The Overlooked Rogue – Big Lux
Hello everyone! July always marks the break of the competitive season, with no major tournaments happening until Worlds. As such, my group and I have already begun our testing for Worlds, but of course, the urgency hasn’t set in just yet. The upcoming Shrouded Fable set will also be legal for Worlds, and playing with cards that don’t come out for another month feels a little strange. I usually don’t play with cards this far in advance, but I think it will go a long way in helping me prepare. A few decks have stood out to me, and several more have already been eliminated. Putting down Dipplin and Blissey ex was tough for me, but for every handful of loser decks, something emerges as a viable option. Today I will be discussing one of those such options, a deck that hasn’t yet gotten its chance to shine, until now.
Luxray ex is a card that many players took notice of upon the release of Twilight Masquerade. It is, regrettably, a Stage 2, but one with two incredible attacks. Its first attack reminds many players of the successful Luxray V. For just two Colorless Energy, usually fueled by a single Double Turbo Energy, Luxray ex can snipe any card of your choice out of your opponent’s hand. Unlike its Basic counterpart, Luxray ex deals a respectable 100-120 damage with this attack, making it an attacking threat in addition to just a disruption option. This is obviously good, especially combined with the likes of Eri or Iono. Thanks to Double Turbo Energy, this attack is easy to use if you’re able to get the Stage 2 into play.
Luxray’s second attack deals 250 damage for two Lightning Energy, while also requiring you to discard all Energy attached. This is a desirable and more offensive option, but the big question is: how do you use it? Playing Electric Generator and tons of Lightning Energy alongside a Stage 2 line is just too much. Fortunately, you don’t have to use Volt Strike every turn. Therefore, Neo Upper Energy finds the perfect niche here. You can commit to the big attack at the right time when it will have the most impact. If you need to do so a second time, Roseanne's Backup can retrieve the Neo Upper Energy. I’ve ended up needing to do this less often than I expected, and the reason for this becomes more apparent when we look at the list.
Being such a new card, Luxray’s only real chance to perform was NAIC, and nobody played the deck. This is understandable, as it was a completely unknown quantity, and not as obviously broken as other new cards like Dragapult ex and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex. Looking forward to Shrouded Fable, Luxray is positioned even better, which I will elaborate on a little later. For now, here’s the list.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
If you'd like to continue reading, consider purchasing a PokeBeach premium membership! If you're not completely satisfied with your membership, you can request a full refund within 30 days.
Each week we post high-quality content from some of the game's top players. Our article program isn't a corporate operation, advertising front, or for-profit business. We set our prices so that we can pay the game's top players to write the best content for our subscribers. Each article topic is carefully selected, goes through multiple drafts, and is touched up by our editors. We take great pride in our program!