I’ve done a number of Azurite Sea drafts at this point, and it has personally been the most fun Lorcana set to draft. I decided to a first report of some early takeaways from the format. My intent is to go beyond the standard draft advice of “Removal is good, Evasive is good and Rush is good” to take a deeper look at the format. Because it’s draft I will focusing mainly on common and uncommon cards, as this will be most of your deck. Also remember in limited there is no color restriction, so you have more than the usual two colors to experiment with. I will go over some key points and then list the top three uncommons and the top common from the set in each color.
Pirates Rrrrrrrrrr Everywhere
One note about pirates – there are a lot of them in this set, and a lot of synergistic cards that get benefits from having other pirates on the board. Pay attention to the pirate tag while you are picking your cards. Also key an eye out for cards like Captain Hook – Underhanded; he can stop some of your opponents from questing due to the pirate density in their deck.
The Removal is Bad
There’s not a lot of removal in this set. The removal that does exist, such as Unfortunate Situation and Twin Fire, aren’t really anything to write home about. I’m not saying don’t play it; as in a typical Lorcana draft, you will only have 8 cards from your pool not make your deck. Relatively speaking the removal is playable, but it’s important to keep in mind as you sit down to draft Azurite Sea, hoping you get good removal is a bad idea.
Math is hard
In lieu of having actual removal, the next best thing is to draft cards that mess with your opponent’s combat math. Cards like Owl – Pirate Lookout and Roo – Littlest Pirate do a good job of this, making any challenge or quest difficult, and they both have pirate synergy. Aladdin – Intrepid Commander is an all star at pumping your entire team’s strength, and can really swing the board back in your favor. Even a card like Helping Hand can act as pseudo removal that replaces itself.
Four is the Number Thou Shalt Count
Four is a big number in this set. A lot of the best uncommons have four willpower, and not many cards have four strength. Look at bomb rares like Goofy (both Expert Shipwright and Flying Goof), as well as some of the best legendaries like Simba – Pride Protector and Tiana – Restaurant Owner also have four willpower. This makes cards like the vanilla Genie – Excited Shipbuilder better than you would expect (I still wouldn’t take it very high, but if I needed a tiebreaker late in a pack, sure). Your opponents will have cards like Aladdin, Pleakley – Scientific Expert, Dale – Friend in Need and more… be sure you can banish characters with this milestone health total.
Locations are a Trap
Imagine you sit down at your draft table, open your first pack and see the super rare Daisy – Pirate Captain or the rare Moana – Kakamora Leader. You think to yourself I can do this, I’ll build the location deck. Don’t do it – it’s a trap. This set only has two locations per color, and only one each at the common/uncommon level. Most of them aren’t very good. Fairy Ship – Royal Vessel and Perilous Maze – Watery Labyrinth are playable but also pretty easily replaceable; neither are good enough to build a “location deck” around. So before you start gobbling up all the characters that get bonuses from locations, consider there probably aren’t that many ones worth playing. A card like Transport Pod would be a first pick-able all star in Inklands; in this set, it’s pretty hard to get value of out of it.
Top Three Uncommons, All Colors
Pixie Dust is my pick for the best uncommon in the set. It can be used offensively to take out your opponent’s threats, OR defensively to protect one of your characters. The fact the effect is “until the start of your next turn” makes it insane in draft. If I wasn’t considering the financial value of the cards I was drafting, I would take this over most legendaries in the set.
As previously mentioned, you can get so much value out of Aladdin – Intrepid Commander. You can surprise your opponent who thought it was safe to quest and pump your team’s strength by two, leading you to favorable trades. He quests for two and has four willpower of his own. He also has a shift target in the set; while a two ink 2/3 isn’t exciting, it probably won’t be one of worst eight cards you drafted, and being able to shift Aladdin is an added bonus.
It should be no surprise that a constructed staple like Pluto – Guard Dog finds his way here. The card is a big bodyguard that your opponent is probably going to have spend two cards to get rid of. Anyone playing the Azurite Sea meta knows how strong this card is.
Top Common in Each Color
Even if you don’t have a Chip card in play, Dale – Friend in Need is great value, with an excellent stat line. Limited formats are more challenge based than constructed formats, so just having a good body that creates questing pressure is enough. Also, you should be able to pick up either of the two Chip cards pretty easily in your draft. Neither of them are ideal, but both are serviceable.
Evasive is always good in limited, and Tinker Bell – Fast Flier is no exception. Questing for two with three willpower is about the best you can hope for. There are more ways for opponents to deal with evasive cards in this set – cards like Pixie Dust and Longboat – but Tinker Bell is still an early threat that demands an answer from your opponent.
Gazelle – Angel with Horns is probably the worst of the six cards I’m listing here, but it’s still pretty good. This card is best not on curve. Rather, use its ability defensively to close out a game by preventing trades, or use it offensively to have one of your characters ambush a Tinker Bell or a Markowski – Space Trooper is pretty good. The stats are less than optimal, but the ability can swing the game for you.
Similar to Emerald, Ruby doesn’t have a lot of great choices here, but rush is good in limited, and Abu – Bold Helmsman can take out most characters. Remember when I said earlier that being able to banish four willpower was important in this format? Well Abu can handle all those pesky 3/4s and survive, then stay on the board as a two quester. If your opponent has to still challenge to banish him, then Abu has generated a two for one exchange, which is all you can hope for in limited formats.
It may seem like a sin to not put Sail the Azurite Sea in this spot, but while Sail is one of the best constructed cards in this set, it is weaker in limited. Yes card advantage and ramp are still good, but you can’t really count on constructing your deck in a way that will take advantage of the ramp. B.E.N. – Eccentric Robot has less willpower than I might like, but support with four strength is huge. Support has never taken off in constructed the way Ravensburger intended, but the keyword is much stronger in draft. Having B.E.N. pump your strong effect but weak stats characters to trade up into better statted characters is a winning tactic. And he quests for two on his own! I’m always happy to have this card in my deck.
Mr. Arrow – Legacy’s First Mate isn’t super special, but is solid stats for an inkable two drop. Resist is always good in limited because it makes challenge math more difficult. Mr. Arrow is just a good early quester that can stick around longer than most cards with the same stat line.
Alright well that’s it for my little draft guide, good luck and have fun.
