The arrival of Hyperia City in Core Constructed!
Will the new set shake up the format?
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Hello, everyone!
After exploring the most popular decks and the surprises of the DLC Championship in Brazil in our previous articles, it’s now time to start looking ahead!
The next Disney Lorcana set, Hyperia City, brings plenty of new cards and potential updates to the metagame decks. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on the possibilities and anticipate which techs might emerge!
In today’s article, we’ll discuss some of these possibilities and highlight the cards you should keep an eye on over the next few weeks! Let’s get started!
PUTTING THE ”HYPE” IN ”HYPERIA CITY”!
Since we’ll be discussing cards with a stronger focus on the competitive side of Disney Lorcana, the idea here is to revisit the decks we saw at the DLC Championship in Brazil and consider which options are worth testing.
Let’s start with the deck that won the Championship: Emerald-Steel Ducktectives!
As we’ve seen in early decklists, two cards stand out for this deck, both in Steel ink.
Toulouse - Rough and Tumble
Toulouse is a very interesting addition to the deck, as it provides a way to proactively prevent some important plays from other decks in the meta.
Let’s start with the mirror match, which is what we call a matchup against a deck similar to your own, quite literally a ”mirror.”
Toulouse, especially when you’re not going first, can be extremely important in preventing your opponent from reaching turn 3 or 4 first and getting to play cards like Strength of a Raging Fire and other removal cards.
Against decks like Amber-Emerald Songs, or really any Songs deck in general, Toulouse can prevent your opponent from having an efficient turn while allowing you to develop an additional character.
Finally, Toulouse can be inked - meaning that in games where its effect isn’t relevant, you can simply put it into your inkwell!
Woolter & Jesse - Bellwether’s Henchmen
The henchmen of Bellwether, the villain from Zootopia, make an appearance and prove to be very effective!
For 3 ink, we get a Bodyguard character, meaning it protects your other characters, who is also a solid fighter thanks to Challenger +2, giving it +2 Strength when challenging another character.
Even though this card isn’t inkable, which naturally brings some potential issues (since the deck already has a few non-inkables that can’t be cut, such as Elinor), its potential upside seems to outweigh the possibility of it occasionally getting stuck in your hand.
Max Goof - Karaoke Star
Goofy’s son, Max, makes another appearance in Disney Lorcana, and everything points to him becoming one of the most-played Legendary cards in competitive play, as he combines two impressive features: card draw and fast Lore generation.
This makes his synergy with Song cards a natural fit for Amber/Emerald Songs, the deck that finished second at the Brazilian DLC Championship.
On top of that, he also provides the deck with another shift option for Max Goof - Chart Topper, helping improve the consistency of that other character!
Mickey Mouse - Best in Town
Another incredibly strong addition, this time for Amber, is the newest Mickey Mouse 1-Drop!
Mickey is perfect for decks that want to generate Lore quickly, such as Amber-Emerald Royals, because he not only quests for Lore but also generates Ink Drops. With his highly defensive 4 Willpower, he’s also likely to remain on the board for several turns.
Ink Drops are a new mechanic introduced in this set. Essentially, they provide an additional ink that is lost after being used. This differs from cards you turn into ink from your hand, which remain Ready from turn to turn, allowing you to reuse them.
Pepita - Watchful Alebrije
Pepita is a 2-Drop that does exactly what Amber/Amethyst wants: provide a character with plenty of individual value, especially since it can challenge characters that cost more ink than it does.
In other words, Pepita can remove several relevant characters from the board without needing any support, which greatly helps you continue developing characters with other roles throughout your turn.
Owen Burnett - Xanatos’s Assistant
The assistant to the villain Xanatos from Gargoyles provides an efficient way to slow down your opponent by returning their cards to their hand. In card games, this is commonly referred to as ”bounce,” since the idea is that something hits the board and then bounces back.
Although this effect already exists on Tigger - Bouncing All the Way, the fact that Owen costs one less ink could make a significant difference, especially when you’re going second and need to keep an opponent’s fast start under control.
Minnie Mouse - Urban Visionary
A strong addition to the Mickey and Minnie deck, this card can not only generate 3 Lore while remaining protected from removal thanks to the Ward ability, which forces opponents to have characters capable of challenging her, but also puts extra cards into her controller’s hand!
The flexibility of this Minnie Mouse makes her highly playable in several Sapphire decks, but Mickey & Minnie is a particularly good fit because of how quickly it can reach 8 ink. Additionally, after generating her initial Lore, her controller can still choose a card from among those used as ink, preserving resources for the deck while forcing the opponent to deal with a threat quickly.
COME WHAT MAY, LET THE MAGIC CARPET FLY
And that wraps up our quick initial tour of Hyperia City!
As we’ve seen, all the major metagame archetypes have received one or more new cards, helping these decks evolve and providing more options for future events.
New archetypes are also emerging with Hyperia City, although we may only start seeing more significant results in November, once Illumineers have had time to refine and test some of these ideas.
And that’s everything we have for you today!
We hope you enjoyed it, and we’d love to hear your feedback on which idea you’re most excited to try out in Disney Lorcana!
Take care, and see you next time!
