Hello and welcome back to Illumination, the Disney Lurkana podcast.
My name is Max.
And I'm Sam.
And we are here this week.
We are here to prepare you for a song.
I'm not going to sing it.
I'm not going to do the Lurkana villain thing.
I think he has a trademark on it at this point.
Jeremy Irons, Jim Cummings, Baker are the ones who can sing the topic of this particular
episode.
This is the Be Prep episode, episode 27 for those of you keeping track.
Appreciate everybody being here.
If this is your first time, welcome on in.
This is definitely going to be more of a foundational episode, something to refer back to in the
future.
We call it the Be Prep episode, but really it could be just like the board white episode.
Anything that deals with a wide board.
If we're talking about smaller characters, grab your sword fits into this description,
under the sea fits into this description.
Big Sisu.
Big Sisu fits in this description.
All of these things, a little bit different than the others, obviously.
But when it comes to wiping the board, that's what we're talking about this particular episode.
So why are we talking about this now?
Why are we talking about a first chapter song now in the world?
Sam, why are we talking about this?
Because we're seeing a lot of it in the meadow right now.
Yeah, I think that this has really started to creep back into strong favor.
And I'm talking specifically about be prepared at this point in the past couple of months,
we're seeing a huge uptick in it.
Some decks are playing multiple Sisu's and four copies of be prepared.
Some decks are playing more Sisu's, less be prepared.
But anyway you spin it, be prepared is being played pretty heavily in the red decks that
are looking for it.
So we wanted to talk over how be prepared works.
This can be a very difficult card for newer and even more skilled players to navigate
the water.
So we're here to hopefully help you a little bit in your preparations and hope that you
will not be caught unprepared by this card.
Let's start off.
I'm sitting across from the table and I'm not playing be prepared.
The first thing, obviously, when we're talking about it, be prepared style of board wipe
is identifying quickly if your opponent is on that style of deck or not.
We're talking about red decks that want to go big or play a long game.
We're talking about green decks that might want to sing together.
We are talking about steel decks that might want to try to go a little bit bigger.
Commonly this board wipe style is paired with big tank right now.
It's not so popular in the amber decks right now.
Typically the amber decks are just dealing with one threat at a time or being so aggressive
they do not care to answer threats and just decided to be the threat themselves.
That is the first thing you need to start to unpack.
And Lorcanah, unlike Magic, is very demanding of you knowing the game.
You have to know that your opponent is capable of these things and you have to know it fairly
quickly into the matchup.
Sam, how early are you thinking about what is my opponent on?
Turn one.
Are you judging their first turn ink and trying to immediately identify what they're doing?
Yes.
I think that that is the right way to approach the topic.
Imagine your opponent does something like ink a three drop Sisu, Bolden Warrior, and
then plays a Magic Broom, Illuminary Keeper.
We know exactly what deck they are on.
For the most part.
As Lorcanah evolves, we're going to start to see the color not define the deck as much
as it does now.
I think amber steel is probably the trickiest one to do it off of ink.
Is my opponent going to wipe my board?
Is my opponent going to be proactive?
Is a more generic starting question to the whole entire puzzle.
So like Sam said, turn one, you're really going to be evaluating what your opponent
inks versus play, if anything, so you can start to figure out, okay, what deck are they
on?
Because that's really going to inform.
If you're on the draw, Sam, do you think seeing an opponent ink and play a card will change
what you initially were going to ink sometimes?
Yeah, definitely.
Especially when I am playing, like, for instance, a deck that has a song in it, has songs in
it.
If I see green get inked, I'm probably going to ink, for example, friends on the other
side if it's in my opening hand.
We know you only play red purple.
It's okay.
You can call out the friends on the other side.
It's all right.
It's true.
It's absolutely true.
Wanting to not have your card get taken is a pretty strong reason to want to ink it.
And it changes your game playing.
It's like, oh no, I was going to ink Trivial four or five drop that wouldn't come up so
much later in the game and use my on curve friends on the other side.
That changes when you see green.
Another example is if I know I'm playing a steel deck, then my one drop of choice might
change.
Elaborate.
In green purple, when I'm playing that, I have Diablo's brooms and turn a box followers.
I think normally I would start off with turn a box followers or broom.
But if I saw steel, I would probably do Diablo.
That way, if they are able to kill it quickly, I get a card from it.
I think that's fair to say.
I think for that reason, we've seen an uptick in people opting towards Diablo.
Also people opting to bring back Olaf.
Warm hug enjoyer.
That's not his name.
That's just what I call him because he enjoys warm hugs.
Being a one three can obviously absorb most of the steel removal that would get played
quickly.
So that is a really good counter play and helps truly inform how you're setting up in
the early game.
One thing here with be prepared.
My opponent is going to be on be prepared.
What are your plans against be prepared?
You should know in the abstract what you're trying to do.
I have played be prepared and I have lost the game before I've gotten to seven ink before.
Yes.
Some decks are going to go, Oh, be prepared deck.
You did.
And that's a logical way.
If that's what your deck does foot to the gas.
For example, if I'm playing, maybe it's like an amber steel aggressive deck, more of the
diggy diggy hole style of deck.
And I see my first turn opponent ink a three drop see Sue play a one drop purple card.
I got all purple, purple, red, Ruby amethyst, the enemy.
I'm going to rush them instead of playing my happy on turn one, relatively weaker play
or maybe playing my Cinderella and trying to bluff a song.
I'm going to play daisy duck because I need to try to end this as fast as I can.
That's a reasonable thought.
Not always correct.
I still think Cinderella is just an insanely ridiculous one drop that just is so scary.
You almost should be bluffing it all the time.
It's so good.
But I do think that the more aggressive early starts are a bit more important when you see
something like Ruby, you see something like Sapphire come down on the other side of the
table.
You might want to hit the gas.
Other alternatives are maybe I need to play more conservatively.
Maybe I need to not open myself up to getting heavily hit by be prepared.
So I'll play a slower game.
For example, Ruby Sapphire might instead of trying to play a bunch of smaller characters
might go, you know what?
I'll link the T-Paw.
I'll play sale instead.
It'll give me more flex options and I'll just wait to play something until I can play
a Maui shark stall the game, try to force my opponent to be prepared to answer it.
So this is another way to do it too by doing the reverse and making the game nice and slow
if that's your deck's preferred pace of play.
So you really need to understand what you're doing in a world of be prepared.
So let's really hone in on this kind of cards.
We know what we're doing before.
We have a game plan, right?
Have a game plan.
Understand what you're going to do.
All right.
We're at a world of be prepared.
What do I do after my opponent has be prepared?
There's an old adage that the first player to be prepared tends to be the one who's on
the back foot.
If it's both players playing a be prepared deck.
I want to use this as a segue to get into what if I'm playing a be prepared.
What you can do to prepare for a be prepared is you don't want to overcommit, especially
on the turn before they can go to seven ink, right?
Pretty obvious.
It's the most obvious part of this is you don't want to go, I have three characters
in hand.
I'm going to call down and then I'm going to pass the turn.
They're going to ink and banish all my creatures.
That's bad.
Yeah.
You just want to hold.
And sometimes you can't gas up hard enough.
I think how often, Sam, do you put your opponent to the test?
So let's say in this scenario, I'm at 15.
I have two characters in play.
I have two more characters in my hand.
My two characters in play can quest for two.
The two characters in my hand can quest for three.
How often will you go, you know what?
I'm going to put my opponent to the test and I'm going to slam these two characters down
because I'm presenting game on board at that point.
Pretty often you're more into make them have it is your answer to the be prepared.
The first be prepared.
This is against an unknown opponent.
If I'm about to win, you could put lethal on the board.
I think it depends on how many cards I have in my hand.
I mean, I know you said how many if I'm holding back a couple of characters that I can slam
down after a be prepared, I might try to make them.
So if you had four characters, you'd be much more willing to commit two of them to the
board.
Yeah.
But if you had only two characters, you'd be much less willing to commit them to the
board there.
So I think what I would do in this situation is to put lethal on board and make them have
it and save whatever I have in my hand that over lethal.
I think there's also a good point.
We're talking about cards and I think the opponent's cards in hand are really important
there too.
How many cards have they drawn?
Are they using the their friends on the other side?
Are they using Merlin rabbit?
What is their board state look like?
Is a be prepared going to be a four for four?
If it is, maybe that's not so bad.
Are they really impactful cards that are very good against me that the opponent has access
to right now?
And what characters are on board?
Are there two rabbits and a Diablo on board that's going to draw me three cards when they
be prep?
I think I'm okay with that.
Right.
Exactly.
There's a lot of factors to know.
And I think the most important part of it is knowing what's going to happen after you
be prep.
Like you said, it's like, okay, if they wipe my board, I'm going to recover by drawing
two cards off of the board wipe and then I'm going to draw a card for turn.
So I have three cards going into the following turn.
And the reason why, to go back to the original question of why they say the first person to
be prepared tends to be the one who's losing the game.
It's because you have now gone, I feel I am behind on board.
I do not feel without being able to wipe the board.
I can catch up to my opponent.
So therefore I have to do so.
And generally then your opponent gets first crack, crack at reloading the board.
Same reason why people have a tough time playing a whole new world, because if you hold new
world typically are committing something to either ink or a character to sing it.
And then you're down a resource or five in the case of using just pure ink.
Do you have enough resources to make the value worth it?
And when then you pass over to your opponent who has an entire fresh board to use these
brand new seven guards that you put into their hand, going back to be prep a little, I think
if you're able to be the first person that be preps, but you have say 10 ink and you're
able to be prep and then play something that's a lot stronger than just having to be prep
on turn seven.
Yes.
Sam, who is jumping our notes.
That is correct.
So getting into you're the player playing be prepared.
When do I need to be prepared?
I think a lot of people who play against be prepared and get beaten by it tend to think
that they can just adopt a be prepared deck and just play be prepared.
It's great.
Every time is far from the truth.
Hopefully leading into this part of the discussion, we've made it kind of clear that you almost
don't want to be prep.
Do you know something that I have learned over this past year and change of playing
Lurkana is especially since I play be prep decks almost all the time is you really want
to go through all your options before you do it.
Take a few minutes.
Think through your turn before because you might, if they have four characters on board,
you might be able to take care of two to three of them without using be prepared.
And I think it's really important to not use the be prepared until you really need it.
Yeah.
I think there are some strengths in trying to not be prepared.
One of them that's kind of like hidden mode is your opponent might think that you don't
have the be prepared so you could get them to commit those last couple of characters
from their hand onto the board and they go, aha, gotcha.
If you actually have this be prepared, I think it's your last option in most cases.
I think the only time I am a be prep enjoyer proactive player of would be when I have multiple
locations out.
Yeah.
Then I'm like, Oh, I will enjoy myself a nice be prepared here.
I also think being able to take the time to set up your own board for a be prepared is
important the term before you think you might do it, play a rabbit, play a Diablo or even
pick up something that you want to save for post be prepared.
Yeah, being able to save like your turn six or your turn five Elsa, for example, or bell
on turn six, knowing that you're going to be prep is sometimes really cool.
Like you can do some great lines, like play a rabbit and then play a snake and pick up
the bell, for example, or the card you want to save.
It could be the rabbit itself.
And then your board is relatively fine to get be prepped.
You can overcommit a little bit with characters and see what your opponent does.
Opponent has the chance to trade into, for example, in a bell accomplished mystic.
Will they trade into it or will they just ignore it and quest themselves?
The character who's questing themselves thinks that they're the ones who are in a position
where they're able to win the game first.
What would be positive if you're an old magic player like myself as the beat down, they
think they're the proactive player who the onus is on them to win the game, not to stop
the opponent from losing the game from winning the game.
Yeah.
One of those things in that case, that can give you a lot of information.
So knowing that be prepped beyond the table, you want to try to lean into it, but I think
it should always be your plan Z.
It should be the last thing you want to do.
If you do have to be prepared, how do you recover?
It depends.
And a lot of that is very nebulous depending on what the opponent does.
But I think you need to keep some things in mind, things that stink after you cast be
prepared.
I think public enemy number one is probably location.
If I wipe my board of two or three characters to wipe my opponent's board of five or six
characters and they follow up by playing a location or two, that's kind of a disaster
for me.
I have to be able to answer that.
So being aware of that, I will often cling to a madam in Fox, often cling to a Maui.
If I have my druthers, I can cling to maybe both in my hand, for example, I might hold
onto that hideaway.
I might be able to hold onto that.
And along came Zeus ways I can answer a location as cleanly as my deck will permit me to.
So those are things you can definitely do to help arm yourself in preparation of that.
Also keep in mind your opponent might go wide.
So that's why we've seen a lot of, especially with concern to the Ruby Amethyst deck, a
little uptick from one to two of the big Sisu is empowered sibling.
That's so you can go, I'm going to wipe the board.
And my opponent then goes, OK, cool.
I was holding onto four characters.
I'm going to deploy three of them because I knew you were going to be prepped.
And then you go, OK, cool.
But did you know that I'm going to see Sue on the very next turn?
And they go, no, I didn't.
I probably lose this game now.
Yeah.
You can also do the reverse and your opponent go, ha ha ha ha.
Tamatoa, what do you think about that?
And you go, oh, that's cute.
Yeah.
Be able to navigate the waters in a way that gives your opponent the biggest punish for
responding to your be prepared.
So you just need to be cognizant of what's there to punish you overall.
So think about that heavily when you're doing that.
Play alternatives is a great way to do this.
Right.
Play big Sisu.
Big Sisu shifts on six.
Great example.
She shoe shifts on.
That's hard to say.
Big Sisu shifts on six.
That's very hard to say.
I don't know why they did that.
Game designers boo.
But you also can play, like you said, characters that might let me play out Elsa, let me play
out Fox instead of playing a be prepared.
Yeah.
I'm just going to set it up that way.
I'll exert that other character with the Elsa.
I'll pick the Elsa up and then I'll Fox that one character I exerted and trade.
You may leave a character or two on board, but if their Lord title is not too high, that's
not a bad thing because then they might again think, oh, they don't have it.
And then you can be like, ah, fortunately I do.
You can also do things in reverse order.
We see this a lot more out of the Ruby Sapphire deck with bigger characters who can sing be
prepared.
That's always unfortunate.
Singing a be prepared is brutal.
I've definitely had my opponent wipe a lot of my board with a Sisu.
When I was playing green purple, I redeployed a bunch of characters and they use the Sisu
to sing be prepared.
Backbreaking.
Yeah.
Backbreaking.
Yeah.
And I feel like that kind of takes away what we said earlier about if you be prep on seven,
your opponent gets to load the board first.
If you sing it, then you get to load the board first.
It's much worse for your opponent that you sacrifice say three lore to sing be prepared
with your big Sisu so that you could then deploy a Tamatoa and a Tipo.
I do think that there are instances when you would rather have that quest.
Yes.
Especially like if your opponent, if you need to wipe your opponent's board because they're
getting having game on board, but you also are up there in the lore total.
You might want to quest and then play something afterwards rather than sing the be prep.
There's a lot of waters to navigate when it comes to a card as complicated as be prepared.
As little text is on this card, the amount of thought and strategy that revolves around
a card like this is really, really surprising.
I know this has come to be one of the more defining cards in Disney Lurkana right now.
And I think for good reason.
We just talked for 20 minutes about how much forethought and planning and strategizing
has to go into a card that just simply says banish all characters, which is really impressive
for three words.
We talked a lot more about it than that.
I think what you said earlier in the very beginning of the episode is it does kind of
pertain to all the board wipe.
It does.
So I think it's really important.
Yeah.
Whether it's under the sea or whether it's be prepared, there is one thing all of these
cards will stop you from doing.
Keep it coming!