Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Many of you have probably been asking yourself the question: “what should I play for Pittsburgh?” In this article, I will be telling you why Single Strike Lugia Vstar is a very underrated play and could even be the secret BDIF.

The list I will be focusing on today is listed below:

Pokémon Trading Card Game Live Deck Export Available at Bottom of Article

Pros and Cons

The main pros of this list: There are five Stadium counters, which means that decks that play Path to the Peak would not slow you down at all. There is a Squawkabilly ex in the deck on top of two Lumineon V’s, meaning that there are a ton of consistency cards that are easily accessible by one of the many Pokémon-searching cards in the deck.

The list does have some cons, though. First, there are no Jet Energies, meaning that you have to play more conservatively than you usually would. Another con would be that there is only one copy of Professor Burnet, so if you prize it, it could be very difficult to get two Archeops in the discard pile.

Matchup Spread

Charizard ex

This Lugia list plays a cool tech card for the matchup: Cobalion. Cobalion allows you to do 30 more damage to your opponent’s active Dark type Pokémon. This is very crucial because Single Strike Tyranitar V only needs three Single Strike energies to get a one-hit knockout on your opponent’s active Charizard ex using the “Single Strike Crush” attack. On top of that, we play the Single Strike Stonjourner to deal with the Arceus Vstar, making Lugia have efficient counters to all of their attackers. Charizard ex also does not really have a way to take a quick two-prize knockout unless you open a Lumineon V or a Squawkabilly ex, meaning that you should most likely be ahead in the prize race every game.

Giratina Vstar

The Giratina Vstar matchup is favored for Lugia, since Lugia plays heavy copies of V-Guard and Gift Energies. The V-Guard Energy makes a clean Lugia Vstar impossible to OHKO unless the Giratina Vstar player uses their Star Requiem Vstar attack. The Gift Energies allow the Lugia player to never effectively get disrupted by an opponent’s Iono or Roxanne.

The main way Giratina wins this matchup is by trying to stick a Path to the Peak on Turn 1 and just hope that it slows the Lugia player down too much, to the point where it is near impossible for them to win the game. However, since the Lugia list featured above plays five stadium counters (with one of them being a Pumpkaboo), it makes it pretty unlikely for that to happen.

Miraidon ex

The Miraidon ex matchup is close, but the matchup is usually decided by the first turn. If the Lugia player can survive the early Judge/Path, then they usually win, since Single Strike Stonjourner can OHKO any of their attackers, and it throws off the prize trade. However, if the Judge/Path does stick for a turn, they most likely win the game, or if the Miraidon player is able to knockout a lone Lugia on their first turn, they usually also win that game.

Mew Vmax

The Mew Vmax matchup is also favored for Lugia, since there are many Dark attackers in the deck, including Single Strike Yveltal, which is a single-prize Pokémon that can take a OHKO on an opposing Mew Vmax. Mew loses the prize trade almost every game, so their main win condition is to stick a Judge/Path, or get a Turn 1 knockout with Meloetta on a lone Lugia.

Rapid Strike Box

This is probably Lugia Vstar’s best matchup since Lugia Vstar has resistance against Fighting types, and there are heavy counts of V-Guard Energies to lower their damage output even more. Lugia also does not play any low-HP Pokémon, making it near impossible for a Yoga Loop play to happen. The Lugia list above plays two Collapsed Stadiums, so if one of your Pokemon is in range to be knocked out, you can just play Collapsed Stadium down, discard your Pokémon, and erase all of your opponent’s hard work.

Chien-Pao

The Chien Pao matchup is pretty 50/50, with the main deciding factor being who goes first, since going first usually leads to a Turn-2 knockout on a two-prize Pokémon. Whoever takes the first two-prize knockout usually wins the game, since it is very unlikely for someone to whiff a knockout for one turn, so they are never losing the prize race.

Gardevoir ex

The Gardevoir ex matchup is pretty rough, but Single Strike Yveltal is very good in the matchup since a Boss knockout on Gardevoir ex with an Yveltal that has a Gift energy on it is very strong, and usually ends up being the deciding factor to most games. However, if you’re not able to do that, you are most likely losing the game since you will probably be losing the prize race.

Arceus Giratina Vstar

This matchup is very simple: if you can survive a Judge/Path, you win. Stonjourner is very strong into the matchup since it is a one-prize Pokémon that can one shot Arceus Vstar. On top of that, it is almost impossible for the Arceus Giratina player to one-hit a return knockout on a Single Strike Tyranitar V with a Gift Energy attached that just knocked out a Giratina Vstar. However, if the Judge/Path can stall for long enough, you just lose.

Conclusion

Lugia Vstar has a very solid matchup spread all around, and it has favored matchups into all of the top decks with only bad matchups into the less popular decks. I think that Single Strike Lugia Vstar is a very underrated play for Pittsburgh and has a very strong chance of being the secret BDIF.

Thanks for reading!

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PTCGL Friendly Export

Pokémon: 10
2 Tyranitar V BST 97
4 Archeops SIT 147
1 Cobalion SIT 126
1 Stonjourner BST 84
2 Lumineon V BRS 40
4 Lugia V SIT 138
1 Yveltal FST 175
3 Lugia VSTAR SIT 139
1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169
1 Pumpkaboo EVS 76

Trainer: 10
1 Professor Burnet PR-SW 167
2 Mesagoza SVI 178 PH
2 Nest Ball SVI 181
3 Professor’s Research SVI 189
4 Capturing Aroma SIT 153
3 Urn of Vitality BST 139
3 Boss’s Orders PAL 172
3 Iono PAL 185
2 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196

Energy: 4
3 Gift Energy LOR 171
3 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
4 Single Strike Energy BST 141
3 V Guard Energy SIT 169

Total Cards: 60