LuxChomp (TCG)

LuxChomp was a Pokémon Trading Card Game regarded by many as the best deck in the format for most of the 2009-2010 season, and remained an immensely hyped and heavily played contender in the 2010-2011 season. The deck's strategy revolved around its ability to knock out the opponent's support Pokémon to disrupt their strategy while taking cheap prizes quickly. It won more major sanctioned tournaments in 2009 and 2010 than any other archetype, encouraging more people to play it and causing 's price to skyrocket on the secondary market. LuxChomp players took 1st place honors in two out of the three age divisions, those being Seniors and Masters, at the 2010 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships. Masters champion Yuta Komatsuda's version was printed as a promotional World Championships deck, .
==Strategy==
LuxChomp differed from archetypes such as Kingdra and in that it did not focus on knocking out the opponent's main attacker through consistent, high damage. Rather, the deck focused on taking six prizes in six turns, or as quickly as possible, by knocking out the opponent's low-HP support Pokémon and . It did this through Luxray GL LV.X's Bright Look and Flash Impact attack, alongside Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush attack. In the 2009-10 season, LuxChomp gained notoriety for its ability to easily knock out the opponent's benched , a popular Pokémon used for draw support.
As with any deck, to begin attacking and taking quick prizes, LuxChomp had to set up. It did this through a number of cards, but was accepted as the most critical part of LuxChomp's early game strategy. Cyrus's Conspiracy allowed the player to search for an additional , such as ; a Basic ; and a with Team Galactic's Invention in its name, such as . This ensured that the LuxChomp player usually had an Energy in hand so as not to miss an attachment. All the Team Galactic's Invention Trainer cards in the deck were situational in that they are used for either searching, disruption, or general support, and Cyrus's Conspiracy's major strength lay in its ability to search out whatever Team Galactic's Invention Trainer was most suitable for the situation at hand.
In addition to Cyrus's Conspiracy, there were several other cards that were major component's of LuxChomp's set up. allowed for easy draw, and was obtainable through , which was the deck's main source of Pokémon search. Using Cyrus's Conspiracy, Uxie, Pokémon Collector, and several other cards, LuxChomp generally had no trouble setting up. A good set up was considered achieved when the LuxChomp player had at least one Garchomp C LV.X on the field with an and attached, or some other way to use Dragon Rush. Additionally, a player would have a on the bench ready to level up into Luxray GL LV.X. An ideal set up would also include resources in hand to a damaged or incapacitated attacker, resources to return knocked out Pokémon to the hand or deck, and resources to quickly charge up another attacker.
==Key cards==
* - Luxray GL LV.X's Bright Look Poké-Power brought up one of the opponent's benched Pokémon and switched it with the active, similar to the effect of or . This was commonly used to bring up either an opponent's weak support Pokémon or an unevolved Basic for an easy prize. Luxray GL LV.X could also use its Flash Impact attack, which dealt 60 damage for only .
* - The deck's other main attacker, Garchomp C LV.X's purpose was to snipe the opponent's bench with Dragon Rush. It served essentially the same function as Luxray GL LV.X in some respects: knock out the opponent's support and take fast prizes, one way or another.
* - Uxie was the deck's main drawing support. It was searchable by , , , and , making it easy to get in hand. Uxie's Set Up Poké-Power allowed the player to draw until they had seven cards in hand, which was exceptionally useful in a deck such as LuxChomp that often found itself expending many resources early in the game, which resulted in a near-empty hand.
* - Lucario GL's Poké-Body changed all weaknesses to ×2. It was used to further improve matchups that LuxChomp had a type advantage against. A Lucario GL in play allowed Garchomp C LV.X to do 160 damage to with Dragon Rush and Luxray GL to do 140 damage to and with Trash Bolt; three popular archetypes during LuxChomp's era.
* - As described above, Cyrus's Conspiracy was the deck's most important searching .
* - Since Luxray GL LV.X's Bright Look, Garchomp C LV.X's Healing Breath and 's Flash Bite could only be used when the card enters play from the owner's hand, and Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush could only be used every other turn if Garchomp C LV.X remained active, Poké Turn was critical to the deck's ability to consistently take prizes.
* - Power Spray was used to slow down the opponent's set up by denying them potentially important Poké-Powers such as, coincidentally, Uxie's Set Up, which was heavily used. Power Spray could also be used to stop your opponent from using Claydol GE's "Cosmic Power" Poké-Power at critical moments. 
* - Being , both Luxray GL LV.X and Garchomp C LV.X could benefit from the effects of Energy Gain. Luxray GL LV.X's Flash Impact cost became only with an Energy Gain attached, while Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush cost just , which was payable through one .
* - Double Colorless Energy was crucial to the deck because, in combination with Energy Gain, it allowed one to charge up Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush attack in just one turn. Additionally, if the LuxChomp player was forced to attack with , Double Colorless Energy allowed for the immediate powering of Zen Blade.
==Typical decklist==
==Possible tech cards==
The following cards are often used in LuxChomp in place of certain cards included in the above list.
* - Entei & Raikou LEGEND was often used as a win condition against other Poké-Power heavy decks, which were common in the format. Its potential ability to take several prizes in one turn for only was seen by some as too good to pass up, even at the cost of knocking out several of his or her own Pokémon.
* - Dragonite FB was primarily a tech to combat other SP decks. Dragonite FB's Mach Blow did 80 damage to a Defending Pokémon SP. This was enough to knock out the majority of Pokémon SP, specifically Luxray GL, Garchomp C, Garchomp C LV.X, Crobat G, and Ambipom G. 
* - Ambipom G was commonly used in the deck as another way to donk the opponent, either through the attachment of one , or through one regular energy and . Another use for Ambipom G was its first attack, Tail Code, which was useful for stalling your opponent by moving their energy to potentially unusable Pokémon.
* - Chatot was used for hand refreshment, as well as its ability to "Chatter Lock". Chatter Locking prevented an opponent's starting Pokémon, such as or from retreating until it was either knocked out or, in some cases, the opponent decked themselves.
* - Aaron's Collection could be used in place, or occasionally in combination with, to recycle knocked out Pokémon. Aaron's had an advantage in that it brought the Pokémon directly back to the owner's hand instead of shuffling them into the deck, but Palmer's recovered more Pokémon.
* - Call Energy was used in many builds to increase the deck's consistency by giving it access to a powerful searching effect in the early game. Considering how many the deck ran, Call Energy gave the player many options.
Category:Deck archetypes