Heart of Atlantis: Strategy Guide

Emerald/Sapphire self-discard engine. You put two or more cards into your own discard on purpose every turn you can, and that one condition switches on seven separate payoffs across the curve. Filling your own discard is not a cost in this deck. It is the resource.

The seven payoffs. Every one of them reads "if 2 or more cards were put into your discard this turn": DIRTY TRICKS on Lyle Tiberius Rourke - Adventurer for Hire, READ THE RUNES on Kida - Discovering the Unknown, CRISIS MANAGEMENT on Helga Sinclair - No Backup Needed, STRENGTH IN MEMORY on Kashekim - Wise King, COMBAT TRAINING on Helga Sinclair - Prepared for Anything, PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE on Milo Thatch - Getting His Hands Dirty, and the play condition on Escape Plan.

What counts toward the two. A character ability that discards counts. A resolved action card counts, because an action goes to your discard once its effect finishes, so playing Sabotage or Repair is itself one card. Banishing your own item counts, which is why Shepherd's Journal can pay for itself twice. Putting a card into your inkwell does not count, because the inkwell is not the discard.

Three checkpoints. These are the turns that matter:

• Turn 4, your first reliable threshold turn: you have four ink, which is exactly Lyle Tiberius Rourke - Adventurer for Hire plus Shepherd's Journal. EYE FOR VALUE discards one card when Lyle arrives, and MARGIN NOTES sends the top card of your deck to your discard when the item arrives. DIRTY TRICKS then fires at the end of your turn and each opponent loses a lore. Turns two and three cannot get there on their own, so do not plan around them.
• Turn 5, the engine starts paying for itself: Gaetan Moliere - Clever Burrower quests, and UNEARTH draws two then discards two. That clears the threshold on its own with nothing else spent, which frees the rest of your ink. Quest him first, then play Helga Sinclair - No Backup Needed. CRISIS MANAGEMENT takes two ink off her printed cost, so she lands for the price of a two-drop.
• Turn 6 through 8, the finisher: Kida - Crystal Scion arrives as early as turn six for Shift onto any character named Kida, or on turn eight at full price. Land her on a character that has been in play since the start of your turn and she enters dry, so she can quest the same turn. FLOOD OF POWER then lets each player put up to five cards from their discard into their inkwell facedown and exerted. It is symmetric, and you win the exchange only because your discard is deliberately the deeper one.

Matchup role. Controller through the early game, since a discounted five-strength body walls most of what lands before turn five, then beatdown from turn six onward behind Kida - Crystal Scion and Helga Sinclair - Prepared for Anything.

Format: Infinity only, and not for the reason you would guess. Forty of the sixty copies are Core legal, including the whole Set 12 discard engine. What holds the list out of Core is the twenty copies across seven names that come from Sets 3, 7 and 8. The Infinity format never rotates, so this list stays legal permanently.

Single-pattern keep. A two-ink play, a discard payoff, and something you are willing to put in the inkwell.

Always keep:

• Lyle Tiberius Rourke - Adventurer for Hire in any hand. He is the engine starter. EYE FOR VALUE draws and discards a card when you play him, and DIRTY TRICKS drains each opponent at the end of your turn on every turn you clear the threshold.
• Shepherd's Journal alongside Lyle. MARGIN NOTES lets you look at the top card of your deck and send it to your discard, which is the second card on the turn Lyle provides the first. Note that MARGIN NOTES is optional and fires only as the item is played, so it is one look, not a repeating one.
• Kida - Discovering the Unknown when you already have a two-ink play. She is the curve-three payoff that converts a threshold turn into inkwell ramp every time she quests.

Conditional keep: Gaetan Moliere - Clever Burrower if you have a turn-two play in hand. UNEARTH is the most efficient trigger in the deck, because one quest draws two, discards two, and clears the threshold with nothing else spent.

Ship blind:

• Hands that start at the top of the curve. Milo Thatch - Getting His Hands Dirty and Kida - Crystal Scion are payoffs, not openers.
• All-action hands. Sabotage plus Repair plus Escape Plan leaves you with no questers, and Escape Plan cannot legally be played at all until two cards have already reached your discard that turn.
• Hands stacked with the uninkables. Only eight cards in the whole deck cannot go into your inkwell: Shepherd's Journal, Gyro-Evac and Escape Plan. Everything else is inkable, so three of those eight in an opening seven is a hand that will miss an ink drop.

Ideal turn 1 through 4 line. This deck does not have a turn-two threshold hit, and pretending otherwise is how new pilots lose the first three turns.

• Turn 1: ink a card, play Milo Thatch - Clever Cartographer. He entered play this turn, so he cannot quest yet.
• Turn 2: ink, quest with Milo, then spend both ink on Lyle Tiberius Rourke - Adventurer for Hire. EYE FOR VALUE puts one card into your discard. That is one short, so DIRTY TRICKS does not fire.
• Turn 3: ink, quest with Milo and Lyle, then spend all three ink on Kida - Discovering the Unknown.
• Turn 4: ink, then spend all four ink on Shepherd's Journal plus either a second copy of it or Repair. That is two cards into your discard. Now quest all three characters, and Kida's READ THE RUNES banks a free card in your inkwell because the threshold is already live. DIRTY TRICKS takes a lore off each opponent at the end of your turn.

End of turn four: three questers, six lore, an extra card in the inkwell, and each opponent down a lore. Sequencing matters more than the cards here. Put the discards in first, then quest, then play anything whose cost the threshold reduces.

Openers (turn 1-2):

• Milo Thatch - Clever Cartographer: 1-cost 2/2 1-lore Emerald inkable. Your only one-drop. Play him turn one whenever you draw him, and remember he cannot quest until the turn after.
• Lyle Tiberius Rourke - Adventurer for Hire: 2-cost 2/2 1-lore Emerald inkable. EYE FOR VALUE draws and discards a card when you play him. DIRTY TRICKS makes each opponent lose a lore at the end of your turn when two or more cards reached your discard that turn. He supplies one of the two by himself.
• Kida - Guardian of the Path: 2-cost 2/3 1-lore Sapphire inkable. NATURAL DEFENSE gives a chosen opposing character -2 strength, and only for that turn. Cheap tempo body, and a landing spot for Kida - Crystal Scion, since Shift keys on the shared name.
• Joshua Sweet - Field Surgeon: 2-cost 2/1 2-lore Emerald inkable. The best lore rate in the deck. NO PATIENCE makes a chosen opponent discard a card whenever he is challenged, so he is either drawing you value or being ignored. Against an opponent who will not challenge him, he is simply a two-lore quester with a single point of willpower.
• Helga Sinclair - Vengeful Partner: 2-cost 2/1 1-lore Emerald inkable. NOTHING PERSONAL banishes the challenging character when she is challenged and banished. A deterrent more than a body: opponents who read her leave her alone, which is also fine.

Engines (discard payoffs):

• Kida - Discovering the Unknown: 3-cost 3/4 1-lore Sapphire inkable. READ THE RUNES puts the top card of your deck into your inkwell when she quests, if two or more cards reached your discard that turn. Hit the threshold before you quest her, not after.
• Helga Sinclair - No Backup Needed: 4-cost 5/4 1-lore Emerald inkable. CRISIS MANAGEMENT costs two ink less on a threshold turn, which puts a five-strength body down for the price of a two-drop. Sequence the discards first, then play her.
• Kashekim - Wise King: 5-cost 4/6 2-lore Sapphire inkable. STRENGTH IN MEMORY banks another card into your inkwell at the end of your turn on the same condition. Pairs with Kida - Discovering the Unknown for two free ink in one turn.
• Helga Sinclair - Prepared for Anything: 6-cost 5/5 2-lore Emerald inkable. COMBAT TRAINING deals a damage to a chosen opposing character when she quests, and two instead on a threshold turn. Repeatable removal for small bodies, without ever turning off your lore.

Discard fuel:

• Gaetan Moliere - Clever Burrower: 4-cost 2/5 1-lore Emerald inkable, Evasive. UNEARTH draws two cards then discards two when he quests, which clears the threshold in a single trigger. The most important card in the deck after Lyle, and the Evasive body means most decks cannot challenge him at all.
• Shepherd's Journal: 2-cost Sapphire item, uninkable. MARGIN NOTES fires only as you play it: look at the top card of your deck and put it either back on top or into your discard. KEY TO THE PUZZLE is a separate ability whose cost is one ink and banishing this item, and it returns another item card from your discard to your hand. There is no exert in that cost, and the banished Journal is itself another card into your discard.

Bodies (the quiet 20 percent):

• Wilhelmina Packard - The Radio Operator: 3-cost 3/4 1-lore Emerald inkable. No abilities at all. A plain body at three ink is a fine wall and a card you never regret inking.
• Gaetan Moliere - The Mole: 3-cost 3/4 1-lore Sapphire inkable. Also no abilities. Same job as Wilhelmina, in the other ink.
• Kida - Creative Thinker: 4-cost 3/3 1-lore Sapphire inkable, Ward. Ward means opponents cannot choose her except to challenge, so targeted removal cannot touch her. Her KEY TO THE PUZZLE is an exert ability: look at the top two cards of your deck, put one into your inkwell facedown and exerted and the other back on top. It shares a name with the ability on Shepherd's Journal and does something completely different. She is also a Shift landing spot for Kida - Crystal Scion.

Closers:

• Milo Thatch - Getting His Hands Dirty: 7-cost 5/5 3-lore Emerald inkable, Ward. SCHOLAR'S GAMBIT lets you discard a card when you play him to return a chosen character to their player's hand, and that discard is itself one card toward the threshold. PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE draws a card at the end of your turn on a threshold turn. He has no Shift, so he has to be paid for in full.
• Kida - Crystal Scion: 8-cost 7/7 2-lore Sapphire inkable, Shift 6. Play her on top of any character named Kida for six ink. If that character has been in play since the start of your turn, she enters dry and can quest immediately. FLOOD OF POWER then lets each player put up to five cards from their discard into their inkwell facedown and exerted. It is symmetric and you should still want it, because your discard is the deep one. THE PATH REVEALED is a separate activated ability that digs two cards deep.

Items:

• Atlantean Crystal: 2-cost Sapphire item, inkable. SHIELDING LIGHT costs an exert and two ink, and gives a chosen character both Resist +2 and Support until the start of your next turn. These are two different things: Resist reduces damage dealt to that character, and Support adds that character's strength to another chosen character when they quest. Only the first one protects anything.
• Gyro-Evac: 3-cost Emerald item, uninkable. TAKE HER UP costs an exert and one ink to give a character of yours Evasive until the start of your next turn. CRASH LANDING exerts and banishes the item so that each player loses two lore, which is symmetric, so only fire it when you are the one behind.

Interaction:

• Sabotage: 3-cost Emerald action, inkable. Banishes a chosen item or location and every other item or location with the same name. Hard removal against item and location decks, inkable filler otherwise. It discards nothing out of your hand, but the resolved Sabotage card does go to your discard, so it still counts as one of the two.
• Repair: 2-cost Sapphire action, inkable. Removes up to three damage from one of your characters or locations. Saves a quested Kashekim or Helga from a lethal challenge, and like any action it is one card toward the threshold on the turn you play it.
• Escape Plan: 5-cost Sapphire action, uninkable. You cannot play it unless two or more cards were already put into your discard this turn. Each player then chooses two of their own characters and puts them into their inkwell facedown and exerted. You bank ramp, they lose threats. Best when their board is smaller than yours.

vs. Amethyst/Sapphire Evasive (Unfavorable): Watch for: Hades - Looking for a Deal, Dumbo - Ninth Wonder of the Universe Evasive bodies go around almost everything you have. Willpower is not the problem here, blocking is: only Gaetan Moliere - Clever Burrower has Evasive, and Gyro-Evac can lend it to one more character for a turn. Dumbo is the real engine, because MAKING HISTORY hands every other Evasive character they control a tap ability that draws and gains lore. Race plan: clear the threshold every turn from turn four so DIRTY TRICKS chips them while you assemble Kida - Crystal Scion. Joshua Sweet - Field Surgeon does not do his job in this matchup, since NO PATIENCE only fires when he is challenged and they have no reason to challenge anything.

vs. Amber/Emerald Aggro (Even): Watch for: Tramp - Street-Smart Dog, Grandmother Willow - Ancient Advisor Not a swarm deck so much as a discount deck. Grandmother Willow shaves an ink off a character each turn and Tramp's own NOW IT'S A PARTY takes an ink off for every character they already control, so a seven-cost body with six willpower can land many turns early and then draw them a fresh hand. Your answer is size on curve: Helga Sinclair - No Backup Needed on a threshold turn beats anything they deploy that cheaply. Helga Sinclair - Vengeful Partner taxes their early attackers, since trading into her costs them the attacking character too. Hold Atlantean Crystal for Resist on whichever character they are trying to remove, and do not mistake the Support half for protection.

vs. Ruby/Steel Challengers (Favorable): Watch for: Strength of a Raging Fire, Beast - Snowfield Troublemaker Their removal scales with their own board rather than yours, so it is weakest exactly when you are ahead on development. Kida - Discovering the Unknown, Gaetan Moliere - Clever Burrower and Kashekim - Wise King all outsize the cheap attackers those decks deploy, and a discounted Helga Sinclair - No Backup Needed lands a full turn before their board is wide enough for their songs to matter. Helga Sinclair - Prepared for Anything picks off their smallest bodies for free while she quests. Save Sabotage for any item or location they commit to.

vs. Amber/Steel Steelsong (Favorable): Watch for: He Hurled His Thunderbolt, Angel - Experiment 624 Songs hit hard but they do not out-pace an engine that drains lore every turn. He Hurled His Thunderbolt deals four damage to one chosen character, not to two and not to your board, so it kills most of your curve but leaves Kashekim - Wise King and Kida - Crystal Scion standing, at six and seven willpower. Play around a single four-damage answer rather than a sweeper. Angel's GOOD AIM pings for two at the cost of a card from their hand, which is a fair trade for them and a slow one. DIRTY TRICKS plus quest-ramp usually gets you a turn or two ahead of their spike.

vs. Ruby/Sapphire Control (Unfavorable): Watch for: Maui - Hero to All, A Pirate's Life Read this matchup correctly: neither headline card is removal. Maui is a five-ink body with Rush and Reckless, which means he cannot quest at all and must challenge every turn he is able. He does not answer Kida - Crystal Scion either, since six damage does not finish seven willpower and she deals seven straight back into his five. A Pirate's Life is a four-point lore swing they can sing for free, and that is the card that actually beats you. What makes the matchup hard is the grind: Sapphire draw refills their answers faster than you deploy threats. Keep Shepherd's Journal available to rebuy an item, hold Milo Thatch - Getting His Hands Dirty to bounce their committed threat. Remember too that a Reckless attacker has nothing to challenge on a turn you decline to exert anything.

vs. Mirror (Emerald/Sapphire Self-Discard) (Even): Watch for: Kida - Crystal Scion, Helga Sinclair - No Backup Needed Whoever fills their discard faster wins, and both decks are aiming at the same Shift turn. Sequence around the finisher first. Joshua Sweet - Field Surgeon is much better here than elsewhere, because in a deck full of characters that want to challenge, NO PATIENCE actually fires, and the card they lose is one they wanted to spend. Helga Sinclair - Vengeful Partner trades up against their early aggressors. Win condition: land Kida - Crystal Scion first, and remember FLOOD OF POWER refills their inkwell too.

A note before any of these: Lorcana allows at most four copies of a card with the same name, so a swap that pushes a card to five is not a legal deck. Every change below is net zero and stays inside the limit.

Against Evasive-heavy meta (Dumbo engines, flying questers): -1 Repair / -1 Atlantean Crystal / +2 Gyro-Evac. That takes Gyro-Evac to the maximum four. TAKE HER UP lets a Kida - Crystal Scion or a Helga Sinclair - Prepared for Anything turn go through unblocked, and Repair is close to dead against decks that never engage your characters.

Against item and location-heavy meta: no swap is available, and that is the honest answer. Sabotage is already at four, the maximum, and it is the only item removal in the sixty. If the metagame tilts further toward items, the fix is acquiring a second removal effect, which means a different card pool rather than a rearrangement of this one.

Against control-heavy meta: -2 Escape Plan / +2 Kida - Creative Thinker, taking her to the maximum four. Escape Plan is at its worst against a deck whose threats you cannot disrupt, and it is symmetric, so it hands them ramp too. Kida - Creative Thinker replaces it with a body that targeted removal cannot choose, ramps your inkwell on her own, and gives Kida - Crystal Scion somewhere to land.

Core variant: now possible, and it was not before. Forty of the sixty copies are already Core legal, including the entire Set 12 discard engine. The twenty copies that are not are: Milo Thatch - Clever Cartographer and Atlantean Crystal at four each, Wilhelmina Packard - The Radio Operator and Gaetan Moliere - The Mole at three each, and Helga Sinclair - Vengeful Partner, Kida - Creative Thinker and Repair at two each. Seven names from Sets 3, 7 and 8. Replacing those is a genuinely different build rather than a swap list, so treat it as a separate deck rather than a tech option.

Outlook. This is sold as an Infinity list, and Infinity never rotates, so it stays legal permanently. The engine is fully assembled: Set 12 delivered every payoff the archetype needs at once. The next set is Hyperia City on October 23, 2026, and nothing about a self-discard shell built on named Atlantis characters gets worse when it arrives.