The more I think about the deck thaﷺt won Disney Lorcana Challenge Atlanta last weekend, the more unbelievable it is. We’re 13 weeks into a meta that’s already been replaced by Ursula&rsq𒆙uo;s Return, more than a month removed from the set championships, and there’s no reason to suspect that a completely unknown archetype would come out of nowhere and perform well at a massive, 2,000-player tournament - let alone win the whole thing. This is a huge moment for Lorcana that’s more meaningful, and humbling, than people may realize.
There’s been plenty of hype about Joshua Paultre’s darkhorse “Purplefasa” deck that won it all last weekend, but even trying to give it a name like Purplefasa undersells what an unknown quantity this build is. This i⛎s a completely new archetype that has never been represented at myriad online tournaments or set championships over the last three months. It combines the Amethyst bounce package with a few of the key players from Amber/Ruby Mufasa, but the combination opens up lines of play that no one has seeꦚn, and no one was prepared for.
Then, just for good measure, Paultre threw in some cards that are so off-meta, there isn’t a competitive deck that has ever used them before. The f🅘act that it bested Ruby/Amethyst in the final round, the undisputed Big Bad throughout the first six months of Lorcana, makes this the perfect ending for both DLC Atlanta, and the Into the Inklands meta. This was the coolest thing t▨hat’s ever happened in competitive Lorcana.
Lorcana's Hero Starter Deck Is Perfect In Every Way
Lorca♋na's Stand Together starter deck has a great foundation for a new archetype that's fun to build.
There’s so much ingenuity in this deck, and so many moving parts that work so well together, it's surprising that it hadn’t already been discovered. This all-character Amber/Amethyst deck has little in common with the familiar hyper-aggro deck you typically see in this ink pairing, instead working like a value-focused tempo deck. On the surface, it looks like it would play similarly to other Amethyst decks, but if the closer you look the more intricacies and synergies you’ll find.
The cards that stand out the most here are Fairy Godmother, Pure Heart and Fairy Godmother, Mystic Armorer - two cards that have never seen competitive play since being introduced in Rise of the Floodborn. Pure He𒐪art has a 3/4 stat line that allows it to survive many on-meta threats like Madam Mim, Snake; Madam Mim, Crab; and Robin Hood, Champion of Sherwood Forest, while setting her up for a big Rapunzel, Gifted With Healing play. It’s no coincidence that the two cards curve together perfectly.
Her ability allows you to exert an opposing character whenever you play a Ci♍nderella, effectively replacing the uninkable Pinnochio, Talkative Puppet that’s played in every Amethyst deck. When🉐 combined with a Fox, the one-drop Cinderella, Ballroom Sensation gave Paultre a cheap way to exert and rush at opposing characters, while returning Cinderella to his hand to be played again. He made great use of this synergy in the final match to create huge tempo swings against his opponent, take control of the board, and put the pressure on in a way that Ruby/Amethyst decks are designed to handle.
It also serves as the shift target for Fairy Godmother, Mystic Armorer. While this card didn’t see any action in the final match, the strategy is easy to understand. Characters that have effects that occur when they’re banished, such as Mufasa, Betrayed Leader and Kuzco, Wanted Llama, get even more value when combined with Mystic Armorer, because her ability allows you to run them into an opposing character, activate their ability, then return them to your hand to be pl🦂ayed again.
Kuzco gets even more ඣvalue in this deck thanks to ಌPerdita, Devoted Mother, a card that’s only seen fringe play in some versions of Rubyfasa up until this point. By returning Kuzco to play from the discard pile every time Perdita is played and quests, Paultre was able to keep lots of extra cards and keep the pressure on the board with multiple characters turn after turn after turn.
Even without some of the Amethyst card draw staples like Friends on the Other Side and the Queen’s Castle, this deck has no problem generating lots of low-cost characters to play each turn to overwhelm the opponent - which is exactly what Paultre did in the finals to take home the first-ever Disney Lorca♒na Challenge win in the US.
The Extra Spice
Both contenders deserved to win, but seeing a completely new style of deck take the first major tournament is great for Lorcana. In an era where the best players are grinding hundreds of games a week online, content creators are churning out videos showcasing the most overpowered decꦡks, and everyone at your local game store is netdecking the latest hotness, the fact that a deck archetype no one has ever heard of can win a major event shatters our misconceptions about what the meta is and how it works.
While everyone else brought slightly-refined versions of the decks they played at theꦡ set championships a month ago, Paultre refused to accept that the meta was solved, and was brave enough to take a path no one else was taking.
This proves that no matter how settled a meta seems, there is always something new to discover. If you just look up the best decks online, you’ll never discover the next best thing the way Paultre did. We all have to keep experimenting and searching, even when it seems like there’s nothing else to find. In fact, Paultre's success demonstrates that if you want to win, you must cook. It’s great to see so m💟uch deck diversity in the top cut, but there’s nothing better, or more inspiring, than seeing a deck like Purplefasa win iꦦt all.
Disney Lorcana's First Regional Challenge Event Was A Triumph
The first Disney Lorcana Challenge in North Am🎶erica was an incredible experience for fans and a great start for the Lorcana's comp𝄹etitive scene.
