Why are you guys even talking about tiers when none of these decks-- not Kingdra, not AMU, not Luxray-- have EVER seen real tournament action? Solitaire games on Apprentice or Redshark or little casual games against close friends in real life or people over the Internet do not at all count as any sort of evidence for tier categorizing. On top of this, I especially don't see how you can definitively say something like, "Yeah not tier 1" when you're not even discussing an actual deck at all but just some theoretical build that, again, has not even seen any real action yet.
Anyway I think Luxray does have a lot of potential, mainly due to that Sphinx's Charge and its ability to OHKO Empoleon, Kingdra and any of the Pixies even with Snowpoint Temple in play due to that amazing Body, no questions asked. Speaking of that Body, it really is amazing, allowing you to either OHKO or do a solid 90 for 2 to anything as soon as your opponent drops an X, and although the X dropping is of course optional, to a number of decks that run Level Xs, choosing not to drop the X is like choosing not to evolve a basic (anything dependent on Leafeon lv. X in particular comes to mind). Obviously that would be crippling for them.
With Call or any other non-lightning as one of the attached energy plus Energy Pickup plus energy drop for the turn, you can get off a couple of back-to-back Shock Bolts at any point in the game with a little luck. Even without luck, things like Plasma and compatibility with Rotom (MD) as a constant recharger/buffer mean you still have a number of ways to get off multiple Shock Bolts per Luxray over the course of a game. Getting Luxray out turn two is a nice option but of course that won't always happen and if that were the only thing going for it, it wouldn't be much. Fortunately that is not the only thing going for it. Luxio able to do 70 is almost as nice because it is likely going to net you a KO if you're against anything unevolved (which turn 2 you likely will be) and you may even get away without having to discard any energy. If you do get Luxray turn 2, Plasma + Buck's/PlusPower also takes care of a number of things, or even Plasma w/ no extra damage support against something like Piplup (MD) or Horsea, allowing you to conserve your energy for a Shock Bolt next turn, which you pretty much will get in since there will be no Scramble counter-KOs to worry about. With the right build (mainly playing enough energy), it has the same odds as Kingdra of coming out turn 2, because both decks need essentially the same amount of searchable and non-searchable cards in hand by that second turn.
Having the DP Luxray as a tech option to net you easy and/or game-winning prizes on weak basics is also nice, although it would slightly lessen the odds of getting the LA one out turn 2.
Overall I think the entire Luxray line has a lot going for it and should definitely not be dismissed as some lower tier lot.
body: Rivalry: If your opponent has any Pokemon LV. X in play, each of Luxray's attacks do 50 more damage to the Active Pokemon (before applying Weakness and Resistance).
