Gengar's Guard Dogs

The Thesis

The cheapest attack in the deck scales off the opponent's own Bench, and it hands itself back when it dies.

Mind Jack costs one and does 10, plus 30 more for each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon.

Their Bench: Mind Jack
3: 100
4: 130
5: 160

Every deck worth beating benches wide. Dragapult needs Dreepy, Drakloak, Munkidori and Budew down. Mega Excadrill drops four bodies off a turn-one Precious Trolley. Thwackey only tutors while its Dipplin is Active, so they bench two or three of them. The decks that beat you are the decks that feed this attack.

Infinite Shadow: if this Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from an attack, put it into your hand instead of the discard pile. One Prize, and the card comes back to be rebuilt. That is the second half of the thesis, and it is why a 130 HP Stage 2 is the main attacker in a format of 340 HP Megas — you are not trying to survive, you are trying to be cheap.

The dogs did not leave, they changed jobs. Okidogi ex is the closer now: Chain-Crazed under a Binding Mochi is 300, which one-shots a 280 HP Gengar ex and two-shots every Mega in the format. It costs three Energy and two Prizes, so it comes out when something has to die this turn, not as the opener.

Attacker	Output	Prizes it pays
Gengar, Mind Jack	130–160, scaling off their Bench	1, and it returns to hand
Okidogi ex, Chain-Crazed	260, 300 with a Mochi	2
Toxtricity, Gentle Slap	100	1

Deck List

Pokémon (18)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
4	Okidogi ex	Shrouded Fable	036	H
4	Gastly	Perfect Order	048	J
2	Haunter	Phantasmal Flames	055	I
3	Gengar	Perfect Order	050	J
3	Toxel	Phantasmal Flames	067	I
2	Toxtricity	Phantasmal Flames	068	I

Trainers — Supporters (15)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
4	Lillie's Determination	Mega Evolution	119	I
2	Dawn	Phantasmal Flames	087	I
2	Grimsley's Move	Phantasmal Flames	090	I
2	Team Rocket's Petrel	Destined Rivals	176	I
2	Boss's Orders	Mega Evolution	114	I
1	Hilda	White Flare	084	I
1	Janine's Secret Art	Shrouded Fable	059	H
1	AZ's Tranquility	Chaos Rising	076	J

Trainers — Items (12)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
4	Rare Candy	Mega Evolution	125	I
3	Poke Pad	Perfect Order	081	J
2	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	Temporal Forces	144	H
1	Energy Switch	Mega Evolution	115	I
1	Energy Recycler	Destined Rivals	164	I
1	Scramble Switch	Surging Sparks	186	H

Trainers — Tool & Stadium (6)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
2	Binding Mochi	Shrouded Fable	055	H
2	Risky Ruins	Mega Evolution	127	I
2	Battle Cage	Phantasmal Flames	085	I

Energy (9)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
9	Basic Darkness Energy	Mega Evolution Energies	007	-

18 + 15 + 12 + 6 + 9 = 60. ✓ Eleven Basics, one ACE SPEC, nothing over four copies.

Eleven Basics is a 22.2% mulligan. Nine Energy is deliberately low, and it is low because the main attack costs one: a turn-one manual attachment is a live Mind Jack, and the three-Energy Chain-Crazed is a closing move rather than the plan. Ten Energy with three Toxtricity flooded hands in testing.

Pokémon

Okidogi exx4

Set: SV: Shrouded Fable 036/064
Rarity: Double Rare
Type: Darkness
HP: 250
Stage: Basic
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 3
Tournament: legal (Reg H)
Attack: Poisonous Musculature - Search your deck for up to 2 Basic Darkness Energy cards and attach them to this Pokémon. Then, shuffle your deck. If you attached Energy to a Pokémon in this way, this Pokémon is now Poisoned.
Attack: Chain-Crazed (130+) - If this Pokémon is Poisoned, this attack does 130 more damage.

250 HP Basic, Fighting Weakness, Retreat 3. The closer, and the guard the deck is named for.

Chain-Crazed does 130, and 130 more while this Pokémon is Poisoned. 260 on its own, 300 under a Binding Mochi. That number is why it stays in the deck: 300 one-shots a 280 HP Gengar ex outright and two-shots every Mega in the format, and nothing else here comes close.

It self-starts. Poisonous Musculature costs one Colorless, searches two Basic Darkness Energy out of the deck, attaches them here and Poisons it. One Energy in hand becomes a dog holding three, already Poisoned, in a single turn without spending a Supporter.

Bring it out to kill something, not to hold the Active Spot. Poison is ten damage to itself at every Checkup, so a dog that stands there Poisoned for five turns has taken 50 from nobody. In testing a dog died to its own Poison plus chip while waiting for a target. Promote it the turn it has three Energy and a kill, not before.

Four copies, because four is also how you draw one.

Gastlyx4

Set: ME03: Perfect Order 048/088
Rarity: Common
Type: Darkness
HP: 70
Stage: Basic
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 1
Tournament: legal (Reg J)
Attack: Surprise Attack (30) - Flip a coin. If tails, this attack does nothing.

70 HP, Darkness, Retreat 1. Four copies, and every Gengar in the deck sits on top of it.

It is inside Poffin range, Poke Pad finds it, Grimsley's benches it, and Risky Ruins never touches it because it is Darkness.

Bench one on turn one whether or not you need it. Rare Candy cannot be played on a Basic that arrived the same turn, so turn one's Gastly is turn two's Gengar.

Haunterx2

Set: ME02: Phantasmal Flames 055/094
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Darkness
HP: 100
Stage: Stage 1
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 1
Tournament: legal (Reg I)
Attack: Spooky Shot (40)

Two copies, and they are the bridge, not the backup.

A game was lost in testing holding a Gastly, two Stage 2s and a Hilda with no way to connect them, because the list ran zero Haunter and every Rare Candy was gone. Hilda searches for an Evolution Pokémon — with no Stage 1 in the deck there is nothing for it to fetch that helps, and Rare Candy becomes a single point of failure.

Two Haunter makes Hilda and Poke Pad into Mega-line enablers and gives Candy a fallback. Sinister Surge can also feed a benched Haunter, which then evolves into a Gengar that is already holding its one Energy.

Gengarx3

Set: ME03: Perfect Order 050/088
Rarity: Rare
Type: Darkness
HP: 130
Stage: Stage 2
Ability: Infinite Shadow - If this Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent's Pokémon, put it into your hand instead of the discard pile. (Discard all attached cards.)
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 1
Tournament: legal (Reg J)
Attack: Mind Jack (10+) - This attack does 30 more damage for each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon.

Stage 2 from Haunter, 130 HP, Darkness, Retreat 1. Perfect Order 050, regulation mark J. The attacker.

Mind Jack costs one and does 10 plus 30 for each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. The Thesis has the table; the short version is 130 at a four-Bench and 160 at five.

Infinite Shadow: if this Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent's Pokémon, put it into your hand instead of the discard pile. Attached cards still go to the discard, so you lose the Energy and keep the Gengar.

It is the only Gengar in Standard that this deck can actually find. Both Gengar ex prints carry a Rule Box, so Poke Pad cannot search either one. This print has none, which means the whole line — Gastly, Haunter, Gengar — is tutorable at Item speed off three Poke Pad. That single fact is why this card replaced two better-looking ones.

Three copies. It dies constantly and that is the plan; Infinite Shadow means the third copy is mostly insurance against the Prizes.

Toxelx3

Set: ME02: Phantasmal Flames 067/094
Rarity: Common
Type: Darkness
HP: 70
Stage: Basic
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 1
Tournament: legal (Reg I)
Attack: Call for Family - Search your deck for up to 2 Basic Pokémon and put them onto your Bench. Then, shuffle your deck.
Attack: Playful Kick (20)

Call for Family searches two Basic Pokémon out of the deck and benches them for one Darkness Energy. It is the only card in the deck besides Grimsley's and Dawn that can put an Okidogi ex on the board, because Poffin cannot reach 250 HP.

Three copies. It holds the Basic count and it is a zero-Prize body.

Do not retreat it. Toxel is Retreat 1 and retreating discards that Energy, which is the one you just spent on Call for Family. Let Poffin bench it instead and it never needs to be Active at all.

Toxtricityx2

Set: ME02: Phantasmal Flames 068/094
Rarity: Rare
Type: Darkness
HP: 140
Stage: Stage 1
Ability: Sinister Surge - Once during your turn, you may use this Ability. Search your deck for a Basic Darkness Energy card and attach it to 1 of your Benched Darkness Pokémon. Then, shuffle your deck. If you attached Energy to a Pokémon in this way, place 2 damage counters on that Pokémon.
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 2
Tournament: legal (Reg I)
Attack: Gentle Slap (100)

Sinister Surge attaches a Basic Darkness Energy from the deck to a Benched Darkness Pokémon once a turn, and puts two damage counters on it. It is an Ability, so it accelerates on turns your Supporter is busy.

Two copies, down from three, because the engine outran the deck. With three copies and ten Energy, testing produced hands with Toxel and Toxtricity to spare and Energy sitting idle. Mind Jack costs one; the engine does not need to deliver three a turn any more.

The Toxtricity does not have to be Benched — the target does. An Active Toxtricity still Surges, just not onto itself. Gentle Slap does 100 for three Energy and is a one-Prize emergency attack, but it is a three-shot on anything that matters, so reach for the dog instead when you need a body dead.

Trainers — Supporters

Lillie's Determinationx4

Set: ME01: Mega Evolution 119/132
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Supporter
Ability: Shuffle your hand into your deck. Then, draw 6 cards. If you have exactly 6 Prize cards remaining, draw 8 cards instead.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Shuffle your hand into your deck and draw six, or eight while you still hold all six Prizes. Four copies, and it is the entire draw package.

Play it early rather than saving it. Before you take your first Prize it is the biggest card in the deck.

Dawnx2

Set: ME02: Phantasmal Flames 087/094
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Supporter
Ability: Search your deck for a Basic Pokémon, a Stage 1 Pokémon, and a Stage 2 Pokémon, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Search your deck for a Basic Pokémon, a Stage 1 Pokémon, and a Stage 2 Pokémon. Two copies, and it does two jobs nothing else here does.

It is one of two cards that can find an Okidogi ex, and it is the only one that puts it in your hand rather than on the Bench. In the same card it takes a Gastly and a Haunter, or a Haunter and a Gengar, so it builds the attacking line from nothing.

No tournament Toxtricity list runs Dawn, and the reason is that those lists have no evolution line for it to fetch. This one does, and the Basic it finds is the card nothing else reaches.

Grimsley's Movex2

Set: ME02: Phantasmal Flames 090/094
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Supporter
Ability: Look at the top 7 cards of your deck and put a Darkness Pokémon you find there onto your Bench. Shuffle the other cards and put them on the bottom of your deck. You can't use this card during your first turn.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Look at the top 7 cards of your deck and put a Darkness Pokémon you find there onto your Bench. Two copies, Phantasmal Flames 090.

Every Pokémon in this deck is Darkness, so it never whiffs on colour — with eighteen Pokémon in sixty it finds one 95.6% of the time. What it puts on the Bench is a Gastly, a Toxel, or the Okidogi ex that no Item in the deck can reach.

It is the second Okidogi finder and the cheaper one, because it benches the dog directly instead of putting it in hand to be manually played.

It cannot be used on your first turn, so it is a turn-two card. The other seven cards go to the bottom of the deck, which is a real cost in a deck that wants its Rare Candy.

Team Rocket's Petrelx2

Set: SV10: Destined Rivals 176/182
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Supporter
Ability: Search your deck for a Trainer card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Search your deck for a Trainer card. Two copies, and it is what lets this list run one-ofs at all.

Every single-copy card here is a Trainer — Hilda, Janine's, AZ's, Energy Switch, Energy Recycler, Scramble Switch — which means none of them is ever really drawn at the wrong time. You hold Petrel and the one-of arrives on the turn it is live.

That rule is why there are no situational Pokémon in this deck. Petrel cannot find a Pokémon, so a conditional Pokémon can only be fetched by spending a whole Supporter turn on Dawn or Hilda. A conditional Trainer is fine; a conditional Pokémon is a dead draw.

Boss's Ordersx2

Set: ME01: Mega Evolution 114/132
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Supporter
Ability: Switch in 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokémon to the Active Spot.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Drags a Benched Pokémon into the Active Spot. Two copies, and without them Dragapult ex is untouchable — it takes no damage at all while it sits on their Bench.

Hildax1

Set: SV: White Flare 084/086
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Supporter
Ability: Search your deck for an Evolution Pokémon and an Energy card, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Search your deck for an Evolution Pokémon and an Energy card, and put them into your hand. One copy.

It is the Energy-in-hand card, and in a nine-Energy deck that matters on the turns the manual attachment is the whole plan. Its search half reaches Haunter, Gengar and Toxtricity.

One copy rather than two, because Poke Pad now covers the same search at Item speed and for free, and because the Energy half matters less once the main attack costs one. Petrel is the second copy.

Janine's Secret Artx1

Set: SV: Shrouded Fable 059/064
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Supporter
Ability: Choose up to 2 of your Darkness Pokémon. For each of those Pokémon, search your deck for a Basic Darkness Energy card and attach it to that Pokémon. Then, shuffle your deck. If you attached Energy to your Active Pokémon in this way, it is now Poisoned.
Tournament: legal (Reg H)

Choose up to two of your Darkness Pokémon, search a Basic Darkness Energy out of the deck for each, attach them, and if one of them was your Active, it is now Poisoned.

One Energy per Pokémon, two different Pokémon, never two on one. One copy, and its job is narrow now: it is the card that Poisons a dog on the turn you promote it, so Chain-Crazed is 260 and the Mochi makes it 300 without spending the dog's own attack on Musculature.

AZ's Tranquilityx1

Set: ME04: Chaos Rising 076/086
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Supporter
Ability: Switch your Active Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon. If you moved a Pokémon ex to your Bench in this way, heal 80 damage from that Pokémon.
Tournament: legal (Reg J)

Switch your Active Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon. If the Pokémon you moved to the Bench is a Pokémon ex, heal 80 damage from it. One copy.

It is the dog's exit: a dog that leaves by Retreat pays three Energy out of a nine-Energy deck and buries them, and one that leaves by AZ's keeps every Energy and arrives 80 healthier.

It works when the Items do not. Budew's Itchy Pollen shuts off Item cards for a turn and it is in every winning Dragapult list; under it, AZ's is the only rotation in the deck that still happens.

One copy rather than two, because Infinite Shadow is a free AZ's that the Gengar performs on itself.

Trainers — Items

Rare Candyx4

Set: ME01: Mega Evolution 125/132
Rarity: Common
Type: Trainer - Item
Ability: Choose 1 of your Basic Pokémon in play. If you have a Stage 2 card in your hand that evolves from that Pokémon, put that card onto the Basic Pokémon to evolve it, skipping the Stage 1. You can't use this card during your first turn or on a Basic Pokémon that was put into play this turn.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Four copies, and the count is not negotiable after testing. Three Gengar over four Gastly, and Candy is the road; the game that got away was the game the Candy ran out. Never on your first turn, and never on a Basic that entered play this turn.

Poke Padx3

Set: ME03: Perfect Order 081/088
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Item
Ability: Search your deck for a Pokémon that doesn't have a Rule Box, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck. (Pokémon ex, Pokémon V, etc. have Rule Boxes.)
Tournament: legal (Reg J)

Search your deck for a Pokémon that doesn't have a Rule Box. Three copies, Perfect Order 081. The printed card is Poké Pad; the database drops the accent.

Every Pokémon in this deck except Okidogi ex has no Rule Box, so this one Item tutors Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, Toxel and Toxtricity — the entire attacking line and the entire Energy engine, at Item speed, with no discard and no Supporter spent.

Tournament Toxtricity lists run it at four almost without exception, and it is the single card that made the Perfect Order Gengar the right Gengar. Both Gengar ex prints have Rule Boxes and this cannot see either of them.

Buddy-Buddy Poffinx2

Set: SV05: Temporal Forces 144/162
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Item
Ability: Search your deck for up to 2 Basic Pokémon with 70 HP or less and put them onto your bench. Then, shuffle your deck.
Tournament: legal (Reg H)

Two Basic Pokémon with 70 HP or less, straight to the Bench. Two copies, and the count is two rather than one because a single copy is prized 10% of games and cannot be fetched from there.

Gastly and Toxel are the only legal targets, seven bodies between them, and that is the turn-one play going first. It cannot reach Okidogi ex at 250 HP — that is Grimsley's job.

It also removes the reason to ever put a Toxel in the Active Spot, which saves the Energy that retreating it would discard.

Energy Switchx1

Set: ME01: Mega Evolution 115/132
Rarity: Common
Type: Trainer - Item
Ability: Move a Basic Energy from 1 of your Pokémon to another of your Pokémon.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Moves a Basic Energy from one of your Pokémon to another. One copy.

Sinister Surge only ever reaches the Bench, so this is the pipe that brings that Energy up to the Active — and with the engine banking on the Bench every turn, a deck with no pipe strands its own fuel. Petrel is the second copy; Scramble Switch is the version that moves all of it at once.

Energy Recyclerx1

Set: SV10: Destined Rivals 164/182
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Item
Ability: Shuffle up to 5 Basic Energy cards from your discard pile into your deck.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Shuffle up to 5 Basic Energy cards from your discard pile into your deck. One copy.

All three accelerators — Sinister Surge, Janine's Secret Art, Poisonous Musculature — search the deck, so Energy in the discard is not merely spent, it is invisible to the engine. One copy rather than two because nine Energy drains slower than ten did and Mind Jack only ever buries one at a time.

Scramble Switchx1

Set: SV08: Surging Sparks 186/191
Rarity: ACE SPEC Rare
Type: Trainer - Item
Ability: Switch your Active Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon. If you do, you may move any amount of Energy from the Pokémon you moved to the Bench to the new Active Pokémon.
Tournament: legal (Reg H)

The ACE SPEC. Switch your Active Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon; if you do, you may move any amount of Energy from the Pokémon you moved to your Bench to the new Active Pokémon. Surging Sparks 186.

It is AZ's Tranquility and three Energy Switches in one Item, and it answers the deck's real leak: two Toxtricity bank Energy onto Bench bodies every turn, and the Active is where it needs to be. Promote a fresh dog, bring three Energy with it, Janine for the Poison, Chain-Crazed for 300 — all in one turn.

Prime Catcher lost this seat in testing. Its second switch is mandatory once you gust, so it rotates your own dog and clears its Poison, and in the game that decided it there was nothing on the board worth switching to. Two Boss's Orders carry the gust.

Trainers — Tool & Stadium

Binding Mochix2

Set: SV: Shrouded Fable 055/064
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Pokémon Tool
Ability: Attacks used by the Poisoned Pokémon this card is attached to do 40 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance).
Tournament: legal (Reg H)

Attacks by the Poisoned Pokémon this card is attached to do 40 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon. Two copies.

It is the 260-to-300 breakpoint, and 300 is what one-shots a 280 HP Gengar ex. It does nothing on a Gengar — Mind Jack has no Poison and no interest in one — so both copies belong on dogs.

It is blank under Festival Grounds, where nothing can be Poisoned at all.

Risky Ruinsx2

Set: ME01: Mega Evolution 127/132
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Stadium
Ability: Whenever any player puts a Basic non-Darkness Pokémon onto their Bench during their turn, place 2 damage counters on that Pokémon.
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Two damage counters on every Basic non-Darkness Pokémon either player benches. Every Pokémon in this deck is Darkness, so it is completely one-sided.

The 20 stays on the card when it evolves, which is how a chipped Drilbur becomes part of a lethal number on a 340 HP Excadrill.

Their Basic	HP	After Ruins
Applin	40	20
Drilbur, Dreepy, Grookey	70	50
Riolu	80	60

It also taxes exactly the wide Benches that Mind Jack is pricing. Two copies.

Battle Cagex2

Set: ME02: Phantasmal Flames 085/094
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Stadium
Ability: Prevent all damage counters from being placed on Benched Pokémon (both yours and your opponent's) by effects of attacks and Abilities from the opponent's Pokémon. (Damage from attacks is still taken.)
Tournament: legal (Reg I)

Prevent all damage counters from being placed on Benched Pokémon, both yours and your opponent's, by effects of attacks and Abilities from the opponent's Pokémon. Two copies, Phantasmal Flames 085.

It has two jobs and both of them matter here.

Dragapult. Phantom Dive is 200 to your Active plus six damage counters onto your Bench. The Cage deletes all six, and Munkidori's Adrena-Brain cannot move counters onto your Bench either. Five winning Dragapult lists in six run Risky Ruins themselves, so yours is unplayable in that room and the Cage is the stadium you can put down.
Chaotic Pain. The 30th Celebration Gengar places 13 damage counters on any Pokémon, and on your Bench the Cage stops it dead. It forces their Gengar to spend its attack on your Active, where a 250 HP dog shrugs off 130. This is confirmed from testing.

Four stadiums, two of each, and either one bumps Festival Grounds — which is the whole Applin matchup. Game plan 4 has the leads.

Energy

Basic Darkness Energyx9

Set: MEE: Mega Evolution Energies 7
Rarity: Common
Type: Energy - Basic
Tournament: legal

Nine. Mind Jack costs one, Sinister Surge and Janine's and Musculature all search the deck, and the only Energy that has to be in your hand is the one manual attachment a turn. Ten flooded hands in testing.

This deck lost a game it was three Prizes ahead in, and the cause was a hole in the search rather than a bad draw. It is worth writing down once, because every list in this family has it.

Searcher	Reads	Finds Okidogi ex?
Hilda	an Evolution Pokémon	✗ it is a Basic
Poke Pad	a Pokémon with no Rule Box	✗ it has one
Buddy-Buddy Poffin	a Basic with 70 HP or less	✗ it is 250
Toxel, Call for Family	2 Basic Pokémon	✓ but needs Toxel Active and an Energy
Dawn	a Basic, a Stage 1, a Stage 2	✓
Grimsley's Move	a Darkness Pokémon in the top 7	✓

Four copies of your closer and two cards that can go and get it. That is the ratio, and it is why Dawn and Grimsley's are both maindecked even though no tournament list runs either.

The mirror of the same rule is what picked the Gengar. Poke Pad reads no Rule Box, which excludes both Gengar ex prints and includes the Perfect Order one. Cutting Mega Gengar ex made the entire evolution line no-Rule-Box, and the line went from "hope you draw it" to "three Items tutor any piece of it."

The Energy Engine

Four sources put Darkness Energy on the board, and only one uses your hand.

Source	From	To	Costs
Manual attachment	hand	anywhere	your attachment for the turn
Sinister Surge	deck	a Benched Darkness Pokémon, once per Toxtricity	nothing, it is an Ability
Janine's Secret Art	deck	up to 2 Darkness Pokémon, one each, Poisons your Active	your Supporter
Poisonous Musculature	deck	Okidogi ex only, Poisons it	your attack

Three of the four deliver to the Bench, and your attacker is in the Active Spot. That is the leak, and Energy Switch and Scramble Switch are the pipes. A deck with the engine and no pipe banks fuel it cannot spend.

Mind Jack costs one, which is the whole reason nine Energy is enough. The three-Energy Chain-Crazed is paid for in a single turn by Poisonous Musculature, or by Scramble Switch moving a Bench pile onto a fresh dog.

Game Plans

1. The opening

Going first: Poffin two bodies onto the Bench, attach, pass. Gastly first if you have the choice — turn one's Gastly is turn two's Gengar.

Going second: attach to a Gastly and start building, or attach to an Active Okidogi and use Poisonous Musculature for three Energy and the Poison in one turn.

Turn two is the Gengar turn. Rare Candy a Gastly that was already down, attach one Energy, Mind Jack. At a three-Bench that is already 100 and it costs one card of fuel.

Play Lillie's before you take a Prize, while it still draws eight. Grimsley's Move cannot be used on your first turn.

2. Leading with the ghost

Mind Jack is the default attack and Gengar is the default Active. One Energy, one Prize, and it comes back to your hand when it dies. Against every deck in the room it trades better than anything else you own:

	Their attacker kills your Gengar for	Your Gengar kills their support for
any Pokémon ex	1 Prize, and you get the card back	1–2 Prizes

Rebuild it with a Gastly and a Rare Candy, or with the same copy Infinite Shadow just returned. You want their Bench wide, which is the opposite of what every other deck wants, so do not clear it out for them.

3. When to bring out a dog

The dog is a scalpel. Promote it when all three are true:

Something needs to die this turn and 300 is the number that does it.
The dog has three Energy, or can get there this turn via Musculature, Janine plus an attachment, or Scramble Switch.
It is Poisoned, or Janine is in hand — 260 without the Poison is usually the wrong number.

Then get it out again. Poison is ten a turn to itself, and a dog parked in the Active Spot chips itself to death waiting for the next target. AZ's keeps its Energy; Retreat burns three.

4. Choosing the stadium

Room	Lead	Why
Dragapult	Battle Cage	deletes six Phantom Dive counters and shuts off Munkidori. Their own Ruins makes yours unplayable
Chaotic Pain Gengar	Battle Cage	it cannot snipe your Bench; the 130 has to go into a 250 HP dog
Mega Excadrill	Risky Ruins	the Drilbur chip is part of the lethal number
Applin / Thwackey	either, immediately	any stadium turns off Festival Lead. Ruins is better, because Applin is 40 HP

Against Festival Grounds the stadium war is the matchup. With it up, Dipplin attacks twice for 200 a turn and your Mochi is blank; bumped, it attacks once for 100. Four stadiums plus two Petrel is six outs against their three or four.

5. Bench discipline

Your own Bench wants zero-Prize bodies and no spare Okidogi. A benched dog is two Prizes sitting in the open with no tax to discount it, and this deck has no tax any more. Keep one Gastly spare — that is next turn's Gengar — plus the Toxtricity, and leave the dogs in the deck until they have a job.

Versus the Card Shop

The three decks at the top are the ones that actually turn up at league on Wednesdays. Shares are from Limitless play data.

Deck	Share	The problem	The answer
Dragapult ex	~19%	320 HP that takes no damage on their Bench; Phantom Dive is 200 plus six counters onto yours; Budew, Munkidori and Crushing Hammer in every winning list	Battle Cage deletes the six counters and blanks Munkidori — confirmed in testing. They bench four or five bodies, so Mind Jack is 130–160. Boss's is the only way to reach the Dragapult itself; the dog closes it. AZ's is the rotation that survives Itchy Pollen
Mega Excadrill ex	~7%	Maximum Drilling is 330 with five Energy. Metal, so your Weakness never applies	Precious Trolley benches four on turn one, which is Mind Jack at 160. Lead Risky Ruins so the Drilbur chip carries. Kill Metangs at 100; the dog closes the Mega in two
Applin / Thwackey	~5%	Festival Lead lets Dipplin attack twice while Festival Grounds is up. Thwackey tutors any card each turn. All single-prize	Bump the stadium every turn. Dipplin is 80 and Thwackey is 100 — Mind Jack kills both at a four-Bench, for one Energy and one Prize. This matchup got much better when the Mega left
Chaotic Pain Gengar	new	Chaotic Pain places 13 counters on any Pokémon, so it snipes your Bench and ignores every "damage from an attack" clause you own	Battle Cage, turn one if you can. Their Gengar is 280 and your dog one-shots it at 300, while their 130 needs two turns to kill the dog. Even on Prizes, twice as fast. Do not grind it out with Gentle Slap
Alakazam Dudunsparce, Slowking, Dhelmise, Toucannon	~18%	single-prize decks that out-trade a two-Prize attacker	The rooms Mind Jack was printed for. One Prize against one Prize, and the card comes back
N's Zoroark ex	~5%	280 HP and two extra cards a turn	Zorua is 70; kill it first. Their Trade keeps the Bench wide, which feeds you
Crustle	~1%	Mysterious Rock Inn prevents all damage from your Pokémon ex	Gengar is not an ex. This used to be unwinnable and now it is not

Test and Tune

Eight games on Live took this list from the dark-gang shell to what is above. What the games actually said:

Game	What happened	What changed
1–2	bricked on the opening and turn two	the list had no Item that benches a Pokémon. Buddy-Buddy Poffin and Poke Pad went in
3	lost to a hard opponent	—
4–5	won, including a turn-three game with the dog and a Mega on the Bench	the dog-plus-tax shape works when it assembles
6	lost by one Prize to Chaotic Pain	Chaotic Pain places counters, so Concealment collected nothing. Battle Cage went in
7	three Prizes ahead, then stalled: Gastly down, two Mega Gengar in hand, a Hilda, no Haunter and no Candy	Haunter back to 2, Candy to 4 — a Stage 1 is what makes Hilda a bridge
8	dog died to its own Poison, never drew a second one, Toxel and Toxtricity to spare, Prime Catcher dead in hand	the search blind spot. Dawn and Grimsley's in, Toxtricity to 2, Energy to 9, Scramble Switch over Prime Catcher, and Mega Gengar out for the Gengar that Poke Pad can find

Where to go next:

Symptom: Fix
Mind Jack keeps landing at 70–100: the opponent is playing a narrow Bench. Lean on the dog and the 300
The Gengar line still stalls: 4th Poke Pad over the Energy Switch; the field runs 3.7
Rare Candy runs out: 3rd Haunter over a Toxel, and take the manual road
Energy floods again: 8 Energy over the 9th, and a 3rd Poke Pad in the slot
Dogs never get to 300: 2nd Janine's Secret Art over the Energy Recycler
Single-prize decks still out-race you: 4th Gengar over the 3rd Toxel
The Chaotic Pain mirror keeps recurring its Gengar: 2 Night Stretcher over the Energy Switch and a Poffin — Infinite Shadow does not fire on placed counters

Alternatives

Card	Swaps for	Play it when
Mega Gengar ex (Phantasmal Flames 056)	the Gengar line, plus ~4 slots	the room is all Pokémon ex. Shadowy Concealment discounts every knockout by damage from an attack — which is why it left: Dipplin is single-prize and Chaotic Pain places counters, so it collected nothing in half the games. It also has a Rule Box, so Poke Pad cannot find it
Gengar ex (Temporal Forces 104)	2 Gengar	the room attaches from hand every turn. Gnawing Curse is 2 counters per attachment with no cap, on a 310 HP body. It lost to the Perfect Order print on cost — against , two Prizes against one, and Poke Pad cannot search it
Prime Catcher	Scramble Switch	you would rather have a third gust than the Energy. The ACE SPEC seat is one or the other. Its second switch is mandatory and clears your dog's Poison
Night Stretcher	the Energy Switch	Chaotic Pain decks become common. It is the only card that returns a Gengar that Infinite Shadow could not save. Tournament Toxtricity lists run 2.3 on average
Mega Darkrai ex (Pitch Black 101)	the whole Gastly line	you own one. Dusk Raid is for 220 if your Benched Pokémon have any damage counters — which Sinister Surge guarantees every turn — from a Basic, so no Candy and no line. Abyss Eye knocks out any Active affected by a Special Condition, which pairs with Dark Bell. This is the build to test next on Live
Dark Bell (Pitch Black 075)	a Risky Ruins	you are running Mega Darkrai. Both Active non-Darkness Pokémon are now Confused — one-sided here, since everything you own is Darkness — and Confusion is the Special Condition that turns on Abyss Eye
Team Rocket's Factory (Destined Rivals 173)	a Battle Cage	draw is the problem again. Draw 2 on any turn you played a Team Rocket Supporter, and Petrel is already maindecked
Air Balloon	a Binding Mochi	the dog keeps getting stranded. Retreat −2 makes a Retreat-3 Okidogi mobile, but it is a Tool and the Mochi is the 300
Ultra Ball	never	it finds anything, including the dog. It is out because two cards to the discard fights a hand that is planned two turns ahead
Munkidori	never	in 14 of 15 tournament Toxtricity lists and still wrong here: it is Psychic, so Janine cannot feed it and your own Risky Ruins chips it on the way down
Fezandipiti ex, Pecharunt ex, Chi-Yu	never	all rejected in dark-gang.md, and nothing since has changed the verdicts