Flying High With Lugia

Hey PokeBeach readers, Ciaran here with another deck breakdown for you today! It feels like this season has flown by for me, and I only have a few tournaments left before I have to shift my attention towards Worlds! For the time being, I am still focused on our current format, and the meta has started to settle. [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] has proven itself to be the clear number one, but no other deck has really emerged as a clear number two. To compete in this format, you need to be able to hold your own against the popular dragon, and today I want to cover one: [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card].

If you look at my tournament results from last season, you can see I was quite the fan of Lugia VSTAR! [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] has one of the strongest abilities ever printed and it enabled the deck to play a plethora of interesting attackers. Our current format lacks a strong rainbow type Energy such as [card name=”Aurora Energy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] that made Lugia so strong in the past, but the deck is still capable of playing multiple unique attackers due to [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card]’ Primal Turbo Ability.

While Lugia VSTAR went from being one of the strongest decks we have ever seen to being a Tier 2 staple the past year or so, I think the deck is still capable of putting up big results. The main thing holding the deck back is its consistency, but whenever the deck can set up it is one of the most powerful in the entire format! It is able to take advantage of powerful single-Prize Pokemon such as [card name=”Cinccino” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Lost Origin” no=”TG10″ c=”name”][/card], and put on pressure early with a bulky 280 HP Pokemon VSTAR.

Lugia is also one of the simpler decks to play in the format, with a fairly linear play pattern that lets you ramp up your play with the deck very quickly! There are some intricacies, which I will cover, but for the most part you should be able to just pick up the deck and see success quite quickly! In our next set, Twilight Masquerade the deck will gain access to Legacy Energy, so getting some reps in with the deck now will pay off in our next format!

The deck has also seen fairly low metashares since EUIC so it is lower on the radar of decks people are teching against. Outside of [card name=”Iron Hands ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] there aren’t many cards Lugia is scared to see. Future Box is the deck that abuses Iron Hands the best, but it has been kept in check by its poor Charizard matchup. [card name=”Chien-Pao ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] decks are probably where you have to worry about seeing Iron Hands the most, but they are unable to Knock Out a clean Lugia VSTAR due to the absence of a damage modifier like [card name=”Iron Crown ex” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card]. Outside of Iron Hands the deck is able to incorporate single-Prize attackers after the initial Lugia VSTAR to control the Prize trade which is super powerful in this format!

We have also seen Lugia trending upwards lately. The deck has seen some success at Regionals across the world, with one taking a Top 8 spot at both Perth and São Paulo Regionals. This just shows that the deck is capable of going deep in large tournaments and should be a deck on your radar!

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My Lugia List

[decklist name=”Lugia VSTAR” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Snorlax” set=”Lost Origin” no=”TG10″][pokemon amt=”21″]3x [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Cinccino” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Minccino” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”124″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Lost Origin” no=”TG10″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”23″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Serena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”164″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”175″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”196″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Capturing Aroma” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”153″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Great Ball” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”93″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Master Ball” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”153″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Collapsed Stadium” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”16″]4x [card name=”Jet Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”190″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Gift Energy” set=”Lost Origin” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Mist Energy” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Therapeutic Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”193″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist][cardimg name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

To me, the best approach with the deck is to be simple and consistent. The deck is inherently super powerful when it sets up so I just want to focus on getting to that point as soon as possible! I play a full four copies of both [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Minccino” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] since we want to get those down turn 1 every single game. Lugia is our best starter, one because we need it to evolve into [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], but Read the Wind is actually a huge way this deck gets set up in the early game. It is quite difficult to naturally get two [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] in the discard pile early in the game, so having the ability to get an Archeops into the discard pile and draw cards for next turn is quite powerful. There also aren’t that many decks that can punish us taking this slow approach. Decks like [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card] can’t hit for 220 damage turn 2 so our Lugia will be safe. Read the Wind is mainly an option when going second, but you can use it on your second turn going first against the aforementioned decks.

The four copies of Minccino have felt really strong to me. After we open with Lugia VSTAR, [card name=”Cinccino” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] is the best attacker to use. You ideally want to get multiple copies of Minccino down early to avoid having a lone Minccino fall victim to [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card]. Against decks that have the option to use [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] as an attacker, it is also important to get them down turn 1 so you can evolve them out of Moonlight Shuriken range.

Cinccino is very resource intensive, usually needing four or five energies to take Knock Outs. For this reason you normally want to save Cinccino for big two-Prize Knock Outs on Pokemon such as [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card]. One nice thing about Cinccino is it has to be answered right away normally or else it will rampage through your opponent’s board. If your opponent tries to gust an Archeops that strategy normally falls flat since they aren’t responding to your main threat.

One Pokemon that is very resource efficient is the lone copy of [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Lost Origin” no=”TG10″ c=”name”][/card]. This sleepy Pokemon can attack for two Energy cards, a [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] and then one of any type of Energy. If you think Snorlax will last past one turn, you can throw the [card name=”Therapeutic Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”193″ c=”name”][/card] on it, but if you are expecting it to go down then throwing something like a [card name=”Gift Energy” set=”Lost Origin” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] is also a viable play. Snorlax is king into single-Prize Pokemon. Thumping Snore is usually enough to take out most single-Prize Pokemon in the format, and it is actually difficult for a lot of decks to find an efficient attacker to take it out. A lot of decks have to resort to using a two-Prize Pokemon to deal with Snorlax’s 150 HP. Thumping Snore can also help clean up two-Prize Pokemon that you hit earlier with Tempest Dive from Lugia VSTAR. Being able to identify spots to weave in Snorlax is definitely an important skill to learn while playing this deck!

The last Pokemon we play is [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card]. As I’ve been parroting, setting up is the most important thing with this deck and Lumineon helps us achieve a board with two Archeops on it! Early in the game Lumineon can nab Supporters to set up such as [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card], and as you get to the mid-late game it is super powerful for chaining together gusting Supporters such as Boss’s Orders and [card name=”Serena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card]. While Lumineon is a massive two-Prize liability on the Bench, it is normally fine as long as you are up in the Prize trade. If we are outpacing our opponents then it doesn’t matter if they Knock Out Lumineon.

We also play [card name=”Collapsed Stadium” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] as an option to help us discard any Lumineon V that find their way on to our Bench. Another use for this card is discarding a Lugia VSTAR after it has taken damage. It is not uncommon for opponents to need multiple attacks to Knock Out Lugia, so Collapsed Stadium can act as a pseudo-healing card by removing it from our board as a liability after it has done its job. This card can be difficult to draw at the right time since we only play one copy, but you have multiple turns to try and find it. I would like a second copy, but a consistency card would probably need to be taken out. I value setting up over the extra power this card gives later in the game. If we don’t get to the late game then we can’t even use this card effectively!

Moving on to the Supporter cards, let’s start with Professor’s Research. This card is powerful at all stages of the game, and most importantly you can discard your entire hand — perfect to help get Archeops into our discard pile. A common scenario turn 2 is having to draw [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] in combination with an Archeops or two and Professor’s Research is normally the best way to dig for that combo.

I am playing five gusting cards with three copies of Boss’s Orders and two Serena. The ability to continuously gust two-Prize Pokemon is important and being able to naturally draw our gusting options without needing Lumineon V feels great. While there aren’t many Pokemon V left in the format to bring up to the Active Spot with Serena, the second effect of discarding cards and drawing is nice utility for discarding Archeops. There are a decent amount of Pokemon V still seeing play in meta relevant decks though. Charizard plays [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] and Lumineon V, [card name=”Giratina V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] sees play, as does [card name=”Arceus V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] and opposing Lugia V. When using Luminous Sign to grab a gust you almost always want to grab Serena first since it leaves Boss’s Orders for later in the game to be used more flexibly.

I play a couple copies of [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card] since it is just a solid card all around. Early in the game it is good draw power, and later it is a strong disruption option. We can combo it with Gift Energy to help us replenish our hand too.

[cardimg name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”250″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Finally, I play one copy of Jacq. This card feels fairly weak, but it enables some strong turn 2 plays. Since there is only one copy, we normally need to use Lumineon V to fish it out of the deck, but raw drawing it early always feels incredible. If you already have Archeops in the discard the card can also grab Lugia VSTAR and Cinccino which gives the card some slight utility later into the game.

Our Items are solely devoted to Pokemon search. The power of this deck all comes from the Pokemon so we want to enable them as much as possible. You can see I’ve even opted to play [card name=”Master Ball” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”153″ c=”name”][/card] as my ACE SPEC. While it feels tough to forego playing something like [card name=”Prime Catcher” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card], Master Ball has so much power in the early game that I think it needs to be played. I’ve said it before, but cards like Prime Catcher can’t shine if we can’t even set up!

Our other search is split between Ultra Ball, [card name=”Capturing Aroma” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”153″ c=”name”][/card], and one [card name=”Great Ball” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card]. One thing that I do think is important to learn is the sequencing with Capturing Aroma. Sometimes you will have Great Ball and Capturing Aroma together in your hand. If you really need one specific Pokemon for the turn, let’s say a Lugia VSTAR, then you want to play Capturing Aroma first. This way if you flip tails, you can thin out a basic from the deck before doing Great Ball to try and dig for Lugia VSTAR. While the thinning only marginally affects your odds it still improves them! If you are ok with two Basic Pokemon or Evolution Pokemon then I normally Great Ball first while the concentration of Pokemon in my deck is higher. If I want one Basic Pokemon and one Evolution Pokemon, I normally use Capturing Aroma first since I get to have the knowledge of which one I am still searching using Great Ball.

Finally let’s move on to the Energy cards. These are the cards that have the most flexibility based on the expected metagame in my opinion. I think regardless of metagame you should play four copies of both Gift Energy and [card name=”Jet Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card]. Gift Energy is a soft draw engine for the deck, allowing you to play around Iono and [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] extremely efficiently. If it is on a Cinccino, your opponent normally doesn’t have the luxury of gusting around it so you get to trigger it. You can also pre-emptively put Gift Energy on Benched Pokemon to deter them getting gusted. Sometimes I will throw a Gift on a Minccino or Archeops on my Bench late in the game if I know my hand is fairly weak. This way I can guarantee a way to draw regardless of what my opponent Knocks Out.

Jet Energy is just good all around. Against control decks such as [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] Stall and [card name=”Pidgeot ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] it gives you four switching effects. If your Snorlax ever stays Asleep and you don’t have Therapeutic Energy, you can also get out of it. It’s also just good at getting Pokemon into the Active Spot without having to burn Energy to retreat. Energy cards are super important with this deck, and running out before taking all six Prizes can be a losing condition. A common scenario is we attack with Lugia VSTAR early and then want to transition to Cinccino for our next attack. If we can use Jet Energy, then we can conserve Lugia for an attack later in the game.

Double Turbo Energy is efficient with Lugia and Snorlax, but other than that it isn’t needed so I only play three copies. Something important to note is Cinccino’s attack specifies Energy card attached so Double Turbo Energy only counts as one.

I play two copies of both [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Mist Energy” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card]. Both serve niche purposes in the meta. V Guard is strong to stop Lost Impact from Giratina VSTAR and also stops Tempest Dive Knocking Out our Lugia V from opposing Lugia VSTAR. Mist Energy doubles up against Giratina by blocking Star Requiem, and it also blocks Frenzied Gouging from [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card]. It has other niche cases like protecting Minccino/Cinccino from [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card]’s Lost Mine or having something trapped by [card name=”Mawile” set=”Lost Origin” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card].

Finally, I play one copy of Therapeutic Energy. This ensures Snorlax doesn’t stay asleep after using Thumping Snore. As I mentioned earlier, Snorlax is actually a bit awkward for opponents to Knock Out. There are a couple matchups, especially Lost Zone where Snorlax can survive multiple turns on the board. In these cases, the Therapeutic is super strong!

One package that I’m not playing currently that could be included is [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Luminous Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card]. This gives you a super strong late game attacker, but it is limited by the fact you have to wait until your opponent has taken at least four Prize cards. I think Cinccino normally does a good enough job taking out large threats so I don’t have it in the deck, but I think if you want to find a spot to play this you can cut a Minccino and switch the Therapeutic Energy into a Luminous Energy. You just need to be more careful when attacking with Snorlax.

Matchups

Hopefully that was a pretty in-depth explanation of why every card is in the deck list, so now let’s move on to matchups. I’d say one of the best reasons to play [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card] is that it has fairly polarizing matchups. It doesn’t have many that are super close, you are either favoured or fighting an uphill battle. If you are alright with having your matchups determine your tournament, then Lugia is a fantastic deck for you!

Charizard ex: 60-40

One of the main draws of playing Lugia is that you take a favourable matchup in to the most popular deck in the format! Early game Lugia VSTAR can put in work to clean up their small Basic Pokemon such as [card name=”Charmander” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”7″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Pidgey” set=”151″ no=”16″ c=”name”][/card], while you save [card name=”Cinccino” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] to deal with their [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”234″ c=”name”][/card]. A nice play you can pull off with Lugia VSTAR is using [card name=”Serena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] to Knock Out their [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”177″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] if your opponent Benched either one of those Pokemon. I’ve found it isn’t uncommon to have Lugia take three Prize cards whenever I go first.

If you have a bit of a slow opening don’t be afraid to use Read the Wind to get your [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] in the discard pile. Even with [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card], Charizard ex can’t Knock Out [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] while you are at six Prize cards. Always prioritize setting up a board with two Archeops on it!

An important play to make after you Summoning Star is to make sure a [card name=”Minccino” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Cinccino” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] always has two Energy on it. If you Summoning Star and only set up Lugia at the start, then you are extremely vulnerable to [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card]. If your Bench is devoid of Energy, they can gust an Archeops and take away your ability to power up a five-Energy Cinccino in one turn. Ideally you are consistently threatening Cinccino. Once you attack with it your opponent needs to respond to it or else it will just take another two-Prize Knock Out. Late in the game, make sure you have [card name=”Gift Energy” set=”Lost Origin” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] ready to go on your Active Spot Pokemon and maybe even on the Pokemon most likely to get gusted on your Bench. You will almost always be playing from ahead in this matchup, so your opponent’s win condition is hitting you with disruption late in the game.

As long as you are able to set up and stream Cinccino, I find this matchup is in our favour every time.

Chien-Pao ex: 30-70

This matchup is a fairly difficult one, as they have lots of tools to answer our different strategies. The obvious threat is [card name=”Iron Hands ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card]. Iron Hands can wreak havoc on Lugia V before it gets the chance to evolve, but Iron Hands can also take out [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] for three Prize cards if it ever hits our Bench. If they ever take a Prize lead, they can also use it on our Cinccino as well. Speaking of Cinccino, that is our best attacker into [card name=”Chien-Pao ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card]. The problem though, is that Minccino will get sniped by [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card]. You can never put more than one onto the Bench unless you go first. Even later in the game your opponent can use Moonlight Shuriken to Knock Out Minccino and then put 90 damage on an Archeops to clean it up with another Moonlight Shuriken, or they can put 90 damage on Lugia VSTAR to clean it up with Iron Hands later.

Everything I’ve said so far doesn’t makes this matchup seem winnable, and to be fair it is extremely hard to win if our opponent draws optimally, but there are some things to try. The dream scenario is going first, and your opponent starts Chien-Pao ex in the Active Spot. In this case we can Knock Out their Chien-Pao with Lugia VSTAR and hopefully evolve Minccino to take away any easy targets for Moonlight Shuriken. If this happens, I think we are winning.

Another card that is strong against them is [card name=”Collapsed Stadium” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]. It forces them to omit second [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] or Radiant Greninja, forcing them to have to use Super Rod and [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] to get back to an ideal board state.

Finally, [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Lost Origin” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] is an excellent attacker against them. They can only take it out using Chien-Pao ex, which obviously is less than ideal for them. Their easy way to get around it is to use [card name=”Iron Bundle” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card], but what I normally do is play [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] targeting their [card name=”Baxcalibur” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] and then Knock it Out with Snorlax. This way they must use [card name=”Irida” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] in response. They also need a [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] for Iron Bundle and then normally a way to power up Iron Hands as well if I push up something like Cinccino. Basically, I want to make it as hard as possible for them to get a favourable trade in, and this scenario is usually you best bet. Sometimes they just draw it all, but if that happens not much you can do.

Lost Box: 60-40

[cardimg name=”Snorlax” set=”Lost Origin” no=”TG10″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Lost Box in general is a favourable matchup. Snorlax wreaks havoc, since they don’t normally play a single-Prize Pokemon that can deal with it. They normally must try and poke around it with [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] and Radiant Greninja. If they do want to Knock it Out, they have to use a two-Prize Pokemon, in which case you can just use Cinccino to trade favourably.

One card that is super important in this matchup is [card name=”Mist Energy” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card]. A common play they will do is use Moonlight Shuriken to set up both Archeops to be taken out with Lost Mine from Sableye. Mist Energy can prevent this. It also keeps Lugia VSTAR safe from [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card].

You should pretty consistently out trade Lost Box as long as you set up and are mindful of the above strategies I mentioned but watch out for niche plays such as [card name=”Raikou V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”48″ c=”name”][/card] on your lone Lugia V when you go second.

Lost Giratina: 60-40

Similar to Lost Box, this matchup is favourable. Lost [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG69″ c=”name”][/card] is a bit slower than Lost Box so you should have time to evolve Minccino but try and get them down as early as possible so you can evolve them out of Moonlight Shuriken range ASAP! Lugia is a fairly strong lead in this matchup, and you can combine Mist Energy with [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] to keep a fresh Lugia completely out of danger. Do be mindful that some lists play [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card] though. You need to save Cinccino to deal with Giratina VSTAR, so use Snorlax to clean up their little guys such as [card name=”Cramorant” set=”Lost Origin” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card] and Sableye. This is a matchup where you can use [card name=”Serena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] to gust. Maybe avoid committing [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] to Lugia if you don’t need to, so you can leave the option open to attack with Tempest Dive and Knock Out a [card name=”Giratina V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card].

The logic with Mist Energy I talked about in the Lost Box matchup also applies here, so keep that in mind as well!

Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR: 60-40

Decks with [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG70″ c=”name”][/card] in general are a fairly positive matchup. Against the Giratina VSTAR build, you can use V Guard Energy to always stay out of Lost Impact range. An annoying card most builds play is [card name=”Radiant Gardevoir” set=”Lost Origin” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card] which stops Lugia VSTAR from taking out their Basic Pokemon V, but it is normally fine to two shot them. Just clean it up later with something like a Snorlax. The key to this matchup is to just stream Cinccino. It is extremely efficient at trading two for one in this matchup, and they don’t really have a good answer.

The reason Arceus has a chance is they will try and stick a [card name=”Judge” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] early to disrupt your set up, but if you can draw out of it you normally just steam roll them.

Stall: 85-15

One of the best parts about playing Lugia is you don’t have to worry about stall. Both [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] and Pidgeot Stall are extremely easy matchups for this deck. Everything besides Lumineon V can attack in this deck, and we have four copies of [card name=”Jet Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card] to get out of any retreat blocking. If Lumineon ever hits the board just wait until you can combine Jet Energy with Collapsed Stadium. We also have three [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] to get around Snorlax’s Block Ability.

Both stall variants play Rotom V as a core part of their strategy so we can use [card name=”Serena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] for two Prize cards at some point as well. If our opponent ever loads up a big tank like [card name=”Wigglytuff ex” set=”151″ no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] we can just wait to set up a [card name=”Cinccino” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] to take it out, or just gust around it.

It is honestly pretty hard to lose this matchup, you would need horrible draws and/or Prizes.

Future Box: 15-85

This is the absolute worst matchup to go up against, as it is almost impossible to win. This deck just steam rolls you with [card name=”Iron Hands ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”248″ c=”name”][/card]. Even if you can set up Cinccino to take it out they can just use [card name=”Heavy Baton” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] to set up another one. The one way you win this matchup is if you can take a two-Prize Knock Out the turn after they use [card name=”Miraidon” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card]. If you can gust an [card name=”Iron Crown ex” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] and take it out with Tempest Dive, you actually control the Prize trade. Even if your opponent uses Amp You Very Much for three Prize cards, you can just use two Cinccino to win. Obviously, it is extremely difficult to be able to get turn 2 Archeops and a gusting card, but it isn’t impossible. Even if you have to go single Archeops or put Lumineon onto the Bench, I would go for this play. It is the one way to have a chance. Also, make sure you choose to go second in this matchup so you can Read the Wind turn 1 and go for this line. If they find a way to get Iron Hands set up and Knock you Out on their second turn, then you just have to live with it.

Conclusion

That will draw this article to a close. Hopefully I have made a good case for why you should consider picking up [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card]! While the deck is currently held back by consistency issues and a couple truly horrible matchups, the deck can go on a tear if you run hot and get paired into the right matchups! Looking ahead to Twilight Masquerade, the deck will gain even more tools such as Legacy Energy to help it try and find its way back to Tier 1! Until next time, good luck in all your games, and I hope you fly high with Lugia!

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