GLC Lost Zone Psychic Deck

The advent of Lost Origin saw the return of the lost zone in a new way. Decks like Giratina VSTAR and the SablZard lost box deck have seen a lot of success in the standard format, so I wondered if I could make it viable for GLC. Luckily, most of the Pokémon that interacted with the lost zone were psychic, so the deck started to build itself, and thus Lost Circle was born.

The focus of the deck is to get 10 cards in the lost zone to use the Lost Mine attack of Sableye. The cards that allow you to put cards in your lost zone are Colress's Experiment, Lost Vacuum, Lost Blender, Banette, and Comfey. For the most part, these cards allow you to see more cards from your deck which adds consistency. Most of the other cards in the deck are cards that allow you to access the lost zone cards. In the early game, cards like Skyla and Peony effectively read as,” Search for Colress”. In the late game they become cards that let you repeatedly loop Sableye every turn. I realized that the deck didn't need many draw supporters since it wants to reuse Colress, so the deck was naturally filled with item cards that let you access it. The large number of item cards lets you play PokéStop and the whole suite of turbo and recovery item cards.

Blacephalon has the same attack as Sableye although the full effect is only live when your opponent is at 3 prizes. This a very good include due to GLC being a singleton format, so it feels like you have extra copies of your main attacker. These two are very powerful, so their attacks inherently have drawbacks. The next issue the deck had to answer is, what do you do until you can use your main attackers? This is where Gengar and Chimecho shine. Gengar's Screaming Circle lets you get early damage in while you prepare for your Lost Mine turns. It puts itself in play from the discard, so it also allows you to conserve recovery cards for your other guys. On the other hand, Chimecho's Bell of Silence can literally stall your opponent and win you games. The main point of the Chimecho lock is to stop your opponent from evolving their Pokémon with abilities. This is very strong because it will slow down your opponent's engines until you can get lost mine online. Once lost mine is up and running you can play a hand disruption card and KO their Pokémon before they can evolve. This is a very deadly combo that can lead to you winning games.

The last few Pokémon are utility and support mons. Marshadow is hand disruption and a draw card that isn't a supporter. Mewtwo lets you reuse Colress. Mew's Bench Barrier needs no explanation, but Psypower is another viable early game attack. Most of the deck's attackers require only one energy so the deck has a lot of flexibility in the plays it can make, which can happen at almost any point.

To round out the list Bursting Balloon, Spell Tag, and Horror Psychic Energy are the final includes. These cards give that extra bit of damage that will allow you to KO bigger HP Pokémon or so that you can have multiple prize turns. A lot of times the deck falls behind in the prize trade, so these cards help you keep up in the early game.

Psychic was already a very strong type that has a lot of support cards and a lot of different strategy, so it was very interesting to see that it could be innovated more. This deck has pros such as multi prize turns and single energy attackers, but it also has its cons which can be the slow set up in the early game and the tough decisions that comes with putting cards in the lost zone.

Silver Tempest has a few cards that can make this deck better. Furisode Girl allows you to search your deck for a basic Pokémon and switch it with your active. This is another cool way to get Comfey into your active spot. Indeedee's Smart Service attack lets you search your deck for any one card, but it can be used even on the first turn of the game. I already chose to go first so I can attempt to Marshadow and see more cards. Lastly, the new Meowstic is probably the most impactful card. When you evolve into it you can search your deck for two supporters. This is very strong because it guarantees that you have a supporter for two turns in a row. Not only is this another way to search for Colress's Experiment, but it also makes it easier because there are more cards that search your deck for Pokémon than there are cards that search for supporters.

Deck List

##Pokémon - 10

• 1 Blacephalon CEC 104
• 1 Chimecho CIN 43
• 1 Comfey LOR 79
• 1 Marshadow PR-SM 85
• 1 Mew UNB 76
• 1 Mewtwo UNB 75
• 1 Sableye LOR 70
• 1 Shuppet ROS 30
• 1 Banette LOR 73
• 1 Gengar LOR 66

##Trainer Cards - 44

• 1 N FCO 105
• 1 Marnie SSH 200
• 1 Colress's Experiment LOR 155
• 1 Skyla BKT 148
• 1 Hex Maniac AOR 75
• 1 Peony CRE 197
• 1 Klara CRE 145
• 1 Guzma BUS 115
• 1 Level Ball BST 129
• 1 Mysterious Treasure FLI 113
• 1 Energy Retrieval SSH 160
• 1 Trainers' Mail ROS 92
• 1 Bicycle PLS 117
• 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
• 1 Switch SSH 183
• 1 Cram-o-matic FST 229
• 1 Revive ROS 88
• 1 Echoing Horn CRE 136
• 1 Escape Rope BST 125
• 1 Random Receiver DEX 99
• 1 Battle Compressor Team Flare Gear PHF 92
• 1 Lost Blender LOT 181
• 1 Professor's Letter BKT 146
• 1 Acro Bike CES 123
• 1 Scoop Up Net RCL 165
• 1 Ultra Ball BRS 150
• 1 Order Pad UPR 131
• 1 Pal Pad SSH 172
• 1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
• 1 Fog Crystal CRE 140
• 1 Trekking Shoes ASR 156
• 1 Quick Ball FST 237
• 1 Lost Vacuum LOR 162
• 1 Field Blower GRI 125
• 1 Nest Ball SUM 123
• 1 VS Seeker ROS 110
• 1 Target Whistle Team Flare Gear PHF 106
• 1 Ordinary Rod SSH 171
• 1 Bursting Balloon BKP 97
• 1 Spell Tag LOT 190
• 1 Float Stone BKT 137
• 1 U-Turn Board UNM 211
• 1 PokéStop PGO 68
• 1 Training Court RCL 169

##Energy - 6

• 4 Psychic Energy Energy 5
• 1 Horror Psychic Energy RCL 172
• 1 Mystery Energy PHF 112