Recently, Disney Lorcana made the decision to add a ban list to the game. Despite the initial pushback from players, this should help curate a healthy metagame for Disney enjoyers. Steel saw Fortisphere get the axe, and it's not difficult to understand why. Immediately replacing itself, triggering item synergies and protecting your important threats is an outstanding effect for one ink.
Now that the best Steel card has been removed, the color has been affected. Let's look at what Steel cards are performing the best after Fortisphere left the format.
5. And Then Along Came Zeus
Starting off this list, we have one of the biggest guns Steel has in its bag of tricks. And Then Along Came Zeus is Steel’s answer to any mid-to-late game threats that make it to the board.
This action card also has the distinction of being one of the few cards that can target both characters and locations.
This makes And Then Along Came Zeus highly versatile in denying the opponent any form of board presence if the target doesn’t have a Willpower value higher than 5.
However, its uninkable nature coupled with its 4 ink cost gives it a double-edged nature. Most Steel players would play around a ratio of 2-3 copies as this is not the kind of card you would like to see roll out in the early game but definitely want to see come the mid-game.
4. Let The Storm Rage On
This won’t be the first nor last action card on this list. Despite being known for fielding resilient characters in its roster, Steel has a lot of early game pressure in its action cards.
Let the Storm Rage On enjoys way more popularity than the previous card, despite being the older release.
At 3 ink cost and sharing the same nature as being uninkable, players tend to field Let The Storm Rage On near or at maximum copies.
Despite the fact this song does less than half the damage of And Then Along Came Zeus, its shortcomings are eclipsed by the fact that it can draw a card.
With Forstisphere now gone, a lot of Steel’s early game tempo is immensely helped by this card depending on what partner ink color Steel would be paired with.
3. Mr. Smee - Bumbling Mate
Even before Ravensburger’s move to ban Fortisphere from organized tournaments, Mr. Smee - Bumbling Mate has been seen a lot of use in almost, if not all, Steel decks because of his higher than average statline.
With 3s in both Strength and Willpower alongside his 2 lore score, Mr. Smee is only held back by his self-inflicting damage after exertion if a “Captain” character is not present on his side of the field.
Even with this caveat, Mr. Smee can easily be enhanced with partners like Cogsworth - Grandfather Clock to ignore his shortcomings. When partnering Smee with Rapunzel - Gifted with Healing, you can take advantage of the wounds on the board for card draw.
Mr. Smee is Steel’s veritable swiss army knife for the early game and has sufficiently earned his place on this list.
2. Strength of a Raging Fire
Once again, Steel showcases its love for direct damage as the second most played card is another direct damage song. Strength of Raging Fire shares the same ink cost as Let the Storm Rage On, but differs in a few places.
For one, Raging Fire is an inkable card, meaning that a player can always find a use for it regardless of what stage you are in the game. Unlike Let the Storm Rage On, Strength of a Raging Fire can actually reach a higher damage threshold.
The damage threshold is dependent on building a wider board, but this two-pronged attack can easily swing board advantage to Steel’s controlling player.
1. Pete - Games Referee
Taking -or rather keeping- the number one spot as Steel’s most played card is Pete - Games Referee.
This card does it all, an easy early-to-mid game investment, a 3/3 statline for Strength and Willpower for both staying power and fair trades, an inkable nature for constant use, and finally, Pete’s ability to just deny the opponent from using their Songs for a turn.
No matter which partner ink color is used with Steel, a player would never run less than 3 copies of Pete - Games Referee.