Rafiki in Azurite Sea is a Nod to Sapphire/Amethyst Players

Sapphire/Amethyst (also commonly referred to as Blurple by its devoted following) has a bigger presence in the Lorcana metagame today than ever. However, it seems the game creators themselves have taken notice of the Ink combos synergy. The recently spoiled Rafiki – Ethereal Guide is a clear nod in the direction of the favorite Ink combo. And Blurple players will be happy to know this card is actually quite strong.

Rafiki – Ethereal Guide card breakdown

Floodborn Rafiki has a ton going for it. For starters, it’s got four lore which is phenomenal, especially given you can shift him and take advantage of that lore straightaway. Shifting Rafiki should be easy as you have an excellent shift target in Amethyst already: Rafiki – Mystical Fighter.

While plenty of Floodborn characters are playable without the shift, Rafiki’s high lore cost means almost always it will be preferable to shift him. Although Sapphire’s ramp capabilities make it plausible you could pay his cost outright.

Astralatunement is a powerful draw engine

Apart from four lore, excellent sats (six will power and six strength), Rafiki’s Astralatunement is reason enough to include this card in your deck. Every time you ink a card, you also draw a card, giving you a strong way to keep your hand refreshed in the late game as you quickly ramp up the Ink in your Inkwell.

This ability would work really, really well with Belle – Strange But Special, and I will probably rebuild my Sapphire/Amethyst deck around this mechanic to try it out. Basically, Belle lets you add an extra card from your Inkwell. The only downside of that is how quickly it diminishes your hand. Meanwhile, Rafiki lets you draw another card when you Ink. This means you won’t run out of resources in your hand as you build up your Inkwell.

I’m looking forward to seeing what awesome decks the Lorcana community comes up with in Azurite Sea, and equally glad to see this Ink combo getting some love from the game designers.