Set Champ Stress

We’re officially in Set Champ season, and the vibes are equal parts excitement and stress.

From not knowing what to play, to testing weird ink pairings, to convincing ourselves our deck choices are definitely correct… this episode is all about the real player experience leading up to a big event.

We also share highlights from a recent franchise tournament, talk Wilds Unknown ideas, and celebrate the community that keeps us coming back every week.

Follow us on Social Media:
Instagram/Faceboook/BlueSky - @thelorcanamuses
Twitter/X: @lorcanamusespod
TikTok: @thelorcanamusespodcast


**The Lorcana Muses Podcast uses trademarks and/or copyrights associated with Disney Lorcana TCG, used under Ravensburger’s Community Code Policy (https://cdn.ravensburger.com/lorcana/community-code-en). We are expressly prohibited from charging you to use or access this content. This podcast is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Disney or Ravensburger. For more information about Disney Lorcana TCG, visit https://www.disneylorcana.com/en-US/.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello and welcome to the Lorcana Muses. I'm Brittany, and joining me today is our teammate Robert, who is joining us again. Hello. Stephanie had to travel for work today, so she is not in the recording studio with us, which is, you know, the back room at our fame fabulous game Outpost Mesa. But we always appreciate being able to use their room because it's much quieter than my own house. Um, and it's quieter than Stephanie's house. And it's quieter than the first place we recorded, which was in a library, which is kind of surprising, but that's a throwback to the early days where we began our recording process in the library. Um libraries are not as quiet as you think. But uh we record in the game store, which is kind of funny because this is where we spend our time for playtesting and also time for, you know, league nights and things like that. And pretty soon, uh our time for our upcoming set champs. So um speaking of set champs, I still have absolutely no idea where to play at all.

SPEAKER_06 1:09

Yeah, that is a current struggle. Um, I've been messing with some off-color pairings, I guess you'd call them. Stuff that's not uh stuff I haven't played in a while, but kind of throwbacks to when I originally started playing some colors. So it's been interesting. I have purple steel if I really want to go back to it, but it's like I want to try some stuff sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

No, that's all fair. Uh I actually was thinking about playing amethyst steel for Setchance, um, which is kind of hilarious because the ink pairing that I is like tried and true to my heart is actually doing super well right now. So like Amber Ruby decks are doing really well, and um even some like Ruby amethyst lists are doing relatively well, but I I wanted to, I just want to play something with Amethyst right now.

SPEAKER_06 1:59

Yeah, so the Amber Ruby boost lists have been really fun. That's been what I've been playing for the last couple weeks. That's been really entertaining, and then there's that one K over the weekend that had Ruby sapphire get second, which is inspiring, but also like exciting because I miss those colors.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Yeah. No, I I want Ruby to do amazing as I always do, since it is my favorite ink. Um, but I also want to get the value out of my amethyst cards before rotation. So that's kind of where I'm like leaning toward Amethyst steel or playing Blurble during Set Champs. Um, both decks are just consistent. Um, and I think that's what I'm looking for with Set Champs, with a Set Champs deck is a consistent deck and not flashy, just something that can get me over the finish line, basically.

SPEAKER_06 2:44

It's interesting you bring up the the value before rotation. I've actually uh ditched the uh evasive genie, the play on four play draw, and I've been trying out ISIS in that slot, and it's been very interesting and very fun, but it's it's weird to see some of those older staples that probably should still be a staple, but messing with it and trying seeing what it feels without it, and it's it's still going pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

So yeah, speaking of that genie, um I played in a franchise tournament this past weekend. Um, and I chose Aladdin as my franchise, which was not what I was originally planning on choosing. Um, but because of that genie draw card was one what it was one of the main reasons I chose it. Um, but I played um an Aladdin deck with Jafar and a whole new world.

SPEAKER_06 3:33

So I played our Lord Draw, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yeah, yeah, the Lord draw on card draw. Yes. So I played the Jafar wheel deck uh for it. It was it was super fun to play because I had never played it when it was, you know, more of one of the meta decks basically. Um well, I guess it was always an off meta deck, but but but I had never played it when it was, you know, in rotation. And so it was fun to play as something. Um, but it ended up being Muse in the top four for that tournament, yeah. Which was super fun. Um, and both of the top two decks were allated decks.

SPEAKER_06 4:11

What what were the remind me, was it four ups you could still run and it was no color restrictions?

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yeah, so so it had to be all the cards from a specific franchise. Um you could play with any ink color combinations. Um, like you could have all six inks if you needed to. Um and then you were allowed to use Lorcana, the realm of Lorcana cards. Um, and then, but yeah, but you only are allowed those franchises.

SPEAKER_06 4:38

Yes, so I think I saw one of the lists. It might have been yours, was still running the eight eight turn two ramp package because you had one jump and sale was a new case completely neutral card. I did.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Sale was a neutral card, so I did run eight ramp cards because I played Sale and One Jump. And I had I had ink for days.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

It was great. Um, and because I was playing some seven drops, so I wanted to make sure I got there. And I I mean I played the shift targets, but I didn't want to have to rely on the shift targets if needed.

SPEAKER_06 5:06

Yeah, being able to drop them out, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

And I wanted just to be able to play more, more characters out to combat, which I knew was gonna be a deck that was out. There was the Lilo and Stitch aggro decks. Um, and there were three of them in the room out of the 12 decks that were playing. So three out of 12 were aggro Lilo and Stitch, and I faced two of them. So I was able to um the Aladdin, the Ruby Aladdin seven drop, um, where you're challenge and you challenge steel lore. Challenge to steal lore. Yeah, that one um is very helpful in the aggro matchups. Um, and I was able to get two of them out against each of the opponents that was Lilo and Stitch, and I was like, this is perfect. This was exactly they definitely had an early lead, and then I was able to take it back from them.

SPEAKER_06 5:51

Just as the Lorcana Overlords predicted what needed. Decreed. Decreed.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

That's the word they they decreed. Um, but it it it felt great. Um, and it was super fun. There were some interesting decks out there. There was a DuckTales deck um that was playing McDuck Manor.

SPEAKER_06 6:09

Oh, McDuck Manor. Yeah. And so um, so that was fun.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

And Daryl was playing a frozen deck, which we thought was gonna be, you know, the BLN doll, and it ended up losing to the Aladdin decks. Um so like that was definitely interesting. So Chris, our other teammate, Chris, uh, he ended up beating me with his Aladdin list. So his Aladdin list beat my Aladdin list. Um, and his Aladdin list was much better than mine, but it had no Aladdins in it. So his Aladdin list ran a lot of genies. Um he played I think he ran almost every genie that there there was able to be on.

SPEAKER_06 6:50

Yeah, they are pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Um, except for like the big shift eight cost one. I don't think he had that one in there. Um and I think other than some smaller Jafars, I don't he wasn't running the Jafar wheel package or anything like that. So he was basically playing tempo, and it was it was a really good list. Um one that was a fun list to see, I really enjoyed seeing someone, like I really enjoyed seeing the attempt at the Alice in Wonderland deck. Um but there's they didn't have any one drops they could play in.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

So like I feel like that was kind of the drawback of some of the franchises.

SPEAKER_06 7:35

Well, yeah, I guess if they're not playing Rabbit and they're on the play, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Yeah. So it was, I think it I think there were the choice of franchise, although fun could sometimes was there was definitely some more difficult choices. Like I put together a really silly because I wanted to play Jim Hawkins um Jim Hawkins uh treasure planet list. Um that would not have worked at all. It would it would have had a lot of locations, it would have had it would have um, but yeah, it would have been terrible. Like it would have and it would have super lost to the aggro. I did have I did have it have John Silver in it. Um but I was like, it would have lost to the aggro decks very hard. Uh that's fair. But I might have beat it might have beat the Aladdin list, to be honest.

SPEAKER_06 8:22

But just dodge aggro, nothing deal.

SPEAKER_05 8:24

Like yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Just dodge, just dodge a fourth in the room. Um, but it would I really I really enjoy trying to think about like theme nights and things like that because it makes me think about the cards in a different way. Yeah. Um, and remembering different combinations. Now, infinity lists are a little different just because like it's not lists that I think I'm gonna think about a lot ever again, because I'm not like crazy big into playing infinity. Um, but it's definitely something to continuously think about like what are other combinations of cards? And I just think it's a good refresher. Um, and it's a great like palette cleanser between we were at the CCQ and then going into such ham season.

SPEAKER_04 9:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

I felt like that was a really great thing for the community. Um, and I also just a great community builder. So and uh we went to a store that we've never been to before. So like that's always good.

SPEAKER_06 9:23

Um surprise.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Yeah, it was out in surprise. So it's definitely a drive for us. Um, but I always like to, you know, support surprise. Um, I always like to support, you know, the local community as much as possible um because they support us so much um by you know traveling to other parts of the state. And I mean, it did felt feel like a completely different part of the state because it's like it's an hour, an hour and 15 minutes away basically. Um, and that's just from us. So from East Mesa to surprise.

SPEAKER_06 9:55

Yeah, and you're still like in Mesa too.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

For me, it would have been a bit like yeah, no, yeah, no, because like Mikey, uh our teammate Mikey, he drove from S Santan Valley to us and then retrept there. So it was like almost a two-hour trip for him. But uh it's always great to have that kind of feeling. Um saw some community members that we haven't seen since we were you know we're playing at a 1k. Um and you know, just I I'm excited to see different elements of the community grow because these were definitely a lot of the players there were more casual players. Yeah. Um but I want all elements of this game to grow more. And I and I think that I think that most TCGs that have a thriving social community and competitive community are the ones that are gonna stay. And we want we want Lurkana to stick around. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:52

Yep. No, that'd be that'd be very good.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

So but but switching back over to competitive, we did see some not many events in this past weekend because I think a lot of people are getting ready for the ramp up the set champs season.

SPEAKER_06 11:10

Um set champs and then wild is gonna be really short.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:14

That's gonna feel weird.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

I think it will be really weird. I was like trying to think about when the Wilds and Known Set Champs were gonna be to kind of determine when Stephanie and I should host our muses tournament and things like that.

SPEAKER_06 11:27

Um Yeah, it's like a month in, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 11:30

It's really I think it's it's very fast. It's very fast. I don't know if they gave us the exact dates yet, but um it's based on when the next rotation is happening. That's that's just kind of yeah, which which I can appreciate.

SPEAKER_06 11:44

They're trying to like calibrate it and get it all lined up with stuff. So like something's gotta give somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Yeah, sometimes sometimes the season just has to be a little bit shorter just because you know they want to have it aligned with the major events.

SPEAKER_07 11:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Um and but so I'm kind of like thinking about like long term, what does the rest of the gear look like for Lorcana? Um Daryl ended up deciding to go to the to the CCQ that's happening in Las Vegas here soon, which is hilarious because when we were leaving the CCQ in California, he was like, There's no way I'm going to this next one. And then of course he had he had some FOMO and wanted to go with the rest, some other teammates that were going. So he's like, Wife. He's like, Do we have the money?

SPEAKER_06 12:32

Yeah, gotta get to get the the approval from the manager.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah, yeah. So he was like, okay, I'm like, I don't have the time off to go to doing, especially with like because we have Phoenix Comic Con coming up, and yeah, that's I want to do that.

SPEAKER_05 12:44

Uh fanfusion. I apologize.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Yes, yes, we have Phoenix Fan Fusion coming up. Um and it's on it's on Daryl's birthday. So I um I definitely wanted to go. Um, and it'll be 11 years since Daryl and I met at Fan Fusion. So not not 10 because we didn't go last year, but that's funny. Um but yeah, so it'll be 11 years for us, and that's has a that's a bigger number for us than 10 for some reason. It's just a personal thing. Because you're odd. I mean, we we did meet to me dating at Fan Fusion, so um, but it's also because it's on his birthday is the reason we're going. Um, but that's but I am also taking time off to go to that. Yeah. Um, and then I'll be taking time off to go to the LCQ. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 13:39

I'm actually going to this time, but I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah. Um I'm Alex, there's like 12 of us on our team that are going.

SPEAKER_06 13:48

On the team, let alone.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Let alone in the Arizona. Yeah, the Arizona crowd is gonna be like we're gonna have to like rent a charter bus to go. Um I'm only joking a little bit. Yeah, because there are so many of us going, but I think we're all going on different days, so we might not be able to do that.

SPEAKER_06 14:06

And we also have so many AZ people. I say so many, but we have we have quite a few that are national qualified as is. As is. So they're just gonna be there because of that. And then we're always pseudo-counting Dave as AZ anyway. So like it's just there's gonna be so many people.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Yeah. So we're we're pumped. Like, like the Arizona crowd is raring to go. We had some people last year qualify through the LCQs. Um, so we'd love to have that happen again. And we might not even have to worry about that because we might have somebody from AZ win this upcoming CCQ and things like that too.

SPEAKER_04 14:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Um, but at the very least, we're going to Disneyland.

SPEAKER_06 14:46

So that's fair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yeah, I'm gonna go and the Rebecca Quest is hosting the uh Quest in the Park event again. Um so I'm gonna help with the muses. The muses are gonna help with that event this um this time. And so that's happening on Thursday of the CCQ weekend, basically.

SPEAKER_04 15:07

Sweet.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

So before the CCQ or LCQ, I I'm gonna just combine all those all those letters. L C CQ. L C CQ.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

Last chance qualified qualifier.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Nope, not that doesn't even work either. But um, and then uh but get to get to go to Disneyland first and then have a day of intense Lorcana. And then multiple days of intense Lorcana because I am definitely gonna win my pod.

SPEAKER_06 15:41

That's yeah, that's the kind of energy we gotta manifest.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

So um and so uh but but honestly, I am gonna take a kind of a little bit of a competitive pause, not not necessarily a full break, um, for the Wilds Unknown set, because our team is doing a unique challenge uh of rolling which ink pairing we're gonna try to play for. So not everybody on the team is doing it, but it's a completely voluntary thing. But we're gonna roll to see what ink pairing uh we play for Wilds Unknown because it's we're going into the Wilds Unknown. Yeah. Um yeah, just is really leaning into the theming of it and trying out some new ink pairings. Hopefully new ink pairings, because we have to we're gonna roll to see what we're playing. So I don't think anybody's gonna let me tape Ruby, unfortunately. But yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:32

You guys have you guys have mechanics set up to like force re-rolls and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, so we we we do. We made it more of more made it a little gamier um and made it to where we have to try playing unique ink pairings.

SPEAKER_06 16:44

It's gonna be Christmas in July for Dayroll, it's fine.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

It'll be funny. Um but yeah, so that's kind of where I'm thinking. But I'm hoping to see some unique mechanics with Wild's Unknown. Um I I said this a while ago, but because we have Toy Story coming out, yeah, I would love to see some like interaction like with like characters becoming items and items becoming characters because they're toys. Right. Yeah. Um, I don't know what that would look like. Or it's like be like the like Andes coming.

SPEAKER_06 17:18

Yeah, like an Andes coming action.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Andy coming's action is all the characters kind of yeah, back and forth.

SPEAKER_06 17:23

That'd be cool. That'd be interesting.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

So uh I would love something like that, just like but I don't know what that interaction looks like. Because we, I mean, we had the gargoyles where like the stone by day ability was like that. I would I figured it'd be some like some subtext that would be on each toy character.

SPEAKER_06 17:40

Oh, they could, they could do if any like human characters on the board. You you there's uh whatever you turn into a toy or something. That'd be interesting. Yeah, something fun to do.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Something fun to do with it. Um, but I I I love it when it like leans into the story of the character of the card.

SPEAKER_06 17:56

Yeah, the gargoyle mechanic was actually really cool and has been very interesting in how it's played out and what cards from the gargoyle set have been like meta, if you will, and really stuck in decks and which ones haven't. But uh yeah, that was really cool. Um speaking of mechanics, I am still on the train of a neutral colored cards, would be really cool. I realize that it would create a lot of potential issues, but that is not my problem to solve. I just think it'd be really neat where you could centralize some of the strength uh out of particular colors. Um I always use drawing as an example, but that might not be the best because that just makes those cards auto like in every deck. But you could pull some of the power and make them a little more neutral so other decks have access to it, where like these off-color pairings struggle just slightly because they can't do X thing just well enough, but it was a neutral card, maybe it could, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Yeah, I would love something like that. I do think they would have to really think about what the mechanic is, right? And like what it looks like. And I think it would have to be. I I honestly thought that they might have done it something like that when they were talking about like the Chromicons or things like that that are just like Larcona-centric.

SPEAKER_06 19:07

Yep. Um but yeah, because we got the dually cards, and so the other side of the pantalone is what if they were no ink.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah, it's like but what if they are white?

SPEAKER_06 19:23

Yeah, I mean that'd be man, that'd be so cool because you could do all the old school cards and make them all neutral. It could just be the old steel.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Ah, stop. That'd be so sick. Oh my. Just make it like Oswald, like she like she like pulls all the ink off the card.

SPEAKER_06 19:41

My poor boy Oswald is uh doesn't come around anymore because items don't exist.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

But they might exist, they might be toys.

SPEAKER_06 19:52

Uh you know what? That's fair. Yeah. I miss item architect decks. Like, I understand they kind of get out of hand. Kinda sorta.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Hiram did nothing wrong.

SPEAKER_06 20:03

He continues to do nothing wrong and he continues to catch flack for it. Like, don't get me started.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

I know. Honestly, we don't always like decide who's coming on the podcast like right away, but I was like, this is the week to have Robert on. Why? No, because I'm not gonna be the soapbox again.

SPEAKER_05 20:21

My poor boy. He all he does is make toys. He's an inventor. He makes toys for his daughter, and they were just like, hey man, you're fired, and that's you're fired.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Did you guys not draw too many? He doesn't need them. Come on. I think it's because they didn't like because Ruby was the answer to him, right? Like overall, there was lots of answers in Ruby to remove him, but none of the Ruby decks in Infinity are doing well enough to challenge.

SPEAKER_06 20:49

Yeah, he's he's he's catching it because Blue Steel is absurd.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

So it's not Yeah, no, it has nothing to do with him specif specifically. Yeah. Um, but yeah, no, it's definitely because he isn't countered enough in that meta.

SPEAKER_06 21:04

I will say it is nice that it's only Herem this time and not Herem Plus Ford is here.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Uh-oh, you mean the Roxicle?

SPEAKER_06 21:13

The Roxyle, yes, the Roxicle. Um we'll see how much if if uh Workshop. There we go. Maurice's workshop fills that slot. But that is uninkable, which was the problem originally when switching to that, but we'll see if that can just suffice. Because there was a point after he got banned that draw got absurd because workshop is insane.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Workshop is insane, but it is uninkable. So like think that was the one caveat and it did slow the deck down just a tad.

SPEAKER_06 21:43

Not getting it on entry is a huge difference, to be fair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

No, I I think I think it's more of the on entry and on like quest effect, right? Like, so it's like I feel like that's a lot of the effects are like if they're on entry and on quest, it just feels slightly slightly overpowered, if not. If not like, and the fact that he was inkable, etc. Like, like just there were a bunch of reasons why they did it, but I can I can see why. Um I do think that them waiting to see if it tried to settle out before they do it, they did it, they didn't do it right away. I think that was smart on their part.

SPEAKER_06 22:18

So what do you what else do you think gets banned in Infinity going into a soon-to-be infinity DLC?

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Oh that that's so difficult, but I definitely think I think that there are some because I think the Infinity Dogs deck is also very strong. Um so I think that the Willow tree. Yeah. Cause she's already very powerful in just constructed. Yeah. Um but in Infinity, I feel like she just doesn't like she just is out of hand.

SPEAKER_04 23:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Um, so I do think that if they don't do it in constructed, they will do it in infinity. Um because it is it just accelerates an already insane. Yeah. Like, because that that that's that's in the amber steel too.

SPEAKER_06 23:18

It's in Amber Steel.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Amber Steel um and Amber Emerald decks that are um more the aggro version, but the aggro amber steel is leaning heavily on that in infinity. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:31

So I'm curious if um how Steel Song is gonna do right now, too, post this change, because they've got all kinds of fun removal to deal with, including double bolts.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

That it that is true, yeah. So I speak one of the decks that was in the franchise tournament was a Hercules deck, and they were running He Hurled His Thunderbolt and Along Came Zeus.

SPEAKER_06 24:00

Why not? Um because they're on equal I mean fair, but also um you got an enchanted and an epic version. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

So it was it was it was definitely a very powerful amount of songs. Um, and then they played it with the muses.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Oh my goodness, they're so good.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Yeah, it was it was kind of wild. And then they played the Hercules hero, like where you had that the kit doesn't take damage until it's challenged. Yeah. So it was there was a lot of pieces in that movie. It was like, oh, these are this is why these are not all the same thing. Um, but it was it was fun to hear that they were doing it. Um, and everybody's like, why aren't you playing them use this card? And I'm like, well, because I want to win. I was like, I don't think it's a bad deck. I just don't think there's enough draw in that in those in that in that franchise, there's not enough draw. So I think that that would have been the biggest issue. And then the uninkable for what I wanted to do. Yeah. What would have been and I was like, there's lots of draw on Aladdin. I think out of all of the franchises, Aladdin might have the most draw. Um yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

That's fair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

And so uh it was definitely it was a difficult choice. I really wanted to play Mulan, but there's next to no draw in the Mulan franchise. Yeah, medallion weights, you're fine. That that was basically it was medallion weights and then um marching off to battle.

SPEAKER_05 25:30

Yeah, you're good. That's what they all say. You're good. That's all Red needs for draw. It's fine. Yeah, I'm not bad.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

But that's that that that's what everybody tells me, too. You're a fellow Ricky enjoyer, you understand. I was like, I don't want to always play medallion weights for my draw or the queen of hearts.

SPEAKER_04 25:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Yeah, no, it was it was pretty good. Pretty good. Um that was the problem with the Queen of Hearts deck, too, is because she had to get the Queen of Hearts out to get her draw. Yeah. So yeah. Um But yeah, franchise decks in Infinity work, but it does think that.

SPEAKER_06 26:07

Oh man, I guess oh Cheshark Cat's Alice in Wonderland. So they the what's that red action card that like draw cards, banish character based on damage, or is that American green? That is uh Or is it lose lower based on damage? It banishes your character, I just don't remember what he does with the damage. It does something silly. Is it a Cheshire cat that does that? It's an action card with him on it.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Oh okay. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_06 26:31

I'm not gonna go look it up or anything.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah, that that's there are lots of cards now.

SPEAKER_06 26:35

There are lots of cards.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

I used to know most of the cards, but there are too many cards now for me to remember all of them. Um and I do relatively well. I didn't get to play in the Lorcana trivia when we went to the Glimmer Games because I was watching John play. And but I I think overall I would have done relatively well unless they got really obscure with the cards.

SPEAKER_06 27:02

Yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

I'm really good at most of the character cards, but then we get into the like actions and items, I those aren't my those aren't my favorite, right? So I don't I don't remember them as much.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Unless it's it's not baroque. Because it's a bad action.

SPEAKER_06 27:21

It's an incredible line from that movie, though.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

But is it a credible line from the movie? And it's the beauty of the beast card.

SPEAKER_06 27:27

Yes. Yeah, those are yes. Uh most everyone's mad here. Gain lore equal to the damage on chosen character, then banish them. So I thought it was draw cards, I was wrong.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Yeah, so I think because you can do the card draw based on damage.

SPEAKER_06 27:40

I mean Ohana, but yeah, and then well, Mad Hatter is actually kind of silly if you're doing Alice in Wonderland, because whenever a damage character challenges another character, it's not yours, which is kind of silly.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

That is that is kind of silly.

SPEAKER_06 27:54

Yeah, but I yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Yeah, no, there were definitely like lots of franchises you could do. I thought about doing like a racer deck or things like that too. And like there are lots of ways to go with it, but I wanted to win. So and I got second. So I did pretty good.

SPEAKER_06 28:10

Winning feels good.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

It does. It's part of my favorite things about Larcana is winning.

SPEAKER_06 28:15

That's fair.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Um, I part of me, so we have our league night on Fridays. I'm so tired by Friday after my long work week that I'm so sad that we're playing Larcana on Fridays. Because I think I would play so much better if we like played it on Saturdays.

SPEAKER_06 28:35

That's fair.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Like, so I'm always like, you're never getting me at peak Larcana time.

SPEAKER_06 28:39

Yeah. I don't, man. I don't even know if we could draw the same crowd if we played on Saturday. It's our Friday crowd's crazy. It's actually kind of um not a good calibration, I guess, for what a lot of the rest of the country experiences at their locals.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Yeah, well, because I mean, I think this last Friday we had 28. Yeah. It was, and it's like a Friday. Just a rain. Random Friday right before set champs are starting. Like, like, not even right before. It's like two weeks before set champs starting. We had like 28 players. It might even more. It was insane.

SPEAKER_06 29:09

This Friday should be packed. Actually, every Friday from here on out should really be packed until set champs are over, I think, because a lot of people come here just to play and practice and get ready.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Yeah, then play and practice to get ready for the for a set champs. Um, but yeah, I I know that we are so very lucky with how large our local community is. And I think we do a relatively good job of balancing like competitive and casual play or like how welcoming people are.

SPEAKER_06 29:38

Yeah, I will say our like hyper competitive folks. Um, we like to still be we still like to have fun and like help those people. And it's really easy when they when either A, they're new because we've never seen them, or B, they just let us know. Like it's really easy to switch up and help them and guide them through stuff.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah. And and I feel like we've had like we had a we had a player came come up from Casa Grand Um this last week. And so like we we're still having players like hear about our store and know that hey, we have a thriving Warcana community and on Fridays and we take over the basically the whole store uh with how we play. And you know, we really are fortunate for Game Outpost Mesa to just like encourage our community to keep growing. Um so we we love them and we love that they're doing that for us. What do you think we're gonna see in this first weekend of Set Champs?

SPEAKER_06 30:38

Um so I think the big three are definitely gonna be present, and by the big three I mean amethyst steel, uh dogs, and uh Bah, I guess is kind of the third spot to me in the triangle. But there's a lot of other decks now that are kind of poking in. You've got Amber Amethyst, which kind of punches up into a lot of those, depending on the blue still list. Um, they can also do really well. Like Chris's uh detectives before it was cool deck, um, is continues to be an absolute pain in my neck.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Um I I'm shaking my head. You can't you can't see it on the podcast, but I'm shaking my head because I feel the I feel the detective pain.

SPEAKER_06 31:24

Yeah, and so and it's really funny that he was doing it last set, and now this set, most Blue Steel archetypes have adopted more of that structure, and it's like, no, it was already like Judy searches for Judy, gets Judy, and plays Judy to get more Judy. Like, leave it alone. Um But I'm curious to see if like the Amber Ruby deck manages to actually make it a brand. Because I might do that at a set chat, depending on which one I go. It's been hit or miss um on how well it does. And I keep messing with stuff which I'm sure isn't helping. But um, yeah, I think we're gonna see the big three, I think, and and then a couple of the other sprinkler definitely gonna be uh Sapphire Steel and um Amethyst. And for Amethyst and Amethyst Sapphire. Amethyst Sapphire. Oh yeah, forget what's playing.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

You said I was like, you said big three, and I assumed you were gonna say blurb instead of Emerald Emerald's Baha'i.

SPEAKER_06 32:21

Emerald Sapphire to me has taken over that role.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

I think locally, probably you're right.

SPEAKER_06 32:27

Because Zan's been busy with life and doesn't play it because he's playing other two.

SPEAKER_05 32:31

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Which is part of the reason why I was gonna play Blurble is because I was like, maybe you don't have to play Tmir.

SPEAKER_06 32:38

It's really funny because I'll when we do playtesting, sometimes when he's here, I'll ask him if I can play one of his decks, and it's usually blurble. He'll hand it to me and I'll like play it and I'll hit all the ramp and do all the things it's supposed to do. And I'll be like, why did I stop playing blue decks? Because it just runs over. And then I play the next game and I miss ramp, and I don't have a turn three play, and I'm like, this is why I stopped playing blue decks. Just go back to purple steel or something. Well, that's why you run 12 ramp cards. You had the math on what the nine with your develops, like, and it worked really well, like 90% of the time with that 10%, man, it'll get you.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

I was like, you you run 12 or 13 ramp cards. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

It's it's a it's a lot. It's it's too many ramp cards, but but no, I I've that I think I think at least for the first weekend, I think we're gonna play blurbow for set chance, and then see where everything kind of settles, and then maybe play something different the next weekend. I'm only so I'm playing both Saturday and Sunday this weekend because we do have some uh store running. Yeah, there's like four on Saturday locally, and then Sunday there's only one um because it's Easter and so most of the stores aren't running one. Um but I'm gonna go still. Um, and then the following weekend, I can only play on Saturday because I have family plans on Sunday. Going to go see a play with my mom and sister. And then the following weekend, Daryl will be out of town for the CCQ in Las Vegas. And I'm planning on going to three set champs because somebody's hosting a morning set champs, and then there's an evening set champs, both of those on Saturday, and then playing on a Sunday one. Um, and then When is home base? When do when is home base others? I'm not this weekend, isn't it? Oh, I skipped a weekend. Okay. I said, Oh, I was like, wait, nope, I skipped a weekend. Yep. So yeah, and then so like the 18th and 19th, um, I'm I'll be playing both of those two. So there's only one day out of the set chance cycle that I'm not playing right now. I might I might decide the farther in we get if I want to take a pause over the weekend. Um that's a that's a lot of locata.

SPEAKER_06 34:56

It is, yeah. I just need to do what I did last set and get the mat on the first weekend, and then I can casually try and get top eight cards from there. That was really nice. That was a stress. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

No, I mean, my main goal is always just to get a top eight, um, just so I can get the card, and so I can say I've had a card from every set, um, which is the number one goal. And then I really actually do want this play mat.

SPEAKER_06 35:19

So the card looks uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

So I was like, like, I want this mat. Um, I might end up buying it if I don't end up winning one. Like that that's how much I actually like it. Um, but I would love to win another mat because I've done it before. I can do it again.

SPEAKER_06 35:36

Speaking of mats, I'm sorry that you guys didn't get any bell uh mats during the lottery.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

I know Daryl and I both signed up, and neither one of us got the mat for the bell mat, and I was like, oh no, this is what I wanted. I she's that mat because that card like is like one of the first cards I like that's how I got my Ursula. Um, and so I really want her. Because I want to get it, and then I want to get it foiled. Um, so hopefully I think we have a few teammates that got uh they had more than one person in their family get the mat so they're able to trade with us for it because I really want to. Um and Bell Bell's my girl. So um but I'm also hoping for then maybe that means I can definitely get the super goof one.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

Oh, there you go, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Because then I didn't win the lottery for the Bell one. So also super goof getting reprinted, yes?

SPEAKER_06 36:40

No. We know. I'm sorry. No, that card has brought me too much torment, specifically from you, actually, but no.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

I have to ask every episode of every person that comes on. I really want it to happen.

SPEAKER_06 36:54

No, I don't need to do all that math just read a top deck it and be like, oh yeah, if there's two more lore, I win anyway. Otherwise, you know, go by. Like, I don't need that in my life again.

SPEAKER_05 37:06

But it's so fun.

SPEAKER_06 37:07

I'm not saying it's not, but no.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Um, yes, I have hurt Robert's feelings probably more than anyone else's with Supergoof. Absolutely ridiculous card. I have won too many games off the top with Supergoof against Robert. So I guess it's a valid reaction from Robert alone. But overall, Supergoof is a fantastic card, and supers are coming back to Lorcana, so Supergoof should also come back.

SPEAKER_06 37:42

Listen, is it a fair card? Is it okay? Yes. Do I personally want that cred reprinted? Absolutely not. No. When you work in a super deck, yes, and it would be really cool. Do I think it should happen? No.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

Robert just wants to see me sad. He doesn't want Ruby too. We'll get Ruby going good without it.

SPEAKER_05 38:07

I promise. We don't need that ridiculous card to make Ruby good.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

I promise. Okay. So which ink color do you think needs the most support coming into this next set?

SPEAKER_06 38:21

So speak me up, Ruby. Um I think that Ruby needs either removal that's not locked under uninkable or some non-gimmicky draw. Because I like the marching off to battle idea. Um if I could also I don't know, have more removal that's inkable to go along with it, because right now trying to bandish and sing that card on the same turn is kind of rough. Since most decks, even if they're aggroing out, are still trying to build a board. So you have to have some sort of non-challenging bass removal to do that. So I don't know. I I think Ruby's Personally, I think it's struggling a little bit. And I also think Sapphire is in a similar boat because most of the Sapphire decks are good because they're paired with a color that's kind of obnoxious. Um, I still think that Sapphire having some big like 10 to 12 cost song that wipes the entire board and sends everything big while would be amazing, but I'm gonna dream.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

I think I think it's gonna I think we're gonna wait till we have to have till we have ocean characters.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

That's fair.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

We can Azurite C. It was a prime. I know, but we're gonna find Nemo. Oh. And we're gonna build an ocean. The EAC.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

You know, the EAC could do it. It could wipe everything into the inkwell.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

Yeah, yeah. The inkwell of Sydney. You guys made the inkwell. Down under. Yes. We're gonna like design these cards and be like, Robinsberger.

SPEAKER_05 39:53

Raminsburger's like, all right, things that are never happening. I listened to the podcast this week. All right, that's not gonna super goof, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

But EAC bring putting all cards into the equal, never gonna happen.

SPEAKER_06 40:08

That'd be so good.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

Oh man.

SPEAKER_06 40:12

Whatever does happen, I need to immediately grab the podcast, though, because I will just be talking about it.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

We will be losing our minds and be like, Robert predicted it. No, it's like, oh, they took Robert's idea and put it into the game.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

It'd be great. Oh man. Um, okay, so we just talked about finding email being coming up into Lorcana because it's a Pixar. Um, is there something in Pixar that you're looking forward to?

SPEAKER_06 40:37

So I have to try and like think of what's Pixar because Disney animation and Pixar blends together so much for me now. Um so Toy Story's obviously coming, and that's exciting. Um Pixar is good. Uh I think is cars Disney Animation or Pixar? Pixar. Cars is Disney Pixar. Cars would be fun. I think Racer. You could add, yeah, you could add racer archetype while also branching out a little bit. Um I feel really bad that I can't think of Pixar. Like Coco, um, finding me. Oh, Coco's Pixar too. It's not Disney Animation. See to me that in my head, that one's Disney. Coco is like top, top for me, actually. Now that you mentioned it.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Yeah, no, I was pretty sure. I was pretty sure that I think you mentioned Coco the last time you were on, but we I probably did because that that movie like punches me in the gut so much.

SPEAKER_06 41:29

And like, oh my goodness, I haven't even thought about them. I just mentally blocked it away. I think because I don't know if I can watch that movie right now with my nanopassing. Like, I'm pretty sure that movie would ruin me more than it already does. Because it already messes with me.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

Like it is fair. I had I had to wait a while after my grandmother passed to watch it again. Yeah. So I I totally understand. Yeah. It's one of those emotional gut putt movies for sure, but in a great way. Correct.

SPEAKER_06 41:55

It it does it because they're so like respectful of one, the culture, but like the way they approach the whole topic in general is, and it's just that's why it's like, why? Why you have to be so good with it? Stop.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

I think I think that's like where I'm hoping that they go is they lean in a lot to the emotional side of Pixar. Um and like really like try with the art to bring that in. I obviously know like they can't have the audio, which is a big part of the Pixar too, right? Um, but that's my hope is like they bring in some of those pieces um as they're building out these Pixar decks.

SPEAKER_06 42:31

Um speaking of emotional punches, I'm really surprised that the Fox and the Hounds cards didn't have the song as a song. And I can't think of the name of the song at the moment, but um the big like emotional piece when she's leaving Todd. Oh, yeah. And like I'm really surprised that didn't make it into the song.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

I feel like they were like, okay, we can't have people crying as they're opening cards. And they were like, we can't have a Sarah McGloskin moment. That's fair. Um so I think that's probably why they did it, but they also it might be an IP issue.

SPEAKER_06 43:12

That's fair.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

Because I do think it's an it was an actual song before it was in the movie.

SPEAKER_06 43:17

That's yeah, that's that's fair.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

Um so I do think sometimes that they have to think about that. Um, which I why I think they don't have um any Elvis songs.

SPEAKER_06 43:27

Ooh, yeah, yeah, Lilo and Stitch. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

And it's something I was thinking about when with the Lilo and Stitch uh franchise thing, is because like Elvis is such a big part of Lelo and Stitch, but they don't have any of that.

SPEAKER_06 43:38

No, that checks out. Um okay, I actually pulled up because I cannot, like I said, I can't split Pixarp and did the animation for some reason in my head post like 2002. Um but and Stephanie's ears are gonna start ringing because she thinks this is not one of the good movies, but the good dinosaur.

SPEAKER_03 43:55

I've never seen it.

SPEAKER_06 43:56

The good dinosaur would be incredible. There's so much fun stuff in that. Speaking of Another movie that helps you go through the grief of losing somebody. But that movie's great.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

So that I think that there's only a few, there's like just the smallest handful of Disney movies, Disney and Pixar movies that I haven't seen and with dinosaurs on that list.

SPEAKER_06 44:13

Do recommend, although it is very apparent that they had, you know, struggle getting it sorted out. But I it's it's very fun. And then Inside Out will also be Inside Out.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

I mean I am anxiety. So like it makes it inside out. Makes it makes it important. Inside Out, Inside Out too. Riley's emotions will need to be in Morcana.

SPEAKER_06 44:35

Yeah. Like anger is just a red card that banishes something on injury. What like easy? Easy. Easy.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

It writes itself. But the problem is anxiety isn't orange. So um it's a red card. There we go.

SPEAKER_06 44:50

Or it's a ruby amber dueling card.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

Oh yeah. I mean, also, yeah, we haven't seen dueling cards in a while. Do you think they're gonna come back?

SPEAKER_06 44:58

Um that's gonna be interesting. I kind of hope they do some reprinting of them. Maybe. But I hope I hope they come back in general, whether it's a reprint or like they print new ones. Um, I don't want them to like abandon mechanics, which they haven't done so far. We thought locations were out the window and then they started coming back with some um some new things, RIP items. I want you to come back as an archetype. But um yeah, I think I think having dual links is good and it's really cool, and I let you put some more power behind those carts. Maybe not tramp levels of power. Although tramp's real problem is willow, the tree's gotta go. But anyway, uh yeah, I think it's a really cool mechanic and idea and and and fun. So okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:42

Yeah, that that's that's my thoughts on it too. Is I think that even if we don't get the ones that are currently in rotation, fresh new ones are like yeah, like reprinted because I do think a lot of them are actually very powerful. Um, just having that as an idea again. Like I think just making and then maybe making the ones that are powerful in ink pairings that aren't as powerful.

SPEAKER_06 46:05

Right. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. I I like that it let them influence archetypes that the community was kind of already building around a little bit. And some of them reinforced, and others they were like, but what if we did Yeah. And so, and I think like the Ruby Emerald comes to mind with all of the Alice in Wonderland cards, kind of doing the damage addition and then um getting around all the um ward and resist and stuff like that. Uh I wish it was a little stronger, but maybe not at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

Yeah, no, I I I agree. I I really liked it as an idea. Um, if they leaned in a little bit harder on it, I think it would have been seen more play. Yeah. So all right. Um, any last minute uh thoughts?

SPEAKER_06 46:48

Um like item deck archetypes again, please. No, I I really missed it. I miss the uh I miss the the way they both play it. Specifically the Ruby Emerald Steal Your Lore uh one that nobody enjoyed being around, including me, but it was very fun.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

It was not fun at all, but I I understand what you're talking about. Um yeah, no, I I think that I think I want to see more archetypes again. Just and I think actually our meta's relatively diverse and doing very well. Um, but I'd like to see locations and items do well. So um, all right. Well, with that, happy questing.

SPEAKER_04 47:28

Daddy quest.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Thanks for tuning in to the Lorcana Muses. If you like today's episode, be sure to follow us on social media. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Blue Sky at the Lorcana Muses, and on X at Lorcana Muses Pod. Want to rep the team? Check out our official merch over on Fourthwall. We've got lore books, t-shirts, mats, viper sleeves, stickers, pins, and more. You can find it at the hyphen Lorcana Museshop.forthwall.com. And big news, we're now proud Vault X ambassadors. We've trusted Vault X to keep our collection safe since day one, and now you can too. Head to their site and use code Lurcana Muses for 10% off your order. No space between Lurcana and Muses. Until next time, remember to drink water, take breaks, keep questing, and keep staying true to yourself.