Lurantis GX is an amazing card. I just came out of a game where I donked a Shaymin with Manaphy EX + Choice Band + Kukui, so this may not be very coherent, but Lurantis GX is an amazing card.
From the moment I saw it I was excited. It provides great energy acceleration, is not bound by type, and has a solid second attack. The popular mechanic seems to be pairing it with Vileplume and Forest of Giant Plants to lock and control, but this thinking is very conventional and bland. The "best grass type attacker + vileplume" thing is just very... blah.
I have two decks to share that have experienced some success. Have I won anything meaningful with them? Well... not really. I have taken down tier archetypes piloted by competent players in best of 3 series though.
Let's get started.
Deck 1: A Cheery Wave from Stranded Youngsters, or Lurantis / Dragonite
Pokemon:
4 - Fomantis SUM
3 - Lurantis GX SUM
2 - Dratini SUM
2 - Dragonair SUM
2 - Dragonite 52 ROS (the ancient trait one)
2 - Shaymin EX ROS
Trainer:
4 - Professor Sycamore
2 - N
2 - Lysandre
1 - Professor Kukui
1 - Olympia
4 - VS Seeker
4 - Ultra Ball
4 - Trainer's Mail
1 - Professor's Letter
1 - Rescue Stretcher
1 - Max Potion
1 - Super Potion
3 - Choice Band
2 - Float Stone
3 - Forest of Giant Plants
Energy:
9 - Grass
2 - Lightning
The goal of this deck is to power up Dragonite as quickly as possible. Most of the time this is done by trickling one of the Flower Supply attachments to him every turn, paired with manual attachments as available. Occasionally though... you get an opportunity to use Dragonair's attack Dragon's Wish.
You aren't familiar with Dragon's Wish? Why would you be! Dragon's Wish reads:
"During your next turn, you may attach any number of Energy cards from your hand to your Pokemon."This is a ludicrous attack! If I wasn't in the process of preparing for a league cup next weekend, I would consider building a deck solely around this attack, four shaymins, sky field and like... Xerneas Break maybe??? Notice that it isn't limited to basic energy!
Anyway, this deck isn't built to hit Dragon's Wish... Just keep it in mind.
I usually do not put more than two energy on Lurantis in the early game. If an easy 2 prize Solar Blade knockout presents itself I would consider, but having two energy gives me enough to pay to retreat.
This deck went from a cute and silly thing in the PRC-SUM format, to what I consider a legit lower tier offering with the release of Guardians Rising. That is due to choice band bumping Dragonite's Heavy Impact attack up from 150 to 180, enough to take down most basic EX and GX pokemon.
That being said, there is still room for improvement. The deck has occasional mobility issues, and definitely has a "good" and "bad" order it can come out, with few options to really adapt to the new course outside of benching both Shaymin and trying to force the desired sequence. The downside to that is that it usually takes enough time that exposing a second Shaymin costs more than the prize gain provided by Dragonite's ancient trait.
I made this deck expecting very little beyond some laughs at league. In the process of playing it I discovered something I did not expect. LURANTIS GX IS A TAAAAANKKK.
Getting two or three of them up and just cycling them, in an attack/retreat/heal pattern? Even if you are just using Floral Supply every turn, this type of prize denial-ish behavior really jams up some decks. This discovery led me to betray the "power up energy hungry attackers" with Lurantis mind set to explore "just how tanky can we make this dude"
Disclaimer: this deck is still pretty rough. The idea feels good, and the deck runs smooth enough, but I have experienced significant attack math and search utility issues.
Deck 2: Paddle Forever / Lurantis + eeveelutions
Pokemon:
4 - Fomantis SUM
3 - Lurantis GX SUM
2 - Eevee 101 SUM
2 - Vaporeon AOR
1 - Flareon AOR
1 - Manaphy EX
1 - Shaymin EX XY148
1 - Shaymin EX ROS
1 - Tapu Lele GX GRS
Trainers:
4 - Professor Sycamore
3 - N
1 - Lysandre
1 - Brigette
1 - Skyla
1 - Olympia
1 - Professor Kukui
4 - VS Seeker
4 - Ultra Ball
2 - Super Potion
1 - Professor's Letter
1 - Rescue Stretcher
1 - Max Potion
3 - Assault Vest
1 - Choice Band
3 - Rough Seas
Energy
9 - Grass
3 - Water
The core idea here is to abuse water type support, which is unlocked for Lurantis GX via Vaporeon. Rough Seas, free retreat with Manaphy... even Aqua Patch if you feel like it. All of these are yours thanks to our Ancient Origin eeveelutions.
The most optimal + consistently achievable board state I have found is Lurantis+Assault Vest active, Tapu Lele ( turn 1 Lele-> Brigette is sooooo good), promo Shaymin, Vaporeon, and a second Lurantis on the bench, with Rough Seas out. This allows you to heal 80 damage every turn if you attack with Solar Blade, and 50 per turn if you are just chillin on the bench.
I am not sure if Manaphy has a place in this deck. Retreating for free and preserving energy is nice, but at this point in my testing, it has never been critical. Weirdly though, Manaphy+choice band is your best attack option vs volcanion. Even with Vaporeon, it is difficult to power up Lurantis fast enough to keep pace with Volcanion in this build.
The Flareon is there to help against Solgaleo stuff that can 1HKO Lurantis. This is probably the biggest reason against playing this deck. Anything that can 1HKO Lurantis + Assault Vest is just bad news.
I had initially used a heavier max potion count, and zero super potion (because who uses super potion?), but have found that you REALLY need to Solar Blade every turn ASAP for this deck to work well, and the additional energy loss was too difficult to recover from.
This list is still very much in flux. I would like to get comfortable enough with it to run it at the League Cup, but I have a bad feeling there will be a heavy Solgaleo presence. The two big questions I have right now are:
1) does running a single psychic energy to try and get Tapu Cure GX off violate some sort of unspoken rule re: cuteness vs viability?
2) Will Lurantis SM25 make the math better (ie making more effort to hit Solar Blade + Choice Band + promo Lurantis = 170)?
