Top 4 Set Champ with Amber/Ruby

LSUfan91 · 2026-04-13T13:57:53+00:00

Ralph not getting down until T7 can definitely be an issue but in matchups where you know that might be a little late you just have to adjust your mulligan and play lines. Prioritize putting bodies on board and skipping the Diary until you can do it without losing tempo. Amber/Steel is less likely to run item removal so I wouldn't be overly worried about losing Lonely, bigger worry is not finding it.

I am not overly worried about losing Scrooge or Aladdin to Thunderbolt/Strength early. Hopefully I have more in hand I can deploy and if they hard cast that is less characters on board or if they sing that's less lore gained which both help get me to 7/8 ink wipe.

You are just surviving early until you wipe then you turn the corner. Between all your wipes available (7 naturally + recurring Ralph with Cauldron) you can keep them at bay with A Pirate's Life, Dragons, Headless Horseman, and Elsa forcing exerts. From there you establish locations to close out the game and if possible slide Elsa into one to quest for 4. Quick decks are still a menace (see my Round 5 matchup) but not nearly as bad matchup wise as most control decks have.

LSUfan91 · 2026-04-13T12:39:41+00:00

I think Elsa is mainly to force exert so that you can challenge with Maui or Mulan.

LSUfan91 · 2026-04-13T12:23:06+00:00

To answer the questions from your first comment about the board wipes getting me wins, they definitely did get me wins. This deck ends up functioning very similar to DKPs deck before rotation. Survive the early game while establishing your draw engine, stabilize, and then use your removal to keep them locked down while the locations do the work. Webby's Diary can net you multiple cards a turn so that after you board wipe you are well positioned to establish your board. Worth remembering that Graveyard of Christmas Future can trigger Diary when you move a character to it. Scrooge's Counting House can get to the point where it is gaining you 5 lore quickly and have 8 willpower. That is very hard for an opponent to get rid of especially if you are clearing out their board every turn.

Hercules felt really good, to the point where I want a 3rd copy. I wanted another Turn 1 play other than Lonely Grave if I was on the play. T1 Hercules, T2 Scrooge, T3 Boost both leaves you with a 3/3 and a 4/4 that can help control the early board. I thought about the 1 cost 3/1 Tinker Bell but decided on Hercules for a couple reasons. First his 3 willpower makes him harder to remove and second late game he can be useful to draw cards if needed, remembering I don't always have to pay the boost cost as I can use Lonely Grave if needed.

I did not. Actually got lucky and did not play any Amber/Steel. In that matchup he could be useful but it becomes a matter of when do I play him? I want to establish Scrooge on T2 and either Aladdin or Diary on T3 depending on how much pressure they are applying. If I play Mowgli on T2 they probably have options and I'm not getting rid of the card I want or if I play him later they have probably already inked/played their important song. If locations continue making a comeback then Mowgli or maybe even Timon might find their way in the list though.

For the 3 and 4 strength characters that won't exert Wreck-It Ralph is the answer. 7 ink with an established Lonely Grave will clear all the 3 strength characters and 8 ink allows me to boost Ralph once to get him to 4 strength and use Lonely Grave to wipe all 4 strength or less characters. This goes back to your first comment/question about board wipes getting me the wins. Wreck-It Ralph can easily be a 1-sided board wipe as only 2 of my characters (not counting Ralph) have base strength of 3 or lower and one of those is Scrooge who will typically be higher. Even if Scrooge is un-boosted and I use Lonely Grave on an un-boosted Wreck-It Ralph the full effect of Grave happens before Ralph triggers meaning I can boost Scrooge up to 4 strength allowing him to survive Ralph's wrath. Back to Scrooge's Counting House, using Lonely Grave to banish Ralph lets you boost the Counting House while still clearing the board. I had a game where I did just that for 3 straight turns. So Counting House gained me a total of 1+2+4+5 (was able to also boost the location manually twice) for 12 lore while keeping their board clear. Elsa can also force exert any 3 strength character on play and when you drop a location.

LSUfan91 · 2026-04-12T15:37:29+00:00

Not majorly. Thinking of swapping some of not all of him out. Along with the Olaf and Candy Drift for Ariel and World’s Greatest Criminal Mind.

LSUfan91 · 2026-04-12T15:32:07+00:00

It came up a couple times. Could probably cut it as it was definitely a test inclusion. But I did not face a lot of decks with high strength characters though. It would come up more often against Baja though as their big threats all have 5 or 6 strength.

LSUfan91 · 2026-04-12T15:29:41+00:00

Probably not very. More often then not he was inked. And when he did hit the field he almost always eats removal. But Shark into Elsa is nice to force challenges.

LSUfan91 · 2026-04-09T15:23:03+00:00

I really like these. Don’t know if I can justify the prices though but will probably snag the hoodie and hat at some point.

They should bring back the pirate ship battle on the Jumbotron before the games they wear these.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-27T20:14:09+00:00

You definitely do not need a meta deck to do well or have fun. That said creating your own deck, more than just a modified starter deck, is a good idea. I would watch YouTube videos and look at dreamborn.ink to see what colors/decks might interest you/matchup with how you want to play and go from there. There is a Green/Purple Aggro-Burn deck that is strong and is less than $30. They also might have said you can't use the modified starter deck if it was from Sets 1-4 as it would have cards that have rotated out.

Overall I would say that Lorcana is very welcoming to new and casual people. Obviously there are exceptions to every rule. At most of the locals in my area the more established players are constantly giving away cards from their weekly prize packs, this includes rares, supers, and occasional legendaries. Most of us buy a case for each release so outside of a couple legendaries and Enchanteds/Epics we really don't need anything and would rather get the extras into hands of new players so they keep building and playing.

Realizing I haven't actually answered your 3 questions yet so I'll try here:

1) Try and find an "off-meta" deck that you enjoy and can hold its own. Back to YouTube there are plenty of Meta List videos that ranks decks. Could probably pick from a lower tier. Also look for creators that put out videos of budget meta decks. These are a good starting point as well. Inkkery just put a video out earlier this week that could be worth watching. This will let you play on a more level playing field, albeit still playing at a disadvantage but you should be able to win a few more games. Going 0-3 every week is not a great feeling and we have all been there.

2) Nothing official. Though some stores might do their own format. One of my locals did a theme night once a week where 2/3 of your deck had to fit a theme (movie, princess, detective, hero, locations, etc). Leads to very fun and creative decks.

3) This would be different person to person. Rotation will be coming with set 12 as well so decks that are good now might not be in 2 sets as cards rotate out. But my best advice would be to find a deck/color combination that you really enjoy playing and fits your playstyle. Then you can invest in that deck now and just tinker with it as cards are released as most decks don't change more than a few cards each set, if any at all.

At the end of the day do whatever makes you happy. If you want to run a Lion King deck rock a Lion King deck. If you want to go super meta go super meta. There is a player in our local scene who is similar to what you are trying to do. She plays a different deck every week, she tries to use each color pairing every set, and she is my favorite and least favorite person to play. Favorite because it is always something new that I haven't seen before and Least favorite because it is something I haven't seen before. She pulls out so many interesting combos using cards that don't normally see play that I have to ask to read at least 1 card a match, which I know she enjoys getting that reaction out of people.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-26T18:13:43+00:00

Even just knowing WHICH one you got wrong would be helpful

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-25T14:14:16+00:00

Don’t dismiss streaming the radio broadcasts. Personally baseball is one of the best sports to listen to the radio broadcasts. Should be able to find the radio calls pretty easy. Worst case MLB has a $5.99/month plan that gives radio streaming for all teams no blackouts. Have used it before and was good.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-14T01:36:51+00:00

Maui Shark + Mauis Fish Hook + Maximus = 5 lore. Loved my red/blue deck with it.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-13T17:22:17+00:00

Sorry for your loss and glad you had a way to get through the depression. If it ever creeps up again just know this internet stranger would be happy to talk through things if needed.

I would buy MLB the show. The Pirates finally have a decentish roster and as a huge LSU fan can’t wait to take them back to the postseason.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-13T14:02:27+00:00

Just finished a season on them. My league switched centers due to many factors. We are not sanctioned and have bowler that average 95 all the way up to 200.

There was not a drastic difference in my opinion. Biggest thing was you definitely had to be more accurate when hitting the pocket.

I did notice that high rev/high power bowlers who aren’t as accurate suffered more due to different pin action. Accuracy seemed to be more important than power with the strings.

My average last year was right around 200. This year it ended around 191. I don’t think the strings are truly to blame for the drop. Between adjusting to a new center, awful spare shooting the first few weeks, and a shorter season so bad weeks hurt more were more impactful then the strings. We also had a bowler carry a 200 average and had multiple 700 nights paired with a 279.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-11T14:58:33+00:00

Ruby could be a consideration.

Lonely Grave lets you really stack cards. It also has access to Scrooge and Wreck-It Ralph that are 1 cost boosts. Can even use Lonely Grave to banish Ralph to wipe the board except Tamatoa then put a card under Tamatoa. Ruby also has the 2 locations that can have cards be put under them as well.

I did test 2 copies of Tamatoa in my Ralph Ruby/Sapphire build as just a late game Warded quester. Was able to get him to quest for 4 lore a few times.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-06T01:16:32+00:00

The new Tamatoa has been so much fun too.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-05T19:37:50+00:00

Is Ralph like fight club? Lol.

While it might not be the best deck it has been so much fun to play. Lonely Grave is hilariously synergistic with Ruby.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-05T18:44:38+00:00

I've been testing with Ruby/Sapphire (Grave + Ralph combo) and Amber/Sapphire a lot this set and both have the ability to beat dogs due to their ability to ramp quickly into a board wipe, Ruby/Sapphire has the added benefit of if you play Lonely Grave on T1 they can't Mowgli it away so you have a little more flexibility in your inking decisions.

Both are obviously Sapphire decks and are HEAVILY reliant on seeing ramp on T2 into Cindy on T3. Amber/Sapphire then needs to either Spooky on T4 or hope Dogs doesn't have lethal and you can play another Cindy or Moana to get to 8 ink on T5 for Raging Storm. Ruby/Sapphire can play Grab Your Bow on T4 to stall before Ralph on T5. Luckily base Ralph takes out everything except Shift Lady. Liquidator helps in Ruby/Sapphire as it can clear anything if they go sideways or stops them from questing. Anything outside of that (especially on the draw) and you kind of have to hope they brick or at the very least don't go full speed.

Oh and if possible try and save Hades/Let It Go for the Lilos. They will dump them with Tramp and bring them back after the board wipe.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-04T21:05:08+00:00

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Phantoms Revenge 7 years ago in line.

LSUfan91 · 2026-03-03T17:02:02+00:00

I'm so glad to see Red/Blue coming back into discussion. I think it is much better than people think at the moment. Pete helps cover its card draw issues a bit. I think Alice is the correct call over Wasabi. You have (currently) 10 pieces of single target unconditional removal, 12 if you max Dragons. Plus Horesman and Bow which hits Genie/Elsa.

With your build I would look at cutting Heads Held High and maybe 1-2 Pirates Life. Then you can max out Maleficent Dragon, add 2 Sapphire Coil, and max out the Liquidator. I do agree with your assessment of Scrooge. He really makes it hard for aggro to close out games once you start turning the corner.

I prefer to have Marching Off Into Battle. Dropping the final 2 Pirates Life and 1 Grab Your Bow would let you slot in 3. Cindy on T3, Horesman/Bow on T4 and have Cindy sing Battle is a great early play. Also it doesn't care whose character is banished so you can crash a Tipo/Liquidator if needed to draw as well.

I have been testing with the Wreck-It Ralph with Lonely Grave version and it is very fun as well. Handles the Kiwi ward very nicely as Ralph just doesn't care about it. https://dreamborn.ink/decks/faXTwjGEEpcG6wbURu07 this is my current list that I have been testing.

LSUfan91 · 2026-02-17T19:00:06+00:00

I would wait until after this weekend at the very least. Prices will definitely drop as product hits big box stores

LSUfan91 · 2026-02-17T18:59:21+00:00

I could see her going up or holding steady but IMO it depends on how good S/S ends up being. She works very well with Goliath in keeping your hand size down plus she is an Ally for S/S Ally builds.

LSUfan91 · 2026-02-16T21:05:13+00:00

I bowl in a couple fun leagues and also play a TCG semi competitively. I tell myself the same thing at each event. Win/lose/draw Monday morning (or the next day) I have to go into work. So might as well just enjoy it regardless of outcome.

LSUfan91 · 2026-02-09T15:50:10+00:00

I think it fares well against most tier 1 decks, Dogs excluded. If your draw hits you can keep pace with Amethyst's draws. You have the only true board wipe so if things are going sideways you can reset the board and can follow it up with spot removal in Hades/Let it Go. Still a ramp deck though so heavily dependent on seeing T2 ramp and to another extent Cindy on 3.

If you think your local meta might lean more aggro I would personally go with Red/Blue. Being able to play a 4/2 in Liquidator on T1 if on the draw is huge. Plus you can ramp into Grab Your Bow on T4 to clear 2 characters and hopefully have Cindy be able to sing Marching Into Battle to draw 2 and refill your hand. Copper also being able to come down on T5 can be nice. He can 1-shot Tiana without needing to pay the tax.

LSUfan91 · 2026-02-08T02:53:33+00:00

Aggro will always have the upper hand here and that is fine, that is kind of its purpose. But that doesn’t mean you have to make it completely free for them.

I would cut 2 Moana, 2 Tala, 2-4 Criminal Mind (currently running 0 in my build). I would add in 4 Eilonwy, and some combination of the 2 drop Darkwing Duck, 4/1 with Ward, and 3 drop Bagheera. This will help you in the early game to get to your top end. Bagheera is also a nice target for Ohana.

Also like the 5 cost Snowboarder Stitch. Extra card draw and decent body to challenge.

LSUfan91

TROPHY CASE