Hello everyone, this is Elena form Gaia Storm TCG! Welcome to another article here at CCG. In this occasion we are going to go through a very hyped deck from the Lost Thunder format: Night M...er, I mean... Lost March!  Is the strategy as good as some people think or just some niche, rogue deck without a lot to say in the format? We will try to analyze everything about this very special combo.

 

To begin with, I need to start by saying that even if the resemblances are obvious, Lost March is by no means Night March, one of the most powerful decks on the entire XY era. It seems that Pokémon designers have learnt the lesson and wanted to create a more balanced strategy than the previous one. Lost March is based in the same principle of getting rid of Pokémon in order to get a couple of smaller ones reach absurd amounts of damage. Natu and Jumpluff are our efficient attackers that deal 20 times damage the amount of Pokémon in the Lost Zone. However, the whole process is more difficult this time. We will need to run thick evolution lines, Hoppip, Skiploom and Jumpluff as well as relying on draw supporters to progress in the game, which makes a tremendous difference with discarding via battle compressor and then drawing with Shaymin EX.

 

That being said, however, I think Lost March has some strong features that can let it earn a spot in the metagame. Even if it is kind of slow it still has an amazing late game sweep capacity as well as the strong prize trade. It doesn’t matter that much that you are not getting a tons of Pokémon in the lost zone during the first turns as long as you are able to KO big GX Pokémon in the last turns ones get the game. In addition, a great advantage from Lost March has is the consistency that the newly released Professor Elm provides. Elm is a fantastic supporter in the few first turns that help immensely thinning the deck as well as setting up. And, believe me, you do indeed end up reaching great numbers with the combination of Trumbeak, Skiploom and Lost Bender.  

 

Of course, I would say that the biggest thread Lost March faces is Spread strategies. Malamamar Giratina, Koko Spread or Decidueye, for instance, are really difficult to deal with because they have the potential to wipe your entire board in a few turns by placing damage counters everywhere. While there are ways to deal with this problem (by teching for example Celestial Pilar), the format will determine if it is worth or not devoting some space of the deck to take a more defensive approach.

 

So, in conclusion, is Lost March a deck to consider? I would say it has potential in a format where GX based deck dominate but is it the format we will have once Lost Thunder becomes legal? Just a few more days to see! In the meantime, I highly recommend you trying the deck. It is a cheapish option, consistent and fun. Don’t miss the chance to test it!