Howdy! The Emerald Steel Bucky version is a Tier 1 deck in the Set 4 Lorcana meta. It has proved itself as one of the best performers in the tournament scene and has become the target for players to counter.
2 Grab Your Sword
4 Robin Hood - Beloved Outlaw
3 We Don't Talk About Bruno
4 Strength of a Raging Fire
3 Tinker Bell - Giant Fairy
4 Diablo - Maleficent's Spy
4 Diablo - Devoted Herald
4 Pegasus - Gift for Hercules
3 Aladdin - Brave Rescuer
4 Pegasus - Cloud Racer
3 Jafar - Dreadnought
4 Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor
4 Robin Hood - Champion of Sherwood
4 Ursula - Deceiver
4 Beast - Tragic Hero
2 Hidden Cove - Tranquil Haven
4 Let the Storm Rage OnThe Emerald Steel deck plays around discarding cards from the opponent’s hand, running them out of resources, and forcing them to rely on top decks. With its damage Songs and a couple of Characters, it can keep control of the board and eventually outvalue the opponent.
Early 1-Drops
Our early 1-drops to start the lore generation or keep up with the opponent’s development. Diablo – Maleficent’s Spy gives us valuable information on the opponent’s hand and how to approach our upcoming turns. It’s also useful to see if they have any Songs in hand before we play Ursula – Deceiver.
Pegasus – Gift for Hercules is an Evasive character that can be bothersome for the opposing player, questing and generating Lore without having to worry about a random Character challenging it.
Lastly, Robin Hood – Beloved Outlaw is more suited to keep opponents from Questing with vulnerable Characters.
All three of these characters have higher versions we can shift them on the board. We’re mainly looking to shift Pegasus – Cloud Racer and Robin Hood – Champion of Sherwood.
The Better Versions
Diablo – Devoted Herald can be played be shifted on Diablo – Maleficent’s Spy by discarding an Action card from hand instead of spending any Lore to play. Although this is dropping on card resources, having Diablo on the board as early as possible will draw us more cards, generating resource value.
Pegasus – Cloud Racer isn’t offering much of a threat with its stat line. It’s still Questing for 2 Lore and giving Evasive to all other characters on the board until the start of your next turn. The Evasive will allow you to Quest with all your characters and make it a challenge for opponent to deal with your board.
Robin Hood – Champion of Sherwood is best played on turn 3 by shifting him on Robin Hood – Beloved Outlaw. The 3|6 stat line can be a nightmare for most decks, making it difficult for them to Quest without risking their rested character from getting banished by Robin Hood – Champion of Sherwood. Additionally, every time Robin Hood – Champion of Sherwood banishes a card, you’re gaining 2 Lore and when Robin Hood – Champion of Sherwood is banished in a challenge, you get to draw a card.
Discard Plan
Ursula – Deceiver can discard a Song from the opponent’s hand. We’re not always aiming to play her on turn 2, but depending on the matchup we might want to prioritize her over Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor. For example, if we’re against a deck that runs A Whole New World, then Ursula – Deceiver is important to remove that card value from opponent’s hand.
Let’s talk about Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor, which this deck heavily revolves around. The plan is to have Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor on the board as early as turn 2, setting us up to play our Floodborn Characters.
Every time Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor sees you play a Floodborn Character, your opponent is forced to choose a card to discard. This is where our game plan is to run them out of resources and we’re able to start the discard plan on the same turn Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor is played through shifting Diablo – Devoted Herald.
Since Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor has Ward, he’s difficult for opponents to remove and we’ll avoid Questing with him so he doesn’t end up an easy target to Banish.
More Discard
We Don’t Talk About Bruno is more of a control card to remove one of the opponent’s Characters from play and slow down their pace immensely. The discard ability is the cherry on top, helping run opponents out of resources.
In most cases, you’ll prefer singing We Don’t Talk About Bruno through one of your 5-cost Characters like Robin Hood – Champion of Sherwood, Pegasus – Cloud Racer, and Beast – Tragic Hero.
Card Draw
We’re discarding opponents’ resources but also need to maximize that resource advantage through our card draw. As long as Diablo – Devoted Herald sticks on the board, you’re gaining an additional draw. This forces opposing players to find answers to remove it quickly.
Beast- Tragic Hero is another Character generating card draw for us. However, unlike Diablo – Devored Herald, we want to avoid exerting with Beast – Tragic Hero if there’s a Character capable of damaging him. Your opponent will try to find methods to damage Beast – Tragic Hero to shut down the draw potential.
Strength of A Raging Fire is two card draw song, which can be Inked if needed. We don’t want to spend 3 Ink to play it, so Singing with Diablo – Devoted Herald is our best play.
Damage Songs
Let The Storm Rage On and Grab Your Sword are essential to keep the board control and remove low-power Characters, they can also be a follow-up play to banish damaged Characters.
Grab Your Sword works best against decks capable of developing multiple Characters on the board and going aggressive. We can play it on earlier turns by Singing it through our 5-cost characters.
More Floodborn
More Floodborn Characters to activate Bucky‘s discard effect.
Aladdin – Brave Rescuer is a meta call card against decks that rely on Items on the board. It’s great against decks like Ruby Sapphire and Sapphire Steel.
Jafar- Dreadnought is a 4-cost Floodborn we can set up easily for Bucky to discard a card. Jafar is also providing us with a card draw every time he challenges and banishes a card. In most cases, we’ll only get 1 draw from Jafar- Dreadnought, which is already enough value from him.
Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy is a powerhouse on the board, damaging all opponent’s Characters by 1 and if she banished another character in a challenge, she can deal 2 damage to a chosen Characters. She’s great to control the opponent’s side of the board and slow them down from winning the game.
Mulligan
- Bucky is on the top of our list for cards we want to have early on. Diablo – Tragic Hero is another card we want for the early game to start the draw potential. Ensure you have Inkable cards to keep setting up future plays.
Other Cards to Include
If we’re adding Ursula – Deceiver of All, we’ll get to play a Song twice if she sings them, getting more out of our Songs. Sudden Chill is a great inclusion if we’re adding Ursula – Deceiver of All, forcing opponents to discard two of their cards.
Smash is more suited for the early control, removing an opponent’s win condition like an Ursula – Deceiver of All, to slow down their pace.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Can easily outvalue an opponent with its discard potential.
- Has card draw potential to keep their engine rolling.
- Doesn’t have powerful removal cards.
- Heavily relies on Bucky as a game plan.