The Monster - A Mega Gengar analysis

As you may remember, I said that I'd write in english only the first post, but I can continue to do this in the other ones thanks to a friend of mine: in this way, I can write almost everything in said language, in order to make everyone understand what I write here

Introduction

Today I want to show you a Mega Gengar set that I build by myself in this morning, after one of my friends asked me to give him one. He wanted a Perish Trap team, a team archetype based on the Perish Song move and the Shadow Tag ability, so I helped him with the main Pokémon of this core: Mega Gengar. If you're curious, here it is at a glance:

The typical Gengar's build

Now let's start talk about Gengar.
Gengar is a Pokémon that the great part of players has used since Markus Stadter won Germany National with it, and this is the Markus' Gengar set. A fast taunter that can spam Will-O-Wisp and totally counter Mega Kangaskhan is probably one of the most interesting Pokémon of the VGC'14 metagame.

Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Shadow Ball

At this point of season Mega Gengar has a ~6% usage, so nobody expected to see it on a team, expecially in a team with another mega. Lock the opponent's Pokémon on the field when him don't expect that Mega Evolutions is a move that give you the match (I think that it's perfect for a BO1 oriented team).


 My Mega Gengar's set

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate --> Shadow Tag
EVs: 140 HP / 156 Def / 148 SAtk / 20 SDef / 44 Spd
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Perish Song / Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb

Stats after mega evolving:
HP 153 - Atk x - Def 120 - SAtk 209 - SDef 118 - Spd 171

· Lives 252 Jolly Garchomp EQ
· Lives 252 Choice Band Adamant Talonflame Brave Bird
· Lives 252 Adamant MegaGyarados EQ
· 252 Jolly Tyranitar Crunch has 50% chance to OHKO
· Lives 252 Modest Salamence Draco Meteor
· Lives 252 Modest MegaCharizardY Heat Wave in sun
· Lives 252 Modest Politoed Hydro Pump in rain
· Sludge Bomb OHKO Zog's 212 HP / 36 SDef Azumarill
· Sludge Bomb has 96% chance to 2HKO 4 HP MegaKangaskhan
· Shadow Ball has 98.5% chance to 2HKO 4 HP Garchomp
· Outspeeds base 102's and every pokemon that has a garchomp-outspeeding set, because it has 171 in speed against 170

I think that Mega Gengar can be a very good Pokémon for all the teams: Shadow Tag is always nice and it can block your opponent's switch, you can spam Intimidate with a lot of switch-in and your opponent can't switch his intimidated Pokémon. It also counter Kangaskhan (burn her before she move), it can be one of the fastest Will-O-Wisp user, and, paired with a Pokémon with the Unnerve Ability it can burn Lum Berry Garchomp, stopping the activation of the berry itself. Mega Gengar is also the mvp of the Perish Trap based team, and it works especially well with Scrafty and Raichu.

Good partners for Mega Gengar

After Tony Cheung managed a Mega Gengar - Raichu combo to win the Seattle Regional Championships, a lot of people took that two Pokémon and put them in a Perish Trap team. Now, I'm not saying that this combo doesn't function in a Perish Trap team, but in my opinion if you use Tony's combo you can also use an HP Ice Mega Gengar. "Why?"
Because Garchomp is the most used Pokémon right now and trapping it + OHKO it with HP Ice is a good way to eliminate one of the Gengar - Raichu core problems. With the Raichu ability to learn Fake Out you can also give to Gengar the chance to make a Substitute in the first turn. And, since Raichu can learn Encore, both of the opponent's Pokémon will not use Protect, afraid to take an Encore and, after, can't switch due to the Mega Gengar's Shadow Tag.

Raichu @ Focus Sash
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Encore
- Thunderbolt / Volt Switch
- Hidden Power (Ice) / Protect

Scrafty is probably one of the most paired Pokémon with Mega Gengar. Those two Pokémon cover the partner's weakness and make a god strategy of Intimidate + Perish Trap. To be honest I think that Scrafty paired with Mega Gengar can be very hard to beat, and probably works even better than Scrafty - Gothitelle. Scrafty can also learn Snarl, to drop the Special Attack of both of the opposing trapped Pokémon. I recommend to use the Wolfe's amazing Scrafty, that gave him a 9th place at Worlds paired with Gothitelle.

Scrafty @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 236 HP / 148 Atk / 108 Def / 12 SAtk / 4 Spd
Sassy Nature
- Fake Out
- Drain Punch
- Snarl
- Taunt

The Liepard - Mega Gengar duo was very common till February/March, after Joe W. (RussianGG) used these two Pokémon in one of the biggest UK Tournament.
Liepard is in my opinion the best Mega Gengar supporter (after Scrafty), because it has a lot of support moves that Gengar needs. With Gengar your opponent can't switch his own Pokémon and with Liepard you can spam Charm, Thunder Wave, Encore, Swagger and Fake Tears.
If Liepard use Fake Tears on one of your opponent's Pokémon, its Special Defense will be harshly lowered. And, after it, Mega Gengar can sweep almost everything.

Liepard @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out / Protect
- Encore
- Charm / Fake Tears / Swagger
- Taunt / Foul Play

252 Timid Shadow Ball MegaGengar OHKO -2 4 HP Garchomp
252 Timid Shadow Ball MegaGengar OHKO -2 252 HP / 252 SDef Aegislash
252 Timid Sludge Bomb MegaGengar OHKO -2 4 HP MegaKangaskhan

Lapras can works really well paired with Gengar, expecially over Rain Teams. You can trap Politoed and Ludicolo / Kingdra, then you can also OHKO Ludicolo / Kingdra and 2HKO the non-Sitrus Berry Politoed variant with Freeze Dry. If your Perish Trap team or your Mega Gengar-based team have problem with the really common Rain Teams just try Lapras. Lapras also counters Garchomp and Salamence, two popular Dragons. If you run the Assault Vest on Lapras you can also give some problems to all the Rotom forms.

Lapras @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 76 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def  / 180 SAtk / 244 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Freeze Dry
- Ice Shard
- Hydro Pump
- Ancient Power

Conclusion

After all, Mega Gengar, if well supported, can sweep all the most common Pokémon right now. So, why nodoby use it? Probably due to is fragility, but if you use the bulky set that I wrote, you are bulkier than every specs gardevoir and than most of the other ones around there.

I hope that this article will be useful, until next time, see ya!