Surprising Disney Lorcana Deck Wins First Challenge Event

A surprising meta-busting deck won the Atlanta Disney Lorcana Challenge.

By Christian Hoffer

Disney Lorcana held its first regional-level event over the weekend, and a surprising winner emerged that proves that a dominant meta isn't necessarily all-powerful. Joshua Paultre won the Atlanta Disney Lorcana Challenge over the weekend, emerging victorious among a pool of 2,000 players with a deck that came out of left field. While Disney Lorcana's metagame has been dominated since the beginning of the game by two decks – an Amethyst/Ruby control deck and the Amber/Steel "Steelsong" archetype that uses powerful card songs – Paultre won with a Amber/Amethyst deck that was built around countering the dominant meta strategies. The deck utilized Mufasa – Betrayed Leader, Perdita – Devoted Mother, and a host of low-cost cards to counter cards like Be Prepared and other cards designed to remove opponent cards from play. 

The deck utilized a combination of the Madam Mim/Merlin bounce mechanics that have become a staple of Amethyst-themed decks coupled with several cards that have effects upon being banished. The deck not only can utilize the Merlin and Madam Mim bounce synergies to trigger multiple effects, it also utilized Perdita as a late-game engine that could basically re-cycle early game plays. The deck trades off the control options offered by pairing Amethyst with Ruby with the ability to go wide and collect Lore in chunks. Assuming that the player can get enough Kuzco – Wanted Llama or Mufasa – Betrayed Leaders on the board, the deck also can negate the impact of a Be Prepared in the later stages of a match.

In the finals of the Atlanta Disney Lorcana Challenge, Paultre won in a best-of-three matchup against Matthew Wright, who ran an Amethyst/Ruby control deck. Wright won the first game after forcing Paultre into a top-deck scenario after playing Be Prepared, but Paultre handily won Game 2 and Game 3 by a significant margin, with one Be Prepared triggering Mufasa – Betrayed Leader's ability, which pulled out a Perdita – Devoted Mother, which in turn pulled out a Kuzco – Wanted Llama all in the same play. 

Because the Atlanta Disney Lorcana Challenge only uses cards from the first three Disney Lorcana sets, it's unclear whether the "Purple Mufasa" deck will remain relevant in the coming months. Still, the win was a much-needed victory for Disney Lorcana's metagame and could potentially shake up the hierarchy of the game's top decks. 

The winning deck list is as follows: 

Pascal – Rapunzel's Companion x4

Chernabog's Followers – Creatures of Evil x4

Cinderella – Ballroom Sensation x4

Piglet – Pooh Pirate Captain x4

Chernabog – Evildoer x1

Kuzco – Wanted Llama x4

Madam Mim – Snake x4

Madam Mim – Fox x4

Fairy Godmother – Pure Heart x4

Merlin – Goat x2

Merlin – Crab x3

Merlin – Rabbit x4

Rapunzel – Gifted with Healing x4

Peter Pan's Shadow x2

Mufasa – Betrayed Leader x4

Related:

Fairy Godmother – Mystic Armorer x4

Perdita – Devoted Mother x4

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