It’s not just a deck… it’s an attitude. Where now for Sapphire Steel?
In the days of old Sapphire Steel, affectionately known as Zoolander, was a deck that certainly packed a punch. With access to ink ramping, damage dealing songs, card advantage and characters that could pretty much render board states impenetrable, it is easy to see why this colour combination has a group of die-hard followers and notable pilots such as Ryan Beaupre (RMB), Harlan Sweete and Cre8/RipLungs. When Belle – Apprentice Inventor was introduced in Archazia’s Island, alongside Tamatoa – Happy As A Clam, the deck looked set to be the deck to beat. However, nothing gold can stay and Ravensburger deemed the deck too powerful, clipping its wings with the banning of Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker and Fortisphere. Solace was found in the Kiwi Bird deck, utilising Alice – Savvy Sailor, and looked like it became the way forward for Sapphire Steel – no more Fishbone Quills and A Whole New World in favour of warded and resisted characters. But now with The Reign of Jafar advancing the meta game, where does that leave this head turning colour pairing?
Flight of the Kiwi
Kiwi Birds (an inside joke amongst its creators JakxShadows and Harlan Sweete), is a deck that utilises the characters with the keywords ward and resist. Its strategy is to curve out and create board states that are not easy to interact with whilst gaining lore quickly. Containing a large abundance of two-questers and above, the deck doesn’t aim to have the most cards in hand, but for each card that comes down requiring pretty immediate answering. Key components of the deck are Alice – Savvy Sailor and Pluto – Guard Dog, which when combined gives you the opportunity to quest with protection. Cogsworth – Grandfather Clock is another staple of the deck, that when played makes it particularly awkward for steel decks to start dealing with the board. Doc – Bold Knight is a must have allowing you to draw and keep the pressure up. The Reign of Jafar has brought with it Desperate Plan, which can draw you three, to allow you to keep piling on the pressure. If Ruby decks are prevalent, make sure you’ve got those McDuck Manors to slam down after the Be Prepared wipes the field. On the play, this deck is pretty hard to beat, but on the draw it does take some skill and bit of luck. Kiwi Birds has opportunity to put in some spice too – Jafar – Tyrannical Hypnotist can all but lock your opponent out of the game, whilst Baymax – Armoured Companion can net you some instant lore. Whilst certainly not a tier 1 deck, Kiwi Birds is definitely an archetype for those just getting into Lorcana, ensuring you understand your TCG fundamentals.
Looting
Looting in Magic: The Gathering terms refers to drawing a card and then discarding a card and this is clearly the direction the steel ink is being steered – see Namaari – Single Minded Rival for example.
This powerful mechanic can be used to filter through your deck and find the questions you want to pose, the answers you need or unclog your hand if it is full of too many uninkables (*cough* A Whole New World *cough*). With cards like Mulan – Disguised Soldier and Simba – Future King, both of which allow you to draw and discard, can allow you to filter out any clunky cards in your opening hands setting yourself up to play bigger threats or songs when needed. This archetype is still in its infancy and is something I’ve been toying around with inspired by Ryan Beaupre’s build he touted early on in the format. Looting also allows for interaction with the discard pile which is not something that Lorcana has really pushed but I will say discarding a Stitch – Experiment 626 early on to recur later is definitely something I’ve enjoyed. Keep an eye on this archetype!
Toolbox
Cre8, a.k.a. Riplungs (real name Adrian), is a devout Sapphire Steel enthusiast and is still sticking to what I’d describe as a toolbox variant – lots of answers for lots of things. The deck utilises sapphire’s ramp ability opting to use Mickey Mouse – Detective from The First Chapter as well as the Fishbone Quill to get to its top end threats swiftly. Pawpsicle is there as a pseudo-card draw to thin your deck and can be retrieved from the discard through, arguably the most important card of the deck, Tamatoa – Happy As A Clam. If left unchecked, the shiny decapod (look it up), can put in serious work dropping items for free (and in TCGs ‘free’ is about the best word you can see on a card). Scrooge’s Lucky Dime is included gaining lore outside of questing diversifying your threats. Cre8 opts for a one off copy of Ariel – Sonic Warrior that can just start ripping apart threats as songs are sung. Cre8’s Plan B is a nod to a more authentic Sapphire Steel (minus ‘A Whole New World) but nevertheless is still a powerhouse of a deck once running on all cylinders. Not one for beginners to just pick up.
Allies
Keywords in Lorcana haven’t been hugely important … until now. Sapphire Steel is most definitely the home of the allies, with cards such as Jasmine – Steady Strategist from The Reign of Jafar, who is a floodborn character with the ability to shift for 2 ink. Her ability Always Planning allows players, upon her questing, to look at the top 3 cards of their deck and put an ally character into hand. Combine this with another Jasmine card, the Inspired Researcher and suddenly there is the potential for a card draw engine to take off. Notable allies currently in contention are Smee – Bumbling Mate, Bagheera – Guardian Jaguar, Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy and Doc –Bold Knight, all which you’d be pretty happy to have in your hand. This archetype is pretty new to Lorcana, only really being introduced in Archazia’s Island but not fully having the strength to establish itself. The Sapphire Steel ally deck is a relatively blank slate and who knows, maybe this deck could be shock pick at the World Championships (a t the time of writing, the upcoming weekend – 28th and 29th June in Walt Disney World Resort, Florida). So put on your deckbuilding hat, see what you can craft and put it to the test at your local league.
Whether you’re flying with Kiwi Birds, looting your way to victory, or playing the long game with Tamatoa, Sapphire Steel’s still got gas in the tank – and maybe, just maybe, it’s about to make a comeback worthy of a main stage encore.
