Searching Standard: Lugia ex

Hello and welcome to another episode of Searching Standard, where each and every week I look for new, innovative decks for you to play in Standard. This week, I'm looking at a deck that was recently featured on the YouTube channel of LittleDarkFury. It features Lugia ex PRE 82, a Pokémon that can make it difficult for your opponent to attack. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

Lugia ex Deck
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
  1 Dragapult ex 73
  1 Psyduck 7
  1 Mega Kangaskhan ex 104
  2 Drakloak 129
  2 Dreepy 128
  2 Lugia ex 82
  2 Munkidori 44
  3 Bouffalant 119
Trainers
  2 Crispin 133
  3 Crushing Hammer 168
  1 Precious Trolley 185
  2 Lillie's Determination 119
  1 Air Balloon 79
  2 Nest Ball 181
  3 Pokégear 3.0 84
  3 Jumbo Ice Cream 91
  2 Night Stretcher 61
  2 Bravery Charm 173
  1 Iono 185
  1 Energy Switch 115
  2 Technical Machine: Turbo Energize 179
  1 Penny 183
  4 Arven 166
  1 Team Rocket's Petrel 176
  1 Switch 130
  1 Handheld Fan 150
  3 Boss's Orders 114
Energy
  5 Darkness Energy 7
  1 Fighting Energy 6
  2 Psychic Energy 5
  1 Fire Energy 2
  1 Mist Energy 161

The goal of this deck is to remove enough Energy from your opponent's Pokémon that they are unable to attack you. One of the main ways of doing this is by attacking with Lugia ex PRE 82's Hyper Whirlpool attack. With a bit of luck, you'll be able to discard up to 3 Energy from your opponent's Active Pokémon as well as dealing them 140 damage. Since this relies on coin flips, it's not always consistent, but it can be a lot of fun.

Since this deck doesn't have a lot of drawing power, you can use Drakloak TWM 129's Recon Directive Ability to help get extra cards into your hand. There's also a copy of Dragapult ex PRE 73 in this deck to act as a backup attacker. Its Jet Headbutt does 70 damage for a single Energy, and its Phantom Dive attacks can help you finish off Pokémon with few HP remaining.

If you manage to get a pair of Bouffalant SCR 119 into play, all of your Colorless Pokémon will take 60 less damage from your opponent's attacks. That'll make Lugia ex PRE 82 more difficult to Knock Out, and you'll be able to harass your opponent even longer, depleting them of their precious Energy. Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104 has a ton of HP plus the Run Errand Ability that offers you a little more card draw if Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104 is in your Active Spot.

Munkidori PRE 44 is the premier way to move damage your Pokémon have taken to your opponent's team. With its Adrena-Brain Ability, you can move up to 3 damage counters each turn. Psyduck MEP 7 is included in this deck for its Damp Ability, preventing your opponent from using any Ability that requires that Pokemon to Knock itself Out.

To continue the theme of removing Energy from your opponent's Active Pokémon, this deck runs 3 copies of Crushing Hammer SVI 168 and 1 Handheld Fan TWM 150. Remember, if your opponent's Active Pokémon doesn't have any Energy attached to it, it probably can't attack you.

Both Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176 and Arven SVI 166 allow you to search your deck for specific Trainer cards. Both of these are great ways of finding this deck's ACE SPEC, Precious Trolley SSP 185. Precious Trolley SSP 185 allows you to put any number of Basic Pokémon from your deck onto your Bench, allowing you to find everything you need to turn Lugia ex PRE 82 into the Energy discarding machine it's meant to be.

To keep Lugia ex PRE 82 from getting Knocked Out as easily, you can attach a Bravery Charm PAL 173 to it to raise its HP by +50 HP. When you do take damage, you can heal that by playing Jumbo Ice Cream PFL 91 to heal up to 80 damage, or by playing Penny SVI 183 to return one Basic Pokémon you control plus all attached cards to your hand.

When you play Crispin SCR 133, you'll be able to find and attach up to 2 different types of Basic Energy cards to your Pokémon. This can be a great way to power up Lugia ex PRE 82 right away, or to energize two different Pokémon like Dragapult ex PRE 73 and Munkidori PRE 44. Energy Switch MEG 115 lets you move Basic Energy from one Pokemon to another, giving you lots of flexibility with your attacks. With Pokégear 3.0 BLK 84, you can search for Crispin SCR 133, or any of the other great Supporter cards in this deck, as long as they lie within the top 7 cards of your deck.

Nest Ball SVI 181 is the only Poke Ball in this deck, allowing you to search for any Basic Pokémon to get put onto your Bench. To find any other Pokémon, you'll need to draw it. Luckily there is a little bit of card drawing in this deck, including a pair of Lillie's Determination MEG 119. There's also a copy of Iono PAL 185 that will draw you a new hand of cards, but its primary purpose is to disrupt your opponent's hand and slow down their momentum.

By playing Boss's Orders MEG 114, you can choose one of your opponent's Benched Pokémon to become their Active Pokémon. You can choose a Pokémon that has Energy attached that you can hopefully discard, or a Pokémon without any Energy that currently is unable to attack you. Both the Air Balloon BLK 79 and Switch MEG 130 provide you with a little more mobility, allowing your Pokémon to move to and from the Bench without needing to pay a Retreat Cost.

Night Stretcher SFA 61 offers you a way to potentially be able to play a card that has gone to your discard pile. Getting a second use from a card is never a bad thing, and that's just what this provides. Technical Machine: Turbo Energize PAR 179 offers you an attack that can help power up your Benched Pokémon. Use it to set up things for the future and ensure that your Pokémon are able to attack if they are ever sent to your Active Spot.

Wrapping Up

By denying your opponent Energy, you are able to prevent them from attacking. They'll also be leery of discarding Energy to pay for a Retreat Cost since most decks run just enough Energy to function. If you're not afraid of flipping a coin to determine whether you can discard an Energy from your opponent's Pokémon, you should give this deck a try.

What do you think of this deck? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in the Pokemon TCG. I'll see you then!

- Mike Likes