Azurite Sea is less than a week away and we finally have the full card list, so it’s time to get deckbuilding. Disney Lorcana’s sixth set puts Pirates front and center with some potent sailor synergies, while also showcasing Inventors, Robots, and everyone’s favorite afternoon cartoon, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
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Disney Lorcana: How To Upgrade The Amber/Ruby Starter Deck From Azurite Sea
If nautical nonsense be something ye wish, this is the starter deck for you.
This set is packed with powerful cards that will surely make an impact on the meta, potentially even creating the opportunity for yet unseen ink color combos and archetypes. As you fire up your favorite deck builder and start brewing some spice, consider these new cards and how they might fit into your new favorite deck.
Maui, Half-Shark
The more you look at Maui, Half-Shark, the better he gets. A 7/5 Evasive character for six ink is already well-statted before you even get to his two abilities, which individually have the potential to be game warping, but together make Maui one of the coolest legendaries yet.
It’s easy to see Maui’s potential in existing Ruby decks. You can have him challenge a character to get back a Friends on the Other Side, then play it immediately to draw two cards and gain one lore. Ruby/Amethyst decks may be able to cut back on Be Prepared now that there’s a (somewhat) reliable way to get them back from the discard. In the new burn variant, he provides yet another way to earn un-interactable lore. Plus he can sing A Pirate’s Life. Look for Maui, Half-Shark to be a new Ruby staple.
Simba, Pride Protector
A lot of Floodborn characters are dependent on having worthwhile Shift targets, and if the Floodborn is good enough you may occasionally find yourself playing a dud just to give it something to shift onto. In Simba, Pride Protector’s case, his synergy with Simba, Protective Cub is what makes the card powerful. Simba, Pride Protector wants to be exerted, and Simba, Protective Cub gives him a way to be exerted immediately. The fact that you can play both Simbas for the same cost as just hardcasting Pride Protector might make this combo a powerhouse in Amber decks.
The burst potential this Simba creates is remarkable. You could spend your first four turns setting up low-cost high-lore characters like Piglet; Pooh, Pirate Captain; and Daisy Duck, Donald’s Date, then drop both Simbas on turn five (or sooner if you already have Protective Cub in play), quest out, and ready your characters to do it again the following turn. The downside is that you need both Simbas to make this worthwhile, but the upside will be worth the extra slots in your Amber deck.
You Came Back
At first glance, a three-cost, uninkable action with such a simple ability might be easy to overlook, but once you start thinking about all the things you can do with You Came Back, it becomes one of the scariest cards in the set. Its simplicity gives it flexibility, and clever deck builders will find many ways to exploit it.
Emerald/Sapphire (or Baja Blast if you’re a sophisticated Illumineer) hasn’t made much of a splash in the meta yet, but consider what will happen when you can quest multiple times in one turn with Ariel, Treasure Collector or Tamatoa, So Shiny!. Why waste time trying to set up a Lucky Dime when You Came Back does the same thing for less than half the cost? Mufasa, Ruler of Pride Rock already readies your inkwell when he quests, now You Came Back will let you quest twice, earning eight lore and readying your inkwell twice, giving you effectively three times the ink you previously had to work with. This might be the card that finally makes Baja Blast happen.
Alice, Savvy Sailor
Sapphire has a very defined identity. It ramps, and it plays lots of items. Whether you play Sapphire/Steel or Ruby/Sapphire, the game plan is very similar. Alice, Savvy Sailor doesn’t fit into that style of deck, but her ability is so powerful that she may bring on a new, totally different kind of Sapphire deck, which is an intriguing prospect indeed.
Goofy, Expert Shipwright has a similar ability, so he also has a lot of potential this set.
Alice might be a big player in a Sapphire Aggro deck thanks to her impressive stats and even more impressive ability. Like Donald Duck, Musketeer Soldier; she creates opportunities to gain early game lore quickly while protecting vulnerable characters from certain threats.
But she also enables you to play formerly unplayable characters that were considered too slow and vulnerable in the past. Even if you don’t get the benefit of earning an extra lore, giving a character like Arthur, Wizard’s Apprentice or Simba, Scrappy Cub a chance to earn value before they’re inevitably banished is more than enough to make Alice worth it. If Sapphire Aggro becomes a thing, we’ll have Alice to thank for it.
Calhoun, Marine Sergeant
Calhoun is Mr. Smee, Bumbling Mate-level good, and possibly even better. It’s common for one and two-ink slots to shift around throughout a season as the meta evolves, but I expect Calhoun will define the early game in Steel match-ups immediately, and for the foreseeable future.
Characters that earn lore while challenging, like Robin Hood, Champion of Sherwood Forest, always have a lot of value because they allow you to control the board without sacrificing the lore you would otherwise get from questing. Not only does Calhoun earn an extra lore when challenging, but she also has Resist +1, all but guaranteeing she’ll get multiple swings into the opponent’s board in the early game. There are only about 20 cards that can trade with Calhoun in the game, and only five or six that see any play. Expect to see a lot more three-Strength one and two-cost characters being played this set thanks to Calhoun.
Disney Lorcana
Lorcana is a trading card game developed by Disney and published by Ravensburger, featuring iconic characters, settings, and more from the studio’s long history. As an Illumineer, you must build your deck and help protect Lorcana.