my most recent PTCGO Store article. If you are looking for PTCGO codes, PTCGO Store offers the best deals on the market! That's all for me today, I appreciate each and every one of you spending the time out of your day reading my article. I hope to speak with you again soon.

Gabriel Smart is a contributing article writer for PTCGO Store. Gabriel currently resides in the Sacramento, California area and has been playing the game casually since 2010 and competitively since 2018. He streams on Twitch under the name GabrielSmartTCG, creates competitive Pokemon content on Youtube under the name SmartTCG, and posts about his tournaments results and life on Twitter @SmartTCG. Outside the game, he is a huge baseball and basketball fan and loves everything to do with athletics.