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.

The state of the Lost Zone influences many cards' effects, such as via the number or properties of cards in the Lost Zone. Such effects are an incentive to put one's own cards into 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, perhaps 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:

(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.

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.[1] Giratina VSTAR is described to have plunged "the world into the abyssal shadow of the Lost Zone!"[2] The Lost Zone is described as having "powerful shadows".[3]

The art of the cards Lost World and Lost City may either show locations with prominent connections to the Lost Zone or be depictions of the Lost Zone.

Cards

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Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.

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
Japan Flag.png Japanese ロストゾーン Lost Zone
Chinese Cantonese 放逐區 Fongdzuk Koey
Mandarin 放逐区 Fàngzhú Qū
France Flag.png French Zone Perdue
Germany Flag.png German Nirgendwo
Italy Flag.png Italian Zona Perduta
Area perduta (Ultra Prism onward)
South Korea Flag.png Korean 로스트존 Lost Zone
Spain Flag.png Spanish Zona Perdida

See also

References

  1. Lost Origin Expansion Overview.
  2. Lost Origin page
  3. Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield-Lost Origin | Available Now!


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