Lorcana Deck Guide: Amethyst-Emerald Budget Aggro

Hello, everyone!

In recent weeks, we've seen the competitive metagame develop a bit more, and, after the holiday season, we have the return of the Disney Lorcana Challenges.

Many participants are, of course, looking for decks that show the best results, and this collective search for the same cards ends up creating, in a way, an inflation in the price of building a deck just by acquiring singles.

Therefore, today we're going to present a deck that not only showed good results in large tournaments, but is also very cheap by today's average prices for the Core Constructed format.

So let's talk about Amethyst Emerald Aggro!

Our deck today is an aggressive deck, meaning it wants to end the game quickly, reaching 20 Lore as soon as possible.

To achieve this, the deck will use several low-cost characters, practically all costing 1 or 2 ink, and some support cards to go along this low-cost proliferation.

The following list made Top 16 in a tournament with almost 170 participants in France, which was broadcast on MulliganTV, and the lists were shared on InkDecks:

Let's analyze the cards in the list by their ink cost and type:

1-Drops

Counting the 1-cost cards, we have twenty-eight characters, that is, almost half the deck. Even though they all cost only 1 ink, there is a variety of effects among them that are important to highlight.

Cursed Merfolk and Diablo are quite similar, as they penalize the opponent who tries to deal with them through Challenges. In both cases, you will at least recover one card - and if, preferably, you have obtained 1 or 2 Lore in the process, it will come as a huge profit.

Little John and Palace Guard, on the other hand, have a similar role that forces the opponent to waste tempo, as it usually requires more than one character to challenge and remove them from the board.

Octopus Soldier and Finnick are 1-Drops more focused on board control. Finnick is flexible, as it works as both a 1-Drop and a 3-Drop, while Octopus Soldier synergizes well with various card draws in the deck, frequently allowing positive trades with the opponent's board.

Finally, Pegasus and Fred are characters that discourage the opponent from removing them, since Pegasus is evasive – and you usually prefer not to expose your evasives to challenges and damage counters – and Fred can increase the Lore gap on the opponent, turning it into a snowball effect.

As you can see, these are varied characters with well-defined objectives, so it's important to understand exactly what you're playing against in order to decide which characters you should start with at the board.

2-Drops

In the 2-Drops, we actually have less flexible roles, but this is because, normally, on turn 2, it's preferable to play two 1-cost characters, increasing your board presence. In other words, the 2-cost characters can be saved for a few turns later, after the opponent invests initial resources to try and take control of the board.

In this sense, of the twelve 2-cost characters, no fewer than eight have the Evasive keyword, making it difficult for opponents to remove them from the board through challenges.

Furthermore, six of these Evasive cards are capable of dealing with opponent's threats, such as Dumbo - Ninth Wonder of the Universe, a card extremely popular in the current meta.

Violet and Diablo are exactly the ones that fulfill this role, while Go Go Tomago is a flexible threat, which can be used as a 2-ink Evasive, or a 4-ink Lore burst.

Honeymaren, in this case, has a similar function to The White Rose - Jewel of the Garden, but for a cost of 2 instead of 3. Of course, it requires some setup and cooperation from the opponent, but since at some point it will be necessary to deal with your board, it is possible to expect that there will be exhausted characters.

Actions

The deck's Actions complement the strategy regarding the low-cost characters, and in some cases even directly leverage this synergy.

Gathering Knowledge gives the deck another Lore burst option, helping to close out a match without giving the opponent a chance to respond.

Show me More takes perfect advantage of the high number of low-cost cards in the deck, allowing you to use the new cards before your opponent.

Finally, They Never Come Back is a simple but effective interaction that trades 3 ink for tempo, in addition to drawing a card. It's an action that keeps you ahead in the Lore race, without costing a card to do so.

Items

Last but not least, we have eight items to round out the list.

Inkcaster is one of the deck's stars, and again a card that takes good advantage of its low cost to play most of the deck. Inkcaster should be able to generate, when played at least on turn 3 along with a 1-Drop, something around to 3-5 Lore, which is very high for a card that only costs 2 ink. If we compare it to Gathering Knowledge and Wisdom, which generates 2 Lore, we can see how efficient Inkcaster's Lore generation is.

Chromicon has an indirect connection to Inkcaster, as it helps feed and maintain Lore generation. But again, considering the deck's low cost, Chromicon actually helps maintain consistency, and if the deck isn't able to play more than one card in the same turn, it's not like the extra cards to the opponent will make a difference.

The deck we showcased today serves two purposes: it's designed for a more competitive metagame, where it has already shown positive results; and it's also relatively inexpensive to assemble, considering the average cost of a Core Constructed deck.

Of course, budget options also tend to have limitations, and today's deck is no different in that regard. The list is designed and geared towards the current metagame, and any changes may affect its playability and effectiveness, as well as its results.

In the end, of course, the biggest factor will always be the skill of the player using the deck and their preparation for the expected metagame – which is positive and exactly what is expected in a competitive environment, with the prevalence of the best players.

I hope you enjoyed today's deck and analysis!

Cheers, and until next time!