Summary
Shifting characters inLorcanais a core strategy in the game. Shiftable characters provide you with a way to get stronger characters on the board for a cheaper cost while still having other low-cost characters in your deck that can pave the way for them.
Much like the concept of evolving or upgrading a card, Floodborn characters need another card on the field before you can get the discount with shift. In a well-constructed deck, you’ll hopefully meet this requirement to get some real power players ready for action. So which characters are the best ones with the Shift keyword?
10Baymax, Giant Robot
A Universal Shifter
Most Shift cards require a specific character on the field to get the discount. Baymax, Giant Robot on the other hand, can be played on top of any one of your characters. This makes it quite a flexible dual-ink card.
Normally, when Shifting a character, any damage tends to linger. Baymax lets you start fresh by fully healing itself the moment it comes into play. So you’re getting a strong card without having to worry about it arriving weaker due to preexisting damage.
9Clarabelle, Light On Her Hooves
Emerald decks have a fantastic way to keep their hand loaded withClarabelle, Light On Her Hooves in their lineup. Any card that can keep drawing cards is often a nightmare for TCG games. Coming out as early as five ink, Clarabelle will wait till the end of the turn to unleash her ability.
Keep In Step kicks in at the end of the turn. If your opponent has five cards in hand, and you have only one, you get to draw four cards so that your hands match. This encourages players to use their entire hand so they can get the most out of the draws.
8Belle, Mechanic Extraordinaire
Utilize Your Banished Items
Having items in your discard pile isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, the more items you have in there, the easier it becomes to bring out Belle, Mechanic Extraordinaire. This card costs nine ink to play, but you can bring that down to seven if you use Shift. You can get even further discounts for every item in the discard.
This version of Belle has everything. Great stats, three lore per turn, and the ability to generate even more lore by shuffling items back into the deck. This both speeds up your endgame while letting you recycle resources for later.
7Mulan, Imperial General
Ready Characters Are No Longer Safe
The more your opponent quests, the more often they leave their characters exposed to being challenged. Mulan, Imperial General, ignores all that by allowing other characters to challenge your opponent’s side of the board even if they are ready and not exhausted.
All you have to do is challenge another character with this Mulan first. Then, all your other characters can mercilessly attack your opponent’s characters. On top of all that, Mulan has Evasive, which lets her stick around for future assaults and victories.
6Pete, Space Pirate
No Singing Allowed
Pete, Space Pirate comes out at four ink with the help of Shift. While exerted, the game becomesa no-singing zone. Unless, of course, your opponent is willing to pay the full cost of the song. With songs being so important to some strategies, this can kill the sweet song of victory.
In addition to this floodgate, your other Pirate characters get a Resist +1. This allows them to tank some additional damage and stay on the field longer. This effect even applies to Pete himself.
5The Queen, Commanding Presence
Buffs And Debuffs
The Queen, Commanding Presence is a great Shift card to go for if you’re trying to build an aggro deck. With a very early Shift of two, and a base card that can cost as low as one, you may get this powerful card on the field easily.
Questing for two allows you to keep up those early lore-generating tactics while also being able to weaken and buff characters at the same time. This means choosing one of your opponent’s characters to lose four strength while one of your own gains four.
4Robin Hood, Champion Of Sherwood
Stealing From The Rich And Giving To The Needy
Coming out as early as three ink, Robin Hood, Champion of Sherwood is capable of challenging while still gaining lore. He does this whenever he manages to challenge and banish a character. For each one he successfully banishes, you get two lore.
Losing Robin Hood isn’t a total loss either. If you crash him into a strong card you want gone or your opponent dares to challenge him themselves, his banishment gives you a free draw. So you get plenty of positives no matter the situation you are put in.
3Tinker Bell, Giant Fairy
Smashing The Competition
Tinker Bell may be small, but Shifting her into Tinker Bell, Giant Fairy will make your opponentthink twice about messing with this Fairy. Dealing one damage on play, this can weaken characters, shut down abilities that rely on a clean bill of health, and wipe out anything that is already on the verge of being banished.
Tinker Bell can even deal some additional damage whenever she challenges a character and successfully banishes them. The challenge may be over, but another character is about to get hit with two additional damage.
2Sisu, Empowered Sibling
Instant Removal For Weaker Characters
Say what you want about Raya and the Last Dragon. When Sisu hits the board, your opponent’s lower-strength characters will be left turned to stone. This is the go-to Sisu for Ruby decks since she not only quests for three, but instantly banishes any character with two or less power.
If that didn’t hurt your opponent’s setup as much as you would like it to, you now have a five strength and four willpower character at your disposal. So time this play correctly and catch your opponent by surprise.
1Diablo, Devoted Herald
No Ink Cost?
Diablo, Devoted Herald works best while exerted. This is because it then lets you draw a card whenever your opponent draws one. Shifting this card is also unique, since it doesn’t lower ink costs, but rather asks that you discard an action card instead.
Playing a card for a discard instead of ink is great, since it can hit the field as soon as you have another Diablo in play. With Evasive, it even buys itself more time on the field to let you fill up your hand with cards.
Disney Lorcana
Lorcana is a trading card game developed by Disney and published by Ravensburger, featuring iconic characters, settings, and more from the studio’s long history. As an Illumineer, you must build your deck and help protect Lorcana.
