Checking in on the Lost March Deck after Team Up!

Thomas Pizaro
February 19, 2019
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When Lost Thunder was being leaked, I was amazed seeing new GX’s like Blacephalon, Zeraora, and Alolan Ninetales as well as some powerful non- GX’s like Granbull, Giratina, and Naganadel. They would all go on to prosper and help shape the meta as we know it today. But hiding in the Lost Thunder spoiler, we found Natu and Jumpluff that have an attack named Lost March.

     

This attack does 20 damage for each Pokemon you have in the Lost Zone. This immediately reminded seasoned players of the archetype with a similar name, Night March which did the damage based on Pokemon with the “Night March” attack in the discard rather than every Pokemon in the Lost Zone. The similarity between the two attacks reminded seasoned players of the success of the Night March deck which was all it took to get people excited for Lost March.

      

Before Lost Thunder’s release, Lost March was said to be a potential top tier deck for the new format. With cards coming out to support the archetype like Lost Blender, Professor Elm’s Lecture, and Skiploom, it was all looking great.  But unfortunately, it fell a little short with its consistency which caused the archetype to not do as well as expected.

Now Team Up is out and Lost March gets some new tools! The bump in consistency that Lost March gets from Emolga and the reprint of Pokemon Communication could be all this deck needs to make it a serious threat going into the new Team Up format.

Pokemon Communication is the reprint we didn’t know we needed so much. Pokemon Communication is a tool that lets you reveal a pokemon from your hand and swap it with a pokemon from your deck. In a Pokemon heavy deck like this, it helps to find exactly which one you need when you find one you don’t. That’s where Emolga comes in! Emolga not only has free retreat (which is always a nice feature) but its ability (Nuzzly Gathering) lets you find a Pokemon with the attack “Nuzzle” from deck and put it in hand. Pokemon Communication can be used to return that Emolga to the deck and find whatever other pokemon you want! By always putting Emolgas back into your deck with Pokemon Communication, you can keep this loop going. Eventually, you’ll run out of Pokemon Communications but you can always use surplus Emolgas for Lost Blender discard to add to the Pokemon count in the Lost Zone.


Lost MarchThomas Pizaro Hoppip (11) Skiploom (13) Jumpluff (14) Trumbeak (165) Natu (87) Emolga (46) Tapu Lele-GX Oranguru (113) Marshadow (45) Professor Elm's Lecture Cynthia Guzma Erika's Hospitality Pokemon Communication Net Ball Lost Blender Rescue Stretcher Choice Band Sky Pillar Grass Energy Double Colorless Energy

Gameplan

This deck can put up big numbers fast and looks to win the prize trade, The focus is to get a turn one Professor Elm’s Lecture so you can set up the bench with Hoppips and potentially grab a Skiploom. Playing Elm’s on turn one and two wouldn’t be ideal as they aren’t good in multiples,especially when you’re already set up. Thankfully Skiploom alievates that with its 60hp, which turns two early Professor Elm’s Lectures into being fully set up. Just like that you have Jumpluffs out on turn 2 and as long as you have a Grass Energy or a  Net Ball to search for it, you can be attacking away for potentially big numbers as high as 140 or more! Remember, avoid putting any energies or choice bands on your Hoppip/Skiplooms or else they will go to the lost zone with them when you use Floral Path to the Sky!

Natu is a nice alternate attacker that hits weakness on pokemon like Buzzwole-GX just in case you don’t fully set up early game you at least have the option. You have a Tapu Lele-GX to help you get that turn one Elm’s Lecture as often as possible or to grab a Guzma or Cynthia later on. The one of Oranguru is to help you draw cards since this deck can burn through its hand very easily, plus it is always nice to have Pokemon based card draw in a deck with Pokemon Communication. Trumbeak is in here solely for its ability Mountain Pass, it throws itself in the lost zone so you can peek at the opponent's top of deck and if it’s a supporter you send it to the lost zone. This card feels free for the deck; even if you don’t hit a supporter off of your opponent’s deck Trumbeak still goes to the lost zone which adds 20 damage to your attacks! The inclusion of Sky Pillar is just to protect your bench from any attacks since all your pokemon are very low HP. Here is the list I have been trying out lately.


If you look back at the list, you see typical cards like Cynthia, Guzma and Rescue Stretcher. One that is missing is Ultra Ball. Almost your entire deck can be searched with Elm’s Lecture or Pokemon Communication or drawn naturally as our core is very redundant. Ultra Ball is not what the deck is looking for and playing cards like Lost Blender makes the discarding especially painful. Ultra Ball is especially painful with other cards like Lost Blender, which makes it attractive. Lillie is also a common choice in the format but Erika’s Hospitality has more potential due to Oranguru. Instruct into Erika’s Hospitality can draw lots of cards and has a larger upside.


My decklist isn’t the definitive way to play Lost March of course, it’s just how I would play it, so what other cards could be considered to go into the deck? You could opt for the commonly played cards like Ultra Ball and Lillie but that may require other changes. Timer Ball is another good card to find Skiplooms and later on find Trumbeaks when you need more Pokemon in the lost zone. If you aren’t worried about your bench getting hit you can always switch out the Sky Pillar for Shrine of Punishment to help you one hit those big HP GX Pokemon. Great Ball can also be used to help dig for your pokemon and Field Blower is always a nice card to throw one of in your decks when you want to answer tools or stadiums. In terms of the energy slots, you could add fourth Double Colorless Energy if you put more Natus in. Another option that was fairly popular during the Lost Thunder era was adding Super Boost Energy to counter Shuckle-GX who can’t be attacked by Pokemon with two or less energies attached to them. If your local meta has Shuckle-GX players then a Super Boost Energy will help fix that issue right away!


Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Thanks for reading!