Hello Lost Zone League Players and Fans! This is our new weekly recap of match scores and deck breakdowns, as well as any important news for the upcoming weeks! So with week 1’s games wrapped up, it's time to look at the meta breakdown and stats!

As the title suggests, Slowking had a strong showing this week, with 11% of the meta and an 100% win rate! Crustle also had an 100% win rate, albeit with only 2 players running the deck. Of course Dragapult had the most representation for the week, with 15% of the meta, HOWEVER the deck had a quite subpar win rate with a 44% win rate on the week. I also quickly want to shout out the two Mega Diance/Clefairy players this week, both of whom brought it home for their team. Amongst other decks include a few Team Rocket’s box, a few Zoroarks, a Honchkrow, and a few Alakazam, with varied win rates. Garchomp had a rough week going 0-2 in matches and 0-4 in games. A fun stat here, Captains this week had a win/loss ratio of 7-5.

Now for the team and match segment! This will include results from the weekly games and point updates for keeping up with the competition!

Team Unplugged vs Team Pucked Up

Team Unplugged had the strongest start of the week beating Team Pucked Up, with a 4-1 player win differential, a 8-3 game differential, and a 15-4 total point differential! Team Unplugged’s strong showing can be attributed heavily to Slowking, where 3 out of 4 of the wins they got was with the pink king, and their only loss was their captain playing Team Rockets. If you want to pick an early favorite for Season 1 Winners, I would suggest placing money on them! But I will emphasize that Team Pucked up had some interesting deck choices with 2 Mega Starmie players, a Hop’s Box player, and a Raging Bolt player. If this team optimizes their lists a bit more, they might be able to prove a challenge to the competition! With this game's end, Team Unplugged is now 1-0 and Team Pucked Up is now 0-1.

Flawless TCG vs Team NextPull

Flawless TCG was another team with a good start against Team NextPull with a 3-2 player win differential, a 6-5 game differential, and a 12-7 point differential. Even after Flawless TCG did indeed not go flawless, the result does still lean towards them, showing they might be a team to look at moving forward! I will say this though, Flawless TCG did have some pretty fun deck choices this week, with a Mega Diance/Clefairy deck, a Cynthia’s Garchomp, and a Mega Venusaur, who took a Jungle Dump on the opposing teams Cynthia’s Garchomp… Team NextPull had a rough week overall, with some very unfavorable matchups, but that doesn't mean this team is out of it yet! Their two top players in Splat and Gabbienotgabby are two VERY good players and should definitely be looked at as scary prospects for teams to go up against…

With this game's end, Flawless TCG is now 1-0 and Team NextPull is now 0-1.

“Maybe Team NextPull’s captain should stop spinning a wheel to pick decks!” -IrritableMike

The Goon Gang vs Team Forgotten Fairy Energy

The Goon Gang also had a strong start beating Team Forgotten Fairy Energy with a 3-2 player win differential, but with a 6-6 game differential which is a result of Forgotten Fairy Energy securing 2 2-0 wins and 2 1-2 losses, while The Goon Gang only had one 2-0 win. However this did not change the end result of the points, making the end score total 12-8 in favor of The Goon Gang. The Goon Gang played some pretty standard decks, but it worked! A few Dragapult decks, an Alakazam, a Zoroark, and the spicy Team Rockets Honchkrow! Although looking at what Team Forgotten Fairy Energy was playing, *checks notes* they had a player playing Kangaskhan/Joltik, a player playing Eevee Box, an Ethan's Typhlosion, and a Crustle? This team might be scary if they decide to play real decks… With this game’s end, The Goon Gang is now 1-0 and Team Forgotten Fairy Energy is now 0-1.

“I threw to perfection DESPITE playing two red cards!" - Elijah

Peak Gaming vs SireSquad

Peak Gaming hasn’t peaked yet, but still had a very strong start winning 3-2 with a 7-5 game difference and a 13-7 point differential. Peak Gaming definitely had some good matchups this week bringing several Clefairy’s into several Dragapult’s this week, including one of the Mega Diancie/Clefairy decks which is always fun! As for the SireSquad, they took a rough loss in week 1, but have the definite potential to bounce back considering they are leaning heavy into the meta, which should favor them as time goes on. Peak Gaming’s strong start should put them in early title contention, especially if their lower PR players continue to play well. With this game's end, Peak Gaming is now 1-0 and SireSquad is now 0-1.

Team Rogue vs Togepi’s Tiny Terrors

Togepi’s Tiny Terrors were definitely horrifying to Team Rouge this week, despite a close match overall. This week ended in favor of Togepi’s Tiny Terrors with a 3-2 player differential, a 7-5 game differential, and a 13-7 point differential, which is one of the best of the week. Despite the claims of being tiny, they were anything but, with a very big lineup of decks overall, including a Slowking, a Crustle, a very spicy Hydrapple/Ogerpon, a Mega Starmie and a Alakazam. Team Rogue definitely lived up to their name too though, bringing quite the lineup which included an Ethan’s Typhlosion, a Hop’s Trevenant, the Lone Mega Greninja of the week which was paired with Dragapult, a Team Rocket’s Honchkrow, and a- im sorry- does that say BRONZONG/CLAYDOL?? Well, I'm invested to see how these teams do as they seem to be leaning into the fun side of things! With this game's end, Togepi’s Tiny Terrors are now 1-0 and Team Rogue is now 0-1.

Team Nacho Bell Grande vs Team Technicians

Last but certainly not least, is Team Nacho Bell Grande (which I will be shortening to Team NBG since I don’t feel like typing all that out 20 times) beating down Team Technicians with a close 3-2 player score, but the games were anything but, with a game difference of 7-4, with a 13-6 point score on the week. Let's start with the winners on the week with Team NBG starting off hot, cooking the technicians game wise, while still managing to only lose 4 total games. Looks like Team NBG is leaning heavily into the Dragapult decks with a lone Alakazam deck and a lone Slowking, a sign that this might be another team more focused on playing what's strong vs what might be more fun. On the other side of the coin, as for Team Technicians, I personally am not too worried about a shaky week 1. I have a ton of faith that this team will bounce back and be strong into the later weeks. The Technicians played more fun decks than anything, with a Team Rockets Mewtwo, a Steven's Metagross deck, a Grimsnarl/Froslass, a Zoroark, and a Beedrill ex deck. I think that Team Technicians will improve over time and should be considered a dark horse team in our inaugural season. With this game’s end, Team Nacho Bell Grande is now 1-0 and Team Technicians are now 0-1.

Thank you all so much for reading our first newsletter, we hope to publish one of these every Monday afternoon, so keep checking our website https://lostzoneleague.com/news for updates, and we hope you all continue to enjoy our first season!