Disney Lorcana’s ninth expansion, Fabled, is roughly a week away from hitting store shelves. While a majority of the cards in this set are reprints from older sets, there are some new ones thrown in that are well worth getting excited about.
With this in mind, it's high time we went over the best new cards from Disney Lorcana's Fabled expansion. Notably, this list isn't in any particular order, and we'll only be looking at new cards, one from each ink color.
Aurora - Holding Court
While not necessarily a powerhouse in terms of stats, Aurora - Holding Court easily accelerates Amber’s ink curve for any deck leaning into the Princess or Queen archetype.
With players now looking into Princess cards like Tiana - Restaurant Owner and Rapunzel - High Climber, being able to deploy a character a turn earlier than they should presents a looming pressure if Holding Court can activate her ability.
Coupled with the fact that Amber has in-house access to Lady - Family Dog and the Rhino Shift line (consisting of One-Sixteenth Wolf and Power Hamster), and we’re already seeing the signs of Amber having the tools to go into a highly aggressive playstyle for the early game.
Dumbo - Ninth Wonder of the Universe
For Amethyst, Dumbo - Ninth Wonder of the Universe is a lingering draw and lore engine. Despite his lower-than-average body, being able to turn all allied evasive characters into pure card advantage is worth fielding this particular Disney mascot.
Mileage for Ninth Wonder of the Universe may vary depending on the partner ink color, but with Amethyst having in-house draw tools like Genie - Wish fulfilled and Pinocchio - Strings Attached, Dumbo adds a layer of consistency for the mid-game while still applying some form of pressure in the Lore race.
Max Goof - Chart Topper
Max Goof - Chart Topper making onto this list is more because of his overall design package rather than any other singular ability.
Chart Topper’s Shift line makes his stat line on par, if not better than average, against normal 4 ink cost cards. Max’s capability to play any 4 ink cost song already in the discard pile for free extends the value of any song previously used. At the very least allows a player to double-dip if they play a song first, then quest with Max right afterwards to re-use the same song.
Max’s song recursion isn’t infinitely abusable, but that’s a small price just for turning your discard pile into a secondary resource.
With mid-range song cards like Mother Knows Best, Be King Undisputed, and Strength of a Raging Fire in legal status in the upcoming set rotation, Max is able to help Emerald decks tighten their grip on some form of lock, regardless of whether it’s via the board or the opponent’s hand.
Powerline - World's Greatest Rock Star
At Shift 4, Powerline - World’s Greatest Rockstar’s stat line is difficult to trade into unless it’s with direct board removal. With Singer 9, almost every song in legal rotation will be at the controlling player’s fingertips. To top it off, Powerline also has deck cycling that doubles as a path to cheating out songs straight from the deck for free.
The only downside to this card is that he’s extremely telegraphed. The moment you see a Powerline variant hit the board, you’ll have to prepare for a copy of World’s Greatest Rock Star to shift in soon after.
Nala - Undaunted Lioness
Nala - Undaunted Lioness is short and simple. She offers cheap and effective Lore aggression. There’s also the fact that the opponent is forced to waste some resources getting rid of her because, regardless of whether she’s at 2 or at 3 Lore, that’s a hefty amount Nala can get away with if she’s played on curve.
Not all cards need to be some game-ending closer with a host of abilities. Sometimes, just applying that early game pressure for cheap is enough to force the opponent into moves they may not want to make.
Alice - Accidentally Adrift
Although Alice - Accidentally Adrift has below-average stats in the Strength and Willpower department, she makes up for it in the utility department.
Direct board removal is going to be scarce in Core Constructed once set rotation is activated. While Accidentally Adrift is geared towards items instead of characters, she still allows for good card advantage just by being deployed and deleting any utilitarian tool at the same time.
Alice also comes in with some minor board control as she can help her allies challenge opposing characters while preserving as much health as possible.
This version of Alice is shaping up to be more of a tech option rather than an auto-include in Sapphire decks, but we’ll have to wait and see what the format has to say once Fabled makes its splash in the competitive scene.