Sapphire Steel and Ruby Sapphire have been the dominant forces in Lorcana’s Set 7 meta, making it tough for other decks to stay competitive. In response, Ravensburger has banned Hiram Flaversham and Fortisphere from official Disney Lorcana events, aiming to shake up the meta and encourage a more diverse and balanced competitive scene.
With Sapphire Steel taking the brunt of the bans—and Sapphire losing its core draw engine—it’s safe to say that both Ruby Sapphire and Sapphire Steel are unlikely to maintain their stranglehold on the meta. As a result, we’re likely to see a wider variety of decks appearing at tournaments, leading to a more exciting and dynamic competitive experience.
Several strong contenders are likely to show up in tournaments now. Let’s take a look at the decks that could define the next phase of Lorcana’s competitive play!
Emerald Steel
Emerald Steel will probably become a top-tier deck again with Sapphire Steel out of the picture. This is a discard that uses Sudden Chill, Ursula – Deceiver, and Hypnotize to discard cards from the opponent’s deck, bleeding them out of resources and forcing them to rely on top decks.
Prince John – Greediest of All acts as a draw engine, drawing you a card whenever you discard an opponent’s card. He synergizes perfectly with what this deck is trying to do, increasing the resource gap and making it harder for the opposing player to catch up.
Ursula – Deceiver of All lets you cast a Song twice if she sings it, so she can work with Sudden Chill and Let the Storm Rage On for added value.
Pete – Space Pirate prevents your opponent from exerting their Characters to Sing Songs, which can be a huge blow for decks like Amber Steel Steel Song, effectively ruining their turn and forcing them make less optimal plays.
Ruby Amethyst
Ruby Amethyst is set to make a comeback after a huge fall in Set 7 meta due to the dominance of Ruby Sapphire and Sapphire Steel decks. This list is teched to perform well against Amber Steel but also has answers to Diablo – Devoted Herald for the Emerald Steel matchup, having Pegasus – Flying Steed as an evasive Character to challenge Diablo and shut down the draw engine.
This deck is full of control options like Brawl, Madame Medusa – The Boss, Sisu – Empowered Sibling, and Be Prepared to banish opponent’s Characters and slow them down, eventually running them out of steam and taking over the game.
This list cuts out the bounce mechanic, Merlin – Rabbit, and Merlin – Goat, but you can still add the bounce package to the list.
Amber Steel Steel Song
Amber Steel is all about winning the board by playing songs. To play your Songs while developing Characters on the board, you’ll rely on your Singers Ariel – Spectacular Singer, Gaston – Baritone Bully, and The Troubadour – Musical Narrator to Sing your Songs, allowing you to use your Ink to continue developing Characters.
The list has multiple damage Songs to banish your opponent’s Characters, making it harder for them to challenge your exerted Characters. Let the Storm Rage On, Strength of a Raging Fire, and And Then Along Came Zeus are all damage Songs that can Sing to banish an opponent’s Character or weaken it enough for your attacker to finish the job.
A Whole New World is an important card in this deck. Since you’re Singing, you’ll often burn through your resources quickly, so you need a card to replenish your hand, and A Whole New World does just that while also discarding your opponent’s hand before drawing them 7 new cards. This could ruin your opponent’s current hand if timed correctly.
Emerald Amethyst
Emerald Amethyst combines the bounce and discard mechanics into one deck. You have Sudden Chill, Hypnotize, and Ursula – Deceiver to discard opponent’s cards, dropping them low on resources. On top of that, Prince John – Greediest of All will keep drawing you card when you discard the opponent’s card, growing the resource gap in your favor. Diablo – Devoted Herald is another draw engine, forcing your opponent to find an answer and remove it as soon as possible.
We’re mainly trying to run the opposing player out of cards and eventually they won’t be able to match our plays, taking over the late game.
Ruby Sapphire
This Ruby Sapphire version doesn’t rely on Hiram Flaversham as much. The list has ramp cards like Tipo – Growing Son, Sail The Azurite Sea, and How Far I’ll Go to speed up its game plan, making more stronger plays on earlier turns.
We have a couple of control cards like Brawl and Be Prepared, but we’re more focused on generating Lore through Goofy – Super Good, McDuck Manor – Scrooge’s Mansion, Maui – Half-Shark, and A Pirate’s Life, trying to push to 20 Lore before our opponent.
Sapphire Amethyst Blurple
The Blurple deck can play fast, cheating out Belle – Accomplished Mystic to start off with an aggressive start and having Tipo – Growing Son for the ramp to play your higher cost Characters a turn earlier.
We have multiple card-draw options to ensure we don’t run out of resources. Genie – Wish Fulfilled and Finders Keepers are great for winning the resource strategy and helping us if games stretch out.
Belle – Accomplished Mystic, Elsa – The Fifth Spirit, and Hades – Infernal Schemer for controlling the board, allowing us to banish or remove certain Characters from play.
As for the additional Lore generation, we have Merlin – Goat and The Queen – Jealous Beauty for that, giving us a push to get to 20 Lore faster.
Amber Emerald
Although Amber Emerald isn’t a popular option among players, it remains a strong consideration to bring and is a deck to watch out for. Amber Emerald is a different version of a discard deck, focusing way more on board control than the Emerald Steel version. This deck uses Sudden Chill, The Bare Necessities, and Ursula – Deceiver to bleed opponents out of resources.
The strategy also involves banishing opponents’ Characters with cards like The Muses – Proclaimers of Heroes and Under the Sea slows their Lore generation and weakens their board presence. Combined with the discard mechanic, it can be difficult for them to make a comeback on the board and keep up with the Amber Emerald player.
You can also use Kida – Protector of Atlantis to reduce the Strength of the opponent’s Characters, putting them in range for the The Muses – Proclaimers of Heroes to remove through her effect.
