Rise of the Floodborn Set Review: Amber

With Disney Lorcana's second set only days away from release, it's time to take a look at the full set and evaluate all the cards. In this post, I will be reviewing all the Amber cards coming in Rise of the Floodborn.

Introduction

With Disney Lorcana's second set only days away from release and all the cards now revealed, it's time to take a look at the full set and evaluate all the cards. Since there are over 200 cards, we will be breaking this series of reviews down by ink color. In this post, I will be reviewing all the Amber cards coming in Rise of the Floodborn. Amber was undoubtably the strongest ink during The First Chapter meta. Will it continue to be the best? Or will the cards coming in this second set knock it down a peg or two? Read on to hear our thoughts!

Rise of the Floodborn Set Review

Amber
Amethyst
Emerald

Ruby
Sapphire
Steel

Rating Scale

Each card will be rated from 1 to 5. Here is roughly what each rating means:

1 = Garbage - These cards are unplayable in nearly all circumstances. You would never consider adding these cards to your constructed deck and probably don't want to see them in limited formats either. Also sometimes known as "pack filler". When you get these cards, add them to your binder and leave them there.

2 = Kinda Bad - These cards are generally unplayable under most circumstances. They may be good in very specific or very niche situations but you would almost never seriously consider putting them in a competitive deck. They're just too awkward or clunky to see use realistically. They can sometimes be serviceable options in limited formats though.

3 = Fair. These cards are not powerful enough to be deck-defining cards in playable decks nor are they bad enough that you would never consider them. They're somewhere in the middle of the road, and cards in this range could jump in and out of the meta depending on how it changes, either within the current set or possibly even future sets. These cards are never worth dismissing out of hand because it's always possible that they could be good enough to see play if the meta calls for them.

4 = Very Good. These cards are powerful enough that they become staple cards in competitive or serious decks. Cutting it from a competitive deck and trying to swap in something else would almost never be recommended because the card is too important to the deck's overall strategy.

5 = Insane. These cards are the most powerful cards in the set. The meta can shift by their very presence. They are the superstar cards of the best of the best decks. They may be able to singlehandedly move the power of a deck a couple tiers higher in the meta reports than they would otherwise. When people think of the defining cards of the set, they think of these cards.

Bashful - Hopeless Romantic

Bashful is an overstated body for the cost, but his drawback means he will only be seen in Seven Dwarfs decks. I don't feel like that deck is going to be very competitive, so this card is unlikely to see much play.

Rating: 1/5

Christopher Robin - Adventurer

This looks like a solid finisher card for a "go wide" deck. I know Winnie the Pooh is supposed to be Christopher Robin's best friend, but this Christopher looks like he'll be best friends with Stitch - Rock Star. You could also pair him with Ruby, and their cards that ready your characters, to get multiple triggers of his ability per turn.

He is a high priority removal target though and his low Strength means he won't be trading well when your opponent swings into him. I feel you will be lucky to get his ability off even once and if you did, you probably were winning any way. He seems like a win more card to me, but one that will definitely see some experimentation and may prove to be a solid contributor in the right deck.

Rating: 3/5

Cinderella - Ballroom Sensation

Singer is a powerful keyword, as we have learned from Amber's "Steelsongs" deck dominating the set one meta. This card allowing you to sing songs such as Friends on the Other Side as early as turn 2 is very good. This one will absolutely see play right out of the gate and will only continue to get better the more songs that are released into the card pool.

Rating: 4/5

Cobra Bubbles - Just a Social Worker

The Amber version of Sapphire's Triton - The Sea King. Triton never really saw any play so I don't suspect Cobra to see any either. Although Amber does have more healing synergies than Sapphire, so maybe that gives him a little boost? Probably not enough of one though.

Rating: 2/5

Doc - Leader of the Seven Dwarfs

Doc may be the leader of the Seven Dwarfs, but his ability is one that works for any character. That makes him actually decent and a potential consideration for any deck that is looking to cheat out characters early.

Rating: 3/5

Dopey - Always Playful

I love the flavor behind this card. You banish Dopey and all the other dwarfs get mad! But yeah, it's a card that only goes in a Seven Dwarfs deck and that deck probably isn't going to be good. Sorry, Dopey. I banish you to the binder.

Rating: 1/5

Eudora - Accomplished Seamstress

Another high Willpower vanilla card in Amber. If you want to do some healing shenanigans, this will be the card you can stack the most damage counters on. Unfortunately, she won't be removing much in challenges and only questing for 2 lore isn't that scary for your opponent.

Rating: 2/5

Gaston - Barritone Bully

The poor man's version of Ariel - Spectacular Singer. Singer is a strong keyword, as we mentioned. But if you want a 3-drop that sings for 5, you'll pick Ariel every time thanks to her draw ability. Gaston is still a decent card though, especially in limited formats.

Rating: 3/5

Grand Duke - Advisor to the King

Grand Duke is the first card that cares about the "royal" classifications. Unfortunately, he's also the only card that cares about the "royal" classifications. This card is not good, at the moment, but may get better down the road.

Rating: 1/5

Grumpy - Bad-Tempered

Another Seven Dwarfs character that only goes in the Seven Dwarfs deck. You'll be grumpy when you pull this from a pack.

Rating: 1/5

Happy - Good-Natured

Now here's a Dwarf card that can go in any deck. He is comparable to Maximus - Palace Horse, except trading off 1 Strength and Bodyguard for one more lore. Overall, he's just OK, probably won't see play in constructed but could be a solid pick in limited formats.

Rating: 2/5

King Louie - Jungle VIP

Now King Louie is the type of big bodied card you want to run in your healing decks. Not only does he have a "big butt", his ability heals himself. It can always be tough, in a healing synergy deck, to make sure you have your big butt cards on the board with the cards that benefit off of healing and then have the cards that do the healing in your hand. With King Louie, you don't need those extra healing cards in hand. And he even triggers when he himself banishes something, which is almost like he has Resist +2 printed on him. Very good card.

Rating: 4/5

Mickey Mouse - Friendly Face

Mickey Mouse - Friendly Face is the bigger and better brother to Doc - Leader of the Seven Dwarfs. Mana cheating, or ink cheating in this game, is always good. It's no surprise that the two best inks from The First Chapter had ways to ramp ink or cheat out more tempo than you would normally be able to play on curve. In a deck that will likely run Lanterns and Doc, you could fairly consistently have this card out as early as turn 4. This Mickey on turn 4 is going to be very scary for your opponent. This might be Amber's best card in the set.

Rating: 5/5

Mufasa - Betrayed Leader

One of Amber's two legendaries this set, Mufasa is almost like two characters in one. Your opponent is going to be worried about removing this, given what may end up coming out in his place. The only problem is if he bricks, then you just played an understated 5-drop. But with some smart deck building, you should be able to ensure he hits like 80% of the time. That is probably good enough for him to see play, but it's going to feel real bad when he misses.

Rating: 4/5

Mulan - Free Spirit

It's a common and borderline vanilla. Support is not the most exciting keyword but at least it is something. She mostly exists as a Shift target for the Floodborn Mulan and, because of that, I'm bumping her up a point.

Rating: 3/5

Mulan - Reflecting

Our first Floodborn Mulan and, boy, is she a doozy. A cheap Shift cost, solid body, amazing ability and fantastic art. What more could you want? You'll never be able to play her on turn 2, but that's fine. You are happy to play her turn 4 for 2 ink, quest immediately and get some value from her ability.

You'll miss with her ability more often than not, but the times you hit are going to be game-altering. News flash: playing things for free is good, even better if they don't cost you a card from hand. And if they ever print a 1-drop Mulan, this card becomes that much better.

Rating: 4/5

Nana - Darling Family Pet

Nana is Amber's "whenever you play a Floodborn character, do X" card. Each ink color has one of these that ties into the theme which that ink color excels at. With Amber, of course, it is healing. Healing, unfortunately, is just not as good as some of the other effects, like drawing a card or dealing 1 damage to everything. She's a good doggo, but not a good enough card.

Rating: 2/5

Piglet - Very Small Animal

Piglet makes his first appearance in Disney Lorcana and what a cute little guy he is. I think he is the first vanilla 3-drop with this 2/4 statline that also has 2 lore. That might make him a decent-enough quester to see some small amount of play.

Rating: 2/5

Rapunzel - Gifted Artist

Rapunzel gets another banger of a card in Amber. She still cares about healing and wants to draw you cards, except this time she's Floodborn. I also like that you can curve from this Rapunzel into TFC Rapunzel and get one extra draw. The best card to pair with this one would be Hakuna Matata, since this Rapunzel's draw effect triggers off how many characters you are healing and not how much damage you've healed up. But that is the dream and, most of the time, you will be happy just getting an extra draw or two off of all your healing effects. Great card.

Rating: 5/5

Rapunzel - Sunshine

The Shift target for the previous Rapunzel, this little princess is also not a bad card in her own right. The 4 Willpower on her means she will almost certainly survive to get shifted onto. And if you happen to have her on a board with Rapunzel - Gifted Artist, you can use her exert effect to heal something and get your draw. Solid card.

Rating: 3/5

Sleepy - Nodding Off

Sleepy's drawback of entering play exerted is hilarious but also not worth being simply only marginally better than other 2-drops with 2 lore.

Rating: 1/5

Sneezy - Very Allergic

So far none of these characters that reduce the Strength of a character on play have been very good and I don't see Sneezy changing that. Gesundheit!

Rating: 1/5

Snow White - Lost in the Forest

Minnie Mouse has been power crept. This Snow White has the exact same stats as the Amber Minnie from set one plus she gets an enter-the-board (ETB) heal effect. This card will also be the Shift target of choice for the Floodborn Snow White.

Rating: 3/5

Snow White - Unexpected Houseguest

This Snow White is meant to be played with the Seven Dwarfs but has somehow been left out of the Seven Dwarfs starter deck. Which means she will never see play because that starter deck is the only time anyone will try out a Seven Dwarfs deck.

Rating: 1/5

Snow White - Well Wisher

This Floodborn Snow White is Amber's other legendary card from this expansion and she brings with her more character recursion. Hades - Lord of the Underworld has proven to be a popular card due to his recursion ability. This Snow White has the same ability, but it happens when she quests instead of on play.

Now normally I would rather have the effect on ETB, but since Snow White can shift onto the board and quest immediately, it's almost like having it as an ETB effect AND having the ability to trigger it again and again each turn. For that reason, I think she could replace Hades as the character recursion card of choice in a lot of decks.

Rating: 4/5

The Queen - Commanding Presence

On the other side of the Magic Mirror, we have The Queen with her own Floodborn card. Her ability is not nearly as good though. As I've already mentioned, these sorts of combat tricks haven't proven to be very useful. But her's is quite a lot of stats swinging in your favor, so maybe it's enough to push her into playability?

Rating: 3/5

The Queen - Royal Monarch

It's a Shift target for the Floodborn Queen. If that Queen is good, this card will be played. If not, well, who is running this over Stitch - New Dog? Only the most evil of players.

Rating: 2/5

Hold Still

It's a buffed up Healing Glow. Healing Glow is not good and neither is this.

Rating: 1/5

Last Stand

This card has been a bit divisive. Last Stand is removal in an ink that hasn't had any so far. For that reason alone, I think it is at least worth considering. It also makes all your 1 Strength characters with high Willpower much more threatening. You are definitely going to be playing a lot of those in Amber, so I think this may make the cut.

Rating: 3/5

Painting the Roses Red

Although I'm not a fan of these combat tricks, this one is singable and cycles itself, so it's actually not the worst card in the world? If a deck that wants to play a lot of Actions ever becomes a thing, I can see this one making the cut.

Rating: 2/5

World's Greatest Criminal Mind

Even more removal for Amber and this one is unequivocally excellent. This is basically Shadow Word: Death from Hearthstone and that card was a constructed staple for many years. Oh, and did I mention that you can play it for free? And it's inkable? Yeah, the card is crazy good.

Rating: 5/5

Zero to Hero

I've gone back and forth on this card a lot. In a perfect scenario, you can really use it to cheat out some big stuff early in the game. But it's uninkable and completely useless if you have no board. The range on this card is game-breaking to utter trash. These kinds of high ceiling/low floor cards usually aren't good enough to see play, but I want to at least give it a try.

Rating: 2/5

Dragon Gem

Another character recursion card but this time on an item. Character recursion is good, but this one is so narrow and expensive. I don't think it sees any play. Maybe in the future, if they ever print some super broken Support card, but certainly not right now.

Rating: 1/5

Sleepy's Flute

We are getting a few items this set that can generate you lore and this is one of them. I think it is sorely needed for the game, as it provides a "burst" of lore that your opponent can't account for and allows for more dynamic end-games. This one is more conditional than some of the others in this set, but songs are good cards, you want to play them, so why not throw this in and gain some lore while you are at it? I think it might make some lists, for sure.

Rating: 3/5

And that is it for the Amber cards coming in Rise of the Floodborn! Overall, I think they got a few very good cards but a lot of spots were taken up with the Seven Dwarfs cards, which I just don't think are going to be good at all. So this may lower the overall power level of Amber's card pool. But it was already so good to begin with, that I don't think this will lessen the strength of Amber as an ink choice for competitive play.

Anyway, stay tuned for more card reviews. Next up: Amethyst!

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An avid player of card games since he got hooked on the Star Wars CCG back in his teens, Phil "gutshot" Bicking is excited to share his years of expertise to players of Lorcana.

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