Unsurprisingly, Disney Lorcana players are still hard at work following the unprecedented bans that Ravensburger introduced recently. While no Emerald cards were affected by these bans, they've nonetheless shaken up the metagame. As a result, there's never been a better time to look over the top played Emerald cards at the moment.
5. Prince John - Greediest of All
At a 3 ink cost, Prince John - Greediest of All shows a very poor stat line for both strength and willpower, though his lore gain is respectable in its own right.
Ward protects this greedy lion, which is important because Prince John synergizes extremely well with Emerald’s natural tool of discard.
By just existing on the board, Prince John will allow his controlling player to freely regain any investments made into discarding the opponent’s hand.
A conservative Emerald player can easily keep Prince John upright the entire time to start their draw engine. This means the opponent will have very few feasible options to get rid of Prince John.
However, Prince John’s uninkable nature and relatively low stat line can give an Emerald player some pause when deck-building. Due to this, most Emerald decks running Prince John would normally have him at three copies.
This is just enough to get a copy out as soon as possible while limiting the chances of bricking into the tax-hungry villain too early.
4. Sudden Chill
Speaking of Emerald’s penchant for discarding cards, we have one of their earliest tools in the form of Sudden Chill. Coming in the First Chapter, Sudden Chill is as direct and to the point as it gets; the opponent straight up discards a card of their choosing.
For as much as Sudden Chill helps start the attrition match between player card advantage, it does little to alter the state of the board should a presence already be built. It’s no Brawl, but at the very least Sudden Chill can make the opponent make a painful decision for the upcoming turn.
3. We Don’t Talk About Bruno
Next, we have Sudden Chill’s bigger cousin. We Don’t Talk About Bruno comes in as the most expensive card on this list at 5 ink cost.
This song’s inkable nature does give it some leeway in deck building, as it can easily be used in the inkwell in the early game before it can come in to do its actual job.
While not exactly as permanent as Ruby’s Be Prepared or Steel’s And Then Along Came Zeus, We Don’t Talk About Bruno at the very least rewinds the board state a bit, as it can bounce back a target before forcing the owner of the target to discard a card at random.
Depending on when this particular card is used, that random discard feature may be devastating.
2. Diablo - Maleficent’s Spy and Devoted Herald
Okay, we’re going to cheat here a little as both Maleficent’s Spy and Devoted Herald usually come in as a package in almost all Emerald decks.
Maleficent’s Spy is Emerald’s quintessential turn 1 drop that allows the controlling player valuable information gathering. More importantly, Maleficent’s Spy acts as a shift line for Devoted Herald.
In a past article, we’ve talked about how Belle - Apprentice Inventor is currently one of the more overbearing tools in Sapphire’s arsenal. Well, Devoted Herald is Emerald’s very own Apprentice Inventor, allowing the controlling player access to 3 ink cost songs a turn early.
Devoted Herald -and Maleficent’s Spy- may not be as robust as Apprentice Inventor, but the Evasive Devoted Herald does offer the avian some modicum of protection.
However, Devoted Herald’s biggest contribution is its ability to let its controlling player keep in lock-step with their opponent as they draw cards.
This kind of draw power forces a response from the opponent, either wasting precious direct board removal or digging for an Evasive character to finally challenge Devoted Herald with.
1. Ursula - Deceiver
Taking the number 1 spot on Emerald’s registry is Ursula - Deceiver. This 2-cost inkable character is basically Emerald saying “No” to any early-game songs while still letting the controlling player gather useful information on the opponent’s current hand.
Deceiver does little against decks that run non-song action cards like Sapphire’s Sail the Azurite Sea, and Ursula’s stat line leaves a lot to be desired, as she has nothing standing between her and either being beaten down in a challenge or being flat-out removed.
Thankfully, her ability is on-play, so losing Ursula the turn after isn’t as bad as it can get.
Emerald, for the most part, is very refreshing with its lineup of cards. The ink color focuses on information gathering and shifting the match into an early grind game. When a scorched earth policy to the hand is being enacted, the opponent is required to shift gears in their stratagem.
However, Emerald does have a penchant for fielding a lot of characters with low stats or little to no protection in the early game. But with the right partner, Emerald brings an excellent line of tools for those who can work around its shortcomings.