The Reign of Jafar continues to impress with a new set of reveals. This time, we’re looking at some of the new Legendary Rares to be included in this set.
Goofy – Pioneering Chef
Lots To Do: At the end of your turn, you may remove up to 1 damage from each of your other characters. Ready characters that had damage removed this way.
As a 4 ink cost, Pioneering Chef is just above average when it comes to stats, but his real value is in his ability. Lots To Do allows Goofy to heal 1 damage across all his allies, and any ally healed this way can ready themselves.
This ability encourages a player to build a wide board. Depending on their win condition, a player could start grinding down the opponent’s board presence.
Or if the controlling player is fielding Amber’s notoriously high Willpower bodies, just keep chipping away at the Lore race heedless of damage.
Lilo – Causing an Uproar
The next Legendary on this list parallels Pioneering Chef. With an average stat line, Lilo - Causing an Uproar comes with an alternative cost option. So long as you play three or more actions during a turn, this Lilo is basically free.
While this does require a lot of investment, thankfully, the actions you play don't need to be useless. Thanks to this, Lilo - Causing an Uproar could be a fantastic addition to aggressive Ruby decks. As if this wasn't enough reason to pay attention to Lilo, she also pairs up nicely with Maui - Half-Shark
Stitch – Experiment 626
One look at Experiment 626 and you can’t help but think that Sapphire is trying to replicate the capabilities of Lilo - Escape Artist.
That said, the ability for self-recursion is where the similarities end. Stitch comes with a higher Strength and Willpower at the cost of being uninkable. While Stitch and Lilo can both return from the discard pile, their cost for doing so are quite different.
Escape Artist needs to be paid with ink, while Experiment 626 requires an inkable card to be discarded. The latter might turn people away, as willfully tossing a card just to bring back an exerted character is a hard bargain to consider.
This deal is even made even more difficult to consider because of Stitch’s seemingly benign ability for the opponent. Letting the opponent ink a card from the top of the deck can spell trouble for Stitch’s controlling player. You are accelerating the opponent’s ink curve, after all.
Currently, it’s a little difficult to see Experiment 626 being used as he offers little for board presence for his price point. Down the line, however, Stitch may find use as a milling tool.
A possible win condition for the game is getting your opponent to have nothing left to draw. While there are not a lot of current tools for such a deck yet, future cards and a willing deck builder may see this happen.
Raya – Infiltration Expert
It seems to be a trend that Ravensburger is keeping a delicate balance between Strength, Willpower, and Lore gain.
Raya - Infiltration Expert is as standard as far as things go for stats. While her ability is simple in terms of design, its value is extremely valuable.
For a small price of 2 ink, Raya’s controlling player can ready an exerted character when Raya herself quests. There are no strings attached to this ability, meaning that the chosen recipient of the ability can do whatever the controlling player needs to do.
With Sheer Khan - Infamous Tiger, that’s 10 Lore waiting to be plucked. With Maui - Half-Shark, that’s two challenges and two Action cards returning to hand. Or you can just Sing two songs with the same character.
The applications and sequencing are as varied as they come when using Raya. You just need to find a way to cheat her out early or accelerate her deployment to maximize her use.
Ratigan – Greedy Genius
A little different from previous cards, Ratigan - Greedy Genius is pretty no-nonsense. He’s expensive, he’s beefy, and he quests for high Lore.
All Ratigan asks for his brute strength is that you ink a card every single turn. In return, you can keep a monster of a body on the field. Notably, Ratigan is a monster that can only be dealt with by physical strength because he comes with Ward.
All things considered, Greedy Genius is a very good game-closer. If you’re at 16 Lore, he’s already a win condition. There aren’t a lot of cards that can target a readied character with Ward.
Since Sapphire is known for its ink acceleration, a player could probably get Ratigan out as early as turn 4 or 5, depending on circumstances.
Ratigan doesn’t offer much in terms of options, but being simple in design can be a good thing, too.
Chief Bogo – Commanding Officer
Amber gets another Legendary with Chief Bogo - Commanding Officer. He follows the recurring trend followed by many on this list when it comes to his stat line.
To mix things up a little, Chief Bogo's ability does offer Amber a not-often-seen tool. Being able to cheat out characters straight from the deck is something you’d normally see out of Amethyst or Emerald.
Outside of Bogo’s presence on the board, this ability does take a bit of work to activate. You'll need to make sure an allied character with Bodyguard is banished during your opponent's turn. Thankfully, this isn't an insurmountable hurdle, and should keep a Bodyguard-focused deck stocked with a robust board.
To top it off, cards like So Much to Give or Training Dummy could probably be used to meet Bogo’s parameters.
Mickey Mouse – Giant Mouse
Speaking of Bodyguards, Mickey Mouse - Giant Mouse comes in as the most expensive character on this list.
As an uninkable 10-cost card, players interested in running this character would probably not run more than two copies. It’s a literal brick in the hand as there’s no in-built way to cheat this card out.
Despite his high stats, Giant Mouse lacks any built-in protection. For some players, this might be a giant gaping hole in the design.
Spending a lot of effort or resources to see this card banished with a random Energy Blast is not an enticing idea. That said, Giant Mouse does come with a little compensation, as he nukes the opposing side for 5 damage.
This means an already established board will be in danger of being wiped out should this card hit the field and be banished. At the very least, the opponent would have to get a little bit creative in getting rid of the Giant Mouse to avoid such an outcome.
Pinocchio – Strings Attached
The last card to round out this list, Pinocchio - Strings Attached, stands out for its rather diminutive capabilities.
With only a four in Willpower, an Evasive for protection, and 2 Lore gain, this card seems to be designed to lean into a very aggressive Lore race.
Strings Attached also exemplifies his ink color by letting his controlling player draw a card if he’s readied during the turn. This ability is a tad bit slow and convoluted, given that we’ve been spoiled by the likes of Pawpsicle or Genie - Wish Fulfilled.
Even with set rotation in mind, the parameters needed for Pinocchio to function as a source of draw aren’t enticing.
Without something to easily ready Pinocchio, like Raya - Infiltration Expert, Pinocchio is more of an afterthought. Which is a shame, given his rarity level in the set.