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Reveal season is so exciting for Disney Lorcana. With new sets launching every three months, it can be a daunting task to evaluate cards as they drop, especially when the full set is not revealed until usually a week before LGS launch. To mitigate that shock, I plan to look at the new cards that drop each week to prepare you for February 23. When we start to get more “giant card dumps” (which should start when Into the Inklands is added to the official app) I may update these more frequently.
New cards continually introduce fresh dynamics to the game and Into the Inklands is no exception, with the new Locations card type. As we start to get more actual Locations, and the cards that interact with them, their full impact is beginning to be better understood.
This week we were shown six new cards so let’s dive in.
1. Jetsam - Riffraff: Spread the Protection
Jetsam - Riffraff as a purely three cost 2/2/2 with Ward seems playable on its own, but that stat line is pretty low since most one drops trade with him favorably. Combining with Flotsam - Riffraff below will increase his strength to a level that is hard to deal with by opponents utilizing Madam Mim - Fox or even 001-114. The main issue both of these card suffer from is you need them both to make them effective. Even though this Jetsam can get Rush from The First Chapter’s Flotsam - Ursula’s Spy, he is likely just too small to make an impact on his own. Does Emerald need this small Ward character? Maybe, but very meta dependent.
2. Flotsam - Riffraff: Large Strength, little body
Flotsam - Riffraff brings a powerful Strength to bear. This can be very good against non-Steel or Ruby decks, as his vulnerability to Let the Storm Rage On, Teeth and Ambitions, and Grab Your Sword is obvious The main upside to Flotsam (and giving the bonus to various Jetsam) is his strength is very good on cost at challenging Locations. Granted, he cannot gain Rush (since it is his version in The First Chapter that has Rush) but Jetsam - Ursula’s Spy does give this Flotsam Evasive, so he can survive opposing challenges if you are not facing a removal heavy deck. The main issue is the same as Jetsam, is he good enough on his own? Depends on the meta, but doubtful.
3. Huey, Dewey, and Louie: Duck Tales, woo hoo!
While it was possible to evaluate the eels separately, the Duck Tales triplets are pretty basic cards with a payoff in Huey - Savvy Nephew. With Dewey and Louie having Support they are “fine,” and are actually slightly above curve for their cost compared to most vanilla characters. Dewey - Showy Nephew’s two Lore is nice for three cost, but you would rather just play something with a similar stat line and more utility like Judy Hopps - Optimistic Officer. Huey is a decent payoff, but with only two Willpower I just do not see a way he ever survives long enough for his brothers to hit the field. Hiding him at a location that will give him Resist, like Maui’s Place of Exile - Hidden Island has potential to survive the out of hand damage from Steel, but you would then be playing one ink behind, for an eventual payoff you can get just by playing an effective Rapunzel - Gifted with Healing. If we have more versions of Dewey and Louie eventually it would raise Huey’s viability, but without that I just see this as an inefficient in game “quest” you are trying to pull off.
4. Fang: City of Assassins
Fang - River City is clearly the most exciting, complex, and impactful card out of this week’s reveals. This is the first location that we have seen with a greater than one move cost to it, and more than one Lore on it. While the cost to move to Fang is a lot, the ability to give any character at its location both Evasive and Ward means that you are truly setting up a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” kind of scenario for dealing with Fang. Simply playing out Fang and gaining two passive Lore a turn means you must deal with it or lose to it; the ability to move characters there for value is just an added bonus.
The first place to look to use it is in aggressive decks, to provide protection for characters in play when you play it. Low cost, high Lore, higher Willpower (ie. over two) units are where I would be looking to start the search. Besides the various 3/3/2 or 2/3/2 stat lines, Sleepy - Nodding Off and Caterpillar - Calm and Collected come to mind as valuable targets to party at Fang. Smaller Willpower units can also hang out there, the issue is AOE damage like 001-193 and Grab Your Sword still affect them.
Other combos with Fang just within Into the Inklands:
- Jim Hawkins - Space Traveler can play Fang and move there immediately. This gives him a ton of protection and saves you SIX INK when you play him. This is the first location we have seen that really takes advantage of his abilities!
- Peter Pan - Lost Boy Leader can move to this location and gain two Lore. Pretty basic, but since this is the first location we have seen with two Lore, it is great to note how having either of this combo in play already when you play the other piece really gives a powerful immediate payoff. 003-129 is a similar payoff for any character (and great with Jim Hawkins, above)
- Ursula - Deceiver should protect the characters here from AOE effects, giving a key piece of interaction if you are using Fang to aggressively protect your board.
Until the whole set is revealed we still have to contend with the “Rush characters can handle Locations” problem, with the six Willpower being very susceptible to 001-114. I am hoping that some sort of “Location Bodyguard” ability will be released and/or cards that can remove damage off of them to keep them on the field longer.
We have only seen three locations so far, but Fang - River City brings us closer to understanding their costs. Compared to others like Forbidden Mountain - Maleficent’s Castle or Maul’s Place of Exile - Hidden Island this seems to give you the best of both worlds: high passive Lore gains and a payoff for moving there.
Fang - River City has me very excited to see the rest of Into the Inklands!
Conclusion
This week was light on reveals as we got a lot of Organized Play news. I expect the coming week to have even more reveals, so keep your eyes peeled on various socials and here at Lorcana.gg as those new ones drop!
