Excitement is building for the release of Azurite Sea, the latest Lorcana set and one thing I’ve taken note of is how the new starter sets are each leaning into specific aspects of the game – items and locations with some new synergy for the Inventors and Pirates keywords in particular. Over the next couple of Mikey Mouse Clubs I’ll be thinking about Azurite Sea preparedness and up front it only makes sense to join in highlighting these two starter decks. It’s looking to be fun set and the starters have historically been a fun way to get into the vibe of the new set, even if they aren’t necessarily the most competitive or compelling builds
Ravensburger
First up is the Emerald Sapphire starter, “Genius Reinvented” which offers up a rather unexpected pairing of marquee characters- Big Hero 6’s Go Go Tamago and Gadget Hackwrench from Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers. Fans of either of these Disney properties are going to eat well this set, especially those of us who ponder at least once a day “when is Big Hero 7 gonna come out”. Go Go is another Emerald character that has a card effect granting lore based on damage, but Gadget’s ability on her Sapphire super rare Floodborn hints at larger opportunities abound for the large number of Inventors in this deck. I believe all of the BH6 team is accounted for in this deck and there are plenty of combinations with them that will produce discounts, bonuses, and of course that sweet, sweet lore.
The Emerald suite is quite well-considered, touching on most of the ink’s standard functions (Honey Lemon has you covered for discard) with a smattering of effects like Ward and Evasive to cover all the bases. It’s a decent set of cards in this color but I’m not seeing anything that really stands out. On the Sapphire side, you’ve got the standard ramp and item chicanery going on and tons of that Inventor action. I especially like Hiro Hamada – Team Leader as he gives all your Inventors a pip of resist and has a 2 ink scry on a 5 body for 4 ink. It’s a very solid utility card. Institute of Technology – Prestigious University gives those same Inventors +1 Willpower and offers a lore if they are tenured there at the beginning of your turn. Not bad for a 1 ink location.
The other deck- and the one I think is the more compelling of the two- is an Amber Ruby affair called A Seaworthy Crew. Captained by Jim Hawkins and Tigger, even Fix-it-Felix Jr. and Gazelle finds their sea legs along with a veritable Pooh Pirate Crew featuring Owl, Gopher, Roo, and the Hunny Pirate himself. The key card here is the Ruby Floodborn Moana, which finds Motonui’s princess taking charge as Kakamora Leader. Gathering Forces allows you move any number of characters from one location to another for free. And you get one lore for each that you move.
There’s a couple of solid locations here too; Hundred Acre Island – Pooh’s Home – gives you a one lore rebate for any character banished there, making me think a strategy using Moana to move Hei Heis there to get the lore for that and then Be Prepared-ing them may be a thing. Skull Rock- Isolated Fortress gives you lore for posting up pirates there and a +1 strength bonus, so the combos possible with all these pirates simply write themselves. All the healing, aggro, direct damage, and a couple of songs are here to give you a good taste of what these inks are all about.
Ravensburger
Both starters are very good collection of “representative” cards with some light theming tying everything together. These are definitely not like the Rise of the Floodborn starters where half the meta was in the starter decks, and I’m kind of grateful for that especially since elements of that meta have stayed in place for damn near a year. But on the other hand, these starters don’t represent a shakeup but rather a refinement of the format. For new players, I think these decks will offer a good look at the possibilities for deckbuilding and how to leverage synergies. For veteran players- well, let’s be frank, we tend to play in the starter deck tournament and never look back at these factory builds.
Next time: Deeper into the Azurite Sea!
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