Lugia VSTAR (March 2026)

Overview

Current list for Lugia VSTAR in the Expanded Format. To quote Celio's Network from 2023: "I don't really care about my opponent's cards because it looks like they're playing a pretty fair deck and fair decks lose in Expanded", and that basically sums up Lugia VSTAR + Tinachomp. Now admittedly, it hasn't been as dominant in today's meta due to players adapting and more cards to deal with it, but make no mistake, a turn 1 GG End is pretty disgusting. Many variations of Lugia VSTAR exists,

Overview

Current list for Lugia VSTAR in the Expanded Format. To quote Celio's Network from 2023: "I don't really care about my opponent's cards because it looks like they're playing a pretty fair deck and fair decks lose in Expanded", and that basically sums up Lugia VSTAR + Tinachomp. Now admittedly, it hasn't been as dominant in today's meta due to players adapting and more cards to deal with it, but make no mistake, a turn 1 GG End is pretty disgusting. Many variations of Lugia VSTAR exists, but I've liked this one the most so far because it has better attacking consistency. More will be explained below.

How to Play

Important to note, as with all decks in Expanded, don't follow such a linear gameplan. What I mean is that I will explain how to play the deck in general, but it is best to adapt to the game situations as you see fit, rather than following what I say here every time since it will lead to very predictable outcomes for your opponent to exploit.

DO NOT DUMP ALL YOUR MONS AT THE START OF THE GAME: I discussed this in my Regidrago overview, so the same principles apply here. But to sum it up, don't just simply dump your Archeops if you know your opponent will have a Girafarig play next turn. Difficult to predict, but top tier decks like Palkia, some Regidrago, Wobb Stall, and Rider all run it. So again, similar to Regidrago, don't immediately resort to dumping Archeops. It is better to be N'ed/Marnie'd and not have Compressor to dump the Archeops the next turn than dumping them and losing 2 Archeops in the process for the rest of the game.

Lugia VSTAR: The star of this deck. Lugia is great because unlike Regidrago, Lugia is a Colorless Pokémon so it can still attack under Shadow Mist + Temple of Sinnoh lock. Admittedly, this means that you need to double Primal Turbo but the Lugia-Archeops archetype makes it much easier to deal with this combo in Rider. More so, you have constant Stadium removal as well with Tempest Dive. Good HP and a fantastic VSTAR Power, one of the reasons why this deck is doing well. 

Garchomp & Giratina GX: This card has continued to dominate the Expanded format in different ways. Pre-SWSH, it was arguably the BDIF in Expanded until EVS came along with Dragonite V. Despite that, the deck remained top tier and at some points, outperformed Dragonite V. The deck is no longer relevant, but that doesn't mean Tinachomp left the format. It saw play in Dialga VSTAR, which was only good for a few months. Then SIT released and Tinachomp continued to dominate in a different way. In pure Tinachomp, you rarely used GG End. This time, GG End is a devastating attack that can really give the edge to you in your favor. Most decks want to have two attackers at a time, so being able to simply remove them from the game and give yourself a major advantage is huge (many want Tinachomp banned because of that). This impacts slower decks like Regidrago and Shadow Rider heavily, giving Lugia immense favorability against those. GG End is less effective in Basic decks that A) Only require 1 Energy attachment B) Require little setup. Examples include Tsareena V (Koko or Crispin), United Wings, Meloetta (Although removing 2 Genesect could be problematic), Dragonite V, and Miraidon (with Raikou V and/or Tapu Koko GX). Palkia is the only Evolution exception sin******* Portal can net you 3 attackers set up and has consistent, efficient Energy acceleration. Sky Field also allows you to bench a lot of attackers, so GG End isn't as effective here. 

Powerful Energy: Some variations run Powerful Energy while others don't. This deck NEEDS to be able to hit high numbers too beyond just simply using GG End. If your opponent has a way to play around GG End, then you lose because this deck lacks great attacking power and consistency without Powerful Energy. You need more than one threat than simply just GG End, so Powerful Energy makes it so that Lugia can actually be a formidable threat to deal with. 

Other cards: Garchomp V exists for Bench sniping, Naganadel & Guzzlord gives you another good GX option if GG End isn't the right play for the situation (can also grab important Prized cards and carry a game for you if necessary). Kyurem is good for additional bench sniping. Koraidon ex gives you a very solid Basic attacker. Silent Lab to turn off things like Bench Barrier-type abilities or any Abilities in the Active Spot hindering your setup. 

Finishings:

https://play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?game=PTCG&format=expanded