Disney Lorcana is Right to Strike Two Meta Cards With The Ban Hammer

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home April 8, 2025 12 Views 5 Min Read
Disney Lorcana is Right to Strike Two Meta Cards With The Ban Hammer

Summary

  • Sapphire/Steel is the top Lorcana deck post-set 7, but key cards Hiram Flaversham and Fortisphere are now banned.
  • Ravensburger’s decision to ban cards improves game diversity and competitiveness.
  • Banning powerful cards like Hiram Flaversham encourages deck variety and shifts the meta positively.

With the Archazia’s Island set coming out in March for Disney Lorcana, the game underwent many changes in terms of deckbuilding, with some color combinations being much better than others and one color dominating the meta by a huge margin. One of the core conceits of Lorcana when it comes to making decks is that players can only use up to two Ink colors, which has an impact on which cards are available to use. The best Lorcana deck is Sapphire/Steel, as it gained a lot of great tools with set 7 – enough to make it get to the top of the meta. However, Ravensburger announced that two key cards for this deck are now banned from competitive play.

Banning cards in TCGs can often spark controversy within the community, and while Lorcana did “ban” a card in the past in the form of Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor, this was an errata that effectively killed the card’s viability. In this case, though, Ravensburger decided to hit two cards with the nerf hammer to improve the health and diversity of the game, which could be a great decision. As of now, Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker and Fortisphere can’t be used in competitive events.

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Lorcana’s First Bans Are a Logical Progression After Archazia’s Island

One of the biggest issues with banning cards in TCGs is that they lose value and so do their respective expansions, and the action sets a precedent for other outliers to receive the same treatment in the future. In this case, the issue is that Archazia’s Island added several over-the-top cards for Sapphire, which led to its prominence in the meta and now the bans to limit its viability while opening up new opportunities for other decks to shine. This doesn’t mean that Lorcana‘s Reign of Jafar will follow the same pattern and ban older cards in order to preserve the power level of current ones, though.

Considering that this action is drastic, and it has never been taken before, there is a good chance bans won’t be common in the game. Still, it’s important to understand why Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker and Fortisphere were banned, in particular. In the case of the former, it was simply too good and consistent, making Sapphire the best draw color instead of Amethyst, which makes it part of its identity. Flaversham was mandatory in most Sapphire decks and had a ridiculous win rate compared to other cards, making it plausible that it would either be banned or get an errata.

Fortisphere may seem more of a headscratcher, as it’s mostly ever powerful in Sapphire/Steel decks, especially with the new Belle – Apprentice Inventor and Tamatoa – Happy as a Clam from Archazia’s Island. However, Steel decks rarely ever use items if not with Sapphire, and Fortisphere made turn-1 Belle – Apprentice Inventor even more likely and consistent. A 1-drop item with card draw is arguably more out of color for Steel than it is for Sapphire with Pawpsicle, which is the likely reason why Ravensburger banned the former rather than the latter.

Why Lorcana’s First Two Bans Are Great

Ultimately, these bans are a good thing for the game because they encourage players to build different decks now. Before the bans, most events had multiple Sapphire decks in top 8, even winning most times, so this decision helps with creating diverse competitive decks. This will inevitably change Lorcana‘s market for buying or selling cards, and it will be interesting to see the actual effects of banning two powerful and popular cards. It’s unclear what the effect will be on the meta overall, but things are looking up.

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