Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Is Gyarados a Suicide Play for States?

Have you ever played Lostgar, dude? The deck is so crazy inconsistent... Getting consistent Seekers is a challenge all its own, let alone double Gengars with Energy in play.

If you were playing Gyarados and taking it seriously, you would come prepared to OHKO every Gengar you encountered, anyway.
 
Kayle said:
Have you ever played Lostgar, dude? The deck is so crazy inconsistent... Getting consistent Seekers is a challenge all its own, let alone double Gengars with Energy in play.

If you were playing Gyarados and taking it seriously, you would come prepared to OHKO every Gengar you encountered, anyway.
Click to expand...

Not to say gdos can't wipe the floor with gengar, because it can, but gengar is VERY consistent. You just really need the right build. My build will seeker almost every turn it needs to, and if it's not seekering, I can at the very least use spiritomb TM followed by mime's trick reveal, it's not a gurantee, but it works a good percentage of the time.

The problem with gengar is what you pointed out. It's hard to swarm gengars, even with twins. It's a stage two so you need a couple of cards to hit it, and if gdos can one shot you it's almost impossible. On the good side, gdos can't always one shot you (don't let that comfort you too much, if they do it once you'll be in trouble... twice, and make that double... lololololol :lol:)

Really though, if the opponent is playing the proper 4-2-2-1-1 build (or maybe 4-3-2-1-1), and one rescue, then they hit about 3 gengars. That means that once the third one is gone their strategy is in the hole. On the other hand, I guess they could throw out the SF, and attach like crazy, and hope for a lucky spooky whirlpool + seeker combo to catch back up.

Bottom line, gengar is consistent, but at the same time that doesn't mean it can beat gdos. In all honesty I think getting scarred is something you shouldn't do, whoever says gdos is suicide doesn't know what they're talking about (not to say they aren't a good player, just that they probably haven't play tested the match-up).
 
I have yet to find a really terribly consistent list. =\

Though to be fair, i am testing mostly against Luxchomp... early sprays make like 40% of your games hell
 
Kayle said:
I have yet to find a really terribly consistent list. =\

Though to be fair, i am testing mostly against Luxchomp... early sprays make like 40% of your games hell
Click to expand...

For me I am trainer heavy + a mini cyrus engine, really helps. Unfortunately this kills your vilegar match-up... For me, even vs. LuxChomp with T1 spray I've managed to survive (namely dropping two uxie). In about 2/3 games I hit 2 gengars in the 1st-3rd turn depending, and can usually hit at least one on the 1st-2nd turn about 9/10 times. Unfortunately that doesn't save the LuxChomp match-up... I'm finding a single weavile just make your life very very very sad.

But yes, it can be done, but I really don't think that helps all that much. xD
 
Do you mind sharing your list?

Do you think Dialga needs some kind of secondary counter or is prizes + Deafen good enough?
 
I think this is how its going to go

SP will do well against lost gar and gyrados but will struggle against machamp

Lost gar will do well against gyrados machamp and various rogue decks.

Gyrados good against the rogue decks and vile gar

But honestly any of these decks can take each other down imo
 
Honestly, Lostgar Vs. Gyarados isn't a bad match up you just have to be very careful. Play heavy smeargle and less Sableye, or if you want to keep your Sableye tech in Cyrus's Conspiracy to grab a collector for the next turn as opposed to using a collector, give you pokemon in your hand, also Dialga g isn't a bad tech either. Just be cautious of pokemon in hand and use them for Junk Arm bait.
 
I've yet to play a good LostGar. It's not too hard to beat with Speed Gyarados, especially if they're running no Vileplume. I've also played it using Dusknoir, and I only needed one Dusknoir the whole game to constanly KO their Gengar Prime before they could actually get energy onto it/lost zone anything. I've also played it with DonChamp and lost once out of all the matches due to a bad start. And the people that have played it are generally pretty good players too.
Maybe it'll get better when people have tested it more though and see what works well.
 
Kayle said:
Have you ever played Lostgar, dude? The deck is so crazy inconsistent... Getting consistent Seekers is a challenge all its own, let alone double Gengars with Energy in play.

If you were playing Gyarados and taking it seriously, you would come prepared to OHKO every Gengar you encountered, anyway.
Click to expand...

You're going to OHKO every 130 HP Gengar you encounter?
 
Oh my God, if you tech heavily for a deck of course you're going to beat it. And if you play a deck that autowins another deck, of course you're going to beat it. We all know DialgaChomp has a favorable LostGar matchup. Anyone who doesn't hasn't been paying attention.
 
^
thank you.
Right now i don't run the cyrus engine but mine is VERY trainer heavy, i am accepting a near autoloss to Vilegar and unfavorable to D-chomp but i beat everything else. Including G-dos and sablelock.
 
03371 said:
can you explain the matchup?
Click to expand...

Mesprit's Psychic Bind hurts LostGar pretty badly, and with SSU, junk arm and seeker it's possible to keep them locked for a pretty long time. By the time you give up the lock, they usually don't have enough time to achieve their win condition. Also, Gyarados has one of the best discard engines in the game, so its easy to get rid of Pokemon. If the Gyra plays one mew, it's easy to OHKO gengars. Gengar wins by getting a better start than g-dos pretty much, now that I think about i'd say gyarados wins this matchup. Pitch dark can be clutch. Getting the psychic bind before the g-dos does is very important, the first mesprit usually wins; though gyarados can keep it going longer.

By the way, lost zoning one magikarp isn't even that bad. It's still a two hit KO. ALSO, the LostGar I played against did not run Devoluter.
 
Son_of_Apollo said:
Mesprit's Psychic Bind hurts LostGar pretty badly,
Click to expand...

How so? PONT, Dex, Drawer, Twins, and Spiritomb all circumvent the Power Lock. LostGar doesn't, and as far as I remember, never has relied on a Setup run to maintain itself.

Son_of_Apollo said:
By the time you give up the lock, they usually don't have enough time to achieve their win condition.
Click to expand...

...What? Correlation / Causation fallacy please. Not that I'm trying to defend Lostgar out of some sense of lolfavouritism, but I prefer to see the thinking behind this claim.

Son_of_Apollo said:
If the Gyra plays one mew, it's easy to OHKO gengars.
Click to expand...

Srsly? What difference does it matter with Gyara versus Mew? Why don't you run one more Gyara if you're gonna run a Mew Prime?

Son_of_Apollo said:
Gengar wins by getting a better start than g-dos pretty much, now that I think about i'd say gyarados wins this matchup.
Click to expand...

Wait, you change your opinion now on Gyarados-Gengar matchup? What, you weren't thinking clearly before?

Son_of_Apollo said:
Getting the psychic bind before the g-dos does is very important, the first mesprit usually wins; though gyarados can keep it going longer.
Click to expand...

Again, more pontification. What does Psychic Bind have anything to do with it? Both decks can run just fine without powers. Explaining is your friend.

Son_of_Apollo said:
By the way, lost zoning one magikarp isn't even that bad. It's still a two hit KO. ALSO, the LostGar I played against did not run Devoluter.
Click to expand...

I would argue otherwise. Not OHKO-ing a Pokemon in a deck that runs 4 Seeker is a bad idea, mainly since Gyara runs BTS like mad. Let's say I run 3-4 BTS in a Lostgar deck. Let's say you run 3-4 BTS. That's 8 BTS running about. Seriously? No Seeker, slap down Gastly, Haunter, Gengar Prime, attach and retreat active using Warps / whatevskies and then Hurl?

Also, you need to play against someone with a Devoluter. Get on that hoss.


EDIT: That said, playing against Lostgar with a Gyarados deck just requires a bit more adaptive thinking, that's it. You just make sure you don't have Magikarps on your Bench and if you're still worried, then run a 1-1 DGX line with a Premier Ball or something to shut off catastrophe. Run warps. Done. Make sure you don't have Pokes in your hand, and if they Seeker you, then don't bring up a Magikarp.

If you really are worried, then heck, run 4 Special Darks for Gastly donks and Judge for 4 turns.
 
Last edited:
I don't think it is, especially now with the rule on having to take 4 prizes in order for a game to count, I don't think LostGar will be played unless its a spread version of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top