Rise of the Floodborn Guide: Starter Decks, Resist, and Disney100
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Rise of the Floodborn is an older Lorcana set I would examine for the decisions its cards create, especially returning characters to hand, using on-play abilities again, and understanding Resist. Those ideas can make a deck feel much more flexible than “play the biggest character I can afford.” They also create opportunities to spend several actions without improving the actual position.
For buying in 2026, separate three projects: playing its fixed decks, collecting its numbered cards, and buying the Disney100 collector product. They share a release family but deliver different things. The ordinary packs are not a dependable route to the special Disney100 alternate-art cards.
Merlin and Tiana create a real tension in the same deck
Merlin — Shapeshifter gains one lore for the turn whenever another of your characters returns from play to your hand. To benefit from that increase on a quest, arrange the return before Merlin quests. Returning Merlin himself is not the same trigger, and a bonus gained after he has already quested does not revise the lore you collected earlier.
For a proposed turn, compare one useful return effect followed by Merlin’s improved quest with simply questing with both characters. The return may repeat an on-play ability later, but it can also remove a dry quester and consume ink when you replay it. Count the complete result: current lore, next turn’s board, and remaining cards.
Tiana — Celebrating Princess works from a different condition. She has Resist +2, and while exerted with no cards in your hand she prevents opponents playing actions. Both conditions must hold. A Tiana left ready does not create that restriction, and adding a card to your hand changes the condition.
That means the deck’s returning-to-hand theme and Tiana’s empty-hand reward can pull in opposite directions. A bounce sequence may improve Merlin’s quest while switching off Tiana’s restriction. I would not empty my hand of useful answers just to advertise the lock; compare which opposing action you actually need to prevent and whether your board can survive without those cards.
The Queen makes a small challenger matter
The Queen — Commanding Presence has Shift 2 and, when she quests, can reduce an opposing character’s strength by four while giving a chosen character four additional strength for the turn. This is her own ability, separate from the deck’s Support interactions.
A dry small character can become an effective challenger after the Queen’s quest. If its intended target also receives the strength reduction, the trade may improve in both directions: more damage dealt and less damage returned. Questing with the Queen after making that challenge misses the useful timing.
The bonuses do not last through the opponent’s following turn. A character that looked enormous during your turn can return to its ordinary strength while remaining exerted. Check the return position before treating a favorable attack as a secure board.
Gaston offers a hand decision, not three free cards
Gaston — Intellectual Powerhouse has a six-ink printed cost, Shift 4, and an on-play look at the top three cards that can put one into hand. The others go to the bottom. That can find an answer or follow-up, but it is not drawing all three.
I would choose between a Shift play and ordinary development by asking what the selected card can accomplish soon. A flashy search that leaves no resources for the needed answer may be weaker than a simpler stabilizing turn. When upgrading Queen/Gaston, preserve the early characters that make the later choices possible, and keep enough inkable cards to avoid trapping multiple uninkable payoffs in the opening hand.
Card references: Merlin card reference · The Queen card reference · Tiana card reference · Gaston card reference. Gallery illustrations may show a reprint or alternate treatment; the analysis concerns the named card’s abilities, not a promise of that treatment in the starter.
Merlin and Tiana: what returning a character really costs
The Amethyst/Steel starter features Merlin and Tiana. Its appeal is the opportunity to use characters as a developing collection of effects rather than permanent pieces you never want to remove. A return-to-hand effect can rescue damage, repeat an on-play ability after replaying the card, or make room for a different turn.
A returned character is not free extra cardboard. If you spend ink replaying it, that ink is unavailable for another card. If it was a dry quester, the replacement or replayed version may no longer contribute lore immediately. When comparing lines, count the lore and development you gave up as well as the ability you repeated.
Here is my proposed practice exercise: choose one small character that has already produced its useful effect. Compare leaving it to quest with returning and replaying it. Write the final lore total, hand size, and ready characters for each line. The result makes a “clever” play easier to judge without being dazzled by the number of cards moved.
The Queen and Gaston: learn Support as a planned exchange
The Amber/Sapphire starter features The Queen and Gaston. I would inspect it for players interested in building up a board and using supportive interactions to make otherwise modest characters matter. The key habit is planning the recipient of a temporary benefit before questing with the supporting character.
Support adds the questing character’s Strength to another chosen character for the turn. It does not add Willpower, automatically grant a challenge, or remove damage already on the recipient. A temporarily powerful attacker can still be banished in return damage if its remaining Willpower is insufficient.
Suppose an otherwise legal challenger has two Strength, three Willpower, and one damage. Giving it three additional Strength lets it deal five, but it still has only two damage of room remaining before it is banished. If the target returns three damage, the trade may be mutual. That can be worthwhile, but it is different from producing a surviving giant attacker.
Resist changes each damage event
Resist reduces damage by its stated amount. The important habit is evaluating individual events. Two separate one-damage effects are not the same event as one effect dealing two damage. A character protected by Resist +1 can react very differently to those situations.
For a learner, I would work through simple damage before adding several overlapping bonuses. State the damage being dealt, apply the relevant reduction, then update the total damage on the card. Resist does not remove existing damage and should not be remembered as extra printed Willpower.
This matters when choosing upgrades as well. A deck struggling against large single challenges may need different help from a deck struggling against repeated small damage. A keyword is not a universal solution just because it is defensive.
The packs versus the Disney100 collector set
The ordinary twelve-card boosters expand the numbered set. The Disney100 collector product contains six special foil alternate-art cards illustrated by Disney animators and four Rise of the Floodborn packs. Those selected collector cards are a specific reason to buy the named product or exact singles, rather than keep opening ordinary packs hoping their package art implies the same content.
If your goal is gameplay, compare the cheapest suitable printing of a wanted card. If your goal is the animator’s illustration and treatment, compare that exact edition. The two decisions can both be sensible, but they should not be combined into a claim that a premium collector printing makes the deck mechanically stronger.
The set’s Trove uses the earlier product arrangement: storage, two deck boxes, eight packs, game tokens, and a player’s guide. It differs from later Troves built around damage dice and a spin counter. Check the actual box contents when evaluating an older listing.
Make the older-set decision before opening
Rise of the Floodborn is outside the present Core set pool, with legal-reprint exceptions determined by full card identity. For a current Core deck, check each planned addition. For Infinity or agreed home games, the set offers a much broader starting point, subject to the format’s own restrictions.
I would not buy an older starter expecting its complete stock list to satisfy today’s Core requirements. I would buy it to play that stock experience, acquire identified contents, or begin an older-card project. Those are clearer reasons than a general promise that all starter decks are equally current.
For an opening budget, decide whether you want the entertainment of sealed packs or a useful selection of ordinary cards. Once your wants list is short, random opening becomes a less direct way to finish it. Keep the enjoyment of opening as its own benefit rather than disguise it as certainty about the next pull.
My recommendation
The Merlin/Tiana deck is worth examining for players who enjoy sequencing and reusing effects. The Queen/Gaston deck offers a different lesson in turning a board of supporting pieces into useful actions. Neither needs a large follow-up sealed purchase before you can learn from it.
I would start with an intact chosen deck or a short singles list, play the relevant interactions carefully, and only then decide whether the broader set or Disney100 artwork deserves a separate collecting budget.
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Sources and scope
Checked October 21, 2026: official Rise of the Floodborn products and card previews, current rules and release notes, and the official rotation explanation. Product facts and printed mechanics are separated above from B3’s proposed buying and practice methods. Prices in worked examples are hypothetical; live prices, stock, event availability, and pull odds are not promised.