Lorcana Deck Guide: Amber-Emerald Mufasa-Hercules-Pirates!

Hello, everyone!

We're still excited about Archazia's Island, and today we have a deck idea that mixes some themes and cards from recent sets - not just Archazia's, but also Azurite Sea!

Today's deck will be an Amber-Emerald designed to use two somewhat similar cards: Mufasa - Betrayed Leader and the new The Return of Hercules, which we even [link]{https://lorcana.cardsrealm.com/en-us/articles/reviewing-archazias-island-the-stand-outs-from-the-new-set}. Both benefit from a deck built around higher-cost characters, and the two inks we selected also give us access to a subtheme involving Pirate characters!

Sounds like quite a mess, doesn't it? But trust me, it works!

Let's go through the list and the game plan, and talk about the role of each card to better understand the deck.

The Decklist

Let's start by presenting deck:

The Gameplan

The deck, at first glance, seems like a very standard deck, just characters played out on a good ink curve. However, at the high end we see an increase in cards, instead of a reduction - but this usually happens in Sapphire decks, which accelerate their ink to play higher cost cards a few turns earlier.

In this deck, the acceleration strategy is based on two cards: Mufasa - Betrayed Leader and The Return of Hercules. The idea is that with these cards you can play a 6 or 7 ink character but spend only five.

The plan is to basically take the initiative in the first turns and, from the fifth turn onwards, play high cost characters earlier. This tempo advantage should be enough to end the game in your favor. If you are behind at the board, the deck also has tools to help with this!

Let's analyze the cards and understand the role of each one.

Early turns - Pirates!

We have twenty-eight pirate characters to play on the first 3 turns, with varied ink costs.

Pete and Rabbit are helpful both as a first play and in further turns, since their abilities remain useful throughout the game.

At cost 2, Pooh is the most important, since his ability will reduce the cost of the next pirate character, and thus facilitate your double development in the following turn. However, do not neglect Roo or Piglet - Roo can give you trade advantage or indirectly protect your characters from opposing challenges, while Piglet is a strong threat to accelerate your Lore.

At cost 3, Donald has a similar function to Piglet, being a very efficient Lore generator - the deck has sixteen characters with the Captain type. Hook, on the other hand, will recover cards for you and can even paralyze opponents that may have pirate characters.

Turn 5 - Setting up the Haymakers

All right, we mentioned these a few times already, so let's dive into more detail.

Mufasa won't have an immediate impact on the board, since it depends on being banished. The good news is that the ability works even on your opponent's turn, so if they remove Mufasa you'll still have the chance to replace a character for free from the top of your deck. If you get your turn back with Mufasa on the board, you can evaluate whether you should purposefully use him in a challenge to get him off the board, or whether you should just generate Lore with him and leave it up to your opponent to attack him - and thus potentially give you an even better character.

The Return of Hercules must be used carefully, since you don't want to give your opponent an opportunity to play a very strong character. Some of your plays will deal with whatever your opponent plays, as we'll see later - so be careful to have the setup ready before you play The Return.

Helping to Setup

These cards provide support for Mufasa or Return to have an even more significant impact - and also help diminish the random part involved in the effects.

Daisy and Forgotten attack the opponent's hand so that The Return of Hercules has less chance of giving them a strong play. Normally, they'll choose to discard heavier ink cards, especially if you are already using your cheap characters to pressure the board.

Hypnotic Deduction is the perfect card to use before Mufasa - Betrayed Leader is banished, since it gives you full control of what will be on top of the deck. Or to set up a The Return of Hercules - if you don't have any haymakers in your hand, Deduction will give you 3 more cards to find one. The important thing is not to feel like you need to play it on the second turn just because it costs 2 - save it for a time when you need to guarantee something impactful with your key cards.

Haymakers

Well, we mentioned the Haymakers - a nickname for powerful and impactful cards - a few times, so let's analyze which ones we selected for the deck:

Jim Hawkins is the best Pirate option to not only protect our entire board - thanks to the Bodyguard ability - but also to refill our hand. In total, we have thirty-six Pirate characters in the deck, so you should expect to draw around 2 cards from him.

John Silver is the best option when we want to stop a character with a Quest effect - for example, Tamatoa - Happy as a Clam, among others. Since it's repeatable, the opponent is kind of forced to deal with John Silver, or have their game stumble.

Clarabelle, similar to Jim Hawkins, has the function of refilling our hand - ideal for games in which our opponent has built up a lot of card advantage. She is the perfect character to refuel against more controlling decks, which use a lot of removals like Be Prepared.

Last but not least, Mother Gothel is similar to John Silver, but it prevents the entire opposing board from questing, instead of just one character. Keep in mind that the effect depends on her staying in play - you should prefer to use her against decks that are light on removal, such as other aggressive decks.

Diversifying your build

Our pirate version is able to play actively, taking the initiative on the board and closing out the game with the Haymakers.

However, it's possible to build the deck around some other synergies, for example:

Princesses

Swap out the Pirate package for a Princess package, taking advantage of characters that will heal your board and draw more cards - like Rapunzel, Gifted with Healing -, and haymakers within that theme, like Wreck-It-Ralph - Admiral Underpants and Pluto - Determined Defender.

Challengers

Have a more effective board control through challenges, while using evasive characters for Lore generation. In this case, some potential haymakers would be Cheshire Cat - From the Shadows, Prince Phillip - Swordsman of the Realm, or Prince Phillip - Vanquisher of Foes.

Bodyguards

Similar to the previous one, but in a slightly more reactive gameplan, where you try to to direct the opponent's challenges. Combine cards like Milo Thatch - King of Atlantis and Belle - Hidden Archer with So Much to Give, and also take advantage of Mittens - Sassy Street Cat.

The deck we showcased today sought to combine several different but interconnected themes, ending up on a list with a lot of synergy!

In addition, Amber and Emerald have been somewhat forgotten recently, with so much focus on new cards from other inks - especially Sapphire and Steel. It's only fair that we balance it out a bit with this new deck!

What do you think of the list? Have you played something similar? Share it with us!

Cheers, and see you next time!