Tamatoa’s Hoard – A Casual Deck Tech For Lorcana

Disney Lorcana continues to sell well at hobby shops, and is already appearing in mass market retail. With wider availability, building a deck from scratch is more feasible for most players. However, many players are still using a limited card pool. I consider this a casual deck less for its power level and more based on it being very gimmicky. Without further ado, here is the list on Dreamborn.

Each color of ink has one or two areas it excels in. In this case, the Item synergies in Sapphire and deck manipulation and card draw in Amethyst. While not every Item in the game has an impact on the game, they all offer some benefit. It is when they are played en masse that the true benefits show. On the other hand, card advantage is always powerful. The ability to know the top card of the deck is handy too. Either you draw it immediately or sacrifice it to One Jump Ahead. You can use One Jump Ahead blindly, but it carries risks.

While these colors have some great items (Fishbone Quill and Eye of the Fates most notably), most of the other available items pale in comparison to other colors. For the time being, we simply use what’s available, as their board presence is the most important part. Additional sets may add better options, and are the first thing to look at when making upgrades.

As suggested by the title of the article, this deck wants to stall the game to the point that Tamatoa, So Shiny! can win with just one or two quests. He starts with one Lore, and gains one for each other Item you have in play. With two copies of Eye of the Fates played and activated the turn he can quest means you gain 5 Lore, assuming you have no other Items. Getting 25% of the way to victory is powerful. Considering he costs 8 ink, you likely have gained some Lore previously. Every other card helps ramp or fix draws.

Of course, putting everything on such a large target has its drawbacks. A well-played Dragon Fire can ruin your game plan. An obvious solution would be to add Aurora, Dreaming Guardian to give Tamatoa (and your other characters) Ward. This ensures he gets at least one quest. Belle, Strange but Special can help ramp while also being a powerful threat in the late game. Another copy of Fishbone Quill not only adds more ramp, but is another item to fuel Tamatoa.

While certain decks are showing signs of being the core of the meta, at this point there is no official organized play or competitive scene. Indeed, most people will be playing casually at home or at their local game shop. This deck is perfectly suited for those types of games, being both effective without being oppressive and fairly inexpensive to put together. As a bonus, only a handful of cards are truly rare, so you should be able to easily build this as your collection grows.