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After an intense battle with the sea witch in Ursula’s Return,Shimmering Skiesis here to bring the party toDisney Lorcana. As always the set brings two brand new single-player starter decks to help you kick-start your collection and learn what fun new strategies are coming to the game. If you’re looking for ways to pack a little more power into the Emerald/Steel deck, akaA Roaring Guest List, you’ve come to the right place.
A Roaring Guest List explores an under-the-radar archetype within the Emerald/Steel ink color combo sometimes called a Ping deck. The goal is to spread small amounts of damage around on your opponent’s side of the board and take advantage of characters that become more powerful when the opponent has damaged characters in play. It can be a tricky strategy that requires careful planning and timing, but it’s also one of the most rewarding deck archetypes to play when everything goes right.
Which Deck Is Best For You?
This guide features three upgrade paths for this starter deck.
The goal of this guide is to improve the consistency and performance of the deck without losing the core themes.
There are likely better Emerald/Steel lists out there, but these decks are designed to focus on and elevate the things that already work in the original starter deck.
Sherwood Forest, Outlaw Hideaway (x2)
Simba, Lost Prince (x4)
Our first rework of this deck is the most dramatic, but luckily, not the most expensive. Our goal is to keep the identity of the original starter deck while honing in on its win condition and increasing its consistency as much as possible.
To that end,we are adding quite a few Robin Hood and Hyena cards to strengthen the core of the deck, while trimming down on a lot of the cards that don’t help us do the pingy thingies.
We’re replacing the one-drops withRobin Hood - Beloved Outlaw,a great shift target for Robin Hood, Sneaky Sleuth that also synergizes with some of our new Robin Hood-centric cards,Robin’s Bowand Sherwood Forest, Outlaw Hideaway.
We’realso adding Mickey Mouse, Food Fight Defender, a sticky one-cost that will help us spread damage around without getting himself banished.
Aside fromincreasing the overall number of Hyenas, we’re also adding Banzai, Gluttonus Predator,one of the the best-statted vanilla cards in the gamethat’s great for getting ahead early or closing out games quickly.
We’re alsoreplacing Heihei, Protective RoosterwithChien-Po - Imperial Soldier, trading one lore for two Willpower. Both are great options, buthaving a body big enough to survive a hit fromMaui - Hero to Allgives Chien-Po the advantage.
It may seem strange to see so many of the original cards in this deck removed, including one of the deck’s mascots, Kronk, Head of Security, but by focusing on Robin Hoods and Hyenas that either enable ping damage or benefit from it, we can find a clearer, more consistent strategy.
With the right setup (something Hypnotic Deduction can help with) the combination of Robin Hood, Sneaky Sleuth and Robin’s Bow will let youquest far ahead while simultaneously clearing off the damaged characters on your opponents board. The more Robin Hoods you have, the stronger Robin’s Bow gets. Luckily, this deck plays 12 Robin Hoods.
This color combination notoriously struggles with card draw, so we’ll still be relying on Scar, Vengeful Lion and Simba, Lost Prince to keep cards in hand. The Better and Best versions of this deck have better options for card draw.
This deck is all about timing. Spreading damage onto your opponent’s characters and shifting in a Robin Hood, Sneaky Sleuth on the right turn can help you get a big boost in lore, andspreading out the damage will also help ensure Robin Hood, Timely Contestant doesn’t get stuck in your hand.
When setting up for future big plays,Pete, Games Referee is a valuable tool for stopping your opponent from interfering with your plans. Playing Pete and Ed, Hysterical Partygoer on the same turn virtually guarantees at least four lore on the next turn.
This is a deck that can sneak in some lore here and there with characters like Banzai, Gluttonous Predator and Shenzi, Head Hyena, then closes out games quickly with Ed, Hysterical Partygoer; Robin Hood, Sneaky Sleuth; and Robin Hood, Timely Contestant.
Ba-Boom (x2)
Fire the Cannons! (x1)
Simba, Fighting Prince (x2)
Tinker Bell, Giant Fairy (x4)
We include Super Rare cards in our mid-cost deck build, which means it’s time to bring in the big guns.Tinker Bell - Giant Fairyis a must-have in any Ping deck(or any Steel deck for that matter) because she can spread so much damage around so quickly.
Using Tinker Bell to set up a board wipe with Robin’s Bow or songs likeGrab Your Swordis a great way to turn the match in your favor quickly.
This version of the deck leans away from the “challenging matters” strategy in favor of direct damage from actions likeFire The Cannons!,Ba-Boom!,Let The Storm Rage On, andGrab Your Sword. This gives the deck a lot more tools to apply damage and set up Robin Hood, Sneaky Sleuth and Robin Hood, Timely Contestant.
There are fewer Hyenas in this version than in the previous iteration becausethe deck is more focused on spreading out as much damage as possible.
The other Super Rare character this deck introduces isSimba - Fighting Prince, a seven-cost character who has flexibility and impact on the board turn after turn. He’s useful for fishing the final puzzle pieces out of your deck that you need to close out a game, or simply adding more damage to your opponent’s board.
One copy ofPack Tacticscreates yet another win condition. You won’t find value in it every game, especially if you’re effectively controlling the board with all of your direct damage tools, but if you find it at just the right time you may gain a two, three, or even four lore instantly, which is often enough to close out a match in a deck like this.
This version of the deck still relies on challenging with Simba, Lost Prince or with Scar, Vengeful Lion in play to generate card draw, but Clarabelle, Contented Wallflower is a low-cost character that replaces itself,which will help you keep more tools in your hand and threats on the board.
Similarly, Let the Storm Rage On is a singable damage action that replaces itself, allowing you to dig deeper into your deck the cards you need the most.
Robin’s Bow (x2)
Tinkerbell, Giant Fiary (x4)
Here’s where the full potential of the Emerald/Steel Ping deck finally comes into focus. With the addition of some key legendaries,we can solve this ink color combo’s fatal card draw problemand improve the deck’s ability to control the board with direct damage.
Beast - Tragic Herowill net you an extra card every turn if left unchecked, while Clarabelle, Light On Her Hooves ensures you and your opponent always have the same number of cards in hand, with these two cards, as well as a number of cards that replace themselves like Clarabelle, Contented Wallflower and Let the Storm Rage On,this deck no longer struggles to keep cards in hand.
Another of the self-replacing cards isRobin Hood - Champion of Sherwood: a perfect fit for a Robin Hood deck and a great way to gain lore while controlling the board through challenging. Along withTinker Bell - Giant Fairyand Robin Hood, Sneaky Sleuth, this deck boasts 17 Floodborn cards, meaningit can get a lot of value fromChief Bogo - Respected Officer.
This version of the deck doesn’t rely on spreading damage as much as the other versions because it’s so good at stacking damage quickly and removing threats from the board as soon as they’re played.
Though 16 is typically considered a high number of non-inkable cards, nine of them are songs so they’re less likely to get stuck in your hand. Still,it warrants being extra careful about making sure you have a card to ink every turn at the start of the game. This deck plays 19 cards that cost at least five ink, so developing a consistent curve is paramount.
Remember,there are better, more meta ways to build an Emerald/Steel deck, but this list maintains the core Robin Hood/Hyena/Ping identity. This deck packs a ton of firepower and plenty of ways to deal with almost any threat your opponent can put down.
It may be on the more expensive side once you add in the legendaries, but all of the pricey cards featured in this deck have been meta-defining and will continue to bring value to your collection.
