Lorcana Deck Guide - Amber Steel Aliens!

Hello, everyone!

After a few weeks focused on competitive tournaments and the best decks in the metagame results-wise, this week we're going to have fun with a new list focused on characters somewhat... atypical for Disney's universe: Aliens!

The Azurite Sea set brought some very interesting cards that make this archetype viable, with a consistent game plan and good characters in order to enable a competitive strategy - in particular,Grand Councilwoman - Federation Leader!

So let's get to our new deck: Amber / Steel Aliens!

Plans from Outer Space

Amber / Steel Aliens can be approached as a Midrange deck, that is, with characters that are not focused on quick Lore gains, but on impacting the board, being tough to answer and therefore make interactions for opponents more difficult.

The advantage of this type of deck is the ability to be adaptable, playing a board control game against faster decks, and aggressively seeking to accumulate Lore against slower decks.

Let's go to the decklist and afterwards an analysis of each card:

The Key card - Grand Councilwoman

Grand Councilwoman - Federation Leader is what makes the Aliens character typal strategy viable. Its effect, in practice, is to generate 1 Lore for each Alien character on your side of the board - something that can quickly get out of hand, especially if you manage to find 2 or more copies of it, as the effect accumulates!

However, being a 2-cost Character doesn't mean it should be player right away in the beginning stages of the game. Ideally, you will build a board and make sure that your opponent has no answers for it, and then, yes , you can use it to generate a lot of value and win the game.

The Alien Army is here!

Of the 48 characters in the deck, thirty-eight are Aliens, so the Grand Councilwoman will most likely have friends once you use its ability. However, our other characters also bring a lot of value beyond simply being Aliens! Let's go into a little more detail:

Mr. Arrow - Legacy's First Mate, John Silver - Ship's Cook and Captain Amelia - Commander of the Legacy are your best defensive options, as the strong Resist ability allows characters more time on the board - which, in the long run, means we accumulate more Lore through Grand Councilwoman. John Silver can also stop any big character by itself, being especially good against Reckless characters such as Maui - Hero to All.

Billy Bones - Space Sailor and Stitch - Team Underdog are characters that help you control the board - one when it's banished, and the other when it enters play. Especially at the beginning of the game, it is very important to make double-value plays - adding a character to your side and removing one from your opponent, for example. Billy Bones also allows for some cool interactions, as the ability does not require it to be banished by your opponent. You can, for example, use it to challenge and remove an opponent's weaker character from the board, and if Billy Bones is banished too, he will take the opponent's best character with him!

Gantu - Captain Crankyhead is one of the best cards in games where you make "trade" a lot of characters and removals in the first turns, as it will carry your Lore by itself and forces the opponent to answer it as soon as possible. Similarly, against control decks, it helps by forcing plays from them, as it puts a lot of pressure on Lore generation.

Finally, Stitch - Rock Star combines a strong threat for lategame with card draw, making it a solid option against decks with a lot of removal as well. In order to be viable to use both its normal cost and its shift cost, we also use Stitch's small versions such as Stitch - New Dog and Stitch - Alien Dancer - it should be noted they're all aliens, therefore contributing to the deck's strategy.

The Outsiders - non-Aliens

Yes, in this deck, if you are not an Alien, you are the outsider!

Jokes aside, to assist in some functions in which the Aliens are not very efficient, three characters were used for support:

Simba - Future King is a low-cost character with an excellent card selection effect. It helps you filter cards and look for specific silver-bullets, so you can find the right card at the right time. As a last resort, it also helps to trade “non-inkable” cards from your hand, to guarantee the advancement of your inkwell.

Little John - Robin’s Pal and Chien-Po - Imperial Soldier are the bodyguards, whose job is protecting your more fragile characters - like Grand Councilwoman - Federation Leader . Little John also serves to challenge the opponent's evasive characters, thus combining two important roles in the deck.

Actions and Songs

To finish the last slots in the deck we have some cards that help interact with the opponent and ones that add consistency to our gameplan.

Fire the Cannons! and The Bare Necessities are efficient ways of dealing with opponent's threats - The Bare Necessities, being a song, can even be used without spending ink! Their usage will be very dependent on what your opponent is playing - Cannons being excellent against decks with small or evasive characters, such as Diablo - Devoted Herald, and Bare Necessities against decks with many items or removals, such as Be Prepared.

The other two songs, Be Our Guest and I Won't Give In, have the role of helping you find the deck's key card - Grand Councilwoman - Federation Leader - and retrieve it from discard if the opponent deals with it. Be Our Guest can also help you find other specific characters, depending on what you need at some point of the game - perhaps a Stitch to draw cards, or some Bodyguard to protect your board.

Analysis and Turn Strategy

Starting hand and turns 1-4: The main idea is to develop two to three Alien characters and then play and protect your Grand Councilwoman to start generating a lot of Lore value. It will be important to adapt according to what your opponent is playing - if it's a more aggressive deck, don't hesitate to trade-of characters and use removals, and if it's a control deck, try making some characters and using a The Bare Necessities to get rid of interactions against your board.

Middle game, turns 4-8: Having established your board, and with the protection pieces available - Bodyguards, Resist, etc. -, it's time to play out one or more Grand Councilwoman - Federation Leader and finish the game! Normally, within one or two turns of strong Lore generation it will be very difficult for the opponent to get back into the game. If the opponent's board is stronger, try to first take control and only then play out your explosive Lore turns with the Aliens.

Long game, turns 9+: If in the long run your Lore generation is not enough, or the opponent has dealt with your Grand Councilwoman, count on Gantu and Stitch to achieve victory, either by brute force in Lore generation, or by the accumulation of cards, and consequently more resources. The gameplan is quite flexible, even at an advanced stage a simple Grand Councilwoman can still generate value even if you have only a Stitch or Gantu on the board.

Conclusion

And so we conclude our Amber Steel Aliens deck guide!

As mentioned at the beginning, the deck aims to be a very fun option - especially if you are a fan of Lilo & Stitch - and, from a tournament-focused perspective, an extremely adaptable deck that can bring good results. Of course, a good knowledge of the meta and opposing decks will give you a lot of advantage, allowing you to play around known threats and prepare your game plan accordingly.

So, what did you think of the deck? What changes would you make to the list? Have you ever built and played with a similar deck? Share with us!

Hugs and see you next time!