With Sword In The Stone being one of my favourite childhood Disney Classics, I was delighted to see all the upcoming cards announced for Rise Of The Floodborn. This article is dedicated to the spoilers for those cards covering: Arthur, Madam Mim and her various forms, Merlin and his various forms, the Sorcerer’s Spellbook and the Sword.
Many of the cards revolve around the shapeshifting battle between Merlin and Madam Mim from the film and we take a look at those forms. They all synergise with each other and there will be lots of fun to be had bouncing characters back and forth to make use of their effects.
Madam Mim - Purple Dragon
We were expecting to see Dragons featured in this set, mainly due to the recent Fang Crossbow spoiler. Madam Mim – Purple Dragon is a Legendary inkable card and costs 7 ink to play. She can be comparable to Mickey Mouse – Brave Little Tailor from The First Chapter. Both can quest for four lore, are Evasive and both have a Strength of 5. However she costs one less to play than Mickey and has a higher Willpower. She also has the on-play ability ‘I Win, I Win!’ which reads ‘When you play this character, banish her or return another 2 chosen characters of yours to your hand.’
Her high Willpower of 7 will take a few goes at challenging or dealing damage from hand in order to banish her. The Fang Crossbow is an upcoming item card from the Sapphire ink that can cause problems for Madam Mim – Purple Dragon as it can banish her outright.
Her on-play ability can be seen as a slight chink in her armour as you are having to return two other characters to your hand in order to play her. This is fine if you stack your deck with lots of cheap characters or some of the Merlin characters (which you will greatly benefit from bouncing back to hand).
Merlin- Squirrel
Merlin – Squirrel costs 2 ink to play and is an inkable card. He has a Strength of 2 and Willpower of 1. His ‘Look Before You Leap’ ability reads ‘When you play this character and when he leaves play, look at the top card of your deck. Put it on either the top or the bottom of your deck.’
This ability works really well when followed by a card draw, which Amethyst is best known for. Magic Mirror, Maleficent – Sorceress, The Queen – Wicked and Vain and Friends On The Other Side from The First Chapter are all obvious choices here. It also works well with the new Merlin – Rabbit…
Merlin - Rabbit
Merlin – Rabbit costs 4 ink to play and is an non-inkable card. He has a Strength of 2 and Willpower of 3. His ‘Hoppity Hip!’ ability says ‘When you play this character and when he leaves play, you may draw a card.’
This character will be good outside of a Sword In The Stone thematic deck. He is easily comparable to Maleficent – Sorceress but you are also drawing a card when he leaves play as well as on-play. The extra Willpower on Merlin is another bonus. Maleficent can be played sooner though which will mean being able to sing that all important Friends On The Other Side earlier. If you can afford to have a non-inkable character in your deck, then there will be a choice to make between the two characters.
Madam Mim - Fox & Snake
Just like Madam Mim – Purple Dragon, her other forms will require you to give up characters of yours in order to play her.
Madam Mim – Fox costs 3 ink to play and is an inkable card. She is a great alternative to Rafiki – Mysterious Sage as he is non-inkable and costs the same to play. Both have the Rush keyword. They both have a Willpower of 3 however Madam Mim has a greater Strength value of 4.
You will have to decide if her ‘Chasing The Rabbit’ ability gives her the edge over Rafiki or is more of a hindrance to your game plan. ‘When you play this character, banish her or return another chosen character of yours to your hand.’
For the cost of 2 ink, Madam Mim – Snake provides a decent Strength and Willpower value of 3. Having to give up another one of your characters to play her though might mean she doesn’t see much play outside of a Merlin build.
Merlin - Goat & Crab
Merlin – Goat is a good option in order to sneak in some extra lore. Both on-play and when he leaves play means you could gather a few extra lore each turn if you get some combos off. Merlin – Goat is another option to bounce back to your hand with the Madam Mim forms and other bounce cards (from you or your opponent). Also using him to challenge opponents means should he get banished, you are gaining lore as well as taking care of any threat across the other side of the board.
Playing against Merlin – Goat, you will have to consider whether challenging and banishing him is worth it for your opponent to gain the extra Merlin – Goat as the ‘Here I Come’ ability is not just on ‘this turn’.
Merlin – Crab looks like a decent option. A 3 cost inkable card who can give a chosen character Challenger +3 this turn both on-play and when he leaves play. This is fine playing against him as it is only on his turn so taking him out shouldn’t be a worry. He has a Strength of 3 and a Willpower of 3.
Should you play Madam Mim – Fox and return Merlin – Crab back to your hand from her ability, it is worth considering giving the Challenger +3 to her as she has Rush and can challenge straight away. A worthwhile combo if you can get it off.
Merlin - Shapeshifter
There will be plenty of ways to achieve Merlin – Shapeshifter’s ‘Battle Of Wits’ ability – ‘Whenever one of your other characters is returned to your hand from play, this character gets +1 lore this turn.’
Firstly with any of Madam Mim’s forms when she bounces your characters back to your hand upon playing her. Opponents playing cards against you such as Befuddle, Mother Knows Best, Dr Facilier- Agent Provocateur, Marshmallow – Persistent Guardian and Genie – On The Job will work. Perhaps there will be certain scenarios you might want to play some of them on your own characters to get the ability off.
Obviously his ability doesn’t work if you return a character to your hand from your discard pile, only from play.
Arthur - Wizards Apprentice
Arthur – Wizards Apprentice is another way of returning your Merlin characters back to your hand. Additionally, you gain 2 lore for doing so.
This is a good alternative to playing the Madam Mim forms. It is optional should you choose to return another character to your hand, therefore you are not forced to give up one of your characters straight away.
Questing with Merlin – Goat and then Arthur – Wizards Apprentice and then returning Merlin – Goat to your hand will bag you 5 lore in total. A neat little combo should your opponent miss the opportunity to take them out.
Sorcerer’s Spellbook
The Sorcerer’s Spellbook is an item card. You can exert it and spend 1 ink to gain one lore. We haven’t had a card in the game yet that allows you to do this without having to challenge and banish an opposing character (Te Ka – Heartless and Simba – Rightful Heir come to mind). Having the Spellbook in play will allow you to focus on challenging with your characters rather than questing, knowing you still have ways to gain lore.
Sword In The Stone
Sword In The Stone is a 1 cost non-inkable item card from the Ruby ink. You can exert and spend 2 ink to give a chosen character +1 Strength for each Damage token on them until the end of this turn.
This will be extra special should you have the chance to challenge twice in a turn through a reset, giving you a greater chance of taking out a big opposing character. You could also then use the Dinner Bell ability to draw cards equal to the damage on chosen character of yours, then banish them for a decent card draw.
