Lost Zone

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The Lost Zone (Japanese: ロストゾーン) is a zone in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, first introduced in the Platinum expansion. It is strongly associated with Giratina. Unlike other game zones, there is only a single Lost Zone, shared by both players. No game rule causes a card to be moved to the Lost Zone. Some card effects cause cards to be moved to the Lost Zone from other zones of the game. Like the discard pile, cards in the Lost Zone cannot be used, rendering them unplayable. However, unlike the discard pile, cards that are in the Lost Zone cannot be retrieved from the Lost Zone in any manner. No effect exists that can circumvent this property of the Lost Zone. No cards have effects that can be used while in the Lost Zone. However, many cards care about the cards that are in the Lost Zone, either asking about the properties of cards in the Lost Zone or the number of cards in the Lost Zone. While some cards send a player's cards to the Lost Zone as a downside, other cards send the opponent's cards to the Lost Zone as an upside. There are effects that invert this general trend, giving players benefits for putting their own cards in the Lost Zone.

Prism Star cards are moved to the Lost Zone if they would be moved to the discard pile. Cards from the Sun & Moon Series do not include Prism Star Pokémon in their counts of cards in the Lost Zone, likely due to the ease of getting Prism Star cards into the Lost Zone through this rule.

Location

The place on the playfield where the Lost Zone is placed is often disputed. Rulebooks advise that cards in the Lost Zone should be placed face up outside of the play area. Meanwhile, players in tournaments often tuck cards in the Lost Zone underneath their GX or VSTAR markers. While the Lost Zone is a single zone that both players use, players usually keep the cards that they own separate from the opponent's cards while in the Lost Zone.

Digital implementations of the Trading Card Game present the Lost Zone in different ways. Pokémon Trading Card Game Online represents 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 can be sorted by each player.

Sets

Cards with text referring to the Lost Zone are in the following sets:

• Platinum
• Supreme Victors
• Arceus
• Triumphant
• Call of Legends
• Forbidden Light
• Lost Thunder
• Team Up
• Cosmic Eclipse
• Lost Origin
• Crown Zenith

(This list excludes the Prism Star rule. For those cards, see the Prism Star page.)

Artwork

Different sets use different motifs in the art to indicate that the card cares about the Lost Zone.

• HeartGold & SoulSilver Series: 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 do not follow this motif.
• Sword & Shield Series: Cards have wisps of purple, pink, and blue gas emanate from the frame of the art. Pokémon V and Pokémon VSTAR do not have frames, but incorporate the gas into the art. Full Art cards do not follow this motif.

Some Item cards use Lost Zone colors in their design, like Lost Remover, Mirage Gate, Lost Vacuum and Lost Blender.

Backstory

In Lost Origin, Giratina tore a hole in the fabric of space that leads to the Lost Zone.

Giratina VSTAR is described to have plunged "the world into the abyssal shadow of the Lost Zone!"

In a commercial for Lost Origin, the Lost Zone is described as having "powerful shadows"

The art of the cards Lost World and Lost City may reflect what the Lost Zone looks like.

Cards

The following is a list of all cards which have an effect referring to the Lost Zone.

(This list excludes the Prism Star rule. 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. This action would result in the game ending.

In other languages

Language Title Japanese ロストゾーン Lost Zone Chinese Cantonese 放逐區 Fàngzhú Qū Mandarin 放逐区 Fàngzhú Qū French Zone Perdue German Nirgendwo Italian Zona Perduta Area perduta Korean 로스트존 Lost Zone Spanish Zona Perdida

References

This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game.