aroramage |
Yeah, you probably figured that at
some point Lugia-EX was gonna come up on this list. And
how could he not? Now we've got his power to work with,
and that means you'd best be prepared to see a lot more
of this scary face on the scene!
So considering all the ridiculously
powerful cards on this list, how did Lugia-EX manage to
top them all? Well, to be perfectly honest...he barely
tops it off. I personally had him as my Number 3 spot
(Hex Maniac was actually my top pick at the time), but
I'd be lying if I said he didn't deserve #1. So what
makes Lugia-EX the best?
Let's start by just looking at his
attacks. Aero Ball will actually sound rather familiar -
it's Mewtwo-EX's X Ball word-for-word! Apparently, we
couldn't have a format without some form of X Ball
around, and Yveltal-EX's Evil Ball just hasn't been that
prevalent, all things considered. I don't think I need
to mention how powerful that kind of attack is, so we
can just move onto the next big thing: his second
attack.
You may recall both Mewtwo-EX and
Yveltal-EX had a second attack which was either okay (in
Mewtwo-EX's case) or actually helped do some support.
Lugia-Ex's goes much further: Deep Hurricane is a hefty
4-for-80 hit that can deal 70 more damage if there's a
Stadium in play before blowing it away! That's some
dangerous power right there, and given how prominent
Stadiums have become in the format as of late, it's an
extremely powerful second attack to have!
Alright, so Lugia-EX has two pretty
solid and powerful attacks - but there's one major
difference between him and the other X-Ballers that
causes him to stand out: he's Colorless. That means
there's no easy counter Lugia-EX with Lugia-EX match-up,
and there's no deck that can't run Lugia-EX to some
degree! If anything, there's one deck that's going to
benefit from having him around: M Rayquaza-EX, who
already runs support around Colorless Pokemon anyway!
Lugia-EX is shaping up to be a
powerful attacker in the format, but will he be able to
work past the other decks that will come up? The
Lockdown Giratina-EX deck, the devastating M Tyranitar-EX
smackdown, or even the deadly growth of the Forest of
Giant Plants with M Sceptile-EX leading the front?
...well, if he can't beat them, he
can definitely join them.
Rating
Standard: 5/5 (splashability thanks
to Colorless typing and powerful attacks means that
Lugia-EX is going to probably be the most powerful of
all X-Ballers)
Expanded: 5/5 (the MOST POWERFUL)
Limited: 5/5 (...THE MOST POWE-)
Arora Notealus: I feel like I've
mentioned before how Lugia's my favorite between him and
Ho-oh. That's not to say Ho-oh's bad or anything, but I
just preferred Lugia more. Color loyalty to Silver, I
suppose - you never forget which game you picked first
in a generation!
Weekend Thought: Do you agree with
our Top 15 list? Was this a good read for you? You think
some cards should be higher or lower or even on the
list? Maybe you'd like to bring up some interesting
cards that should have made the list but didn't! Don't
worry, we've plenty of time to evaluate the cards - the
next set's not out till November anyway!
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Otaku |
Our top pick from this set is… albino Yveltal-EX!
Don’t know what I mean? You may have guessed anyway
because there is only really major card left to review
that makes a lick of sense at the top of the list:
Lugia-EX (XY: Ancient Origins 68/98, 94/98)!
The previous Lugia-EX (BW: Plasma Storm
108/135, 134/135; BW: Black Star Promo BW83;
BW: Legendary Treasures 102/113) was fairly well
known, but so I don’t constantly feel the need to
specify a set (like when I cover it later for a bit of
comparison) I’ll refer to that one as Lugia-EX
[Plasma]. Back to the new one though, it is a
Colorless-Type Pokémon as you would generally expect
(though sometimes it has been a Psychic-Type, as it is
both Types in the video games). Being Colorless means
no hitting for Weakness (bad), never worrying about
Resistance (small bonus) and being able to tap
Colorless-Type support (solid bonus). Being a Basic
didn’t miraculously stop being the best Stage since our
last Basic Pokémon was reviewed; minimal space in deck,
minimal time to get into play, greater natural synergy
with certain other mechanics and in Expanded there are
even a few cards of Basic Stage support. Being a
Pokémon-EX doesn’t automatically have any benefits
(though it usually means better attributes and/or
effects) but does guarantee giving up an extra Prize
when KOed, an inability to access certain existing
pieces of support and already being targeted by certain
counter-cards also already in the game.
170 HP is the lower of the two common scores for Basic
Pokémon-EX, but only by 10 points. This is enough
you’ll often be able to survive a hit, which is fairly
good considering even the largest Pokémon in the game
right now (Wailord-EX) isn’t safe from OHKOs,
though its 250 HP is definitely much safer. One of the
things that will have a good chance of OHKOing Lugia-EX
are Lightning-Types and this has gotten a bit nasty
lately because not only do we still have some strong
Lightning-Type attackers like Raichu (XY
43/146) and both Manectric-EX and M Manectric-EX
but potentially any Stage 1 Pokémon can now become a
Lightning-Type thanks to Jolteon (XY: Ancient
Origins 26/98). Furthermore, there are still some
really strong, popular attackers (like Yveltal-EX)
that are already Lightning Weak, providing incentive to
run more Lightning-Type attackers. Lugia-EX
enjoys Fighting-Type Resistance is a lot better than it
might sound: Fighting-Types have come to embody fast,
hard-hitting, Energy efficient attackers that can also
stack multiple damage bonuses unique to them (on top of
those not unique to them). More than a few of
the currently successful ones also ignore Resistance or
do massive damage… but don’t do both at the same time so
that -20 will often enough turn a OHKO into a 2HKO or
2HKO into a 3HKO. Finishing off the bottom stats is a
Retreat Cost of [CC]; high enough you’d prefer not to
pay but low enough you’ll often be able to, especially
with something like a Double Colorless Energy.
Lugia-EX
does its thing with two attacks: “Aero Ball” and “Deep
Hurricane”. The former costs [CC] and hits for 20 times
the number of Energy attached to both Active Pokémon
while the latter requires [CCCC] to hit for 80+ damage,
where the “plus” is another 70 damage if there is
a Stadium in play, then discards that Stadium. There is
some significant synergy between these attacks though
there is a little bit that doesn’t so much clash but
requires taking care. Aero Ball should hit for at least
40 damage unless another effect reduces its damage. The
Energy required for Deep Hurricane would do at least 80
damage with Aero Ball but sometimes you’ll need
to discard the current Stadium in play. Other times
you’ll expressly regret that you must discard the
Stadium in play when you use Deep Hurricane, though if
between the two Active Pokémon there are at least eight
Energy, Aero Ball will hit harder than Deep Hurricane.
Thanks to the [CC] and [CCCC] Energy costs these
potential hang ups are minor. You can use almost any
Energy acceleration, including the easy and often seen
Double Colorless Energy: a single copy goes from
zero to Aero Ball while a second goes from Aero Ball to
Deep Hurricane. This means you can attack with Aero
Ball and then only bother with Deep Hurricane if it
still looks worthwhile the next turn. You can punish
other Energy hogs with Aero Ball or Stadium reliant
decks with Deep Hurricane; that’s is a nice bonus for
being an otherwise solid attacker.
How does this compare with Lugia-EX [Plasma]? It
has 10 more HP, is a Team Plasma Pokémon and sports an
Ability alongside a big attack. “Overflow” states that
when “this Pokémon” (so Lugia-EX [Plasma]) KO’s
an opponent’s Pokémon with damage from one of its
attacks, you get to take an extra Prize. That is quite
potent as if you win by Prizes you should shave off at
least a turn for taking the win. The attack is Plasma
Gale which delivers a decent 120 damage, but requires
you discard a Plasma Energy from itself or else
the attack does nothing. Thanks to all the available
support, this was once the main attacker of one of the
top decks in the format. It is still something to be
wary of in Expanded but I don’t know if it is one of the
current top decks. You can check out our two
older
reviews
if you like but they are definitely dated. In Expanded
you have little reason for this card to fit into most
decks… unlike today’s Lugia-EX. You might risk
doing it the otherway around though: it isn’t brilliant
but a Lugia-EX could operate alongside enough of
the support in a Lugia-EX [Plasma] deck to
matter. Still there are two better cards to compare and
contrast with: Mewtwo-EX (reviewed
four
different
times)
and Yveltal-EX (reviewed
twice).
I have found a lot of people noticing the similarities
between Mewtwo-EX, but ignoring that
Yveltal-EX is part of the same club. It actually
got kind of frustrating: before we knew the full
Japanese set people would make comments about the “New
Mewtwo-EX” or even refer to as a “reprint” of
Mewtwo-EX and so I’d go to investigate and oh, just
Lugia-EX again. All three of these are Basic
Pokémon-EX with 170 HP and a Retreat Cost of [CC]. All
three are of course different Types, with the
appropriate drawbacks and bonuses therein. Mewtwo-EX
is Psychic Weak, which initially created an unusual
situation as it was also part of the first wave of
Pokémon-EX and the flat out best; to counter it you had
to pretty much run it yourself (it also has no
Resistance, but that isn’t a big deal). Both Lugia-EX
and Yveltal-EX have the same Weakness and
Resistance though, meaning they’ll face some similar
situations from here on out. Aero Ball is basically
just “X-Ball” (Mewtwo-EX) with a new name, unlike
“Evil Ball” (Yveltal-EX) which costs [DC] but
does 20 plus 20 per Energy attached to both Actives (so
just a little more damage).
What I think really secures though that Lugia-EX
is just a bit closer to Yveltal-EX (despite being
as easy to splash as Mewtwo-EX) is that while “Psydrive”
is a solid attack, its [PPC] cost and mandatory Energy
discard meant its 120 damage rarely was employed. Yveltal-EX
on the otherwise uses its “Y Cyclone” ([DCC]) to hit for
90 while moving an Energy off of itself onto something
on the Bench… usually another attacker that needs it,
both reducing the damage it will take from other
attackers that do more damage based on the Energy
attached to the opponent’s Active while doubling as a
form of Energy acceleration (especially when
Yveltal-EX gets KOed, as that Energy would have been
totally lost otherwise). Deep Hurricane operates
differently but it is easier to pay than Psydrive and
the Stadium discard is usually going to be a solid
bonus. Of course even if one still thinks Lugia-EX
is closer to Mewtwo-EX than Yveltal-EX,
that is okay… just remember that Yveltal-EX
already “inherited” most of the former positions of
Mewtwo-EX. Lugia-EX just gets a chunk of
what is left.
Fortunately that is a lot; Mewtwo-EX rotated out
so in Standard, the “hits harder based on Energy
attached” big, Basic slot is open, or at least as much
as it can with decks being so crowded. Where once
Mewtwo-EX would have been the dance partner, now
expect Lugia-EX. Being compatible with cards
like Winona may also earn it a few extra side
gigs, as will being able to discard an in play Stadium
while doing solid damage. The same applies for
Expanded, though it is hard to say if it is better or
worse; you have more cards both to combo with and
compete with so for now, I’m just going to call it
“even”. For Limited play, you should run this whatever
else you are running. Even if you originally planned on
a +39 deck with a different big, Basic Pokémon-EX
you can make a “+38” deck instead and probably make your
opponent really, really frustrated by your fantastic
pulls. Of course if Lugia-EX is the only decent
thing you pull, just run it plus 39 other non-Basic
Pokémon and unless your opponent quickly gets a solid
Lightning-Type (or great of any Type) attacker out, he
or she will be hard pressed to take out Lugia-EX
before you snag four Prizes.
Ratings
Standard:
4.15/5
Expanded:
4.15/5
Limited:
5/5
Summary:
The increased pacing and damage output of the game keep
this card from scoring as high as its predecessors did,
but Lugia-EX is a great card. I had it as my
number two pick and it probably deserved to be at least
that. This isn’t by any means a “must run” card but
even when it isn’t the optimal choice, it is often a
good one (and where it is the best choice it is great!).
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