Disney Lorcana Into The Inklands set analysis

Note: This article was written in the week of the release, so this is mainly theorycrafting. Let's get brewing!

Overall

• New card type: Locations!
  • 18 locations in total - 7 locations with just 1 ink cost. The most expensive costs 4 ink.
  • Every ink color has three locations, but not all colors have the same approach or attention for locations.
  • Colors that can build around locations:
    • Emerald = move characters between locations;
    • Ruby = have characters at locations & challenge at locations;
    • Steel = have many locations in play.
  • Colors that could get a benefit from locations: Amber (princes & kings, protective), Amethyst (Brooms, card draw), Sapphire (items, ramp)
  • Both Emerald and Steel need more than 1 location in play to benefit from Emerald's move bonus and from Steel's boost per location.
  • Ruby can splash with anything, especially with Pirates, which are mainly in Ruby and ... Steel.
• The first 10 ink cost card: Chernabog - Evildoer (although he gets an ink discount per character in your discard pile).
• The most expensive item so far: 7 ink cost for Lucky Dime.
• Actions don't have such a high ink cost: 5 is the highest.
• Again 12 songs in this set. (set 1 had 12, set 2 had 13). 2 characters have a song triggered ability, with Ursula - Deceiver of All primed for exploiting songs. Ursula - Deceiver may be needed to counter the threat of songs.
• The Bare Necessities and Ursula - Deceiver are the first cards that allows you to choose which non-character card / song card your opponent must discard.
• Only 1 character with 4◊ and the cheapest with a guaranteed lore value so far, but could John Silver - Greedy Treasure Seeker get a higher lore value in a deck built around him?
• Simba - Scrappy Cub joins Pinocchio - Star Attraction as a 2 cost, 3◊ character.
• Sapphire continues to have the greatest number of items: 5 in this set.
• We're back to 2 Floodborn characters per color, and they all have moderate Shift costs (5 for 3, 3 for 4, 4 for 5).

Amber

• Amber has a 101 Dalmatian theme, but they don't care about character type, but rather about character ink cost (2).
  • Dalmatian Puppy - Tail Wagger looks cute, but they're not strong enough to play them. (looking at Simba - Protective Cub, Sleepy - Nodding Off or Snow White - Lost in the Forest). If there would be a puppy booster though...
  • Lucky - the 15th Puppy is great in a go wide deck with characters of cost 2 or less. His first ability provides card draw (only do it when you're out of options or when it's safe), his second should get you the alpha strike. 99 Puppies does the same, but it's not inkable at 5 ink cost. I'd rather play Lucky.
  • Perdita - Devoted Mother is strong at the top of the ink curve of a go-wide 1-2 cost deck. Team up with Simba - Protective Cub to keep her safe.
  • Pongo - Determined Leader provides card draw in a go-wide 1-2 cost deck. Don't exert him though.
  • The new Lucky, Perdita and Pongo will like to team up with Stitch - Rock Star for card draw.
  • Piglet - Pooh Pirate Captain (no, not a Dalmatian) should be the high lore value character in that deck, with 2 ink cost, 3◊.
• With just 1 item and 1 action that care about locations (by removing damage counters), Amber decks won't revolve around locations. As Amber characters don't get a bonus at a location or for moving there, are the locations on their own good enough?
  • Pride Lands - Pride Rock will be strong in decks with many characters if you're playing enough Princes or Kings.
  • Tiana's Palace - Jazz Restaurant will protect your characters there quite well, as challenging is the most common way of banishing characters.
• 4 new Bodyguards, but only Pluto - Determined Defender looks strong. Minnie Mouse - Musical Artist has Bodyguard synergy, is cheap and is a Singer.
• Only 1 heal action, but it's a good one as it's a song and draws a card. Cleansing Rainwater is a single-use item that lets you heal two damage of each of your characters.
• 2 Singer characters, 2 new, solid songs.
• 1 character, 1 item and 1 location that reduce the cost of the next character you play.
• Chernabog - Evildoer is built for a self-discard/self-mill deck. In other TCGs, you could put a bunch of your deck into your discard so you can play him very quickly. We don't have those cards yet though.
• Kida - Protector of Atlantis has strong stats and a good ability for Shift 3.
• Pluto - Friendly Pooch is a great accelerator but he'll be taken out quickly because of his 0 Strength. Late game, he can used to Shift in Pluto - Determined Defender, a solid self-healing, 2◊ Bodyguard.
• Queen of Hearts - Wonderland Empress joins Hades - King of Olympus in boosting Villains, but there are still only 7 Villains in Amber. Still seems like a stretch.

Amethyst

• The 3 characters that care about locations aren't formidable on their own - 1 is actually quite bad as it requires to be at a location to challenge or quest. Are the locations on their own good enough?
  • The Sorcerer's Tower is for Broom decks, and no, there aren't any Brooms that get a bonus for moving to a location. We'll need more brooms to build a broom deck.
  • The Queen's Caste - Mirror Chamber gives card draw per character you have there. Formidable, but expensive - try it out. Best play it when you have a few characters to move there the turn you play it.
• 4 cards that can exert an opposing character - the Broom even stuns (the character can't ready at the start of their next turn). Ursula - Sea Witch also stuns but doesn't exert the character first.
• 3 cards that move damage counters.
• Chernabog's Followers - Creatures of Evil is a deceptively good card. At 1 ink cost 2/1, it may take a troublesome character, but it's especially good due to its ability to sacrifice it to draw a card. This is usually: 1 ink for 1◊ and card.
• Jafar - Striking Illusionist singing A Whole New World gets you 7 cards and 7◊, possibly the low cost of 5 ink if you can Shift him in.
• More Brooms! Can we brew something good already?
• Magica De Spell - The Midas Touch can get to 7◊ combined with Lucky Dime (Sapphire). in Amethyst, the most expensive item costs for 4 for the time being, so that'd be unnecessarily complicated.
• Stratos - Tornado Titan cares about the number of Titans you have in play, but there are only 4 Titan cards in the set. The other Titans are quite good though! Is an Amethyst - Steel Titan deck feasible? Keep an eye out on Titans in new sets. Don't forget to invite Hades - Hotheaded Ruler to the party.
• The Boss Is On A Roll is a solid deck fixer, digging 5 deep, and it's a Song.
• Only play The Sorcerer's Hat with a card that shows you which card is on top. For example, Merlin - Squirrel. Likely more cards like that will be added, especially in Amethyst and Sapphire.

Emerald

• 2 protective locations and 7 (!) cards that care about locations, all in a positive way. 3 characters get a bonus at a location, 3 are about moving to a location, so you'll want to have 2 locations in play to really benefit from them. Is a good Emerald Move deck feasible?
• Cursed Merfolk - Ursula's Handiwork will cause cursing... 1 ink cost, 2◊, and opponents have to discard a card. Very annoying and strong!
• Helga Sinclair - Femme Fatale would like playing with Chief Bogo - Respected Officer. She should have sufficient targets, likely taking one character out the turn you shift her in play.
• Milo Thatch - King of Atlantis looks like a powerful addition for Emerald's theme of "I'll go questing and you'll suffer when you take out my characters". One-sided board bounce? Sure, I'll take it.
• Morph - Space Goo looks nice for a Floodborn deck, especially because he's inkable.
• The two Ursulas are great but for different reasons. Ursula - Deceiver is cheap and can take a big Song out of your opponent's hand (like Be Prepared or A Whole New World). Ursula - Deceiver of All gives you the effect of your songs twice! and she only costs 3?!
• Wildcat - Mechanic is Sapphire's new headache, exert to banish an item and he has Evasive!

Ruby

• 2 aggressive locations; 3 characters get a bonus at a location, 1 for moving to a location; 1 action boosts characters at a location and 1 moves 2 characters. Ruby wants you to have characters at a location AND use them there. The cards that stand out are Jim Hawkins - Space Traveler + RLS Legacy - Solar Galleon.
• 4 Evasive characters, but they only have 1◊. They likely won't help you gain lore as quickly as those of previous sets.
• Madam Medusa - The Boss will come in handy to take out troublesome cards with great abilities that your opponent won't exert, like Ursula - Deceiver of All.
• The new Maui cards look nice, but Maui - Hero to All remains the best of them. I'd give Maui's Fish Hook to him, a surprisingly flexible card as it grants Evasive until the start of your next turn, not just your turn, so it can also protect.
• Moana - Born Leader's ability looks great, but there isn't a cheap Moana yet for her Shift, and it can be hard to get a lot of characters at a location. She'll need Jim Hawkins, Pirates and the Jolly Roger - Hook's Ship to shine. There aren't a lot of Pirates though - although John Silver, Greedy Treasure Seeker (Steel) is a good one that also cares about locations. And the older Captain Hook cards will like to visit the Jolly Roger!
• Simba - Scrappy Cub joins Pinocchio - Star Attraction as a 2 cost, 3◊ character. "Kill them, kill them all" with your other characters and use this Simba to quest?
• Sumerian Talisman excels in a challenge deck. Ruby likes to challenge, but unlike Steel, Ruby's characters tend to get banished quickly due to their low Willpower. This item will keep the reinforcements coming.

Sapphire

• 0 characters that care about locations, Repair is an action that removes 3 damage counters from a location or a character. Vault Door is an item gives Resist +1 to locations and characters there, which is one of the very few ways to protect your locations. As Sapphire characters don't get a bonus at a location or for moving there, are the locations on their own good enough?
  • Belle's House - Maurice's Workshop fits in item decks and may not be challenged as it doesn't have a lore value. It could become a combo piece as it makes Pawpsicles etc. cost 0.
  • Motunui - Island Paradise turns banished characters there into ink and thus supports ramping.
  • McDuck Manor - Scrooge's Mansion has high willpower and high lore value, so it should win you some lore, but it doesn't have an ability...
• Huey - Savvy Nephew's ability is bonkers, but the condition of having the three nephews in play is a steep one. You'll want to play 4 of each in your deck. Luckily, they all have Support.
• Scrooge McDuck - Richest Duck In The World looks nice, but ramp is likely a safer way to get items quickly into play.
• Heart of Te Fiti joins Fishbone Quill as repeatable ramp. It requires more ink but pulls the card from your deck instead of your hand so you can do it every turn.
• Lucky Dime - thematically you should have just one in your deck, combined with Tamatoa - So Shiny! or another high ◊ character.

Steel

• 9 (!) cards that care about locations! 1 location gives Resist, 1 enables looting. Unique in Steel is that 2 characters get a bonus per location you have in play, and they don't even have to be at a location. John Silver - Greedy Treasure Seeker could become a key card with a high lore value and high Resist. Mickey, Minny and Thaddeus E. Klank could handle opposing characters. Map of Treasure Island even makes locations' ink cost and move cost cheaper! Thus, Steel wants you to have multiple locations in play - the more the better!
• The 4 actions unfortunately don't support your locations but are aimed at banishing locations. These make Steel the best color to deal with an opponent's locations, but will that be needed given that characters can challenge locations without receiving damage in return?
• Gustav The Giant - Terror of the Kingdom looks bad at first sight as he won't ready at the start of your turn. However, don't underestimate Break Free. In a Ruby-Steel deck built for challenging, he'll be able to quest or challenge regularly.
• Little John - Resourceful Outlaw is an addition to a Bodyguard deck.
• Don't expect to get more than 1 free character out of Micky Mouse - Trumpeter. But once should be enough? However, he just has 1 Willpower, so it'll be tricky to pull even that off against several decks that deal direct damage (Steel) or that can exert characters (Amethyst).
• Robin Hood - Champion of Sherwood is strong as he will replace himself in most cases after banishing a character and/or gaining quite some lore.
• Sheriff of Nottingham - Corrupt Official could become a key card in a self-discard/looting deck, a theme that has been in Steel since the first set. It'd be great when you could repeatedly discard-return-to-your-hand-discard a card.
  • Update: if you have the Sheriff in play with a dry Beast - Relentless at the location The Bayou - Mysterious Swamp, you can quest with Beast (gain 2 lore), draw a card, then discard a card (due to The Bayou), deal 1 damage to chosen opposing character, and ready Beast again, to start the cycle again. You can repeat this per remaining Willpower of each of your opponents' characters without Resist or Ward - you banish them and gain 2 lore per cycle in one turn.