pokebeach.comLuxBox was once a heavily played deck and it performed very well at Worlds 2009. With the release of Garchomp C and Blaziken FB, SP variants were not only focused on Luxray GL, but also on the combination of Blaziken FB/Luxray GL/Garchomp C (BLG). Once HeartGold SoulSilver was released, Double Colorless Energy was introduced and Blaziken FB started to find its way out of SP variants.
With the impact of Double Colorless Energy it became much easier to abuse Garchomp C LV.X’s “Dragon Rush”. This enabled LuxChomp to quickly become the most dominant deck in the format. With the release of Vileplume, SP variants now must include a way around the trainer lock, and so Dialga G LV.X has become a staple in almost every SP deck.
Dialga G LV.X may seem like a quick fix to LuxChomp’s problem with Vileplume. As a tech in an SP builds, Dialga G LV.X takes at minimum 2 spots, Dialga G + Dialga G LV.X. However, it is recommended that you run Warp Energy if you run Dialga, so now Dialga G LV.X takes up to 4-6 spots. Some lists have even began to run Energy Exchanger to not only search out Double Colorless Energy, but to search out Warp Energy. Now Dialga G LV.X is taking up anywhere from 4-10 slots.
However, it will usually only take 4-6 slots because Energy Exchanger through testing has been found to be unnecessary and 4 Energy Exchangers is just too much. With all this being said, Dialga G LV.X takes up room that could be used for other consistency cards in LuxChomp. LuxBox simply has much more room than LuxChomp does because LuxChomp must include a 2-2 Garchomp C LV.X line as well as 4 Double Colorless Energy. With these 8 slots you have available in LuxBox you can include many cards that boost consistency, such as Cynthia’s Feelings, Professor Oak’s New Theory, Judge, and VS Seeker.
Decklist:
|
Pokémon:
3 Luxray GL |
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:
4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy |
Energy: |
Key Cards:
3-1 Luxray GL LV.X instead of 2-2:
I find that in LuxBox being able to roll 3 Luxray GL’s onto the field instead of just 2 is great against many of the popular SP variants. If they snipe your second Luxray GL (your only main attacker) then you will have nothing to return a Knock Out with, thus putting you behind on the Prize trade off and losing you the game.
This being said, the fact that you only have 1 Luxray GL LV.X you must be able to recover it if your Luxray GL LV.X gets sent to the discard. Playing 2 Aaron’s Collection, 2 Premier Ball, and 2 VS Seeker are great ways to make sure you can recover your Luxray GL LV.X.
Dialga G LV.X:
Dialga G LV.X shuts off Vileplume’s ability to block off trainers. Without this the Vileplume matchup would almost be an auto-loss.
pokebeach.comRoserade GL:
With the dramatic increase in decks running Sableye and Spiritomb, I am surprised this card doesn’t see more play than it does. It can net you a free prize if the player does not run Warp Energy or Warp Point (If your Poison Binding a Sableye).
Professor Oak’s New Theory:
A great card for boosting consistency. It has seen dramatically more play since Yuta Komatsuda won the World Championship in the Masters Division with this card in his LuxChomp. Being able to refresh your hand with 6 new cards is great in any SP deck and can get you out of a “Sableye Lock” or a dead hand.
Cynthia’s Feelings:
Personally this is my favorite draw card of all time. Once your main attacker dies, getting 8 new cards can be great to get you back in the game.
Judge:
When denying peoples ability to set up with Luxray GL disruption and Power Sprays. A Judge can be detrimental and can net you the game. Also it helps against other SP variants that run much less consistency cards and have a much smaller chance drawing into what they need. This can also net you the game.
Well, not running garchomp C here is a HUGE bet, im not sure i like that risk, since not only cant you snipe, but cant heal luxray either.
Also, 4 collector seems like too much, you already have 2 vs seeker,which by the way is also too much, just 3 collector and 1 seeker should be enough.
I like the chatot tough, its an awesome card, and very versatile, dunno why people dont play it more.
The roserade is an itneresting play, i wanted to to try it out, but never have enough space in the list.
Finally, in dont think you need 2 honchkrow, and you do need a promocroak, which means you also need psy energy, and i would also add at least 1 metal energy, just to be safe in case of a dialga start.
There is one advantage of not using Garchomp, though. Most decks are running Ambipom/Dragonite to counter Garchomp, they won’t be very useful for the opponent. I’d lower the collector to 2, get in promocroak and a psychic. Not quite sure how I feel about the Chatot, but with so much trainer lock, leave that guy in there. You can playtest to see if you think it’s needed or not.
I think that you should also run 1-2 basic metals so you can use Dialga as a second attacker in the deck.
Roserade seems to be a good fit in the deck, so I’d keep it in there unless if in play testing it sucks.
One thing that Luxray does have over Garchomp, though, is in trainer lock. It doesn’t just snipe Vileplume for 80, it hits it for 60 and drags it to the active, meaning if they don’t have Warp Energy, they’re in trouble.
Also, Luxray can use it’s attack every turn where Garchomp cannot. Lastly, this deck will do better against Scizor because it doesn’t need DCE.
In 2009, there were a lot of cards designed to weaken Luxray, now there are a lot of cards designed to beat Garchomp and the Luxray counters aren’t played much apart from promocroak.
Overall, I think this deck could make a comeback, but it is a deck that, in order to do well, would have to be a PERFECT list with the PERFECT techs and the user would have to know how to use it PERFECTLY(meaning lots of testplaying.)
I disagree about dragonite being useless, he can one hit all your sp pokemons except Luxray Lv X and dialga lv x (With normal dialga they can easily crobat g + poke turn).
Dragonite´s worth strongly depends on the metagame you excepect to play, tough.
If the amount of SP decks is low (1 or maybe 2) dragonite will probably be useless, because you may not play those decks at all, and even if you do, dragonite doesnt guarantee you a victory.
I like a 3rd warp energy and/or Bronzong G. Makes it much easier to move Dialga around.
Garchomp C LvX’s sniping is more than worth making an ambipom useless(It’s a tech anyways) Not to mention you can do some tricks with Warp or Poketurn for 2 snipes in a row. However, since it is a toolbox deck then of course the secondary attackers should be up to the player to decide.
I agree with the others, it’s good to have the one metal in there.
Sorry, man, but this list doesn’t look so hot. LuxChompBox is going to outperform you every time. Also, you need Quagsire GL or Donphan is going to display a really wide smile as soon as you flip over your active. Plus, I see a lot of dead draws occurring here and an overall lackluster performance since Luxray is far from a sturdy attacker, especially when you’re not running DCE or Chomp C, thereby taking a bunch of 30’s from Flash Impact. Realistically thinking, what good match ups do you actually have?
Roserade Gl and Honchkrow G are enough to make any Viletomb player cry. Good place to put them.
But any deck now needs Garchomp C X. You dont get the full benefit of Honchkrow without Garchomp.
Also at least 2 dialga G’s would be helpful.
Yeah, I’d rather take out some of the Trainers that are going to fill your hand incredibly fast for cards like Bronzong G, Metal Energy, and Toxicroak G. I also think a 2-2 Luxray line would work better for this deck, since it’s main functioning is through Luxray.
Nice list.
I like how you run Roserade GL in here, not many people do.
Personally, I’d run a 1-1 Garchomp C X line in here. His healing and sniping is so valuable.