Searching Standard: Lugia VSTAR Post Rotation

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. Since Standard rotation is happening soon, I'm taking a look at decks that you can play post rotation. This week, I'm looking at a deck that was recently featured on the YouTube channel of ZapdosTCG. It features Lugia VSTAR SIT 139 pairing up with Archeops SIT 147 to power up the deck's Single Strike attackers. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

While Lugia VSTAR SIT 139 isn't the main attacker in this deck necessarily, it still serves a very important function. By activating its Summoning Star Ability VSTAR Power, you'll be able to put up to two Colorless Type Pokemon that don't have a Rule Box from your discard pile onto your Bench. We'll talk about the Pokemon to return next, but don't forget that even though Lugia VSTAR SIT 139 is mainly used for its Ability, it still has a great attack. Tempest Dive will deal 220 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon, plus you can discard a Stadium in play each time you use this attack. That's not too shabby for not being the main attacker.

Of course, Archeops SIT 147 is the Pokemon you'll want to put onto your Bench when you use Lugia VSTAR SIT 139's Summoning Star Ability VSTAR Power. There are no Archen in this deck, so you won't be able to play Archeops SIT 147 any other way. Archeops SIT 147 is also primarily used for its Ability. Primal Turbo allows you to search your deck for up to two Special Energy cards to attach to one of your Pokemon each turn. You can fully power up Lugia VSTAR SIT 139's Tempest Dive attack in a single turn by searching for a pair of Double Turbo Energy BRS 151. Each Special Energy you can find will benefit your team in unique ways, so be sure to take note of the effects each provides. In particular, you'll want to make sure you attach the Single Strike Energy BST 141 to one of our next Pokemon.

Both Stonjourner BST 84 and Tyranitar V BST 97 can benefit the most from having Single Strike Energy BST 141 attached to it. This is the only way you'll be able to attack with either of these Pokemon, due to their need for Fighting and Darkness Energy respectively. Both of these Pokemon will typically be the main attackers in this deck. Drapion V LOR 118 acts as a great backup attacker, and can be especially effective in mirror matches. That's due to its Wild Style Ability, which reduces the amount of Energy needed to use its Dynamic Tail attack.

The final batch of Pokemon in this deck are all included for their Abilities. When Radiant Jirachi SIT 120 is Knocked Out while in your Active Spot, you'll be able to search your deck for up to three cards to put into your hand thanks to its Entrusted Wishes Ability. Pumpkaboo EVS 76's Pumpkin Pit Ability lets you discard a Stadium from play when you play Pumpkaboo EVS 76 from your hand onto your Bench. Finally, with Lumineon V BRS 40's Luminous Sign Ability, you can search your deck for a Supporter card to put into your hand when you play Lumineon V BRS 40 onto your Bench.

In order to get copies of Archeops SIT 147 into your discard pile, you can play Professor Burnet PR-SW SWSH167. She'll let you search your deck for up to two cards to put into your discard pile. You can also get Archeops SIT 147 into your discard pile by playing Professor's Research BRS 147. This will allow you to discard your current hand to draw a new hand of seven cards.

To find the Pokemon you need at any given time, you can use this pair of Item cards. Great Ball CRZ 132 can find any Pokemon from within the top seven cards of your deck to go to your hand. Ultra Ball CRZ 146 forces you to discard a pair of cards in order to search your deck for any Pokemon you need.

Both Mesagoza SV1 178 and Capturing Aroma SIT 153 also help find the Pokemon you need and both are dependent on a coin flip. Mesagoza SV1 178 allows each player to search their deck for any Pokemon to put into their hand, provided that they flip heads. Capturing Aroma SIT 153 is guaranteed to put a Pokemon from your deck into your hand, but whether you get a Basic Pokemon or an Evolution Pokemon depends on whether you flip heads or tails.

Disrupting your opponent's hand can give you the advantage you need to turn things around during a game. With Roxanne ASR 150, your opponent must have three or fewer Prize cards remaining in order to play her. Both you and your opponent will then shuffle your hands back into your decks and draw new hands, you drawing six cards and your opponent drawing only two. Judge FST 235 is similar, but it can be played no matter what the Prize count is, and each player will draw a new hand of four cards. Both of these can help slow down your opponent's momentum, especially if they searched their deck for specific cards that they haven't played yet.

Serena SIT 164 serves the dual purpose of acting as an additional way to discard cards and draw new ones, and as a way to switch your opponent's Active Pokemon with one of their Benched Pokemon V of your choice. Similar to Serena SIT 164's second mode, Boss's Orders BRS 132 also allows you to switch your opponent's Active Pokemon with one from their Bench, but it has no restriction on the Pokemon you choose.

Tower of Darkness BST 137 allows you to discard a Single Strike card from your hand in order to draw two cards. You'll often want to discard an extra copy of Single Strike Energy BST 141, since you can shuffle it back into your deck when you play Urn of Vitality BST 139. Your opponent will also gain this benefit, so be wary of playing this Stadium if your opponent is playing a Single Strike deck. Finally, Collapsed Stadium BRS 137 is included in this deck as a way to reduce the size of your opponent's Bench (as well as your own). This can be very detrimental to some decks, but against others, it will have little effect.

Wrapping Up

The combination of Lugia VSTAR SIT 139 and Archeops SIT 147 is very strong. By utilizing Single Strike Pokemon, such as Stonjourner BST 84 and Tyranitar V BST 97, as the main attackers for this deck, you have a pair of powerful attackers that only give up one Prize card when Knocked Out. With strategic attacks against Pokemon that give up multiple Prize cards, you can outrace most opponents to the finish line.

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