I try not to speak for everyone, but I’ll make an exception here: everyone wants to play strong typal decks in Disney Lorcana. The promise of decks all themed around a particular movie or category of characters is just too sweet for Disney fans to ignore, and it was one of the main draws to the game for me when it was first announced.
That promise hasn’t quite been realized yet though. Typal synergies are few and far between so far, and the ones that exist aren’t very playable. In The First Chapter we got the three Musketeer cards, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, but none of them saw much play, and there was never a good opportunity to play them together. Same goes for Villains with only Hades, King of Olympus and Vicious Betrayal tying them together, but neither are very playable either, unfortunately.
Princesses fare a bit better, with both Moana, of Motunui and Cinderella, Gentle and Kind supporting Amber as the main Princess deck color, but still not enough to form a strong strategy. Rise of the Floodborn gave us the Seven Dwarfs classification and some nice synergy shared between them, as well as more Villain and Princess support with The Most Diabolical Scheme and Grand Duke, Advisor to the King, respectively, but even with all those new tools, we’re still so far away from a typal deck being viable anywhere other than the kitchen table.
Into the Inklands is almost here, and one of the most exciting things about it is that it seems to finally be delivering the tools we need to make legitimately competitive typal decks. The big one everyone is already keyed into is the potential for a Ruby/Steel Pirate deck. Brand manager and co-designer Ryan Miller has long proclaimed his love for the pirate deck he plays among colleagues, but with Starkey, Hook’s Henchman being the only card that cares about pirates so far, it was hard to imagine how that deck could be possible.
With Into the Inklands, it’s all finally coming together. The centerpiece of the archetype is Jolly Roger, Hook’s Ship, a one-cost Location that gives characters rush, and most importantly, is free to move to for all Pirates. There’s a lot of great Captain Hook cards in Ruby and Steel already, and we’re also getting John Silver, Greedy Treasure Seeker, a steel card that gets Resist +1 and an extra lore for every Location in play. Throw in the new Mr. Smee, Clumsy Sailor; a two cost 3/3 that quests for two, as well as the lore-draining Kakamora, Menacing Sailor, and you’ve got a serious arsenal of great options to build a formidable pirate deck with.
Pirate Starter Package
Brooms are another archetype that finally feel like they’re coming online. The Broom package with Mickey Mouse, Wayward Sorcerer was a fun starter deck synergy in The First Chapter that didn’t see much use elsewhere, but come Into the Inklands we’ll be up to five broom-centric cards, including a Location that, much like the Jolly Roger, lets you move your brooms there for free. I don’t think Brooms have as much competitive potential as Pirates in the new season, but it’s fun to see that package continue to grow.
One of the Brooms has an ability that triggers off of Sorcerer characters. With 50 cards, Sorcerer is the one of the most prominent classifications in the game now, so every card that cares about Sorcerer’s has potential to see play. Most Amethyst decks are practically Sorcerer decks (and The Sword in the Stone decks) by default right now, so it's only going to take one or two more ‘Sorcerers matter’ cards to make this its own archetype.
Grand Duke gives Princes, Princesses, Kings, and Queens +1 Strength, and in the new expansion we’re seeing even more Prince and King support from Pride Lands, Pride Rock, another low-cost Location that lets you play characters for one ink less as long as you have a King or Prince there. Maybe not enough juice for a full royalty deck, but these synergies are strong enough to at least warrant considering the category of your characters, which isn’t something we’ve had before.
Some villain options
I’m also excited to see if Queen of Hearts, Wonderland Empress can finally make a Villain deck competitive. Hades, King of Olympus couldn’t tie villains together because he’s so expensive and there were so few Villains to play in Amber, and while there’s still only six amber Villains total, the Queen of Hearts could be the the key to unlocking a pretty potent Amber/Amethyst aggro Villain deck. If that’s a thing, you heard it here first.
You don’t need classification to build strong theme decks, as the new starter decks so perfectly demonstrate, but building around classifications is a great way to encourage creative deckbuilding, especially among the majority of players that tend to stick to netdecking out of fear of trying something new. These synergies will only become more numerous and powerful as the game goes on, but Into the Inklands looks like it will be our first chance to really build strong themed decks that can be played competitively, and I can’t wait to see it.
