Lorcana Competitive Analysis - Melbourne Challenge!

Hello, everyone!

On the weekend of February 1-2 we had the first Disney Lorcana Challenge of 2025, and also the first outside of North America or Europe! The city of Melbourne, in Australia, hosted this very important tournament for the Lorcana circuit, and today we are going to analyze what happened there - the result, the winning decklist, and even the controversy that took place in the semifinals of the event. Let's go!

Event Recap

The Melbourne DLC had 511 players, a smaller turnout than the Challenges held in North America or Europe, but still impressive considering the proximity of the Continental Championships and the expectation for the Lorcana Worlds presumably in March.

The event was divided into two days:

On day 1, we had 9 rounds in the Swiss format, and at the end there was a cut in the Top 64 for the second day. It was necessary to achieve at least 40 points to reach the Top 64, but also due to tiebreaker criteria sixteen participants with this score did not advance to the cut.

On day 2, we had the elimination rounds, from the Top 64 to the finals, with Dinh Khang Pham becoming champion of the event with his spectacular Ruby/Sapphire Burn Control, the decklist of which will be analyzed later! Dinh finished the event undefeated, having finished first place on day 1 after the 9 rounds in the Swiss, and going through the entire elimination rounds on day 2 until the long-awaited trophy shot.

Despite his brilliant performance, the event brought a lot of attention to the Lorcana community due to what happened in the semi-finals of the event, between the players Jesse Lentini and Clement Fusade - the latter who would eventually end up in second place, losing the finals to Dinh.

The Semifinal Controversy

In the third and decisive game between Jesse and Clement, in a certain turn Jesse Quests with his Magic Broom - Illuminary Keeper and then plays a Merlin - Goat. He notes the Lore gain from Merlin, and soon after puts Broom in the discard, indicating that he will use the effect of banishing it to draw a card.

At this point, Clement interrupts him and a judge is called to the table. It is worth noting that we do not have access to the audio of the players or the judge, to know exactly what was Clement's call, or Jesse's exact words throughout his previous play. What happens, once the game continues, is that Jesse is not allowed to proceed with the sacrifice of his Broom, which therefore remains on the board, exhausted. Since Clement controls a Maui - Half-Shark, once he has his turn back he uses the powerful card to challenge and banish Magic Broom, and with the board advantage plus the extra card thanks to Maui's ability, Clement is in a comfortable position to win the game after a few more turns.

The controversy occurs mainly because, in Game 2, Jesse made a practically identical play - using a character with an on-play effect, and having a Magic Broom on the board to banish and draw a card - and Clement did not have any doubts or questions about the interaction then. At the time, however, Clement did not control a Maui - Half-Shark.

The situation turned into an intense debate within the community, some questioning whether the rule applied was correct or not - remembering that, without access to the audio, it is not known exactly what the doubts and rules applied were - as well as the supposed lack of fair-play by Clement, who would have taken advantage of the situation to guarantee an extremely favorable game state for himself and thus guarantee a spot in the Finals.

At the time of writing this article, there has been no statement from the Challenge organizers, Ravensburger/Disney, or even the judges or players involved. It is our hope that the situation, regardless of the resolution, can be a moment of learning and growth for the community and for those involved with the game's competitive events.

The Winning Decklist

As mentioned before, Dinh Khang Pham was crowned champion of DLC Melbourne, playing his most-beloved Ruby/Sapphire Burn:

It is interesting to note how the deck has many similarities with a strategy previously seen in the Seattle Lorcana Challenge, which we analyzed in detail in another article. However, Dinh chose to use Sapphire instead of Amethyst as Ruby's ally in the deck, which opened up another range of possibilities.

Firstly, by using Sapphire you trade off raw card advantage for card selection, which not only helps to find certain answers at the right time, but also influences the amount of inkable and non-inkable cards that the deck has access to.

Both Develop Your Brain and Vision of the Future are useful at any point in the game, which makes the deck extremely adaptable. If you already have what you need for a given gamestate on your hand, you can simply use these card searchers as ink!

Gramma Tala and Hiram are 4-ink plays that you will normally make on the third turn in this deck, thanks to the accelerators that we will talk about in the next section. Both are good characters for the opening turns, as they combine board presence with card draw, always leaving the opponent in a difficult place to answer them efficiently.

Secondly, having access to cards that increase your inkwell beyond one-per-turn allows a considerable advance in the early turns, granting faster playing of strong cards such as Maui - Half-Shark, Be Prepared and the deck's great finisher, A Pirate's Life.

As we also mentioned, if you can sequence a Pawpsicle on turn 1, Tipo - Growing Son on 2 and finally Hiram Flaversham - Toymaker on 3, drawing two cards thanks to Pawpsicle, you've put a lot of pressure on the opponent, combining characters on the board with more resources in hand.

Finally, a stand-out from the list - and, in a way, the card that works as another burn, that is, a way to gain Lore directly and continuously. McDuck Manor - Scrooge's Mansion is another Location that makes it difficult for opponents to respond without investing at least two cards - or wasting 2 turns attacking it. This means a gain in Lore combined with a considerable loss of tempo for the opponent, and that's the worst case scenario for you!

Without a doubt, this list is the result of a lot of training and dedication, and also of Dinh's precise analysis and vision of the metagame. No wonder, a well-deserved champion for the event!

Melbourne's Lorcana Challenge brings a good perspective regarding the future of the game, in terms of development of the competitive circuit and arrival in other regions of the world besides Europe and North America.

Coupled with Lorcana's official arrival in both China and Japan, it's great to see Lorcana going global and growing to meet the demands of new players.

However, the Challenge also brings at least some lessons and concerns about some excessive competitiveness within the game - something that the community identifies as toxic behavior, that is, winning at all costs, and hence the proportion of the response on social media to the situation that occurred in the semifinals.

As previously stated, regardless of the response/clarification to be given about the case, what is expected is that there will be an effort from both the community and organizers to keep the game environments fair, respectful and above all fun.

Lorcana has been establishing itself and showing its strength as a game, and it's up to everyone to keep it at the high level we've come to expect!

And you, what did you think of the situation that occurred? Have you had a similar experience that you would like to share? Tell us!

Lots of hugs, and see you next time!