WEBVTT 00:00:08.319 --> 00:00:11.679 Hello and welcome back to Illumination, the Disney 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:14.300 Lorcana podcast. My name is Max. And I'm Sam. 00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:18.920 And we are back at you. Episode 37. 37 podcast 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:21.859 episodes in a row. And this time we are talking 00:00:21.859 --> 00:00:25.039 about a deck that will most likely be the deck 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:27.160 we've talked about the most in the history of 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:30.160 the podcast up to this point now, I think. Yeah. 00:00:30.219 --> 00:00:32.179 What deck are we talking about? Emerald Steel. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:35.670 Emerald Steel, you say? Why are we talking about 00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:38.270 Emerald Steel again, Sam? Because it's super 00:00:38.270 --> 00:00:42.090 powerful again and still. Again and still. It 00:00:42.090 --> 00:00:45.189 did get a new toy for sure. I think a few things 00:00:45.189 --> 00:00:49.670 kind of aligned that made this deck come more 00:00:49.670 --> 00:00:53.729 into prevalence once again. We were already talking 00:00:53.729 --> 00:00:56.750 about this deck as a possible concern right after 00:00:56.750 --> 00:01:00.149 the Bands last set. Right. We were worried about 00:01:00.149 --> 00:01:03.289 Diablo decks being the blight of the format once 00:01:03.289 --> 00:01:05.379 something like Hiram went away, which knocked 00:01:05.379 --> 00:01:07.879 down the power of the more controlling decks 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:12.019 in the format. Now we're seeing a bit of a different 00:01:12.019 --> 00:01:15.379 set of reasons as to what's happened. So we're 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:17.219 going to break down each one of them, but first 00:01:17.219 --> 00:01:18.799 let me give you a high level of what we're going 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:21.239 to talk about. First and foremost, Beyond the 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:23.939 Horizon. That is point number one. That's the 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:27.260 new toy that the deck has received from the reign 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:30.340 of Jafar. The next thing we're going to talk 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:32.739 about after that is the fact that this is, in 00:01:32.739 --> 00:01:36.239 fact, a very proactive deck. I want to take note 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:39.200 that I said proactive and not aggressive because 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:41.840 it is certainly not an aggressive deck. This 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:45.340 deck is glacially slow, but it has a very proactive 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:49.510 game plan. And that is what makes this deck so 00:01:49.510 --> 00:01:53.750 much a good weapon early in a format. It's trying 00:01:53.750 --> 00:01:56.750 to do a very proactive thing. And finally, it's 00:01:56.750 --> 00:01:59.569 a deck that, oddly enough, provides fantastic 00:01:59.569 --> 00:02:02.890 counterplay for Emerald Steel. That's right. 00:02:02.989 --> 00:02:06.069 This deck is one of the best choices in the meta 00:02:06.069 --> 00:02:09.770 when this deck is popular, which... breeds all 00:02:09.770 --> 00:02:12.030 kinds of problems because that's more reason 00:02:12.030 --> 00:02:14.370 to consider playing it. So we're going to then 00:02:14.370 --> 00:02:17.270 finish off the episode with some best practices, 00:02:17.370 --> 00:02:20.330 things to think about, takeaways to maybe overcome 00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:23.789 this deck if you are not a fan. So let's kick 00:02:23.789 --> 00:02:26.250 it off. First and foremost, we're talking Beyond 00:02:26.250 --> 00:02:29.789 the Horizon. Sam, this was a card that we didn't 00:02:29.789 --> 00:02:33.250 really put on our top list for the set. Yeah, 00:02:33.250 --> 00:02:35.449 we kind of overlooked it and then we were starting 00:02:35.449 --> 00:02:37.830 to hear about other podcasters and other content 00:02:37.830 --> 00:02:40.330 creators. talking about it. Right. This deck 00:02:40.330 --> 00:02:43.819 is A recipient of a strong card, it could have 00:02:43.819 --> 00:02:45.960 avoided it. This card definitely could have been 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.379 a win more style card. This card could have been 00:02:48.379 --> 00:02:50.719 a less good version of some other effects that 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:53.520 we've seen both in this set and cards like it 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:56.819 that existed already in the game. So a hard card 00:02:56.819 --> 00:02:59.620 to identify just how impactful it's going to 00:02:59.620 --> 00:03:01.520 be. I do think that this card ended up being 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.219 a little bit of a flash in the pan in the Ambersteel 00:03:04.219 --> 00:03:07.259 decks. Yes. Where we tested a lot of this in 00:03:07.259 --> 00:03:10.460 Ambersteel trying to just turbo beyond the horizon. 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:12.960 to take the opponent off of any semblage of a 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:15.620 good starting hand and just knock them so far 00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:18.520 off of their game plan that they can't keep up 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:20.240 with what we were doing. And I would say that 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:22.960 that worked when it worked. Yeah. The old, like, 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:25.219 what's the Anchorman quote? 60 % of the time 00:03:25.219 --> 00:03:27.719 it works every time. It just was very inconsistent. 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:30.199 Yeah, it definitely wasn't something that I was 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:32.139 worried about every game because it just wasn't 00:03:32.139 --> 00:03:34.699 happening enough. No, not even close to enough. 00:03:34.860 --> 00:03:37.560 Even with more copies of the Two Call Singer 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:40.090 4s, things like that, it just wasn't. offering 00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:42.889 enough consistency out of the gate with all the 00:03:42.889 --> 00:03:45.229 tools coming together, even without the elements 00:03:45.229 --> 00:03:47.569 of disruption in a lot of cases. There was that 00:03:47.569 --> 00:03:49.189 one sweet game when I Ursuled you and then you 00:03:49.189 --> 00:03:51.069 top decked the Beyond the Horizon and just went 00:03:51.069 --> 00:03:53.430 off on turn three anyway. But outside of that, 00:03:53.490 --> 00:03:55.830 it just didn't fire enough. But I do think that 00:03:55.830 --> 00:03:58.770 this as like a two of in the green steel decks 00:03:58.770 --> 00:04:01.870 is very, very strong. I think that it's a little 00:04:01.870 --> 00:04:04.289 bit of a better home. It doesn't really provide 00:04:04.289 --> 00:04:06.430 a win more effect. It in fact does something 00:04:06.430 --> 00:04:08.750 a little bit different. It actually kind of does 00:04:08.750 --> 00:04:11.710 more. The first thing it does is it gives you 00:04:11.710 --> 00:04:14.129 something to do with all of your small potato 00:04:14.129 --> 00:04:16.990 characters. Emerald Steel is a deck that is full 00:04:16.990 --> 00:04:20.050 of small potato characters. One drop Diablos, 00:04:20.129 --> 00:04:23.370 two drop Ursulas, Peets. Things that they come 00:04:23.370 --> 00:04:25.350 down and do something very impactful and then 00:04:25.350 --> 00:04:27.790 don't do a whole lot after that. Which means 00:04:27.790 --> 00:04:31.490 that we have a lot of opportunity here to get 00:04:31.490 --> 00:04:34.009 a little bit more value out of some of these 00:04:34.009 --> 00:04:37.329 characters. And we use them to sing. So you can 00:04:37.329 --> 00:04:40.360 do this very quickly. with a Shift Diablo, obviously. 00:04:40.420 --> 00:04:42.420 We don't have to wait a terrible amount of time 00:04:42.420 --> 00:04:45.959 to do it. So as soon as turn five, maybe, we 00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:48.199 can play our Prince John turn five, and then 00:04:48.199 --> 00:04:50.199 we can end up singing this card potentially. 00:04:50.459 --> 00:04:52.220 Our opponent's going to discard cards. We're 00:04:52.220 --> 00:04:54.500 going to draw cards. The Prince John effect will 00:04:54.500 --> 00:04:56.920 go into the bag, and then if your opponent discarded 00:04:56.920 --> 00:04:59.139 cards before they drew the three, you'll draw 00:04:59.139 --> 00:05:01.540 your three from... beyond the horizon, and then 00:05:01.540 --> 00:05:04.180 X more, where X is the number of cards your opponent 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:07.819 discarded. So even one or two cards means that 00:05:07.819 --> 00:05:09.699 they have three cards in their hand, and you 00:05:09.699 --> 00:05:11.480 have five, or four, depending if they have one 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:14.259 or two, but you have card advantage, which is 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:17.459 something that this deck is very good at utilizing, 00:05:17.579 --> 00:05:19.779 something this deck needs to utilize in order 00:05:19.779 --> 00:05:22.019 to win. Playing against the Emerald Steel deck, 00:05:22.139 --> 00:05:24.319 the early part of the game is defined by one 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:27.019 card. What's that card? Diablo. Yeah, definitely. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:30.920 Early game, the fight and the Attention is over. 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:33.860 diablo and you'll see this across various trading 00:05:33.860 --> 00:05:37.120 card games one card or one type of card put down 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:40.300 early the game becomes centered completely around 00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:42.879 that card it's the tension of keeping it on the 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.120 board versus removing it from the board depending 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:47.139 on if you played it or if you're playing against 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:51.779 it diablo is definitely one of those kinds of 00:05:51.779 --> 00:05:55.360 cards it's very much the tension builder in the 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:57.279 early game because if it's not dealt with it 00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:59.240 will generate a whole lot of card advantage if 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.060 it's dealt with efficiently it looks looks like 00:06:01.060 --> 00:06:03.800 kind of a worse version of the three -drop Maleficent 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:06.379 from first chapter. So it's somewhere in between 00:06:06.379 --> 00:06:08.839 there, you're okay. But if it's just running 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:10.800 away with the game, you'll never catch up. If 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:12.579 it's done too little, you might actually be able 00:06:12.579 --> 00:06:14.720 to catch your opponent to where you can leverage 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:17.160 an advantage. However, Beyond the Horizon stepped 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:19.819 in now and goes, oh, well, are you at a point 00:06:19.819 --> 00:06:22.079 where you're low on cards? Do you have a Prince 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:24.579 John? Okay, excellent. Then I will provide you 00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:27.439 with this burst of cards out of nowhere in the 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:29.980 mid to late game. So even if you lost your D, 00:06:30.060 --> 00:06:34.699 Diablo, you still are able to then draw up effectively 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:37.019 and put yourself in a much more advantageous 00:06:37.019 --> 00:06:38.759 position than your opponent even if you're just 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:41.180 low on cards and they are low on cards you can 00:06:41.180 --> 00:06:43.459 still just make this a draw three and that's 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:45.920 totally fine yeah and i think the beyond the 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:48.639 horizon matched with the prince john is what's 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:51.220 making decks that were able to beat diablo decks 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:53.819 so punishing to play now because you wanted to 00:06:53.819 --> 00:06:55.540 keep cards in your hand you wanted to be able 00:06:55.540 --> 00:06:57.420 to draw as many cards you could without triggering 00:06:57.420 --> 00:06:59.639 a bunch of diabolos but i think that's how you 00:06:59.639 --> 00:07:02.360 beat the deck and now it just kind of makes it 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.000 Ten times worse. This sounds like somebody is 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:08.259 an upset Ruby Amethyst player. Yeah. Yeah, so 00:07:08.259 --> 00:07:09.920 the strength in this deck used to be that you 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:11.240 would always have more cards. Like, they could 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:13.420 run your hand out, you'd refill your hand. You 00:07:13.420 --> 00:07:15.500 would answer the Diablo, you'd refill your hand. 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:18.079 You just always had more cards than your opponent 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:20.839 did at one point or another in the game. And 00:07:20.839 --> 00:07:23.240 your cards, pound for pound, are way more powerful 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:25.660 than theirs are. They're playing bad cards in 00:07:25.660 --> 00:07:28.339 a vacuum, but together create an amazing synergy 00:07:28.339 --> 00:07:31.339 engine where the Ruby Amethyst decks just play 00:07:31.339 --> 00:07:35.050 singularly. very very powerful cards in a vacuum 00:07:35.050 --> 00:07:37.829 card for card so the tension when you're playing 00:07:37.829 --> 00:07:41.730 the emerald steel deck in turns seven and above 00:07:41.730 --> 00:07:45.490 was how much can i commit to the board before 00:07:45.490 --> 00:07:48.990 my opponent presses the be prepared button and 00:07:48.990 --> 00:07:52.029 that is what has changed so significantly with 00:07:52.029 --> 00:07:54.589 beyond the horizon especially with regard to 00:07:54.589 --> 00:07:57.029 be prepared decks is now we can go well i'm not 00:07:57.029 --> 00:07:59.029 going to add to the board instead i'm going to 00:07:59.029 --> 00:08:01.410 discard one card i'm going to have you do discard 00:08:01.410 --> 00:08:03.850 some number of cards, and I'm going to increase 00:08:03.850 --> 00:08:06.930 the number of cards in my hand by a bunch. If 00:08:06.930 --> 00:08:08.970 you had three cards and I have one card and I 00:08:08.970 --> 00:08:10.790 have two Prince Johns out, you're not going to 00:08:10.790 --> 00:08:12.930 like the way this exchange happens of you going 00:08:12.930 --> 00:08:16.329 down to three cards, me going up to 11 cards, 00:08:16.629 --> 00:08:19.050 which is just crazy, right? They had four cards 00:08:19.050 --> 00:08:20.870 in hand, they discard four cards, you get two 00:08:20.870 --> 00:08:23.430 Johns in the bag for eight cards, and then the 00:08:23.430 --> 00:08:25.730 three from beyond the horizon giving you 11, 00:08:25.910 --> 00:08:27.990 your opponent three. So they effectively discarded 00:08:27.990 --> 00:08:31.060 one card and you drew like 10. Yeah, and we saw 00:08:31.060 --> 00:08:33.340 this happen on Southside Game Stream. Like we 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:35.600 saw... This was in the finals. Yeah, in the finals, 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:38.600 the Emerald Steel opponent drew 18 cards because 00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:41.580 he had three Prince Johns in play and the opponent 00:08:41.580 --> 00:08:43.860 had five cards in hand. Right, five per John 00:08:43.860 --> 00:08:45.519 and then the three from beyond. How do you beat 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:47.360 that? You're not beating that? No, when you go 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:49.919 to three cards and your opponent is at 18 cards, 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.759 six times more cards than you have. Six times 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:54.840 more cards. Doesn't matter how good that B prep 00:08:54.840 --> 00:08:57.259 is. I really think that Prince John is what makes 00:08:57.259 --> 00:08:59.659 this deck so powerful. It's not necessarily the... 00:08:59.690 --> 00:09:01.549 be on the horizon i just think the two in combination 00:09:01.549 --> 00:09:04.350 is just right prince john is this very and we've 00:09:04.350 --> 00:09:06.210 talked about prince john a lot on this podcast 00:09:06.210 --> 00:09:08.870 and how powerful of an engine it is sitting behind 00:09:08.870 --> 00:09:11.970 its reasonable stats its strong questing ability 00:09:11.970 --> 00:09:15.029 and its ward keyword that makes it so powerful 00:09:15.029 --> 00:09:17.509 usually discard decks weaknesses they don't draw 00:09:17.509 --> 00:09:19.529 a lot of cards or they don't benefit any way 00:09:19.529 --> 00:09:22.009 other than you lose the cards prince john says 00:09:22.009 --> 00:09:25.169 i don't know their loss is your gain and that 00:09:25.169 --> 00:09:30.750 is so much more impactful that way than if you 00:09:30.750 --> 00:09:32.649 just simply discarded the cards, which sometimes 00:09:32.649 --> 00:09:34.929 is just painful enough. In most colors, you're 00:09:34.929 --> 00:09:36.950 not doing anything about it because he has Ward. 00:09:37.149 --> 00:09:39.970 Emerald Amethyst, the Diablo -style version of 00:09:39.970 --> 00:09:42.549 that deck, doesn't really use Prince John in 00:09:42.549 --> 00:09:44.889 the same way that this deck does, but the discard 00:09:44.889 --> 00:09:47.029 is still sometimes pretty good. But it just is 00:09:47.029 --> 00:09:49.570 so significantly different when Prince John is 00:09:49.570 --> 00:09:52.629 out. And that's really the difference maker here, 00:09:52.769 --> 00:09:56.210 is being able to use that card to be able to 00:09:56.210 --> 00:09:58.980 put you in such a distinct... advantage with 00:09:58.980 --> 00:10:01.820 cards that you will be able to handle grinding 00:10:01.820 --> 00:10:05.200 out the rest of the game. It's just this ridiculous 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:08.379 inevitability that the deck generates now where 00:10:08.379 --> 00:10:11.340 if your plan A of Diablo fails you're not too 00:10:11.340 --> 00:10:13.159 super worried because if you have to grind out 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:14.740 a longer game there will be a point where you 00:10:14.740 --> 00:10:17.139 draw Beyond the Horizon and it'll get you back 00:10:17.139 --> 00:10:20.559 into the game pretty effectively on the whole. 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:23.700 So a very strong gift with Beyond the Horizon 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:26.899 even in just a small set of something like two 00:10:26.899 --> 00:10:29.340 copies. is enough to push this deck over the 00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:30.940 top. Even being able to play a couple little 00:10:30.940 --> 00:10:33.779 silver bullets like we saw in the finals. The 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:36.120 Emerald Steel deck that won was playing a singleton 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:38.279 grab your sword and a singleton I find them, 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:41.100 I flatten them. Able to pull that off because 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:43.600 of the sheer card advantage that the deck can 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:45.820 now generate. In addition to that, there's the 00:10:45.820 --> 00:10:47.440 other points that we all kind of know a little 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:50.080 bit more intimately in the deck's lifespan at 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:52.139 this point is it's a proactive deck. It's got 00:10:52.139 --> 00:10:54.440 a very quick draw engine out of the gate with 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:58.159 Diablo. It's got great disruptive elements by 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:01.340 way of Steel and Emerald songs that are discarding 00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:05.700 cards or impacting the board. And it has a really, 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:08.419 really strong endgame now that's gotten even 00:11:08.419 --> 00:11:11.860 more strength on the back of this new card. The 00:11:11.860 --> 00:11:14.539 deck can put down these gigantic characters now 00:11:14.539 --> 00:11:17.220 with the addition of the Space Pirate Pete's 00:11:17.220 --> 00:11:20.899 and the Beast. It's questing effectively. It's 00:11:20.899 --> 00:11:23.279 singing songs at the end. Things like We Don't 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.340 Talk About Bruno, which is unconditional removal 00:11:25.340 --> 00:11:27.049 and all. lot of cases especially when they have 00:11:27.049 --> 00:11:30.110 no hand it's really good also one thing it can 00:11:30.110 --> 00:11:32.970 do oh you drew three cards awesome now i'm gonna 00:11:32.970 --> 00:11:36.230 have you discard all three cards and that's not 00:11:36.230 --> 00:11:37.990 hard for this deck to do you sing the beyond 00:11:37.990 --> 00:11:40.250 the horizon leave a singer up and then just play 00:11:40.250 --> 00:11:42.850 hypnotize hypnotize sing sudden show you have 00:11:42.850 --> 00:11:46.429 no card double sing it with her deck is so well 00:11:46.429 --> 00:11:49.750 designed to discard cards that it can very easily 00:11:49.750 --> 00:11:52.429 give you three and take them away in the same 00:11:52.809 --> 00:11:56.470 turn. Very strong stuff. Very proactive. Again, 00:11:56.549 --> 00:11:58.750 not aggressive, because this deck is glacially 00:11:58.750 --> 00:12:01.409 slow to build a board through all of this card 00:12:01.409 --> 00:12:04.110 advantage, but it is very proactive in the way 00:12:04.110 --> 00:12:06.090 it's doing it. Then, of course, if this deck's 00:12:06.090 --> 00:12:08.370 very good, some of the very best cards against 00:12:08.370 --> 00:12:12.009 it are Ursula, Deceiver, and Pete, Games Referee, 00:12:12.029 --> 00:12:14.809 and the Space Pirate Pete. Some of the best choices 00:12:14.809 --> 00:12:16.710 you can make to play against this deck. What 00:12:16.710 --> 00:12:18.309 if I told you, Sam, that there's a deck that 00:12:18.309 --> 00:12:20.610 already plays all three of these cards? Why wouldn't 00:12:20.610 --> 00:12:22.769 you play that deck, right? Right. I got bad news. 00:12:22.789 --> 00:12:24.710 It's this deck. Yeah. You're still playing this 00:12:24.710 --> 00:12:27.129 deck. I think the only other cards that counter 00:12:27.129 --> 00:12:29.590 it really effectively is what the new Ludwig 00:12:29.590 --> 00:12:31.889 von Drake and Bear Necessities. Yeah. You have 00:12:31.889 --> 00:12:34.429 the Gone to the Taxes that's also available in 00:12:34.429 --> 00:12:36.830 steel that can do a little bit of heavy lifting 00:12:36.830 --> 00:12:40.789 there. But there's very few cards that tax the 00:12:40.789 --> 00:12:45.049 deck and are easily played. Ludwig and Bear Necessities 00:12:45.049 --> 00:12:46.970 is definitely strong, but that has to develop 00:12:46.970 --> 00:12:51.159 an entire new deck. basically from scratch, right? 00:12:51.220 --> 00:12:54.940 We don't have an amber sapphire deck that's on 00:12:54.940 --> 00:12:57.059 tap, ready to go. I think that there are pieces 00:12:57.059 --> 00:12:59.159 of one, but I don't know as though somebody's 00:12:59.159 --> 00:13:01.279 been like, nope, this is the 60 for sure. You 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:02.960 have that small caveat. If you can work that 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:04.960 part out, then you're golden. But otherwise, 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:08.240 there's not a whole lot of counterplay. And that 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:11.139 kind of segues us into the final part of the 00:13:11.139 --> 00:13:14.480 talk going over this, yet again, deep dive into 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.320 Emerald Steel. But how the heck do you actually 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:21.299 beat this deck? outside of just playing it. Say 00:13:21.299 --> 00:13:23.080 I don't want to play it. This is also not a cheap 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:25.200 deck to build, I will point out. Beast, Tragic 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:27.179 Hero is definitely at a lower price point than 00:13:27.179 --> 00:13:29.360 it has been. It was still like 17 bucks or something. 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:31.820 Diablo, Devoted Herald, same story. Like these 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:34.379 are not negligible cards. And of course, I'm 00:13:34.379 --> 00:13:36.580 sure they've seen a little bit of a tick up in 00:13:36.580 --> 00:13:40.139 price having this deck become the successful 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:42.980 meta -defining deck that it is currently here 00:13:42.980 --> 00:13:45.139 in the early stages of set eight. Yeah, Ursula, 00:13:45.179 --> 00:13:47.299 Deceiver, all. We know she went, she's come down 00:13:47.299 --> 00:13:49.419 a bit. but she's also in it. There's a lot of 00:13:49.419 --> 00:13:52.340 legendary cards in this deck. Right. There's 00:13:52.340 --> 00:13:55.019 a lot of very powerful cards. Strength of a Raging 00:13:55.019 --> 00:13:58.120 Fire at a point was a ghastly amount of money. 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:00.360 I still think it's pretty expensive. Right. It's 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:02.960 the premier removal in the game right now, I 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.480 would say. I think Brawl was that card for a 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:07.279 while, but I think that Strength has stepped 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:09.759 in and go, by the way, you can sing this card. 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:12.960 So it's very strong stuff and very expensive 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:15.620 and not everybody can afford it, especially with 00:14:15.620 --> 00:14:17.889 rotation looming, right? If I'm a newer player, 00:14:18.129 --> 00:14:21.370 there's no way I'm dropping like $700 on a deck 00:14:21.370 --> 00:14:23.769 that is pretty much going to be rotated. How 00:14:23.769 --> 00:14:25.110 many of these cards are actually going to be 00:14:25.110 --> 00:14:27.509 reprinted? Not Prince John, I can tell you that 00:14:27.509 --> 00:14:30.710 much. Negative percentage chance that card's 00:14:30.710 --> 00:14:33.710 reprinted. Diablo, no way that card's reprinted. 00:14:33.710 --> 00:14:36.809 Maybe an Ursula. Maybe. You get like Pete, Space 00:14:36.809 --> 00:14:40.490 Pete, and Beyond the Horizon that survive after 00:14:40.490 --> 00:14:43.789 rotation for this deck. So this deck has got 00:14:43.789 --> 00:14:46.649 a time limit on it. And that means that I don't 00:14:46.649 --> 00:14:48.929 want to outlay that kind of money on this deck 00:14:48.929 --> 00:14:50.970 if I don't already have the cards. Yeah, definitely 00:14:50.970 --> 00:14:54.330 not a deck for new players. No, it is not a come 00:14:54.330 --> 00:14:56.470 into the game and pick this one up. I think you 00:14:56.470 --> 00:14:59.490 can do better in terms of using your money to 00:14:59.490 --> 00:15:01.889 continue to play the game post -rotation. So 00:15:01.889 --> 00:15:04.669 that is, I mean, I guess a silver lining to an 00:15:04.669 --> 00:15:06.230 extent. We only have to suffer for a little while 00:15:06.230 --> 00:15:08.490 longer if you're not a Prince John appreciator. 00:15:08.570 --> 00:15:10.549 I think other ways you can beat this deck, kind 00:15:10.549 --> 00:15:12.610 of one that is pretty resistant, and that's something 00:15:12.610 --> 00:15:15.409 like an Ambersteel aggro deck. Doc sticking around, 00:15:15.570 --> 00:15:17.909 I'll have everybody know. I got my foils. And 00:15:17.909 --> 00:15:20.529 the quote unquote Doc piles, the decks that just 00:15:20.529 --> 00:15:22.889 rely on curving out very fast and then playing 00:15:22.889 --> 00:15:25.450 Doc to refill our hands. So we see this in purple 00:15:25.450 --> 00:15:28.549 steel. We see this in amber steel. We see this 00:15:28.549 --> 00:15:31.830 in the Kiwi Bird style sapphire steel decks. 00:15:32.009 --> 00:15:34.809 Their game plan, their plan A is to play a lot 00:15:34.809 --> 00:15:37.090 of things down quickly and then use Doc as a 00:15:37.090 --> 00:15:39.490 way to go just draw two cards, simply draw two 00:15:39.490 --> 00:15:42.809 cards. One, three on the board for just two ink, 00:15:42.929 --> 00:15:45.649 draw two. cards. It's an insanely good card. 00:15:45.870 --> 00:15:48.610 And I think that those decks offer something 00:15:48.610 --> 00:15:51.090 that the Emerald Steel decks don't have a great 00:15:51.090 --> 00:15:53.750 answer to. Like this particular deck that won 00:15:53.750 --> 00:15:56.750 at Southside has one grab your sword to answer 00:15:56.750 --> 00:15:58.970 a deck like this. And all the threats now have 00:15:58.970 --> 00:16:01.629 resistance stuff. So it's like you have Cogsworth's 00:16:01.629 --> 00:16:04.700 out, you have the new Rhino. which is absurd. 00:16:05.100 --> 00:16:07.059 You have people playing Penny. You have people 00:16:07.059 --> 00:16:09.139 playing Calhoun. These cards are everywhere. 00:16:09.179 --> 00:16:11.779 They all have resist or they all have big butts. 00:16:12.139 --> 00:16:15.539 Kiwi's deck is just full of big butts. Got Alice's 00:16:15.539 --> 00:16:17.879 in there. We got all kinds of goodies that are 00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:20.279 enormous and hard to remove. You got big boy 00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:23.340 Champo in there. That kind of a deck is a really 00:16:23.340 --> 00:16:26.179 good option. Obviously, we discussed all the 00:16:26.179 --> 00:16:28.759 disruptive elements. Ludwig, Bear Necessities, 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:31.559 Ursula, Deceiver, Pete, all these things that 00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:34.679 really stop the deck. from humming as much as 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:37.419 it wants to be humming. Last set gone to that 00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:40.580 taxes actions, all of which are good choices 00:16:40.580 --> 00:16:44.100 to disrupt. Not all of them, unfortunately, outside 00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:46.740 of the sphere of Emerald Steel. Sticky threats. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:49.419 are great. Cards that are just hard to remove 00:16:49.419 --> 00:16:51.580 with Let the Storm Rage On. Cards that are hard 00:16:51.580 --> 00:16:54.720 to remove if they have a small board. Locations 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:57.179 are a good card that generally can give this 00:16:57.179 --> 00:17:00.240 deck a little bit of trouble because their stats 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:03.340 are so anemic for the most part till towards 00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:05.380 the end if you get a beast with damage on it 00:17:05.380 --> 00:17:06.900 or a Space Pete. Do you think we're going to 00:17:06.900 --> 00:17:09.259 see an uptick in any steel deck playing Grab 00:17:09.259 --> 00:17:11.740 Your Swords just to combat this deck? Well, I 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:14.099 do know that generally one of the decks that's 00:17:14.099 --> 00:17:17.410 popular in this kind of a meta is is in fact 00:17:17.410 --> 00:17:19.930 sapphire steel, but more towards the old school 00:17:19.930 --> 00:17:23.009 style. Good old, a whole new world style where 00:17:23.009 --> 00:17:25.930 we can go Cogsworth on five, big tank on six, 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:29.250 sing, grab your sword. Yeah. To deal three damage 00:17:29.250 --> 00:17:31.450 to everything and just wipe the board. Those 00:17:31.450 --> 00:17:33.509 kinds of board states are definitely good. Other 00:17:33.509 --> 00:17:36.210 board wipes are good if you can deploy them. 00:17:36.410 --> 00:17:38.430 In addition, I mean, B prep's great. What do 00:17:38.430 --> 00:17:39.930 you have, seven or eight things out and finally 00:17:39.930 --> 00:17:42.500 be on the horizon? Guess you don't win now. Take 00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:44.259 out two of your Prince Johns plus five other 00:17:44.259 --> 00:17:46.839 characters is great. I think that those kinds 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:48.480 of elements, you need to think about how good 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:50.980 are they? How hard is it for them to answer if 00:17:50.980 --> 00:17:53.720 you're being proactive? Or how much does this 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:56.819 impact their game plan on the whole? We see like 00:17:56.819 --> 00:17:59.000 the Diablo decks attack their hand and go wide. 00:17:59.259 --> 00:18:01.799 We see some of the other style, the Sapphire 00:18:01.799 --> 00:18:04.359 Steel decks playing very impactful cards that 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:06.460 wipe their board. So there's a lot of ways you 00:18:06.460 --> 00:18:08.519 can attack this in the mirror, learning how to 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:10.650 play and advantage yourself in the mirror. mirror. 00:18:10.829 --> 00:18:12.809 You have about three or four flex slots in this 00:18:12.809 --> 00:18:15.650 Emerald Steel build to tech into what you think 00:18:15.650 --> 00:18:16.970 is going to be popular. If you think the answer 00:18:16.970 --> 00:18:18.569 is the mirror, then you need to make sure you're 00:18:18.569 --> 00:18:20.410 tooled up and ready for the mirror. If you think 00:18:20.410 --> 00:18:22.369 the answer is blue -red items, maybe you want 00:18:22.369 --> 00:18:24.829 that copy of I Find on My Flat. So it's a lot 00:18:24.829 --> 00:18:27.430 to think about, but the fact that with the way 00:18:27.430 --> 00:18:29.450 the meta has started out of the gates for Reina 00:18:29.450 --> 00:18:31.950 Jafar, this is a good choice right now. It is 00:18:31.950 --> 00:18:34.349 a hard deck to deal with and is a deck that takes 00:18:34.349 --> 00:18:36.910 a lot of patience to learn, a lot of deep pockets 00:18:36.910 --> 00:18:39.789 to pay for, but if you can pay it off, no one 00:18:39.789 --> 00:18:42.869 will stop you from your ability to keep questing.