Ancient Power — Archeops’ Stranglehold on Standard

Hello PokeBeach readers! Isaiah here, and I am happy to be writing another article! Last time, I talked about the [card name=”Articuno” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Emergency Jelly” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card] decks that completely dominated the triple Regional weekend earlier this December, largely focusing on the development and deck list for the [card name=”Radiant Alakazam” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”59″ c=”name”][/card] build that was pioneered by myself, fellow writer Charlie Lockyer, and others. As I predicted, the deck did not do particularly well, with just once instance of the deck in the entirety of the 130 person Day 2, being outnumbered even by decks like [card name=”Eternatus VMAX” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] or the [card name=”Zoroark” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”103″ c=”name”][/card] Stage-1 tool box that I wrote about in November. While neither of those two decks are “bad” per se, I think it is safe to say that many players probably expected bigger things from Articuno this week. However, if this is your current favorite deck, do not be alarmed, as I am confident that the deck is going to be good again in the future, be it at the San Diego Regional Championships in early January or even later on down the road.

To no one’s surprise, the most popular deck in the room, both on Day 1 and on Day 2, was [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card]. The deck was a remarkable 35 percent of the meta share on Day 1, which has grown to be typical for Lugia VSTAR, and its meta share went up slightly on the second day of the tournament, reaching approximately 38 percent. After the cut to Top 8, this meta share jumped up to 62.5 percent, and if you decide to include the two people who “bubbled” out of Top 8, then the meta share drops a little lower, but still maintains the 50 percent mark. Not just this incredible meta share, but Lugia VSTAR was also able to take down the entire event, which also happened to be the largest Regional Championships to date, in the hands of Connor Finton. Now that we are a solid month into the Silver Tempest format, we can say for sure that the deck is not just a fad, but it is definitely here to stay as one of the most powerful decks that we have seen in years. As such, one has to wonder, what is it about this deck that puts it so far above the rest of the format that over 35 percent of players are willing to play it multiple events in a row? Well, how about we take a look at what makes Lugia VSTAR so good.

The Strength of Lugia VSTAR: Explained

[cardimg name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Starting from the baseline of Lugia VSTAR itself, the card really is not that exceptional. Its attack does a pretty underwhelming 220 damage for four Energy, as weird as that is to say, and its VSTAR Power, Summoning Star, is very reminiscent of [card name=”Ho-Oh-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card]’s GX attack, which was historically considered to be the worst part of that card. On its own, Lugia VSTAR simply was not bound to have very much potential, that is, until we saw Archeops.

For a long time, I have always claimed that fossil Pokemon, which happen to be my favorite subcategory of Pokemon, have always gotten unfair treatment in the Pokemon TCG due to the limitations of their, quite frankly, terribly designed mechanics. Whether it be having to evolve from an Item that cannot be searched with something like a [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] or the bizarre concept of fishing from the bottom seven cards like we saw with [card name=”Old Amber Aerodactyl” set=”Fates Collide” no=”106″ c=”name”][/card], the cards are always bound to be bad, which is quite sad. However, from time to time, we are given ways to cheat some of the Pokemon in play, such as cards like [card name=”Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick” set=”Primal Clash” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Pokémon Research Lab” set=”Unified Minds” no=”205″ c=”name”][/card], but these cards either end up being too broken in the case of the former or too underpowered in the case of the latter. Cards like [card name=”Archeops” set=”Noble Victories” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card] NVI (which is fortunately now banned in Expanded) or [card name=”Kabutops” set=”Team Up” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] are huge problems for card design, as they force the efficiency of fossil Pokemon to be limited in order to make sure that their own effects are not too overpowered. This all changed finally with [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] SIT, though. It is still hindered by a terrible gimmick, but thanks to Lugia VSTAR, we have a way to cheat it into play. To put it lightly, Archeops’ Primal Turbo is ABSURD! Throughout the Sword and Shield block, we have gotten a wide variety of Special Energy, including [card name=”Aurora Energy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card], and the nine different type-specific Special Energy cards. While there is some debate to be had over the best Special Energy card, there is no Special Energy that is as impactful to this deck as [card name=”Powerful Colorless Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”176″ c=”name”][/card]. All of a sudden, thanks to Powerful Colorless Energy, Lugia VSTAR’s relatively mediocre damage output jumps up to an astounding 300 damage on the second turn of the game! There are very few, if any, decks that can compete with this level of damage this early on, and those that can are usually quite inefficient at doing so, such as [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] which requires you to play several copies of [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”name”][/card]. Not just that, but Archeops can also attach extra Capture Energy like I mentioned earlier or other powerful Energy cards, such as [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card], for some added survivability, or [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card], for some extra efficiency in paying your attack cost. While the strength of these options is certainly incredible, it’s just the beginning for how absurdly good Lugia VSTAR / Archeops actually is.

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At this point, Lugia VSTAR decks deviate into two strategies. One of the options that some people pursue is a very linear [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] plus [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] variant built around consistency, but this list has largely fallen by the wayside as it does not really use Archeops to its full potential. The other, far more common build focuses on abusing [card name=”Aurora Energy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] and a variety of powerful attackers in order to best leverage the absurd power of Primal Turbo. Most notably, Amazing Rare [card name=”Yveltal” set=”Shining Fates” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] are both included in these builds. Both of these cards have absolutely incredible attacks, with the latter already being a part of two separate Regional Championship winning strategies this year. Largely thanks to these two Pokemon, this deck is able to take on a largely Single Prize Attacker centered game after the first Lugia VSTAR goes down. In fact, more often than not, you will not even use a second Lugia VSTAR in a game, which has lead many players to slim their evolution line down as far as just three [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] and two Lugia VSTAR.

In addition to the absurdity of Yveltal in particular, one must note that the deck is also made exceptionally strong because of its ability to tech for specific matchups. The deck’s baseline only takes up about 55 of the 60 allotted cards in a deck, so the deck is able to include a variety of cards for certain matchups like [card name=”Stoutland V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Espeon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”65″ c=”name”][/card]. The ability of this deck deck to play tech cards is quite a rare one, and is always a really special sight when something like it comes up, with the most recent example being the [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] decks from the Expanded format in early 2018. Much like Lugia VSTAR, Zoroark-GX was easily the best deck of its time, so it should be quite easy to understand that being able to tech like this often leads to a deck becoming one of the best in its respective format.

Now that we have looked a bit into how Lugia VSTAR has gotten to the point where it is, we must now take a look at a deck list to better understand the deck as a whole.

A Deck List

At this point, the [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] “core” is pretty well established, as I previously mentioned, with many of the biggest choices coming in the last few slots in the deck. Whether it be tech attackers or Trainer cards, the final few cards are often the difference between a poor finish. This weekend in Arlington, we saw a variety of exceptional lists, with each one having their pros and cons. In my opinion, the best list is probably an intersection of these. I am a big fan of Jon Eng’s list from this weekend, especially with his two copies of [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]. If I had had more time to test leading up to the event (thanks, school) I almost certainly would have put some time into this inclusion myself, but given my constrained time, Path to the Peak did not make it into my list this weekend. One card that I would have liked to see in Jon’s list that was notably excluded, though, was [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card]. While it is admittedly less necessary with the combination of Path to the Peak and [card name=”Regigigas” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], Lost Vacuum provides another way to hit through [card name=”Duraludon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] with a [card name=”Big Parasol” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card], which is a nice option to have. Speaking of Regigigas, I am not super fond of this inclusion, as it feels largely unnecessary. In my opinion, this space would be better taken up by a different tech attacker or maybe even just a consistency card.

With some of these changes in mind, how about we take a look at my updated version of the deck list.

[decklist name=”lugia archeops” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″][pokemon amt=”17″]2x [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/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=”Yveltal” set=”Shining Fates” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Lost Origin” no=”143″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Stoutland V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”117″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pumpkaboo” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”76″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”27″]3x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Serena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”164″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Bird Keeper” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”159″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”16″]4x [card name=”Powerful Colorless Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”176″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Aurora Energy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Heat Fire Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”174″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

Card Inclusions

The Lugia VSTAR Line

I mentioned this briefly early, but Jon, myself, and many others opted to play just 3-2 [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] line this weekend. To put it simply, this is done because the card just is not your best attacker. While it is extremely strong and worth using in a majority of the matchups that you will play in any given event, the card also is only needed once per game. In fact, the card is oftentimes a hinderance, giving your opponent two free Prize cards that, ideally, they would never get. However, the power of hitting 330 damage with four [card name=”Powerful Colorless Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”176″ c=”name”][/card] and a [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] makes up for this annoying liability that you need to have in play in order to set up your deck. Funny enough, the card is so mediocre that it is often better to just put down one [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] if you go second in the mirror. This is because if you ever put down a second copy, you may as well concede the game anyway, so if they bring up your Lugia V and take a Knock Out on it, just pick up your cards and hope for better luck in the next game!

Four Archeops

It is quite irritating to have to play more than two [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] in your deck at all, but between the existence of Prize cards as well as needing to draw into it while setting up, playing as many copies of the card which is otherwise useless, is unfortunately necessary. There has been a big debate in the community over whether three or four copies is better, but I am on the side of four because at the end of the day, maximizing the odds that you play the game is the best way to build a deck, because much like Wayne Gretzky once said, you lose 100 percent of the games you do not play.

Two Lumineon V

[cardimg name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The choice of playing two [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] has an amusing story, and I think it can be tied back to a message that I sent to Ian Robb pretty much right after Silver Tempest released. At first, I meant it partially as a joke and half seriously, as I initially suggested it alongside [card name=”Professor Burnet” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH167 ” c=”name”][/card] for the purpose of consistently being able to find the card while not losing access to Lumineon V for the full game. However, as we tested the idea, we slowly came to realize that double Lumineon V was way better than initially expected, as the card proved to be a reasonably strong attacker, and just an overall great card to boost the deck’s consistency, whether you played Professor Burnet or not. As of now, I think that double Lumineon V is not just pretty good, but an absolute auto-include in the deck going forward.

Snorlax and Bird Keeper

When it came to cutting Regigigas, [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Lost Origin” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] was my preferred replacement. Focusing more on beating Regigigas decks and [card name=”Articuno” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] decks, as well as Lost Zone Box, Snorlax proves to be a strong attacker taking consistent one-hit Knock Outs while being somewhat annoying to Knock Out in return and while being immune to effects of attacks like Wild Freeze or Lost Mine. Annoyingly, Thumping Snore does put Snorlax into a state of being Asleep where you have only a 25 percent chance of waking up rather than a 50 percent chance, but that is what [card name=”Bird Keeper” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] is for. Acting as an instant bail out, Bird Keeper is a great inclusion to make sure your Snorlax wakes up so that you do not lose tempo by staying asleep coming into your turn. Bird Keeper is also another way out of Paralysis if needed, which makes the card a nice utility inclusion in the deck.

Stoutland V

Going into this weekend, I had a very incorrect perception on how to best use this card against Lost Zone Box. Most players would assume that the intention of the card is to run over multiple [card name=”Comfey” set=”Lost Origin” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] to win a quick game. While this strategy is strong, it is not always the best one, especially if the opponent is playing a version that is able to easily respond to [card name=”Stoutland V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card], such as a Snorlax of their own with a [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card]. Instead, the best way to use this card is toward the end of the game to clean up on the final turn. If you spend most of the game trading your one Prize Pokemon for one Prize card, Stoutland V always gives you the edge that you need to swing the trade into your favor, whether you took the first Knock Out or not.

Two Boss’s Orders and Two Serena

Since it was announced, I have always been a big opponent of playing [card name=”Serena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] in most decks. More often than not, the ability to drag up a non-Pokemon V is far more relevant than being able to draw a couple cards once every few games. The exception that I have always applied to this rule is something like Regigigas, which cannot afford to play a “blank” card like [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] in the situations where you do not need to use that effect, so having a draw Supporter is value, hence Serena to fill both roles. However, Lugia VSTAR decks are the other exception to this rule. As one could expect, discarding Archeops is very important in a Lugia VSTAR deck, so Serena helps facilitate this. In my opinion, the split of two of each is the perfect count, as it preserves the balance of having the better “gust” effect in the form of Boss’s Orders while not completely losing the draw support provided by Serena.

The Energy

I should not have to explain why [card name=”Powerful Colorless Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”176″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Aurora Energy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] are maxed out. These two are the most important Energy to the deck’s strategy for reasons that I have already explained above, so that should be pretty straightforward.

Four [card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] may come as a bit of a surprise, but the card is exceptional. Finding Basic Pokemon is super important to this deck, whether it is your [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] for the first turn while you are setting up or it an attacker on a specific turn, finding a Basic Pokemon is almost always going to be valuable. One note that I would like to make is that Archeops conveniently has a Retreat Cost of one, meaning that one can promote Archeops after something gets Knocked Out, attach Capture Energy to find the next attacker, discard Capture Energy to pay for the Retreat Cost, then use Primal Turbo to power up the new Pokemon instantly.

Two [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] are in the deck because two Energy for half of a Primal Turbo is always good. Whether it is used for retreating or for attacking, the card is seldom bad, and I even sometimes wish I had a third copy in the deck.

Finally, the “tech Energy” are [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Heat Fire Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”174″ c=”name”][/card]. I have lightly touched on V Guard Energy, but it is essentially in the deck as a way to make your Pokemon slightly more bulky. On the other hand, Heat Fire Energy is simply a pseudo “fifth Aurora Energy” when it comes to powering up [card name=”Yveltal” set=”Shining Fates” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card].

Conclusion

As we get deeper into the Silver Tempest format, the borderline oppressive power level of [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] becomes more and more evident. Going forward, the deck is bound to continue its extraordinary dominance in the format, in a way that is extremely rare throughout the game’s history. Between its incredible power, diverse game plan, and ability to tech for any matchup, Lugia VSTAR is bound to cement itself as one of the greatest decks to ever exist over the course of the next few months before Aurora Energy finally rotates in April.

With that, this article draws to a close. I hope you enjoyed giving this article a read, as it was a joy to write about such an extraordinary deck. As always, feel free to reach out in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Twitter (@ICheville), or on Facebook (Zaya Lee) if you have any questions!

Until next time!

– Isaiah

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