Lorcana’s Into the Inklands release almost went off without a hitch- everyone that wants cards should be able to buy them without submitting to scumbag scalpers or unscrupulous FLGS and, as late as this morning, I saw packs freely available for retail price at a local sports card shop for retail price. The only hitch has been that a couple of batches have had bad sorting with some having no Legendaries or Super Rares. Yikes. Hopefully that gets worked out, and hopefully the second booster box I have showing up in the mail isn’t one of the bad ones.
So for this week, I thought I would have a look at some of the top cards but then I thought about it and realized that’s what everyone is doing. So instead of that, I’m going to present you, readers, with what I think are going to be the slept-on, undervalued, and otherwise underestimated cards in the set as it stands. I’ve of course been playtesting all kinds of builds on Pixelborn and I’ve seen some pretty wild stuff out there. I can’t say that I’ve hit on a consistently winning concept yet but I’m having fun trying the new cards. There’s some really neat stuff to look out for, especially if you prefer fun or creative decks rather than copying the metadecks that win the big tournaments. We all know the big cards- Ursula, Jafar, Robin Hood- I don’t think anyone needs to hear their praises more. So here they are, your Into the Inklands Underdogs!
Lyle Tiberius Rourke, Cunning Mercenary
Dreamborn.ink
This is one of those cards where I read it, went “meh,” and shoved it into the binder. But after playing a few builds with him on board- especially Emerald/Steel control- I think this is actually quite a formidable card well worth considering, even if he’s uninkable. That uninkability allows for a low cost, however, and as an early game spoiler Lyle can get the job done. The forced Reckless from Well Now You Know can easily ruin the day of a pesky two or three lore quester like Lilo or Pinocchio and can shut down exert abilities or singing before it even starts. The Thanks for Volunteering ability gives you a Lore each time one of your others is banished, so it’s like an automatic trade off that gives even low strength characters the might of Kuzco. Bring it, Maui. I especially like running Lyle with Fang, River City- station him there and he’s then got Ward and Evasive. Granted, your opponent is liable to throw everything they’ve got at Fang but that extra turn or two could mean a W.
Vault Door
This Sapphire item is in the Scrooge starter and I have to say I completely underestimated its value in the starter deck challenge I played during release weekend. I inked it repeatedly but then I played against someone that used two of them to completely cinch not only their locations but also their characters with +2 Resist from them. Suddenly, he was unassailable and producing Lore every turn from three locations. Without Item removal, there simply wasn’t much I could do. Any Sapphire deck running items would do well to consider one or two Vault Doors- I’m not sure I’d go to three or four with them though.
Wildcat, Mechanic
Speaking of item removal, this Emerald control card simply eats items for breakfast. One of a few Tailspin cards in this set, Wildcat has a Disassemble ability where he simply taps to Banish an item. And he’s hungry for Pawpsicles. I really like this card as tech specifically against that Sapphire Ruby deck with all the Nick Wilds and Basils, and I like that he’s only three inkable and has a 2/3 statline. He still dies to Smash, but he’ll hold up against Grab Your Sword or Tinkerbell. He’s the ideal sideboard card, if that ever becomes a thing.
Prince Eric, Expert Helmsman
I really dislike Prince Eric; I totally have this weird grudge against him for some reason. I think part of it is the hair, and his hair is in full effect on this Ruby card that I more or less ignored when going through our pulls. At a cost of 4 uninkable, he better do something worthwhile and by jingo he does. This man is on a suicide mission. He’s only 2/2, but whenever he’s banished you banish a chosen character. So he rams that boat into Ursula, Call of Cthulhu-style and then either banishes her or any other character. Or you can get extra cheeky and do something like a Teeth and Ambitions to sac Eric after he quests for two. I also find it hilarious that his Dreamborn variant is a suicidal mariner.
Huey, Dewey, Louie
When these cards were revealed, I heard the metaminders sniffing that they were “unplayable”. But I strongly beg to differ, having run the boys to some success in Sapphire Steel and Sapphire Amethyst builds. I had them pegged as this set’s Dwarves, i.e. a set of cards with strong synergy that just isn’t super consistent. But when you get all three of them in play, you benefit from the mutual Support they provide and Huey, Savvy Nephew, lets you draw three cards when he quests. This is tremendous if you like card advantage. Pair the brothers up with a Sad Beast and you are drawing five cards a turn. Put them in a deck with Jafar, Striking Illusionist and Huey’s quest is for four Lore every turn in addition to the card draw. I think the catch here is that you have to run four of each and mulligan to make sure you have one of each in your opening hand for this to work. Then you drop them on turns two, three, and four. Profit.
Rafiki, Mystical Fighter
Captain Hook, Aspiring Duelist is one of the key Steel cards- a one ink menace that lays down control on the first turn and dares the opponent to quest or challenge with their three willpower characters. Amethyst has an analogue now with this version of Rafiki, which boast Challenger +3, has two willpower, and he absolutely murders Hyenas by taking no damage from them. I undervalued this card because of that Ancient Skills text, because who is running Hyenas right now anyway? But in play, this has been a card one drop for Amethyst, replacing Pascal in some of my deck concepts. Likely to be a very inexpensive Rare, it’s one of those dependable, bread-and-butter cards that I think we’ll being seeing on the table often.
Little John, Resourceful Outlaw
At six ink to play, Little John wouldn’t rate much. But he shifts at four and there’s a good three ink target for him (Robin’s Pal) let alone you can turn Morph into him. Little John is a defensive card that offers Okay Big Shot, giving all of your Bodyguards Resist +1 and +1 Lore. Odds are you are going to quest with the Bodyguards, so why not give them a buff while you’re at it. And the +1 Resist can shut down Fire Your Cannons, Ba-Boom, Let the Storm Rage On, and other removal cards so that the Bodyguards can do their thing. I’m looking forward to seeing Little John in a revised Musketeers build or helping out that monstrous, practically unkillable Pluto that many amber decks are running right now.
99 Puppies
I like playing againt the puppy decks on Pixelborn because I know I’m going to win. Kidding aside, I don’t think the puppy typal has really worked out beyond casual play and I think folks are realizing that actually running 99 Tail Waggers is suboptimal to put it mildly. But this card has utility beyond puppy decks, and for those weenie decks that are running all the Lilos, Maleficients, Pinocchios, or Simbas to try to flood the board with low-cost, high yield characters I can see this card being essential. At five uninkable, it’s kind of a do-or-die play that could fall apart before you get it to go off but if you manage to hit turn five with four or five characters on the table this can be a huge swing. It’s tough though, because it’s also something you might get away with once in a game if at all. But that one time could be the one that takes you to 20.
Next week- The Official Mikey Mouse Club Into the Inklands Review and Editorial
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