The Unthinkable Crime — Skwovet’s Grand Larceny and the Rise of Kyogre Lost Box

Date: May 7, 2023.
Location: Portland, OR, US
Defendant: [card name=”Skwovet” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] (set Scarlet and Violet, number 151).
Offense: Grand larceny (amount: $3500 USD).
Weapon: Nest Stash.
Partner(s) in crime: [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card].
Victim: Yours truly.

[cardimg name=”Skwovet” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”222″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Recently, I played [card name=”Kyogre” set=”Celebrations” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card] Lost Box at the Portland Regionals and made Top 4. My run was cut short by an absurd match in the semi-finals, where everything went wrong. This is fine, as the game giveth and taketh away when it comes to rng. However, there was one main culprit behind my demise. This little fella got away with some nasty crimes and he must be stopped. Skwovet’s Nest Stash is intended as a hand-refresh combo alongside [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card].

However, when one is faced down with [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card]’s Lost Mine, there comes a dilemma where you might hesitate to play down Bibarel, as it requires risking the low-HP [card name=”Bidoof” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card] and giving up free Prize cards. This has the potential to lead to a bigger problem of not being able to draw cards, and therefore not being able to play the game. Hypothetically, if one were to be forced into such a situation, Skwovet’s effect of drawing one single card at a time would be the last resort. And if Skwovet’s one card happened to be the perfect card for the situation, saving an otherwise unwinnable game, that would be quite the occurrence. And for that to happen multiple times in one match is unthinkable, isn’t it? If you want to witness the unthinkable in action, check out the VOD of the Top 4 match here.

That’s enough of my story, let’s get into the meat and potatoes. If you want a the sparknotes version of this entire article: [card name=”Kyogre” set=”Celebrations” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card] Lost Box is the best deck in the current format because it is reasonably consistent and has no bad matchups. Kyogre, or Lost Box in general, did not get hurt badly by the rotation. Since it was a powerful contender in the previous format, in which the decks were generally stronger, it stands to reason that the decks that lose the least would remain strongest in the new format. In practice, this turns out to be largely true for Lost Box.

The loss of [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Ordinary Rod” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”237″ c=”name”][/card] certainly isn’t ideal for Lost Box, but the fact remains that the other decks were crippled worse. New archetypes such as [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Miraidon ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] are also fantastic matchups for Lost Box. Among the other meta matchups, most are favorable or at least close to even. This makes Lost Box the most obvious best deck in the format, and all that remains is to try and figure out the best way to play it. That said, playing Lost Box at a competitive level is still comparable to playing 4-D chess or solving sudoku with only one given digit. Lost Box may be good, but it takes a lot of effort and brainpower to give the same output compared to decks with a similar power level that are significantly less complicated. This aspect of the deck has not changed since before the rotation, and it remains the biggest downside of the deck. I certainly make my share of mistakes with the deck, but hopefully this article will give you some tips should you ever find yourself on either side of the table of a Kyogre match.

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Kyogre Lost Box Deck List

[decklist name=”kyogre” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Comfey” set=”Lost Origin” no=”79″][pokemon amt=”12″]4x [card name=”Comfey” set=”Lost Origin” no=”79″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Cramorant” set=”Lost Origin” no=”50″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Kyogre” set=”Celebrations” no=”3″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dragonite V” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”191″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Raikou V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”48″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”37″]4x [card name=”Colress’s Experiment” set=”Lost Origin” no=”155″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Klara” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”145″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Mirage Gate” set=”Lost Origin” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Battle VIP Pass” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”225″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”181″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Battle Styles” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Energy Recycler” set=”Battle Styles” no=”124″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Hisuian Heavy Ball” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Beach Court” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”11″]5x [card name=”Water Energy” set=”XY” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”5″][/card]3x [card name=”Lightning Energy” set=”XY” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”XY” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist][cardimg name=”Kyogre” set=”Celebrations” no=”3″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This is a balanced Kyogre deck that is primarily focused on consistency. It just so happens to look like a Turbo Lost Box deck. That said, if you draw really well, you can function as a turbo deck in some games. The turn one [card name=”Mirage Gate” set=”Lost Origin” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] attack doesn’t happen often, but a good 5-10 percent of the time, you will hit the nuts and completely shut your opponent out of the game. When that happened in the tournament, it was absolutely euphoric. This deck has a reasonable strategy for most matchups, and several of those involve Kyogre endgames. Card choices such as the extra Energy, [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card], third [card name=”Energy Recycler” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”72″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] characterize the Kyogre archetype and allow the Kyogre play to (almost) always happen when it’s needed.

The [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] Tool, rather than being a Turbo-enabler, instead functions as an all-in-one consistency card. Most notably, it gives you more outs to [card name=”Colress’s Experiment” set=”Lost Origin” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card] to get things rolling. Sometimes it is used to make the Kyogre play at the end of the game. It can make late-game Flower Selecting plays less risky or awkward. One play you can make against decks with hand disruption but do not include [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] (specifically Arceus VSTAR or [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card]) is to pre-emptively attach Forest Seal Stone, guaranteeing that you keep your hand or at least get to use Star Alchemy to recover from a [card name=”Judge” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] play.

Of course, the downside of Forest Seal Stone is that you have to play two-Prize Pokemon in your list and on your Bench. Generally, as long as you get two Prizes worth of value from that Pokemon in some way, it is an acceptable trade-off. In many matchups, taking two Prizes is the first of two steps to winning the game, with Kyogre for four Prizes being the other step.

One of the two Pokemon V in the deck, [card name=”Raikou V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”48″ c=”name”][/card] is a generally solid and energy-efficient attacker. Its main benefit is that does not require Mirage Gate to attack on turn 2, meaning that you don’t necessarily need to get seven cards in the Lost Zone if you’re able to manually attach to Raikou V on both turns. If you can get two Prizes on turn 2 when going first, this is often the go-to line of play. Raikou V is particularly good against Lugia VSTAR because it gets those two Prizes easily. And of course, Fleet-Footed is just free value.

The other Pokemon V, [card name=”Dragonite V” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card] is the deck’s alternative powerhouse. In games that you don’t use Kyogre, and even in some that you do, Dragonite V puts in the work. It’s particularly useful against Arceus VSTAR and [card name=”Hisuian Goodra VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] decks. Of course, there are many random situations in other matchups where having that kind of damage output is useful. At worst, it’s an alternative target for Forest Seal Stone so you don’t have to rely on the lone copy of Raikou V (which sometimes ends up in the Lost Zone). It also has more HP, making it less of a liability.

The lone copy of [card name=”Cramorant” set=”Lost Origin” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card] is definitely the greediest decision of the list. Cramorant is a ridiculously good card, and you nearly always want to use it on turn 1 when you’re going second. It functions as a nice stopgap attacking option that still allows you to do something productive when you don’t have much going on. If Cramorant is stuck among your Prize cards, that sucks. However, since this deck sees so many cards, going for [card name=”Hisuian Heavy Ball” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] isn’t too much of an ask, especially with the Forest Seal Stones providing extra outs. However, problems can arise when Cramorant is in the Prizes alongside other Pokemon. This happened a few times during the tournament.

As usual, [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] is here to set up damage for your powerhouses or to finish off damaged foes. It has great synergy with Kyogre and [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card], and is particularly useful against Gardevoir ex or other Lost Box decks (basically, decks with [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card]). Both copies of [card name=”Klara” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card] aren’t usually needed, but playing just one would be too restrictive as you would never be allowed to Lost Zone Klara. Being too greedy on card counts forces game-losing Flower Selecting plays more than you can afford. The same logic can be applied to Sableye to an extent, but against other Lost Zone decks, you actually want to use both copies of Sableye and both copies of Klara.

One copy of [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] is a little weird. Basically, the card is good enough to play because it can accelerate your Lost Zone. This is helpful in mirror which is a race to Sableye. At the very least, you can play on even footing with access to that card. It’s also useful in other matchups if you have a slower start that doesn’t involve five Comfey and a Colress’s Experiment in the first two turns. Being a [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] counter is somewhat useful as well. However, Lost Vacuum isn’t that good of a card. It’s not particularly helpful in a majority of games, it isn’t really a consistency-boosting card, nor is it pivotal in any matchups. I wouldn’t want many of them in my deck. It is consistent enough with how much draw-power the deck has, again combined with the additional outs of Forest Seal Stone. Since this deck doesn’t always go for the turbo angle, it isn’t reliant on Lost Vacuum at all.

You could replace [card name=”Beach Court” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card] with PokeStop. I think PokeStop is a better card in the deck, but Beach Court is infinitely more consistent, and I love consistency. Overall, it’s a tough call. Beach Court always does the same thing and it’s always useful. PokeStop is much stronger and has higher upside along with some risk associated with it. Also, do not use PokeStop when it’s too risky! You have to carefully evaluate each situation in which you can use PokeStop, and just how devastating the low roll can be scaled with how likely it is. It was very satisfying watching each and every opponent use my PokeStop, and without fail, completely wreck themselves with it.

Matchups

Lost Box – Even

[cardimg name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This list cannot gain much of an advantage in mirror, so it will usually be an even match. We do not have [card name=”Hawlucha” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card], or a second Cramorant. What we do have is consistency and brain cells. I always feel fine playing the mirror, even though it isn’t nearly as skillful as it used to be with [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] in the mix. Holding onto your [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] seems to be the biggest difference maker. There are two reasons for this. Most obviously, you can heal off the extra damage from opposing [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] Lost Mine attacks to deny two-Prize turns.

If you open with attacking with [card name=”Raikou V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”48″ c=”name”][/card], they will likely attack into it with [card name=”Cramorant” set=”Lost Origin” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card]. If they respond with a two-Prize Pokemon, you will just win with [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] and / or [card name=”Kyogre” set=”Celebrations” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card]. Although they don’t get a Prize card with Cramorant, they are technically doing more damage than they would be attacking into [card name=”Comfey” set=”Lost Origin” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card]. By using two copies of Switch Cart on a damaged Raikou V, you make it fairly awkward to KO and mitigate most of the damage already done to it. Furthermore, you can use this opportunity to get value from Fleet Footed and [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card].

That said, you ideally just go Cramorant into Sableye and then use Sableye and [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] from there on out. This formula doesn’t leave room for Raikou V, but there is a time and place for it. [card name=”Dragonite V” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card] is almost always bad because it damages your Bench, but it is the best answer against your opponent’s Dragonite V.

I mentioned racing to Sableye. This often involves multiple Comfey on the board. If you’re the first to Sableye, this is no problem. However, if you are not going to be the first to Sableye, you can mitigate the disadvantage by limiting your Pokemon in play (which involves not as many Comfey getting played in the first place.) Of course, this requires considerable foresight, which is not always a luxury that you have. If your opponent KOs one of two of your Comfey, you don’t necessarily need to keep [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] at all times. Basically, the underlying principle is that you want to get maximum value from your damage and prevent your opponent from doing the same.

For example, if your board has a Comfey, Radiant Greninja, and Raikou, and nothing else, what are they going to do? Probably attack with Radiant Greninja, which gets them one Prize. Then, you play two or three copies of Switch Cart and laugh in their face. Of course, this is very situational, especially because you really want to be attacking with Sableye too.

Also, I will say that attacking with Raikou V is terrible if they are playing [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Lost Origin” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card]. They will use Snorlax to attack your Raikou V for 180 damage and laugh in your face. That is too much value for one attack. Even if you have a Switch Cart, their Sableye will follow up for three Prize cards every time. If they do play Snorlax, you ignore it and aggressively target their Bench. You can probably do this for most of the game, especially with Echoing Horn. They will have to waste switch cards to wake Snorlax up, and they won’t be able to use Comfey because Snorlax is Active and Comfey is Knocked Out. If you eventually need to deal with the Snorlax, you can use [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Battle Styles” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] on Kyogre, Dragonite V, or double Radiant Greninja.

Attacking with Snorlax in mirror is just bad. One time my opponent woke up on Snorlax three times in a row (mitigating one of Snorlax’s downsides) and I still won because I was destroying my opponents Bench and they were wasting so much value by attacking with Snorlax. Of course, it’s still good against two-Prize Pokemon in mirror. Speaking of Snorlax, it wouldn’t be terrible in our list here, but it’s just not needed.

Lugia VSTAR – Favorable

This matchup often involves getting two Prize cards with Raikou and then setting up a Kyogre turn. This is considerably more difficult if the opponent manages to draw [card name=”Penny” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Collapsed Stadium” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] at opportune times. You want to hang on to a counter Stadium (or [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card]) and Echoing Horn for the end of the game. You can play in a way that does not activate Roxanne, as Kyogre can take four Prizes at the end of the game. They sometimes play two copies of [card name=”Judge” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card], but that is not enough to do any real damage, and they cannot find them at opportune times.

The biggest consistency option in the [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] deck is [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card], and it is a colossal liability in this matchup, so the trade off of a perfectly-timed Judge or Penny is well worth it for you as the Kyogre player. If they lead with [card name=”Tyranitar V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card], then sometimes you have to poke with Cramorant and follow up with Dragonite V. A Dragonite V KO on Tyranitar V forces another Tyranitar V (or [card name=”Duraludon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card]) depending on the version. These are all multi-prize Pokemon for Kyogre to Knock Out later, so any outcome is fine. If they lead with a single-Prize attacker, you will probably just take your two Prizes off that and an [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card], but it depends. Sometimes a play with [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] plus Raikou V presents itself.

Lugia VSTAR doesn’t have any particularly useful or efficient attackers for this matchup aside from Tyranitar V, which again, is a two-Prize Pokemon. The only reason this matchup is contentious at all is because of Cragalanche’s mill effect. Tyranitar V can randomly mill key cards such as [card name=”Energy Recycler” set=”Battle Styles” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] or Echoing Horn, and there is literally nothing you can do about it. It is such a stupid lose condition.

In one of my rounds against Lugia VSTAR, I had Dragonite V, Radiant Greninja, [card name=”Hisuian Heavy Ball” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card], and Echoing Horn as my last four Prize cards, which is beyond unbelievable. This eliminated every win condition I could think of aside from one line with Boss’s Orders. Naturally, Boss’s Orders was instantly milled by Cragalanch and I immediately conceded.

Gardevoir ex – Free

You can do pretty much whatever you want and you will stomp [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card]. The [card name=”Mewtwo V-UNION” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH159 ” c=”name”][/card] variant is terrifying though. You actually have to be very aggressive and proactive with denying [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] to try and stop Mewtwo V-UNION from coming into play. We have no real answer to Psysplosion plus Roxanne, nor do we have any real agency in the matchup, so we just attack and hope. If you try to play around Roxanne by not taking a Knock Out on every Kirlia you see, they will set up Mewtwo V-UNION and crush you.

Attaching to Raikou V on turn 1 can be quite good, as it gives you a fast and reliable answer to [card name=”Klefki” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card]. Many Gardevoir ex lists don’t play Klefki, but since it’s your only lose condition, you may as well try to play around it.

Mew VMAX – Favorable

Take two Prizes however you want. Usually this is with two Sableye attacks on a [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card] if they have three in play, which leaves two more Genesect V for Kyogre. Sometimes Cramorant gets involved. Sometimes you can even use a two-Prize attacker. Thin your deck aggressively, as they will spam Judge to disrupt you. Eventually, you should be able to launch Kyogre at two Genesect V to end the game. If they try to limit their Genesect V in play, they will be at limited functionality and probably won’t be using Judge as much. You can get some damage on the [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card]. The whole point is to NOT activate Roxanne because that is a huge lose condition. You just want to set up a Kyogre play in any way you can.

Conclusion

That’s all I have for today. Thanks for reading! Try out Kyogre if you want the peak gaming experience, especially if you like playing Lost Zone decks. I am a huge fan of this deck and I think the list as good as it’s going to get. Until [card name=”Klefki” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] gains a bigger meta presence, Kyogre has the best matchups of any meta deck and is plenty of fun to play if you ask me.

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