In Lorcana there's a mechanic called Shift that allows a character card to transition to another version of a character card that you've just played for a reduced cost. See the example below:

If you have Stitch - New Dog in play and decide to play Stitch - Rock Star, you can play Stitch - Rock Star on top of Stitch - New Dog for a reduced cost (In this case, 4). The added benefit is that the card can interact right away, whether it's by challenging, questing, or using an activated ability on it.

When timed right, characters shifted in can cause dramatic swings in tempo. Whether it is for that last bit of lore needed to close out the game or the ability to make a favorable trade in a challenge, you must consider the possibility of characters that can shift. With The First Chapter, we saw characters with the keyword Shift that made sense compared to its cheaper cost counterparts. However, we ran into situations like this that kind of caused us to scratch our heads for a bit:

Beast - Tragic Hero has printed Shift cost of 3, but we had no cheaper Beast character card to shift from. I really didn't see much value here since other Beast character cards hovered around the 4-6 ink cost. Even if we were to utilize the 4 cost Beast - Forbidden Recluse, at most we're saving 2 ink to Shift into Tragic Hero. It just didn't seem to curve out well. One could assume at this point that we would see another Beast character card at a two cost to fill out the curve better. However, we ended up getting a beast of a card, just not the one we were expecting:

Introducing, Morph - Space Goo

Morph - Space Goo was recently revealed to us from the team at Ravensburger and its inception has Illumineers brewing up potential deck lists to take advantage of its unique ability.

This ability opens up plenty of opportunities for any Illumineer piloting Emerald as part of their deck list. One of my favorite aspects is that it helps improve the chances of shifting a character or a critical turn where you need to interact right away. If you were running, let's say, four copies of a cheaper character card to shift on, Morph - Space Goo gives you more of an opportunity to successfully play the shifted character card. If you're running 4 copies, that's a 100% increased chance. With this card being inkable as well, there's almost no reason to not be running 4 copies.

Some Great shift targets for Morph - Space Goo

Let's review some of the characters that can definitely take advantage of being played earlier thanks to Morph:

Beast - Tragic Hero comes from Steel ink, which pairs quite well with Emerald. Traditionally it's run as a discard deck, so a turn two Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor is pretty critical to take advantage of playing Floodborn characters, just like Tragic Hero. However, getting more opportunities to play Tragic Hero sooner can help you with card advantage in the early game, as your opponent might not have much to answer Tragic Hero before turn 4-5 without losing board tempo.

Besides some really slick card art (especially the cold foil one), granting Emerald a potential turn five direct removal option just by exerting Cheshire Cat - From the Shadows is a fantastic play. With 6 willpower, it's unlikely your opponent will have answers on the board after this has been played which may allow for multiple activations of this ability. With Steel, you should have no issues dealing damage to a character before turn five to get the full value here.

Tinker Bell - Giant Fairy is a fantastic option to shift into given its enter the battlefield ability and its Puny Pirate! Ability, granting the opportunity of taking out multiple characters in one turn. (Not to mention the ability of possibly taking out an opponent's Morph just by playing Giant Fairy.) It's great to see a card from The First Chapter still continuing to get better as we're approaching Into the Inklands.

Lady Tremaine - Imperious Queen played in turn four thanks to Morph can spell an early disaster for your opponent, especially if they're either midrange or control.

During The First Chapter, it was somewhat common to see one of the 4-cost Elsas in Ruby/Amethyst. However, recently we've been seeing Elsa - Spirit of Winter become more of a late game bomb played on turn eight+. While we haven't seen an Emerald/Amethyst deck make any top cuts, that's not to say the opportunities aren't there yet. Morph just might be one of the additional elements needed to make the ink pairing work better in the future.

Conclusion

Morph being in Into the Inklands makes a lot of sense. We now have had some time dealing with the pains of missing a drop based on not having the character card we would've loved to shift on top of. Morph helps those odds a bit now. Having this card be in Emerald also makes a ton of sense as well, as those floodborn characters have even more support to see consistent play.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other Illumineers' plans are for Morph. While it may be a bit fragile due to its low willpower, the potential rewards appear significant if you can protect it.