Pokémon TCG: Top 10 Best Gengar of All Time

In this article, we'll show you 10 strong and interesting Gengars in Pokémon TCG - considering cards from the Wizards of the Coast era until today. This is one of the most beloved Ghost Pokémon, and it also has an incredible fan base.

10 - Gengar (Wizards of the Coast Era: Jungle)

As one of the best cards to control damage counters, its ability, Curse, allows us to move a damage counter between the enemy Pokémon, even if this maneuver knocks it out.

This was incredibly useful if we consider its attack, Dark Mind, which deals 30 damage to the active Pokémon, and, if your opponent has any Pokémon on their bench, you'll be able to put a damage counter on it. This way, you'll create a combo: put several damage counters on enemy Pokémon throughout the game, moving them around to control the game state, hurt the enemy Pokémon as much as you can, and guarantee several knockouts.

This card was incredibly strong in the classic "Wizards of the Coast" era.

9 - Gengar (Sun/Moon: Crimson Invasion)

Moving on from 1999 to 2017, and to Expanded, we have this Gengar, which has Gnawing Curse: any time your opponent moves an energy card from their hand to one of their Pokémon, they'll get two damage counters.

This means, if your opponent uses Trainer cards, like a Welder UNB 214, to attach two basic Fire energy cards to a Pokémon, they will get 4 damage counters, for instance.

Additionally, its attack, Fade to Black, is quite useful because it makes your opponent Confused.

8 - Gengar (Diamond/Pearl: Arceus)

This is basically an "updated" version of Gengar FO 5, from the Wizards of the Coast era, to the Diamond & Pearl block.

Its ability is still the same, it even has the same name, and its attack, Shadow Skip, deals more damage to the active Pokémon - 60 base damage. It also puts a damage counter on one of your opponent's benched Pokémon as an extra effect.

However, it has one extra, extra effect: after using this attack, Gengar can retreat and put one of your benched Pokémon as your active Pokémon, which gives it a defensive approach and also makes it more resilient.

Keep in mind that, in this block, we had LV.X Pokémon, which were "upgrades" of their respective Pokémon. They could use the attacks and abilities from their previous cards; in this case, Gengar LV.X AR 97 could use Gengar AR 16's abilities and attacks.

7 - Gengar (Diamond/Pearl: Base Set)

What stands out the most is its first attack, Life Drain: you toss a coin, and, if it's heads, your opponent will only have 10 HP left, regardless of how much HP they have!

As for its second attack, Shadow Dance, it allows you to put 4 damage counters on your opponent's Pokémon in any way you want. Next, Gengar will return to your bench and swap positions with one of your Pokémon.

This card can also be "upgraded" with Gengar LV.X AR 97.

6 - Gengar (Diamond/Pearl: Stormfront)

Another card from the Diamond & Pearl block, this Gengar is also extremely aggressive, and it is excellent to spread damage counters around with your attacks.

With its first attack, Shadow Room, Gengar puts 3 damage counters on one of your opponent's Pokémon. However, if that Pokémon has any abilities, you'll put 6 damage counters instead of 3!

Its second attack, Poltergeist, is almost a "signature-attack" for this Pokémon (revisited in this version - Gengar ex RG 108, from Fire Red & Leaf Green, ever since its Ruby & Sapphire version).

Its ability is what guarantees its spot in our list. Fainting Spell: if Gengar is knocked out by your opponent, you toss a coin; if it's heads, your opponent will be knocked out automatically!

Once again, this card can also be "upgraded" with Gengar LV.X AR 97.

5 - Gengar (e-Card Series: Skyridge)

This Pokémon occupies our fifth spot because of its support role with its ability, Manipulate: it allows you to, by evolving a Gengar in your hand to a Haunter that is your active Pokémon, get a basic Pokémon from the discard pile (except baby Pokémon - an old mechanic used to classify *Cleffa, Magby, Elekid, Smoochum, Tyrogue) and toss three coins. For each "heads", you'll attach a basic energy card to this Pokémon in specific. This was quite strong at the time.

Its attack is also interesting because it gives your opponent special conditions; if it's heads, your opponent will be Burned, and if it's tails, your opponent will be Confused.

4 - Gengar LV.X (Diamond/Pearl: Arceus)

This is this Gengar's LV.X version. The rule for LV.X cards states that they can use attacks and abilities from previous Pokémon, so, this card can use one of these three Gengar:

Considering that most of these Gengars use damage counters and want to move them or spread damage as much as possible, Gengar LV.X's attack, Compound Pain, makes a lot of sense. It deals 30 damage for each enemy Pokémon that has damage counters.

To help you knock down low-HP Pokémon, as it was quite common to find in this format, you had your "Poké-Power": Level Down. With it, you can choose one of your enemy Pokémon, remove that Pokémon's "LV.X"'s card and return it to your opponent's hand. This was like "regressing its evolution" and allowed you to knock down these Pokémon more easily.

3 - Gengar (Scarlet/Violet: 151)

What guaranteed its place in our list is its attack, Poltergeist, which deals 50 damage for each Trainer card you find in your opponent's hand (be them Supporter, Item, Tool, or Stadium).

Basically, it has the same concept as its predecessor, Gengar ex RG 108.

2 - Gengar (X/Y: BREAKthrough - X/Y: Generations)

Our second place, both in Expanded and in Gym Leader Challenge, is formidable because its second attack knocks down your opponent instantly if they have at least 3 damage counters.

We can use several resources that speed up this process, such as this Trainer Stadium, Dimension Valley PHF 93, which discounts the cost of your Psychic Pokémon's attacks by one colorless energy card, or even Gardevoir DEX 109, which, with its ability, doubles one basic Psychic energy card so you can attack with Gengar GEN 35.

1 - Gengar & Mimikyu-GX (Sun/Moon: Team Up)

Our first place is one of the strongest cards ever released for Gengar, and has the Tag Team rarity. Once again, its common attack is Poltergeist, which means, it also deals damage based on how many Trainer cards you find in your opponent's hands. You can also boost this attack with a combo that uses Surprise Box UNB 187 to force your opponent to get a Trainer card from the discard pile and put it in their hand.

However, another factor that guarantees its position in our list is its GX attack, Horror House. For one Psychic energy card, your opponent won't be able to play any card in their hand next turn. If by any chance you add another extra Psychic energy card to the cost of Gengar & Mimikyu TAG TEAM's GX attack, you'll activate its second effect: each player will draw until they have 7 cards in their hand. This may force your opponent to draw more Trainers, and so, if we use Poltergeist, we'll deal even more damage to our opponent's active Pokémon.

Gengar "Prime" (Heart Gold/Soul Silver: Triumphant)

Many players' favorite in the Heart Gold/Soul Silver era, this Pokémon uses its attack, Hurl into Darkness, to look at your opponent's hand. If you find any Pokémon there, for each Psychic energy card attached to Gengar Prime, you'll put these Pokémon in your opponent's hand in the Lost Zone.

There's only one problem with this: at this time and in this format, we had Lost World CL 81, which gave an automatic victory to players if their opponent had at least six Pokémon in the Lost Zone and this stadium was in play.

So, if you used Hurl into Darkness and found 6 Pokémon to send to the Lost Zone, you'd win automatically!

Mega Gengar (X/Y: Phantom Forces)

When this card was released in Standard at the time Mega Evolutions were around, it was perfect to copy attacks from aggressive Pokémon, such as M Charizard-EX FLF 69, M Charizard-EX FLF 69, M Rayquaza-EX ROS 61, and M Rayquaza-EX ROS 76.

However, this card has become way more efficient for Mewtwo & Mew-GX UNM 71's Psychic Boxes thanks to its ability, Perfection, which copies attacks of Pokémon-EX and GX in the discard pile, which increases Mewtwo & Mew TAG TEAM's variety.

Gengar VMax (Sword/Shield: Fusion Strike)

Finally, we have Gengar VMAX FST 157 and its attack, Fear and Panic, which deals 60 damage for each enemy Pokémon GX and V in play.

During the Sword/Shield: Fusion Strike release, it was a good rival for the Mew VMAX FST 114 deck because of the advantage of the Darkness type, which was its "arch-enemy"'s weakness.

What did you think of this list? What would your top 10 best Gengar list look like? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section.

Thank you for reading! See you next time.