Rise of the Floodborn Set Review: Steel

Introduction

With Disney Lorcana's second set now upon us, we are taking a look at the full set and evaluating all the cards. Since there are over 200 cards, we will be breaking this series of reviews down by ink color. In this post, the final post in the series, I will be reviewing all the Steel cards coming in Rise of the Floodborn.

Steel saw a lot of play in The First Chapter meta, on the backs of some great direct damage and area-of-effect cards, in addition to having excellent card draw. But with Resist being added to the game and more inks getting access to card draw, will Steel continue to be a top choice for competitive players? What new decks might arise from Steel's incoming cards? Read on to find out!

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Beast - Forbidding Recluse

Starting off with my favorite art in the set with Beast - Forbidding Recluse. This card is going to look amazing in foil. As for the card itself, it's just alright. It has an enter the board ping, which is nice. Pings can be very useful at taking out, for example, Lilo - Making a Wish hiding behind Bodyguard characters. Or for activating certain damage synergies present in Emerald and Ruby, mostly.

But it comes on a very weak body for the cost that then only quests for 1 lore. I feel like this card could have easily been 2 lore and not have been too overpowered. It's the least they could have done to give this art the card it deserves! As it stands though, I think this card is mid.

Rating: 2/5

Beast - Selfless Protector

Another Beast card in Steel and this one comes with a very unique effect. Beast - Selfless Protector wants to protect your other characters by soaking up all the damage for them. And at 8 Willpower on a 6-drop, he can soak up a good bit of damage.

There is some questions as to how this character works with Grab Your Swords. Does he soak up all the damage no matter what, basically ending up with negative Willpower and getting banished and all your characters take nothing? Or does he soak up only 8, get banished and then the rest of the damage hits your remaining characters? And who decides which characters take what damage?

There's also the question of Resist on this Beast. If he has Resist, is the damage he would have taken resisted by his Resist amount? Or not because he's not technically being dealt the damage, he's just having it "transferred" from another character?

Until those questions can be answered, I'm not sure exactly how to rate this Beast. I am going to put him in the solid but not spectacular category for now. But he could easily be a 4 or even 5 star card depending on how the interactions work with AoE damage and Resist.

Rating: 3/5

Beast - Tragic Hero

One more Steel Beast card and it is one of Steel's two legendaries in this set. This Floodborn Beast has Shift 3, however there are currently no Beast cards cheaper than 4-cost. So you probably aren't ever shifting him out. So how is he as a 5-cost card? Well 3/5 stats and 2 lore is under-statted but he has an ability that lets us draw cards. Drawing cards is good, we like drawing cards.

You have to keep him undamaged though to get the draw effect. You could hide him behind Bodyguard characters or just leave him unexerted. Your opponent would then have to find some direct damage or hard removal to stop him from drawing. And, even if he does take some damage, he becomes a very strong challenger, swinging for 7 damage. You can also pair him with a healing color and heal him back up to activate the draw effect once again.

Overall, I think he's a very versatile card that will see a lot of play in Steel decks that want card draw without using the all-in "wheel" effect of A Whole New World.

Rating: 5/5

Benja - Guardian of the Dragon Gem

Benja is not a Beast but he fills the same role as Beast - Hardheaded from The First Chapter. They are both Break on a stick. Except the stick, in this case, only costs you 1 extra ink and gets you a 2/3 body that quests for 2. That's a decent deal, although I think it says more about how bad Break is than how good Benja is. Like most "hate" cards, Benja will float in and out of the meta depending on how many powerful items there are being played.

Rating: 3/5

Chief Bogo - Respected Officer

Chief Bogo is the last of the cycle of "whenever you play a Floodborn character, do X" cards. He comes with an AoE ping effect, which is actually quite strong. He pairs especially well with Tinker Bell - Giant Fairy, turning her ETB effect into a Grab Your Sword. The downside with him is he is uninkable and has a relatively weak body. But the upside is so strong, that I think this card will see some play.

Rating: 3/5

Cinderella - Knight in Training

Cinderella begins her knight training as a 2/2 with 1 lore that comes with the Simba - Future King effect. That effect is fine on a cheap card, although certainly is not a huge reason to play this card. There is a huge reason to play this card though, and that is as a Shift target for the Floodborn Cinderella.

Rating: 3/5

Cinderella - Stouthearted

And this is why you would want to play the little Cinderella. This Floodborn Cinderella is a certified board control monster. She is a 5/5 body, which is already decent, and she has Resist +2, which reduces all damage dealt to her by 2. This means she can banish anything 2 Strength or less and take zero damage.

And then there is her The Singing Sword ability, which lets her challenge ready characters whenever you play a song. This functions as one of the few ways in the game to remove a Ward character from play before they have a chance to quest. This makes her especially strong against cards like Kuzco - Temperamental Emperor or Cogsworth - Grandfather Clock. And since cards like these are going to be very powerful and prevalent, this makes Cinderella a must-have counter card to a lot of these strategies.

On top of all this, she can be shifted out as early as turn 5. And she has 3 lore, so once you are done cleaning up your opponent's board, she becomes a powerful quester who becomes very hard to remove since, again, she has Resist +2!

Cinderella - Stoutheader is an absolute unit of a card and contender for best card in the set.

Rating: 5/5

Donald Duck - Deep-Sea Diver

This vanilla Donald Duck is a stat-swapped version of Cerberus - Three-headed Dog from set one. Cerberus wasn't really playable and I don't know if swapping his stats is going to do anything.

Rating: 1/5

Eli La Bouff - Big Daddy

While 5 Willpower on a 4-drop with 2 lore isn't the worst combination of stats I've seen, you can certainly do better than this plain vanilla card.

Rating: 1/5

Goofy - Knight for a Day

Gawrsh, that is a big boy! Goofy - Knight for a Day comes in as the biggest card we've seen yet in Lorcana. 10/10! And he quests for 4 lore! Trouble is he costs a whopping 9 ink and does nothing when he hits the board. He just sits there and waits for your opponent to banish him with some removal. And then you are sad.

Rating: 1/5

Hercules - Divine Hero

This Floodborn Hercules is a poor man's version of the Floodborn Cinderella. Worse stats, no ability, less lore. But even as a worse version of Cindy, he is still quite good. You shift him out on turn 4 and remove something right away. Then next turn, you shift Cinderella out and now you have two nigh-indestructible threats on board that can quest or remove things as needed. I like it.

Rating: 4/5

Hercules - Hero in Training

It's a vanilla 2/3 for 2 that we've seen a bunch already. This Hercules can serve as a Shift target for Divine Hero, although I think I prefer Hercules - True Hero, as he is the better card and curves better. But this card does have some of the funniest art and flavor text in the game!

Rating: 1/5

Jafar - Dreadnought

Jafar gets a Floodborn card in this Steel uncommon. He has a very cheap Shift cost, but you can't play him on curve since we don't have a 1-drop Jafar. Still, his Now Where Were We? ability is quite good, letting you draw whenever you banish something in a challenge. That means if you can shift this Jafar into play, you get to challenge and banish right away and get the immediate card draw. For now, I'd say this card is solid, but if we ever get a 1-drop Jafar, it will be super good.

Rating: 3/5

Jafar - Royal Vizier

This is the card you will be pairing with Jafar - Dreadnought as its Shift target. As I mentioned, if this were a 1-drop Jafar I'd like the pair of them so much better. As it is, you can still use this to get your Dreadnought out on turn 3 but you'll often be floating the 1 extra ink. Still, this is a decent enough Shift target with an ability that will be useful at challenging opposing Evasives, when you need him to.

Rating: 3/5

Kronk - Junior Chipmunk

The immediate comparison to this Kronk that jumps to mind is Tinker Bell - Giant Fairy. Same cost and same stats and same ability to deal 2 damage to chosen character when banishing something. Of course, Kronk doesn't come with the AoE ping or have the Shift possibility, but you do get Resist +1 on him. I think he's worse than big Tink, but there is room for a card to be worse than big Tink and still be a very good card. If we rate Tinker Bell a 5, I would say Kronk sits just below her.

Rating: 4/5

Lawrence - Jealous Manservant

Lawrence reminds me a bit of Zeus - God of Lightning. Both cards will go into their first challenge as 4/4s, but then have 0 Strength on the crackback. And Lawrence doesn't have Rush. He is one ink cheaper but, like Zeus, he's nearly always just going to be 1-for-1 trade for you. And that's just not really worth running.

Rating: 2/5

Li Shang - Archery Instructor

This Li Shang has an interesting effect that we haven't really seen yet on a card. We've seen the Ward aura effect, but not the Evasive. He functions as a way for Steel to deal with Evasives, without having to run your own Evasive characters. But Steel already has ways to deal with Evasives due to all their direct damage. So I don't see a real reason to run Li Shang.

Rating: 2/5

Magic Broom - Industrial Model

We get another broom card this set, to go along with Mickey Mouse - Wayward Sorcerer and Magic Broom - Bucket Brigade. I am hoping we get at least one broom a set and, in a few years, Mickey can command a whole army of brooms! This Magic Broom has a very nice effect, letting you slap Resist on something that you need to survive a challenge, either one initiated by your or your opponent.

But you won't be playing this in a deck without Mickey since, while the effect is nice, the body is just not worth it. And I don't think a Mickey/Broom deck has enough pieces yet, but one day...

Rating: 2/5

Namaari - Morning Mist

Steel's second legendary this set is Namaari - Morning Mist. She is a 2/4 with 2 lore that costs 4 ink and also comes with Bodyguard. Already I'm quite underwhelmed as that is not the stats you want to see on a 4-drop with Bodyguard. But she has the ability Blades, which lets her unconditionally challenge ready characters. That is a very strong ability... but the fact that it is attached to such a weak body makes it a whole lot worse.

For a legendary, I would have expected higher stats on her. As it is, she needs Strength buffs or other help to really make her useful. If you want to be able to challenge ready characters, just play Cinderella and some songs.

Rating: 2/5

Pacha - Village Leader

Pacha makes his debut in Lorcana as a 4/8 vanilla in Steel. While 8 is a lot of Willpower on a 6-drop, the card pool is now big enough that you don't want to play vanillas.

Rating: 1/5

Prince Naveen - Penniless Royal

Again, you don't want to play vanillas and this one has a stat line that I particularly dislike. Turns out charm is just not enough.

Rating: 1/5

Queen of Hearts - Capricious Monarch

Steel gets a Queen of Hearts card with this Storyborn Villain card. A 5/6 for 7 ink is pretty bad but she does have a nice ability, letting her ready whenever an opposing character is banished. This means she can challenge or quest multiple times a turn. This effect even works during your opponents turn, which can make her hard to remove. I think the Queen is solid but she is very expensive and very slow, so she only really fits in ramp decks or heavy control lists.

Rating: 3/5

Robin Hood - Capable Fighter

Robin Hood brings his archery skills to bear in this card, letting you exert him for a ping effect. This effect can be useful, especially in the early game. But at only 1 Strength, he isn't likely to banish anything that challenges into him after you ping. And as uninkable, you are committed to playing him, even in the late game where he really falls off. I think if he has a place it is in decks that can take advantage of the ping effect for extra value, but there's not much else.

Rating: 2/5

The Huntsman - Reluctant Enforcer

The Huntsman has the filtering effect of Cinderella - Knight in Training but it is repeatable every time he quests. And you are going to want to quest with him since he is only a 1/1 but has 2 lore. Ultimately though, I don't rate this filtering effect very highly and I'd rather play a more resilient 2 lore quester as my 2-drop.

Rating: 2/5

The Prince - Never Gives Up

The Prince is a solid Bodyguard character that can protect your early game board, similar to Hercules - True Hero. He has two less Strength, but that Resist +1 means he is tougher to banish. He doesn't get banished by Smash or Rafiki - Mysterious Sage, for example. And he quests for 2 lore. I think if you are running an aggro list, this is a great card.

Rating: 4/5

Tiana - Celebrating Princess

Steel gets another Resist +2 character in Tiana - Celebrating Princess. Resist +2 is very strong, as I've already mentioned, although Tiana doesn't have the stats to make great use of it offensively. It's mostly a defensive ability for her, keeping her alive through challenges and direct damage.

Her What You Give Is What You Get ability is interesting; denying actions from your opponent is very strong. But the conditions are hard to meet. In the case of having an empty hand, I'm not even really wanting to meet them. I think you have to look at her ability as a nice bonus for you if you happen to have an empty hand, but not one you necessarily want to rely on.

In the end, she is a solid quester that can be hard to remove. But if that is all she is good for, is it worth it for an uninkable, 4-ink card? I think there are better options out there, honestly.

Rating: 2/5

Tiana - Diligent Waitress

At first blush this looks like a Shift target for the bigger Tiana but then you remember that the bigger Tiana is Dreamborn, not Floodborn. So this is simply a color shifted Olaf - Friendly Snowman. And Olaf never saw any play, so I don't suspect this will either.

Rating: 1/5

Charge!

Charge! is probably what you want to slap on your Namaari - Morning Mist to make her worthwhile. That's a decent two card combo but definitely not worth running two bad cards for. I do like that this gives Resist +2 but I'm not thrilled about having to pay two ink for it and it doesn't even last through your opponent's turn. It's a meh from me.

Rating: 2/5

Let the Storm Rage On

Steel gets more direct damage Actions with this 3-cost Song card. I like that it is a cantrip and draws you a card when you play it. And since it is a Song, you'll usually be playing it for free. A free 2 damage that draws you a card? Sign me up.

Rating: 4/5

Pick a Fight

Wreck It Ralph bursts into Lorcana on this Action card. I would have loved to see him as a character but maybe we get him next set. His action is pretty good though, allowing any of your characters to challenge ready characters for a turn. This can work particularly well with with any character that can ready itself, as you can then take out multiple readied characters a turn.

So it's a strong effect but it is situational and on an uninkable card, which is a definite drawback for situational actions. But it's probably still good enough to see play as a 2-of in certain decks.

Rating: 3/5

Strength of a Raging Fire

Even more direct damage for Steel and this one can scale depending on the amount of characters you have in play. So how many characters will you need in play to make this worth it? With only one character, it's obviously bad. Two isn't great either. Once you get to 3 characters, this is Smash that you can sing, which is okay. At four characters, this is really good. And any more than that it becomes insane.

So the question becomes, how often can you have 3 or more characters in play on turn 4ish to make this worth it? I think you can expect that about 60% of the time. So 60% of the time, this card is good on curve, 40% of the time, it is bad. But it is inkable, so you can always just ink it when it's not good enough to play.

I think, because this card is flexible as a removal tool while being inkable and singable, you will want it in your deck. There will be times it is unplayable but other times it gives you huge removal for free and just wins you the game on the spot.

Rating: 4/5

Last Cannon

Last Cannon is a cheap combat trick in item form. I don't like these cards as actions and making it a single use item doesn't really improve things.

Rating: 1/5

Mouse Armor

Mouse Armor is a nice defensive option, particularly for item synergy decks. Letting you slap Resist on characters that don't naturally have it, such as Beast - Selfless Protector can be very powerful. And you can stack multiple of these effects onto one card. It being uninkable is a bit of a drawback, but I think ultimately you are happy to play this out whenever you draw it and then just get value off of it for the rest of the game.

Rating: 3/5

Weight Set

We've seen similar cards to this before with stuff like Ursula's Shell Necklace. That card wasn't good enough to see play, I think having to pay the 1 ink each time you want to draw is too punishing. If this just drew you a card when you played a 4 Strength character, I'd like it a lot more. As it is though, leave this weight set on the gym floor.

Rating: 1/5

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And that's it for Steel. I think they got a lot of really strong cards including a real contender for best card in the set in Cinderella - Stouthearted. I'm very high on Resist as a keyword and as one of only two inks to have gotten it, that will boost Steel considerably. I expect it will continue to be a strong ink in the upcoming meta.

And that's a wrap on my set review for Rise of the Floodborn! I hope everyone enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Good luck opening those packs!