This past weekend saw the first major tournament in Disney Lorcana‘s Azurite Sea meta.
Azurite Sea Tournament Results
Hot off the heels of the European Championship, won by Ruby/Amethyst, many people wondered if the longtime top-tier deck would continue to reign supreme. While Ruby/Sapphire was the most popular deck at Disneyland Paris, its awful Ruby/Amethyst matchup had people wondering how it would perform this week.
Then there’s Amber/Steel, a deck with a good matchup into Ruby/Amethyst that didn’t perform well last weekend. Would this be its time to shine? It turns out, yes: a whopping five Amber/Steel variants made Top 8 of the Charlies Collectible Disney Lorcana 10K, with Brennan DeCandio winning it all.
Amber/Steel Dwarf’s Mine by Brennan DeCandio – 1st Place at CCS 10k
Characters – 48
- Cinderella – Ballroom Sensation x4
- Daisy Duck – Donald’s Date x4
- Happy – Lively Knight x3
- Calhoun – Marine Sergeant x4
- Doc – Bold Knight x4
- Lilo – Escape Artist x4
- Mr. Smee – Bumbling Mate x4
- Piglet – Pooh Pirate Captain x3
- Lawrence – Jealous Manservant x4
- Pete – Games Referee x4
- Pluto – Guard Dog x2
- Rapunzel – Gifted with Healing x4
- Kida – Protector of Atlantis x4
Songs – 8
Locations – 4
Normally, Amber/Steel is most associated with the Steelsong archetype, which utilizes cards like Cinderella – Ballroom Sensation, Ursula – Vanessa, and Ariel – Spectacular Singer to sing powerful songs, such as removal like Strength of a Raging Fire, or value like A Whole New World. This lets them combine a tempo based gameplay while building card advantage.
However, Steelsong’s matchup into Ruby/Sapphire, the ramp/control deck with a powerful top-end, is, well…bad. By adjusting the Steelsong core and making it more aggressive, the matchup becomes much more manageable and arguably favorable. In fact, DeCandio beat a Ruby/Sapphire deck in the finals. This balance of aggression, tempo, and card advantage through Doc – Bold Knight and Rapunzel – Gifted with Healing proves the deck is a force to be reckoned with.
Another Amber/Steel Challenger Approaches
That’s not the only Amber/Steel variant that performed well this past weekend. I mentioned that five Amber/Steel decks made Top 8, with three being Steelsong. The other two made it to Top 4: DeCandio’s first place list, and then the return of the king in the hands of Ruben Sousa.
Amber/Steel Mufasa by Ruben Sousa – Top 4 at CCS 10k
Characters – 49
- Cinderella – Ballroom Sensation x4
- Daisy Duck – Donald’s Date x4
- Calhoun – Marine Sergeant x2
- Doc – Bold Knight x2
- Mr. Smee – Bumbling Mate x2
- Ursula – Vanessa x3
- Doc – Leader of the Seven Dwarfs x3
- Lawrence – Jealous Manservant x4
- Pete – Games Referee x3
- Pluto – Guard Dog x3
- Rapunzel – Gifted with Healing x4
- Chien-Po – Imperial Soldier x3
- Gantu – Captain Crankyhead x3
- Mufasa – Betrayed Leader x4
- Cinderella – Stouthearted x3
Songs – 11
Decks centered around Mufasa – Betrayed Leader have been popular since the card’s release. Past iterations focused on getting as much value as possible; you haven’t lived until you flipped a Mufasa into a Maleficent – Monstrous Dragon. That’s a best case scenario, though; you can’t always rely on that. Instead, the Mufasa decks have recently shifted to more of a value scenario, especially on the back of Pete – Games Referee preventing opponents from playing Be Prepared. You can build your board state without the worry of the powerful board wipe undoing all of your work.
Like DeCandio’s list, Amber/Steel Mufasa has a better matchup into Ruby/Sapphire than a traditional Steelsong list, even if it lost to the deck in Top 4. Before the release of Azurite Sea, the archetype had an incredibly successful weekend at SCG CON Columbus, winning two of the weekend’s events. It was a bit of a surprise not to see the deck at the European Championship, but that could be chalked up to the difference between the North American and European metas.
Recapping the Rest of the Disney Lorcana Azurite Sea Meta
We’re still waiting for more data from last weekend, but we already know how things are shaping up.
Awesome data from this week-end with the two biggest events that I have them for: Azurite Sea 5 case in Rancho Cucamonga (72 players) and CCS 10,000$ in Atlanta (213 players).
In CCS, we see a direct correlation between the success of YS and the underperformance of RP and GP. pic.twitter.com/e0ESbrNyuO
— LAB | s4iler🔜NA-Championship (@lorcana_s4iler) December 16, 2024
It’s no surprise to see Ruby Amethyst rise in popularity after winning the biggest tournament in Lorcana history. That’s the nature of the game; people want to flock to a successful deck. Its conversion rate is mediocre, which isn’t surprising, given that people came prepared with Amber/Steel decks. In fact, Amber/Steel had an incredibly impressive conversion rate at the CCS 10K in Atlanta, undoubtedly preying on its good matchups into Ruby/Amethyst and Emerald/Amethyst.
The real surprise, however, is the performance of Ruby/Sapphire in the smaller tournament (Red Saber Games at Rancho Cucamonga), with three decks in Top 8. Both meta shares were the same in terms of most popular decks, but we don’t have matchup data to see if Ruby/Sapphire was lucky with its opponents or if the decklists were better equipped to deal with the Amethyst decks. One adaption they’ve been making is the inclusion of Raya – Kumandran Rider, allowing them to challenge aggro decks to help maintain board control aggressively. In addition to the power of Sisu – Daring Visitor and Sisu – Empowered Sibling, Raya has helped Ruby/Sapphire deal with the more aggressive decks. It still struggles against a strong Ruby/Amethyst start, so it’s not the bonafide Tier 0 deck we saw last meta.
In fact, I’d argue there isn’t a Tier 0 deck for this meta, and the Disney Lorcana Azurite Sea Meta is wide open. Still, it’s my job to try to rank them on a tier list or power rankings. Here’s how I see things:
Disney Lorcana Azurite Sea Tier List
Let’s review the best decks in Disney Lorcana Azurite Sea, broken down by tier.
Tier 1
| Ink Combination | Reasoning |
|---|---|
 Amber/Steel |
There are so many different ways to build Amber/Steel. Everybody knows about Steelsong, but now there’s the Dwarf’s Mine aggro variant and the value-based Mufasa deck. |
 Ruby/Amethyst |
While its matchup against Ruby/Amethyst isn’t ideal, it’s often favored against Amber/Steel. Plus, it demonstrated the ability to put up results in a hostile tournament environment. |
 Ruby/Sapphire |
Despite its poor matchup against Amber/Steel, it’s still the deck that won the European Championship and is still one of the best decks in the game. |
Tier 2
| Ink Combination | Reasoning |
|---|---|
 Amethyst/Emerald |
As good as the deck is at playing tempo and aggression, playing into a meta filled with Steel isn’t ideal. |
 Amber/Emerald |
Don’t be surprised to see this deck make a comeback off the success of Steelsong. Its combination of discard and ability to grind late-game means it can go toe-to-toe with most decks in the format. |
 Sapphire/Steel |
The allure of playing this over Ruby/Sapphire is playing Ariel – Treasure Collector, but the return of Lady Tremaine – Imperious Queen makes it a far worse option. |
 Emerald/Steel |
The one-time menace of the format has fallen off, but it can still sneak up on unsuspecting players. |
Tier 3
| Ink Combination | Reasoning |
|---|---|
 Amethyst/Steel |
Blue Fairy fans hoped that the deck was making a comeback in Azurite Sea, but it’s yet to perform consistently. |
 Sapphire/Amethyst |
Blurple has a devoted fanbase, but the ink combination has difficulty dealing with enemy boards without access to Steel or Ruby removal. |
In all honesty, it’s a pretty wide open field. Yes, it looks like Amber/Steel is ready to dominate again, but Ruby/Sapphire will be prepared and waiting to pounce. When that happens, good ole’ Ruby/Amethyst will take advantage. Even still, plenty of Tier 2 decks are more than viable on any given weekend. Amethyst/Emerald nearly won the European Championship and remains popular. Sapphire/Steel took down a 70+ person event this past weekend. Emerald/Steel is more than capable of performing. Yes, even Amber/Emerald can spike a tournament.
It’s a far cry from the start of the year when the meta felt limited and stale, and I’m excited to see where things go leading into the North American Championship next month. We’ve already seen some innovating and brewing, and I can’t wait to see what people come up with in the new year.
Looking for the best place to get started in Lorcana? Check out guide to the best beginner sets for TCG players, or our guide on how to play the game. Or if you want to get a peek at the next two sets for Lorcana, head here.
