The Everlasting Lugia
Lugia VSTAR going into Knoxville and the Future
Introduction
Hello everyone! It is Ian Robb here and today I am going to discuss Lugia Vstar. Lugia Vstar is one of, if not the most, powerful and meta-defining decks in the history of the game. Being able to only use one 2-prize attacker to set yourself up and then use some of the most powerful single-prize attackers in the history of the game is unfair. There are some major weaknesses that the deck has, but the weaknesses it suffers are not detrimental enough to affect its position in the current metagame; it is the best deck. If I were going to Knoxville this would be one of my top considerations. With the right techs and an understanding of matchups, Lugia can beat everything.
The list that I have below is subject to change based on how the metagame changes. Cards like cancelling Cologne and Choice Belt counts can be changed for different cards based on the popularity of decks like Goodra VSTAR and Arceus VSTAR Duraludon VMAX. The list I have built below is tailored for Duraludon VMAX and Lost Box variants.
Decklist
3-2 Lugia Vstar
Three is the optimal number of Lugia V, but the VSTAR count is up for debate. Playing four Lugia V is not really worth it. With the card being one of your worst starters in the mirror match, and other matchups when you go second, it’s smarter to play fewer of them in tandem with a higher capture energy count, so that you can still get it out turn 1 while not having to start it.
1 Oranguru
The card has more uses than you would think. Not only can it make you Marnie-proof, but it also allows you to put energy back into your deck before using Archeops. Moreover, being able to conserve resources that are crucial for the matchup like Lost Vacuum, Boss’s Order, etc. makes Oranguru worth the deck slot.
2 Lumineon V
This is one of the best cards in the deck and the power level of the card is much higher in this deck compared to other ones. Being able to find Boss’s Orders or Marnie on command allows you to play the game aggressively. Typically, Lumineon comes with a big liability of it being a 170hp 2-prize Pokemon, but, in this deck, this downside is much more forgiving. With most single-prize Pokemon in the format having 120 hp or less, being able to use Aqua Return for a knockout is not uncommon and it allows you to bring up a useless Pokemon that your opponent will likely need to boss around.
1 Manaphy
Manaphy is what allows you to defeat Lost Box Kyorge and is useful in the mirror match. The number of matchups it’s relevant in makes it worth the slot in your deck.
2 Choice Belt
Choice Belt is what fixes the math for many of your attackers. With most Vstar having 280 hp and Vmaxs having 310-330 it helps both your Radiant Charizard and your Lugia Vstar. The deck plays two so that finding it will never be a concern.
1 Lost Vacuum
This card can remove any Path to the Peak or Big Parasol that you might face. Those are the main uses for it and a lot of the time you will want to conserve it with Oranguru.
2 Cancelling Cologne
Cancelling Cologne is an underrated tech. It can be useful in three matchups: Lost Box variants, the Lugia VSTAR mirror match, and Arceus VSTAR Duraludon VMAX. Being able to use Boss’s Order and a Cancelling Cologne on a Manaphy allows Amazing Rare Raikou to take two prizes. That combo along with a Stoutland V allows you to get ahead in the prize trade when it is otherwise difficult if the Lost Box player draws well. Cologne’s utility in the Lugia VSTAR mirror does not come up as often, but it can come in clutch in some games. If your opponent benches an Oranguru and you can Boss’s Order the Manaphy, you can use a Cancelling Cologne with Raikou to take a two-prize turn out of nowhere. It only comes up about every 5 to 10 games, but it is another tool in your toolbox for the mirror match. The final use is being able to turn off Duraludon Vmax’s ability and be able to attack with your Lugia VSTAR two times and win the game.
4 Professor Research 2 Marnie
Usually, in Lugia VSTAR decklists, there are six draw supporters that do not include Serena and Bird Keeper. How you split those six slots between Professor’s Research and Marnie depends on how important you think it is to disrupt your opponent’s hand. If disruption isn’t necessary, Research is a strictly-better card. Currently, since there are not as many decks that you’ll need to disrupt more than once a game, along with the prevalence of Oranguru, two Marnie is adequate. Not to mention, with its heavy draw, coupled with an additional outlet for discarding Archeops, Research synergizes better with Lugia’s core strategy.
4 Capture Energy
As mentioned before when talking about Lugia V, playing 4 of these cards increases your likelihood of setting up. Additionally, later on in the game, it is also an efficient way to retreat your active Pokemon into whatever attacker you need in the situation. For example, if you got your active Pokemon knocked out and you need to respond by using Amazing Rare Yveltal, a capture onto the promoted Archeops followed by two Primal Turbos gives everything you need to pull off a clean combo.
Possible Tech Inclusions
Bird Keeper
Being able to find a switching card off Lumineon V’s ability not only allows you to have that switching out on command, but also acts as a tech card for Palkia VSTAR Articuno. The card is not worth running unless that deck is a big part of the metagame, which it is currently not.
Collapsed Stadium
This is one of the more overrated cards in the game currently. There are two cards that can be played: Collapsed Stadium and Lost Vacuum. In theory, Collapsed Stadium is more powerful because it allows you to clean a Lumineon V off the bench without needing to use its attack. Also, it helps versus Regigigas decks because it forces them to find a counter stadium or the game is over. That being said, Lost Vacuum is better overall because of two reasons:
1. Being able to remove a Big Parasol from an opponent’s active Pokemon allows you to use Amazing Rare Yveltal. This is especially important in the Arceus VSTAR, Duraludon VMAX matchup. If you are able to knock out their benched Duraludon V, you are likely able to follow that up with a knock-out an Arceus VSTAR. From there, all you need is to use Amazing Rare Yveltal along with the Lost Vacuum to knock out the Duraludon VMAX.
2. Collapsed Stadium is a downside early on in the game when Path to the Peak is in play. Not being able to have 3 non-Archeops Pokemon on your bench is crippling a lot of the time. Flexibility is key.
Echoing Horn
This card has been close to useless in my experience. In theory, you can use it to get ahead of prizes in the mirror match, but that has never come up in the games I have played. Or, if it has, not enough to warrant the deck slot. However, it is very powerful verses Arceus VSTAR Duraludon VMAX. Being able to bring an easy-to-knock-out V Pokemon onto the field allows you to swing the game.
Drapion V
If Mew VMAX was played more in the metagame and you could guarantee to face 4-5 of them in a tournament, it is worth playing. The card is useless and a liability otherwise. If you are to start this card against non-Mew VMAX decks you might as well sign the match slip.
Tool Jammer
Tool Jammer is a flex spot that can be other cards like Cheren’s Care, and Cancelling Cologne. This card allows you to answer Big Parasol more effectively while also helping out in the mirror match. In the mirror, if you are in a position where you had to bench two Lugia V and have the second one remaining, you can use a Tool Jammer and evolve it, so that only Amazing Rare Yveltal can knock you out. Another use for it is to help out the Regigigas matchup, as it prevents Regieleki EVS from being able to knock out a Lugia Vstar in one attack.
Irida
Irida is one of the newest additions to the deck that I have fallen in love with. Raz Wolpe was the one to pioneer this card with a top 4 finish at Liverpool regionals and then my good friend Andrew Hedrick won Orlando with it. Being able to add to the Lumineon v toolbox while being able to find tool removal and Choice Belt on command is why it’s good. Irida is better than Skyla because the benefit of getting a Lumineon V or a Manaphy off of it outweighs the benefit of being able to get a supporter from Skyla.
Wash Energy
This card is starting to get some popularity, with two people making the top 4 at Orlando regionals with it. There are two uses for the card. The first one is being able to attach it to Manaphy versus Lost Box decks. This prevents Sableye from knocking it out with its Lost Mine attack. Having Manaphy survive the entire game makes cards like Kyorge and Raikou much less powerful. The only caveat about Wash energy is that Eiscue is starting to see more play, and the natural counterplay for Lost Box variants is to cut their one-of stadium for a Temple of Sinnoh, which invalidates our Wash Energy as well. The second use for the card is being able to attach it to your Lumineon V against Palkia Articuno. This makes it so that the Palkia Articuno player can not paralyze lock it with an Articuno.
Matchups
Lugia VSTAR
This is one of the simple matchups for the deck. There are two main strategies that need to be discussed: if you are the player going first, or if you are the player going second. If you are the player going first, you should usually only bench one Lugia V, so that you can win the prize trade utilizing all the Pokemon that you have. If you go second, that is when it can get tricky. You will almost always be behind in the prize trade so you will have to figure out what way you can bring the game back. I will be breaking down the game plan in both cases.
Going First
When going first, you should be trying to only bench one Lugia V and use the least amount of energy possible, so that some bad luck will not cost you the game. You will always win the prize trade if the single Lugia is the only V Pokemon that you bench and you use exclusively single-prize attackers for the rest of the game. This is incredibly doable with Lumineon V being able to shuffle itself back in and having Amazing Rare Yveltal and Radiant Charizard at your disposal. Being conservative with your energy and hitting a turn 2 Lugia VSTAR attack makes the matchup very easy.
Going Second
There are two game plans for going second with the first being much more simple. The first is just hoping your opponent misses the turn 2 attack. However, if that doesn’t work, the second option is to try and attack with Pokemon that could run them out of energy. Often times I have noticed that Lugia players will run out of energy often if they go first and attack with a Charizard or Amazing Rare Yveltal turn 2. They will usually use 5-8 energy doing this after attacking with that Pokemon and a Lugia VSTAR so monitoring your opponent’s discard pile for how many energy they are down allows you to figure out if this is your best bet. Attaching V Guard Energy to your Amazing Rare Yveltal, when you attack with it to knock out a Lugia VSTAR, prevents the opponent from using Lumineon V to knock you out, forcing them to commit more energy. For this game plan to work well, you will usually have to bench a second Lugia V on your bench, even though it is not preferred, as you want to guarantee access to Lugia VSTAR in the case the first Lugia V is targeted.
Lost Box
The Lost Box strategy is very simple. Your goal is to play Marnie down when your opponent has a large hand and attack with Stoutland V on the same turn. This swing in tempo allows you to stay ahead in the prize trade, even after attacking with Lugia VSTAR early on. Versus Kyorge, you need to make sure that you conserve your Manaphy until Kyorge would win your opponent the game. The card should not hit the table until the turn before that. Otherwise, they will just use Sableye’s Lost Mine, knock it out, and make you lose the game. This, along with Cancelling Cologne, allows you to end the game quickly and win the prize trade.
The Rayquaza matchup is slightly different. Once again, the goal is to win the prize trade with using mostly single prize attackers, but now you need to bench Manaphy early, as opposing Amazing Rare Raikous are a major problem for Lugia. If you time your Marnies for when they either have a large hand, or if you can tell they have a hand with good cards, the matchup is fine. Just make sure that you do not bench more than one Lugia V, or the prize trade is close to impossible.
Mew VMAX
Mew VMAX is a good matchup, as long as you remove the Path to the Peak the second that it hits the table, so that you can still use Lugia VSTAR’s ability. You will win the prize trade if you only bench the one Lugia V and no other two prize Pokemon unless necessary. If you go second you do need to bench the second Lugia V, but if you go first it is a bad idea to do so. Lost Vacuum is powerful in the matchup because it removes both Big Parasol and Path to the Peak. Additionally, a Lugia VSTAR with a V Guard energy is close to impossible for them to kill, so it is important to attach it if you can.
Hisuian Gooda VSTAR
Hisuian Goodra VSTAR is an incredibly good matchup. The goal is to try and use Boss’s Order to get around the Goodra VSTAR in the active and get easy knockouts on Comfey and Hisuian Goodra V without needing to use the only Amazing Rare Yveltal. This is the one matchup where benching two Lugia V is a good idea. Usually, you can just win the prize trade by attacking with two Lugia VSTAR, as it is difficult for them to trade blows with Lugia. Temple of Sinnoh is annoying sometimes, and being able to remove it on the critical turns, like when you need Aurora Energy to be active to attack with Amazing Rare Yveltal, is crucial. This is when Lost Vacuum should be played.
Conclusion
Lugia VSTAR will go down in the history of Pokemon as one of the most powerful decks in its metagame and one of the hardest to counter. With the right tech cards in your list and with the matchup knowledge needed to beat everything, you are well on your way to performing well with the deck.
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******
##Pokémon - 19
* 1 Dunsparce FST 207
* 3 Lugia V SIT 186
* 1 Oranguru SSH 148
* 1 Stoutland V BST 157
* 4 Archeops PR-SW 272
* 2 Lugia VSTAR SIT 139
* 1 Yveltal SHF 046
* 1 Radiant Charizard PGO 011
* 1 Raikou VIV 050
* 1 Pumpkaboo EVS 076
* 2 Lumineon V BRS 040
* 1 Manaphy BRS 041
##Trainer Cards - 26
* 1 Lost Vacuum LOR 162
* 4 Evolution Incense SSH 163
* 4 Quick Ball SSH 179
* 2 Canceling Cologne ASR 136
* 4 Ultra Ball BRS 150
* 2 Choice Belt BRS 135
* 2 Boss's Orders BRS 132
* 2 Marnie SSH 169
* 1 Serena SIT 193
* 4 Professor's Research SSH 209
##Energy - 15
* 4 Capture Energy RCL 171
* 1 Heat {R} Energy DAA 174
* 2 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
* 4 Powerful {C} Energy DAA 176
* 4 Aurora Energy SSH 186
Total Cards - 60
****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******