Lorcana Sapphire/Steel Ramp Deck List and Guide

The Lorcana Sapphire/Steel deck has been one of the most popular deck archetypes since the game came out. Today, it is stronger than ever, with a powerful offensive/defensive combination that keeps your characters safe while quickly ramping up Ink and dishing out damage.

Below, we’re going to be taking a look at a deck list that finished in first place out of over fifty players – digging into the strategy behind this top tier Lorcana deck and what makes it tick.

*Updated April 1, 2024 to the current meta with a first place deck list (1st out of 52 players).

Disney Lorcana Sapphire/Steel Ramp Deck List

Sapphire/Steel Lorcana — *Deck credit: Sapphire / Steel By Patrick Lalonde*

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2 Lucky Dime
2 Rise of the Titans
4 Mr. Smee - Bumbling Mate
2 And Then Along Came Zeus
1 Let It Go
4 Captain Hook - Forceful Duelist
4 A Whole New World
4 Develop Your Brain
4 Fishbone Quill
4 McDuck Manor - Scrooge's Mansion
3 Mickey Mouse - Detective
3 Grab Your Sword
3 Gaston - Intellectual Powerhouse
4 Pawpsicle
4 Hiram Flaversham - Toymaker
4 Tinker Bell - Giant Fairy
4 Beast - Tragic Hero
4 Cogsworth - Grandfather Clock

Deck price: $415

Disney Lorcana Sapphire/Steel Deck Strategy

Steel has incredible draw support, as well as the ability to quickly spread damage across the board. Couple that with Sapphire’s uncanny ability to quickly ramp by getting Ink into the inkwell and you have a top tier deck.

I’ve been playing Sapphire/Steel since The First Chapter – it was one of the first decks I picked up and back then it was all about shifting Aurora into Dreaming Guardian and spamming songs. Today, it’s a bit more complicated. But don’t worry – we’ll dive into how to play this powerful deck archetype in the guide below.

Turn one cards to play

One of the cool things about this deck list that you will notice right away is how many options you have early on. Turn one, you can either play Captain Hook – Forceful Duelist and keep your opponent at bay thanks to the handy Challenger +2 ability, or set up the basis of your draw engine by playing down a Pawpsicle. While one of these is going to be your best option (depending on the matchup), you also have a third option in Develop Your Brain.

Against more aggressive decks that like to take a lot of lore quickly, you are going to want to play Captain Hook. Against other decks, Pawpsicle is a strong option – especially in the Amber/Steel matchup since you will likely have your Captain Hook bashed down quickly anyways.

Later on, you can use Flaversham to banish your Pawpsicle or any other item you might have in play in order to draw two cards. Given Flaversham can do this when he’s played and when he quests, you shouldn’t be wanting for cards very often.

Turn two: enter the Smee

Mr. Smee is a very strong card, and one of the arguments in favor of getting Captain Hook into play early is to help Smee stay alive while its challenging and questing its way to early game dominance. Without Captain Hook in play, Smee will take one damage at the end of its turn if exerted. Later in the game this won’t be an issue if you have Cogsworth in play, but early on it could mean the difference between life and death.

Mr. Smee – Bumbling Mate

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Turn three: ramp

Turns one and two are about getting setup. Turn three is a great opportunity for Ink acceleration.

As this deck is focused on ramping up your resources via Sapphire’s unique extra Inking options, you really don’t need to worry too much about questing early on. The thing that’s really cool, however, is if you’ve played your cards right, you will have some solid options for turn three.

For starters, Mickey Mouse – Detective is one of your strongest ramping cards, letting you instantly add an extra Ink to your Inkwell from the top of your deck. And while this is a really handy way to build up resources, an even stronger option could be Fishbone Quill – a card that lest you ink any card in your hand (Inkable or not). Cards Inked via Fishbone Quill aren’t exerted so you can still use them to pay costs that very turn.

Detective Mickey is going to be the stronger card if you are facing down a deck with a lot of item banishment. Otherwise, Fishbone Quill is going to be your stronger option as you can use it again and again every turn.

Cogsworth – Grandfather Clock adds much needed resist

Cogsworth – Grandfather Clock

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As a card, five-cost Cogsworth has a lot going for it. It’s got ward, which is always a handy keyword ability. But even more importantly, it has the unparalleled Unwind ability, granting Resist +1 to all of your characters.

This helps make your characters much less likely to be taken out in challenges, or to be banished by songs and actions that deal damage.

Watch out though – Cogsworth doesn’t have resist himself, meaning you are likely going to want to leave him readied so that your opponent’s can only take him out with a Be Prepared or by spamming Grab Your Sword and Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy.

All that to say Cogsworth isn’t invulnerable, but he’s definitely a challenge to banish for your opponent, and makes your board a lot safer just having him around.

Beast – Tragic Hero adds much needed draw support

This Beast Floodborn character is one of the strongest cards in your deck. Not only does it allow you to draw cards each turn, as the Beast takes hits, his strength increases, making him a dangerous challenger, as well.

Beast also pairs well with the resist theme of this deck – by keeping damage off of him for longer, you are able to keep drawing extra cards each turn.

Spread the damage to hit every target

Of course, no Steel deck would be worth its merit if it didn’t run a plethora of damage inducing cards. This one focuses on using Grab Your Sword to spread the damage across the board, devastating aggro decks and causing a lot of trouble for most characters. If that weren’t enough, you can also up your damage output by playing a Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy. She not only dishes out an extra damage when she is played to all opposing characters, she also does additional damage when she banishes opposing characters in a challenge.

Grab Your Sword pairs very well with Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy which similarly dishes out one damage to each opposing character. Get both off in a turn and you’re looking at three damage to each opposing character. To make it even better, Tinker Bell does additional damage whenever she banishes a character in a challenge.

Win the battle of locations

While spreading damage across characters is great, it’s not the only threat in the current Lorcana format. Of course, there are plenty powerful locations and even items you are going to need to deal with. To help, you have several versatile songs and actions.

First, And Along Came Zeus is the Swiss Army Knife of songs right now, letting you take out troublesome characters and locations as needs arise. That being said, Rise of the Titans has a lot going for it as well, enabling you to straight out banish any location or item.

Combine Gaston with Lucky Dime for high amounts of lore.

How fast you are able to successfully ramp your Ink well will dictate when you are able to play these two power house cards. No matter when you manage to get them out, however, they are strongest together.

Gaston is your strongest quester. With an impressive three lore value and a “Developed Brain” ability that lets you search for helpful cards, you can use Gaston to race to the finish line, and even use Lucky Dime’s handy ability to gain his lore value twice.

Play McDuck Manor for the win

Last but not least, Sapphire/Steel does have access to a powerful location card in the form of McDuck Manor. What makes McDuck Manor so strong is that it has two lore value and nine will power. Such high will power makes McDuck hard to take out by any standard. It’s not impossible, and other Sapphire/Steel decks running Rise of the Titans can take out out right away. That being said, it’s one of the stronger locations out there and also pretty easy to find in packs. I tend to play this card towards the end of the battle for added insurance rather than prioritizing playing it the moment I’m technically able to.

Is there a more budget friendly way to build this deck?

Top tier decks are often quite expensive. But that doesn’t mean you necessarily need to spend a ton of money to build a strong deck. While this deck build might offer the most competitive play right now, head over to our Lorcana competitive budget lists deck guide for how to play Sapphire/Steel on a budget.

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