Ruby Sapphire list has changed as Set 6 meta in Disney Lorcana developed, not taking a more aggressive playstyle but maintaining its ramp capabilities and control tools. This ramp deck creates opportunities to play higher-cost cards a turn or two earlier. It also has the card draw tools to ensure it doesn’t run out of value in the late game.
This archetype continues to be one of the most played decks among players in tournament settings, its ramp ability combined with the control cards make it a great competitive choice. Decision-making plays a vital role when piloting this deck, and learning the matchups will go a long way as you’ll often make different plays with this deck depending on the opponent’s deck.
Gameplan
1-cost Draws
Develop your Brain looks at the top 2 cards in your deck and lets you choose 1 to keep in your hand, the other goes to the bottom of your deck. This helps you find the cards you’ll want for your future turns.
We’ll want The Early Item cards on the board as early as turn 1. Pawpsicle is a cycle card, drawing us a card and remaining on the board for us to either Banish Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker or heal a key character we don’t want it to get banished by an attacker.
Ramp Cards
Ramp cards are a crucial part of this deck’s game plan, giving us more Ink, and allowing us to start playing our higher-cost cards earlier than usual. Having more Ink in the late-game means we get to set up multiple plays, which eventually, can be challenging for opponents to keep up with.
We usually want to play Tipo – Growing Son first for the early ramp, while keeping him on play to potentially attack a low Willpower Character.
Sail the Azurite Sea is another ramp card that costs only 2 ink. When played, you can put a card from your hand into your inkwell face down and draw a card. So although you’re losing a card from your hand to the inkwell, you’re still drawing a card, think of it as a way to filter your hand for a better card while still gaining a card in your inkwell.
Lastly, How Far I’ll Go is a bit of a high-cost ramp card, but we’re able to sing it with Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker or Gramma Tala – Keeper of Ancient Stories. This lets us avoid spending 4 Ink to ramp and offers a card draw along with it. When looking at the top 2 cards of the deck, we get to choose which one goes to the Inkwell and which we draw.
Draw Engine
You’ll struggle with card value since some of your ramp cards lose resources to gain cards in the Inkwell. This is where Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker is extremely useful, allowing you to Banish an Item to get two cards out of it. This replenishes your hand and gives you more options for future turns.
The list has low-cost Items such as Pawpsicle and Ice Block that can be played and then Banished by Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker for the additional card draw.
Vision of the Future lets you look at the top 5 cards of your deck and draw it. It’s great in this deck because of the 5 options it gives to ensure you have a powerful late-game plan.
Gramma Tala – Keeper of Ancient Stories is a draw option, but we always prefer Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker over her for the draw potential since he can activate his ability every turn.
Removal Cards
Our valuable removal cards to control the board and ensure opponents don’t feel too comfortable developing their Characters. You want to Banish potential threats and disrupt the opponent’s game plan.
Brawl is a great tool to remove any bothersome Character that plays a pivotal role in the opponent’s game plan. Ursula – The Deceiver of All and Diablo – Devoted Herald are premium targets for Brawl to remove. It can also be an answer in the mirror matchup to banish Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker.
We’ll use Let it Go to remove one of the opponent’s Characters from the board and place it in their inkwell. We are giving them more ink, but weakening the presence on the board by removing a win condition is usually worth it. We can sing it with one of our 5-cost+ Characters instead of spending ink to play it.
Be Prepared is the strongest removal in the deck, and since we’re ramping, we’re capable of threatening Be Prepared on earlier turns. This shuts down the opponent’s domination of the board in the early/mid game and sets us up to take back the game in the later stages.
The Mauis
Maui – Hero to All‘s 6|5 stat-line combined with Rush makes him an immediate threat on the turn he’s played. He can attack and Banish a rested Character or target a Location your opponent is relying on as part of their game plan.
Maui – Half-Shark is a great play if you need resources in your hand. When Maui – Half-Shark Challenges another Character, you can return an action card from your discard to your hand. So cards like Develop Your Brain and Vision of the Future are low-cost Action cards to draw. Additionally, Maui – Half-Shark will give you 1 Lore for every Action card you play. So he’s a win condition that gets you closer to winning the game and your opponent can’t simply ignore him unless they want to race you to 20 Lore. The Evasive on Maui – Half-Shark makes him even harder to Banish and you’ll be more confident to Quest with him.
Slow Your Opponent Down
A Pirate’s Life can be a lifesaver in the late game. You can Sing A Pirate’s Life with Maui – Half-Shark and force your opponent to lose 2 Lore while you gain 2 Lore. A Pirate’s Life is doing two things, slowing opponent’s progress to win the game and pushing you closer to 20 Lore.
Extra Lore
Goofy – Super Goof is a Rush attacker, and although he doesn’t have the best stat line, his ability compensates, giving you 2 Lore when he challenges an opponent’s Character.
As for McDuck Manor – Scrooge’s Mansion, it’s generating 2 Lore at the start of your turn, which might force the opposing player to try and remove it. 9 Strength isn’t an easy location to remove, so it will expend their resources and slow them down.
Mulligan
- An early 1-cost item, preferably Pawpsicle so Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker can banish and draw cards off of it.
- You want to look for your Ramp cards like Tipo – Growing Son or Sail the Azurite Sea to start getting more cards in your inkwell as early as possible.
- Card draw is important to have different options in the late game, so Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker is a card you want to see in your early hand.
- Keep Inkable cards so we don’t run into scenarios where we can’t Ink.
Other Cards to Include
- Fishbone Quill is a strong Ramp card, offering a ramp opportunity every single turn. This does mean we have to sacrifice a card from hand every time we use it, but with the deck’s draw potential, we can replenish our hand later on. Fishbone Quill can also be a target for Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker to banish and draw us cards.
- The Lucky Dime item comes in clutch to accelerate the Lore win condition, potentially winning the game the turn it drops. We want to use it on the Character with the highest Lore generation, basically either Tamatoa – So Shiny! or Sisu – Empowered Sibling.
Strengths/Weaknesses
- This deck can set up powerful high-cost plays earlier than expected.
- It doesn’t run out of value easily.
- You’re able to keep the board under control with your removal cards.
- It struggles against aggressive decks.
- Decks capable of discarding cards from your hand can slow your game plan immensely.
