The Lorcana Crew Podcast
The Lorcana Crew talks all things Lorcana!
The Lorcana Crew Podcast
Into the Wilds Unknown! - The Lorcana Crew Podcast
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Pixar is here! Core Questers Nick and Josh D. prep you for Disney Lorcana's Wilds Unknown Season! Let us know your thoughts on the new set and Pixar characters! We hope you enjoy! Find us on Instagram @Lorcana.Crew and on TikTok @LorcanaCrew
What's up, Warconic crew? It's Nick, G and Josh D here, back with ya. Woo! In the booth. Talking about some wilds unknown today. Wild.
SPEAKER_00Wild. The wilds unknown. Everything wild. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Everything. Literally everything. It's been a little bit. Been busy. We're here with a new set. It's gonna be awesome. How are things going with you, Josh? Going good, going good.
SPEAKER_00Pre-release season was really nice. The the pre pre-release with the spoiler season was great. They had pacing was insane. Uh yeah, it was like more cards, more cards, more cards. Uh, I think it was the only time in the Larcana community was not begging for more information was during the spoiler season of this set. Yeah, yep. And then uh did say a good amount of pre-release, you know, did did pretty well. A couple three O's, a couple two ones, you know. It was hey, those are all good scores. Yeah, I know, but I'm greedy. I want three O's all all week for two weeks.
SPEAKER_02No, uh Yeah, well, you know, we all can't be winners, I guess. Yeah, but you did many more pre-releases than I did, because I did exactly zero. I was out of town last week during the release, which was no fun. Um, yeah, I was able to pick up some pre-release kits from from our local store though. Um so I'm on my way to giving getting all five or six promos. We're close. I'm missing like one or two.
SPEAKER_00Got all the postcards?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, I got all the postcards. Postcards are done, those will be taped into the binder. We're we're ready to go here.
SPEAKER_00No, I I I don't think you missed out on too much. Um the community was really I'm a big draft guy. I prefer draft. And I think uh anyone who listens knows. So with the pre-release kits kits, which I think are a great product or fantastic for the community, make the pre-release events feel more official and less like, okay, here's some packs, guys. Let's hang out. It feels like here's your kit, here's your stuff, but it really forces um the community for the the release week to be a sealed um event. Uh, I don't I like sealed too, don't get me wrong, but being able to, you know, have a group of eight at a table passing packs and memorizing what you saw, and you know, oh, I you know, I saw this card, I saw that card, that's evasive, that's not. I need to take this, that I didn't grab that evasive, it's gone now. I didn't grab that removal. I was like, we're gonna run into it. Oh, my first opponent had it, so I know I don't need to worry about it for the the rest of the night because it's already gone. You know, it's that I I missed that this this week, this last week. That's fair. Yeah, the ability to exercise your brain as much as you'd like. I know some people don't like draft because it's a lot of choices. Um, plus the 35 cards I feel like that they made the change the last set was kind of a missed opportunity because they changed it to 35, and then they're like, okay, we're doing sealed, which is still 40. So it's like, okay, thanks for changing the rules. Great it, appreciate it. Let's me hone in my deck. Now we're not doing draft anymore.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you know, I I think uh you you know that both of us are are big drafters, love to draft. Um, I do think for pre-release the the sealed environment is is better, it gets a lot more people in the door. Um but that being said, I think that's it, there's an opportunity to draft when the set comes out as well. And I think it's just gonna be about pushing that. And so instead of maybe, you know, your first you know, couple weeks of league or something, maybe people are still trying to get the cards and you can draft a little bit. Um, or you might be able to hold, you know, individual draft events, but yeah, unfortunately, uh it is pushing towards sealed, which is you know good and bad, right?
SPEAKER_00Pros and cons. Yeah, he gets people. I mean, there were tons of people at different events that were brand new. There was a guy, uh Leo, I believe his name was, he was brand new. I think he's a refugee from Cookie Run. Cookie, the Cookie Run game. I forget. Yeah, it's a TCG about cookies. I don't know if he's a refugee, but he was interested in playing and he sat down next to me, and I got the opportunity to teach while doing my sealed event, so that took up you know a good amount of brain activity, which was nice because it was like I felt like the same amount of um pressure, right? Like the pressure of the draft.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_00Uh so teaching and assisting kind of helped put myself in a crunch, which was cool.
SPEAKER_02Um, I don't probably know, you know. I I think that uh like like you said, like new players are picking up the game because of pre-release, because of Pixar and all that. Like, I know I didn't attend the pre-release, but the pre-release that you know most of my friends went to, there were like four or five new people that just showed up because of Pixar and because you know the store advertised a pre-release, right? And so it really does show that you the game is still thriving. There's still I would there were a billion people at down at downtown Disney, from what I've heard, um right, and at Disney, Disney World, right? Disney Springs. So I mean, game's thriving, Pixar is clearly very popular, right? Um, but as we transition into Wilds Unknown, um, our quick question of the day today is gonna be what is your favorite card art of the set? Before we get into all the cards that are good, the cards that are bad, whether the set itself is good or bad, let's just talk about the cardboard in general. So, what is your favorite art?
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna cheat a little bit by going with an enchanted artwork, but the Leviathan is is is my favorite. I I'm a Ruby player. Um red, red, blue is dead in all formats, but uh for some reason the the shape language of Ruby really uh calls to me, I guess. I don't know, but the Leviathan is yeah, it's big, it's in your face, it's got the claws coming down. The art nouveau or lore nouveau style isn't as uh prominent. The circle is there, but it's not like here's a circle, like some of the enchanted can be. It's got symmetry, it's got violence, it's got threatening red glowing, it it's it's amazing.
SPEAKER_02It's great. That that's a good one. That is that is a good one. Um and if we're not cheating, right? If we're not talking about enchanteds, because I do I I really think the enchanted this set are very pretty. Um I think my chase is the um you've got a friend anyone. I really enjoy that that art. Oh, yeah. Um but aside from all that, if just a base card art, what would you what would be your favorite?
SPEAKER_00Hmm, base card. We'll skip legendaries. I'm gonna go. This might sound weird, but I do outside of the specific arts that are designed to merge together and get all all the all that. I I like the Diablo, the stone, uh yeah, dude. That one's nice. The silver one, yeah, the skill one, yeah, yeah. That undertone is a big fan of that one, the amber and the red, and like he's dropping that like hot rock. I don't know if I don't know what it is, but it's like kind of coming down towards the border, it's got all the the fire at the bottom. Look, I don't know. I think it's and it's a decent card as well, you know.
SPEAKER_02I think it's a it's a very decent card, yeah. Um it is it's pretty pretty cool. Um, it's very uh it's very steely too, so it fits it fits the vibe, right? So yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, turn one Captain Hook turn to turn two Diablo if you don't have a lot of product, you know. I think a lot of content creators and podcasters and people that are judgmental of the the cards forget that not everyone has everything. Um if you're in that position where like you can buy a couple packs and you get the super rare that is a Diablo, then you got a couple packs of fabled, you probably got a Captain Hook, and you have a very solid start to a steel oh yeah, X deck if you don't have a bunch of money to spend on you know four copies of $20 Dales. And yes, yep.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean uh moving right into mine here. Mine is actually the Mickey Mouse Experienced Traveler, the purple card. Um, oh yeah, it's just it's it's real cool. He's cast his little spell, you know, it looks very much kind of like Disney DD, uh, which I am just very excited for because like the Attack of the Vine next set. I don't know if you've seen the Matt, but the Winnie the Pooh Matt uh looks like I'm gonna have to take out a second mortgage for that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm gonna it looks it looks like it's gonna look so good, and they have the same kind of artwork for the new um game, like Ursula Virtual's Revenge or uh Palace Heist, and then they have the quest for more honey or something like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, something like that, yeah. But yeah, the the the Mickey gives that vibe to me, and I'm I'm very into that. And you know, the card is it's it's it's a fine card, right? And I just I I opened a foil of it and I was very happy. I'm like, this is this is my happy place, right?
SPEAKER_00So I feel like the I haven't seen the foil yet, but I feel like it would really pop.
SPEAKER_02The yeah, the the little boomerang spell thingy really pops.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's always nice when a a not that uh expensive card can look really nice. I like that a lot. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02All right, so that was our quick question of the day. Favorite card art in the set. You know, I think uh you and I are both in agreement that the art in the set is just incredible, whether it's the enchanted, the iconics, or just the base cards. There's a lot to just enjoy looking at the cards, which is half the battle when you have to look at these cards in core constructed uh forever.
SPEAKER_00No one wants to look at an appealing card art all the time. No, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So let's transition here into a little more generally. So we'll just start by what are your general thoughts on the set? Leave no stone unturned, just kind of give me the the the brush strokes, the wave tops of what is what do you think of the set?
SPEAKER_00I I I do like the set a lot. Um, I think the main reason I like the set the most is the pull rates are fantastic. I have the oh they up those things, yeah. It's been a while, it's been a few sets since I've really sat down and had a very pleasurable experience opening a box without you know hitting like super heavy, right? Like there's been sets where it's like, oh, I got you know nine legendaries in this box, but this one it just seemed like there was more artwork to be seen. There, the there was more you know full art uh foil um conjoining art in the back. It's just just so nice. It was so nice to you know, you from say you're a kid who's saving up their money to buy their first box, or you're just someone who enjoys buying cases, sitting down to open the set was an actual visual experience that was nice and pleasurable. And I did not a single box that I opened, some had lots of hits, some didn't, some didn't. You know, not gonna get enchanted in every pack, but like it was just enjoyable, which so which set the tone for my feelings on the entire set. So I'm gonna err on the more positive side because I had a pleasurable time opening um the set in general. I know some people have a um opposite feeling where like I want less hit, so when I do hit, I get more value. I'm not about that, I'm about everyone opening everything they could possibly want. And if they don't get what they want, they get something cool instead of. So art was great. Um sealed environment was pretty solid. Uh you could draft or play sealed pretty easily, very clear and concise. Uh, if I don't know what I'm doing, I go magic owls. If I don't know what I'm doing, I go toys. Um, if I do know what I'm doing, there's some effects. This uh the amount of effects that each card had. Um, for example, like a quick Monterey Jack was a card that put in work for a lot of different people at a lot of different tables. Just looking at a uh he's a uh not a three-drop uninkable, not the two-drop uninkable, that is a draft trap. The three-drop uninkable, look at the top of your deck. If it is a character, get to keep it. Basically says draw a card because the set is very low on removal, uh, which was also great because if there's less removal, people have to get creative. The defense stats were high, the attack stats were moderately low, so there was a lot of exchanging of combat during the sealed environment, which I really like, which makes those plus attack minus attack heal, you know, really pop an environment like that. So the sealed environment was great. Um, cut me off up for going too long, but uh let's see.
SPEAKER_02No, I mean I think you you're you're hitting the the nail on the head here. Like going back to um the pull rates, I think you know the community is a little divided from what I've seen on the pull rates, but I think for the most part, like it's been a very positive reaction to it, and especially because it was so unexpected, right? I mean, you're seeing an average box have have 10 quote unquote hits now between legendaries, epics, and enchanteds, and the ratio of enchanteds is basically up to on average to a case, right? Which is wonderful. And I think that you know it's one of those things where like the prices for the enchanteds were never really that high to begin with. So when you did finally pull one in like one in your case, it's kind of like great, I just pulled this $70 card, right? Like, and so I don't even mind that maybe like making two of them in a case because from what I've seen, the value is still roughly about the same as what it was last set, even though there's quote unquote more of them out there, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've if I may speak on the that the if there are people that I know that will remain name nameless that got a large amount of enchanted, but they were kind of close. They have the incredibles, right? Like they have syndrome, Mr. Incredible, Miss Incredible, Jack Jack, and that's another a fifth one. Can't remember what it is off the top. Syndrome, I think. So yeah, syndrome. Yeah, sure. There's five. If I'm a person and I open three, let's say I open two cases, I get four enchanteds, and three of them are incredibles. I am now inclined to finish that collection as opposed to if I open one enchanted and it's uh an enchanted, I'm not really a fan of the the IP or the art itself. I'm like, okay, well, I don't care about enchanted for the rest of the set. But if they print more, then the demand also might you know increase because of the goals that they set for collectibility. Uh, I think that's a whole nother topic, but I think goals for collectibility were improved on this set dramatically. Another topic.
SPEAKER_02I would definitely tend to agree. Um, and so here's where things are gonna get a little bit a little bit dicey. Um I I I agree that the the sealed environments is actually a lot of fun. I've been playing a little bit online. I actually did was able to do a pre-release with friends, right? So that was interesting. Um, but it was uh the sealed environment, it's it's good, it's it's healthy. Um when all spoilers came out, I was extremely low on this set. Um because to me, I don't I mean I don't think it changes anything for core constructed, um, right? And we'll we'll talk about that here in a little bit, but I just wasn't very excited, right? And it it was a it was a combination of factors, you know, prepping for indie, so everything is infinity real based for for me, anyways. And so I wasn't really gonna plan on playing playing much core constructed, all focusing on infinity. I didn't think the cards were that good play-wise, but then as I've opened the cards and I've played a little bit more and more, the set's kind of grown on me like a lot. There's like a ton of fun cards in here, just just like not even like that. They're like the best cards or the best things you can be doing, but they're just a ton of fun and they add to the decks that they do go in, which is kind of nice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they definitely if I may speak on a specific card that adds to things. Yeah, um uh chip is a four cost uninkable two four that when you play this character, you may return a character with four defense or more from your discard to your hand. Yeah, when I saw this card at first, I was like, ugh, it's what uh uninkable or whatever. And I started tooling around with purple yellow, and you can pull back Elsa, you can pull back genius, you can pull back all these interesting cards that are very impactful to the game. And is this card inherently impactful on his own? No, but when you put the right things around it, it becomes a very playable piece of a deck, not necessarily a four of, but you throw a couple of them in there, and he really starts to make the deck come alive. I mean, if you're playing purple, they're gonna send it to your inkwell anyway. But if you're going against purple steel, you can bring your problems back.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's just and you know, I think uh, you know, another card that like is just I didn't realize I would enjoy being discarded so much, but like when people play a Lenny against me, like that little thing is so adorable that I'm like, yeah, sure, take cards out of my hand. This thing is so cute, right? Like, I'm very okay with that. And it it's definitely been very unexpected for me, just how much I'm actually enjoying opening and playing the set. I mean, does it change a whole lot in core constructed to be remains to be seen? But I think the the set in general isn't as bad as I first thought it was. I mean, I know we had a phone call maybe a couple weeks ago where I was like, this set is trash, yeah. And no, and uh I have I have pleasantly changed my tune. Um and I don't know if it's because I love Pixar or or what, but it I've been having fun with the set, and it's it's it's a good time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I it's it's I like it a lot, and it like at first I I I get what you're saying, like this the the cards didn't read like Dumbo, right? Dumbo read exactly.
SPEAKER_02There wasn't anything flashy, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're like they're like talking about Leviathan, and you're like, well, that just gets removed. The incredible cards are not gonna like a not a super viable deck on their own quite yet. Um the toys are kind of split up, so when you're looking at it at initially, you're like, well, there's green toys, and there's red toys, and there's yellow toys, but the green ones care about actions, and the red ones want to die or get banished, but then you're trying to play them for free with the I don't what is going on? But then when you get into you know deck building and getting ready for set champs and trying to shake up the game, you get into stuff like Anton Molière that's like discard two cards on quest, evasive, but he reading that by himself, it's like, why would I want to do that? Why do I want to deck myself out? But then you get to like stuff that says you don't have to discard, it's like, oh my gosh, that just says draw two cards. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you know, I think the like you said, some of the synergies across the set were a little odd, right? Like you have all these toys, like you were saying, and there wasn't exactly like a super mega payoff form, right? Like Sid you want to banish your toys, but then nothing really happens when you banish your toys. Like it so it's kind of like a little underwhelming. All of the like yellow toys and stuff like that. It's like, oh well, these are cool, you can just spam the board, but then eh, aren't you gonna run out of cards? Maybe, and then you've got you know the Luisa Madrigals and things like that, where it's like, oh, this is a really cool effect, but I don't know how consistently you're gonna be gonna be able to pull it off and things like that. But I think you know, we've kind of been at least what I've been seeing from play and everything, it's like, oh, these are actually just solid inclusions, right? I don't I don't think I've seen a card be like a uh an unarguable four of in every deck, no matter what, right? But like they're like you said, a lot of the cards have been just solid cards, and I think that's that's where uh it was kind of lost on me when you know you're getting bombarded with all of this information in spoiler season, where you're like, okay, this card's fine, okay, yeah, that one's fine too. And you just you have all of these like fine to good cards, but like they're coming at you so fast you don't have time to digest them. So you end up kind of feeling like yeah, okay, this does. Is fine, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So but once you get your hands on it, you I I've been like I said, I've been pleasantly surprised.
SPEAKER_00They they also don't they didn't, and this is one of those things where I think players are whiny little babies. And uh they they're giving uh they're trying to portray when they sold the set, right? They gave us all information, and the competitive players are going, Well, this how do I compete with this? Like, how do I make my deck better with this? And then you get it, and you get into pre-release weekend, and you get into cracking the packs, and you get into spending time with your friends, and going to you know, events in general, and the whole experience because of the power level of the cards, because of the card types and synergies that don't read like set one busted that we're used to. We got set one was this is busted, that's busted, this is the baseline for the game for a year, two years. Yeah, yep. Um, they they're I think they're leaning towards giving players and lorecana illumineers an experience throughout the set, not just your here's your busted cards, go go just an LCQ or a CCQ or DLC and play this. It's like you know, not everyone can do that, not everyone has access to packs, and they're trying to give us the best experience that they can. Um, and I think that's lost on a good amount of people, especially the competitive community. But I think they're doing a did a great job with the set.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I am inclined to agree. But we do have to turn ourselves to the elephant in the room, core constructed. So does anything change? If so, what and is it actually gonna change, or is it like people are just experimenting and we'll kind of revert back to the mean here in a little bit?
SPEAKER_00Uh I think I think we're at the point in rotation. Rotation happens, it's coming, it's coming faster than you think. This is my favorite uh part. Um and it it standed my prediction where the end of rotation has the most tools, and you can play just about anything at the A plus level.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00However, that's fair, but the S tier top tier decks will not change. Yeah, uh, I think maybe Purple Steel takes on the dwarf package from this set for for one set because you can bounce the dock in Snow White stuff. Yep. Maybe I don't I don't inherently know if it's better into what matchups. Um but it it it play Purple Steel still playing the same stuff, right? Like oh no, I switched out my my uh easma for uh or snow white. Yeah, okay. Well Snow White nets nets you three cards. Well, so does easma. Uh um, so it's not different, it's the same kind of um, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I guess while we're here, we could kind of go through uh go down the rabbit hole a little bit and talk about you know the top decks that weren't were of last set and see kind of what happened to them. Because I think I think you're right. I think the purple steel dwarves list that's been running around is actually really good when you get it going. I think the issue that deck struggles with is the consistency, right? It's really, really strong when you can go um turn one dwarf, turn two princess, turn three, that action that lets you play a seven-drop dwarf for free. Yeah, okay, yeah, it's really, really good. But that doesn't happen every time, right? And you know, you still have to build around it for consistency and things like that. And so, while I think it's a lot of fun, and it is actually very, very good. Um, I think the the consistency of it being a little less is gonna drive people maybe more towards the traditional builds where maybe they don't even include the dwarf packages and they just kind of you know, maybe they throw in a Luis and Dadrigal or or two, but largely and it kind of feels uh the same. I mean, I I know one inclusion that I've been very um surprised with is Willow the Wisp, the 03 that when it gets banished in a challenge, you just return it to your hand. Um because we've had this effect before and it really hasn't done much. Um see the hey-hey, hey hey, best card of all time, right? Um but it's it's just yeah, and it's it's one of those effects that you're like, you read it, you're like, yeah, okay, we've seen this before, it's fine, it's whatever, right? And then the more you play against it, you're like, holy cow, this card is extremely annoying, right? Because you can't just immediately kill it, and then you don't really want to make a removal on it because it's a one-draw. Yeah, and it's if you if you challenge it, it just goes back to their hands. So, like, what's the point, right? But you do have to get rid of it eventually, right? So that's been very surprising. I think that'll be an include in a lot of these purple steel decks.
SPEAKER_00Um it's just a three defense, I think. I think it's just a three defense. That's really what it is. It's you can't shoot it with the with uh fire the cannons or you know uh a card. You're not if you have three characters on board, you're not gonna waste your strength.
SPEAKER_02Oh no, absolutely not. Yeah, and some of these, some of these, you know, some of these decks, they can't actually get rid of this thing until turn three or four because you know, they're turn one, they're playing a two, like a two-attack thing. Um, and then you know, turn two, they're ramping or they're playing something with it's got one or two, and by the time you actually get a thing they can trade efficiently into it. That's turn three or four, right? So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's been very interesting to me. And that point, in that point, you just bite the bullet, attack it, and they go, Thanks. I was planning on inking this on turn five anyway.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yes, exactly. So that's kind of purple steel. Um, you know, that was up there as one of the best decks. It wasn't the best deck by any standard, but um, let's kind of shift our our gear and talk about blurple a little bit because this one has been very interesting um and kind of kind of moves towards a little bit into my hot take section that we're gonna talk about next. But what have you been seeing the blurple lists build for towards how has it changed?
SPEAKER_00I I don't I'm nothing. What are you doing? It's blurple. I don't think any of I mean you feel free to argue, but I it's it's the same stuff they've been doing the whole time. No offense, but uh maybe they tech in, you know, a card or two, maybe they go heavy card draw, but I'm not I mean, yes, they can get this uh Merryweather in.
SPEAKER_02That's that's a yeah. So that's that's the card I wanted to talk about. Because the more that I have played the game in Core Constructed, the more I realize that Ward is an ultra Uber busted mechanic that should not be ever printed on a card ever, please, for the love of God. Um and so when you're able to go turn one, turn two ramp, and then play a four-five with Ward that you just can't do anything on three, that is insanely hard to deal with. And I think a lot of people are realizing not only that you know the Merriweather's good, but there's this other card called Scuttle that is extra annoying, right? And so I think people have just been starting to jam Scuttle in more and more. And you saw it a little bit last set, right? The yellow blue lists were starting to run it, the per the blue steel lists were running it, and the blurple players were like, ah, maybe I can put one or two in, right?
SPEAKER_00The people in my area were definitely using it. Uh there was I think every list that I played against had it, at least a two of.
SPEAKER_02It just you can't do anything about it except run run a card into it. Yeah, and and I think people have kind of realized from last set that, like, holy cow, this thing's gonna take two things with it, right? And even, I mean, even the Merryweather takes two things with it a lot of times, right? Um and that's just so you're I I've been seeing people jam in just like Ward.deck, where they're playing for Merryweather, for Scuttle, and saying, beat me, right? Like you're gonna have to trade multiple things into my things, or I get super efficient trades on your things because then I can just cat move the damage, right? Yep, yep. So that's that's kind of where I've been seeing it lean towards, right? Is not really it's it's because Burple's always been kind of the toolbox deck, I would say, right?
SPEAKER_00Uh it's they use the same tools in the box, but it fair.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I think they they've been kind of adjusting to be more of a body focused deck where you know they still can't quite deal with whiteboards, but they're getting better, right? When when you when their scuttle can like take two or three things with it, that's that's pretty good, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it has changed a little in Fabled. It was all about the evasive war and how do I swing my Elsa into your Elsa and Genie into my genie and cat the thing, and it but it has become less of that arduous aerial acrobatic deck to something that is more focused on board state and then card quality removal, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That removal and individual card quality, right? Like when it comes down to it, my cards are better than yours. Good luck, right? That's kind of what I've kind of put the deck on.
SPEAKER_00Um if if everything gets me two cards of value, then I will win.
SPEAKER_02Exactly, yes. So yeah, Bloodpool, it's changed a little bit, still probably one of the best decks. Um dogs, dogs is still very good. Um and got better for some reason. Um the the Woody, the Woody, um legendary. They play whatever you want. Uh when it quests, draw a card, then play a two cost for free. Yeah, that card play play your deck. Play your deck, yes. I think that helps out dogs tremendously. Um, and again, this is one of the cards that I wasn't super big on um when it was you know spoiled, but seeing it in action is like, oh no, what is the deck missing? The deck is missing drawing cards. And what does Woody do? It draws cards and plays them for free. And plays them for free, right? And so you just always have that stream of characters that you just the only way to really deal with it is to wipe their board. Um, and you you you you can no longer like like battle them out in a sense where like you ground pound them and be like, oh, you have finally run out of cards, you're at 18, but it's okay because you're like top decking, and I can go, you know, I can draw one card or turn here. It it really or I can deal with one card a turn. You can't do that anymore. There's always gonna have things that are readied that are ready to quest next turn.
SPEAKER_00Ugh. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's when I have not played knock on I played a couple dog decks. Uh most of them that I've played are more traditional, and then I've played some new toy decks that are doing essentially the same thing as dogs, uh without without the uh you know tramp like look at the top you know, a thousand cards and just cards a thousand minus one. Only a thousand, it's not a big deal. Look at a thousand, put back a thousand minus two, and yeah. Uh it's there, it's just so many toys. It's so many. It's like supermarket. Remember the old Toys of Us TV show where they ran down the aisles and just threw toys in the cart. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's that's what this is. Um, yeah, I mean, dogs are still gonna be good, nothing has changed there, I don't think. It's gotten maybe slightly better and more different versions of it that people can play. Um still a very good deck. Um, the last one here, well, not the last one, but green blue. I haven't actually seen a lot of people, you know, experiment with this, which is odd to me. Because I think at face value, this deck got the biggest buff in the set um with the the off with their head song. Yeah. Um, it's a three-cost sign that says everybody on the or all your opponent's stuff loses to attack. Um to me, it's been uh three attack, yeah. It's not even better. Yeah, no big deal, right? So you just turn everything into little dude so you can learn to see them. So you now effectively have an easier heads held high combo, right? Because heck, your warded Prince Philip can sing sing this song, right?
SPEAKER_00Like, yeah, cool, great, love it. Or your warded Milo Thatch. Yeah, yeah. Or your awarded Merryweather, or your warded. I'm yeah, I'm not a big blue-green fan. Um fair. I don't enjoy playing against it. I don't enjoy playing it. Um it just feels so evil.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's it's a true combo deck, right? Where like I mean, and it's always kind of been that way, this at least last set, where if you saw the combo, yeah, you probably won. If you didn't see the combo, yeah, you probably lost. We'll try again next game, right? And I think just the level of consistency that we're getting to with that deck specifically makes me very happy rotation is coming. Um but it might not even matter because I think a lot of these cards end up staying. I mean, maybe not like the consistency pieces, but um the combos stay, right? You can still you you can still mean and scary and Prince Philip your way to victory, right? Like but you lose. I think you lose I couldn't I think you lose the ward, the the shift target, you lose a decent amount of their draw engine and stuff like that. But um, I mean I'm just I'm baffled that I haven't seen it running around more, and I don't know if it's because people are you know tired of it or what, or if it's something that's just gonna take some time because it really didn't change that much, and so people will bring it out at Set Champs.
SPEAKER_00I'm not sure, but yeah, maybe. Um, I think my my guess is because the new fun thing to do in Blue Green is not that in any way, shape, or form. Uh it is a different combo that involves zipper and mulan, and that is the new fun thing to do during the testing phase for blue green. Um, you know, purple steel's fun testing thing is the dwarves, and that's this thing. It's in line. The zipper Mulan passing the power.
SPEAKER_02Um like 30, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they had because they had the new item, the rescue ranger's ship or plane chosen character that has 10 attack gets or gets three more lore. Uh again, it's a combo, which is what blue green does, but it's not the same combo. It's how do I get out of how do I get the blue cards that have good amounts of attack to pass it along? How do I ward it up? How do I protect it? How do I get the payoffs? It's it's nowhere near in line with Philip uh hands held high under the sea, heads will roll. I don't remember what it's called.
SPEAKER_02And that's okay though, because at least that's a little more fun, right? Yeah, banned uh and so I I don't know. I think the pendulum will swing back. Um, because I think that deck is just too good not to play that card, especially a card.
SPEAKER_00It it locked down DLC Richmond.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I mean you also got what else can I do that literally nobody's playing. I mean, I think that's a perfect candidate for the blue-green deck because let's be honest here, that deck does not run a whole ton of uninkables. Um, so it can afford to play this. Um I haven't really been seeing the blue steel kiwi deck running around yet, but I'm sure it's out there somewhere.
SPEAKER_00It's I've played I've played um when when testing on my account, I have played many fun decks that have lowered my uh ranking to the to the uh lower level fun testing people area of the client, uh not client, whatever. And the kiwi the kiwi deck is is around in that style, but keep that in mind. I'm down there. Um, so it's not doing very well. It is cool, it is fun when it happens, you know. If they do like the whole Robin Hood, shift Robin Hood, play the Alice.
SPEAKER_02Oh, thank goodness, so much fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, give it ward, play the Begira or the Bodyguard of Choice. Headless Horseman, the 4-4 is still the go-to option there. Um, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's yeah, it's nice that it's around then.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's around. I mean, people blue steel is a very weird commute, uh weird uh fluctuation uh throughout the like if you run up against a blue steel player, you always know that like, yeah, I might win, or yeah, I might lose.
SPEAKER_02It's just kind of a coin flip, right? Like, yeah, are they you never know?
SPEAKER_00And then also, it's like, are they trying blue steel or are they playing blue steel?
SPEAKER_02And if you're playing blue steel, you have a chance to win every game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it didn't it didn't get much it's still Kiwi's doing the same thing. I mean, there are the Archer decks, you have Merida, you know, Robin Hood into Merida into three arrows twice back to back, you know, Ariel Sonic Singer to sing stuff like let it go and s and pay to and destroy. Yeah, once it's rolling, uh you can't you can't play anything. Yeah, you can't play nothing. They're gonna shoot it, ink it, zap it, blast it, whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I mean that's still running around. Um, the the last deck I want to talk about here is uh the deck that I played last set and won me a set champ. Um, and that is yellow blue. Um this deck didn't go anywhere. Um it it's still a deck that still does things. Did it get anything super flashy in this set? Absolutely not. Um, but I played my yeah, you can you can change the build to fit Dale in there, yeah for sure. No, I mean the the control list where you're just controlling your your way, surviving until really the red blue style from from ages ago, right? Where you get you you let them get to like 15, 16, and then you just remove everything. That's how this death plays. And you know, just for just for you know sanity's sake, is I jumped in the day that the set was legal on duels, um and I played my 10 placement matches in Core Constructed. Um, I went 9 and 1. Nice, nice, and I did not add a single new card to the deck. So um it it still exists, it's out there, it's still very, very good, and you can kind of you can change the build now um to be Dale centered or not Dale centered, right? There's uh the Aurora that gives things ward is very nice along with the Dale. Very fun.
SPEAKER_00You can probably include what else can I do in there if you wanted.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yeah, I mean, there's uh there's definitely a lot to explore there. Um, but those are kind of our our core constructed thoughts.
SPEAKER_00Um I think purple, I am I think purple yellow, I think purple yellow dale decks are gonna be a problem. I think they're gonna be a problem.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you were you were showing me. I just happened to randomly Q and V the other day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was running, I was testing uh blue yellow infinity to really purple yellow infinity, yeah. Purple yellow, yeah, purple, yellow, infinity. We're talking about blue yellow, but yeah, purple yellow infinity then. That is doing well. Um, I definitely wanted to try it in Infinity to really just like, hey, let's cut to the chase. Let's see how let's put this into the environment where it has the best cards, right? Like, can it hang with the best decks in the game? Because that's what Infinity had the most unfair decks, or the best, the most powerful, however you want to phrase it. Um, and it did very well. Um, granted, I wasn't running, you know, uh, I was running Rapunzel instead of Ohana, yeah uh friends on the other side instead of legit guidebook. Um it is essentially the same deck, it's just you know, with Dale, Rapunzel's a 5-5 that heals for three, and technically you can heal unlimited with unlimitedly with Ohana. So it is slightly different, but it's gonna be nasty if you get the right pilot. Um, I'm testing it out pretty good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, even in Core Constructed, right? I've been I've been running a list in Core Constructed after, you know, after after I did my placement matches. And I, you know, one of our friends out here, they was like, hey, this deck is a lot of fun and pretty good. I'm like, oh I'll try it. Um it was a purple yellow list with you know the Willow the Wisp and Dale and all the the purple cards that you know and love. Um, and it was it's strong, right? It's it's it's to me, it's kind of in that um blue steel category where like that deck can be in every game if you let it get out of hand. Um and it's definitely much different um than the you know the purple yellow combo decks that we saw last set. Um, but it's a build upon the purple yellow, just like consistent pressure all the time that never have done occurrence.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's what it that's what it is. It's just they have access to possibly have a 5-5 or a 3-3 on turn, like it's everything gets big. It's just pressure, pressure, pressure. Um it's long gone are the days of purple yellow aggro.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. Oh man, with the oh what the heck with with like you go daisy into like uh the Simba bodyguard into like the Maleficent the quest for three, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean you can still use what's that what's that zero for some of the zero four maleficent?
SPEAKER_02Oh it's uh there's a Nala. Um that's zero four.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no. There's uh there is a purple maleficent that lets you return something back to hand. I saw it in somebody's list for purple. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02The one that gets like maleficent back or something like that, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh something like that. It's a zero four, but if you play Dale, then it's a four-four and it it's it bounces stuff back to hand to attack two or less or something like that.
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, yeah. Whenever this character quests, you might choose and discard a card to return chosen character item or location costs three or less to their player's hand. I imagine it quests for two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's just uh a big thing that bounces stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's I don't know. There's just a lot to be done in that color pair. So I feel like someone somewhere who really wants to make it work will make it work. So be watch out. Yeah, yeah. Turn when they when they ink when they ink a mogley and play a Willow of the Wisp, because they're playing Mowgli on turn two. But you know what's coming, but yeah, I don't know what hold your removal, I guess. I don't know. Yeah, I guess, yeah.
SPEAKER_02All right, so that those were some some some quick thoughts uh on core constructed. Like we said, largely we don't think that um the landscape of the meta is gonna change all that much. You're gonna see some new things here or there, some new cards here and there, but yeah, the good decks are the good decks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the rogues, the rogues gallery of all the other color combinations is at its full potential, which I again will predict will be the same thing when we get into set whatever rotation, whenever whenever this set rotates out, right? This will be the short set. Whenever this set rotates out, right before right before that, it'll be the there'll be two or three decks that are the strongest, and we're the strongest from attack moving forward, and then by the end of it, everything will be somewhat playable, almost everything. Besides like red-green, I guess.
SPEAKER_02That deck will never be good ever.
SPEAKER_00Hey, hey man, if I've seen some red-green stuff that is trying really hard um to play the Leviathan. I mean, they can do it, they can play that Leviathan. They quest the Anton Mollier, they drop two cards, hit the hit the um return of Hercules, play the Leviathan. Yep, yeah, cool, cool. You got that one. Uh, it's it's a shame that there's a card that just says remove something with five attack or more. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, for the last part of the episode here, uh, I'm just gonna give you a couple hot takes and I want you to react to them. Sound good? Yeah, yeah. All right. So my first hot take is evasive is no longer the best keyword. Word is.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and no, yes, no, no. Okay, let me let me let me think here. Let me think. Yeah, evasive for this set is no longer the best word. But I think evasive once we lose the evasive removal and you know, horseman strike, you know, once that's out, I I think I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Ah we're not gonna strike staying around a while. We're losing all the evasive cards, right? I know I know what I dumb low by genie, right? Yeah, uh okay.
SPEAKER_00I got you, I got you a little little torn here. Yeah, it's because Ward Ward says you can't do what you want to my thing. Yeah, and that is huge, right? In a game that has no interaction on your opponent's turn, saying you can't interact with this on any of the turns is is huge. I mean, that's kind of what evasive was doing. It says you can't touch me because I'm up here, and then Ward says you can't touch me at all. Uh and there's no removal for things with Ward unless they say, Hey, you know, you have to just banish a character of your choice. I don't I don't know if I the best word, I think the best word is quest for five, but well, of course, yeah. I would love the quest for twenty, but I can't do that.
SPEAKER_02It's I'll let you marinate on that one. I'll give you another one here. Oh, let's see here. Um, this is a good one. Red Steel is the best it's ever been and can win a set champion.
SPEAKER_01Wrong.
SPEAKER_00So wrong. Oh, okay. So wrong. Um so for those who do not know, I have been uh building Red Steel attack decks since set two or three?
SPEAKER_02Two or three Josh, you have a card that's that draws you cards. Yes, Red Steel has card draw now.
SPEAKER_00Red Steel use Red Steel two sets ago it was peak. It was peak performance two sets ago. You had all the tools it has currently, you do get card draw, card advantage is great. Um, I think your I think a myriad of Red Steel decks become better because of it, right? Like I can play I can play Mr. Incredible, Syndrome, Omni Droid, and Card Advantage and Marching Off to Battle. And that deck's perfectly fine to have fun with. And you could probably sneak in a win at a set jam. Probably. You could play Gargoyles and Darkwing Duck and jam in card advantage and marching off to battle, and maybe you could sneak in a win. However, when there was less removal in the set, right? Let it go, just just before the just before the let it go reprint, Red Steel was in a place where you had Mushu, you had this high bodies, and you know, Agrabah and maybe uh the Mulan package, then you didn't need the card draw. Um so at that point, I think it was peak for Red Steel, and then it dropped when they printed Let It Go. And then now we're at the point where it is back to where it was, just but because the rest of the decks are so much better, um just getting it back to where it was isn't good enough because everything else is better.
SPEAKER_02So you're saying even though that you have a custom card that says draw cards when you swing at things, it doesn't help enough. That's fair.
SPEAKER_00I mean, hey fair enough. Uh may I remind you that the toys say draw cards, play them for free. Besides have Woody on board. Um purple. I could get into so many other cards and setups that are better than card draw and marching off to battle, or card advantage and marching off to battle. Granted, I'll I'll rebuttal saying yes, you can build a red steel theme, jam those eight copies of those two cards, marching and card advantage, and have a great time. Fair. But it's not, yeah, you know, it's not as a big contender as it once was.
SPEAKER_02Alright. Well, our last one here is going to be that the new Rex toy is the best bodyguard we've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01In Amber or of all time.
SPEAKER_02Let's go with Amber. Is the best bodyguard in Amber we've ever seen. And for a reminder for those out there, Rex is Rex protective dinosaur. He's a two-cost Ingable. 3-1 bodyguard. During an opponent's turn when this character is banished, gain one lore.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I think he's good. I think he's very good. I think he's very handy. I think he's great for toys. Uh I think I think the Donald Duck Musketeer bodyguard was a little bit better.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I can get behind that. Um I do think this one is the strongest, and I'll tell you why. Um it has to do with the three strength. Yeah. Its purpose is to die, and you can play it on two, and it will kill anything that you have to run into it. Apart from, you know, like genie and things, right? But like early in the early game, you drop this thing on two, or you can play it for free with a woody. This is gonna kill stuff, and that's okay. Because I feel like a lot of bodyguards before they took the the the guarding part a little or the and the body part a little too seriously, where they're like, You can't get through me, I've got a billion defense. Whereas this guy's like, Come at me, bro, I'm gonna kill you too. I'll catch that bullet, Mr. President. Exactly, and I think that is a maybe not a better style of bodyguard, but it's at least very useful, um, especially being a two-cost that you can play for free, grab for free, all the things for free.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Raj, Raja, Raja put up puts up a good fight, I think.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, it's kind of in that happy medium where it has that three attack, four defense, so it is going to take some stuff out, but it's a little more expensive, so it's not really taking the bullet. It's kind of like Rex does, it's kind of just like ah, tussle me. Oh no, I died. Um, I think it Rajaf was like a third third place, maybe in Amber bodyguards alone. Uh, we're not we're not gonna get into all the different steel bodyguards.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, that's fair. Yeah, because I think you have to make the argument for the prints too. If you if you throw in steel, is the one that had resist in Quester for two.
SPEAKER_00At the time, what do you do? At the time, before Brawl existed, you uh you just cried about it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you waited until you can Maui.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's it. Look at you, look at that. You got you got uh you got four lore. Good job there, Princey Boy. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Uh all right, sir. Well, that is all that I had on my agenda to talk about today. Do you have any closing thoughts, last second, you know? Anything you wanna you want to share with the folks?
SPEAKER_00Nah. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. Okay. Uh unless you wanted to talk about red blue a little bit. Uh not red blue, but uh we could talk about red blue if you wanted. I got some I got some spice. Okay. I got our hot take for you.
SPEAKER_01You loaded up.
SPEAKER_00All right, let's go. I got a hot take for you. Ursula, the new legendary, that says three drop inkable on play, get an extra lore to somebody, on quest, give an extra lore to somebody, and at the end of the turn, you must put a character of yours into the inkwell. Is a good card.
SPEAKER_02I actually agree with you on this one, and I know that's probably gonna shock you, right? Because you look at this card, and I I don't think I was very vocal about this card when it was spoiled, but I was like, eh, whatever, it's fine. Um I think this is a pretty interesting effect. Um getting the extra lore is very nice. Um, and you you get you are doing what you want to be doing, which is putting something in the inkwell. And I think that this combined with like the Radigan, where you know you have to put something into the inkwell for that thing to stay alive. Um I think that is very good and make maybe potentially worth exploring. Um but I I think this enables your style of red blue deck a little more.
SPEAKER_00Um let me tell you a little bit of turn one Hercules, buddy. Please, let's go. Okay. Um I'm doing that. This is like uh what I'm doing right now is when I play an actually good deck and get my ranking up and I'm and get bored of uh get bored of doing playing normal. I put on my red blue deck, and that that goes turn one Hercules. He is a one drop, zero three. If you boost him for two, he becomes a three-three. Very nice. He's pretty good. Turn one, play him. Turn two, boost him for red blue. That means you don't have to use a card on turn two. You just keep whatever you drew and keep going. Then on turn three, you play her. If they are going control, you get two lore. If they or maybe even possibly you're at uh on the play and you're at three. Alright, fantastic. Um then our turn four, you can boost him one more time, and feel free to play things like medallion weights and lonely grave or scrooge McDuck for two ink, and then send your double boosted Hercules to the Inkwell and be at seven.
SPEAKER_02So that's many cards. Um, I do have a question with that though. Yeah. Um, this effect is mandatory. So in in the situation you described where you go turn one Hercules, turn two, boost Hercules, turn three, play Ursula. Don't you have to put it into the inkwell? That turn?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you no, no, no, no. On play, he gets lore, Hercules quest. When she is exerted, then you must put something.
SPEAKER_02Oh, if this character is exerted, I got you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yeah, okay. I'm seeing the vision. Yep, yep. Yeah, yeah. So next turn you quest her, quest the Hercules, get two more lore, send to the inkwell, bam, you're at seven. You're free to play Rick at Ralph and pop them with lonely grave if they win aggro. You're free to play Hades, you're free to play.
SPEAKER_02And that doesn't need a lot of cards either, because you're boosting it twice, right? So it's two cards you don't really have to use. And you you can almost you know make you can take out the ramp package because you're ramping yourself in a different way.
SPEAKER_00Uh in my build, I don't have a ramp package. Uh, if I go against control, I play Ursula to go. That's a hot take. Yeah. Yeah, buddy. It's I have made very many people upset because they will play the toy deck, right? This is my it's my little I'm sick of them beating me, so I'm gonna play their their the thing that beats them. And it's mulligan for Ursula and Hercules, and um and lonely grave, and then four copies of Rick and Ralph. You'll get one, I promise, and he will blow up and all the toys. Well, everything and your Pete stays on board. You're I'm playing the technology age. I'm playing the Keda uh as well. So if I don't get the ramp option, I have to go like turn one Hercules. I didn't get Ursula, so I'll go turn one Hercules, turn two Scrooge, turn three. Um the Rush, the Rush 3-3. Uh yeah, yeah, play him on three, yeah, uh play Kita, small kita on four. The ward did the best ward, the best word in the game. Yeah, yeah. Uh true story. Yeah, the five P, like you're just playing big decently stated bodies with decent stat effects, and then you just kind of if you don't like if you don't get the Ralph thing, right? You still have one, two, three, four, five. You can still walk yourself up uh the the inks and and get there naturally without the ramp. And then if you didn't get Ursula, you get her later because you didn't get the beginning, so then you just use her as that extra lore boost, send her to the inkwell. It's and people don't bother with the people don't waste ammunition on her either. She's a 2-4. Yeah, yeah, 2-4 with medallion weights is uh draw two cards sometimes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that sounds very fun, but we'll have to be on the lookout for that for sure. But I think that is all the time we have for today. Thank you all for listening. And of course, think smart and quest fast.
SPEAKER_01We'll see you next time. Next time.