Shimmering Skies Set Review: Ruby

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 Ruby cards.

Ruby has been one of the strongest ink colors in Lorcana's short lifespan. Its plethora of removal options has made it the top choice for control decks looking to go long and win the game of attrition. Will Ruby get even more control tools this set? Will we see the emergence of new midrange or aggressive options? Let's find out!

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Shimmering Skies Ruby Cards

Taffyta Muttonfudge - Ruthless Rival

Taffyta Muttonfudge is a vanilla 2-cost 2/2/2 that also carries the new Racer tag. For some reason, they didn't print any sort of payoff for the Racer cards in this set. So this Taffyta is simply a Ruby 001-140. There is a Floodborn Taffyta, so this card being run or not will depend on how good that card is. On its own, it's probably not playable.

Rating: 2/5

Wreck-It Ralph - Demolition Dude

The second Wreck-It Ralph card of this set and this one is highly synergistic with Ruby's penchant for dealing damage to their own characters. Cards like 002-130 and especially 003-130 work really well with Ralph. Unfortunately, he comes with a very underwhelming stat line for a 3-cost card.

Interesting to note, that you gain the additional lore on readying and not questing, which can get around the issue of many of the readying cards saying the character can't quest again. So if you can find a way to exert Ralph repeatedly, you can gain a lot of lore with him in a single turn with Ruby's readying cards.

But chaining a bunch of Ralph exerts and readys is probably more of a pipe dream than anything. In practice, Ralph will usually sing a 002-130 once and then you hope that he survives until the start of your next turn and gains you 2 lore. And I'm not sure that is going to be good enough to want to run what is otherwise a very understatted card.

Rating: 2/5

Maximus - Team Champion

Maximus reminds me of 004-106, which has been a good card in the Ursula's Return meta. Both cards want you to have characters with high Strength in play. Flynn allows some counter play to your opponent, since they can block him with their own high Strength characters. While Maximus doesn't allow for that, he does require you to run a density of 5 Strength or higher characters in your deck.

Or maybe you want to run some 10 Strength or higher cards? Gaining 5 lore is a lot, but there are only a few 10 Strength characters in the game, so you will be hard pressed to get that regularly. But 2 lore at the end of your turn is pretty solid. That's another reason to like Maximus over Flynn, you gain the lore at the end of your turn, instead of the start. That sort of fulfills the requirement we usually like to see with "good" cards of them doing something the turn they are played.

Overall, the "strength matters" deck may be coming together now with enough ways to gain lore or otherwise take advantage of the Strength on your cards. This Maximus will be a key piece to that deck but could also find a home in any Ruby deck with some 5 Strength characters, as a way to gain some immediate lore.

Rating: 4/5

Turbo - Royal Hack

Spoiler alert! Turbo's Game Jump ability kind of gives away one of the twists in Wreck-It Ralph, but I guess the film is over 10 years old now. The ability, at the moment, is only relevant if you are running Ruby/Sapphire, as the only Floodborn King Candy is in Sapphire.

So is a 2/3 Rush for 2 ink worth running? 002-119 has seen play as a 2 Strength rusher for 2 ink but I think the main thing in the Queen's favor is she is inkable. Do you want a relatively low impact character taking up some of your precious uninkable slots? It's probably going to depend on the meta. We might be entering a more aggressive meta, so having more options for early board control may be important.

All in all, he's not a bad card (Rush is generally a good keyword) and could definitely see some play.

Rating: 3/5

Donald Duck - Pie Slinger

Donald Duck is the first Ruby Legendary from Shimmering Skies we are looking at and it is a confusing one. He has 003-190's base cost and stat line but Shifts for 4 instead of 3 ink. Surely that means his abilities are very strong, right? Well, not quite.

His Humble Pie ability provides a bit of lore reduction against your opponent, a mechanic that has so far been very underwhelming. We like to do things that effect the board or advance our own win condition. Just slowing down our opponent a bit is usually not all that relevant. So we are getting a pretty lackluster effect and it only triggers if you Shift this Donald out? That's not great.

Then, to make matters worse, the second ability has some anti-synergy with the first. Donald wants the opponent to have 10 lore or more, to buff his Strength, but his first ability reduces their lore total. Not ideal. And is a 9 Strength character even all that impactful? He's good at taking out locations, but how many of those are we going to see in the meta? Annoyingly, this Donald doesn't even get to the 10 Strength breakpoint, to trigger 005-105, which would have made him at least a consideration in a Maximus deck.

So yeah, I'm not getting this card. His design is all over the place. For a Legendary, especially, he seems underwhelming.

Rating: 2/5

Rancis Fluggerbutter - Chocolate Charger

Rancis Fluggerbutter (what a name) is a vanilla 4/4/1 for 4. She's got the Racer tag, but again, without any sort of payoff cards that's not doing anything for you. She's not going to see play.

Rating: 1/5

Scar - Traitor

Scar is the 001-117 of this set. Thematic? Yes. Competitive? Probably not. Maybe if 005-150 is super prevalent in the meta, this Scar might see play as a counter to that card. But it seems unlikely. It's just too niche.

Rating: 2/5

Snowanna Rainbeau - Cool Competitor

Snowanna is another 2 Strength uninkable Rush character like [card005-106[/card]. But you are paying 3 ink for her instead of 2 and in return getting an extra Willpower, which doesn't seem like a great deal to me.

Rating: 2/5

Daisy Duck - Spotless Food-Fighter

This is the first time we've seen this stat line on an Evasive card. It's not the worst option, as far as cheap Evasives go. She deals with Diablo - Devoted Herald at least. Probably more of a limited card though.

Rating: 2/5

Mickey Mouse - Enthusiastic Dancer

This Mickey has the stats of a 3-drop but costs 4 ink. So his ability would need to be quite good for me to want to play him. And just getting +2 strength when you have a Minnie in play is not good enough. Cute theme, but not a competitive card.

Rating: 2/5

Ratigan - Raging Rat

Ratigan is a 1/5/1 that when damaged gets +2 strength. So he's essentially a vanilla 3/4/1 that you need to jump through hoops to achieve. That's pretty bad. He is a Shift target for the Floodborn Ratigan, but I'm not super high on that card either, so this one has no shot.

Rating: 1/5

Taffyta Muttonfudge - Crowd Favorite

This Taffyta is a 1-drop that you never want to play on turn 1. That's bad. Late in the game, she can be a cheap way to reduce your opponent's lore, buying you an extra turn potentially. But even that is conditional and requires having a location in play. I don't see it.

Rating: 2/5

Denahi - Avenging Brother

Denahi is another Brother Bear card and he unfortunately continues the trend of these cards being pretty bad. You are paying 5 for a 7/5/2, which is okay, but without Rush he just seems like a worse version of 004-109 or 001-114. He can be good at removing locations or in a "challenge matters" deck, but again, you'd rather have the Rush characters for that. I just don't see what deck you want Denahi in over those other two, outside of limited formats.

Rating: 2/5

Pete - Steamboat Rival

Pete is the new 001-113 of a Pete deck. You are getting the Maleficent banish effect for 2 ink cheaper on a comparable, arguably better statted, body. Maleficent will be banished by a And Then Along Came Zeus whereas Pete survives it.

So he's a better Maleficent but he obviously comes with a huge caveat, you have to have a Pete on board. And are there enough good Petes to make a viable deck with this Pete? Right now, I don't think so. So that will ultimately hold this card back. But it's definitely one to keep an eye on.

Rating: 3/5

Taffyta Muttonfudge - Sour Speedster

This Floodborn Taffyta has a cheap Shift cost of 2 ink, which might be one reason to play the 1-cost Taffyta. Her stats are terrible though, especially for a base cost of 4 ink. Even when Shifting her for 2 ink, she is only a 3/3/1 which is just 1 extra Willpower over a vanilla 3/2/1 for 2 ink.

Now her New Roster ability is a nice option for alternate lore gain. If you have a location out and a cheap (or free) way to move there, you can get 2 lore a turn with Taffyta, including the turn you play her. If the ability wasn't restricted to once per turn, she would be really, really good. But the once per turn restriction definitely puts a cap on the power level of this card.

That plus the fact that location decks have just not been good enough yet will probably keep this card from seeing competitive play. But if a Ruby location deck takes off, Taffyta could find a way in there.

Rating: 3/5

Robin Hood - Sharpshooter

Robin Hood is Ruby's second Legendary and it is a potentially spicy one. His 1/4/2 body is nothing to write home about, but his ability allows you to dig for and then play a 6 cost or less action for free. That's a very powerful effect. Although it does come with the rather huge drawback of triggering on quest. Without a way to Shift him out, you are relying on him surviving a turn to get value out of My Greatest Performance.

He reminds me of Ursula - Deceiver of All, a strong, ink cheating effect which requires the character to stick to the board for a turn. Ursula still managed to be a very powerful card and this Robin Hood could prove to be the same.

One thing you need to take into account is that there are deck building restrictions with Robin Hood. To reliably hit an action, you would want a good amount in your deck. And ideally they would be expensive actions that cost 4-6 ink to make it really worth it. Something like Revive is the perfect action for Robin Hood. Revive has even more synergy with Robin Hood's ability, as your "misses" end up in your discard to be potentially pulled with a future Revive.

But looking beyond Revive, there aren't too many other actions that work as well. You have stuff like A Whole New World or We Don't Talk About Bruno of course, but those still work best with Singers or Floodborns singing them. Maybe something like Dragon Fire comes back into the meta with Robin Hood? The ability to dig and cheat out an action is very powerful and will at some point see play.

I just think, right now, there might not be enough high cost actions to really make this uninkable worth running in a deck. Ursula saw play, but she was inkable and we already had a lot of great 3-cost songs that she paired with. Robin Hood will definitely be a key cog to a meta deck one day, but it might not be right away.

Rating: 3/5

Gaston - Pure Paragon

Ruby gets this Gaston card as its version in the cycle of cards that discount themselves. Gaston gets 2 ink cheaper for each damaged character you have in play. As a massive 10/6/2 with Rush, If you can get him down to 5 ink, he's a much better 004-109.

But I'm not sure how reliably you can do that. One character with damage on board is pretty easy to do, you can always sing 002-130 and then play Gaston, but getting two down reliably is tougher. But a 5 cost 10/6 Rush is a formidable sight.

He, like many of these cycle of cards, is also a great singer, able to sing nearly every song in the game by himself. He also synergizes well with the "strenght matters" cards such as 005-105 and 005-133. So this card has a lot going for it, it's just going to be a question of how reliably you can get it out.

Rating: 3/5

Pete - Pastry Chomper

Another Pete card for the Pete deck. This one is just a straight-up vanilla so nothing too exciting. There are surprisingly no Floodborn Petes yet, so this can't be a Shift target. You would only really play this if you needed another Pete to trigger Pete - Steamboat Rival and even then you probably want a different Pete that does something.

Rating: 2/5

Arthur - Novice Sparrow

This card is the aggro killer. It's one of the best ways to deal with the early game aggression presented by cards like 005-016. 2 Strength and 3 Willpower means you'll be able to snuff out a few other 1 drops easily with this card. If aggro becomes as popular in the meta as it is threatening to be, this little sparrow will be flying in to save the day.

Rating: 4/5

Donald Duck - Daisy's Date

The flip side of 005-016 is this Donald Duck card. They even have art that connects. That's about where the similarities end though. This Donald is an inkable 3-cost 2/4/1 that reduces your opponent's lore total every time he challenges. He's like the opposite of 004-107 except without Rush. Lore reduction, as we've mentioned, is not all that good of an effect in general. That plus a lack of Rush probably makes this card not much better than a standard vanilla 3-drop.

Rating: 2/5

Ratigan - Party Crasher

Ratigan gets another card in this Floodborn. With a base cost of 7 ink, he's quite expensive, but shifting out for 3 ink less is pretty nice. A 4-cost 5/5/3 with Evasive is a strong body for the cost. His Delightfully Wicked ability synergizes with the self-damage stuff happening in Ruby, giving all your damaged characters +2 strength, including himself if and when he takes damage.

But I'm not sure all that justifies running a 7-cost uninkable card. To run a card like that, it needs to do some real broken stuff. A good body with a so-so ability is not worth it. I doubt this card sees any play.

Rating: 2/5

Vanellope von Schweetz - Random Roster Racer

It remains to be seen if Diablo - Devoted Herald will terrorize the meta as much as he did before Bucky was nerfed. If he is still prevalent, this Vanellope will be a great answer to him as a 4-cost 3/3 with Rush that has Evasive the turn she is played. You are paying 1 extra ink over the "standard" cost for a 3/3 Rush for her ability, but that's a decent tradeoff.

We saw 002-055 receive some play in Amethyst/Ruby and this Vanellope is close to a strict upgrade over that card. If there are Evasives that need dealing with in the meta, this Vanellope will be a great tech choice for Ruby decks.

Rating: 4/5

Simba - Adventurous Successor

This Simba is a 1 ink cheaper 001-087. As a trade off for the 1 ink discount, he is uninkable. I like him as a flexible option for helping to deal with locations and other higher Willpower characters. It is also notable that he can target himself with his ability. If you have a way to give him Rush, say with 005-037, he can become a 4 Strength rusher for only 1 ink. He also helps enable all the "strength matters when challenging" stuff in Ruby, like 004-135.

All in all, he has a lot of uses so I do think he could find a home in the right decks. Not a bad little common 1-drop.

Rating: 3/5

Minnie Mouse - Dazzling Dancer

Minnie here is the partner of the Mickey Dancer we looked at earlier, but I like her a lot better. For one thing, you are only paying 3 ink for her but still getting the same 2/4 stat line. She only quests for one lore, but that's fine as you are mostly going to be using her ability to gain you lore. She herself and any character you have named Mickey will gain you 1 lore when they challenge.

So she's basically 002-126 but for Mickeys only. If you look at her that way, she's not looking as great. Especially when you realize that there aren't very many good Mickeys you would want to run in your deck. And without Mickey, you'd pretty much always rather play Shere Khan. Maybe one day, with enough good Mickeys, you can build a deck with both of them. But for now, she's a decent card in search of a deck.

Rating: 3/5

Break Free

Break Free has some nice synergy with the self-damage stuff in Ruby. A cheap way to proc those synergies, while also giving a character Rush and additional strength, is really nice. I only wish this card cycled itself as well. As it is, it could still be useful in decks that want to enable those damage synergies.

Rating: 3/5

Evil Comes Prepared

This is just a more expensive 001-131 with a small upside if ran in a deck with a lot of Villains. That upside is just not worth the additional ink cost.

Rating: 2/5

Don't Let The Frostbite Bite

Another readying card, this one is at least a song, which already makes it better. But it costs a whopping 7 ink. Readying your whole board is nice but seven ink? It's not even a Sing Together, so signing this will require a 7 cost or higher character on board, which is tough to do.

Readying your whole board is good, lets you get off double the challenges or just keeps your stuff protected. But this card is so overcosted it's not even funny. Now if you removed the "they can't quest" part of the card, I could see it. Double questing with your whole board would be worth 7 ink, I think. But I'm not paying 7 for what this card currently does.

Rating: 2/5

Glimmer vs Glimmer

This is 003-121's effect, but without the body. Now normally you are getting a discount when you have a similar effect but no character attached, but with this card you are still paying 4 ink for this. That's probably fine though because you can play this card proactively, choosing when you want to trigger this effect. Unlike Eric, which you play and generally have to let your opponent choose when and how to trigger him.

One drawback of this card is you need to have a character on board to play it. And since it is uninkable, it could be a dead card in your hand if you can't manage to get something down on board. But you could always play something cheap and then play this in the same turn.

It's yet another removal option for Ruby and removal generally finds its way into multiple decks. This one will likely be no different.

Rating: 4/5

Who's With Me?

Who's With Me? is the first Super Rare action we have seen since A Whole New World in The First Chapter. A Whole New World has been a meta staple, so could this card also become a staple? Eh, doubtful. For one thing, it's not a song. So you are always paying 3 ink for this card. And the effect is just not that exciting. Plus 2 strength to your whole board is nice, and works well with stuff like 004-112, but that is pretty niche. And the second part of the card's effect won't be relevant all that often.

I just don't know if the card is doing enough to earn itself a spot in a deck. I can only see it going into a Li Shang/Snuggly Duckling deck and even there it's more of a nice-to-have, instead of an auto-include.

Rating: 2/5

Potion of Might

Another "consumable" item, the Potion of Might essentially gives a character +3 strength for 2 ink. Or +4 strength, if they are a Villain. Again, in a "strength matters" deck, maybe this one makes the cut. But probably not.

Rating: 2/5

The Sword Released

Now this is an interesting one. It's similar to 004-106 but with some lore reduction for your opponent built in. It also being on an item means it is much harder for your opponent to interact with it. With Flynn, he may gain you 3 lore once and then is banished. But your opponent will need item removal to deal with The Sword Released.

And while this item is in play, you have the potential to slowly drain your opponent's lore total and add to your own. It's especially strong in multi-player games, swinging 2 or 3 lore in your favor each turn. But even in 1v1 games, the slow and steady progress of this item can be enough to swing a long game in your favor. Strong card.

Rating: 4/5

Ruby Chromicon

Ruby's Chromicon naturally buffs the strength of your characters (or opposing characters, which could sometimes be useful if wanting to target them with something like 002-031). I like this better than Potion of Might, since it is repeatable. If you get a few of these down, you can buff characters for +2 or +3 strength a turn. Decent item.

Rating: 3/5

Sugar Rush Speedway - Starting Line

Sugar Rush Speedway is the first location we've seen with a 0 movement cost. For characters that care about being at locations or moving to locations, this is great. If you can get two Speedways down on board, you can move a character between them as often as you want for free. That can enable some interesting stuff, including an infinite strength 003-069!

The Speedway also enables moving to another location for free, by utilizing its On Your Marks! ability. It does require exerting and damaging the character though. And you can only do it once per turn. That puts a cap on its usefulness.

Mostly, I think this location will be used for its base movement cost of zero in a deck that wants to have characters at locations. I'm not sure there are enough of those characters right now for a deck to materialize, but when it does, this location could be huge for it.

Rating: 3/5

Ratigan's Party - Seedy Back Room

The last Ruby card for this set is Ratigan's Party - Seedy Back Room, which is a 2 cost location with 7 Willpower and a movement cost of 1. The movement cost is relevant too, because you are only playing this for its ability. If you have a damaged character at the location, it gains 2 lore. That's a lot of hoops to jump through to make this location worth playing. I think I'd rather just play 003-134, if I wanted a location to get me 2 lore.

Rating: 2/5

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And that's it for Ruby. It looks like a pretty underwhelming set for Ruby, to be honest. Both of the Legendaries seem lackluster, although 005-118 has some potential, at least. They did get some decent Rush cards in 005-106 and 005-124 too. And 005-130 is another powerful removal option. But overall, nothing too meta-defining or game breaking.

Ruby is already well-positioned in the meta, so I don't think it will be going anywhere. But a slight power level downgrade is probably warranted for a color that has been pretty dominant throughout Lorcana's lifetime.

Next up, we'll review all the Sapphire cards.