Table of Contents
The starter decks for Rise of the Floodborn are Steel/Amethyst and Amber/Sapphire. While these decks are great if you are just starting out, once you begin to play more competitively, you want something that is a bit more cohesive and consistent. We are going to look at ways you can upgrade your starter deck to improve it and make it more powerful and better able to compete in the meta. Today, we will look at the Might and Magic starter deck of Amethyst/Steel.
The Amethyst/Steel starter deck already has a pretty solid foundation, as it includes many of the Madam Mim and Merlin cards that form the bounce package. This package of cards is very powerful and are run in some of the best decks in the game. So we just need to shore up some of the deck's other weaknesses and we should have something worthwhile.
First, we will look at what starter deck contains and then we will go over the changes we've made and reveal the final list.
Card Draw
One thing we are going to want is more card draw. Adding card draw is an easy and foolproof way to improve any deck. We already have one Merlin - Rabbit, but will add two more. We will also add 4 copies of Friends on the Other Side because it is such a good card and also quite cheap. And 3 copies of Maleficent - Sorceress rounds out our card draw.
-2x Eli La Bouff - Big Daddy ➡️ +2 Merlin - Rabbit
-2x Last Cannon, -2x Mouse Armor ➡️ +4 Friends on the Other Side
-3x Prince Naveen ➡️ +3 Maleficient - Sorceress
Reactive Cards
You always want ways to react to what your opponent is doing. To that end, we are going to add 3 copies of Smash. 3 damage is a really important breakpoint at the moment, due to how many 3 Willpower characters there are in the meta that can come down on turns 2 and 3 and Smash deals with them efficiently. We also have our Rush characters as reactive options. Madam Mim - Fox is one of the best cards in the game, so even though she's also the most expensive card in this deck, we will want to add a couple more of her.
And then we have the Jafar package. While not technically Rush, the Jafar - Dreadnought can shift onto the smaller Jafar and attack immediately, so it can fill the same role as a reactive card. And, as a bonus, it offers us a bit more card draw.
-3x Lilo - Galactic Hero ➡️ +3x Smash
-2x Lawrence - Jealous Manservant ➡️ +2x Madam Mim - Fox
-2x Freeze, -2x I'm Stuck! ➡️ +4x Jafar - Royal Vizier
-2x Beast - Forbidding Recluse, -1x Merlin - Shapeshifter ➡️ +3x Jafar - Dreadnought
Early Game
Amethyst decks with the bounce package generally want to be aggressive or controlling, but control decks are usually filled with expensive legendaries. So we are going to be going with a more aggressive strategy. It is cheaper and can still win you games just as effectively.
To improve our aggressive early game, we are going to be running Maleficient - Biding Her Time[card] and [card]Pascal - Rapunzel's Companion. Both are great early game questers and can then work as bounce targets, protecting them from challenges. Another way to protect them is with Bodyguard. The Prince - Never Gives Up is a great card in aggro decks and so we will add 2 more of him.
We will also add another copy of Madam Mim - Snake for more bounce enablers and another copy of Merlin - Goat. The Goat is a great way to close out games without needing to keep a body on board for a turn. He's a guaranteed 2 lore when you play him, even if your opponent removes him immediately.
-3x Tiana - Diligent Waitress ➡️ +3x Maleficent - Biding Her Time
-2x Merlin - Squirrel, -2x Cinderella - Knight in Training ➡️ +4x Pascal - Rapunzel's Companion
-2x Merlin - Crab ➡️ +2x The Prince - Never Gives Up
Last Pieces
Lastly, we will finish things off with adding a couple copies of Hercules - Divine Hero as a compliment to our Hercules - Hero in Training. It is a nice turn 4 play to shift him out and either remove something big or just quest. We'll also add one more copy of Benja - Guardian of the Dragon Gem as item decks are prevalent in the meta, so having more ways to deal with them is good. He's just also a solid aggressive card, questing for 2 lore as a 3-drop.
-2x Dr. Facilier - Savvy Opportunist ➡️ +2x Hercules - Divine Hero
-1x The Huntsman - Reluctant Enforcer ➡️ +1x Benja - Guardian of the Dragon Gem
Final Deck
And that is the deck. It should be more consistent than the out-of-the-box starter, thanks to all the additional card draw. And, with a more focused game plan of aggressive questing, you should have a better win rate. If you want to improve the deck further and have the budget to do so, Arthur - Wizard's Apprentice is a very good card in an aggressive bounce deck. You could also look to include Pinocchio - Star Attraction as well.
But this list should be a great upgrade to the original starter and won't cost you a fortune to get it either. Good luck and have fun!
