A new Disney Lorcana set means it’s time to build some new decks, and we finally have enough cards available to bring some highly anticipated typal strategies together.
If you’re looking for a fun deck to try while you start to put your Into the Inklands collection together over the next couple weeks, just try out the fun and thematic builds I’ve put together.
Villain Swarm
Hades, King of Olympus showed us the possibility of a Villain deck back in The First Chapter, but, because he was so expensive and there were so few Villain cards in Amber, the archetype never came to be. There still aren’t a ton of villains in Amber, but the introduction of Queen of Hearts, Wonderland gives us the perfect build-around for an all-Villain deck.
Not only does this deck leverage 45 villains to ensure Queen of Hearts gets as much value as possible, but it also makes good use of Sorcerer’s Hat to help you sort your deck and draw lots of extra cards. Yzma, Alchemist; Jafar, Lamp Thief; Ursula’s Cauldron, and The Boss Is On A Roll also work together to stack your deck, allowing you to know exactly what you want to draw with Sorcerer’s Hat.
The Sorcerer’s Hat won’t synergize with Jafar because of the wording being “put the card into your hand” and not “draw”.
Although The Sorcerer’s Hat won’t synergize with Jafar, Striking Illusionist, Friends on the Other Side, Maleficent, Sorceress; Yzma, Scary Beyond All Reason; and The Queen, Wicked and Vain all provide card draw that Jafar can feed off of.
This is also a great deck for Chernabog, and who doesn’t want to see Chernabog in action?
Pirate Party
Lorcana’s brand manager and co-designer Ryan Miller has often talked about his love for the Pirate deck, but there hasn’t been any pirate synergy until now. With Jolly Roger, Hook’s Ship, every Pirate can have Rush, making low-cost Challengers like Captain Hook, Forceful Duelist high-value removal tools, and creating the opportunity for a challenge-focused deck to emerge.
The likes of Mulan, Imperial Soldier; Scar, Vicious Cheater; and Shere Khan, Menacing Predator have struggled to find a place in the meta, but with the help of Sumerian Talisman and the Jolly Roger, you can give any character Rush and earn free cards by running them into your opponent’s characters. Additional tools like Pick a Fight and Lefou, Instigator ensure you get the most value out of your Rush characters, while the Jim Hawkins and RLS Legacy package help you deal with Evasives.
There’s a lot of strong pirate cards that are even stronger with the Jolly Roger in play, but John Silver, Greedy Treasure Seeker is the clear standout. The more locations you play the stronger John gets, and Jim Hawkins helps you by cheating out locations for free.
If all else fails, a sneaky Mulan with Rush from the Jolly Roger can give your characters the lore boost they need to close out a game, or Scar can combo with Shere Khan to become a one-sided, lore-gaining Be Prepared. With some tweaks to answer the developing meta, this might be the first competitive typal deck in Lorcana.
Titan Flex
Titans enter Lorcana for the first time this set, giving us a high-cost collection of characters with some interesting synergies. Over on X,Lorcana Ohana shared a very Magic Christmas Land combo you’re able to pull offwith all four titans plus Hades in play, but given how unlikely (and expensive) this setup would be, we’re better off looking at more conservative synergies. For example, Hades and three of the four titans can all trigger Weight Set.
While most Amethyst decks rely on Maleficent, Rabbit, and Friends on the Other Side, this Weight Set deck combines 30 characters with four or more Strength to achieve near constant card draw instead. By turn four, you’ll be able to draw an extra card almost every time you play a character.
Playing the Titans with Weight Set also presents a perfect opportunity for Magica De Spell, The Midas Touch. When Pyros banishes another character he allows you to ready any of your own, which would allow you to quest with Magica twice, or reset her to keep her safe for multiple turns. With Lythos in play, you can also give Pyros Resist +2, ensuring he survives to repeat the combo multiple times, or alternatively, use Hades to ready all of them.
Bodyguard Bumrush
I’ve been dying to make Musketeers work, and with the addition of Little John, Resourceful Outlaw, we finally have the makings of a strong Bodyguard deck. This deck combines low-cost questers with 31 different Bodyguard characters to create an impenetrable wall across your board.
While most Amber decks rely on Rapunzel, Gifted with Healing to generate card draw, you’re able to use Musketeer Tabard for the same cost to draw cards almost every single turn. This deck has an aggressive start with Lilo into Simba, or you can start with Pluto, Friendly Pooch, and jump ahead to one of the three-cost Bodyguard characters like The Prince or Little John. This will often let you keep Pluto in play for multiple turns, allowing you to play bigger and bigger bodyguard characters for a reduced cost.
The goal is to get Little John, Resourceful Outlaw into play and pile Bodyguard characters in front of him. With Little John on the field, The Prince becomes a 1/3 with Resist +2 that quests for three. With two Little Johns on the board, there’s almost nothing your opponent can do to stop you outside of playing Be Prepared.
Though I’ve showcased three different Steel and two Amber decks in this list, the incredible thing is that they all use completely different cards. We’re at a point in Lorcana now where it’s possible to build unique decks with a lot of variety even within the same color, which makes the game more diverse and interesting. These four decks are just a starting point for what will hopefully be a wide and interesting meta this season.
Next:There’s A New Pseudo-Infinite Loop In Lorcana, And This Time You Can Actually Do It
