Disney Lorcana's next expansion, the Reign of Jafar, is only a few weeks away. Slated to release on May 30 for many, the set's spoiler season is now fully underway. From what we've seen so far, there's definitely a lot to be excited about.
Bruno Madrigal - Singing Seer
Starting off our list is a Dual Ink card for Amber-Sapphire. Offering respectably high willpower, Bruno to survive for longer periods, which might be all you need.
Bruno's capability to draw cards has tons of potential, but it’s heavily reliant on building a wide board. With powerful field nukes still available like Be Prepared, that will be a tall order to fulfill.
Unfortunately, Bruno Madrigal is rather costly, as well. While he has a Shift that could make him a bit more viable, his options for Shifting are costly themselves.
In the current rotation, there’s little reason to use Singing Seer. There are simply powerful and easier to use draw staples like Rapunzel - Gifted with Healing or Friends on the Other Side.
That, however, might change once the Fabled set is finally released to the market.
Ravensburger seems to be building an upcoming rotation where building a wide board full of characters is being rewarded. Due to this, when the time comes, Bruno Madrigal - Singing Seer might step in and take on the mantle that the previously mentioned draw staples are holding up.
Tramp - Dapper Rascal
As a 6 ink cost, Tramp - Dapper Rascal is a little bit on the average side despite his Robust nature. He can help during the late game to recoup resources when characters are being banished.
Thankfully, Dapper Rascal’s value elevates thanks to their Shift line. A turn four drop makes this card very difficult to deal with by challenging him.
If used in the mid-game, Tramp’s ability to draw turns into actual card advantage if the opponent opts for the low-hanging fruit of easier-to-banish targets.
At the very least, Dapper Rascal would need to be handled first, or else his card draw might scale out of control.
Rhino - Power Hamster
Rhino - Power Hamster is poised to be a menace in the early game if he shifts on curve. Even without set rotation, there are not a lot of characters in Disney Lorcana that can trade with Power Hamster unscathed.
At the moment, Rhino is held in check by the Shift line. The cheapest way to get this bulky little mouse out on the second turn is through One-Sixteenth Wolf, which is arriving in the same set.
Assuming Power Hamster is always at full health, the ways of dealing with it are limited. Even if Power Hamster’s ability is turned off, he’s an Amber ink card so there's no shortage of ways to heal this character.
Hades - Ruthless Tyrant
Hades is a constant source of an additional two cards, as long as you can enable him properly. If the deck he’s used in fields naturally resilient bodies with high Willpower, then the card advantage can more than make up for the self-inflicted damage.
Madam Mim - Elephant will still be in rotation when Ruthless Tyrant officially joins the roster. With some wily piloting, a player could fling damage counters to the opposing force and reap the card draw as well.
This would be an expensive win condition for any deck to shoot for, but it’s possible the meta might slow down with the upcoming set rotation.
Yzma - On Edge
Yzma - On edge is a little special, even by Dual Ink card standards. If you choose to run this character, you’ll definitely be playing Pull the Lever! and Wrong Lever! in your deck as well.
As a package, it would be difficult to know what ratios to use. Pull the Lever! and Wrong Lever! are inkable, so running them at maximum copies won’t hurt the deck too much. Yzma - On Edge, however, is uninkable, not to mention she has a 6 ink cost tacked on.
Yzma’s stats are a little below average for her cost, her 2 Lore gain isn’t that bad, though. Her real value is coming from the fact that you can search for any copies of Wrong Lever! left in the deck.
On the one hand, the search function for a specific card is powerful and highly efficient. It’s used bountifully in rival trading card games (TCGs) like Yu-Gi-Oh! or Pokémon. On the other side, a player is still limited by their inkwell.
A player would have to be comfortable playing the long game to take advantage of Yzma and her levers.
Into the Unknown
This action card is as simple as things get. It’s a 3 ink cost, it’s inkable, and it can pseudo-banish an exerted character.
Some players may not like the fact that they’ll be accelerating the opponent’s ink curve should they choose an opposing character. That said, just having the option to delete a problematic character without needing to challenge it is a good thing to have in the back pocket.
Flynn Rider - Breaking and Entering
Breaking and Entering comes onto the scene with pretty atrocious Strength and Willpower for his cost. Thankfully, Flynn Rider more than makes up for it with his 3 Lore gain.
As if this wasn't useful enough, this Flynn can even squeeze out two more lore upon being targeted. While this won't happen all the time, it's nonetheless a nice bit of extra value.
Frankly speaking, Breaking and Entering is a monstrous Lore gain card. If he’s not directly banished outside of challenges, he can easily grab 5 Lore for the race. It's not like you can ignore him either, because that 3 Lore gain can stack up fast.
The only silver lining keeping this card in check is its uninkable nature. But even when run at 2-3 copies, once this card hits the field, it has to be addressed or you’ll be on the clock.
Queen of Hearts - Haughty Monarch
The Haughty Monarch is more evidence that Ravensburger is trying to promote wide board building.
Unfortunately, the Haughty Monarch may be more trouble than it’s worth at the moment, even for the potential 6 Lore gain.
Not only would you have to spend 4 ink for a less-than-average body, you’d still need to find a way to get 4 more characters on the board. While this does mean there are quite a few hurdles to overcome, her lore gain is still potentially devastating.
Go Go Tomago - Cutting Edge
Mirroring the effects of Into the Unknown, Cutting Edge is a 4 ink pseudo-banish tool for high Willpower bodies that you’d rather not deal with directly. Notably, this card can target characters that aren't exerted, which is somewhat uncommon for removal.
Notably, Cutting Edge still has the drawback of accelerating the ink curve of your opponent should you banish an opposing character.
For her ink cost, Cutting Edge has pretty good all-around stats. Her Evasive makes it easier for her to quest, and her ability to pseudo-banish any character into the inkwell is extremely versatile.
Maui - Stubborn Trickster
Speaking of versatility, Stubborn Trickster has that in spades. While his raw stats might not be amazing, Maui's lore gain leaves the opponent with a difficult choice to make.
If left alone, Maui can easily generate 3 Lore each turn. If banished, then Maui’s controlling player has a good amount of options to affect the board state with.
He may not have the high Strength his other versions have, but Stubborn Trickster more than makes up for it with options.
Lumiere - Fired Up
A rather surprising addition to Ruby-Sapphire item-focused decks, Fired Up has above-average stats when played on its Shift line.
Not only does Fired Up outmuscle most played characters on turn 3, but he also comes with Evasive. With how Ruby-Sapphire item decks have the capability to banish items rather consistently with the likes of Belle - Apprentice Inventor, Lumiere’s 3 Lore gain will most certainly force a response out of the opponent.
Down in New Orleans
Our last card on the list looks pretty powerful for the mid to late game. You’re basically extending your hand into the deck to potentially play 1 out of 3 cards from whatever comes up from the top.
It does have the minor loophole of not allowing you to play Action cards, but singing this card out at the cost of a single character exertion can let you save a lot of ink for other plays.