Howdy! We had exciting games in the Lorcana Challenge in Toronto, with some being extremely close for both players! This is our first major tournament without Bucky, and Emerald Steel seems to be struggling without him so far.
We had a versatile showing of the meta, where different archetypes performed and made it into the top 8! Making the top 4 earns players the Golden Mickey and a spot to play in the Championship stage, so it’s a huge achievement!
First Place
Emerald Amber – Diego Saz
Emerald Amber wins it all! The deck was piloted by Diego Saz beating Amber Steel in the finals. The Emerald Amber deck uses Prince John – Greediest of All and Diablo – Devoted Herald as draw engines, putting you ahead of the opponent in resource value. To activate John – Greediest of All‘s draw effect, you need to discard a card from the opponent’s hand, so cards like Ursula – Deceiver, The Bare Necessities, and Sudden Chill synergize perfectly with John – Greediest of All, bleeding the opponent out of resources while gaining a draw.
Ariel – Spectacular Singer is a valuable Singer, letting you play high-cost Songs like We Don’t Talk About Bruno and Under the Sea without having to worry about using up your Ink. The Muses – Proclaimers of Heroes, We Don’t Talk About Bruno, and Under the Sea can remove the opponent’s Characters off the board, weakening their presence on the board.
The Muses – Proclaimers of Heroes and Under the Sea are restricted to the Character’s Strength, so they can’t remove anything higher than 2 Strength. This is where cards like Painting the Roses Red and Kida – Protector of Atlantis come in handy to put Characters in range for your removal cards.
Second Place
Amber Steel – David Nunez
The Amber Steel deck uses Singers Ursula – Vanessa and Ariel – Spectacular Singer to Sing high-cost Songs, saving you the Ink to develop more Characters instead. We can find ourselves playing multiple cards a turn, so we’ll burn through our resources quickly. This is where A Whole New World can be a game changer, discarding both players’ hands and drawing 7 new cards.
The list has multiple control Songs like Let the Storm Rage On, World’s Greatest Criminal Mind, and And Then Along Came Zeus that can Banish opponent’s Characters, slowing down their Lore generation and imposing your authority on the board. Sleepy’s Flute offers Lore generation that keeps a win condition on the board, forcing opponents to either remove it or race you for the win. Since the list has a lot of Songs, we won’t struggle to play one Song each turn to activate Sleepy’s Flute.
The Amber Steel deck can shift three powerful Characters on the board: Robin Hood – Champion of Sherwood, The Queen – Commanding Presence, and Cinderella – Stouthearted. These Characters help you dominate the board, and opponents can struggle to deal with them early into the game.
Third Place
Sapphire Steel – Mathieu Bertrand
Another nail-biter, Sapphire Steel ended up losing to Emerald Amber, where the third match could have ended up a loss for the Lemon Lime player by milling themselves from all the card draws we witnessed.
The Sapphire Steel deck revolves around ramping up and getting to their high-cost plays as early as possible. One Jump Ahead and Fishbone Quill will get your game plan rolling, but you’ll find yourself running out of resources quickly. However, unlike Ruby Sapphire, the Steel version doesn’t only have Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker as an insane draw option but also has A Whole New World to replenish the player’s hand.
To win games, this deck relies on Lucky Dime to get more Lore from cards like Tamatoa – So Shiny! or Belle – Strange but Special, speeding up your win condition quickly, and setting you up to win the game in a turn or two.
Fourth Place
Sapphire Steel – Nicolas Roy
Nicolas Roy’s Sapphire Steel deck fell short against David Nunez’s Amber Steel. We had two Sapphire Steel decks in 3rd and 4th spot, both having a couple of different cards in their lists. Mathieu ran Chien-Po – Imperial Soldier, a high Willpower Character that has the Bodyguard keyword, and Gaston – Intellectual Powerhouse for the additional draw value, a card we saw players cut out from Sapphire Steel.
As for Nicolas, they ran Pyros – Lava Titan which can Ready one of your Characters if he Challenges and Banishes an opponent’s Character.
Top 8
Amber Steel – Philippe Asselin
Another Amber Steel deck made it to the top 8! Philippe cuts The Queen to run the discard Song, The Bare Necessities, and draw value Song, Look at This Family. The list also runs 1 copy of Stitch – Carefree Surfer for the additional late-game draw option if the game drags out.
Ruby Sapphire – Dinh Khang Pham
Ruby Sapphire is a ramp deck that uses One Jump Ahead and Fishbone Quill to gain more Ink, accelerating your game plan so you can drop higher-cost plays on earlier turns. Since we’re Inking more, we’ll find ourselves losing on card resources, this is where Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker carries the deck, giving you those two card draws every turn.
Ruby offers control cards to keep the opponent’s side of the board in check. Madame Medusa – The Boss, Be Prepared, and Maleficent – Monstrous Dragon are some of the powerful control tools that Ruby offers.
Amethyst Emerald – Ben Stevens
Amethyst Emerald – Jacob Phinney
Two Emerald Amethyst decks made it into the top 8! This archetype balances both the Bounce and Discard mechanics as part of its game plan.
Ursula – Deceiver can discard one of the opponent’s Songs and with your bounce cards (Madam Mim – Fox and Madam Mim – Snake), you can return her to your hand and replay her to discard another Song. The Bounce cards also synergize with Merlin – Goat and Merlin – Rabbit to activate their effects and gain additional value from them. Kit Cloudkicker – Tough Guy can be extremely annoying, bouncing one of the opponent’s Characters back to their hand, potentially shutting down their strategy or stopping them from Challenging one of your Characters.
The Queen’s Castle – Mirror Chamber can be a game-winner, generating Lore and forcing players to Challenge it and remove it from play as fast as possible.
Jacob and Ben are on different lists, with Ben including two copies of Ursula – Sea Witch Queen for a stronger late-game option. Jacob is on 4 Diablo – Devoted Herald for the draw engine, whereas Ben decided to cut them out entirely from the list.
