In this article, I cover Lost Box Charizard first and a new build of Mewtwo that fits this format in the latter half of the article. The Charizard section is more focused on list explanation and the Mewtwo section is almost entirely about how to play match ups against opponents with Mewtwo counters (Drapion V, Snorlax LOR, Regice, etc.)

It seems most people have pushed aside the Charizard variant of Lost Box. This is likely because of an assumption that the deck does not beat Lugia. I do not believe that is true. There are some new tricks that Zard needs to beat Lugia, but the options are out there and most people have not considered them. Rayqauza and Kyogre have been less consistent than the Charizard variant in my experience. For about a week I was fairly convinced that the Rayquaza variant was the best pick; after playing it more and more, it became clear that the deck is not as consistent as I would like. This prompted me to swap to Charizard. I took to ladder on PTCGO to try the deck out and won 18 out of 21 games.

The crux of the matter with Charizard is that the Lugia players can play very patiently with Stoutland, waiting several turns to use any Powerful Energy in order to make use of Stoutland V to take their last two prizes at once and win. That strategy is ultimately what lead me away from Charizard in the past. In this article you will see exactly how that strategy can be dealt with.

The best place to start when looking at Charizard in the current meta is Alex Schemanske’s top 16 Toronto list. This is what he played.

Alex Schemanske’s top 16 build

I had not seen this build until after creating my own list and testing the deck, but surprisingly my list ended up looking quite similar. The Temple was not something I had thought of, but it’s actually a fantastic idea. It is how LZB (Lost Zone Box) Zard can deal with the late game Stoutland. This is the final piece in the puzzle, the way this deck earns a genuinely favorable match up to Lugia even if the Lugia player is playing perfectly. It means this deck can deal with Stoutland in one way or another at any point in a game. So, let’s start there.

How to deal with Stoutland V at any point

The first way a Lugia player might use Stoutland is early game. If a Lugia player goes first and sets up normally, they can use Stoutland V on turn two putting them at four prizes left while you still have six. However, the prize difference can work in your favor. Four prizes left for your opponent means Charizard only needs three Energy to attack. This list has two Mirage Gate as well as a Twin. If you can get seven cards in the Lost Zone, a Mirage Gate plus an attachment enables Charizard to knock out Stoutland. If you cannot get seven cards in the Lost Zone, then Raihan can also do the job. If there is a Fire Energy in the discard, simply Raihan that Energy to Charizard and Search out the Twin Energy to get up to that three Energy requirement. Alternatively, you can use Snorlax in this same situation, however it will need Choice Belt as well to get up to 210 damage.

The second way a Lugia player can use Stoutland is when they have four prizes left. The idea with taking this route is to use Stoutland, going down to two prizes, and then as long as Stoutland is not knocked out, it can be used again to take the last two prizes. This is the worst time to use Stoutland because it takes the Lugia player from four prizes to two, which means Charizard only needs one Energy to knock out. Again, you can create the combo with Snorlax instead, but in this situation it is likely far better to just use Charizard because it requires much less to set up.

Finally, there is the route that the best Lugia players tend to take. They wait until they are down to two prizes left and then use Stoutland at the very end to win. Of course, if they do this the game ends, meaning you cannot knock out Stoutland. So instead of knocking out Stoutland, you prevent it from being used. Once they go down to two prizes, you play Roxanne and Sinnoh in the same turn. You will also attack with Charizard on this turn and knock something out. Attacking with Charizard or Snorlax is key because they have more than 120 HP, which means Stoutland cannot use Double Dip Fangs to take two prizes on either one, even with four Powerful Energy attached. In order for the Lugia player to pull off the Stoutland play, they need to find a Stadium bump, an out to Stoutland, and play Boss to bring up a lower HP target. They simply are not going to be able to do that unless they draw extremely well off of Roxanne. The only lists that are going to be capable of pulling this play off will need to be playing Crobat V. Without Crobat, there simply are not enough cards available to the Lugia player at this point to make the play happen, unless they draw exactly Boss, Stoutland V, and Pumpkaboo/Stadium counter.

The Lugia player can bench Stoutland ahead of time, to make it so they need one less card to get their play off. The problem with taking this route, is that LZB Zard lists play Boss; instead of doing the whole Roxanne combo, just Boss the Stoutland and knock it out with Charizard before it attacks.

Given the importance of Sinnoh in the Lugia match up, I have added it to my build. Here is my list for the deck.

After upgrading to Stage 2 you will see an audio file of Andy Hyun reading this article here:

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