The Gengar ex and Golbat Deck is a Control Deck featuring Gengar ex and Golbat from the Genetic Apex Set in Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket (PTCG Pocket). Read on for the complete list of cards in this deck, basic information on the deck, how to play the deck, and optimal matchups for it!

Related Decks

Gengar ex and Golbat Deck Guide

Deck Evaluation

Ace Pokemon						Tier Ranking
Gengar ex Genetic Apex (A1)			Golbat Genetic Apex (A1)
						Energy Type(s)
						F2P Friendly?
						✔️
						Deck Difficulty
						★★
Deck Strengths
Gengar ex's Ability restricts your opponent from using Professor's Research or other Supporter cards. Golbat can deal meaningful damage to Mewtwo ex and other Pokemon that are weak to Darkness. Key Pokemon have different weaknesses.
Deck Weaknesses
Slow to set up because Gengar ex is a Stage 2.

Best Meta Decks Tier List

List of Cards

Gengar ex and Golbat Deck List
Pokemon Cards
Gastly ×2				Haunter ×2				Gengar ex ×2				Zubat ×2
Golbat ×2				Kangaskhan ×1
Trainer Cards
Sabrina ×2				Potion ×2				X Speed ×1				Poke Ball ×2
Professor's Research ×2

Deck Building Guide

Packs Required for Gengar ex and Golbat Deck

Pack	Featured Card

How to Get Promo Haunter

The Haunter Promo Card can be obtained from the Promo Pack A Series Vol. 2, which is a reward from the Venusaur Drop Event.
This is the debut of Promo Haunter, which you can get from these packs.

Venusaur Drop Event Guide and Best Decks

How to Play Gengar ex and Golbat Deck

How to Play Gengar ex and Golbat Deck
Core Combos and Interactions Starting Hand Deck Strategies Game Phases

Gengar ex and Golbat Deck Core Combos and Interactions

Primary Attacker/Finisher	Darkness Type Attacker	Description
Gengar ex	Hypno	・Gengar ex aims to lock opponents out of options later in a game, while consistently dealing 100 damage with Spooky Shot. ・Golbat can deal a good chunk of damage against Darkness-weak Pokemon like Mewtwo ex and Ralts.

Best Starting Hand

Best Starting Hand

Basic Pokemon and their evolutions are welcome in opening hands, so that we won't have to scramble to find them later in the game. Use Professor's Research to find evolution cards if you don't already have it inhand.

Other Good Starting Cards

Recommended Starting Hand

Zubat and a turn 2 Golbat can also be good, putting offensive pressure somewhat early.

Best Cards Tier List

Gengar ex and Golbat Deck Strategies

Gengar ex and Golbat Deck Strategies
Turn 3 Gengar Golbat vs Mewtwo ex

Strategy 1: Turn 3 Gengar

Turn 3 Gengar

If you are able to draw Gastly and Haunter during the initial turns of a match, you can immediately place them as your Active Pokemon and attack to deal chip damage. Evolving Gastly to Haunter gives it a bit more HP early on, and makes it ready to evolve into Gengar ex if you have it ready.

Strategy 2: Golbat vs Mewtwo ex

Golbat is primarily in the deck for the Mewtwo ex matchup. It can 3HKO Mewtwo or put it in KO range for Gengar ex, while it takes 2 Psychic Spheres to take Golbat out. They can also use up their resources and discard 2 Psychic to take out Golbat with Psydrive.

Game Phases

Early Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	Bench Gastly and send Zubat to the Active Spot.
2	Use Professor's Research to dig for resources to use the following turn.

Mid-Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	Evolve your Pokemon and retreat with X Speed when necessary.

Late Game

Key Card(s) Required
1	Finish the game with a fresh Gengar ex or continue pressure with Golbat.
2	Use Sabrina to put your opponent in disadvantageous situations.

Gengar ex and Golbat Deck Best and Worst Matchups

Best Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Machamp ex Decks	Type: ・Weak to Psychic-type cards. ・Also needs time to be fully set up, which can be stalled by Kangaskhan or Gengar ex if built early.

Worst Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Control Decks	Type: Any ・Sabrina or Red Card can easily counter this deck by shuffling your hand to your deck or forcing Haunter into the Active Spot.
Darkness-type Decks	Type: ・Psychic is weak to Darkness-type cards. ・Can easily knock out Gastly or Haunter.

Overall Consistency

The Gengar ex Deck is heavily weighed down by the time required to set it up, as well as being fully dependent on Gastly and Haunter which are mediocre when it comes to offense and defense.

However, if you are able to set up Gengar ex early, you can easily deal a lot of damage without worrying about your opponent using Supporter cards, specifically Sabrina and Professor’s Research, which can disrupt their strategies.

Gengar ex and Golbat Deck F2P & Substitutes

Gengar ex and Golbat Deck Card Substitutes

Card	Explanation
Gengar	・ Gengar's Bother Attack puts the opponent in a similar 'lock' situation where they are not allowed to use Supporter cards. Gengar also gives up only one point if KOd and does not need to commit three Energy to it.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Meta Guide

Gengar ex and Golbat Deck Other Viable Options

Card	Possible Cuts
Haunter	・ Promo Haunter has a useful attack, Surprise Attack that can deal a sizeable 50 for a lucky heads flip.
Farfetch'd	・ Farfetch'd can immediately apply offensive pressure and put high HP Pokemon into potential KO range for Gengar ex.

F2P Gengar ex and Golbat Deck List

F2P Gengar ex and Golbat Deck List
Pokemon Cards
Gastly x2	Haunter x2	Gengar x2	Zubat x2
Golbat x2	Farfetch'd x2
Trainer Cards
Potion x2	X Speed x2	Poke Ball x2	Professor's Research x2

This list incorporates non-ex Gengar instead of Gengar ex, and still makes use of the Golbat line and a pair of Farfetch'd. A light Trainer count is used as the deck is already heavy with Pokemon.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Beginner's Guide

Pokemon TCG Pocket Related Guides

Deck Building Guide

All Deck Tier Lists

Deck Articles

Meta Decks

Best Meta Decks
Mewtwo ex	Celebi ex and Serperior	Pikachu ex
Gyarados ex and Greninja	Vaporeon and Articuno ex	Volcarona and Arcanine ex
Scolipede and Weezing	Starmie ex and Articuno ex	Arcanine ex
Blaine	Pikachu ex and Raichu	Gyarados ex and Vaporeon
Pidgeot ex	Charizard ex	Aerodactyl ex and Primeape
Exeggutor ex	Lt. Surge	Dragonite
Alakazam and Jynx	Mew ex and Weezing	Golem

Off Meta Decks

Articuno ex	Venusaur ex	Dragonite and Weezing
Lapras ex	Greninja	Mewtwo ex and Weezing
Marowak ex	Primeape	Venusaur and Weezing
Arbok Lock	Zapdos ex	Blastoise ex
Gengar ex	Machamp ex	Wigglytuff ex
Melmetal	Koga	Omastar and Articuno ex
Kingler and Articuno ex	Frosmoth	Lapras ex and Butterfree
Poliwrath	Tentacruel and Greninja	Victreebel and Exeggutor ex
Gengar ex and Golbat	Persian and Mawile	Lickitung and Primeape
Exeggutor ex and Alakazam	Frosmoth and Articuno ex	Gyarados
Centiskorch and Moltres ex	Grapploct	Cinccino and Weezing
Brock	Kabutops	Aerodactyl and Dragonite
Eeveelutions and Ditto	Lickitung	Articuno
Zapdos	Moltres	Venusaur
Charizard	Blastoise

Rental Decks

All Rental Decks
Venusaur ex Rental Deck	Charizard ex Rental Deck	Blastoise ex Rental Deck
Pikachu ex Rental Deck	Mewtwo ex Rental Deck	Machamp ex Rental Deck
Nidoking and Nidoqueen Rental Deck	Kanto Fossils Rental Deck	Koga Rental Deck
Brock Rental Deck	Blaine Rental Deck	Lt. Surge Rental Deck

Starter Decks

All Starter Decks
Pinsir Starter Deck	Rapidash Starter Deck	Sandslash Starter Deck