Pokemon Lost Origin, the latest set for the Pokemon Trading Card Game, is officially released. This is the latest expansion released for the game's Sword and Shield series, containing 190 brand new cards for players across North America. But the latest expansion includes cards that utilize an older, sporadically used game mechanic. A mechanic that can be the key to victory and defeat in your games.
What is the returning game mechanic in Pokemon Lost Origin?
According to an in-depth preview by Kotaku, the new cards in Pokemon Lost Origin are built around the Lost Zone. For those unfamiliar, whenever a card is defeated or dismissed, they go to the discard pile. These cards can be retrieved by other card effects that affect the discard pile. Alternatively, if a card is sent to the Lost Zone, it cannot return until the round is over. It is similar to exiling cards in Magic: The Gathering,
This is important since new pokemon in Pokemon Lost Origin wield Lost Zone abilities. These abilities are all based around cards being in the Lost Zone. This can be tactical like Cramorant's Lost Provisions ability, which allows you to ignore Energy costs if you have four cards in the Lost Zone, or as aggressive as Giratina's Vstar attack which can deal 280 damage, but at the cost of losing two attached Energy cards to the Lost Zone.
What this means for new players of Pokemon Lost Origin is that there will be a lot more resource management involved in your games. Energy can become a lot more scarce if you can't get them back from the Lost Zone, or you will need to think forward a bit more as to what cards should go to the Lost Zone to power your combos.
What else is releasing after Pokemon Lost Origin?
The release of Pokemon Lost Origin marks the penultimate expansion for the Sword and Shield series. The last expansion for this series, Silver Tempest, will release this November, making way for the latest Scarlet and Violet series. Furthermore, Pokebeach reported on another major product coming to the Pokemon TCG this winter: the Arceus VStar Ultra Premium Collection. This is a GameStop exclusive collection and will contain the following:
- 15 Pokemon TCG Booster Packs
- 1 Metal Arceus V Card
- 1 Metal Arceus VStar Card
- 1 Playmat Featuring Artwork of Arceus
- 1 Arceus Metal Coin
- 6 Metal Damage Counter Dice
- 1 Acrylic VStar Marker
- 1 Code Card for Pokemon TCG Live
The Arceus VStar Ultra Premium Collection will be available in all available GameStop retail stores and will be sold at an MSRP of $99.99
