More and more cards are ending up in Pokémon TCG Pocket. This makes a popular ex-card increasingly useful. Or?
It’s that time again: An expansion is landing in Pokémon TCG Pocket and the card pool is growing. The new set is called “Shining Festival” and brings some new arrivals.
One example of the best new cards is the Trainer card “Red”. The legendary Trainer has a cool ability that allows your cards to deal an additional 20 damage when they battle against an ex-Pokémon. And even in the last expansions, Trainer cards have been added that turned out to be extremely useful.
While there were very limited supporter cards at the release of TCG Pocket, the field is now widening. As a result, more emphasis is being placed on strong Trainers, and they are filling more decks. But this, in turn, plays into the hands of a monster that relies on just that: Gengar-ex.
Why Gengar-ex is happy right now – and still facing difficulties
As new sets come out, new discussions about the new best cards in the game arise. It usually revolves around fresh cards from the latest set. However, Reddit user Chicken_Grapefruit noticed that the ever-improving Trainer cards are also benefiting the older Gengar-ex card. A corresponding discussion in the subreddit for Pokémon TCG Pocket drew attention (you can find the Reddit discussion here).
The point is as follows: Gengar-ex has an ability that prevents your opponents from playing any supporter cards from their hand as long as Gengar-ex is in the active position. Players relying on cards like Misty, Red, Blue, Giovanni, Cyrus, or other supporters will be left without options.
And as new sets also introduce new, strong supporters into the game, Gengar-ex becomes increasingly useful.
But: One fundamental problem of Gengar-ex is not resolved. The card still carries several weaknesses.
- The big issue is that Gengar is the second evolution of Gastly. This means that you first need to evolve Gastly, and then also evolve Haunter to Gengar. By the time you manage that, it might already be too late.
- Additionally, Gengar does not deal a lot of damage. 100 damage is simply too little for some monsters.
- Moreover, the ability is only triggered in the active position. This is also inconvenient compared to other abilities in the game.
What can be said in favor of Gengar is its 170 hit points. That’s quite a lot, assuming it hasn’t taken too much damage before evolving. Additionally, Gengar can be made more useful with healing cards or Pokémon tools.
In conclusion, it can be said: Yes, Gengar is getting stronger. However, it is still questionable whether it will truly become a top option or if other cards will outpace it in the long run. What do you think? Let us know in the comments! And if you want to discover some of the best combinations in the game: Check out our list of the best meta decks in Pokémon TCG Pocket.
