Lost Origins Review: The Power of Mirage Gate

Lost Origins is here! One of the key killer cards from this new set is Mirage Gate. This card on face value is crazy, allowing you to effectively break one of the governing rules of the game by allowing you to attach two energy from your deck to your Pokemon in anyway you like... ON AN ITEM CARD NO LESS!

Now we have seen similar cards before, Beast ring, Colress Machine, and Mega Turbo all spring to mind. These all have their own drawbacks and stipulations of course, and Mirage gate is no exception since you have to have 7 cards in the Lost Zone in order to play it.

The combination of Comfey, Scoop Up Nets and Colress’s Experiment seems to be the initial way people are sending cards to the Lost Zone opting to forgo Banette and Lost Vacuum (although I do think they are worth testing). This new engine can breathe life into old attackers that were just too costly to ever see play & that is what this article will be focused here today! We all know the very obvious synergy with Giratina, but how about some other targets for Mirage gate that aren't Giratina!

Reshiram Amazing Rare - I think this card isn't really a secret, but having played this card a lot in past formats I know how ridiculously hard this card can slap so I definitely think its one you have to take seriously. Reshiram for one Fire, Electric and Dark Energy swings for a table shattering 270 damage! This coupled with Choice Belt or even Pokemon Go Moltres means you can definitely buff this little one prize Pokemon to the point where it is OHKO-ing even VMAX Pokemon resulting in mad uptake scenarios!

The problem of lack of early game pressure is kind of mitigated with Rshiram since you can go fully singleton not allowing your opponent to go too far ahead on prizes. Cramorant will be helpful here providing 110 damage for zero energy as long as you have 4 cards in your lost zone.

Another utility attackers we could include is Sableye. Another Lost Origin attacker which for one Psychic Energy allows you to put 12 damage counters on your opponents Pokemon in anyway you like! You do need to have 10 cards in the Lost Zone for this however, and by that time you really want to be swinging with Reshiram. Still, Sableye could be extremely useful in turning otherwise residual damage from Cramorant into prize cards.

Celebrations Zekrom is a fun potential include. For two Lightning and one Colorless Energy, White Thunder does 80 + 80 as long as you have ‘Reshiram’ in play, and luckily for us Amazing Rare Reshiram counts! This allows us to have an easy way to OHKO Palkias and even KO Crobats when belted. That being said, I think the main reason to play this is to have an OHKO option against Flying Pikachu VMAX since it is weak to lightning.

The caveat here is that you will need to have an increased Lightning Energy count to accommodate this. You will need to do some double gust plays or Escape Rope plus Boss’s Orders plays to KO said Flying Pikachu VMAX if it has used Max Balloon, but never the less it warrants a test.

Another attacker which I think should be fairly cemented in this deck is Radiant Charizard. Hitting for a mind bending 250 or 280, belted Charizard adds to this deck perfectly. Although its 5 Energy attack cost looks mammoth at face value, its ability Excited heart removes a Colorless Energy from the attack cost for each prize your opponent has taken. With synergy with Magma Basin, Raihan and even Mirage Gate Charizard will take some names in this archetype!

Although be careful. Lost City is hearing rumblings of being a tech card to help remove one of tech attackers from play after a KO by putting it in the lost zone. Radiant Charizard gets caught in this cross fire unfortunately.

One of the more forgotten cards from the set is Goodra VSTAR. I think this guy is pretty strong and warrants a deeper look.

Goodra VSTAR for one Water, one Metal, and one Colorless Energy does 200 damage and reduces all incoming damage by 80 during your opponent's next turn. 80 is an absolutely silly number to be reducing damage by! Effectively pushing it out of range of ever being OHKO’d and even under the right circumstances being two shot! Goodra also has a supporter in the set that works well with it and that is Fantina.

Fantina can only be played when you have 10 cards in the Lost Zone, but when you do it reduces damage by 120 from your opponents V Pokemon during the next turn! Meaning when paired with Goodras Rolling Iron attack you are reducing 200 damage from your opponents V Pokemon! Crazy stuff!

However 10 cards in the Lost Zone isn't easy, which is why I think Goodra will need some extra Lost Zone support and I think Banette works well in this scenario. Banette with its Puppet Offering ability allows you to grab a supporter from your discard and put it in your hand, then Lost Zone the Bannete. This will allow you to be extremely clinical with your supporters and let you get good usage from situational ones such as Fantina, Pokemon Center Lady or even maybe Cheryl. With Mirage Gate support, why not!

This is all without looking at Goodra's VSTAR Power Moisture Star which heals all damage from itself! All this coupled with no weakness means once this Goodra hits the field it isn't moving anytime soon! Scary stuff!

Let's have some fun with Lost Orgin baby!