Lorcana Deck Guide - Amber Steel Locations

Hello, everyone!

Today, let's analyze another very cool deck that appeared at the Seattle Challenge and had a great result, reaching the Top32. It may not seem like much, but not only was the deck very well constructed, it's also costed at around only 50 dollars! This means that registering for the event was probably more expensive than the deck itself!

Now that the introductions have been made, let's get to it!

What are “Locations”? How do they fit on an “aggro” deck?

"Locations" are a type of permanent in Lorcana that spotlight an iconic place from the Disney universe. We've already seen some of them in our previous deck guides, but they usually serve as support for the main strategy. In today's deck, instead of being in the sidelines, Locations are the main path to victory!

Basically, Locations enter play (similar to characters) and you can pay the left cost in order to “move” a character there - many Locations provide some sort of bonuses when a character is "in" them. The cost on the right is the Location's willpower - your opponent can attack it/use actions that cause damage to it, and if it reaches 0, the Location goes to discard (but Characters that might be in it just “leave” the Location, and remain normally on the board).

Some Locations, however, also have some Lore pips on the right of the text box - this indicates that at the start of your turn, that Location grants that amount of Lore to your pool. In other words, Locations generate Lore automatically if you can keep them on the board! This makes their role in an “aggro” deck much clearer - remember, in Lorcana, “aggro” indicates a deck that wants to reach 20 Lore quickly in order to win the game!

So let's take a look at the decklist and understand why each card is there:

The main strategy - Locations!

We have no less than SEVEN different Locations, with 4 copies each, for a total of twenty-eight Locations, almost half the deck! If you look closely at which Locations were chosen, you'll see that all of them can provide Lore, and also how important it is to have low cost - there are eight 1-ink Locations, sixteen 2-ink Locations, and only four 3-ink Locations.

With such redundancy, it's almost guaranteed that in the first turns of the game we'll play 2 or more Locations to start gaining Lore. But beyond that, what other advantages do we get by using Locations?

Getting even more from Locations

Straight from the adorable “Wreck-It Ralph” cartoon, we have two versions of our dear Fix-It Felix Jr - and both help the deck's plan in using Locations. Fix-It Felix, Jr. - Delighted Sightseer draws a cards if you control Locations, and Fix-It Felix, Jr. - Niceland Steward fortifies your Locations, making it even harder for the opponent to remove them from the board!

Finally, the pirate John Silver - Greedy Treasure Seeker gets tougher and tougher to be removed the more Locations you control - and he also generates more and more Lore as well. It's a very strong threat for the opponent to deal with, because if they focus resources on taking John Silver off the board, your Locations will remain; If they remove whatever Locations you have, John Silver stays on the board and, with 28 Locations total in the deck, there is a great chance we'll just find more of them.

Everyone needs a plan B

Depending on the opponent's deck, they may be able to deal with Locations, and in these cases our deck has a good secondary plan - go for a standard “aggro” gameplan, using 2+ Lore characters like Daisy and Mr Smee to speed up and try to win the game as soon as possible.

Interaction and Card Draw

Last but not least, we have some cards that help against opposing threats - especially Diablo - Devoted Herald, for which our cannons (Fire the Cannons) should always be ready. Captain Hook is an excellent way to keep your opponent's characters at bay, as for just 1 ink it can challenge and trade up with many different characters. And when your hand starts to thin out, Doc - Bold Knight will help you refuel if the game drags on.

Analysis and Turn Strategy

Starting hand and first 3-4 turns: Locations! Try to always keep a 1-cost, to get your game off to a good start - if you can sequence a Location on turn 1, Felix on 2 and Felix Shifted on 3, you'll probably have a very smooth game! But even if you just play 1-3 Locations in the first few turns it will also be fine. The goal is to prepare a board that'll force your opponent to react, and waste time trying to deal with your threats.

Mid-game, turns 4-8: at this point, you want to defend your Locations (especially with the help of Fix-It Felix, Jr. - Niceland Steward) and ensure you gain Lore every turn. With a constant generation of 3+ Lore through Locations, suddenly your characters are all “free” to challenge the opponent's board and keep it under control, and this should end the game soon in your favour.

Long game, turns 9+: if you are unable to keep Locations on the board, some cards will look very weak, so against a prepared opponent the best strategy may be to be patient, accumulate ink and try to play Locations and Characters in the same turn. This way, you overburden the opponent, since it'll be difficult to answer both characters and locations at once. Try to keep Lore generation under control, and if your opponent threatens more Lore than you per turn, use characters and interactions to disrupt those plans.

Conclusion

It's always nice to see Rogues decks doing well in tournaments, and especially when it's as high-level as a Challenge. In addition to the success, Alvaro Jirau also showed that it is possible to be competitive without emptying your wallet - all it took was a well-assembled and well-thought-out deck to attack a metagame of slow decks focused on Be Prepared and Brawl, since Locations ignore both of them!

This is precisely one of the biggest strengths of this list - playing without fear of strong removals from control decks, and forcing them to play a game they don't want to play - developing characters to deal with Locations.

So, what did you think of the analysis? Are you excited to build a Locations deck to turn your next local tournament upside down? Share with us other different decks that you like!

Hugs, and see you next time!