Another day and Ravensburger has been keeping the internet busy. A new wave of cards has been revealed for Disney Lorcana’s upcoming expansion, Fabled.
Little John - Sir Reginald
Little John - Sir Reginald may be a sign that Ravensburger may be brewing up new cards for the ‘Hero’ and ‘Villain’ classification.
In a vacuum, Sir Reginald is a versatile early game tool that can help either board control via challenges or outright character removal with its direct damage. Unfortunately for Little John, a game of Disney Lorcana is never so cut and dry.
The Resist +2 Sir Reginald gives may be limited in scope to ‘Hero’ characters, but Steel will still have in-house access to Calhoun - Marine Sergeant.
This combination play could allow Marine Sergeant to crash into more dangerous challenge targets while extending her longevity on the board.
Unfortunately, the second effect of ‘What a Beautiful Brawl’ will be highly matchup dependent and is reliant on having the opponent set up their own board first.
The direct damage could easily control the board if the targeted villain is fragile enough, or it can set up for more favorable challenge trades. Ultimately, players who want to preemptively push their win condition may not like how reactive Sir Reginald’s package is as a whole.
Cruella De Vil - Style Icon
One of the cards getting an Enchanted variant, Cruella De Vil - Style Icon, subtly pushes her controlling player to take an aggressive stance while upholding Sapphire’s trademark inkwell ramp.
Unlike her contemporaries, Tipo - Growing Son or Sail the Azurite Sea, Style Icon’s inkwell ramp is less instantaneous and more aimed at long-term investments.
Interestingly enough, Style Icon’s inkwell acceleration is coming straight from the deck when it activates. This leaves the controlling player with more options to work with in the moment instead of making the difficult decision of sacrificing a known resource from the hand.
That said, there’s no denying that the biggest drawback to ‘Out of Season’ is the fact that a 2 or less ink cost character has to be banished first. This is partially mitigated by how the ability doesn’t discriminate which player’s character has to be banished.
There could be some synergy to be found between Style Icon and some of the Illusion characters of the card pool, or even Diablo - Obedient Raven.
As for Style Icon’s ‘Insulting Remark’ ability, it allows Sapphire to go on the offensive, almost reminiscent of a Ruby or Steel card. It’s only online half the time, but acting as a pseudo Resist +1 when challenging 2 or less cost characters isn’t bad for the early game.
Ursula - Voice Stealer
Ursula - Voice Stealer is one of those cards that has a nice effect but may be difficult to leverage. As a 5 cost inkable, Voice Stealer is suffering from some slightly below-average stats.
Her ‘Sing For Me’ ability is a one-time use, but there’s potential for a lot of tempo generation with the right combo.
If played with Sapphire, Voice Stealer can set up a target for Into the Unknown. That’s a body hitting the board on ink curve (Voice Stealer) while getting rid of a threat from the opponent’s side at the same time (Into the Unknown).
Some ink combinations may fare better than others with Ursula - Voice Stealer. While not necessarily an auto-include in all decks featuring Amethyst, Voice Stealer could be a powerful tech choice.
Even More ‘A Goofy Movie’ Cards:
We’re looking at both Max Goof - Rockin' Teen and Powerline - Musical Superstar together. Sharing the same ink cost and inkable nature, Rockin’ Teen offers Ruby decks a hardier body and higher Singer compared to Powerline - Taking the Stage.
We have to admit that Max Goof’s ‘I Just Wanna Stay Home’ ability is a little peculiar. It does fit the overall premise of the original animated video, but it also allows us to speculate that Ravensburger might be planning a new location or two for Fabled.
Powerline - Musical Superstar might be suffering from the shadow of Taking the Stage. While the ability to get Rush while piggybacking off a song is good, it does raise the ink curve needed for a combo and could potentially delay the deployment of other cards for succeeding turns.
Even if a player wanted a Shift target for World’s Greatest Rockstar, Taking The Stage can be played a lot earlier and has Singer capabilities for more versatility.
This leaves Musical Superstar in an unenviable position of always being compared to its sibling. For what it can offer, it’s surprisingly one-note.
New Fabled Steel and Dumbo Cards Revealed For Disney Lorcana