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Luxray Lv 53
I hope all American readers enjoyed their break, and are
ready for another full week of Pojo’s CotD.
We kick off the week with the new Luxray, a card that
seems to have a great deal of potential, but can it be
made to work in the unforgiving environment of a premier
tournament?
Luxray has some decent top and bottom stats for sure.
120 HP may be just a little low for a Stage 2, but it
doesn’t seem to stop people playing Flygon. Weakness to
Fighting isn’t great as Machamp is still being played,
and you do see the occasional Rampardos. Metal
Resistance is better than nothing, especially as I
expect Dialga G to make a bit of a come back.
Flash is Luxray’s first attack, and it is not bad at
all. 30 damage may not be much, but for a single
Lightning Energy, that’s good value. It also has the
effect of making the Defending Pokémon flip to attack
next turn, so it could be used to stall while Luxray
powers up. Bear in mind, though, that the effect is
negated if your opponent evolves or switches their
active Pokémon.
The attack that really makes Luxray interesting, though,
is Gadget Bolt. At first glance, it doesn’t look
anything special . . . 60 damage for three Energy is not
exactly a bargain. When you read the effect text,
though, you begin to see how devastating it could be. If
Luxray has a Tool attached to it, you can discard it to
make Gadget Bolt do 100 damage. That is pretty
impressive by itself, but it gets better. If the Tool in
question is Expert Belt, that figure increases to 120
because damage is calculated before Expert Belt is
discarded. There are a couple of other Tools you could
usefully use with Luxray as well. Bench Shield would
protect it from snipe or spread attacks while you attach
Energy to it, and Memory Berry gives it access to Shinx
LA’s Recharge attack which will attach an Energy if you
need it.
Luxray also got some good support in the Arceus set, as
well as the new Tools. Porygon-Z G has a
coming-into-play Power which returns discarded Tools to
your deck, and there is a new Supporter, Department
Store Girl, which searches your deck for any three
Pokémon Tools.
Is this enough to make Luxray a top tier deck? Not
quite, in my opinion. It’s right on the borderline, but
the Energy cost of Gadget Bolt makes it just a little
slow, and having to fill your deck with Tools can lead
to consistency issues. Maybe next set, when we get
Double Colourless Energy and can get Luxray doing a turn
2 120 damage, it will be a real contender. For now it
makes for an interesting rogue deck that could manage a
surprise win or two.
Rating
Modified: 3 (average right now, but things will get
better for this card)
Limited: 2.5 (eh . . . Stage 2s are hard to use in
limited, but if you pull all the right support the set
has to offer . . . )
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