The Reign of Jafar Reveals are winding down, but even then, Ravensburger is wholeheartedly running forward as they reveal all the remaining Dual Ink cards for the set.
Pua - Protective Pig
At 3 ink cost, Pua - Protective Pig is below average in terms of stats, given his Bodyguard nature. That said, Protective Pig does share an ability similar to one of Amethyst’s most popular cards, Diablo - Obedient Raven.
The question now is whether the little ankle biter is worth slotting into your deck or not. Within the current rotation, probably not.
Amethyst already has access to its in-house capabilities, such as Obedient Raven, Genie - Wish Fulfilled, or Friends From The Other Side. Paired with Amber, a deck can also access Rapunzel - Gifted With Healing.
There are a lot of powerful or more efficient tools at the moment vying for valuable deck space. Maybe once cards from the first four sets have been rotated out, Amethyst will look to Pua to fill in the gap.
Kaa - Hypnotizing Python
Kaa - Hypnotizing Python is a pretty interesting design choice for a character, molding Emerald’s manipulative properties and Amber’s enduring qualities.
Kaa may look a little below average given his ink cost, but he can essentially assassinate early to mid-game characters. At the very least, he can delay the opponent’s Lore gain as Kaa’s targets gain Reckless.
That said, Kaa’s uninkable nature makes it difficult to find a place for him at the moment. Kaa can find use in the current rotation, but once the card pool changes come with the ninth set, the doors for possibilities will open further.
It will just have to take an appropriately crafty deck builder to ply this serpent’s power.
Only So Much Room
Ravensburger is keen on creating cards with multiple effects for this set. Only So Much Room continues the trend of embodying the virtues of its ink colors. At the moment, however, it’s a little difficult to determine how useful this Action card is.
Bouncing a target from the board back to hand is always useful for targets of opportunity, and this is further enhanced by its lack of targeting parameters. As if that wasn't enough, it can even bounce a character from its owner's discard back to hand as well.
Only So Much Room is one of those cards you’d like to have in a pinch, but not necessarily want all the time.
Players would definitely need to experiment with this card and observe the overall meta of the competitive scene. The decision about whether to use this card or not is not an easy one to make.
She's Your Person
At a single ink cost, She’s Your Person highly rewards an aggressive stance when it comes to Challenges. This, however, is where the usefulness of this Action card ends. It's very one-dimensional but extremely specialized.
If you know you’re going to be swinging into your opponent’s characters often, then this wouldn’t be a bad tool to slot in.
Magica De Spell - Shadow Form
As a 5 ink cost, uninkable, it can be a little tricky to use Shadow Form. Her stats aren’t the best for her ink cost on curve, though her Evasive does protect as she quests with her 2 Lore.
Her ability to allow a drawing of a card at the cost of bouncing an ally to hand looks like a painful choice at first, but it’s mitigated by the fact that a lot of Emerald and Amethyst characters have abilities that activate when played or when leaving the field.
A lot of the Merlin characters, like Goat or Crab, wouldn’t mind leaving the field. Even Genie - Wish Fulfilled can be played again for even more card draw.
There are a lot of points of interaction that can be done with this one card, but as a frontline unit, she can leave a lot to be desired.
Madame Medusa - Deceiving Partner
Mirroring Hades - Ruthless Tyrant, Deceiving Partner is willing to damage her allies to bounce any target from the field back into its owner's hand.
While not as permanent as banishing an opposing target outright, delaying the enemy advance can still be a plus. To sweeten the deal, Deceiving Partner is not limited in her choice of targets, so if the controlling player feels the need to do so, they can bounce one of their own units.
This card is fairly average on stats when played on curve, but she can offer some minor board control when necessary. If she’s not needed, she can easily be placed into the inkwell to fuel more plays.
Madam Mim - Rhino
Madam Mim - Rhino is a brutal card to face just by looking at its humongous stats. Thankfully, it’s held back a little by the standard package that plagues all of Madam Mim’s transformed versions, the need to bounce another allied character back to your hand.
However, Rhino is part of the Amethyst line-up, so this may be more of an advantage for the controlling player if they have a suitable target.
Another thing to consider about this behemoth is its cost. The 6 ink cost is negligible, thanks to Shift 2, which is the real threat. Amethyst has access to a lot of versions of Madam Mim.
While there’s no 1 ink cost Madam Mim, there are enough copies at the 2 or 3 ink cost curve. This makes Rhino a potential threat as early as turn 3 or 4.
In the current rotation, Rhino won’t be an overwhelming juggernaut because of all the banish options circulating the card pool. Once set rotation comes in, however, that might change.
In the meantime, players will have to keep on their toes if the person sitting opposite them is fielding a Ruby-Amethyst deck. You never know if Rhino is ready to charge in at a moment's notice.
Blue Fairy - Guiding Light
There’s not much to say about Guiding Light. It’s a fairly average card for its stats and ink cost. The Evasive she is good, but there’s usually an odd Evasive unit being played now and again at the 3 or 4 ink cost curve, so her staying power still comes into question.
The Support function can be useful if sequenced correctly, but at the moment, this ability is not really favored in the competitive scene.
Unfortunately for Guiding Light, she’ll probably not see a lot of play regardless of set rotation. There are too many options for the early game that do more for the same ink cost.
Lena Saberwing - Pure Energy
Pure Energy also suffers from the same mediocrity as the previous card. Even with her inkable nature, her stats are below average for her ink cost, even with the Evasive trait protecting her.
And while her ability to damage a character can be useful, it doesn’t do much in the long run, especially at the cost of exerting Pure Energy in the first place.
Abu - Illusory Pachyderm
This trend continues with Illusory Pachyderm. While a bulky character, Illusory Pachyderm is grossly held back by its 6 ink cost.
The saving grace for this card is that it’s an Illusion-type character, so Illusory Pachyderm has very good synergy with Jafar - High Sultan of Lorcana to become a free body on the field.
If the opponent happens to have a high Lore gain character on their field, Illusory Pachyderm can mimic that Lore stat temporarily.
It will take some time and experimentation, but only through actual play will players be able to evaluate this card’s value.
Dormouse - Easily Agitated
On its own, Easily Agitated is pretty subpar, even if it is a 2 ink cost card. However, the Ruby and Emerald ink colors have access to tools that are reliant on spotting a damaged character.
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum - Strange Storytellers is an example, where they can bounce back a damaged character to hand. For the moment, however, it’s a little early to tell if it’s worth slotting in Easily Agitated into a deck.
Damage is good, but it doesn’t necessarily change the board state unless it’s the deciding point for banishing a target, and Dormouse is looking to be a combo piece where it needs the support of other tools to elevate its value.
Hiro Hamada - Intuitive Thinker
Intuitive Thinker comes off as more of a tech choice piece than an actual frontline unit. Sapphire and Emerald have a lot of playable Floodborn characters that could easily pull double-duty in both challenging and questing.
But the problem this card faces is whether it's worth the actual deck slot and ink cost for its deployment. Even if held in reserve, Intuitive Thinker would still need a turn to pass before it can ply its effect.
Outside of raw stats, the current pool of Floodborn characters doesn’t have an ability that may be considered valuable enough to warrant a Ready. That said, Intuitive Thinker’s ability has no strings attached, so it’s highly versatile in what it does.
Jeweled Collar
This item card does what it sets out to do: inkwell acceleration. It’s a little slower than the likes of Sapphire staples like Tipo - Growing Son or Sail The Azurite Sea, but Jewelled Collar makes up for this by being able to activate multiple times.
For the moment, Jewelled Collar may be a little too slow for the liking of many players. Maybe come set rotation, the meta might slow down enough that this card might find a place in a deck.
Walk The Plank
A piece of unexpected Pirate support, Walk The Plank is a very powerful effect that’s kept in check by its Dual Ink nature and its ties to the Pirate archetype.
Its uninkable nature also makes it difficult to slot into a deck even if it is Pirate-focused. Not to mention the condition of only being able to banish damaged characters makes targeting another hoop to jump through.
It’s not the most devastating card to see in this set as a whole, but it’s nice to know that Ravensburger is trying to add more tribal support-themed decks.
The Coachman - Greedy Deceiver
Another piece of evidence of Ravensburger trying to promote wide board building. Greedy Deceiver can certainly punch above his weight class when it comes to challenges, but still needs the investment provided by at least 2 other characters exerted first.
Players normally like cards that don’t need much investment when it comes to conditional effects. It would be even better if they didn’t need any conditions at all to function.
So, for the current rotation, Greedy Deceiver might not see much play unless the player is purposefully building an army of characters already. Maybe once set rotation commences, we can see this card being used. It’s still a little early to tell at the moment.
Arthur - Determined Squire
On curve, Determined Squire is another monstrous card to face, and he cannot be ignored either. If left alone, Arthur will just carve out the Lore race with his 3 Lore.
Unfortunately for any character sent his way, they’d need to deal with his robust Strength and Willpower.
That said, it’s not all positive for Arthur’s controlling player either; they’ll be giving up their natural draw while he’s on the field.
Savvy players could make use of draw cards like Doc - Bold Knight or A Whole New World to work around this, but resources will dry up fast the longer Arthur is alive.
We can see Arthur being used before or after the rotation. He’s a body that forces a response, he can’t be left alone for too long, even with his own debilitating effect.
Ultimately, it’ll be up to the opponent to determine how many resources to invest against this card.