Lorcana: Wilds Unknown 2-Player Starter Set - Review and Upgrades

Hello everyone!

With the arrival of Disney Lorcana's 12th Set, Wilds Unknown, we will also have, for the first time in the game, some Pixar animations in the game!

As we explored in this previous article, we will see animations like Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Brave on Disney Lorcana cards, and we already know about other animations that will come in future sets.

In addition, this set also brings a very cool new feature, especially for those who are starting their journey through Disney Lorcana: the 2-Player Starter Set!

In today's article, we'll analyze this product and the decks that come with it, understand what's their gameplan, and offer some suggestions for simple upgrades! Let's go!

The 2-Player Starter Set is an excellent product if you're just starting out in Lorcana.

It basically consists of two complete 60-card decks, meaning it contains everything two people need to learn to play together.

Also, the two decks are also to be balanced against each other, allowing for good gameplay. The purpose of these decks isn't to be absurdly strong or meta-destroyers, but rather to be simple while still demonstrating many of the game's mechanics. This prioritizes the experience of beginners, who are the product's target audience.

In addition to the decks, the product also comes with some important extras: a rulebook, two simple paper deck boxes, damage counters, and two lore counters.

Next, we will analyze each list separately and offer a few upgrade suggestions based on the following premise: you acquired 2 copies of the product, meaning you have 2 of each deck, and therefore, we have an optimized version for each deck.

Amethyst-Ruby: Here Come the Supers!

We begin with the Amethyst-Ruby deck, which offers various synergies with Hero type characters and the new Super type, arriving with the 12th set, celebrating the debut of The Incredibles!

In the initial turns, the idea is to develop characters that are Super or Hero type, and from turn 3 onwards gain value through interactions using cards like Edna Mode - Fashion Designer, Mirage - Super Recruiter and Super Suit.

The combination of the two inks also allows the use of characters with good Lore generation, such as Rabbit - Fed Up or Winnie the Pooh - Hunny Wizard, and also characters that are real brawlers, meaning they offer advantages when performing Challenges. Examples of the latter are Negaduck - Public Enemy Number One and Goofy - Marley's Clumsy Spirit, or any Hero character, as long as you use the powerful Hero Work.

Still on the subject of Challenges, the list has some cards that ready your characters, allowing them to do more than one challenge in the same turn, or to quest and also challenge. Examples are Lefou - Instigator, Daisy Duck - Trendy Traveler and Goofy - Marley's Clumsy Spirit.

Now, let's check out our suggested optimized list, using 2 copies of the Starter Kit:

When we think about optimizing this deck, the main issue is to focus more on generating Lore, since you usually prefer not to use all available characters for challenges, but only a few specific ones.

First, we included all available copies for all characters with the Hero or Super types that cost 1 or 2. Notice that Negaduck - Evil Doppelganger, even though is a Villain, is still a Super!

This gives consistency to the plan involving synergies with Edna Mode - Fashion Designer, Super Suit and Hero Work. Furthermore, more low-cost characters work well with Mickey Mouse - Experienced Traveler, helping to draw an extra card every turn.

Some cuts from the list mainly involved non-inkable cards, especially the higher-cost ones, which can hinder development in the early turns—which, as we've seen, is essential for the deck.

Finally, we also expanded the number of Seven Dwarfs characters, giving Sleepy - Deep Sleeper a bit more consistency.

Amber-Emerald: Bring Your Toys!

Riding the wave of new animated features arriving with the 12th set, we have an Amber-Emerald deck that brings all the fun and joy from Toy Story!

The deck's general idea is to take advantage of low-ink-cost characters with above-average Willpower to create a larger board turn after turn. Furthermore, with the new Toy character type, it's possible to activate some synergies, especially with Woody - Leader of the Toys and Jessie - Lively Cowgirl.

Thanks to several characters that heal your own, or reduce the Strength of opposing characters, it's possible to control how long your characters stay on the board.

In addition, the deck's songs allow you to disrupt your opponent's plans, forcing suboptimal plays from them.

Finally, the deck features a number of characters with considerable Willpower, which gives characters like Chip - Team Player a significant bonus when played. This, of course, without neglecting inexpensive characters that interact well with Donald Duck - Distracted Traveler, among others.

For a more optimized list, having access to 2 Starter Kits, we suggest the following:

The final number of Toy type characters is considerably higher, and we're now using 2 copies of Andy's Room - Home Base. This makes characters that synergize with Toys, such as Woody - Leader of the Toys and Jessie - Lively Cowgirl, considerably more efficient. The larger number of copies of Woody and Jessie also helps to more easily obtain the discount on the cost of Bullseye - Loyal Horse.

Board control is expanded with more copies of Buzz Lightyear - On the Way, along with copies of Lord MacGuffin - Clever Swordsman, helping to deal with any character from the opponent. Merida - Gifted Archer also helps in this aspect, and with more copies of her, it becomes even easier to play her with Shift.

The healing theme has been significantly reduced, but the excellent Julieta Madrigal - Caring Baker is still present. Often, healing a single point of damage is enough to achieve many positive trades, especially with the high Willpower characters in the deck. Speaking of which, we also have more copies of Agustin Madrigal - Exceptionally Kind to further help keep your smaller characters constantly threatening trades with the opponent's board.

In the end, the list is more focused on lower-cost characters, leaving the top of the curve less crowded and thus favoring a more fluid game with more characters in the early turns.

With that, we conclude our analysis of the 2-Player Starter Set from the Wilds Unknown Set!

Since it's a new product, its overall reception is still unknown at the time of this article. However, considering its focus on beginners, especially those experiencing Disney Lorcana for the first time, it's undeniable that it's an excellent product.

The decks are well-balanced, and as the players become more experienced, many options for developing decks become available. Today, we've tried to highlight one of the simplest ways to do so: acquiring two copies of the same product.

If you're a beginner in Disney Lorcana, or already know the game and are planning to purchase the product to continue your collection, let us know your thoughts on the decks and our suggestions! Just leave your feedback in the comments below.

Hugs, and until next time!