Disney Lorcana Rise Of The Floodborn set analysis

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

Overall

• New keyword: Resist. 8 cards in Steel, and 3 cards in Sapphire provide it.
• Nothing special to state on character ink costs. There are 9 1-drops, many 2, 3 and 4 drops and then fewer 5, fewer 6 and fewer 7 drops. Just 1 8 drop and 1 9 drop.
• The set is called Rise of the Floodborn, and we indeed see an increase in the number of Floodborn cards (12 in The First Chapter (2 per color), to 24 in this set (4 per color)). Each color also has a character whose ability triggers when you play a Floodborn character. Floodborn characters tend to be strong, but expensive (in this set the cheapest costs 4 ink; in The First Chapter, the cheapest costs 5 ink) (unless you use their Shift ability, but if you want to use their Shift ability, you’ll need to play their “cheap” counterparts as well which won't trigger the "when you play a Floodborn character ability"). Keep an eye on these 5 cards though, as they could become a build-around when there are enough Floodborn cards with a diversity of Ink costs, especially when Floodborn characters with ink cost 3 enable a good ink curve. See below per color for an analysis of these cards.
• Most characters again have a lore value ◊ of 1 or 2. Amber has 2 characters with 3◊, but watch out for Christopher Robin – Adventurer's ability (with Ruby's ready effects). Amethyst brings us the first 2 ink cost card with 3◊ (Pinocchio – Star Attraction) as well as a 4◊ finisher Madame Mim – Purple Dragon. Emerald has the most high ◊ cards: 4 characters with 3◊ and 1 with 4◊, although you’ll need to work to get Flynn Rider – His Own Biggest Fan to keep his 4◊ (and it'll be even tougher in multiplayer). And watch out for Emerald’s Beast – Relentless (2◊), as you may get him to quest multiple times a turn (see more below). Sapphire follows with a whopping 5 characters with 3◊. Steel’s two highest ink cost characters have 3◊ (Cinderella Stouthearted) and 4◊ (Goofy – Knight for a Day). Oddly, no Ruby cards have more than 2◊, unlike The First Chapter.
• We have the first 10 Strength character, and he’s also the first 10 Willpower character: welcome Goofy – Knight for a Day. He does come at a heavy 9 ink cost, joining Maleficent – Monstrous Dragon.
• Action counts per color differ quite a bit. Emerald leads with 6 actions (just 1 song). You’ll find 5 actions in Amber (3 songs), Ruby (3 songs), Sapphire (2 songs), 4 actions in Steel (2 songs), and 3 in Amethyst (2 songs). Amethyst however has a lot of characters with a triggered ability when you play them. Ruby has two (rather weak?) cards that care about playing actions. There’s not a lot of cards that synergize with songs – Amber brings a few and Steel brings 1. Actions are rather cheap in this set as there are no bombs like Be Prepared. The highest ink cost is 4.
• Items aren’t distributed equally: Sapphire is again the color with the most items (5) and has several cards that care about items. Amethyst has 4 items. Ruby and Steel have 3 items, while Amber has 2 and Emerald just 1. Their ink cost remains reasonable, with a maximum of 4.

Amber

• Amber has a clear Snow White theme, with 7 Seven Dwarf cards and 3 Snow White cards. Bashful, Dopey, Grumpy and Sneezy have a synergy with other Seven Dwarfs characters, as does Snow White - Unexpected Houseguest, so you’ll want to reserve those cards for a 7 Dwarfs deck. The other Dwarfs could see play in other decks as well, especially Doc – Leader of the Seven Dwarfs, who makes your next character cost 1 ink less to play when he quests (for 2◊). Happy – Good-Natured is the big sturdy Dwarf, but will likely not see play outside of Seven Dwarf decks as there are similar but better cards for 5 ink cost (like Maximus – Palace Horse).
• The Queen characters don’t have synergy with other cards (and rightly so!). The Queen – Regal Monarch on turn one, followed by The Queen – Commanding Presence on turn 2 would be a very brutal start but you’ll want to keep it for a bit later in the game because The Queen – Commanding Presence is devastating when she can send another character into a challenge. She wants to quest (2◊) and leave the fighting to others. It can even be a character with low Strength as she can give it +4 Strength, while giving the opposing character -4 Strength (so your character will likely not take damage). Keep in mind that she’ll be a big target because of this. You may want to bring her a Bodyguard?
• Amber also has some nice song support, with 2 Singer characters, another character that cares about songs, 3 songs and an item. Mulan – Reflecting even lets you play a song for free if it’s on the top of your deck (no deck manipulation so far, so look out for it in next sets – this may be a sleeper card). The three songs are actually playable, but the most expensive is 3, so no need for Gaston – Baritone Bully if you stick to Amber songs. Sleepy’s Flute could be what song-based decks need to gain Lore and not fall behind. After all, singing characters can’t quest.
• Amber also has a lot of healer cards: 5 Characters and 1 Action with Rapunzel – Gifted Artist as cherry on the cake: draw a card when you heal a character? Is this sufficient to build a healer deck?
• Amber also has several recursion cards in some way: Mufasa – Betrayed Leader could get you a free bomb when he’s banished, Snow White – Well Wisher (return character from discard to hand on quest!) and Dragon Gem (though expensive and only Support characters). Amber clearly wants you to build your deck around characters!
• Christopher Robin – Adventurer has an interesting ability that triggers on readying him. He could get cute with Ruby’s cards that ready characters. This card could get you a lot of Lore in one turn.
• Grand Duke – Advisor to the King boosts royalty characters, so keep him in mind when building a go-wide deck with a lot of royalty. Doubtful that we can do that already though.
• Micky Mouse – Friendly Face cost reduction ability is like a big Doc – Leader of the Seven Dwarfs, but by the time you can play him (6 Ink), you’ll likely won’t need his ability anymore? You’ll need a draw engine to get benefit from his ability.
• Nana - Darling Family Pet is Amber's character with a Floodborn synergy. I do wonder if completely healing a character will be what a Floodborn deck want?

Amethyst

• Amethyst has many characters with a “when you play this character” ability, and 3 Madam Mim cards and Arthur – Wizard’s Apprentice that allow you to bring your own character to your hand so you can replay them. All 5 Merlin characters trigger on both entering as well as leaving play! That’s a clear sign for a self-bounce deck built around Madam Mim/Arthur and Merlin! Remember to use the Merlin cards (quest or challenge) before you bring them back to your hand (and thus losing their damage counters). Pinocchio – On the Run and Yzma – Scary Beyond All Reason also allow you to bring your own character to your hand, although you can also target your opponent (but watch out doing that with Yzma). There are some cards that grant your characters Rush, which could be helpful to keep pace with your opponent by play(trigger) - challenge - bounce(trigger) a character in the same turn.
• Amethyst has 5 Evasive characters, but three have only 1 lore value. Madam Mim – Purple Dragon costs 7 and requires 2 other characters in play, but should end the game quickly as a 5/7, 4 Lore Value with Evasive. Peter Pan’s Shadow - Not Sewn On is interesting as it also grants Evasive to your other characters with Rush.
• Blue Fairy – Rewarding Good Deeds is Amethyst's card with Floodborn synergy and could be the draw engine for a Floodborn deck. Card draw is always good. Can we build one already?
• Don’t overlook that Fairy Godmother – Mystic Armorer’s ability targets all your characters and could punish your opponent for exerting many characters – you’ll likely take them out and get yours back in hand.
• Pinocchio – Star Attraction is the first 2 Ink cost card with a lore value of 3, but he’ll likely perform just once unless you can protect him (Evasive, Bodyguard, …) or return him to your hand (but that would be a quite slow strategy).
• The Sorcerer’s Spellbook is a slow method of gaining lore. Heavy control decks may want it, but their finishers should be quicker.

Emerald

• Emerald has a Discard theme with the 9 cards. Prince John – Greediest of All would be your draw engine in a discard deck. See the note on Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor below.
• Emerald has 5 characters with Evasive. Ray – Easygoing Firefly looks reliable with 3 Lore Value. Cheshire Cat – From the Shadows and Dr. Facilier – Fortune Teller have (very) strong abilities but are quite expensive with 8 and 7 ink cost respectively.
• Beast – Relentless … well… did they forget to add “can’t quest this turn” to his ability? … Considering several of Emerald and Steel actions, items and character abilities (e.g., Queen of Hearts – Quick-Tempered) can deal damage, your other characters will also challenge (especially Ruby and Steel), and Beast is a 4/5 on its own, this character is capable of gaining a lot of lore in a turn, while taking out opposing characters. He will likely be a finisher in Emerald decks, especially combined with Ruby or Steel?
• Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor is the Emerald card with Floodborn synergy. A recurring discard ability can be crippling for any deck, especially on a character with Ward, so this could be a sleeper card waiting for enough good Floodborn cards.
  • UPDATE: Bucky received an errata because Floodborn cards in set 4 made it too easy to trigger his ability, which removed the fun for opponents. The "new" Bucky is much more difficult to trigger and doesn't have Ward. Not sure if he'll see much play.
• Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo and Bounce would be nice synergy in a Madam Mim-Merlin Amethyst Emerald deck, but is discard the best combination with their self-bounce mechanics? Emerald may also bring high Lore Value cards to the table.
• Pack Tactics makes me look for cards that deal damage to all opposing characters, like Chief Bogo – Respected Officer, or Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy of The First Chapter, both in Steel.

Ruby

• Several Ruby cards care about challenging. Queen of Hearts – Sensing Weakness (card draw => key enabler gain board advantage), Scar – Vicious Cheater (self-ready), and Shere Khan – Menacing Predator (win con as challenging otherwise doesn’t gain you lore) stand out. In addition, 5 cards care about damaged characters which you’ll get when you challenge a lot.
• Two cards care about playing actions: Minnie Mouse – Wide-Eyed Diver, Tigger – One of a Kind, however, these cards don’t seem to be very strong?
• 4 cards allow you to ready one of your characters.
• Ruby has four characters with Evasive and 1 action that grants Evasive, and 1 item that boosts your Evasive cards. We could use Minnie Mouse - Stylish or Donald Duck – Not Again! for gaining Lore while your other characters keep the board clear by challenging?
• Honest John – Not that Honest is Ruby’s character with Floodborn synergy, making the opponent lose 1 lore per Floodborn character you play. Keep an eye on him. Could be a sleeper, but is 1 lore lost per Floodborn character played (1 per turn?) sufficient when you have many characters that can gain much more lore per turn?
• Lady Tremaine – Imperious Queen could be an answer to characters you can’t target (e.g. the opponent doesn’t exert them, or they have Evasive or Ward). However, your opponent chooses which of their character they banish, so you’ll need to remove their other characters first. Especially strong against control decks that rely on only a few characters, and especially strong if you can replay her e.g., with the new Madam Mim cards.
• Scar – Vicious Cheater can be backbreaking for your opponent due to his 6/5 stats, Rush, and his challenge->self-ready ability. On the turn you play him, he can likely take out 1 or 2 opposing characters and possibly get readied again (so he should be safe) for a quest or a challenge on the next turn. The threat of a Scar in hand will also make your opponent hesitate to send his key cards on a quest as they may not be safe due to his Rush ability. Even stronger when coupled with Shere Khan – Menacing Predator (lore) and Queen of Hearts – Sensing Weakness (card draw).

Sapphire:

• Sapphire is again the item loving color, with 5 items, and 4 characters and 1 item that care about items. Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker provides recurring card draw (2 cards!) in an item deck. This guy will keep your cards flowing. Judy Hopps – Optimistic Officer does the same, but just once, although it can also target an opponent’s item. Nick Wilde – Wily Fox lets you return a Pawpsicle from your discard to your hand – which is a clear indicator for the item that will work well with Hiram: Pawpsicle! That card will likely be a 4 of in any item-based Sapphire deck: 1 ink cost, inkable, replaces itself as you draw a card when you play it, and you can banish it to remove 2 damage from a character (like Tamatoa or Hiram). Maurice’s Workshop (play an item, pay 1 ink, draw 1 card) may even give you too much card draw when you’re juggling Pawpsicles! Were you waiting for Pawpsicle, Tamatoa – So Shiny! ?
• Sapphire gained 3 new cards for ramp (2 characters, 1 action).
• Alice – Growing Girl is an interesting build-around. Support is a strong ability, especially on characters that want to quest anyway – so granting it to all your other characters is very strong. Her second ability could be a win condition, especially when teamed with Ruby’s ready abilities. When the coast is clear, all your other characters could quest and boost Alice to +10 Strength => 5 Lore Value, and then ready her to keep her safe for the next round? She'll also hit like a truck if that would be needed. Nice!
• Not sure if Basil – Great Mouse Detective is worth the effort for Shift 5. You should only play him with Shift so you can draw two cards but do note his ability isn’t “play 1 card, get a character, draw two cards” as you “lose” the “shifted” character when you play the Floodborn card. He only has 1 more Lore Value than Basil – Perceptive Investigator, which is a decent character, so you’d want to Shift him on Basil – Of Baker Street. He could get better when more Basils are released.
• Both Cogsworth cards look strong. Cogsworth – Grandfather Clock’s ability Unwind (Resist+1 for all your other characters) is solid, and Cogsworth – Talking Clock gives your (Ruby) Reckless characters something to do if there's no opposing character to challenge or if you don't want to challenge a particular opposing character.
• Gaston – Intellectual Powerhouse looks strong: Look at top 3 cards, draw 1 of them on a 4/4 with 3◊! However, he costs 6 Ink and is not inkable. He has Shift 4, but the other Gastons are in other colors (Ruby, Amber, Emerald) so don’t count on shifting him – with the cards currently available.
• Grand Pabbie – Oldest and Wisest is a finisher for a heal deck (with Amber?). Jasmine – Heir of Agrabah on its own won’t be sufficient, but he'll enjoy it if you bring him a Gumbo Pot or two.
• Mrs. Judson – Housekeeper is Sapphire’s Floodborn synergy card, providing ramp. Do note that she costs 4 ink (and isn’t inkable) so she’d go in a deck with high ink costs.
• Sisu – Divine Water Dragon has a great ability (filter 2, put 1 in hand on quest) with OK stats, but keep in mind that she’s not inkable.

Steel

• Steel is again rather straightforward in this set. It cares about dealing damage to characters (7 cards) and avoiding receiving damage through the new ability Resist (8 cards). Steel has again a lack of cards with a high lore value (Cinderella – Stouthearted and especially Goofy – Knight for a Day have a high ink cost), so you’ll want to combine Steel with a color that can provide Lore, while Steel provides solid characters who can take down the opponent’s characters.
• Steel has several Resist cards: 5 characters with Resist plus 1 character, 1 action and 1 item that grant Resist for 1 turn. See below for the characters that stand out. There’s no synergy between Resist cards, but don’t underestimate the advantage that Mouse Armor provides. Bumping up a character with Resist with +1 (or even +2 if you have 2 Mouse Armors), can make a big difference.
• There are again “loot” cards (draw>discard) in Steel, but just two: Cinderella – Knight in Training (which you'll want to shift Stouthearted) and The Huntsman – Reluctant Enforcer. (on quest) It would be nice to have an advantage when you discard your own cards, to have a cheap way to put cards from your discard directly into play, or for having none or a few cards in hand. For the latter, for time being, we’ll need to work with Tiana – Celebrating Princess who blocks your opponent from playing actions when she's exerted and when you don’t have cards in hand. Seems situational.
• Use Beast – Selfless Protector to protect a value card you want to keep safe from harm. One watch-out: unlike Bodyguards, he won’t hit back in a challenge – it’s the challenged character that will hit back, which could be for 0 or 1 damage. On the other hand, unlike Bodyguards, he will intercept actions and abilities that deal damage.
• Beast – Tragic Hero will give your opponent a headache. Leaving him there standing on his terrace (not exerted) will give you a card for free every turn. Such card advantage should win you the long game. You could quest with him to make it easier for your opponent, but Beast will likely need to be challenged twice and your opponent will possibly lose 2 characters due to his 3/5 stats. If he can’t banish Beast in 1 turn, Beast can hit back the next turn for 7, taking out most cards in 1 hit.
• Chief Bogo – Respected Officer is Steel’s Floodborn synergy card, dealing 1 damage to each (!) opposing character when you play a Floodborn character. He costs 4 Ink and isn’t inkable, but his ability could have a big impact on the board (just like Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy), especially combined with cards that care about your opponent’s damaged characters (e.g., Emerald’s Beast – Wolfsbane and Pack Tactics or Ruby’s Raya – Leader of Heart).
• Cinderella – Stouthearted is expensive if you don’t shift her (she gets 2 great Shift targets), but has great stats (5/5, 3◊, Resist +2). Even better, in a Song deck, she can challenge ready characters, taking out your opponent’s value cards (looking at you Beast – Tragic Hero and Beast – Relentless) and likely survive! Namaari – Morning Mist can do that as well, but as a 2/4, she isn’t as good in challenges and Bodyguard makes her a target. Pick A Fight grants the same ability for 1 turn to any character. Should be good!
• Goofy – Knight for a Day is just … goofy. If you get him in play somehow (9 ink cost!), you get a 10/10 vanilla character, with 4◊. He’ll take down any other (exerted) character, but why not go on a quest and see how many characters your opponent must throw against Goofy to banish him 😊.
• Hercules – Divine Hero hits like a brick, and is especially good at taking out low Strength characters due to his Resist +2.
• Jafar – Dreadnought looks nice as he should be able to draw you one or more cards, while taking out smaller characters.
• Kronk – Junior Chipmunk should be able to take down 2 or more smaller characters. You may need his ability to damage non-exerted characters.
• Watch out with Robin Hood – Capable Fighter. His ability to exert to deal 1 damage to chosen character is nice (especially with Emerald), but don’t forget that your opponent will likely challenge him next turn. Pick your targets, as he doesn’t have Evasive. Do note that he can target your own characters as well. Some characters don’t mind friendly fire after all. Beast – Forbidden Recluse can lash out to friend and foe alike as well by the way. Plasma Blaster of The First Chapter is similar to Robin Hood. As an item it is more difficult to remove, but it costs 2 ink to shoot.
• Use Li Shang - Archery Instructor if you don’t have other answers against Evasive characters with high Willpower. Steel's actions should be able to take down Evasive characters with low Willpower.
• Strength Of A Raging Fire would be good in a go-wide deck (many (cheap) characters in play), while Weight Set pushes you to go big (4+ Strength, which are the more expensive cards). You likely won't play them in the same deck together.