Luxray GL LV.X with Golem 4 – Testing Results

When Jeremy and I tested the other day, I wanted to try out one of my numerous deck ideas. It is a fairly obvious combination of Pokémon, but I had yet to hear anything about the deck so I thought I would give it a whirl. This is the list I used for 2 out of 3 games:

Pokémon-17
3 Luxray GL RR
1 Luxray GL LV.X RR
2 Golem 4 RR
2 Baltoy GE
2 Claydol GE
1 Uxie LA
1 Azelf LA
1 Bronzong G PT
1 Crobat G PT
2 Unown G GE
1 Honchkrow G PT

Trainers-30
4 Roseanne’s Research
2 Bebe’s Search
1 Luxury Ball
4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy
4 TG’s Invention Energy Gain
4 TG’s Invention Poké Turn
4 TG’s Invention Power Spray
2 TG’s Invention SP Radar
2 TG’s Invention Technical Machine G
1 Aaron’s Collection
2 Warp Point

Energy-13
4 Call
3 SP Energy
3 L
3 F

Golem 4 Rising Rivals RR 23 Pokemon Card
Jeremy used a deck focused on Luxray GL LV.X with some tech basic Pokémon and stadiums. The first game we played I used only a 1/1 line of Claydol, but immediately I realized I would need to play a 2/2 line. There are a few reasons why I chose to beef up the line:

  • After I had burned my 4 Cyrus early into the game, I had no draw power and became reliant on topdecks, so I knew that there was no way I could solely depend on that card to maintain consistency
  • Using a 2/2 line of Pokémon just makes it much easier to get into play (better chance of drawing into it, less likely to be prized)
  • Luxray GL LV.X is a popular Pokémon card and can easily gust out your Baltoy or Claydol into the Active Spot to Knock it Out, so having a 2/2 line gives you a chance to get a 2nd one out

Overall the deck ran fairly smoothly once I put 2/2 Claydol in. I won 1 out of 3 games we played (1 out of 2 when I played 2/2 Claydol). As of now, the main changes I would make to the above list would be to take Honchkrow out for something else, maybe another Pokémon (Crobat G possibly) or another Bebe’s Search. I had zero chance of utilizing it in games we played.

One problem with the strategy I noticed was that I too reliant on Luxray GL LV.X. I needed to have it out doing “Flash Impact” every turn so I could put 30 damage onto Golem 4 to try and make its attacks stronger. Otherwise Golem would be doing almost no damage.

Another problem was that I could really only afford to put 60 damage on Golem. If I put Golem at 90, I risked Jeremy playing a Crobat G and Poké Turn in the same turn to put 2 damage counters on Golem and Knock it Out for an extremely easy prize. I would try to hold Power Spray in my hand to prevent this from happening, but I also wanted to use Power Spray to slow him down early in the game, so I was in a bit of a conundrum. Luxray LV.X could also lure a damaged Golem active with “Bright Look” for a pushover prize.

One other issue was that Golem took too many energies to attack. Three energies was a lot, and it would only be doing 80 damage with “Rage” if I had 60 damage on it. That iss not going to cut it. There are Pokémon out there that can dish out more efficient damage.

Team Galactic's Invention G-107 Technical Machine G Rising Rivals RR 95 Pokemon Card
However, there was one positive with the deck. TG’s Invention Technical Machine G was superb. If I could get 90 damage onto Golem, I could drop TM G onto it and hit any one of Jeremy’s Pokémon in play for 90 damage. It was also really effective because he was using Luxray GL LV.X, which hits one of his benched Pokémon for 30 damage when he uses “Flash Impact”. That meant that even if I just had 60 on Golem, I could most likely Knock Out one of his benched Pokémon that had 30 damage on it. In short, Luxray makes the card stronger. I just think TM G is an awesome card and that every SP deck should run at least 1 as tech.

Of course my Golem would be Knocked Out without delay the following turn, but this still showed me the strength of TG’s Invention Technical Machine G. By the way, that was another problem with the deck. As soon as I used Golem to attack, it was Knocked Out the following turn. That was really bad because it took a lot of resources (3 energy) to attack, and it is not good to have your Pokémon knocked that quickly.

Overall I would say the deck is not great. I may try to see how it does versus some other matchups, but I just think the whole strategy of the deck is flawed. Be sure to see Jeremy’s analysis of the matchup here if you have not already. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please comment and join the discussion!

Reader Interactions

31 replies

  1. Kyle Morris

    If TMG was so good and it basically gives any pokemon golems attack but with the ability to snipe the bench why use Golem?

    • Adam Capriola  → Kyle

      Yo what up Kyle! Thanks for posting man.

      I agree, I had never used TMG before and just thought it would be good to use on Golem cause it had a lot of HP, but really that didn’t help so much for reasons I stated in my post. I agree that Golem is not great, it takes too many energies and gets KO’d as soon as it comes out.

      If you use TMG in any other deck you can just play it whenever you have a heavily damaged Pokemon, which happens naturally anyway. You don’t need to set up damage with Flash Impact.

  2. jermy101

    Good point Xicious. One good thing about using Golem instead of any other SP is if you want to damage the Defending Pokemon, Rage is better than TMG as it does 20 more damage. Also Golem 4 has extremely high HP for a basic.

  3. Brian Jessing

    I would love to see a few upper energy in here, just for that all of a sudden double edge attack. Also drop the hounchkrow for either a crobat or a spiritomb (which helps golem and your side as well). I don’t think you need the powersprays either, as they only clutter in your hand (for easy gengar bait) and just comsume so much deck space. I would say -1 cyrus, -1 houchkrow, -4 powerspray, +1 flint’s (I like one of these in every deck, and golem takes a huge amount of energy to attack), +1 uxie, +1 spiritomb, +3 ssu or draw or NM (or some combo). Also has there been a ruling with damage porter and energy gain, because the way it’s worded, it sounds like energy gain only works only the attack’s printed on the card itself, not attacks that it can use (the TM only allows the pokemon to use the attack instead of it’s own, while energy gain says it reduces the attacks the pokemon’s attacks by one).

  4. jermy101

    Good point Xicious. One good thing about using Golem instead of any other SP is if you want to damage the Defending Pokemon, Rage is better than TMG as it does 20 more damage. Also Golem 4 has extremely high HP for a basic.

  5. Brian Jessing

    I would love to see a few upper energy in here, just for that all of a sudden double edge attack. Also drop the hounchkrow for either a crobat or a spiritomb (which helps golem and your side as well). I don’t think you need the powersprays either, as they only clutter in your hand (for easy gengar bait) and just comsume so much deck space. I would say -1 cyrus, -1 houchkrow, -4 powerspray, +1 flint’s (I like one of these in every deck, and golem takes a huge amount of energy to attack), +1 uxie, +1 spiritomb, +3 ssu or draw or NM (or some combo). Also has there been a ruling with damage porter and energy gain, because the way it’s worded, it sounds like energy gain only works only the attack’s printed on the card itself, not attacks that it can use (the TM only allows the pokemon to use the attack instead of it’s own, while energy gain says it reduces the attacks the pokemon’s attacks by one).

  6. Dave Hueglin

    I agree with taking Honchkrow out of this build. As you have TM 107 you don’t need him for his sniping ability. You have 4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy, so you don’t need him to get Trainers. If you had some Stadiums in the deck, he would could be used to get them out, but you don’t. So Honchkrow is really serving no purpose in this deck. Did you find that 2 Golems was enough, or would a third addition be useful?

  7. Adam Capriola

    Yo Brian, Upper Energy sounds like a decent idea just because Golem takes so many energies to attack. Spiritomb is also another decent idea, but I don’t like that you can’t Poke Turn it, so I would probably stick with Crobats.

    And I had no idea Energy Gain couldn’t be used with Damage Porter, that makes it a lot worse. I somewhat take back what I said about it being an awesome card haha.

    Dave, yeah I just figured Honchkrow might be able to snipe, but it wasn’t necessary. 2 Golem was plenty, no reason for 3.

    • Adam Capriola  → Adam

      Actually this is the current ruling:

      Q. If I have “Team Galactic’s Invention G-107 Technical Machine G” attached to a SP Pokemon and also “Team Galactic’s Invention G-101 Energy Gain”, can I use the attack “Damage Porter” if I just have two energy attached to my SP Pokemon?
      A. Yes, Energy Gain reduces the attack cost of Damage Porter by one colorless energy. (Jun 4, 2009 PUI Rules Team)

      So TMG is still good. :)

  8. Adam Capriola

    Yo what up Kyle! Thanks for posting man.

    I agree, I had never used TMG before and just thought it would be good to use on Golem cause it had a lot of HP, but really that didn’t help so much for reasons I stated in my post. I agree that Golem is not great, it takes too many energies and gets KO’d as soon as it comes out.

    If you use TMG in any other deck you can just play it whenever you have a heavily damaged Pokemon, which happens naturally anyway. You don’t need to set up damage with Flash Impact.

  9. Adam Capriola

    Yo Brian, Upper Energy sounds like a decent idea just because Golem takes so many energies to attack. Spiritomb is also another decent idea, but I don’t like that you can’t Poke Turn it, so I would probably stick with Crobats.

    And I had no idea Energy Gain couldn’t be used with Damage Porter, that makes it a lot worse. I somewhat take back what I said about it being an awesome card haha.

    Dave, yeah I just figured Honchkrow might be able to snipe, but it wasn’t necessary. 2 Golem was plenty, no reason for 3.

    • Adam Capriola  → Adam

      Actually this is the current ruling:

      Q. If I have “Team Galactic’s Invention G-107 Technical Machine G” attached to a SP Pokemon and also “Team Galactic’s Invention G-101 Energy Gain”, can I use the attack “Damage Porter” if I just have two energy attached to my SP Pokemon?
      A. Yes, Energy Gain reduces the attack cost of Damage Porter by one colorless energy. (Jun 4, 2009 PUI Rules Team)

      So TMG is still good. :)

  10. alex d

    Honchkrow being taken out makes some sense… TMG does the same job for not that much damage, and requires its own type of energy.

  11. alex d

    Honchkrow being taken out makes some sense… TMG does the same job for not that much damage, and requires its own type of energy.

  12. alex d

    Honchkrow being taken out makes some sense… TMG does the same job for not that much damage, and requires its own type of energy.

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