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Sometimes,Pokemon TCGcan be a complicated game. There will be moments when you’ll have to be aware of many things when playing, and that’s why easy-to-use decks are heavily appreciated in the community.
This is the case with Lugia VSTAR, which is simple to use, easy to set up, and has incredible damage output that can deal with most of the most powerful decks of the metagame. This deck is heavily recommended for rookies, as it’ll introduce you to the basics of the TCG. Nonetheless, it has some perks you have to be aware of. Let’s check it out!
Updated July 10, 2025, by Jesús Cruz:Sadly, Lugia VSTAR started falling from its high spot in the meta since the Scarlet & Violet rotation. Losing cards like the Quick Ball seriously hurt it. Nonetheless, and thanks to Paldea Evolved, Lugia VSTAR has found himself with a superb friend, Snorlax. Archeops is still around, of course, but now the deck strays away from the Rapid Strike engine to start using those Colorless Energy Cards that are tearing the meta apart. Cards like Therapeutic Energy, Reversal Energy, and Gift Energy are a big boost for all of those Colorless Energy users, and Lugia VSTAR gives good usage to them.
Changes For Paldea Evolved
Paldea Evolvedseriously helped Lugia VSTARto return to the spot it deserves. This deckgets rid of the Rapid Strike engine and starts using Colorless Energy cardsto exploit Lugia’s damage.
It’s one of those decks that can beready to attack in turn two.Snorlax is also in the deck, and this card,combined with Therapeutic Energy, deals a lot of damage in a matter of seconds.
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Lugia VSTAR Key Cards
Let’s take a deep look at the protagonists of this deck.
Lugia VSTAR
The protagonist of this deck, Lugia VSTAR, isn’t the one in charge of dealing damage. Instead,Lugia and Archeops, which you’ll see later on, are in charge of beingthe engine of the deck.With these two cards, you’ll be more than able to suit all your attacking Pokemon in just a couple of turns.
What is most important about Lugia VSTAR is its ability,Summoning Star, whichlets you draw two Colorless Pokemon that don’t have a Rule Box from the Discard Pile and put them in play.
Aside from Lugia’s ability, it can also attack with his move,Tempest Dive, whichdeals 220 damageandremoves a stadium in play. You willonly use this move in a hurry, as it’s hard to set up because you need four Colorless Energy cards to use it.
Let’s see why Archeops is so important for this deck.
All the Radiant Pokemon, Pokemon V, VSTAR, VMAX, and ex have Rule Boxes, so you’re able to’t draw them from the Discard Pile to your hand.
Archeops
WithoutArcheops, Lugia VSTAR would be very hard to use. This Pokemon has an ability namedPrimal Turbo, whichlets you draw and attach two Special Energy cards from your deck to one of your Pokemon.
That’s all this card will do;it has no other purpose.
Lugia V
To draw Archeops, you first need to send a card to the Discard Pile. There are plenty of ways to do that, but the quickest one is viaLugia V.
Lugia V has a move namedRead the Wind, whichlets you discard a card to draw three from your deck.
Snorlax
Let’s now talk about the attackers of this deck. The main one isSnorlax; this will be the oneyou’ll be using most of the time.
Snorlax has an ability namedUnfazed Fat, whichprevents Snorlax from receiving extra effects from the attacksof your opponent’s Pokemon.
Let’s say your opponent has a move that deals 30 damage and poisons your Pokemon. In this case,Snorlax will only receive 30 damage, but the poison won’t affect it.
On the other side, Snorlax has a move namedThumping Snore, whichdeals 180 damage but will put Snorlax to sleep.
Before your turn starts, you can flip two coins. If one of them is tails, Snorlax won’t wake up.
But don’t worry about this, asSnorlax will never fall asleepthanks to one of the new Energy Cards that you’ll have in this deck, theTherapeutic Energy.
Wyrdeer V
Wyrdeer is in this deck to give the coup de grâce to your opponent. You won’t always use it, butyou must not take it out of your deck, as it’s extremely useful.
Wyrdeer has an ability namedFrontier Road. If you move this card to the Active Spot from the bench,you’re able to move any Energy cards attached to the rest of your active Pokemon to Wyrdeerin any order you want.
It works well for his move,Psyshield Bash, which needs three Colorless Energy cards to work anddeals 40 damage per each Energy card attached to Wyrdeer.
If the match is getting complicated, and your opponent hasn’t defeated your Snorlax cards yet, use this one to deal a lot of damage.
Drapion, Luxray & Radiant Charizard
These three cards work ascoverage for the usual threats you’ll find in the metaof Pokemon TCG.
Drapiondeals with Gardevoir and Mew ex,Luxraydeals with Water-type decks, andCharizarddeals with Grass-type decks.
Charizard and Luxray are simple to build, as you need aLuminous Energyto cover the Fire or Electric Energy Card you need to suit them (respectively), and the rest can be the Jet, Therapeutic, and V Guard Energy cards you have in your deck.
On the other side,Drapionis way easier to set as it only needsColorless Energy cardsto attack.
Lumineon V
Thanks toLumineon V,you’ll get access to Support Cards on every turn. This is because it has an ability namedLuminous Sign, whichlets you draw a Support Card whenever you send Lumineon from your hand to your bench.
Bravery Charm & Therapeutic Energy
These two items will suit Snorlax with all it needs to stomp through any match.
Bravery Charmgives Snorlax anextra 50 HP,while theTherapeutic Energygives Snorlaximmunityto beingasleep, confused, or paralyzed.
Strategy
You might want to be first in the match, as you need to set up the Archeops and the Snorlax cards to attack.
The ideal hand has a Lugia V, a Lugia VSTAR, and a Professor Burnet to send the Archeops that might be in your deck to the Discard Pile. The Ultra Ball can do it as well.
Now that you have Lugia V on your Active Spot and more cards in your hand and on your bench, try toevolve Lugia V into Lugia VSTARand thenactivate its VSTAR Power ability to draw Archeops from the Discard Pileto activate its ability, Primal Turbo.
After that, your next objective is tolook for Snorlax. If you have a Jet Energy, you can send it to the Active Spot; that’s why this deck doesn’t have any object that lets you switch Pokemon.
The last step is tocharge Snorlax via Archeops’s Primal Turbo. You need to suit it with a Therapeutic Energy and Gift Energy in case your hand is short after your turn.
If you want toattack with Drapion, Luxray, or Charizard,you’ll have to use cards likeGreat Ball, Ultra Ball, or Capturing Aromato pull them from the deck.
Then, use Lugia V and Archeopsthe same way you would use them to supply a Lugia VSTAR to attack, but instead of looking for Colorless Energy cards, you should look for theLuminous Energy Card.
Lugia VSTAR Common Threats
This deck can lack consistency,and it can have a bad time trying to ignite an engine to supply yourself with Supporter Cards.
The two Lumineon V cards are in the deck for a reason; they’ll help youget a support cardin case you are stuck.
Thankfully, you won’t need the help of supportersas much as with other decks.It’s not perfect; if you don’t draw the cards you need in the first turn,you’ll suffer a lot, but other than that, the deck iseasy to use, easy to set up, and easy to win with.
