There has been another set of tribal reveals for the Reign of Jafar. This time, we’re looking at the 101 Dalmatians franchise and the new Puppy support Ravensburger is cooking up for the upcoming set.
Dalmatian Puppy - Tail Wagger
We’re starting off with one of the backbones of this archetype. The Dalmation Puppy has always been about cheap bodies hitting the field early and often. There’s really not much else to say about this card in particular, though.
The Tail Wagger functions as both the most important and usually the weakest piece on the board.
Dalmatian Puppies are reliant on their support pieces to function, but at the same time, they are the center of the engine.
If anything, this is a conundrum that avid problem solvers would be glad to still be around as a way to stretch their creative muscles.
Thanks to Ravensburger’s reprint clause from their announcement, the Reign of Jafar secures all copies of Tail Waggers through the upcoming set rotation.
The Colonel - Old Sheepdog
The Colonel is a rather robust canine. While his Strength is more on the average side, that can change quickly once three or more Puppy characters are on the field.
Once fully online, Old Sheepdog can easily trade with anyone in his ink cost weight-class, or he can start questing for 3 Lore.
With the current rotation, though, there might be issues with full-scale board wipes, such as Be Prepared or Sisu - Empowered Sibling taking out the puppies. That, however, may soon change once set rotation occurs.
A lot of tools that deal with direct banishment, such as the above-mentioned cards, are being scaled back.
We don’t know what the ninth expansion, Fabled, has to offer. If Ravensburger keeps a lid on board wipes, then cards like Old Sheepdog may have a place down the road.
Anita Radcliffe - Dog Lover
We’re veering away from Amber a bit for this one. Anita Radcliffe comes in as part of the Sapphire roster.
Even as a tribal support for the Puppy archetype, Anita doesn’t offer much. The Resist she gives a Puppy character on play is nice, but it can be fleeting.
There may be better choices on the roster if you are building a Puppy deck, but at the very least, Anita’s higher stats than most Puppy characters let her act as a vanguard if necessary.
Television Set
The first and only item on this list, Television Set, is tailor-made for Puppy-focused decks. It may not be as efficient -or as cheap- as Pawpsicle, but rotation is coming soon.
When this happens, a lot of older draw staples like Rapunzel - Gifted with Healing get cycled out, so some decks would have to make do with what’s on hand. Television Set has something to offer that’s in-house.
At worst, Television Set cycles your deck, and you may lose out on a non-Puppy card you may sorely need down the line. If you know your ratios well enough, however, then it’s basically a second draw for the turn at the cost of a single ink.
As far as things go, a potential second draw for the turn, even if it’s for a Puppy character, is just pure card advantage that this archetype needs.
Rolly - Chubby Puppy
As the first Dual Ink card of the list, Rolly - Chubby Puppy is not off to a great start. As a 4 ink cost character, Rolly still shares the Puppy stat line of 2 Strength and 3 Willpower.
Rolly does come with the Support ability, so he can share his meager 2 Strength with someone else for a better trade, but Rolly does do his Sapphire nature proud as he allows for ink acceleration from the discard pile.
Compared to Tipo - Growing Son, this is infinitely better in terms of card advantage for the archetype specifically, as you’re just recycling a used/lost resource even if it comes into play exerted.
The Puppy archetype can take advantage of this further due to Pongo - Dear Old Dad. Dear Old Dad can turn any Puppy character in the inkwell into a free body on the board.
If you’re sly with sequencing your turns, you can make use of the card in the ink well before Pongo flips it back up to play for free.
Perdita: On the Lookout & Determined Mother
On the Lookout is a cheap, if a bit average body, that gets marginally better if a Puppy character is on the field. That said, her value heightens as a Shift target for her Dual Ink counterpart.
Assuming Determined Mother is played at her Shift cost, she’s basically an upgraded Rolly. She does lose the Support ability Rolly has, though.
Thankfully, her ink acceleration more than makes up for the loss. Not to mention that Determined Mother has double the stats of Rolly across the board.
As far as 4 cost slots go, you’d have more reasons to run Determined Mother than Rolly.
Ultimately, Perdita - Determined Mother is hampered by her need for her Shift line to get this value. Otherwise, as a 6 ink cost, the price may be a little too high for what she offers.