Hi everyone! My name is Nicholas Moffitt, and I am excited to bring you my first ever article for Cut or Tap. Today I am going to be talking all about Lost Zone Box decks. I will start with a brief recap of my last tournament in San Diego, where I finished 10th place with a unique take on Amazing Rare Rayquaza. I will also go in depth on two new cards from Crown Zenith, which I believe could be major assets to Lost Zone decks, and share some lists I am working on which utilize them.

With that said, let’s jump right into my recap of San Diego Regionals.

Lost Zone Box – 10th Place in Masters at San Diego Regionals

Some Card Explanations 

Zapdos V + Raikou V + Lumineon V + Forest Seal Stone

For whatever reason, I was very insistent on playing Forest Seal Stone in my deck for this event. I found the added consistency of Lumineon to be very useful, and I wanted to try Forest Seal Stone to add even more consistency. Being able to search out the specific card you need is a very powerful effect, and won me many games in San Diego.

Raikou V is an obvious inclusion as a Forest Seal Stone user, as it allows you to take a OHKO on a Lugia VSTAR when your opponent does not have Dunsparce in play. This is not the best trade in the world, however, as they can easily return-KO your Raikou to take two prizes right back.

The main reason I played Zapdos in my deck at San Diego was to counter Vikavolt, which had gotten 2nd place at the previous tournament in Arlington, TX. I did not actually test the matchup much and overestimated how many Pokemon V the Vikavolt player would have to bench in order to set up and play the game. In the last round, I got paired down to Gibson Archer-Tang, the eventual champion of the tournament, which meant I was forced to play out my match rather than take an ID. This match was streamed and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akok_ET62rA.

Ultimately, my Zapdos tech was not enough to push me over the edge, although I think without it I would have had no chance in the matchup. I definitely did not play this match optimally, and certainly could have given myself some better chances. In the first game, it was a big mistake to attack with Raikou first because this allowed Gibby to respond-KO with his own Raikou. If I had simply taken the KO with Zapdos first and limited my bench, he would not have been able to take a return-KO on my Zapdos. Instead, I simply put myself too far behind in the prize race. In the second game, I was under the impression that Gibby played Lost Vacuum, so I did not opt to attach Forest Seal Stone to my Zapdos which would have essentially guaranteed the win the next turn. I also made an error when using Ordinary Rod on the next-to-last turn. I should have made sure there would be one energy left in my discard so that I could retrieve it by using Gibby’s Training Court. I also neglected to thin my hand down because I was expecting Marnie, which was standard in the deck, but Gibby played Judge instead.

I don’t regret playing Zapdos, but it definitely didn’t have as much impact as I thought it would. Maybe it would have had more utility if I ended up playing against any of the Eternatus that decided to show up in San Diego.

Eiscue + Wash Energy

Eiscue was the absolute MVP of the weekend for me. I wanted to include this card because I expected Regigigas decks to be very popular for this weekend, especially at the top tables. My prediction ended up being right and I faced four Regigigas decks over the course of the tournament and was able to win all of those matches.

Eiscue also allowed me to beat a mirror match, as well as a Palkia deck with their own Eiscue. I had more cards remaining in my deck than they did, so this forced them to bench other things and I was able to win by taking all of my prize cards around the Eiscue.

I also overlooked using Eiscue in my match with Gibby. This certainly could have been a valuable resource if I was able to power it up.

No Sableye

You are likely surprised to see that I did not play any Sableye in this deck. I mean, what kind of Lost Box deck doesn’t play Sableye?! The thing is, in my testing, I never really felt like Sableye helped much in the Lugia Matchup, which was the main deck I was concerned with beating. Obviously Sableye is important in the mirror match, but I figured I could easily win that with Eiscue + Wash Energy (assuming they did not play Temple of Sinnoh). Therefore, the 3-4 spots I would have to commit to 1-2 Sableye + 2 Psychic energy didn’t feel worth it, as it didn’t really swing any particular matchup. Obviously Sableye is a great card, but when building decks I think it is important to think critically about every card and determine if it is really adding to your deck’s win rate. If it isn’t, you should cut it.

Zigzagoon

Because I only played four different types of basic Energy, my Rayquaza’s damage output maxed out at 320. Playing Zigzagoon allows you to get a OHKO on VMAX Pokemon like Duraludon and Mew (even when Mew has Oricorio in play).

Another important use for Zigzagoon is to KO opposing Oranguru with Cramorant, particularly in the Lugia matchup, where they attack with Lumineon V’s Aqua Return and promote Oranguru. You can set up 110 damage on Oranguru which they cannot heal except by removing it with Collapsed Stadium. This way, you can force them to waste energy to retreat and bank a KO that you can take any time by just dropping Zigzagoon.

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