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Luxray GL LV X (Rising Rivals)
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!
DUN DUN DUN!!
It’s our #1 Card of 2009!
It’s . . .
What do you mean you guessed already?
Yep, Luxray GL LV X is a VERY obvious choice for the
best card of 2009. It’s also a very GOOD choice, and I
would be shocked at any list that didn’t have this card
right at the very top.
Remember those days before the release of this card? The
world of the Pokémon TCG was a much safer, kinder place.
You could build up your attacker on the Bench and know
that it would be there when needed. You could set up an
early Claydol and confidently expect to be able to
happily Cosmic Power away for the rest of the game.
Luxray GL LV X changed all of that. With its Bright Look
Gust-of-Wind-style PokePower, Luxray made sure that
nothing was safe in the bench by the simple method of
dragging it active and knocking it out. Luxray was well
equipped to do this too with a very cheap 60 for two
Energy attack. If that didn’t get the job done, Luxray
has free retreat, so it can retire gracefully to the
bench and send out another Pokémon to get the KO.
This ability to be able to select the target for your
Pokémon’s attack was soon recognised to be one of the
best in the game. As with Crobat G, it meant that
players looked for ways to incorporate it outside of
pure SP decks. The best known and most successful of
these attempts was Steven Silvestro’s Worlds-winning
Beedrill/Luxray deck, but it has also been included in
some builds of decks as diverse as Gyarados (a
relentless, big-hitting deck) and Gliscor/Spiritomb (a
deck based on creating a permanent lock).
Since its release, a few cards have come along that seem
designed to make life harder for Luxray. Toxicroak G
Promo, Grand Swell Relicanth, even Mankey SV as all
capable of getting a revenge OHKO on Luxray, and yet
Luxray’s popularity hasn’t really declined at all. Being
able to remove a key piece of your opponent’s set up
whenever you want is an almost obscenely powerful move
at any point in a game.
And that’s why Luxray GL LV X is the best, most
important, most game-changing card released in 2009.
Rating
Modified: 4.75 (Nothing’s perfect in Modified, but this
is close)
Limited: 4 (Not much SP Support in the set, but useful
cheap attacks)
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