Fox and the Hound: Strategy Guide

Emerald/Steel Evasive snowball. Every card either has Evasive, grants Evasive, or punishes the exerted body the air-engine creates. Win by parking 2-lore questers (Tod, Vixey, Copper) behind an unblockable curtain and grinding 4-6 lore a turn. The Steel splash is small — Chief - Seasoned Tracker for draw-on-banish, Amos Slade - Tenacious Tracker as a 6-STR Alert anchor that challenges as if Evasive.

Three pace checkpoints — these are the only turns that matter:

• Turn 3 — first Evasive lore lands. Vixey - Forest Friend discounted to 2 ink (with any Tod already in play) quests T3 for 2 Evasive lore.
• Turn 5 — engine online. Emerald Coil out + Tod - Playful Kit questing means every ink action AND every Tod quest mints Evasive on a target of your choice.
• Turn 7 — Tod - Knows All the Tricks closes. Shift 5 onto an in-play Tod for 5 ink. IMPRESSIVE LEAPS re-readies him twice/turn whenever he's chosen by an action or item — and Education or Elimination + Emerald Coil both qualify as the trigger source.

The Evasive rule. Lorcana challenges only target exerted opposing characters; Evasive narrows that to Evasive challengers only. Most midrange decks run zero Evasive. Park Evasive on your 2-lore questers and they grind for free until the opponent draws their narrow answer.

Matchup role: tempo-grinder. You're not racing aggro down and you're not out-late-gaming control — you're stacking small lore increments through targets they can't legally interact with.

Curve + cost-reducer keep. Any 1-drop Tod + a 3-cost play + an inkable 4-cost. The deck runs 8 one-drops and 20 characters in the two and three slots, so almost any opener lands on curve.

Always keep:

• Tod - All Alone + Vixey - Forest Friend in hand. Tod T1, Vixey T2 (SHOWIN' UP discounts her to 2 ink). A 2-ink 1/3 Evasive 2-lore body on T2 is the deck's best opener.
• Copper - Hound Pup on turn one, with a two-drop to follow. FOUND YA reveals an opponent's hand, so you can plan Boomer targeting from full information.
• Emerald Coil with 2+ inkable cards. Every future ink grants Evasive; the engine starts the turn Coil drops.

Conditional keep on the draw: Chief - Seasoned Tracker, but only alongside Boomer - Has the Beak or Dinky - Has the Brains. GOOD RIDDANCE draws a card only if an opposing character was banished in a challenge that turn, so you need a way to force those trades.

Ship hands:

• Tod - Knows All the Tricks with no other Tod in hand or on board. His Shift 5 needs a Tod already in play, so he sits dead in an opener.
• All-non-Tod openers. No Tod = no Vixey discount and no Tod-Playful Evasive distribution.
• Steel-only hands. Amos + Chief with no Emerald 1-2 drop = no early lore, no air shield.

Ideal T1-T4 line: Tod - All Alone T1 → Vixey - Forest Friend T2 → Emerald Coil T3 → Tod - Playful Kit T4. End of T4: 5 lore on board, Coil pumping Evasive on every ink.

Openers — 1-2 cost:

• Tod - All Alone: 1-ink 2/2 1-lore Emerald inkable. Vanilla curve filler and Shift target for Tod - Knows All the Tricks.
• Copper - Hound Pup: 1-ink 2/1 1-lore Emerald inkable. FOUND YA — chosen player reveals their hand. T1 scouting + real 2 STR quester. Shift target for Copper - Champion of the Forest.
• Dinky - Has the Brains: 2-ink 1/2 2-lore Emerald inkable. GET HIM! — each opponent chooses one of their characters and deals 1 damage. Sets up Boomer's exert and EoE's banish-damaged mode.
• Squeaks - Cozy Caterpillar: 2-ink 0/4 1-lore Emerald inkable, Evasive. Air-blocker, not attacker (0 STR). 4 WP survives 1-damage pings.

Midrange — 3-4 cost, the engine:

• Boomer - Has the Beak: 3-ink 4/3 1-lore Emerald inkable. SPOTTED HIM! — on play, may exert chosen damaged character. The interaction lever. Pair with Dinky to make ready blockers legal Chief/Amos targets.
• Vixey - Forest Friend: 3-ink 1/3 2-lore Emerald inkable, Evasive. SHOWIN' UP — pay 1 ink less if you have a Tod in play (effective 2 ink). Best rate in the deck.
• Chief - Seasoned Tracker: 3-ink 2/5 1-lore Steel inkable. GOOD RIDDANCE — ⟳, if an opposing character was banished in a challenge this turn, draw. Activated, not triggered: challenge first, banish, then exert Chief.
• Game Preserve - Protected Land: 3-ink 4-WP 2-lore Emerald location. EASY TO MISS — while there's a character with Evasive here, this location gains Evasive. Park Vixey or Squeaks; 2 lore from location stacks with parked char.
• Emerald Coil: 3-ink Emerald item, non-inkable. SHIMMERING WINGS — during your turn, whenever a card is put into your inkwell, chosen character gains Evasive until your next turn. The engine. Every ink grants Evasive on a body of your choice.
• Tod - Playful Kit: 4-ink 2/4 2-lore Emerald inkable. LOOK AT THIS! — on quest, choose: gain 1 lore, OR chosen character gains Evasive until your next turn. T5+ quests for 2+1 or grants Evasive on a wall.
• Big Mama - Clever and Calming: 4-ink 3/4 2-lore Emerald inkable, Ward. Only chooseable to challenge — removal slides off. At Game Preserve = Ward + Evasive 2-lore bunker.
• Amos Slade - Tenacious Tracker: 4-ink 6/4 1-lore Steel non-inkable, Alert. Challenges as if Evasive. 6 STR clears almost any blocker.

Late game — 5-7 cost closers:

• Copper - Champion of the Forest: 5-ink 3/5 2-lore Emerald inkable, Shift 3. MORE TO EXPLORE — whenever he quests, your Evasive characters get +1 lore this turn. Lore-rate amplifier. Shift 3 onto Hound Pup = T4 for 3 ink.
• Tod - Knows All the Tricks: 7-ink 6/6 2-lore Emerald inkable, Shift 5, Evasive. IMPRESSIVE LEAPS — twice during your turn, whenever this character is chosen for an action or an item's ability, you may ready him. Shift 5 onto Tod-Playful T6. Combo: sing EoE targeting him (readies), quest, trigger Coil on next ink (chosen, readies again), quest a third time. Up to 6 lore/turn.

Versatile split — the flex slot:

• Education or Elimination: 4-ink Emerald song. Sing free with a 4+ cost character. Choose: (a) draw + chosen character of yours gets +1 lore + Evasive until your next turn, OR (b) banish chosen damaged character. The lever. Mode A early, Mode B after Dinky's self-damage.

vs. Amber/Emerald Aggro (Favorable): Watch for: Tramp - Street-Smart Dog, Grandmother Willow - Ancient Advisor Their 1-2 WP flood walks into 4-WP Squeaks and Ward'd Big Mama. Most aggro lists run zero Evasive challengers — Vixey and Tod-Playful quest unopposed from T3. Dinky - Has the Brains + Boomer - Has the Beak exerts their lore-leader for an Amos challenge. Win condition: T4 Coil + T5 Copper-Champion. Race ends T6-7.

vs. Amethyst/Sapphire Evasive (Even): Watch for: Dumbo - Ninth Wonder of the Universe, Hades - Looking for a Deal Mirror-shape air race. Amos Slade - Tenacious Tracker is the key tempo card — Alert lets him challenge their Evasive lore-leaders at 6 STR. Save Education or Elimination Mode B for their 4-5 cost Evasive after Boomer puts damage on it. Whoever assembles Tod-Knows + Coil first wins past T7.

vs. Amethyst/Steel Challengers (Unfavorable): Watch for: Beast - Snowfield Troublemaker, Strength of a Raging Fire Strength of a Raging Fire deals damage equal to their own character count to one chosen character, so it picks the small-body engine apart a piece at a time. Keep Emerald Coil online, because every card you ink grants Evasive to one more quester. Tod - Knows All the Tricks is the realistic out: Shift him onto Tod-Playful T6 for an Evasive 6/6 that takes six of their characters to burn down. Big Mama - Clever and Calming has 4 willpower, so she survives Strength of a Raging Fire only while they hold three characters or fewer.

vs. Amber/Steel Steelsong (Favorable): Watch for: He Hurled His Thunderbolt, Angel - Experiment 624 Songs are slower than Evasive direct-lore. Their plan peaks T6-7 but the Resist-stacked bodies still can't challenge your air. He Hurled His Thunderbolt deals 4 damage to one chosen character, so it trades for a single body rather than sweeping your board, and you replay Vixey or Tod-Playful the following turn. Education or Elimination Mode A draws while pumping. Win condition: 4-5 lore/turn T5-T8 on Evasive bodies they can't target.

vs. Ruby/Sapphire Control (Unfavorable): Watch for: Maui - Hero to All, A Pirate's Life Maui - Hero to All is a 6/5 with Rush and Reckless, so he challenges the turn he lands and must keep challenging every turn after. Ward does not stop a challenge, so Big Mama - Clever and Calming is not safe from him; what her Ward does buy you is protection from their non-challenge removal. Apply pressure before T8: Tod-Knows via Shift 5 onto Tod-Playful T6, swing 6/6 Evasive + 2 lore + a song-readying re-quest. Commit only when Coil + 2-3 Evasive bodies all swing the same turn.

vs. Emerald/Sapphire Cow Control (Unfavorable): Watch for: location-removal, their own Education or Elimination Cow shells outscale on cards-per-turn AND share access to Education-or-Elimination — your damaged 4-WP bodies become their banish targets. Don't over-commit to Game Preserve - Protected Land unless an Evasive resident is already on it. Tod-Knows + a single song-readying re-quest is the only realistic closing line — assemble by T7 or concede the late game.

Against removal-heavy meta (Strength of a Raging Fire, He Hurled His Thunderbolt): neither of those is a board sweeper. Both hit one chosen character, and Strength scales with how many characters the caster has in play, so the answer is board discipline rather than a swap. Big Mama - Clever and Calming is already at four copies and is your most resilient body: her Ward means they have to challenge her, and Emerald Coil re-grants Evasive on every card you ink afterward.

Against control-heavy meta (Maui, A Pirate's Life): -2 Amos Slade - Tenacious Tracker / +2 fourth-copy of any Evasive quester in your sideboard pool. Amos is non-inkable dead-weight when control outdraws you; the slot is better spent on a card that keeps the lore-engine alive across removal turns.

Mirror tech (vs. another Evasive deck): -2 Dinky - Has the Brains / +2 keep Boomer maxed at 4. Dinky's self-damage lets the opponent pick the target — they'll use it to clear damage off their own threat. Boomer's exert-target is yours to choose.

What to watch for in new sets: any new Emerald 1-cost item with an Evasive grant, or a Steel 4-cost with Alert plus draw, would slot in directly. The deck is Set 11 heavy: 14 of its 15 unique cards are from Set 11, and Emerald Coil is the lone Set 7 card.

Outlook: Emerald Coil is a Set 7 card, and Set 7 left the Core format in the July 17, 2026 rotation, so this shell is an Infinity list today. The other 14 cards are all Set 11 and remain Core legal, so a Core build only needs a replacement for the Coil. Infinity never rotates, so the Evasive engine keeps working there indefinitely.