VileGar (TCG)

VileGar
Gengar and Vileplume Types used Major cards Gengar, Vileplume, Uxie, and Spiritomb Era 2009-2010

VileGar was a popular deck archetype in competitive Pokémon Trading Card Game play. The deck centered around the synergy between Stormfront Gengar and Undaunted Vileplume. Spiritomb from Arceus was used to set up, Gengar was used to attack, and Vileplume was used to keep a continuous Trainer lock on the opponent. The deck placed well in numerous Battle Road tournaments at the beginning of the 2010-2011 season.

Strategy

Spiritomb

Spiritomb was the deck's ideal opening Pokémon. It prevented both players from playing Trainer cards with its Keystone Seal Poké-Body, while at the same time evolving the VileGar player's benched Pokémon with Darkness Grace. If the deck opened with Spiritomb and got Vileplume out quickly, it typically prevented the opponent from playing Trainer cards through the entirety of the game. Gastly provided a slightly inferior, though still good, start, since it could also prevent the opponent from playing Trainer cards through its Pitch Dark attack. Essentially, VileGar's modus operandi early in the game was to slow down the opponent while setting up through a strong Supporter engine.

The deck utilized a combination of drawing effects, such as Uxie and Professor Oak's New Theory, in combination with searching effects, such as Bebe's Search and Pokémon Collector, to get out at least one Vileplume and Gengar in play as soon as possible. Vileplume kept the Trainer lock on with its Allergy Flower Poké-Body, while Gengar was the deck's main attacker. Its synergy with Vileplume stemmed from its Poltergeist attack, which, for , did 30 damage to the Defending Pokémon for each Trainer, Supporter, and Stadium card in the opponent's hand. Since Allergy Flower prevented the opponent from playing Trainers, they often were forced to hold them in hand, allowing Poltergeist to do a large amount of damage.

Broken Time-Space

Key Cards

• Gengar - Gengar was the deck's main attacker. Since Spiritomb and Vileplume caused the opponent to accumulate Trainer cards in his or her hand, Gengar's Poltergeist attack could do a tremendous amount of damage. Additionally, Gengar was often able to take easy prizes off the opponent's bench with Shadow Room which, for , placed six damage counters on an opponent's Pokémon that had any Poké-Powers (or three damage counters on a Pokémon without Poké-Powers). Gengar also possesses the Fainting Spell Poké-Power, which allows a 50% chance that an opponent's Pokémon knocking out Gengar will be knocked out as well.
• Vileplume - Vileplume slows the opponent by preventing him or her from playing Trainer cards. It also allows for Gengar to do more damage with Poltergeist by forcing the opponent to build up Trainer cards in his or her hand.
• Spiritomb - Spiritomb is the deck's ideal start, and, by preventing the opponent from playing Trainer cards with its Keystone Seal Poké-Body, provides the VileGar player with ample time to set up. For no energy cost, Spiritomb can also use Darkness Grace to evolve one of the player's benched Pokémon. In a deck running two large evolution lines, this is a very beneficial effect. It allows the VileGar player to avoid devoting resources to getting a Vileplume up and running that could instead be devoted to Gengar.
• Pokémon Collector - Pokémon Collector is critical early in the game, since it allows the VileGar player to immediately search out several Basic Pokémon with which to either assist with set up or begin evolving immediately. Often, a bad start will be rectified through Pokémon Collector by searching out Spiritomb, Unown Q, and either Gastly or Oddish. If the VileGar player starts with Spiritomb, Pokémon Collector is generally used to search for Gastly, Oddish, and Uxie. Pokémon Collector is arguably the deck's most important card for setting up.
• Broken Time-Space - Since the deck only runs two copies of Rare Candy, as Spiritomb and Vileplume also block the VileGar player from playing Trainers, Broken Time-Space is the deck's most reliable method of quick evolution. This is why the deck runs 4-3-3 and 2-2-2 Gengar and Vileplume lines, respectively, instead of the 4-2-3 (or similar line) run in many stage-2-centric decks.
• Call Energy - Call Energy is critical in allowing the VileGar player to setup as quickly as possible. Although it prevents the player from attacking with Darkness Grace or Pitch Dark early in the game, Call Energy provides a way to get benched Pokémon apart from Pokémon Collector.

Typical decklist

The deck list appearing below is not official; it is meant to represent an average build of the archetype, not specifically constructed for any regional metagame. Being that this is merely an archetype, a player may wish to change any part of this deck when building his or her own version.

Quantity	Card	Type	Rarity
3×	Gengar
3×	Haunter
4×	Gastly
2×	Vileplume
2×	Gloom
2×	Oddish
4×	Spiritomb
2×	Uxie
1×	Unown Q
3×	Unown R
4×	Bebe's Search	Su
4×	Pokémon Collector	Su
4×	Professor Oak's New Theory	Su
2×	Looker's Investigation	Su
1×	Palmer's Contribution	Su
2×	Rare Candy	T
1×	Luxury Ball	T
2×	Pokémon Communication	T
3×	Broken Time-Space	St
4×	Call Energy	E
6×	Psychic Energy	E	—

Possible Tech Cards

Mewtwo LV.X

The following cards are often used in VileGar in place of certain cards included in the above list.

• Mewtwo LV.X - Mewtwo LV.X is occasionally used as a tech in VileGar to provide a more certain way to win against LuxChomp and other Pokémon SP-based decks. However, a Mewtwo LV.X tech is uncommon, as VileGar does not have a poor matchup against SP decks to begin with.
• Azelf - Although Azelf, like Mewtwo LV.X, is an uncommon tech, it is occasionally used in conservative builds to deal with the unlikely occurrence that all of a needed card are prized.
• Crobat G - Since VileGar's premise is based on a Trainer lock, Poké Turn is virtually never used in the deck. Hence, Crobat G's usefulness plummets. However, it is still sometimes used in the deck to put more Pokémon within the range of Gengar's Shadow Room attack.