We’re only two weeks away from the next Disney Lorcana expansion, Ursula’s Return, and it doesn’t feel real yet. Withall the excitement around Set Championships the last two weekendsthere’s hardly been time to think about new cards. It also doesn’t help that Ravensburger has condensed spoiler season down so dramatically this time around. The expansion comes to local game stores on May 17th, but so far, fewer than half the cards have been revealed.
Card reveals are coming fast and frequently now, first with all the game sites (did you seeour reveal of Sing Together?) and now with content creators, we’re getting around ten new cards every day. We’ve finally seen enough to start forming some new strategies for next season, so let’s take a look at the five most promising cards revealed so far.
Goofy, Super Goof
The easiest cards to make early calls on are the ones that fit perfectly into existing decks. Goofy, Super Goof is a puzzle piece that gives Ruby/Amethyst and Ruby/Sapphire two important tools: early game answers for Aggro, and consistent lore gain. This 2/4 Rush character rewards you with two lore every time he challenges something, and he doesn’t even need to banish his target.
Goofy could be even more effective than Merlin, Goat at closing out games, especially in Ruby/Amethyst where he can be bounced and played repeatedly on the same turn. I expect to see Goofy, Super Goof as a four-of in most Ruby decks. He’ll likely replace Minnie Mouse, Surfer, but there’s an argument to be made for Merlin, Crab or even Merlin, Goat getting cut for it, too.
Ariel, Sonic Warrior
This one feels like a no-brainer for Steelsong decks. Every Amber/Steel deck already runs four copies of Ariel, Spectacular Singer to help them draw their most important songs, and as a Singer 5, she can often sing A Whole New World early and let you reveal your hand with a full supply of ink. In the cases where you don’t have A Whole New World though, she can feel kind of useless.
Ariel, Sonic Warrior offers a new play line. Now you can shift Spectacular Singer into a massive 3/8 body that quests for two, and has the ability to deal three damage to a chosen target any time you play a song. Steelsong struggles with three-Willpower characters right now, so this card has a lot of potential to help shore up an already top-tier deck.
We Don’t Talk About Bruno
This song immediately stands out as a heavy hitter in existing Emerald discard decks. A five-cost song that both bounces an opponent’s character back to their hand, and makes them discard a card,andthe discard is random seems too good to be true. Add in that it’s inkable and you’ve got one of the most promising new cards for Emerald in the entire set.
The most successful Emerald discard deck today doesn’t run many five-cost characters, but this could open the door for cards like Lucifer, Cunning Cat to get extra value after they’re first played.
This is the perfect card to play once your opponent is already top-decking - a position that typically has diminished returns for Emerald players - because it will force them to return anything they play back to their hand and discard it. If they decide to hold their character instead of playing it, you can still use the song to force the discard. Either way, they’re losing their card!
Snuggly Duckling
I’m taking a gamble on Snuggly Duckling, since it doesn’t quite fit into any existing archetypes, but it has a lot of potential in a ‘challenging matters’ deck. That archetype has been bubbling just below the surface since The First Chapter, and Snuggling Duckling could be an important puzzle piece that finally brings it into prominence.
A two-cost location with nine Willpower is nothing to sneeze at, and in a deck that’s built around challenging, its ability could provide a lot of lore very quickly - something that challenger decks have always struggled to do. The only downside is that it has a movement cost of two, which might hold it back from seeing a lot of play. Regardless, I think this one is going to be a big deal - if not this expansion, then eventually.
Hidden Inkcaster
Here’s another Emerald card, and it might be one of the most impactful cards in the entire set. This card fixes one of Emerald’s biggest problems by making all the uninkable cards in your deck inkable, plus you get to draw a card for good measure.
Inkcaster is a rule-breaking card on par with Sapphire’s Fishbone Quill. This is going to enable deck builds with as many uninkables as you want, including niche tech cards that may not be viable in every matchup. Hidden Inkcaster won’t necessarily be played in every Emerald deck, but you’re able to be sure it will be played in a lot of them.
Next:EXCLUSIVE: Sing These Six New Songs With Your Teammates In Disney Lorcana’s Ursula’s Return
