Gourgeist ex - A Horrifying Harvest

This build is specifically for the current Pokemon TCG Live (Beta) Expanded Format - May 2026

Spread damage on your bench to fuel Gourgeist ex's Horrifying Rondo attack, enabling explosive early (first-turn) knockouts.

Gourgeist ex is reliable for extended matches, too!

Going second is preferred. This will help you set up for a first-turn attack.

*** First Turn: Damage your own Pokemon. Find Salvatore for a first-turn attack. ***

Get Gapejaw Bog Stadium in play ASAP

Place stadium Gapejaw Bog as

This build is specifically for the current Pokemon TCG Live (Beta) Expanded Format - May 2026

Spread damage on your bench to fuel Gourgeist ex's Horrifying Rondo attack, enabling explosive early (first-turn) knockouts.

Gourgeist ex is reliable for extended matches, too!

Going second is preferred. This will help you set up for a first-turn attack.

*** First Turn: Damage your own Pokemon. Find Salvatore for a first-turn attack. ***

Get Gapejaw Bog Stadium in play ASAP

Place stadium Gapejaw Bog as soon as you encounter it. It enables you to get damage on your benched Pokemon. This charges up your Gourgeist ex's Horrifying Rondo attack.

Use Quick Balls, Ultra Balls, and Hisuian Heavy Ball to find Dedenne-GX and Crobat V. These two Pokemon will help you turbo draw during your first turn. Turbo drawing increases the likelihood of finding all your pieces for a first-turn attack.

Use Mysterious Treasures and Fog Crystals to find Tapu Lele-GX, Pumpkaboo, and Psychic Energy.

Supporter for Turn - Salvatore

If you go second, then, your preferred supporter card to use for the turn is Salvatore.

Salvatore lets you same-turn evolve your Pumpkaboo into Gourgeist ex.

You can reliably find Salvatore with Tapu Lele-GX.

*** Following Turns: Keep Attacking. Prep for Area Zero-Gengar Combo. ***

Keep attacking with Gourgeist ex.

While attacking, try to get Gengars into your discard pile. With their Netherworld Gate ability, you can move Gengars from your discard pile to your bench - and place 3 damage counters on each of them. This is another way of keeping your Gourgeist ex's Horrifying Rondo attack charged up.

You can get up to 8 damaged Pokemon on your bench by having Terapagos ex benched and Area Zero Underdepths stadium in play.

Latias ex and Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX - Latias ex ensures that you can get Pumpkaboo into the Active Spot during your first turn.

Latias ex is good, in general, for making sure you don't end up with a Pokemon getting stuck in the Active spot. Using Latias ex in combination with Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX further protects you from getting any Pokemon stuck in the Active Spot.

Latias ex's Skyliner ability only applies to your Basic Pokemon. Gengars (or Gourgeist ex's with no energy attached) can potentially get stuck in the Active Spot. Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX's Invasian ability switches it (from the bench) with any of your Active Pokemon. Since Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX is a Basic Pokemon, Latias ex's Skyliner ability applies to it so you can then free retreat into your attacking Gourgeist ex.

Damage Pump and Jynx - Damage Pump item and Jynx's Ominous Posture ability lets you spread damage counters around your own Pokemon. These are just other ways to keep Gourgeist ex's attack charged up.

Unfair Stamp Ace Spec and Gourgeist ex's Ghostly Touch attack - Gourgeist ex's second attack (Ghostly Touch) can be used effectively during the match. It's especially good as a follow up attack after Unfair Stamp has been played.

Unfair Stamp reduces your opponent's hand size to two cards. Ghostly Touch does 140 damage while also discarding a random card from your opponent's hand. Your opponent could end up bricking and relying on top-decking.