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Shonen TCG · Guides
Attack of the Vine week 1 meta: four days post-launch signals, prerelease data, first weekend results, and what patterns solidify by week 2.
Reviewing
Disney Lorcana
Four days after Set 13 hit wide retail on July 24, the Attack of the Vine week 1 meta has its first real shape. No confirmed tournament data, no locked tier list yet, but a genuine read on what experienced players are reaching for, what's winning at locals, and which new Pixar IP cards are actually slotting in versus which ones are staying in binders.
Week 1 is always noisier than it looks. Every set launch has a rush period where unfamiliarity skews results. There are real patterns in the prerelease data from July 17 and in the first weekend of retail play, though. This is what those look like.
Update (2026-08-17): this report is the four-days-post-launch snapshot only. Three-plus weeks of Core Constructed data (750+ logged decks across 44 archetypes, per inkdecks.com as of 2026-08-07) tell a different story for Core than the "Amber/Emerald Aggro gets the biggest Set 13 uplift" read below: the confirmed Core top tier is Amber/Emerald Elinor (15%) and Amber/Amethyst Midrange (14%) as co-leaders, followed by Amber/Ruby Boost (12%), Amber/Steel Steelsong (10%), and Amber/Emerald Songs (9%). None of the pre-launch Core leaders held a standalone top-tier slot in that later data. Infinity-format Set 13 data was still too thin to move the needle as of that same check, so the Steelsong, Bounce, and Ruby/Sapphire Items picture in this report holds up better for Infinity players. For the fullest current numbers, see the Attack of the Vine best decks guide linked later in this article.
TL;DR: The Attack of the Vine week 1 meta through July 28 shows Wilds Unknown archetypes (Steelsong, Bounce, Ruby/Sapphire Items) holding structure while Emerald aggro from Monsters Inc and Ruby aggro from Turning Red produce a predictable week-1 spike. Amber/Emerald Aggro is the Core deck gaining the most new cards. Prerelease sealed data and first-weekend community reports point to a meta that leans aggressive early, then expects to rebalance toward control by week 2. Full consolidation typically takes 2 to 3 weeks post-launch.
The Attack of the Vine week 1 meta is a Wilds Unknown baseline under pressure from three new Pixar IPs. Amber/Steel Steelsong and Amethyst/Ruby Bounce are still the most-played Infinity archetypes, with Ruby/Sapphire Items as the clear third pillar. On top of that foundation, Monsters Inc characters are pushing Emerald aggro harder than it's been in Core, and Turning Red's Ruby additions are noticeably speeding up turn 1 through 3 for Ruby-adjacent lists.
This isn't a meta reset. Players comfortable with their Wilds Unknown lists can find upgrades; players hoping for a blank slate are going to be waiting a while.
The prerelease on July 17 gave the community a week in sealed format before wide retail. Sealed isn't constructed, but it's useful for identifying which cards live up to spoiler-stage evaluations and which ones feel worse once you're actually casting them.
Community reports from that week pointed to Monsters Inc character cards outperforming expectations in sealed. Cards with early Emerald presence and low ink cost translated well to limited, and that was the first real signal that the same pieces would matter in Infinity aggro once constructed lists started forming.
Winnie the Pooh surprised a few players. Christopher Robin and the supporting Hunny cast contributed in sealed in ways that preview discussions didn't fully capture, and that's since translated into genuine interest in Hunny toolbox builds in constructed.
Turning Red's sealed performance was middling, but the constructed angle is different. Mei Lee's low-cost options are far more relevant in a 60-card deck built around her than in a random sealed pool. Several prominent players flagged this in the week between July 17 and 24: don't judge Turning Red by prerelease sealed data.
Up was largely assessed as a constructed piece even during sealed week. Carl Fredricksen's draw effect doesn't pull the same weight in limited when you can't build around it, but the consistent read was that Sapphire-heavy constructed lists would want him.
GODEEPER: The Attack of the Vine Ink Colors Guide explains where each new IP lands in the six ink colors and what that means for Set 13 deck building from the ground up. Disney Lorcana Attack of the Vine Ink Colors Guide →
About the author
Multi-TCG analyst covering the competitive trading card game scene. Tournament coverage, format analysis, and cross-game comparison content.
Disclaimer
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The first full retail weekend ran July 25 and 26. Locals and online events gave everyone their first look at fully constructed Attack of the Vine decks in competitive Infinity play.
The clearest finding was that Steelsong didn't fall off. Players skeptical of its ability to absorb Set 13 pressure found that the Song-and-Shift engine is resilient enough to handle the new aggro speed from Turning Red and Monsters Inc. Steelsong held its pre-launch 19% Infinity representation in the events that reported data, though that figure carries a small sample caveat this early.
Amethyst/Ruby Bounce was the second most common Infinity archetype in first-weekend reports. Bounce isn't benefiting from a specific Set 13 injection the way Emerald and Ruby are; its results come from the proven Wilds Unknown shell holding up on its own. A separate Amethyst/Sapphire Hunny toolbox package built around Christopher Robin is starting to show up in smaller numbers, though it's too early to tell if it grows into a genuine third Amethyst archetype.
Ruby/Sapphire Items held as the third Infinity pillar. Carl and Dug from Up added draw redundancy to a deck that was already looking for card-flow options. The Up package doesn't push Ruby/Sapphire Items into a new tier, but it tightens the mid-game draw variance that was the archetype's most common failure point in Wilds Unknown.
The biggest week 1 surprise in Infinity was how fast Emerald aggro moved. Several players ran Monsters Inc-heavy Emerald builds in Infinity, which wasn't expected to be a competitive Infinity archetype yet. Results were better than most projections. Again: opponents haven't calibrated their removal timing against Monsters Inc threat windows. That changes.
For the Disney Lorcana Attack of the Vine best decks, the week 1 Infinity picture is roughly what most experienced players expected: existing archetypes hold, new IP cards upgrade them at the margins, and one new aggro variant (Emerald Monsters Inc) punches above what pure card evaluation would suggest.
Core is more unsettled than Infinity at week 1, which is normal. The rotation boundary means Core players are simultaneously evaluating Set 13 additions, adjusting to cards that rotated out before launch, and figuring out which established archetypes survived rotation with enough pieces intact.
The Core baseline from Wilds Unknown had Amethyst/Sapphire Evasive at 19% share, Amber/Amethyst at 15%, and Amber/Emerald Aggro at 15%. All three showed up in first-weekend Core play, but Amber/Emerald Aggro is the one with the most obvious Set 13 uplift.
That uplift comes from the Monsters Inc side of Emerald. The aggressive Emerald pieces that are threatening in Infinity are even more impactful in Core, where the field plays at a lower power ceiling overall. Players running Amber/Emerald Aggro with three to four Monsters Inc additions report a noticeably cleaner early game than the Wilds Unknown version of the deck.
Amethyst/Sapphire Evasive looks stable in Core but hasn't picked up a dramatic Set 13 boost yet. The archetype is already doing what it does well, and Set 13's headline Amethyst piece, Christopher Robin's Hunny package, is pulling deckbuilders toward a separate Amethyst/Sapphire toolbox build rather than reinforcing Evasive directly. It's still performing; it's just not the story right now.
Core's week 1 meta is also producing some experimental lists that won't survive to week 3. Three-color builds trying to jam Monsters Inc, Turning Red, and Up into one deck are showing up because players want to test everything at launch. Those lists are losing more often than not, but they're generating data about which inter-IP synergies are actually real versus which ones are wishful thinking.
Based on community reports and list posts from competitive Discord servers and the main Lorcana subreddit, here's where each new IP stands after the first week:
Monsters Inc (Emerald): The most immediate constructed impact of the three new IPs. Mike Wazowski at low ink cost and Sulley's mid-game presence are already in both Infinity and Core aggro lists. The Attack of the Vine Monsters Inc character guide has individual card breakdowns.
Turning Red (Ruby): Mei Lee and her cast are giving Ruby decks a faster opening. The cards are aggressive and efficient, which is the exact reason they're spiking in week 1. The risk is that players are drawing into favorable matchups while opponents are still learning how to stop Turning Red's tempo pattern in turns 1 through 3. That won't last.
Up (Sapphire): Carl Fredricksen and Dug are landing as draw tools in Sapphire-heavy lists, mainly Ruby/Sapphire Items. Russell sees less constructed play than the other two but shows up in some support builds. Up is the least flashy of the three IPs and probably the most likely to hold consistent constructed value over time, since it fills a specific role rather than spiking on week-1 unfamiliarity.
Winnie the Pooh (Amethyst): Christopher Robin and the Hunny cast are showing up in a standalone Amethyst/Sapphire toolbox build, not folded into existing Amethyst/Ruby Bounce lists. Tigger and Gopher's cross-ink slots are showing up as tech pieces in that shell. The package is performing about as expected, without the spike Monsters Inc and Turning Red are showing. That may actually be the better long-term sign: cards that don't spike on unfamiliarity tend to hold constructed value more reliably.
GODEEPER: For a full breakdown of which Attack of the Vine cards are worth acquiring for competitive play versus collector value, the best cards to pull guide covers pull rates, market prices, and competitive singles. Disney Lorcana Attack of the Vine Best Cards to Pull →
Week 1 patterns in Lorcana are almost always misleading at the top end. The new IPs currently showing elevated win rates, Monsters Inc and Turning Red aggro, will look different by week 2 once opponents have identified the threat windows and adjusted their removal packages.
The most likely week 2 development is control lists in Infinity adding targeted answers to Emerald aggro. Steelsong already has tools to slow aggressive early games. Bounce can disrupt Monsters Inc tempo with well-timed discard effects. Once those adjustments hit the field, Emerald aggro's numbers will pull back toward a truer average.
Week 2 is also when the first real tournament results with meaningful field sizes typically appear. Prerelease sealed data and first-weekend locals are useful signals, but a regional event with 50 to 80 players and published decklists is a genuinely different data quality. For Attack of the Vine, those results should land around August 7 to 10.
Week 3 is when the meta usually produces its first stable tier list. By then, the community has had time to isolate which Set 13 additions are permanent fixtures versus which ones benefited from week-1 opponent unfamiliarity. The Disney Lorcana complete guide will carry updated meta positioning as that data comes in.
For the Amber/Emerald Aggro upgrade path specifically, the Attack of the Vine Emerald Aggro upgrade guide covers which Monsters Inc pieces slot in, which Wilds Unknown cards to cut, and how the gameplan shifts in Set 13.
The clearest prediction right now: Steelsong and Bounce are the Infinity benchmarks that every new Set 13 list gets measured against by week 3. Both are well-understood, and the Set 13 card pool hasn't produced a hard counter to either. That's not a permanent guarantee, but for competitive players deciding what to register this weekend, they're the most defensible choices.
What is the Attack of the Vine week 1 meta like? Four days in, the Attack of the Vine week 1 meta looks like a familiar Wilds Unknown foundation with new Pixar cards patching specific holes. Amber/Steel Steelsong, Amethyst/Ruby Bounce, and Ruby/Sapphire Items are still the three most-played Infinity archetypes. The clearest new development is Emerald aggro gaining real burst from Monsters Inc characters.
Which decks are overperforming in week 1? Emerald-based aggro lists using Monsters Inc characters are showing a typical week-1 spike. Opponents haven't learned the threat timing yet, which inflates win rates artificially. Ruby aggro with Turning Red pieces is in a similar position. These numbers usually regress toward the true average once the field adapts around week 2 or 3.
Is Steelsong still the best deck in Attack of the Vine? Steelsong appears durable going into Set 13. It held 19% of the Infinity meta in Wilds Unknown and has absorbed several useful cards from Attack of the Vine without losing its core Song-and-Shift engine. The lack of a direct hard counter in the early Set 13 pool keeps it at the top of most experienced players' starting lists.
Should I play Infinity or Core in week 1 of Set 13? Both formats are active, but the meta picture is clearer in Infinity right now because the established archetypes have a longer paper trail. Core is experiencing more turbulence as new IP cards overlap with rotation boundaries. If you want stability in week 1, Infinity with a tested Wilds Unknown deck plus targeted Set 13 upgrades is the more reliable path.
How long before the Attack of the Vine meta fully settles? Expect 2 to 3 weeks before the tier list stabilizes with meaningful tournament data behind it. Week 1 is rush period. Week 2 brings adaptation: slower decks include hate and counter-tech once the aggressive pieces are identified. By week 3, results from multiple regional events start painting a reliable picture of where each archetype actually sits.
Which new IP is having the biggest competitive impact in week 1? Monsters Inc and Turning Red are generating the most discussion week 1. Both IPs land in aggressive Emerald and Ruby slots, and their cards apply early pressure that the current Infinity field wasn't specifically designed to stop. Winnie the Pooh's Hunny package is also tracking well in Amethyst but shows up as a standalone toolbox build rather than folding into Bounce lists.
Are the Up Sapphire cards from Set 13 competitive? Carl, Dug, and Russell from Up are showing up in Ruby/Sapphire Items as supplementary draw tools. They don't redefine the archetype, but they add redundancy to the card-flow package. The general assessment is that Up improves existing Sapphire-heavy lists at the margin rather than creating a standalone Up archetype.
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