Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Why does Gengar break every format he's printed in?

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vaporeon

vaporeon

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I can't recall any format since the EX series... maybe before that when any of his cards were not in top decks.

I mean, for once I would want a Vaporeon or Pidgeot card to break the format at least once while not playing support roles and even if that can't happen, why not some legendary pokes. I mean, if Gengar can remove cards from the game, snipe, cheat, other stuff here, why can't Arceus, since he is a PokeGod do something useful like put any pokemon in play when he comes into play or Celebi let you search your deck or pick up prizes because it can travel time.

This is not a rant, just something I notice. When I see a new Gengar card, the first thing I say "how can this screw me now".
 
vaporeon said:
I mean, for once I would want a Vaporeon or Pidgeot card to break the format at least once ...
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Sorry you don't like support roles, but Pidgeot was a beast not so long ago and Vaporeon EX was basically a more-easily-retreated Let Loose Giratina iirc. Except it only affected your opponent. It saw some play in the worlds-trumping deck iirc (though that one may have focused on Jolteon instead).

Gengar Prime is not broken. Even if it's GOOD - which I am not super sold on - it does not actually break the format, it's just a new option that takes some consideration. Whoo.

Luxchomp made the entire format conform to its standards. That's format breakage.
 
As Kayle pointed out, the FRLG Pidgeot was a staple several years back. Every deck ran it. :x

Still, it's an interesting point you bring up about Gengar. I've noticed it myself. However, it's more that Gengar variants have been a force the past couple years. Mother Gengar, CurseGar, VileGar, and now LostGar... I've written articles on all of them for Bulbapedia, and I stopped and was like, "hey, there are four archetypes with Gengar!"
 
I'm more concerned about Gardy and her line. I believe every single Gardy and Gallade ever printed has been a part of some format deck...

Ruby/Sapphire: The basis of one of the two dominant setup decks for an entire season.
Sandstorm ex: 150 HP big attacker, worked well with RS Gardy
Emerald: Nice TecH in a Gardy deck, removed the damage from Psy Shadow
Delta Species: A useful TecH card, potential surprise big attacker.
Dragon Frontiers ex: 150HP beatstick. Imprison is cool. Flame Ball is reasonable for the attack cost.
Secret Wonders: The basis for THREE different formats.
SW LvX: Useful TecH
SW Gallade: Beatstick in Gardy deck.
Platinum: One of the few *meh* cards here.
Rising Rivals: A fun little spread deck can be made from this thing and its LvX.
 
Or maybe PCL realized how cruel they were to Gengar? I mean, Fossil Gengar was a HORRIBLE card, as was Base Set Gastly.
 
LOL, you have got to be kidding me, every gengar after rby was pretty much broken (maybe not the dp one, but it was fun), and in the video games, it's been top notch since the very beginning.
 
Chaos Move Gengar was also bad. Poison Jab Gengar is bad.

Blaziken, Blaziken FB, and Blaziken EX were all good. Base set Blastoise and Blastoise EX. Flip out?

Gallade FB was bad, same for the most recent Gardevoir.

We are bound to have some repeats on which Pokémon are good. Your favorite will have their time in the sun sooner or later. Unless your favorite isn't a fully evolved form. Then it might be much much later.
 
I am displeased with the fail Dragonites lately. I wish I played in the Delta Species block so I could have run Metanite far more.

Maybe someday he'll get the love he deserves.. or not.
 
ChaosJim said:
We are bound to have some repeats on which Pokémon are good. Your favorite will have their time in the sun sooner or later. Unless your favorite isn't a fully evolved form. Then it might be much much later.
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aggron will never be good


also every gengar ever made was at minimum decent.
 
I can't remember that a Gengar deck ever was BDIF in the DP era. Yes, there were a lot of archtypes with Gengar, most of them came down to the SF Gengar which indeed is overpowered because of the unpredictable Poké-Power. Cursegar is good, but in no way broken. LostGar, yes, it's strong with Lost World, but it doesn't seem to be unbeatable. Gengar DP and the other Gengar from AR were almost unplayable. In the ex era, Gengar ex wasn't that good - can't remember any other Gengars there.

vaporeon said:
I mean, for once I would want a Vaporeon or Pidgeot card to break the format at least once while not playing support roles
Click to expand...
Pidgeot broke a format. Gengar didn't.

vaporeon said:
why not some legendary pokes.
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You mean, like Dialga which can stop trainers and PokéBodies or Palkia which can snipe around and send Pokémon to the Lost Zone? Oh wait... Uxie, Azelf and Mesprit are legends, too. Guess they also had a little more influence to the format than Gengar ever will have.

vaporeon said:
why can't Arceus, since he is a PokeGod do something useful like put any pokemon in play when he comes into play
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If we get RR-on rotation, you'll see your Arceus soon enough on the battlefield.
 
Cursegar before RR was easily BDIF with mime, gengar, and zam - it didn't NEED spiritomb at that point, and could lock the field the old fashioned way, with damage.

There were quite a few bad Gengars back in the old days, though - we've just seen a run of some VERY good ones recently.

I agree, if we get RR-on, Arceus will be one of the tier 1 decks. I'm still holding out for a bit of sanity and HGSS-on.

Gengar Prime is not broken the same way the SP engine "wasn't broken" when it first reached American shores. Nobody has it optimized yet, and nobody knows how to pilot it. After a couple months of RR, Luxape was clearly BDIF, and Luxchomp just made it worse. You know, Luxchomp sounds a lot like "skullclamp" for those who get the reference...
 
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