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Disney Lorcana’sAzurite Sea expansion marked a huge debut to the game, with the Big Hero 6 team finally appearing for the first time. Baymax, Hiro, Honey Lemon, and the rest of the team were such a big deal for Azurite Sea that they also became the stars of one of the set’s two Starter Decks.
This deck is built around the Inventor card type, using Robots and Items to power up the team and potentially quest for huge amounts of lore in a single turn. While it can be unfocused at times, knowing how to play will help you come up with a crafty solution to your opponent.
Azurite Sea Emerald/Sapphire Starter Decklist
This deck goes heavy on the characters, attempting to build up an army of Inventors, with the help of a few Ally and Hero cards as well.
Heffalumps And Woozles (x2)
Megabot (x2)
Key Cards
Gadget Hackwrench, Brilliant Bosun
The heavy lifter of this deck, Brilliant Bosun canshift onto a Perceptive Mousequite nicely, beforequesting for a mountain of loreand being difficult to take down through challenging.
More importantly, Brilliant Bosun fits into the Inventor theme of this deck, providing a payoff for having a lot of items by letting youpay less for your other Inventors. This is a big, swingy card that’s going to help you win, but before you get there, it also provides a value engine to build up your board state. If you’re looking to ugprade this deck,adding in another Brilliant Bosuncertainly wouldn’t hurt.
Hiro Hamada, Robotics Prodigy
In Lorcana, tutors (cards that let you search for other cards) are powerful as a way to assemble your engine pieces. Hiro takes that more literally than most, giving you the chance togo searching for an Item or Robotand putting it on top.
On top of giving you the chance to find the few Items in this otherwise Item-centric deck, it also lets you go and findBaymaxorB.E.N.,the two robots in the deck. In turn, this makesBaymax’s Healthcare Chipa vital card, as with a Robot in play its paltry single point of healing nowbecomes three every single turn.
Aunt Cass, Biggest Fan
A common card might not seem like a key player in the deck, butAunt Cass, Biggest Fanprovides major synergy with the Inventory theme of the deck. At three willpower, she’s agreat early playwhen you have other, smaller Inventors like Gadget Hackwrench, Perceptive Mouse out on the table.
One of this deck’s big problems is it often strays from the Inventory-and-Item theme into Ally and Hero cards, but Cass isone of the few non-Inventors that is absolutely essential. A lightning bolt for removal that could’ve gone to your bigger pieces, who can buff up your more important characters,aim to get a few Aunt Cass out in play at the same time.
You Came Back
You Came Back is widely considered one of the best cards not just in the starter deck, but inthe whole of Azurite Sea. It might not look like much, but this little three-ink action can swing games in your favour.
Readying a chosen character normally comes with the caveat thatit can’t quest again that turn. This isn’t the case with You Came Back, letting you pull off massive turns. Imagine havingAunt CassandGadget Hackwrench, Brilliant Bosunout in play at the same time; if both quest, then you You Came Back Gadget, to quest her again, that’s a total of11 lore in a single turn.
It doesn’t have to be your own character, either. For instance, you couldready an opponent’s Tiana, Restaurant Ownerto turn off her taxing effect.
Institute Of Technology, Prestigious University
Locations are one of the trickiest card types for an opponent to deal with, asthere’s little targeted removal, and challenging them uses up your questers and challengers with little benefit. That makes cards likeInstitute Of Technologysuch a threat, as they enablepassive lore accrualwith ease.
Drop an Inventor onto this Location, and they’ll get +1 willpower. That’s a nice way to keep things in play, but not really an effect to write home about. Instead, whenever there’s a character on the Institute of Technology, you getone free lore every turn. Lore on its own is great, protection on its own is good; both of them together, forjust one ink, is incredible.
Emerald/Sapphire Playstyle
Nailing down the playstyle of this deck can be tricky, because it often prioritisesflavour over mechanics. Ostensibly an Inventor deck with heavy Item synergies, it often dilutes that theme withHeroes and Allies, to ensure all the right characters from Big Hero Six and Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers make an appearance.
All of those cards are superfluous, though, and you should be focusing on amassing a board ofInventors first, and Items second. With all your Inventors out, cards like Aunt Cassbecome vital win conditions,and Institute of Technology becomes apassive clock on the game.
That isn’t to say the non-Inventors aren’t entirely without their uses, though. They’re fodder,things to challenge your opponent with while your Inventors push you to victory. In particular,B.E.N., Eccentric Robot’ssupport keyword makes it a terrifying way to quest for lore and buff up a character make it hit so much harder, before droppingGo Go Tomagoto gain even more lore.
While you do want to build up your Items, there aren’t too many in the deck.Emerald Chromiconis great for keeping your pieces in play instead of languishing in your discard pile, butBaymax’s Healthcare Chipis the Item you want to find first and foremost, as it gives you a cosnsitent way to heal large amounts of damage.
Your Opening Hand And When To Mulligan
Despite being a big winner for the deck, you don’t needGadget Hackwrench, Brilliant Bosunin your opening hand. She’s expensive to play without shifting, so instead focus on looking forPersistent Mouse, and hope you draw into Brilliant Bosun when you’re ready to close out the game.
By far the best early game plays for this deck areFred, Mascot By DayandInstitute of Technology, Prestigious University. Play Fred on turn one to give your opponent a difficult choice betweenbanishing Fred and being two lore down, or risk you putting it on the Location and kick off that clock of passive lore game.
Hiro Hamada, Robotics Prodigyis also a great card to have in your opening hand, as its tutoring abilitywill let you quickly set up future turns.
Make sure you have inkable cards in your opening hand, too. Fortunately there are lots of cards in this deck thatdon’t contribute to your win condition muchthat are perfect for inking like:
Weaknesses
As already alluded to, this deck isvery unfocused, choosing to include lots of cards that don’t immediately work towards your win condition. If all your value engines are destroyed and you’re left with a Ludwig Von Drake,you’ll struggle to eke out a victory.
Inventors and Item cards go hand-in-hand, but with only six in the deck,you might struggle to find the Items you need. This is whyRobotics Prodigy is importantas a way to force a bit more consistency, but without it you’re banking on drawing into them.
This deck also lacks muchmeaningful interaction.Megabot is your most useful one as a way to banish damaged characters, buthaving to banish it as part of the costputs you down an Item in an already Item-sparse deck.
