Lorcana: DLC Sao Paulo Review - Metagame and Best Decks

Hello, everyone!

On the weekend of April 25-26, 2026, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil held its first Disney Lorcana Challenge!

It was a true mix of tournaments and celebration, as the Brazilian community eagerly awaited this first major event to mark Brazil's definitive entry onto the world map of Disney Lorcana.

In today's article, we will discuss the event, talk about the decks that stood out, and what should we expect for the next Brazilian event in July! Let's go!

DLC São Paulo featured over 400 illumineers, all excited to participate in the first event in Brazil.

The tournament was attended not only by the local community, but also by illumineers from all over the world, making it even more special. We had visitors from nearby countries, such as neighboring South American countries, and even from the other side of the world, like New Zealand!

The main event, the Disney Lorcana Challenge, was structured as follows: Day 1 had 8 rounds of Swiss-style play, with all participants with 18 points or more continuing to Day 2, which had 4 rounds – one of which, the 9th round, was played at the end of Saturday – and at the end of these, we had the Top Cut for the 32 best.

Metagame

By the time this article was written, the complete results of the Day 1 Metagame had not yet been released. But what was seen in São Paulo was that the competitive cycle is undoubtedly in its optimization period, and increasingly the most consistent and refined decks are reaching the top.

In fact, the analysis we did last week proved to be extremely accurate, with the highlighted decks being in fact the biggest metagame players in São Paulo.

The colors Amethyst and Amber were the highlights, but not as an ink pair between themselves!

Amethyst is the preferred color for steering decks in a longer game, whether midrange or control; Amber, on the other hand, seems to steer decks toward a more aggressive playstyle, suggesting aggro or tempo archetypes.

This stems primarily from the ability, within these colors, to generate resources, whether through card draw or card selection.

In Amethyst, we can highlight Genie - Wish Fulfilled, Dumbo - Ninth Wonder of the Universe, and Demona - Scourge of the Wyvern Clan as examples of continuous card advantage generation, thus maintaining the consistency and power level necessary to establish board control.

In Amber, we can highlight Nani - Stage Manager, Lilo - Escape Artist, and Grandmother Willow - Ancient Advisor. Here, each has a distinct role: Nani combines character with card selection; Lilo is a constant threat on the board, demanding specific responses from the opponent; finally, Willow is a fundamental piece for acceleration and board presence in decks with Amber.

Highlighted Decklists

Our first spotlight goes to Danielle Stella, from Italy, who finished undefeated on the swiss-portion of the event with their Amethyst-Sapphire:

The list basically combines ink acceleration in the early turns with powerful card-drawing engines, especially from the 4 ink threshold, and onwards.

Incidentally, the accelerations allow you to reach 4 ink already on the third turn, and precisely for this reason, the list has a hole in the 3-ink curve, which is normally skipped.

It's also important to mention the 2 copies of Wasabi - Methodical Engineer - a very interesting tech card, capable of dealing with items, but at the same time also being inkable, not cluttering your hand in a match where it's not needed.

Another highlight goes to the list of Manuel Vergara, from Chile, who reached second place in the event with his Amber-Steel Songs:

The list is interesting because it is entirely composed of 4-ofs, having exactly 15 different cards.

It's not common to see such a precise list, since normally some slots are dedicated to tech cards, especially inkable cards, as we explained earlier.

However, it's true that SteelSongs, due to its tempo characteristic, has much more ease in playing with round numbers – it's not a total surprise, then, that the list has been so successful.

A Champion writes their name in History

Finally, let's talk about the event champion and his list.

Zan Syed is no stranger to competitive Disney Lorcana, already being one of the few people in the world who could say they were two-time Challenge champions.

Well, now Zan is undoubtedly at the top of the list, having been Champion in São Paulo, and therefore is now the only person in the world to be a three-time Disney Lorcana Challenge Champion.

Add to that record the fact that Zan has also won Challenges on three different continents, becoming champion in North America, Europe, and now in the inaugural Disney Lorcana Challenge in South America.

After becoming champion in DLC Ghent, which we analyzed in this other article, Zan brought his trusty Amber-Emerald Dogs back to São Paulo, and once again repeated the result:

The Dog Deck strategy combines quick character development with impressive consistency, thanks to cards like Bobby Zimuruski - Spray Cheese Kid, Nani - Stage Manager, and finally the powerful Tramp - Street-Smart Dog.

However, Zan's list also features another version of Tramp, Tramp - Dapper Rascal, which, besides being a difficult character to remove from the board, especially with its 8 Willpower, also draws more cards if the opponent starts doing challenges against your characters.

Zan demonstrated great proficiency with the deck throughout the tournament and the ability to overcome various unfavorable game states, turning adverse situations into victory. Without a doubt, a well-deserved champion!

Event's Broadcast

It's also worth highlighting the event's broadcast, which covered all seventeen rounds from start to finish, and also provided a lot of content between games, with trivia, interviews, and much more.

Here are the complete broadcasts from both days of the event:

Day 1 (Saturday):

Day 2 (Sunday):

The first Disney Lorcana Challenge in Brazil has ended, but we already have the date and format for the next event.

On July 4th and 5th, we will be back in São Paulo, again in the Core Constructed format – now with the new set, Wilds Unknown, which promises to shake up this metagame!

And furthermore, we know it will be another great celebration of Disney Lorcana, and we will be there to bring you the results and information.

Best regards, and until next time!