Deck Analysis: Diggy, Diggy Hole!
Why This Deck?
This is a fast and consistent deck, and in my experience you can finish a best-of-three match in less that 40 minutes, meaning there is plenty of time for snacks, water, or bathroom breaks at a large tournament - and those little food and brain breaks can really help keep you going.
But, winning (or losing) fast is not the reason to play a deck. The Dwarves Mines build of Amber Steel is a fast and consistent deck, and if you know when to replay that Lilo and which of your handful of 2-drops to play against which decks, you’ll find the deck is a very strong one!
How To Win
Let’s start at the end with winning because all the decisions you make earlier in the game are dependent on how you win (and, in some cases, how you don’t lose). But we are not worried about how not to lose right now!
So how does the Dwarves Mines deck win? It’s very simple, it plays cheap characters that quest for 2 lore, and it plays them with great frequency! Now though the “How To Win” might be simple, the deck does have a number of decisions that have to be made to get you there. This deck might seem easy to begin with, but it really rewards a player who knows which of their two-drop characters is the ideal one to play against which deck. Play the wrong one and your opponent will be able to take over the game. Some characters might seem great since they quest for so much but are either too fragile against certain decks or too much of a liability than others. Likewise, your opponent’s actions will dictate which of your winning characters you want to play when.
At its heart though, this deck is an aggressive tempo deck. It has some answers to early game threats along with early game threats and some later game plays to push through that last few points of Lore. It can recover from a Be Prepared and has answers to those characters that never are exerted that you have to get rid of.
Deck Analysis
Now for the deep analysis. This deck is 60 cards - the only correct number to play 😛. It is playing amber so it has a little healing and some fast, low to the ground characters. It also has steel which means it has removal and tougher characters. These colours together make some of the more viable aggro decks.
For aggressive characters we have Daisy Duck, Lilo, Smee, and Piglet. They are all cheap as far as ink is concerned and quest for 2 or 3 lore. They are great early game as they put pressure on fast and some of them work well with each other - like Piglet stopping Smee from taking damage. Late game, they are also great if you can play more than one of them at a time. Late game you typically need only a couple of lore but it is harder to keep your characters alive, so playing more than one a turn is key. This is where Lilo comes in. Since you can play her from your discard pile she is always a threat. Just bear in mind there are times you most certainly do not want to play Lilo from the discard! I’ll get into that later.
Another stellar early game play is Cinderella. In fact, in most situations she is my ideal turn one play. Playing her when you have a song to sing helps remove any early characters to keep their board under control so you can quest freely!
The last of the early game cards are Happy, and Calhoun. Happy is great if you have to take out evasive characters (like Diablo!). Calhoun is also a great fighter. Simply having her out makes your opponent think twice before turning anyone sideways and that means 2 lore for you!
Let's get into mid game cards now. We have Lawrence, Pete, Rapunzle, Pluto, The Mine, and Doc. Lawrence quests for two and has a 4/4 stat line. Most things you need to take out he can and survive, and anything your opponent throws at him typically dies. If Lawrence was in a challenge and survived, then you can combo that with Rapunzle to draw cards and heal him completely! The same goes for Pluto except he can be played in Bodyguard mode to save some of your characters from being challenged. So, if you need your character to survive one turn, Pluto might be able to make that happen.
Pete is a card you want to hold onto for key moments. These moments are to stop your opponent from playing Be Prepared or other removal actions that could stop you. Pete is best right before these moments. Kida is in the same category as she shrinks everyone’s strength. She might buy you that one extra turn to win the game.
Doc is another form of card draw - just try to play him when your hand is empty so there is no down side. Lastly, we have The Mine. It gains you one passive lore, and when you move characters there you can deal 1 or 2 damage to another character. If you have two mines, you can do that twice a turn! Locations also survive a Be Prepared, so they might get you closer to that finish line.
Lastly, we have your removal. The Mine is one source, but we also have 8 songs that Cinderella can sing that do damage.
Match Analysis
Though you might come across a variety of different decks out there, there are a couple of archetypes that are strong and consistently perform at tournaments to be aware of.
Ruby/Sapphire Sisu This is a win fast or have no fun match. Things to note, this deck has removal and ramp, so they will get to that removal quicker than is natural. Big Sisu takes out a decent chunk of this deck, there are very few characters you care about removing early game so the removal songs and the Calhoun are not great in this match. The ideal set up here is Daisy, then Smee, then Lawrence. That’s a lot of lore fast. This line up also makes it safer for when they inevitably play Big Sisu, only the Daisy gets taken out. Try to close out the game before the removal comes in at 6 ink because there is a lot of removal in this deck. Very winnable though and this deck is more resilient to Sisu than other builds. There are a lot of characters above 2 strength, and as soon as I figured out the lines this quickly became my best match.
Amethyst/Ruby Bounce This is a deck we have seen a lot of since the beginning. With this deck the removal comes in at turn 6 with Medusa and the board wipe at turn 7, and the lack of ramp means it cannot come earlier! Kind of like before you want to get as much lore in as possible but you do need to control their board as well. Instead of Daisy, Cinderella is the ideal start so you can sing those removal songs to get rid of the early game plays. Getting rid of Flynn is key, and removing their characters so they have no bounce targets really slows down Bounce. Calhoun is great here as she can clean up most of the early game threats. She also gets around Brawl. Hold onto Petes to play them right before they reach 7 ink (and keep playing him if you can). Also, Pluto stops Elsa from taking out your Lilos, and he kills Elsa or Maui. He also stops Foxes and their other rush characters from taking out the real threats. Pluto is an all star here! Lastly, remember, Mines survive a Be Prepared, so get those out before the board wipe to gain lore!
Amethyst/Emerald Aggro This is a match you need to control. You might be able to race the other decks, but you are on the other side of the equation here. Sing songs to remove their early character, use Calhoun to take out characters and gain lore, and once they are top decking then you race to the end. Mines are amazing here as many of their characters are taken out by a Knight at a Mine! Knowing what to mulligan is key and makes this match an almost guaranteed win.
Amber/Steel SteelSong This one was tougher because they are a tempo deck like you with more answers. Going first makes a difference here and your plays will be very dependent on what they play. Remember, they have a lot of singers and songs so nothing on your side is safe. They can reset your hand (which is great for us). This is a bit of a race, so getting those fast quester out is good, but only the larger body ones like Smee and Lawrence. Piglet is too fragile. You also want challengers like Calhoun, and she might be one of the all-stars of this match. This might be the toughest match I have played so far. Be wary about bringing Lilo back here, if they have a Calhoun (which SteelSong shouldn’t, but the Mirror obviously does) then she can take Lilo out and gain two lore. I lost a game because I didn’t path this out properly. Keeping the board empty, or as empty as possible, is important.
Ideal First Couple of Turns
Your ideal first couple of turns depends on what you are playing. Here’s my quick notes on it!
Turn 1 You really have to play a first turn character. Cinderella is ideal against almost every match, but Daisy is a good one too and is ideal against Sisu. Lilo is also good, but you won't want to start bringing her back too early.
Turn 2 Turn two is dependent on what they did. If they have a character out, then sing some removal with Cindy. If they are playing a slower deck (or got unlucky) play a two quester (or three quester!). If they cannot remove your characters easily then Piglet is great, but Smee survives more. If they are playing an aggressive deck, then Calhoun is your girl.
Turn 3 Lawrence is great! He cannot be brawled or taken out easily and he can fight. Bonus if you have a Rapunzle for the next turn to heal him up. If you have no Lawrence, then a two drop and one drop is fine. Pete is a viable option any time you have things you want to protect against SteelSong.
Mulligan Decisions
Mulligans depend on what you are playing against, but there is a general strategy you can use too!
In the Dark If you have no idea what your opponent is playing, you’ll want a turn one character - and Cinderella is ideal with Daisy on the play or Happy on the draw, but they are not ideal. Turn two you’ll want to sing some removal with that Cindy and play a two drop. So, if you have no one drops in your hand keep the best two drop you have and toss the rest. It is VERY important to have a one drop.
Against Sisu Keep the aggressive cards like Daisy, Smee, Lawrence etc. Toss Cindy’s (or ink her), Lilos, and removal. The Lilos are better later in the game.
Against Bounce Ideally you want a Cindy and removal and a Calhoun or Smee is great too. They can’t do much against an early mine, so it’ll gain you some lore too. Pluto is great too because he beats Elsa and Maui.
Against Aggro Keep removal! Keep all the removal! You’ll need Cindy, removal, and Calhoun. Anything else is a bonus. Mulligan hard for the Cindy and removal though. If you have none in your opener, I’d toss it all. Keep Calhoun and Lawrence if you have them. Mines are great. No Cindys, but you have a Mine? Keep it.
Against SteelSong This match depends very much on if you are on the play or on the draw. On the play Cindy and a removal song is good as it can control their side of the board. On the draw is another story. Daisy is better here as she is harder for them to remove and can help quest fast. Since like a third of their deck is songs, there are less characters for them to hit off of Daisy. Calhoun is also awesome as she can answer most of their singers and help to keep their side of the board under control. Long story short, you’ll have to do a mixture of racing on lore and removing their singers. With the right hand, this match feels pretty good.
In Conclusion
I love this deck! It’s fast, efficient, and consistent. It has its bad draws, but it can win consistently on 4 ink, so you won't have to worry about picking between inking or playing cards after that. Recurring Lilo is great and ties up your opponent’s resources at the very least. You’ll need to do more than just recure a Lilo though, so make sure you have enough ink once you get to that late game part to play whatever you draw and the Lilo. With some practice your games should be the fastest in the room, and if they are it’s because you have won!