^ I agree it's a hard deck to play, and I understand that many people don't like to give seniors credit. Still, I'm sure that getting closer to 1st place at Nats with Gengar has some sort of skill behind it. I personally think seniors gets more and more competitive the closer to 1st it gets at Nats, but for those who disagree you must at least look at the T4 decks. Gengar AND Luxray were both forces behind all four decks.
I'm sorry for your misplay, but no offense intended, misplays aren't viewed as a disadvantage of a deck. For example, when you're looking at the top decks in the format, you view them at their top possible level. That is the definition of the metagame, the most competitive level of play, this is how the deck functions. I'm convinced all of the Gengar vs Luxrape matches were more in favor of skill than misplays and flips. It simply isn't practical to blame the data backing the decks on those things. There's concrete proof in that Gengar can beat Luxrape.
On another note, I think people are tossing around the term "auto-pilot" far too much anymore. Though some decks are easier to play, especially in comparison to Luxrape, I don't think you can give decks like Gengar to newer players and expect them to do well. Auto-pilot decks usually have a donk factor, and I don't think I've ever seen Gengar donk all that more than an SP deck could score a donk. I know that's not the definition, right, auto-pilots you just draw your cards, lay them down, and attack. Decks like Gengar and Kingdra you have more options to work with, targets and damage to add up. Gengar is especially moving away from the auto-pilot trend with the inclusion of Nidoqueen. Out of the three decks you mentioned, IMHO, Gengar hardly fits that category.
I know (As I've said many times before), personal experience doesn't count for much... but I have a buddy who just started playing around States. He T16'd at Regionals with Machamp, losing only twice in Swiss. He plays Gengar for Nats and goes 3-5. You take a fresh player, and give them a TRUE auto-pilot deck, records start to speak. Ways to negate the "outs" against Fainting Spell are emerging, but that flip doesn't in and of itself create an auto-pilot deck.