Author's Bio: Antonio Faillace Antonio is a huge Disney fan since childhood and has been playing trading card games from a very young age. Therefore, Disney Lorcana was the perfect combination for him. Since the game's release, Antonio has been passionate about Disney Lorcana and has shared that passion with the Brazilian player community through his articles.

Hello, everyone!

In today's article, we'll analyze the deck used by Christopher Oyola at the July DLC in São Paulo, the second DLC held in Brazil this year!

If you missed our tournament recap, you can read it in full at the following link.

AMBER-EMERALD DOGS ON TOP ONCE AGAIN!

At first glance, we can see that, just like in the first Brazilian DLC back in April, an Amber-Emerald deck once again reached the top of the podium!

Not only that, but the "archetype" - in other words, the deck's overall construction and strategy - is also the same, centered around the Dogs from the classic animated film Lady and the Tramp.

However, putting it that way makes it sound like the deck saw no evolution between April and July, which would be a big mistake! So let's take a closer look and understand what makes this Amber-Emerald Dogs list that won the championship in São Paulo stand out!

MIRROR, MIRROR IN THE WALL...

First of all, it's important to highlight something that becomes extremely important when preparing for a large tournament with many rounds, such as a DLC: what you expect the metagame to look like.

In other words: which decks are most likely to appear at the event, and consequently, which decks are you most likely to face? This question is extremely important, as it says a lot about your deck choice for the tournament.

In the case of our second São Paulo DLC, the expectation was that Dogs would either become even more popular or at least remain the most-played deck. That is exactly what happened - in the April DLC, Amber-Emerald Dogs was played by 23% of Illumineers, while in the July DLC that number increased slightly to 24%.

Therefore, if someone intended to play Amber-Emerald Dogs at the event, it was essential to have a plan for the mirror match - a term used to describe a match where you're facing a deck that is nearly identical to your own.

Including a few cards specifically aimed at improving mirror matches was, therefore, crucial to achieving success.





Another important and often underestimated factor is the consistency of your strategy.

Disney Lorcana is a game with a huge card pool, and therefore many different options. Many of them are powerful and/or incredibly fun, without a doubt! The point is that a Disney Lorcana Challenge is a long event - 8 rounds on Day 1, 4 rounds on Day 2, followed by a single-elimination Top Cut.

This means that powerful but inconsistent strategies will inevitably fail over the course of such a long tournament, simply because of the sheer number of rounds played. Consequently, more consistent strategies tend to prevail.

In trading card games, consistency refers to how reliably your deck is able to execute the strategy it was built to perform. One of the key tools for achieving that is drawing cards - it gives you more options throughout the game and allows you to continue executing your game plan without running out of resources.





Amber-Emerald Dogs has always been recognized as a fast deck capable of filling the board with characters during the early turns. The secret behind the deck is that, on top of that, it can also draw cards and replenish its resources while continuing to build its board!

Now that we've established these two important factors - the deck's popularity within the metagame and its consistency in executing its strategy - let's take a look at Chris Oyola's list and highlight how it addresses both of them!





When we look at the champion's list, we immediately notice that all of the elements we've discussed are present!

First, we see the many ways the deck draws cards and accumulates resources, giving it outstanding consistency. Bobby Zimuruski, Lady - Miss Park Avenue, Nani - Stage Manager, and Tramp - Street-Smart Dog are all excellent cards that we had already seen in the previous DLC's decklists.

The "new addition" for this DLC was the inclusion of two cards from the latest set available, Wilds Unknown, which continue the theme of drawing cards while simultaneously developing the board: The Queen - Devious Disguise and Elinor - Renowned Diplomat.





In addition, Chris Oyola included a single copy of the song Look At This Family, providing yet another option that combines card draw with card selection.

To make so many characters work together, it's extremely important to play cost-reduction cards. That's why the list runs four copies each of Grandmother Willow - Ancient Advisor and Aurora - Holding Court, while also including a single copy of Pluto - Friendly Pooch to further increase the consistency of finding a cost reducer.

Finally, when we consider how this list approaches the metagame, we see that it runs four copies of Under the Sea, which is essential against other Dogs decks as well as other aggressive strategies. It also includes three copies of Chief Powhatan - Protective Leader, a card that not only survives opposing Under the Sea, but also protects your own board very efficiently by forcing your opponent into unfavorable challenges.

WHAT'S WAITING AROUND THE CORNER?

As we know, with the release of Set 13, Attack of the Vine, the Core Constructed format will rotate, with Sets 5 through 8 leaving the format.

Naturally, this impacts the championship-winning deck - but perhaps not as much as many people might expect.

Certainly, the cards that gave the deck its name - the Dogs from Lady and the Tramp - will no longer remain in the format, along with Rhino, Emerald Chromicon, and Lilo - Escape Artist, the latter perhaps being the most significant loss after the Dogs themselves.

However, we're already seeing experimental Amber-Emerald lists emerge, keeping the cost reducers and resource-generating characters such as Mike Wazowski - Heroic Climber and Miriam Mendelsohn, while also adopting some "disguised" cost reducers, such as Pocahontas - Guiding the Tribe.

The idea of protecting your characters also remains, using bodyguards like Powhatan and David, and even  the legendary Pocahontas - Peacekeeper, who not only has an incredibly powerful effect but is also a Princess, allowing her cost to be reduced by Aurora - Holding Court.

Overall, everything indicates that the "Royal" core - as this combination of Princesses and Queens built around Aurora - Holding Court's cost reduction has come to be known - should continue to be a major presence in the Core format after the DLC, keeping the legacy of the Dogs decks alive and competitive at future events!

I'M ALL IN ON THIS IDEA!

With that, we conclude our analysis of the championship-winning deck from this year's second DLC in Brazil, and once again congratulate Chris Oyola on his title!

In addition, we've also explored one possible direction for how the deck's core could remain relevant in the upcoming Core format, thanks to the powerful synergy between cost reduction and card draw - the famous combination of consistency and board development that is so crucial in Disney Lorcana.

We hope you enjoyed it! Be sure to follow the blog for more news and DLC deck analysis!

See you next time!