![Luxray [GL] Lv. X](https://www.pojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Luxray-GL-Lv-X.jpg)
Luxray [GL] Lv. X – Rising Rivals
Date Reviewed: September 23, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: N/A
Expanded: N/A
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
This week’s Throwback is Volkner’s Luxray LV.X GL from Platinum Rising Rivals! Unless I’m missing something, this card has been reviewed twice over a decade ago!
-as a regular review (https://www.pojo.com/COTD/2009/May/8.shtml)
-the best card of 2009 (https://www.pojo.com/COTD/2010/Jan/15.shtml)
Luxray LV.X was one of the best cards at the time because it has the Bright Look Poké-Power, which is similar to abilities, but a distinct one. This Poké-Power states that if you were to put Luxray LV.X from your hand to your Active Luxray GL, you may switch your opponent’s Active Pokemon with 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. This effect has been proven extremely powerful regardless of which format. Sure, it only works when it’s on the Active Spot due to the nature of how the Level X mechanic works (you can’t level up any Pokémon on the Bench), but Luxray Lv.X has free retreat to make up for that. Flash Impact is also easily affordable to meet and use: with Team Galatic’s Invention Energy again Pokemon Tool card and your manual attachment of a single Lightning Energy, Flash Impact does 60 damage, which is huge at the time. While there are other Weakness variables such as +10, +20, and +30, there are many others that were tacked with X2 Weaknesses (such as all Pokemon SP, final stages from DPPT cards, and all HGSS cards), so Flash Impact will put a heavy dent against those that are weak against Lightning. And although there are Lightning resistance, players can just bring out a different attacker.
Luxray may have some shortcomings such as Machamp’s Take Out Insta-OHKOing Basic Pokemon (even the ones that level up from a Basic Pokemon), and Team Galactic’s Invention Power Spray negating Bright Look, but it was the catalyst of appearing in several decks, more than what Poké Blower+ ever achieved. Luxray Lv.X has appeared in three of the world championship decks: Crowned Tiger (2009), LuxDrill (2009), and LuxChomp of the Spirit.
If it were to be in Standard or Expanded, due to the restriction of having to Level up your Active Pokemon and not on your Bench, it is slightly inferior to modern day cards like Lycanroc-GX GRI or Umbreon VMAX due to being able to evolve anywhere and not just the Active Spot. Though with alternative cards serving the same purpose such as Boss’s Orders and Guzma, there would be less need to devote space to Luxray nowadays.
Otaku
Oh, boy. I may have goofed selecting this card. Luxray [GL] Lv. X (PL – Rising Rivals 109/111) is a pretty famous card if you’re even remotely familiar with its tenure in Standard. Unfortunately, that is my exact position; this card was big during one of my hiatuses from the TCG, so I recognize its name and the main reason it was good, but that’s about it. I also left myself something of a time crunch for reviewing this card, so I’m going to try to cover its bits and pieces more or less in terms of relevancy… which includes a lot of old game mechanics no longer in use, though often with modern counterparts.
Luxray [GL]Lv.X has the Poké-Power “Bright Look”. Poké-Powers are a non-attack effect. Basically, the TCG began with Pokémon Powers, then eventually split those into two subcategories: Poké-Bodies and Poké-Powers. Then, once the Black & White series began, all of that was replaced by Abilities. Bright Look could only be used when you played Luxray [GL] Lv.X from your hand, onto onto your Luxray [GL] while it was Active. When you did this, you could select an opposing Benched Pokémon and force it into your opponent’s Active spot (forcing their previous Active to your Bench). In other words, a “gusting” effect. As long as such effects aren’t too hard to access, they tend to be quite valuable, potentially controlling what your opponent has in play by letting you pick what it is you’re attacking.
Bright Look only working when you play Luxray [GL] Lv.X onto your Active Luxray [GL] isn’t much of a restriction, because that is how “Level-Up” cards work. What is a Level-Up card? A card you could put on top of your Pokémon to make it stronger. Level-Up cards do not have a Stage of their own, but otherwise are a bit like BREAK Evolutions. The Level Up cards use all the information printed on them, but still have access to attacks, Poké-Bodies, and Poké-Powers printed on whatever is immediately under them. Level-Up cards may only be played on your Active Pokémon, and you cannot have a Level-Up card on another Level-Up card. You also cannot Level-Up something the first turn it is in play, or during a player’s first turn. Leveling up also removes Special Conditions… yeah, it really sounds like a Stage of Evolution, but I swear it isn’t.
I believe all Level-Up cards are “Lv.X”. While we identify cards like today’s Luxray [GL] Lv.X as just that, in reality, the “Lv.X” is not part of the card’s name. However, there is already a card named Luxray [GL]. Specifically, Luxray [GL] (PL – Rising Rivals 9/111); writing today’s card with the Lv.X immediately after the actual name helps to distinguish the two. When it comes to the 4 Copy Rule, though these two cards count against each other. Meaning the total of both cards in your deck cannot exceed four. Luxray [GL] Lv.X has to be played on top of Luxray [GL], once again aping the relationship of Evolution lines. Both support and counters exist to Level-Up cards. Neither card counts against regular “Luxray” cards.
The Platinum series of sets introduced Pokémon SP, and both Luxray [GL] and Luxray [GL] Lv.X are such cards. The “SP” stands for “Special Pokémon”, even though that’s like referring to an automated teller machine as an ATM machine, even though the “M” stands for “machine”. Pokémon SP are the this generation’s version of Pokémon with owners. A symbol would be added to the card’s name: a stylized {G} for Team Galactic, a stylized {GL} for Gym Leaders, a stylized version of the Japanese kanji for “4” for the Elite 4, a stylized {FB} for Frontier Brains, a stylized {C} for “Champion’s Pokémon”, and a stylized “M” for promos for the Arceus: To A Conquering Spacetime film. Luxray {GL} has a headshot of Volkner in in the bottom right corner of its card art.
So… running a 2-2 line of Luxray [GL] with Luxray [GL] Lv.X wouldn’t have been too demanding. Harder than a regular 2-2 line for a Stage 1, but not bad. I cannot tell you how Luxray’s [L] typing, 110 HP, x2 [F] Weakness, or -20 [M] Resistance served it… but given you had to have Luxray [GL] Active to play the Level Up card onto it, Luxray [GL] Lv.X’s free retreat was almost certainly a blessing. I believe 60 for [LC] was decent at this time, but I think it is time to consult past reviews, of which there are two:
We didn’t do Top Pick lists for individual sets back then, but that second review is the number one pick for 2009. We can also consult the World Championship commemorative Theme Decks released for 2009 and 2010 World Championships, as Luxray [GL] Lv.X was legal for all three of them. In 2009, the “Crowned Tiger” deck ran a 2-2 line, while Luxdrill only ran a 1-1, even though the deck is partially named after Luxray [GL] Lv.X! Luxdrill was the deck used by that year’s Master Division Champion, Stephen Silvestro and… oh, it ran four copies of Team Galactic’s Invention G-105 Poké Turn, which lets you bounce a Pokémon SP – like Luxray [GL] Lv.X – and all cards attached to it back into your hand. For 2010, the decks “LuxChomp of the Spirit” ran a 2-2 line, while “Happy Luck” ran a 1-1. Yuta Komatsuda piloted LuxChomp of the Spirit into 1st-Place of the Masters Division, so again the tournament was won by a deck partially named after Luxray [GL] Lv.X!
I don’t know how well Luxray [GL] Lv.X would perform today. Let’s say it gets an astonishing retro-reprint that keeps the obsolete game mechanics intact, preserving everything just as it is. We have enough switching effects that the hard part might be getting Luxray [GL] Lv.X into your hand: remember, it isn’t an Evolution card nor a Basic, so only general Pokémon search like Great Ball can snag it. In Expanded, since we still have Ultra Ball and Pokémon Communication, it might be a good play there. Now, something similar to Luxray [GL] Lv.X has been around for a while. No, not Umbreon VMAX; while its Ability is similar to this card’s Poké-Power, you’re talking about a three Prize Pokémon that evolves from a two Prize Pokémon. I was thinking of Ninetales (BW – Dragons Exalted 19/124; BW – Black Star Promos BW66), which has Bright Look, but as an Ability…
…it didn’t actually do that well, because Pokémon Catcher didn’t require a coin-flip for about half the time it was Standard-legal. For most of the other half, after Pokémon Catcher had been nerfed received an erratum, Lysandre would have been legal. Still, when Luxray [GL] Lv.X was a new card, these weren’t concerns, so it was brilliant.
Ratings
- Standard: N/A
- Expanded: N/A
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