Looking back at Disney Lorcana's second set, Rise of the Floodborn, we were first introduced to our frustrating little friend. Little did we know the impact he and his Floodborn friends would have during the Ursula's Return meta. Let's dive in and take a look at the dynamics that caused this menace to be our first card to receive such a significant errata, effectively rendering the card to be unplayable.

Comparing the Original to the New Version

• Costs 3 ink to play, up from 2
• Loses Ward
• You must use Shift in order to trigger the effect, rather than just playing a Floodborn character.

How Bucky Became a Problem

Let's take a look at the winning deck from the Disney Lorcana Challenge event in Chicago, piloted by Brian "Th3 Rat" Courtade for some context:

Amber/Amethyst | Stefen Delgado

• Characters (43)
• 2 Flynn Rider - Confident Vagabond
• 3 Aladdin - Brave Rescuer
• 3 Flynn Rider - His Own Biggest Fan
• 3 Jafar - Dreadnought
• 4 Beast - Tragic Hero
• 4 Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor
• 4 Diablo - Maleficent's Spy
• 4 Diablo - Devoted Herald
• 4 Robin Hood - Beloved Outlaw
• 4 Robin Hood - Champion of Sherwood
• 4 Ursula - Deceiver
• 4 Ursula - Deceiver of All

• Actions (1)
• 1 Ba-boom!

• Songs (14)
• 1 And Then Along Came Zeus
• 2 We Don't Talk About Bruno
• 3 Sudden Chill
• 4 Let the Storm Rage On
• 4 Strength of a Raging Fire

• Locations (2)
• 2 Hidden Cove - Tranquil Haven

The overall strategy for Brian was to rip cards from the opponent's hand through multiple discard strategies. Depending on your starting hand, this could start as soon as turn two. The line is to play Diablo - Maleficent's Spy on turn one to get an understanding of what's in the opponent's hand. If you had a safe way to keep Diablo - Devoted Herald in play past turn two, you could then play Bucky, use an action card to shift Diablo - Devoted Herald into play. This triggers Bucky and forces the opponent to discard a card. Because Diablo - Devoted Herald can sing any song that costs up to 3, this allowed you to immediately deal with board threats if there was one through the use of a Let the Storm Rage On or Strength of a Raging Fire. If no threats are present, then simply sing Sudden Chill and the opponent is out two cards while you can stabilize your card advantage with an exerted Diablo - Devoted Herald, drawing you a card every time your opponent draws one. From here, you have enough Floodborns in the deck to force the opponent to either play cards, ink them, or risk having them discarded as long as Bucky remains in play. Once down to little to no hand, Flynn - His Own Biggest Fan comes out to start closing the game questing for 4 lore minus one for each card in your opponent's hand. The deck runs very little uninkable cards, making the deck even more consistent. Thanks to the support from Steel, you have all the removal needed to keep Flynn alive and prevent your opponent from even remotely having a chance to come back.

What makes Bucky oppressive was the introduction to alternate Shift costs introduced in Ursula's Return. This allows for extremely exploitative plays that can truly make the game unenjoyable for the opponent. I am recalling a match during the Ursula's Return Set Championships where my opponent's only out was to pay 5 ink to play A Whole New World while I had two Diablo - Devoted Herald on the board, exerted. This allowed me to draw enough cards to play enough alternative cost Floodborn characters to completely discard their hand the following turn. I played an additional Bucky, shifted Diablo - Devoted Herald two times, played an Aladdin - Brave Rescuer, and sang Sudden Chill with Ursula - Deceiver of All for the remaining two cards, not to mention also drawing from all of that discard from Prince John - Greediest of All. While amazing to pull off, I couldn't help but imagine the frustration my opponent felt as that was their only play to try and remain in the game. As someone who plays competitively, it really felt like if you weren't playing this deck, you were struggling to win harder than just dealing with the mirror, which is what made me commit to this deck for the Set Championships this month.

Facing an Identity Crisis

Once the errata announcement dropped, I think we were all shocked that it was an errata over an outright ban. Granted, the changes alone make Bucky extremely unplayable at this point, but we understood it had to be done. Emerald has some of the strongest discard mechanics in the game. While other competitive players call discard mechanics lazy design, I actually find it important to keep control decks in check due to their massive ability to card draw throughout the game and find all the outs needed in the event they lose tempo. However, I felt Bucky's effect came too soon after the game's release. As a result, we saw the alternative shift cost mechanics heavily exploited for this very reason. This shows that as the game continues to evolve, we will begin to see more of these scenarios pop up. For example, Ariel - Spectacular Singer is a card that retains play equity due to its powerful ability to try and find ANY song. As new songs are introduced each set, she continues to maintain value. This isn't inherently bad card design, but we do eventually get to a point where new cards will breathe life into older cards due to synergies. Bucky was just too powerful at this state of the game.

Final Thoughts

As we come to a close for Ursula's Return and head to Toronto for the first Disney Lorcana Challenge with the errata in effect, I couldn't be any more excited to see what creative solutions we have yet to explore for the format. Granted this is a weird Set 4.5 meta for the challenge, I'm sure we'll see some decks that suffered from discard flex a bit more. However, with the squirrel unable to keep the likes of Ruby/Amethyst in check, I can't help but to ask myself... what will?

What are your plans moving forward in a post-errata Bucky world? Does Emerald/Steel remain playable? Are we exploring new ink pairs? Do we just hold on until Shimmering Skies is legal? Let me know your thoughts! X: @_EmeraldWeapon_, and let's continue the conversation!

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