Lugia Tier 2 VSTAR Toolbox Iconic

Lugia VSTAR has been a part of the Expanded format ever since it was released. The deck uses the same principle as it did in Standard: get two Archeops in play, and use them to power up the best attackers you can find. In Expanded, not only is the attacker pool as wide as the format, but the Energy cards that Archeops can accelerate are also fantastic, as they include Double Dragon Energy, Prism Energy and Powerful Colorless Energy.

With basically unlimited versatility, you might expect Lugia to be the best deck around. However, it suffers from one of the most dreadful afflictions possible in Expanded: a bad Regidrago matchup. The combination of Dialga GX's Timeless GX and Megaton Blower means that Lugia can lose both its Archeops and all its Energy in play at the same time, sealing its fate. There have been attempts to patch this issue, and Lugia has some tricks up its sleeve for this matchup (such as Garchomp & Giratina GX's GG End GX), but it's an uphill battle.

Currently, Lugia's best claim to success is to be the best Silent Lab deck in the format. Silent Lab is almost necessary in the deck to counter popular Pokémon like Wobbuffet and Iron Thorns ex, but it also lets the deck use Kyurem even against Bench Barrier Pokémon, and can slow down some opponents enough to give Lugia a winning lead.