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The last set of Disney Lorcana the Trading Card Game released in 2024 focuses on the exploration of a new region of this whimsical world, the “Azurite Sea”. Considering the nautical theme of the set, it does not surprise that many of the characters featured in this set are either pirates (Jim Hawkins, John Silver etc) or re-imagined as pirates. The list of these last ones is pretty long and includes not only the whole Disney gang we saw months ago in the preview but also some super fan-favourite character like the “Tigger, In the Crow’s Nest” and “Stitch, Alien Buccaneer” that are actually two of the cards I like the most in this set.
As usual, the set comes with two different Starter Decks. The first one, “A Seaworthy Crew” is an Amber-Ruby featuring “Jim Hawkins, Honorable Pirate” and “Tigger, In the Crow’s Nest”. As you can imagine, this deck is filled with some of the new pirates cards and offer a few alternative ways to gain lore including exploiting some of the new locations.
The second one is instead a Emerald-Sapphire Deck built around the new Inventor cards, hence the name “Genius Reinvented”. The two key foil-cards in this set are “Go Go Tomago, Darting Dynamo” and “Gadget Hackwrench, Brilliant Bosun”. Interestingly, Go Go is a very effective card that has been consistently added into competitive decks since set release and this deck has high potential for improvement as you will read in the detailed review of the starter deck.
Before we start, I would like to thank again Ravensburger that kindly provided a copy of the two new Starter Decks for a review ahead of the set release in November. I am always super eager to check all the Starter Decks for a new set and I had a blast testing them out and finding out the best way to use them.
Azurite Sea Amber-Ruby Starter Deck: contents As usual, “A Seaworthy Crew” Starter Deck comes with a ready made 60-cards deck that also includes a foil copy of the two Characters depicted on the starter deck box itself. As done for all previous Starter Decks, all of the cards included are also available in the main set and therefore there are no exclusive cards . However, it is worth noting that this deck also includes 14 cards from the previous set, “Shimmering Skies” that can therefore not be pulled from the Booster Packs of this one.
Together with the ready-made deck, the Starter Deck also comes with a standard Azurite Sea booster pack that can be used to boost your starter deck, a player’s guide with all the game rules, a small cardboard playmat with a lore tracker, a few cardboard damage tokens and one Lore tracker token. If you would like more information on which cards you can pull from the booster pack, you can read a full detailed review here.
The overall quality of the products is really good as usual and the artwork on the Starter Deck is really great. I love in particular the teal colour theme used for the box and the Playmat that has also been used to match the trove box and its accessories.
All hands on deck: Set sail to Victory The strategy of the Amber-Ruby starter deck is focused around getting Lore and bonuses from different locations while keeping pressure on your opponents with your characters. The average Strength of the Characters of this deck is in fact pretty good and there are a lot of them that either provide Support to your other character or that can increase their Strength in certain conditions. “Winnie the Pooh, Hunny Pirate” and “Mickey Mouse, Courageous Sailor” are two great examples of this type of cards: the first can provide Support upon questing and the second gets +2 Strength when at a location. Winnie the Pooh has also the passive ability to reduce the cost to play another Pirate Character by 1 every time he quests. Not a bad set of ability for a character that only costs 2 to play!
The deck includes also some heavy hitters that fit the general Ruby control Archetype. One of my favourite is “Kakamora, Boarding Party”, that can take care of any bigger threat with its Strength of 5 and Rush. Although Kakamora’s Willpower of 2 will not help this character to stay alive, this card can be even more useful in combination with the new locations included in the Deck. For example, Kakamora can provide a free Lore at the start of each player’s turn when placed at “Skull Rock, Isolated Fortress” while its high Strength will pose a constant treat to the opponent. “Hundred Acre Island, Pooh’s Home” can also allow the player to gain a lore but only if Kakamora is banished in the opponent’s turn.
Together with the two Locations just mentioned, this set also includes “Ratigan’s Party” from set 5. Interestingly, any of the Locations included in the Starter Deck generates Lore directly but they can synergize with the other cards to obtain lore or increase their stats. “Moana, Kakamora Leader” is a great example of these synergies as she allows a player to move any number of their characters to a location when she enter the game. Together with the free movement, the player also gains 1 lore for every character moved by Moana ability therefore widening the board before playing this card can have an impressive impact on the game. Moana is also a very powerful foe considering her strength of 6 and Willpower of 5. And if your luck does not help getting a good location on time, the new 3-cost song “The Islands I pulled from the Sea” will get any directly from the Deck.
Let’s also not forget the 2 costs “Fix-It Felix, Jr., Delighted Sightseer” that can offer a valuable new card once played if you have a location in play.
Among the other notable cards, it is worth mentioning the new “Wendy Darling, Courageous Captain” that increases her Lore and Strength if you have another Pirate Character in play and “Jasmine, Rebellious Princess” that not only can quest for 2 but forces your opponent(s) to lose a lore every time she quests. The star of the deck, in my opinion, is actually “John Silver, Ferocious Friend” due to its ability to ready a Characters every time he quests. The cost of this ability (dealing one damage to the Character that gets ready) can be easily offset by using “Amber Chromicon” ability. It may not be the most competitive combo but in this Starter Deck it is actually quite effective to perform multiple actions during the same turn.
Azurite Sea Starter Deck – Final thoughts Overall, I think the Amber-Ruby deck is definitely a consistent and balanced Deck with a lot of potential. Not only this Deck is largely based on Locations and Pirates that are the two main themes of Azurite Sea but it is also based on two of the Ink colours that received the most interesting cards in this set. As a Starter Deck, “A Seaworthy Crew” also offers a good entry level in the game and can help new players to get into Disney Lorcana and to learn the mechanics of this game.
Another very positive aspect of the new Amber-Ruby swashbuckling Starter Deck is that you can easily improve its consistency by relying on its main Strengths. To boost its “pirate” side, for example, I will consider to add “Piglet, Pooh Pirate Captain” and “Mickey Mouse, Pirate Captain”. The first one is a must have as it boosts the deck lore generation speed preventing it to be outpaced by more aggro deck lists. “ Mickey Mouse, Pirate Captain” will not only provide more questing to your board but it will also help in keeping pressure to your opponents by preventing another character to be damaged in a challenge during the other player’s turn.
A few other characters to consider would be “Vanellope, Gutsy Go-Getter”, “Taffita Muttonfudge, Crowd Favorite” and “Taffita Muttonfudge, Sour Speedster”. All these cards benefit from having a location in play by providing card draw and/or by gaining additional lore. In terms of locations, I think the best additions would be “RLS Legacy, Solar Galleon” and “Rapunzel’s Tower, Secluded Prison”. The first one is a hard-to-remove location due to its 8 willpower and can generate 2 lore every turn. Its ability of making character evasive while at this location can have a big impact on the game and Moana’s ability to move character for free can be very handy to avoid to pay the high moving cost of this location. Rapunzel’s Tower is also a great addition and a great location to use to keep Vanellope’s ability going for as long as possible or to boost your Kakamora Willpower turning them into a cheaper Maui.
That concludes our thoughts on Disney Lorcana Azurite Sea – Amber and Ruby Starter Deck. Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and tag us on social media @zatugames. To buy Disney Lorcana Azurite Sea – Amber and Ruby Starter Deck today click here! Tell us your thoughts on this deck by heading over to our Instagram!