Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Rating Scale
- Shimmering Skies Emerald Cards
- Robin Hood - Timely Contestant
- Shenzi - Scar's Accomplice
- Little John - Camp Cook
- Zazu - Advisor to Mufasa
- Ulf - Mime
- Ed - Laughing Hyena
- Flora - Good Fairy
- Merryweather - Good Fairy
- Robin Hood - Archery Contestant
- Fauna - Good Fairy
- Iago - Fake Flamingo
- Banzai - Gluttonous Predator
- Ed - Hysterical Partygoer
- Scroop - Odious Mutineer
- Prince Phillip - Swordsman of the Realm
- Clarabelle - Light on Her Hooves
- Anna - Diplomatic Queen
- Clarabelle - Clumsy Guest
- Banzai - Taunting Hyena
- Robin Hood - Sneaky Sleuth
- Mother Gothel - Conceited Manipulator
- Clarabelle - Contented Wallflower
- Shenzi - Head Hyena
- Mother Gothel - Unwavering Schemer
- Scar - Vengeful Lion
- Hypnotic Deduction
- Night Howler Rage
- You're Welcome
- Remember Who You Are
- Prince John's Mirror
- Obscurosphere
- Emerald Chromicon
- Sherwood Forest - Outlaw Hideaway
- Tropical Rainforest - Jaguar Lair
Introduction
Shimmering Skies is the fifth set of Ravensburger's Disney Lorcana Trading Card Game. At this point in the game's lifecycle, the card pool has grown significantly. For cards to make an impact, they will either need to bring something new to the table or just be an all-around powerful card. We are reviewing all the cards in this new set and seeing which might make the biggest splash, continuing with the Emerald cards.
Emerald started off as one of the weaker colors in Disney Lorcana. But it has come on strong of late and powered some of the best cards in the format, thanks mainly to its strong tempo tools and hand disruption in the form of discard cards. Will we see even more discard options? Or will Emerald expand into some new strategies? Read on to find out!
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.
Shimmering Skies Emerald Cards
Robin Hood - Timely Contestant
Starting things off with Emerald's "big boy that gets cheaper when something happens" card. This Robin Hood is a 9-cost 6/6 that quests for 4 plus he has Ward. That stat line is very good, provided you can get him out cheap enough. Again, around 6 ink seems like the point where you are happy to play this character. Anything less than that and it's gravy.
So how do you get him out cheaply? You have to put damage on opposing characters. Notably, it's not how many characters have damage on them but how much damage total. So 3 damage counters on one character and 1 damage counter on three separate characters would both make for a 3 ink discount.
That key difference probably makes this card quite playable. I'm thinking especially in a Emerald/Steel deck where you can sing your damage Songs to setup enough damage on your opponent's board to be able to play Robin Hood. And with Ward, he's going to be gaining you at least 4 lore, nearly guaranteed.
He's a terrible topdeck though and, since he's uninkable, you never want to see him in your hand early in the game. So I don't think you want a playset of him in your deck, but having a couple copies as a finisher card seems pretty good. Solid card.
Rating: 4/5
Shenzi - Scar's Accomplice
Shenzi is the first of a bunch of Hyena cards coming in Shimmering Skies. Most of them have an ability that cares about opposing damaged characters. This Shenzi card gets +2 strength when challenging an opposing damaged character. Not the most exciting, but she can take out a lot of Evasive threats.
As 4-cost Evasives go, I'd still probably rather have 001-093 in my deck. She quests for 1 more and, if you need to take out an opposing Evasive, her ability has a bit more flexibility. Maybe in a deck with other Hyena synergies, Shenzi could be worth running. But I'm not too high on this card.
Rating: 2/5
Little John - Camp Cook
Little John is the second card in this set with this cost and stat line, after 005-002. I just don't think you want to play a 0/4 over a 1/3. The inability to deal any sort of damage is a big drawback. At least Little John does work as a potential Shift target for 003-178. But that's about the only thing he has any use for. Amazing art though.
Rating: 1/5
Zazu - Advisor to Mufasa
Zazu, a 5-cost 3/5 with Evasive that quests for 2, is what you call a "french vanilla" card. Nothing but stats and one keyword ability. This Zazu is similar to 003-071 but with slightly shifted Strength and Willpower. Normally, I'd be happy to gain 1 extra Willpower at the cost of 1 Strength. But this puts Zazu directly in 003-112 range, often right on curve. So I think Karnage is probably still the better card. And he's not exactly setting the world on fire, so I don't see how this card would either.
Rating: 2/5
Ulf - Mime
Chalk another one up for a flavor win. Ulf is one of the scoundrels at the Snuggly Duckling in the movie Tangled, who dreams of becoming a mime. In Lorcana, that means of course he can't sing songs. Unfortunately, that makes him a bad card for competitive purposes. He's literally just 002-069 with a drawback.
It would be nice to see these cards be over-statted for their cost, but I guess sometimes the designers are happy to just design a card with flavor, not necessarily needing or wanting it to be super competitive (or competitive at all).
Rating: 1/5
Ed - Laughing Hyena
Ed is another hyena that cares about damaged opposing characters. He deals 2 damage to a damaged character when he enters the battlefield. That is a strong ability although it comes on a relatively weak body and is uninkable. But in a deck with enough ping effects, he could see play as a way to finish off opposing characters while still developing your own board.
Rating: 3/5
Flora - Good Fairy
Flora is a 3-cost 2/4/1 with what I guess you could call "reverse challenger". We've seen this before on cards like 002-080. But Enchantress is a 2-cost with 2 lore, so you want to be questing with her and forcing your opponent to challenge. Flora is a 3-cost with only 1 lore, making her a very bad quester.
Since she's not a questing threat, your opponents will likely ignore her most of the time, meaning her ability is not releveant and she ends up being nothing but a vanilla character. If she quested for 2, she'd at least be a consideration. But not with only 1 lore.
Rating: 2/5
Merryweather - Good Fairy
This card is the first time we are seeing "kicker" introduced to Lorcana. Kicker is a term from Magic the Gathering where you can spend some additional resources when you play a card for an additional effect. In Merryweather's case, you can pay 2 additional ink to buff another character with +2 strength.
So you are paying 3 ink total for what is essentially 001-087. That's not a great deal. Yes, this card comes with the flexibility of being playable for only 1 ink, but do you really want to play a 1/2/1 in your deck? Not really.
Rating: 2/5
Robin Hood - Archery Contestant
Robin Hood is almost like a mini-Merlin - Goat, gaining you 1 lore whenever you play him, provided your opponent has at least one damaged character. He doesn't have the lore gain on leaving play, but he's half the cost so easier to bounce him and then play him multiple times, possibly even in the same turn.
He's obviously not as good as Goat, but any card that gains you lore instantly on play is worth considering and in a ping/damage deck, he could be an important lore gain tool.
Rating: 3/5
Fauna - Good Fairy
A vanilla 5-drop that instantly dies to 003-112? Yeah, that's not going to see any play.
Rating: 2/5
Iago - Fake Flamingo
Love the art and title of this card. And the ability is not bad as well. Discounting actions by 2 can be quite good. Especially if the action only costs 2 ink to begin with; playing things for free is always good. So in an action heavy deck, this Iago is going to get you some value, provided he survives a turn and is able to quest.
If he had Ward, he'd be great. Evasive is nice, once you've quested with him once, but it doesn't stop him from getting removed right away. And considering he is in range of 003-112 as well as Brawl and And Then Along Came Zeus, he will get removed right away a lot of the time.
Despite that, I think he could still see play in a deck with either a lot of cheap actions or some expensive actions or both. Ink reduction is always worth paying attention to, as it is just a very powerful effect. I think this card could surprise some people.
Rating: 3/5
Banzai - Gluttonous Predator
Banzai is a pretty straightforward 3/2/2 for 2 ink. We can compare him to 003-184. Smee comes in with 3 Willpower, but usually takes one damage after questing once. Banzai starts with 1 less Willpower, but doesn't keep taking damage each turn. I think you'd rather the 3 Willpower to start with (Smee doesn't die to 002-199 right away, for example). Banzai is also uninkable, which restricts your deck building options somewhat.
All in all, Smee is the better card but he's also one of the best 2-drops in the game. So this Banzai could still see play as a decent aggressive 2-drop in its own right.
Rating: 3/5
Ed - Hysterical Partygoer
Ed is another Hyena card that wants to go into aggressive decks. As a 4-cost with 3 lore, he is best compared to 001-078. Ed has the upside of being protected from challenges by damaged characters, which will occasionally be relevant. His stats present a problem though, as he is easily dealt with by Brawl, which will still be a very popular card in the meta. That, plus him being uninkable, probably puts him outside the realm of playability.
Rating: 2/5
Scroop - Odious Mutineer
Another Emerald card with the "kicker", Scroop at a base level is a 3-cost, uninkable card with a 2/1/2 stat line. I don't think I have to tell you that that is very bad. He does come with Evasive, but that's not making up for that stat line.
So you are only really playing him if you highly value his kicker ability, which allows you to pay 3 ink and banish a damaged character. So, basically he's a bad body that can draw a Ring The Bell for free but which also forces you to play that card immediately. Ehh.
I think I would rather just play Ring The Bell. It's inkable and I'm not forced to spend 3 ink on a terrible body when I play it. As a Super Rare, this card is very underwhelming.
Rating: 2/5
Prince Phillip - Swordsman of the Realm
Now this Super Rare looks more appealing. For 7 ink you are getting a 3/9/3, which is a lot of Willpower, but unfortunately he dies to 003-112. This card would unironically be a whole lot better with 1, 2 or even 3 less Willpower and 1 extra Strength.
Still, Prince Phillip can get you immediate value, if you can take advantage of his Slayer of Dragons ability. What sort of Dragons might be in the meta that we could hit? Well, there is 001-113 and then the Sisus, 004-124 and 004-125. That's not a lot of targets but they are all cards we will likely be seeing a lot of in the upcoming meta.
He also comes with a second ability, albeit one that works best in ping decks. Readying after challenges is nice, but you have to be challenging into a damaged character. That could be tough, but one nice thing is with 9 Willpower, he will survive most challenges so attacking into something twice or even three times in a turn would be possible. Or he removes something and then you quest with him for 3 lore, giving you board control and advancing your win condition at the same time.
All of that is decent, but it is quite slow and conditional. I think you really want to get value out of his Dragon slaying ability to make him worth running. And that is going to be a meta call more than anything.
Rating: 3/5
Clarabelle - Light on Her Hooves
From the Emerald Super Rares to the Legendaries, next up is this Floodborn Clarabelle. She's pretty pricy at 7 ink but you can Shift her out for 5 instead. There are a couple of other cheaper Clarabelles in this set that could make for decent Shift targets.
Her Keep In Step ability is a nice card draw tool, ensuring that you remain even in card advantage with your opponent for as long as she is in play. It unfortunately triggers at the end of your turn though, meaning you won't get to use the cards you draw until the turn after you play her.
It's also unclear what deck would benefit the most from this. An aggro deck would love to be able to draw a bunch of cards each turn, but can it afford to run an expensive card like this? And a control deck would not be able to take advantage of the draws all that often. She could fit in a midrange deck, as a late game refill option, but she has anti-synergy with all of the discard stuff, which has so far been some of Emerald's best cards.
So while it's a good effect, it's on an expensive card that might not have a good home just yet. One to keep an eye on but not sure it will see play right away.
Rating: 3/5
Anna - Diplomatic Queen
Anna is the other Emerald Legendary and is the queen of the "kicker" cards. She has three different kicker options, which is great for flexibility. You are probably most happy using the third one, banishing an opponent's damaged character, but the other two could be decent options in the right circumstances. Interesting to note that when using the third option, she's a cheaper and better 005-082.
And if you don't want to pay the kicker cost, you can still play her as a solid 2/3/2 body for 3 ink. There are definitely times when you play, say, 002-174 just as a body without using his ability and you are usually fine with that.
Anna doesn't feel like she will ever be the superstar card of a deck, but can add some nice flexibility to just about any Emerald deck, whether it's midrange, control, discard or otherwise. For that reason, she deserves a good rating.
Rating: 4/5
Clarabelle - Clumsy Guest
Here is a potential Shift target for the Floodborn Clarabelle, that also comes with a kicker. As a 1-cost 1/2/1, you aren't thrilled to be playing this as a vanilla 1-drop. But with the kicker added, you can use her to remove an item.
As an item hate card, she's definitely worse than 002-174, since you are paying the same 3 ink but getting a worse body in return. But if you aren't running Steel as your second ink, she's probably better than 003-092. If item removal is what you are after, Clarabelle is a decent option.
Rating: 3/5
Banzai - Taunting Hyena
A second Banzai card and another hyena that cares about damaged characters. We still have yet to see the damaged character deck really take off and I feel that none of these cards are quite good enough to propel that deck to a competiteive level. So I'm doubtful these hyenas will see much play.
This Banzai is basically 002-058 with a bit more stats except he has a condition attached to his exert ability. Pinocchio is only borderline playable as-is so I feel like attaching an additional condition to the ability probably dooms this card to the binder.
Rating: 2/5
Robin Hood - Sneaky Sleuth
This Floodborn Robin Hood is contender for best art in the set. Absolutely phenomenal work from Nicholas Kole.
But, yet again, it is an Emerald card that cares about damaged opposing characters. I respect that the game designers are trying to make a deck archetype work, but maybe it would be better if there were more ways to damage characters in the same ink as the cards that benefit from it? A huge chunk of Emerald's cards from this set can ONLY go into an Emerald/Steel deck. We are missing out on one of the joys of deck building, which is experimenting with different ink combinations to see where each ink's synergies best complement each other.
That being said, in that type of deck, this Robin Hood could be a way to surprise your opponent with some immediate lore gain. Shifting him onto a small Robin Hood while you have a 002-175 in play, could allow you to quest for 3 or more lore pretty easily.
He's also just another 5-cost, Shift 3 character which have seen quite a lot of play for their ability to sing powerful 5-cost songs like We Don't Talk About Bruno on turn 3. I can honestly see him getting the most play, not in Emerald/Steel, where you have access to a better Floodborn Robin Hood already, but in other ink pairings. Just as a way to have a singer and decent body on board early, while occasionally surprising your opponent with the additional lore gain from his Clever Plan ability.
So yeah, while I'm not a believer in the deck archetype he wants to go in, I'm not going to write him off completely either.
Rating: 3/5
Mother Gothel - Conceited Manipulator
This card is a Mother Gothel who generates you a Mother Knows Best for free, if you want to pay the kicker cost of 3 ink to bounce something. She can also be compared to 001-075. You are getting worse stats on board, but she's 1 ink less in total and is inkable. That's probably a deal most players are happy to make.
Genie was a very good card in the early days of Lorcana, but has since been overshadowed by a lot of better cards. His biggest issue is his uninkability, meaning it can be hard to justify including him in your deck when there are other more powerful cards that are taking up your uninkable slots. So having access to a cheaper Genie that is also inkable is very attractive.
Rating: 4/5
Clarabelle - Contented Wallflower
Another Clarabelle for Emerald and another potential Shift target for the Legendary Clarabelle. This one is also pretty good in its own right. It is a character which cycles itself, provided you have less cards in your hand than your opponent when you play her. She's similar to 001-049, but with 1 extra Willpower.
Maleficent has seen pretty consistent play throughout various metas. Drawing you a card on play and then being around to sing 3-cost songs is useful. Clarabelle may not draw you a card 100% of the time, but she is better at surviving on board to sing songs. And if you aren't going to be able to draw with her, you can always just ink her. Solid card.
Rating: 4/5
Shenzi - Head Hyena
The final Hyena card from this set is Shenzi, who only fits in a Hyena deck. Her two abilities both synergize with the Hyenas you have on board, one buffing her Strength and one giving you some additional lore gain. The What Have We Got Here? ability is intriguing, but those two conditions are going to be tough to meet consistently. It's notable that it can trigger off of Shenzi herself attacking though.
But yeah, I think this is too many hoops to jump through in a deck that probably is still missing too many pieces. Not good enough, I'm afraid.
Rating: 2/5
Mother Gothel - Unwavering Schemer
Emerald's last Super Rare is this Floodborn Mother Gothel. This card's best comparison is 002-110. Both cost 6 ink and Shift for 4, both remove something of your opponents with the caveat that your opponent gets to choose what it is. This can be both a positive and a negative. The positive is it gets around Ward, the negative is that if your opponent has more than one character in play they will always choose the one that punishes them less.
Mother Gothel of course bounces instead of banishes the character, so she's worse than Lady Tremaine in that regard. But she's inkable and with better stats as a trade off. There are also better Shift targets for her, including the card we looked at earlier, 005-089. But as we've seen with Tremaine, you don't need to Shift this card out for it to be good.
Anything that can remove something the turn it is played is going to see some play. The fact that this card is inkable and can be Shifted onto another card that also removes something the turn it is played makes me think it could become a staple.
Rating: 5/5
Scar - Vengeful Lion
Scar is the final character card for Emerald this set. He's a 4-cost 4/2/1 with Ward, which is not the best body for the cost. But his Life's Not Fair, Is It? ability makes up for it. It's a source of repeatable card draw, as long as you can consistently setup a board state where you are challenging damaged characters. That can be tricky to do but since this Scar has Ward, just leaving him on the board to give you card draw whenever and wherever you can get it could be good enough.
As a draw engine with Ward, he reminds me of 002-089. Scar would obviously go in a different deck than Prince John but his ability could be the draw engine to make a damaged characters deck work. Or you just throw him into any midrange deck, play him on turn 4 and leave him unexerted, banking on occasionally getting some card draw value out of him.
He has potential, for sure. Most card draw options do. I'm not sold on him being an auto-include, but I suspect he will be experimented with and could find his way into a meta deck or two.
Rating: 3/5
Hypnotic Deduction
Hypnotic Deduction may look like card draw at first glance, but it's really not. It's card filtering. You are trading this card and two others from your hand for three new ones. It's similar to 003-096 but it's not singable. That makes it decidedly worse, as not only are you always paying 2 for this effect, it can't be double sung by Ursula - Deceiver of All.
Still, in a deck that cares about actions, this is a cheap one that cycles itself. It's also really good with Jafar - Striking Illusionist, gaining you 3 lore even though it's not gaining you 3 cards. All in all, not the worst action in the game, just needs the right deck to be good.
Rating: 3/5
Night Howler Rage
Night Howler Rage is one of the few instances of straight-up power creep in the game. It's a strictly better 001-099 in the same ink color. This card does the same thing for the same cost but it cycles itself. The Beast Is Mine is not playable and I don't think this card is either, but it's notable that they are adjusting the baseline for "bad" card from terrible to just.. not very good.
Rating: 2/5
You're Welcome
Now here is a playable card. You're Welcome is essentially the 002-060 effect in song form. That's already pretty good. But, as a bonus, you can target items and locations as well. That makes this card very flexible. You can target your own cheap items or characters as a way to draw cards. Or you can remove something of your opponents that would otherwise be hard to remove. Yes, it comes with the downside of then drawing your opponent two cards but, depending on the board state, those two cards may not even be relevant.
We've seen how powerful removal and card draw on a song can be. This can be both, depending on what you need at the moment. Flexible card draw and/or removal on a song? Plus it's inkable? Now that's a card I want in my deck.
Rating: 5/5
Remember Who You Are
Aggro decks have traditionally struggled with card draw in Lorcana. You build up your board quickly and then you are top decking weak characters for the rest of the game. If your opponent can deal with your initial board, that's usually game over. Without a way to reload or refill your hand, your one small character a turn will not be enough to close out the game.
Enter Remember Who You Are. This card is exactly what aggro needs to refill their hand in the midgame so they can continue to pile on the pressure. If you can cast this consistently with an otherwise empty hand on turn 4 to draw 5 or 6 cards, you are going to be sitting pretty. Even if your opponent wipes your board with a Grab Your Sword or something, you can just flood the board again.
Now the obvious downsides to this card are it is uninkable which means if your opponent is playing around it and/or is also an aggro deck looking to empty its hand quickly, this becomes a completely dead card in your hand. You also will always have to pay 4 ink to play it, which means you are going to be essentially taking a turn off to play it.
There was a card exactly like this in Hearthstone called Divine Favor and it powered one of the best aggro decks in the game for a while, until it eventually got nerfed/banned. Now, we can't compare Hearthstone and Lorcana exactly, one of the key differences being the way resources work. And this card being uninkable is a prime example of how the designers of Lorcana can balance cards in a way that Hearthstone designers did not have access to.
So I don't think this card is broken or anything. But I think it's fair to say that aggro decks will love this card and it could do for them what it did for the Divine Favor decks in Hearthstone, which is basically make the matchup versus a control deck close to an automatic win.
Rating: 4/5
Prince John's Mirror
Emerald has not gotten really any discard synergy this set, but here is one item that could be a powerful new option for discard decks. First up, it's You Look Regal ability lets you play it cheaper if you have a Prince John on board. That is good because you are always going to be playing this card in the same deck as 002-089.
And then once it is on board, your opponent will never be able to hold more than 3 cards in their hand at the end of their turn, always having to discard any additional cards. That's obviously very powerful, especially when you have a Prince John on board allowing you to draw the same amount of cards discarded.
One awkward thing about this item is you don't really want it in a deck with a bunch of other discard cards. If you are playing things to force your opponent to discard regularly, they may never get to the 3 card limit that this card calls for and then this item is wasted. It's best use is in an otherwise normal midrange deck that runs a small package of this and Prince John as a combination disruption tool and draw engine.
It is tough to say if that will be better than the full-on aggressive discard strategies that have so far been quite successful. But I suspect we will see a lot of experimentation with this item and it may just end up being the discard weapon of choice.
Rating: 4/5
Obscurosphere
Obscurosphere is a cheap item that allows you to pay some additional ink and banish itself to give your whole board Ward for a turn. That sounds good in theory, until you realize that Ward works best on individual, high value targets. A wide board will usually be dealt with by board clears such as Grab Your Sword or Be Prepared, which don't care about Ward. And paying 3 ink to protect just one character for a turn feels too expensive.
Rating: 2/5
Emerald Chromicon
Now this item can protect your board by making it hard to deal with your characters easily. Every time a character of yours gets banished, you get to bounce something of your opponents. Not just banished in a challenge, but any time they get banished. So casting removal actions can still set your opponent back in tempo, which could give you the time you need to recover.
Main problem I see with this card are there are a lot of cards that don't really mind getting bounced back to your opponent's hand. Say your opponent plays a Maui - Hero to All and clears something, are you bouncing Maui back to their hand? They can just play him again next turn and without any damage on him. What about a 003-112? Or 002-046? All of these cards are just getting your opponent value instantly, so bouncing them is not accomplishing much.
I feel like that, more than anything else, may hold this item back from being playable. It's obviously a strong tempo tool but the current meta is not conducive to this being a worthwhile effect. Certainly not for me to want to put a bunch of these uninkables into my deck.
Rating: 3/5
Sherwood Forest - Outlaw Hideaway
And finally, we get to the locations. First up is Sherwood Forest, which naturally synergizes with Robin Hood. Well, you don't have to run it in a deck with Robin Hood, but you probably will because you can move Robin Hoods there for free.
When you have a character there it gains Ward and the ability to exert and pay 1 ink to deal 2 damage to a chosen damaged character. That second part of the Familiar Terrain ability seems like it's not all that good, but giving a character Ward while here is useful. As we mentioned, we like Ward on one of our individual, high value cards, so moving them to this location could be a way to do that. Especially if that character is Robin Hood.
If giving a character Ward is what you are after, this location is essentially a cheaper and more resilient 003-101. You are losing the 2 passive lore though and so far no location without lore on it has seen any play. So, I don't know. I'm not sure there is a world where this location does enough to warrant inclusion in a deck, but I could be wrong.
Rating: 2/5
Tropical Rainforest - Jaguar Lair
Last, and potentially least, is the location Tropical Rainforest. This one does come with one lore pip on it but its ability is underwhelming. Giving opposing damaged characters Reckless has a pretty narrow application and isn't even that good, when you have this location sitting on board ready to be challenged by any Reckless characters anyway. You are going to play this and have it eat one or two challenges and then what? It's done nothing to deal with the board in any way, just set you behind in tempo. It's like a bad Bodyguard character with 0 Strength and which only works on damaged characters. I'll pass.
Rating: 1/5
And there we have it for the Emerald cards in this set. Some good and some bad. I'm most excited about the strong tempo cards Emerald is getting such as 005-092 and 005-096. And the aggro card draw option in 005-097.
While it's good to see Emerald spreading its wings a bit and not just getting more and more discard cards, I'm not sure the damaged characters deck is going to be good enough. But maybe I'm wrong and it proves to be better than I think. Of course, Emerald will still have their strong tempo tools to keep them relevant, so I'm not worried about the ink moving forward.
Next up, we will look at the Ruby cards!