Lore Engine: Strategy Guide

Amethyst/Ruby midrange grind. Every single character in this deck quests for 2 lore. No exceptions. Play one character per turn on cost (2 ink, then 3, then 4, then 5, then 6) with I'm Stuck! as turn 1 disruption, and your unanswered board generates 6 or more lore each turn once three characters are questing.

The sequencing rule. Cast I'm Stuck! on their best EXERTED character in turns 1 or 2 BEFORE you develop your own board. At 1 ink it costs you nothing and buys the development time your curve needs. Friend Owl - Cantankerous Neighbor turn 2, plus Jafar - Lamp Thief turn 3, plus I'm Stuck! locking their best threat: end of turn 3 you are at 4 lore on board with their best character still tapped.

Quest, don't challenge. Every character that challenges instead of questing costs you 2 lore that turn. The opponent has to challenge to slow you down; you do not. Only challenge when an opposing body would actively out-lore you if left alive.

Matchup role. You are the slower deck against aggressive opponents (your 4 to 5 willpower bodies outlast their small questers) and the faster deck against true control (go wide so their removal can't keep up).

Lore math. 3 characters questing = 6 lore each turn guaranteed. You reach 20 lore by turn 7 or 8 without a single combat trade.

Single-pattern keep. Curve over engines. Look for a 2-cost character plus a 3-cost character plus an inkable card.

Always keep:

• Friend Owl - Cantankerous Neighbor (your only 2-ink, 2-lore body)
• Jafar - Lamp Thief (3-ink, 2-lore central piece)
• I'm Stuck! when you already have an early-curve quester in hand. The action goes on turn 1 and buys your whole curve room to develop

Conditional keep on the draw: This Is My Family as a 2-ink song that gains a lore and draws a card (sung free by any 2+ cost character).

Ship hands:

• Only 5 or 6 cost characters with no early bodies. You need to be questing by turn 2, not turn 4. A hand of only 5-cost threats means 3 wasted turns of development.
• All-action hands. I'm Stuck! plus Poor Unfortunate Souls plus You Can Fly! with no characters means no questers means no lore.

Ideal turn 1 through 3 line. I'm Stuck! on their best exerted character turn 1, then Friend Owl - Cantankerous Neighbor quests for 2 turn 2, then Jafar - Lamp Thief quests for 2 turn 3. End of turn 3: 4 lore on board, opponent is one character behind, and at least one of their threats is locked tapped.

Interaction (play before you develop):

• I'm Stuck!: 1 ink Amethyst action. Chosen ALREADY-EXERTED character can't ready at the start of their next turn. Only targets characters already tapped (after questing or challenging). You can't preempt a key play; cast turn 1 on their most dangerous character AFTER they have quested. At 1 ink it's free, and the lockout buys the development time your curve needs.

Curve (play one per turn, quest the next turn):

• Friend Owl - Cantankerous Neighbor: 2 ink, 2 strength, 2 willpower, 2 lore, Ruby inkable. The deck's only 2-ink quester. Always play if in hand. Once his ink dries on turn 3, he establishes early lore pace and 2 willpower survives small challengers.
• Jafar - Lamp Thief: 3 ink, 2 strength, 2 willpower, 2 lore, Amethyst inkable. Turn 3 central piece. Play him on turn 3 (his ink is still wet that turn) and quest from turn 4 onward.
• Sisu - Emboldened Warrior: 3 ink, 1 strength, 4 willpower, 2 lore, Ruby inkable. SURGE OF POWER: gains +1 strength per card in your opponent's hand. Best into slow control matchups where they hoard cards. Worst against aggressive opponents (empty hands).
• Gale - Wind Spirit: 3 ink, 1 strength, 2 willpower, 2 lore, Amethyst inkable. RECURRING GUST: when she is banished in a challenge, return her to your hand. A sticky 2-lore quester — opponents who challenge her just hand her back to you, so she keeps questing turn after turn. Cheap, resilient lore.
• Earth Giant - Living Mountain / Dolores Madrigal - Easy Listener / Jafar - Keeper of Secrets / Luisa Madrigal - Magically Strong One / Mickey Mouse - Enthusiastic Dancer: 4-ink bodies. Earth Giant - Living Mountain's 4 strength, 5 willpower survives most challenges; quest him freely (2 lore). UNEARTHED lets each opponent draw a card on his entry. Fine in most matchups, weak vs. combo decks. Dolores Madrigal - Easy Listener (3 strength, 3 willpower, 2 lore) draws a card on entry if an opponent has an exerted character. Time her play AFTER they quest. Jafar - Keeper of Secrets (0 strength, 5 willpower, 2 lore) gets +1 strength per card in YOUR hand via HIDDEN WONDERS: deploy on turns you have just drawn, not after spending your hand. Luisa Madrigal - Magically Strong One is a 4 strength, 3 willpower, 1 lore Rush body (uninkable) — Encanto sister to Dolores. Rush lets her challenge the turn she lands, so use her to trade into an opposing quester on defense, or just deploy her as a 4/3 beater. Mickey Mouse - Enthusiastic Dancer is a 2 strength, 4 willpower, 2 lore body (his PERFECT PARTNERS ability needs a Minnie character in play, and the deck runs no Minnies, so the buff is dormant; he is a flat body only).
• Winnie the Pooh - Hunny Wizard / Card Soldiers - Full Deck / Edgar Balthazar - Ambitious Butler: 5-ink bodies. Winnie and Card Soldiers are 5 strength, 5 willpower for 2 lore; Edgar Balthazar - Ambitious Butler is a durable 6 strength, 5 willpower for 1 lore — the deck's top-end finisher body, big enough to trade into almost anything and anchor the late board. By turn 5 with three bodies questing you are at 6 lore each turn and closing fast.

Closers (deploy when your board is established):

• Honest John - Shameless Schemer: 6 ink, 7 strength, 5 willpower, 2 lore, Ruby inkable. The deck's top body. 7 strength challenges almost anything profitably. Quest when safe; challenge when they commit a body your smaller characters can't handle. Don't use him as your only removal. He is a closer, not a single-target answer.

Songs and additional engines:

• Poor Unfortunate Souls: 2 ink Amethyst song, inkable. Returns chosen character, item, or location of cost 2 or less to their player's hand. Use it to bounce an opposing 2-cost quester (removes their lore-per-turn for at least one turn), or to re-cast one of your own characters with a "when you play this character" trigger. Sung free by any 2+ cost character.
• This Is My Family: 2 ink Amethyst song. Gain 1 lore and draw a card. Sung free by any 2+ cost character. One free lore plus one free draw plus frees an ink for another body played the same turn. The core extra-lore engine.
• You Can Fly!: 2 ink Ruby song. Chosen character gains Evasive until your next turn (only Evasive characters can challenge them). Sing on a key 2-lore quester to dodge a turn of challenges.

vs. Amethyst/Sapphire Evasive (Unfavorable): Watch for: Dumbo - Ninth Wonder of the Universe, Hades - Looking for a Deal The deck you will run into most often. Their Evasive characters quest right past your blockers, and you have no native way to challenge them. Cast I'm Stuck! turns 1 or 2 to buy development time, then race on raw lore: keep three 2-lore questers online and push your total ahead before Dumbo - Ninth Wonder of the Universe stabilizes their lore engine. Past turn 7 their card advantage outpaces your lore, so close the gap early.

vs. Amber/Emerald Aggro (Favorable): Watch for: Tramp - Street-Smart Dog, Grandmother Willow - Ancient Advisor Your 4 to 5 willpower bodies (Earth Giant - Living Mountain, Jafar - Keeper of Secrets) wall their 1 to 2 willpower flood. They can't profitably challenge into 5 willpower (their character dies, yours survives), so every failed attack is wasted development for them. Lean on your tall bodies — Honest John - Shameless Schemer at 7 strength and Edgar Balthazar - Ambitious Butler at 6 strength challenge into their flood profitably when you need to clear a key attacker; otherwise just out-quest them.

vs. Amethyst/Steel Challengers (Even): Watch for: Beast - Snowfield Troublemaker, Strength of a Raging Fire Mirror-shape grind. Both decks play 2-lore bodies indefinitely. Strength of a Raging Fire deals damage equal to the number of characters they have in play; keep your 4-willpower threats alive through turn 4 so their early casts deal 2 or 3 damage rather than 5. Cast I'm Stuck! on their Beast - Snowfield Troublemaker after he swings so he can't combo with Raging Fire on their next turn.

vs. Amber/Steel Steelsong (Favorable): Watch for: He Hurled His Thunderbolt, Angel - Experiment 624 Songs are slower than your direct lore generation. Rhino - Power Hamster's Resist +2 doesn't matter when you are not attacking. He Hurled His Thunderbolt deals 4 damage to chosen character, clearing your 2-to-3 willpower bodies, but Earth Giant - Living Mountain (5 willpower) survives. Out-pace their song plan with raw 2-lore quester density.

vs. Ruby/Sapphire Control (Unfavorable): Watch for: Maui - Hero to All, A Pirate's Life Their Maui removes your closers via the Challenger swing; their Sapphire draw refills the answer pile faster than you deploy threats. Go wide and apply pressure before turn 8: deploy multiple 2-lore questers so single-target removal can't keep pace, and force them to answer Honest John - Shameless Schemer and Edgar Balthazar - Ambitious Butler while you keep questing. Past turn 8 their grind wears you down.

vs. Mirror (Amethyst/Ruby Midrange) (Even): Watch for: Honest John - Shameless Schemer, Earth Giant - Living Mountain Whoever keeps more 2-lore questers alive wins the grind. Trade efficiently: Honest John - Shameless Schemer at 7 strength and Edgar Balthazar - Ambitious Butler at 6 strength challenge into their mid-size bodies cleanly, but only spend a turn challenging when removing their quester nets you the lore race. Otherwise keep questing — the faster board wins.

Against Evasive-heavy opponents (decks running Ariel or anti-Villain Darkwing variants): swap 2 copies of Mickey Mouse - Enthusiastic Dancer for 2 copies of Sisu - Emboldened Warrior. The problem this solves: your 2-lore bodies can't profitably challenge Evasive characters, so they sit there questing for free. Sisu paired with You Can Fly! gives a temporary Evasive trade-in. (Note: Sisu has no native anti-Evasive interaction; don't rely on her SURGE OF POWER as evasion.)

Infinity-format upgrade swap (the Infinity format allows pre-Core sets and never rotates):

• 4 copies of Jafar - Lamp Thief for 4 copies of The Wardrobe - Belle's Confidant (Set 1). Different 3-ink body (3 strength, 4 willpower, 1 lore, more defensive). Trades 2 lore output for 4 willpower walling.
• 4 copies of Poor Unfortunate Souls for 4 copies of Friends on the Other Side (Set 1). 3-ink card-draw song. Different playstyle: the Core build is pure lore rush, the Infinity build is more card-advantage oriented.

Outlook. Core-legal. The list is built entirely from two inks (Ruby/Amethyst) — every card is mono-Ruby or mono-Amethyst, with no dual-ink cards smuggling in a third color. Watch Set 5–8 cards (e.g. Gale - Wind Spirit) as the next Core rotation approaches; the Infinity format never rotates, so the same shell stays Infinity-legal indefinitely. Restock cap of 2 or 3 builds, no deeper, until the rotation timing resolves.