Lorcana Deck Guide: Amethyst-Steel Mill

Hello, everyone!

Most TCGs are very clear about win conditions on their rules. In Lorcana, it's pretty clear that the default victory condition is reaching 20 Lore points.

However, if you look at the comprehensive rules, you'll see that there is a second win condition, which is highlighted below:

In other words, if we somehow manage to empty our opponent's deck, once we pass the turn, our opponent will do all the normal steps of their turn, which includes drawing a card. Since their deck is empty, upon trying to draw a card, the opponent will lose the game!

Crazy, right? Well, our deck today will be focused on making this craziness work! So let's analyze Amethyst-Steel Mill!

The Gameplan

The strategy of emptying our opponent's cards also exists in other card games. The first competitive archetype appeared in Magic: the Gathering, about 30 years ago, centered on a card called Millstone - hence the strategy was nicknamed Mill.

It is important to establish a train of thought and understand exactly the reason for playing a deck like this - when thinking specifically about Lorcana's gameplay and rules.

Advantages

Mill decks don't try to win by getting 20 Lore, but rather by reducing the opponent's deck to zero cards. Many of the tier 1 competitive strategies in the game today involve cards that draw more cards - examples like Hiram Flaversham - Toymaker, Friends on the Other Side, or Diablo - Devoted Herald come to mind. This makes the strategy of getting rid of the opponent's deck more efficient, since the opponent themself is helping with our game plan!

Another advantage is that many opponents will have cards aimed to combat a standard win, that is, preventing us from reaching 20 Lore. Cards with effects to reduce or steal Lore will be inefficient or almost null, and this accumulation of useless cards by the opponent gives us more time to continue our mill plan.

Disadvantages

The biggest drawback is that your main gameplan doesn't affect the board - you're using cards aimed at your opponent's deck, but not necessarily what has already been played by them. In other words, opponents who can quickly play a lot of characters, or who can continually increase their board and counter yours, will be harder to deal with.

In a way, the mathematical drawback is also problematic: if we imagine that our opponents start with 53 cards on average in their deck - 60 minus the 7 in their starting hand - our goal to mill 53 cards seems quite hard compared to the opposite mission of gathering 20 Lore.

Make no mistake - playing the archetype is a chalenge!

Decklist and Card Analysis

The current existing cards that mill the opponent's deck are concentrated in the Amethyst ink, which will be our main color. This gives us some flexibility in choosing the second ink.

The list I'm going to present next has given me the most consistent results - but it doesn't mean it's the absolute best. Use it as a starting point and adjust it for other strategies or ink colors that you see fit!

As you can see, the ink we chose to match Amethyst with was Steel, mainly because of one card: A Whole New World. Let's analyze the cards on the list, and explain their roles.

The Mill Cards

These 3 cards are the best ones for directly eliminating cards from your opponent's deck - interestingly, we have 1 of each: a character, an action and an item.

Mad Hatter and Teapot only mill one card at a time, but are repeatable effect - they are better in longer games. Mad Hatter, because of its low stats, probably won't stay on the board for many turns, so take advantage of its ability whenever you can - there are only two copies, since it is one of the lowest-value options available.

A Very Merry Unbirthday is one of the best options - for 1 ink, we mill 2 cards. Unfortunately, being an action, it is not repeatable, so it is unreliable by itself to make the strategy consistent.

Drawing Cards... for the opponent!

Since there are no cards that can mill a significant number, the other way we can empty their deck is to force them to draw cards. With this in mind, the role of A Whole New World becomes clear - which is why we chose Steel to pair with Amethyst.

Show me More! is the new addition from Archazia's Island, second only to A Very Merry Unbirthday in efficiency. For 2 ink, we eliminate 3 of the opponent's cards and draw 3 cards - of course, we will then have to deal with the opponent's 3 extra cards as well.

Chromicon, similar to Teapot, gets rid of 1 card per turn, but without costing us ink and also providing us with an extra card. It may not seem like much, but when you have 3 or more of these items on the board, suddenly the opponent loses a lot of cards from their deck turn by turn.

And of course, A Whole New World. For 5 ink, it's a way to get rid of 7 cards from the opponent's deck and refill our hand - with more mill cards, draws, characters, and possibly a new copy of A Whole New World to do it all over again. The card itself is strong, and in the context of the deck poses a real threat to the opponent - it fills their hand, but also gets them closer and closer to emptying their deck.

Board Control

As we said before, a balance is needed between cards used only to destroy the opponent's deck and the rest, which are designed to stall the game while we win by Milling.

We have some low-cost characters, whose goal is to maintain board presence and allow good trades with the opponent's characters. Hook, Mr Smee and Merlin make up a trio designed to stop aggressive decks, while Mulan helps to eliminate some excess non-inkable cards.

Benja is a flex slot, and may be adjusted according to your local metagame - could be Pete - Games Referee or Lawrence - Jealous Manservant, for example. We use Benja because of the sudden popularity of the Items deck, with the release of the new set.

The bigger characters can actually be played with Shift, which eases their ink cost. Both Hook and Yzma can be played a few turns earlier - and more importantly, they can be immediately used to sing A Whole New World, if you are not too far behind in the board.

If you need to keep things under control first, Hook and Yzma will also help - Yzma can even deal with a threat and remove another card from the opponent's deck!

Finally, Donald Duck - Flustered Sorcerer is another addition from the new set, with an excellent effect, as it delays the opponent even more - giving us more time for the mill plan to come to fruition.

Final Slots

Finally, we use 4 copies of the song We Know the Way. Like Benja, consider this another flex slot - you can instead use removal, like And Then Along Came Zeus or Grab Your Sword, or some card draw like Finders Keepers or Friends on the Other Side.

The reason we chose We Know the Way is the potential to return an A Whole New World to the deck and, with a bit of luck, even get a free one off the top! Nevertheless, we get one of the best options back from the discard pile into the deck and increase consistency in the Mill plan - chaining several A Whole New World in a row can be a way to beat an unprepared opponent!

Also important to consider that We Know the Way is inkable and is a relatively low-cost song, which allows some plays that don't spend too much ink on our turn. As explained, it's a flex slot - but give it a chance before you dismiss it.

It's always a challenge to make an alternative strategy work in a TCG. After all, it took seven sets to achieve card numbers for a minimally consistent mill archetype!

Of course, this doesn't mean that the plan is ultracompetitive or that it will necessarily swipe tournaments in your region. However, it's an interesting plan that deviates from the standard pattern, which is also fun - especially if you're a little bored with some decks.

As mentioned, the choice of Steel was due to the use of A Whole New World, but many other combinations are possible - Ruby, with more board control with Be Prepared and Madame Medusa - Diamond Lover, or Emerald, with discards and Do It Again! to recover key actions, are other examples.

And you, what did you think of the list? What changes would you make? What other color would you use?

Hugs and see you next time!