aroramage |
Here's one of only a few Pokemon
with 3 attacks to its name, and at the time he came out,
the only better Fighting card than him was Landorus-EX
from Boundaries Crossed. Think about that for a moment
when you take another look at Lucario-EX.
This card became the standard
design for Fighting-Types in the TCG because of all the
power ups they ended up getting - Fighting Stadium,
Korrina, Focus Sash, and most importantly of all Strong
Energy all came out in the same set, and that's not even
taking into account Muscle Band! Lucario-EX starts out
looking like he's all just low numbers, but considering
what more can get added on, it becomes apparent that
he's probably one of the most well-designed EX...ever!
Lucario-EX's first attack is
Missile Jab, a 1-for-30 tap that doesn't get weakened by
Resistance. Not bad, not phenomenal, but at least you
don't have to worry about those stray birds preventing
you from punching them out of existence. Then Corkscrew
Smash does things better; at 2-for-60, not only is the
attack more powerful, but it provides a rare bit of draw
power in the midst of an attack, letting the player draw
until they've got 6 cards. Finally, Somersault Kick is
Lucario-EX's last attack, and it's pretty simple at a
3-for-100 vanilla hit.
Again, the stats look underwhelming
for Lucario-EX, but when combined with the +20 from
Fighting Stadium, +20 from Muscle Band, and even just 1
+20 from a single Strong Energy, these attacks become
MONSTROUS!! Missle Jab ends up as a 1-for-90, Corkscrew
Smash a 2-for-150, and...well, you get the idea. It's
nuts! But then you consider how much faster the deck is
these days - with Shaymin-EX and Professor Sycamore
combined with Corkscrew Smash, it's easy to see how one
can draw through most of their deck to search out all
the cards they need for Lucario-EX to turbo punch his
way to victory!!
There's a lot that Lucario-EX had
going for it, so it's a shame not only to see it didn't
hold up after a while due to having to compete with
better Megas with Spirit Links and decks like Night
March and Flareon's Vengeance/Vespiquen's Bee Revenge.
Shame too, cause Karen could easily be the tech card
Lucario-EX needs to get the upper hand in such
match-ups! I'd say he'll live on as a powerhouse in
Expanded, but who knows how many folks will tap into
that unknown potential.
Rating
Standard: N/A
Expanded: 4/5 (personally, it's
hard to rate him lower than that solid 5 he deserves -
and consider that he's also got Carbink BREAK as
additional support from the newest set!)
Limited: 5/5 (still, he's a gem out
of the Furious Fists set, and it's a shame to see him
go)
Arora Notealus: Lucario-EX is
definitely one of my favorite Pokemon-EX, and I hope
that if we get a reprint set like with Legendary
Treasures before the end of the XY era that he ends up
coming back in it and showing everyone just how much
stronger his training has gone. That, and maybe a
Lucario Spirit Link would be nice for his Mega
Evolution, if we get it reprinted as well.
Next Time: A classic Ability on a
new Type of Pokemon!
|
Otaku |
So looking at The
Top 20 Cards Lost To Rotation - specifically lost to the
Standard Format due to the September 1, 2016 rotation
from XY-On to PRC-On - 18th place goes to Lucario-EX
(XY: Furious Fists 54/111, 107/111). To
provide a brief overview of the card, this is a Basic
Pokémon-EX; being a Basic is the best due to how they
interact with various game rules and mechanics, being a
Pokémon-EX comes with drawbacks but means Lucario-EX
is a Basic and not a Stage 1, should have better stats
and probably better effects than most (possibly all)
other contemporary “regular” Lucario cards.
Being a Fighting Type allows it to tap into an
impressive array of support specifically for Fighting
Types, plus a few things for which it is easier for
Fighting Types to take advantage, suffer no real
worthwhile Fighting Type specific counters, and exploit
an abundance of Weakness while dealing reasonably well
with the relatively high levels of Fighting Resistance
in the game. Having 180 HP is very good as it is
the higher of the two common HP scores for Basic
Pokémon-EX and somewhat difficult to OHKO for the
average deck. Psychic Weakness is quite bad for it
as both before and after it released, there were Psychic
Type attackers running around that went from 2HKO to
OHKO (or possible OHKO to probable OHKO) territory.
Lack of Resistance is typical, as is a Retreat Cost of
[CC], though the latter you’ll actually need to consider
while building a deck involving Lucario-EX.
XY: Furious Fists
released before BW: Boundaries Crossed had left
Standard play. As such, even though Lucario-EX
was one of the faces of XY: Furious Fists,
Landorus-EX ended up stealing the spotlight.
Not at first, but I don’t recall a tremendous amount of
success for Lucario-EX then, either.
Instead the best of all that Fighting Type support like
Fighting Stadium, Korrina, and Strong
Energy joined with Crobat (XY: Phantom
Forces 33/119), Golbat (XY: Phantom Forces
32/119, Generations 31/83), Super Scoop Up
and then a vast array of other potent cards joined
behind Landorus-EX to form a vicious deck. Fighting
Stadium, Muscle Band, and a Strong Energy
meant Landorus-EX could score 90 damage against
an opponent’s Active while nailing the Bench for 30;
next turn spam as many Golbat as you can and you
might 2HKO the previous Active (if you hadn’t already)
while taking another target on the Bench. As
Jirachi-EX was still legal at this time and
Shaymin-EX (XY Roaring Skies 77/108, 106/108)
weren’t on the scene, that might be four Prizes taking
out an Active Pokémon-EX plus said Jirachi-EX. Super
Scoop Up did not only allow you to spam Crobat
and Golbat, but also meant your opponent needed
to either OHKO Landorus-EX or pray for “tails” or
block Items.
Which was the forte
of Seismitoad-EX, set-mate to Lucario-EX.
This is also where Lucario-EX proved itself an
essential alternate/back-up attacker to Landorus-EX.
Landorus-EX was Water Weak so even that low
damage “Quaking Punch” just needed Muscle Band to
score 2HKOs. Lucario-EX could pop Seismitoad-EX
in the face, and if it didn’t successfully strip away
that Energy used before the next turn (via the Trainers
it ran), then you might be able to afford “Corkscrew”
Punch to not only hit harder, but get some badly needed
draw power. Hawlucha (XY: Furious Fists
63/111) gave a second, hard-hitting, single Energy
attacker with a Weakness other than Water, and the trio
of fighters did well together along with their bats.
They weren’t the top deck for long, but they were always
something to fear. Things continued to progress,
with Lucario-EX becoming even more important to
the deck as XY: Primal Clash gave Water a leg up
with some important releases, and once the previous
year’s rotation brought us to XY-On, many expected
Lucario-EX to keep the Fighting/Bats archetype alive
and going. So… how did Lucario-EX make the
list?
If what I just said
sounds like a poor performance, please understand that
it wasn’t. It may not have been great, but it was
at least “very good”. In fact it may even have
been at least a little great. It was just up
against some incredible competition including the time
when Lysandre’s Trump Card was legal and the time
after that when Night March was the deck’s natural
enemy, scoring fast OHKOs against the Lucario-EX,
usually have few targets for Hawlucha to pop, and
no more Landorus-EX to try and KO two Night
Marchers at once. The deck had to rely on the
Crobat line and maybe some anti-Night March extras
to win. We got many more attackers that could
trade blows with Lucario-EX and come out ahead;
non-Pokémon-EX attackers that just gave up fewer Prizes
and Pokémon-EX (Basics or Megas) that could score a OHKO
but were difficult to OHKO back. Item lock decks,
Ability lock decks, Energy denial decks, stuff that did
all three at the same time… they didn’t just exist but
we ended last format with multiple examples of
these things, often in the same deck! We did get
some new support for the Fighting Type in XY: Fates
Collide, but Lucario-EX was doing well to be
the alternate attacker in decks built around a different
Fighting Type, like Zygarde-EX. So… why
does it make the list of Top Cards Lost To Rotation?
Though the Fighting
Type lost a lot, but it kept a lot as well.
Perhaps even more important, a lot of what was
frustrating Lucario-EX? It too is gone or
greatly diminished. Dimension Valley so that
Psychic Types can attack for less? Gone. Trevenant
(XY 55/146) is no longer the heart of
Trevenant BREAK decks; while there is Trevenant
(XY: BREAKpoint 65/122) that deck seems to be
done. Seismitoad-EX is done. Night March
is gone. Vespiquen (XY: Ancient Origins
10/98) may be done when Karen becomes tournament
legal this Friday. Carbink (XY: Fates Collide
49/124) plus basic Fighting Energy gives you an
out versus decks trying to discard your Energy, unless
they also shut down your Abilities. Plus like with
everything else, Tools are now much harder to discard,
and while there isn’t anything unique to benefit
Lucario-EX the general options can do wonders.
It isn’t enough to make me go “Oh, Lucario-EX
would be BDIF if it was reprinted!” but I have had some
times when I wished it was still present for its typical
role as my secondary Fighting Type beatstick. Also
to wonder what I could do with it as the focus of a
deck, using Max Elixir to skip “Missile Jab” and
go straight to Corkscrew Punch (fueling your hand).
I don’t think it quite lived up to the hype we gave it
when
we first reviewed
it.
Or when we reviewed it again as our
third place pick
for XY: Furious Fists. It is still a handy
option to have in Expanded, and if you’re somehow using
XY: Furious Fists for Limited events, it’s an
awesome pull (maybe even something to run solo)!
Ratings
Standard:
N/A
Expanded:
3.35/5
Limited:
5/5
Summary:
Lucario-EX still packs a punch, and could fill a
niche in Standard if it was still here. It isn’t,
so enjoy it in Expanded where it is still a good card
due to its HP, assortment of attacks, capacity to tap
Fighting support and abuse Weakness but still deal with
Resistance.
Lucario-EX
earned 15 voting points between our three reviewers.
It tied Manectric-EX and M Manectric-EX
and one other card. I think Manectric-EX
and M Manectric-EX probably ought to have rated
higher than Lucario-EX, but Lucario-EX
showed up on two of three lists. Not that I had
time to apply my usual tie breakers. Lucario-EX
was my 18th place pick, and might have made 17th or 16th
place if I had not suggested we combine all the Fighting
Type support/Basic Fighting Pokémon together. I
abandoned the notion (it would have required about a
five-in-one review) but didn’t communicate it clearly
enough with both other reviewers.
|
