Lorcana Deck Guide: Emerald-Steel Aggro

Hello, everyone!

Our analysis of the Bologna DLC, which you can check out here, mentioned the most popular decks, which also performed well and are looking to better shape the metagame.

However, one deck that reached the Top 4 of the event drew a lot of attention, as it involved an ink pair that many believed was dead, with the loss of some important cards post-rotation.

So today, it's time to analyze Emerald-Steel Aggro! Let's go!

The infamous Discard Decks, known for their Emerald-Steel ink pair, and largely centered around strong synergies with Diablo - Devoted Herald and Prince John - Greediest of All, as well as various discard-focused cards like Sudden Chill, Hypnotize, and others, were a mainstay of the pre-rotation metagame.

The strength of the Discard Decks is notable, with two wins across different north-american DLCs last season. However, with the release of Fabled and the game's first rotation, cards like Diablo and Prince John, which weren't reprinted, lost their legality in the Core Constructed format.

While the discard strategy itself is no longer its main strength, the ink pair has shown that it can still compete in major events!

So let's take a look at Bruno Hincq's list which took him all the way to the semifinals of DLC Bologna: Emerald-Steel Aggro!

Emerald-Steel Aggro

This is a very tight deck, which mostly consists of 3-ofs and 4-ofs. The cards with less copies are actually more of a consistency' fifth or sixth copy of a key card, rather than as actual extra options.

In terms of game plan, we're looking at an aggro deck: more than half the deck costs 1 or 2 ink! While it doesn't have as many characters that generate 2+ Lore, as we typically see in Amber lists, the general strategy is still to fill the board with cheap characters and continually generate Lore with Quest. To maintain tempo in the game, several cards seek to interact and disrupt the opponent, thus keeping your board at an advantage, even if the opponent has bigger characters.

Let's see how each character fits into the ink curve, and also talk about the other cards in the deck!

1-Drops

We start with 18 possible turn-1 characters, meaning it's extremely rare to spend the first few turns without developing something on the board.

Bobby and Mulan are part of the engine that keeps the deck moving, allowing not only a body on the board but also some hand-filtering, in order to find the best plays for the next turns. Considering the large number of non-inkable cards in the list, another important role is indirectly maintaining your ink development.

Captain Hook is a staple in this color and is also inkable. Essentially, it's one of the best 1-drops in the game, thanks to its ability to trade positively with characters all the way up to 4 or even more ink.

Cursed Merfolk is a nod to the deck's more aggressive side, as it punishes its opponent and, ultimately, will always trade at least one-for-one if the opponent challenges it. Best-case scenario, it'll generate at least 2 Lore, and the opponent ends up wasting removal on it to avoid discarding—essentially, it's the one-for-one trade we mentioned earlier.

Fred is another 1-drop option that potentially generates 3 Lore or more, or the opponent may be forced to waste precious removal ona small character. Fred's greatest strength, therefore, is allowing more mistakes from opponents.

2-Drops

For the 2-Drops, we must draw a line and separate them, as we did above.

While Calhoun and Ursula can always be played as soon as we have 2 ink, Doc and Go Go are more efficient if used later. So, despite being 2-Drops, it might be more appropriate to think of them as 4-Drops, for example.

In any case, Doc is already a Steel staple. It's one of the most efficient card draws in the game if you have an empty or nearly empty hand, as it replenishes your resources immediately.

Go Go is a strong option in Emerald, combining Evasive with a powerful ability that, in a longer game, punishes your opponent for making too many positive trades. It thus has a dual role: generating evasive Lore in the early-mid game, and being a finisher in the mid-late game.

Calhoun is a formidable threat, often completely paralyzing an opponent who only has small characters available.

Ursula combines resilient stats, based on its 3 Willpower, with targeted discard, helping you interact with and deal with potential answers to your board—especially songs like Under the Sea and the like.

3-Drops

3-Drops, in general, play an important role of combining interactions, light disruptions, sticky threats, and Lore generation.

Pete plays a similar role to Ursula, paralyzing a key turn for the opponent, especially when setting up a combination like Hands Held High with Under the Sea.

Louis and Jafar, on the other hand, seek to disrupt the opponent's board, either by blocking the opponent's best Lore generator or with a positive trade that still leaves a character capable of generating two Lore for you.

In this sense, Prince Phillip is another excellent option, as it's a very difficult Lore generator for your opponent to deal with, allowing you to gain at least 2 Lore points with its Quest. Along with Go Go, it's another great option for closing out games.

Finally, a single copy of Clarabelle is for when you can chain it with another low-cost character. Or, in a longer game where your opponent has a one or two card advantage over you, Clarabelle balances things out.

4-Drops

The only 4-Drop in the deck, actually two copies, which makes it sort of additional Prince Phillip - Royal Explorers - basically, a strong Lore generator that's difficult for the opponent to deal with, and therefore can be a strong finisher for you.

Non-Characters

Rounding out the deck are some non-character cards that look to fill some important spaces and highlight the interplay between the Emerald and Steel ink colors.

Steel provides excellent board control options, both of which are welcomed in the list. Fire the Cannons! is a low cost removal, so it doesn't take up much of your tempo, allowing you to continue developing threats on the board. And Strength of a Raging Fire rewards you for building a wide board, allowing you to eliminate high-Willpower characters.

Last but not least, Emerald Chromicon. This card will punish your opponent for challenging your board, and with the overall low cost of the deck's characters, you'll often just replay them next turn. Furthermore, of the list's 49 characters, thirty have when-played abilities, so you'll also have this small bonus when they're replayed. The Chromicon looks really innocuous, specially since it doesn't do anything on its own, but it actually provides a whole deck-building option around itself. It ends up being an effective tool for card advantage and, indirectly, board control.

This interesting Emerald-Steel list is an example of how the current format isn't exactly solved, although there are certainly some inks that have greater meta share than others - Ruby is right now crying, forgotten, in the corner.

We still have many important events before the next set comes along, Whispers in the Well, so we'll be on the lookout for any new lists that emerge and become successful!

I hope you enjoyed it! As usual, leave your feedback, suggestions, etc., in the comments below.

Cheers, and see you next time!