Lorcana’s first National Championship is in the books and the champions have been crowned- it all came down to a showdown between Edmond Chiu (with a tried-and-true Ruby Amethyst combo) and Scott Markeson (piloting a popular Ruby Sapphire deck variant). I rarely watch streamed games of any description- sorry, I’m a generation before humanity evolved into having the patience to do that- but it was actually worthwhile to watch the final match. It was quite the sight, with Chiu down at heel in the final game but leverage three copies of The Library – A Gift for Belle to stage a comeback and claim the national title and whole bunch of promos, along with an invite the World Champs event in Orlando on…well, there’s no date set for it as of this writing, which is a little weird, to say the least.
Ravensburger
Chiu’s deck was, to put it bluntly, pretty uninspired in terms of the build. However, his game-winning locations play was apparently a last-minute addition quite literally at the event itself and to put that bluntly, it was absolutely an inspired tweak to a deck I’ve been griping about since (checking notes) Rise of the Floodborn. This is all very standard stuff that any Lorcana player has seen time and time again- the full bounce package with a ridiculous amount of recursion, Madam Mims firing off all over the place, and plenty of hard Ruby removal including of course the full magazine of Be Prepareds. To be clear, by “pretty uninspired” I’m not slighting Chiu’s decision to run it at all- he clearly understood the assignment and brought out something very tried, true, and tested. His piloting and moment-to-moment decision making is what won the day especially given all the other variations on this deck that were in the field
As I’ve previously commented on in this space, Flynn Rider is Lorcana’s main character and I am pleased to see him represented in this championship deck. And the way that Frenemy partners up with Sisu – Emboldened Warrior (which benefits from having cards in hand) and her Floodborn Empowered Sibling is just sick. And then you’ve also got Brawls on hand to clear out early game threats like Diablo, Hook, Daisy and so forth. I really like this Ruby aggro/control package in general and when you can pull it off with the Sisus, it can be quite difficult for the opponent to counter.
But why was The Library such a clutch twist for this deck? I think it has to do chiefly with the fact that it’s kind of an unassuming, unexpected card. Yet, looking at it as a part of this already gunned-up deck, its value becomes apparent. It’s inexpensive relative to its benefit, it produces a Lore every turn, and it’s tough as hell taking 8 damage unless the opponent has an answer for it- and as Locations are still not quite S-tier choices, a lot of decks (such as Ruby Sapphire) may not be packing the right cards to handle it. Let alone three in the late game.
But to ice the cake, the Lost in a Book ability is a terrific function here, with banished characters at the location granting a card draw. By now, you are likely saying “OK, I get it now”. With all that bounce junk going on with Madam Mim, the Merlins, and so forth this deck has even more card velocity than it already had, and it already had a lot. When this deck gets set up on the table, it’s like you are juggling cards the whole time. And racking up Lore as you do it. This deck has 28 cards that draw one or two cards when they are played- meaning over half the deck replaces itself. It’s funny, because I recall back in the game’s early days when there simply wasn’t much card draw and it felt fairly easy to get Hellbent if you didn’t have Friends on the Other Side. And some of the other card draw options were not that great. But now here’s a deck that completely runs amuck with drawing cards, ensuring that the pilot always has something to play and an answer always close to hand. In some ways, I think that card draw is still the most powerful deckbuilding strategy in the game.
I’m not really sure what I would run against this deck- I think discard can challenge it if and only if you get out in front of it very early and force the opponent into topdecking. But if discard falls behind, then it’s all over. Any deck using Daisy for the card draw or anything else that gives the opponent an option to draw is a mistake, I think, because you are just feeding this monster. Hard, fast aggro can cap the deck, once again, if you can outpace it. I am curious how my Location-heavy Amber Steel deck would fare against as there isn’t anything to counter locations. But- you guessed it- you’ve got to hit early and often, forcing reactions and preventing the card engine from really taking off and the next thing you know the opponent is juggling Mims around.
Ravensburger
But honestly, the best way to beat this deck is to simply not play in competitive events. I kid, but the dominance of this archetype was one of the reasons my family and I got frustrated with the game once we stepped outside of the casual league play that we favored. This deck is ruthless, and going into year two of the game it’s still the dominant force at events despite some outliers. Ultimately, even the best deck can fall to bad decisions, disadvantageous pairings, or crappy draws- but a strong player like Chiu can overcome those setbacks and that’s what makes him a championship winner.
Next time: Dual ink!
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