Lost Zone
The Lost Zone (Japanese: ロストゾーン Lost Zone) is a zone in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, first introduced in the Platinum expansion. In game, it is considered an out-of-play zone, and thus cards sent to the Lost Zone cannot be moved anywhere else and are rendered unplayable during that game.
Cards to be sent to the Lost Zone through effects of attacks, Abilities, Trainer cards, and so on. Much like the discard pile, cards in the Lost Zone are considered public knowledge. Although the Lost Zone is considered to be out of play, the number or specific properties of cards in the Lost Zone can still be referenced by certain cards.
Prism Star cards, as per the Prism Star rule, are moved to the Lost Zone if they would be moved to the discard pile.
Location
Different sources of official Pokémon rulings are inconsistent on where to place the Lost Zone. Rulebooks included with each expansion advise that cards in the Lost Zone should be placed face up anywhere outside of the play area;[1] this is also seen on official Japanese TCG videos uploaded to the Pokémon Card Channel.[2][3] The Play! Pokémon Tournament Rules Handbook, however, requires that players keep their Lost Zone above their Prize cards in a neat stack.[4] In tournaments, players often put cards in the Lost Zone either above or beside their Prize cards, sometimes tucked underneath their GX or VSTAR markers if they carry any.
As the Lost Zone is an out-of-bounds area, it is technically considered a single zone that both players use. However, in practice, players keep their cards in the Lost Zone separate from their opponent's. The Tournament Rules Handbook supports this interpretation, notably using the phrase "A competitor's Lost Zone...".[4]
Digital implementations of the Trading Card Game present the Lost Zone in different ways. Pokémon Trading Card Game Online represented the Lost Zone as a single stack next to the Active Spot, with a line separating either player's cards in the Lost Zone while inspecting this stack. Pokémon Trading Card Game Live represents the Lost Zone as a purple void that cards are sucked into, located to the left of the Active Spots. This void only appears after the first time a card enters the Lost Zone. There is one void for both players, but the contents of the Lost Zone is sorted for each player.
Lore
The Lost Zone is strongly associated with Giratina, referencing its core series games lore as the master of the Distortion World.
The Japanese Lost Link subset revolves around a floating island rising up from the sea to a vortex seemingly close enough to engulf it, as seen in the Lost World artwork. Some of its Pokémon are able to manipulate energy fields similar to the vortex's appearance and, along with the Lost Remover, have effects related to the Lost Zone and indicate a link of the vortex with the setting.
In the lore for the Lost Origin expansion, it is explained that Giratina tore a hole in the fabric of space that leads to the Lost Zone.[6] The blurb for the Lost Origin expansion mentions Giratina VSTAR plunging the world into "the abyssal shadow of the Lost Zone". The Lost Zone is described as having "powerful shadows".[5]
The Lost City card also shows a location with prominent connection or depiction of the Lost Zone.
Artwork
Different sets use different motifs in the card artworks to indicate that the card, whether Pokémon or Trainer card, interacts with the Lost Zone.
- HeartGold & SoulSilver Series and Call of Legends: Cards have spheres of purple, crackling energy in the artwork.
- Sun & Moon Series: Some cards continue to use energy spheres, but the color range is extended to include blues and blacks. Other cards instead use any kind of purple or blue energy. Full Art cards and Prism Star cards do not follow this motif.
- Sword & Shield Series: Cards have wisps of purple, pink, and teal gas emanating from the frame of the art. Pokémon V and Pokémon VSTAR instead incorporate the gas into the card art. Full Art cards do not follow this motif.
-
Snorlax from the Call of Legends expansion -
Lost Remover from the Call of Legends expansion -
Trumbeak from the Lost Thunder expansion -
Faba from the Lost Thunder expansion -
Comfey from the Lost Origin expansion -
Giratina VSTAR from the Lost Origin expansion -
Colress's Experiment from the Lost Origin expansion
Cards
The following is a list of all cards which have an effect that interacts with the Lost Zone.
(This list excludes the Prism Star rule, unless their card texts outside of their Rule Boxes specifically mention the Lost Zone. For those cards, see the Prism Star page.)
Trivia
- In Creating a Strong Stage 2 Pokémon Deck, an episode of Top Deck Academy, an incorrect answer to a trivia question involved sending a player "to the Lost Zone, ending the game".[7]
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ロストゾーン Lost Zone | |
| Chinese | Cantonese | 放逐區 Fongjuhk Kēui |
| Mandarin | 放逐區 / 放逐区 Fàngzhú Qū | |
| French | Zone Perdue | |
| German | Nirgendwo | |
| Indonesian | Lost Zone | |
| Italian | Zona Perduta Area perduta (Ultra Prism onward) | |
| Korean | 로스트존 Lost Zone | |
| Brazilian Portuguese | Zona Perdida | |
| Spanish | Zona Perdida | |
| Thai | ลอสต์โซน Lost Zone | |
See also
References
- ↑ Pokémon Trading Card Game Rules, Sword & Shield—Lost Origin, page 39, "Cards sent to the Lost Zone are no longer playable during that game. Put them face up anywhere out of play."
- ↑ (September 5, 2018). 【発売前バトル】ロストマーチ VS レックウザGX【超爆インパクト】 — [Official] Pokémon Card Channel (Japanese). YouTube.
- ↑ (June 25, 2022). 【ポケカ】強制きぜつのVSTARパワー「スターレクイエム」が驚異すぎる！開発者のギラティナVSTARデッキと発売前にバトル！【ロストアビス】 — [Official] Pokémon Card Channel (Japanese). YouTube.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Play! Pokémon Tournament Rules Handbook
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield-Lost Origin | Available Now!
- ↑ Lost Origin Expansion Overview. (Archived September 10, 2022).
- ↑ Creating a Strong Stage 2 Pokémon Deck ✌️ Top Deck Academy | Pokémon TCG - YouTube
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This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. |