Merida BB&B – Bodyguards, Bounce & Back

A new Coconut has joined the beta: Merida – Wisp Conjurer. Let’s see what it and its matching character card, Merida – Wisp Conjurer, could do together. My first deck idea: BB&B means Bodyguards, Bounce & Back – Back is my shorthand for recursion. Cheap Bodyguards enter exerted and protect Merida. Bounce brings characters back to hand, while recursion recovers them, letting me use their entry and exit effects again.

I want to keep replaying cheap characters, drawing with Merida and turning spare ink into lore.

The Coconut offers extra lore. The character helps refill my hand while I build the board. I want to start with Amber, Amethyst and Steel.

Why Merida interests me

Once during my turn, the Coconut can make my next played character enter exerted. Whenever one of my characters enters exerted, I may also pay 1 for 1 . The first effect is once per turn; the second can happen repeatedly if I can pay.

Merida herself may enter exerted to draw a card. During my turn, a Merida already in play may draw for each other own character entering exerted. My aim is two or three cheap characters, more cards in hand and a little ink left for lore.

Start with cheap, self-sufficient entries

Simba – Protective Cub and Rex – Protective Dinosaur already have Bodyguard, so they can enter exerted without using the Coconut’s once-per-turn effect. I can save that for another character.

I am mainly looking at costs 1–3, especially characters with their own exerted-entry option. Exerting later to quest or sing does not trigger Merida again.

Brave characters matter when their text fits: Hamish, Hubert & Harris – Making Mischief cost three, may enter exerted and can stop an opposing character readying next turn.

Merida’s world brings Steel reinforcements

The Steel cards bring support straight from Merida’s world. The developers haven’t held back on the lore connection for this Coconut: the Scottish clan lords already bring their own exerted entries. I like how the theme and gameplan fit together.

Lord Macintosh – Wiry and High-Strung costs 4 and may enter exerted to temporarily give a chosen character Resist +2. That can protect Merida or a Bodyguard while triggering the engine.

Lord Dingwall – Bullheaded costs 5 and may enter exerted to give a chosen character +3 while challenging this turn: +3 while challenging. He helps an existing character deal with a threat.

Neither needs the Coconut’s once-per-turn entry effect. With Merida in play, these entries during my turn can draw cards, and I reserve 1 for each extra lore. Macintosh particularly suits my protection plan; Dingwall offers character-based removal support.

Powhatan’s Staff opens up more characters

I also want to try Powhatan's Staff. It costs one ink. By exerting it and paying another ink, the next character I play this turn enters exerted and gains Bodyguard until the start of my next turn.

Alongside the Coconut, it gives me another way to play a character exerted, such as Merlin – Rabbit, Genie – Wish Fulfilled or Tiana – Restaurant Owner. Merida can draw for that entry, and I reserve another ink for the lore bonus. The temporary Bodyguard also helps protect the board.

A five-ink turn

Merida is already in play. Next turn I have five ink: one for Will o' the Wisp – Forest Spirit and two for Simba – Protective Cub. The Coconut lets the Wisp enter exerted; Simba uses Bodyguard.

The existing Merida draws two cards across these entries. I pay the remaining two ink for the two Coconut triggers to gain two lore. Five ink gives me two new characters, two drawn cards and two lore, with Simba protecting Merida.

3=2characters

1 + 2 ink

+

2=2

2 lore

+

Draw from Merida

Bounce: use those entries again

Madam Mim – Snake costs two and must return another own character to hand or be banished. Replaying a cheap Bodyguard can trigger Merida again. Budget for Mim, the replay and the extra ink for lore, and avoid removing Merida’s only protection. Returning Merida can save her but interrupts the Draw engine.

Madam Mim – Fox belongs here too. For three ink I return another own character to hand when playing her, then Rush lets Mim challenge immediately. I particularly like pairing her with Merlin – Rabbit or Goat: their exit gives me a card or lore, and replaying them produces the entry effect again.

Merlin rewards the return trip

Merlin – Rabbit draws a card on play and on leaving play; Merlin – Goat gains a lore on each. Both are attractive bounce and recursion targets.

Merlin – Crab gives a chosen character +3 while challenging this turn on play and on leaving. I like him as a flexible option for removing a troublesome character through a challenge.

Draw and Evasive

Genie – Wish Fulfilled draws on play and has Evasive. Playing him exerted through the Coconut can add Draw from an existing Merida and lore for another ink. Bounce gives me another chance to use his entry.

Recursion: the King, Heihei and the Wisp

While The Horned King – Merciless Master is exerted, I can play characters from my discard, paying their costs; they enter exerted. That combines recursion with Merida’s triggers. I reserve another ink for each lore payment.

Will o' the Wisp – Forest Spirit and Heihei – Persistent Presence are strong Merida synergy cards for me. When banished in a challenge, the Wisp may return to my hand; Heihei returns from the discard to my hand.

They cost one and two ink to replay. The Coconut can make one enter exerted, triggering Draw from a Merida already in play and a lore payment if I have another ink available. That gives me a cheap supply of characters for future Merida turns.

Little John rewards the Bodyguard plan

While Little John – Resourceful Outlaw is exerted, my Bodyguards gain Resist +1 and an extra lore value. They take less damage and become better questers later.

At six ink he is an intentional exception to the cheap core. His smaller Bodyguard version is also a Shift base. I want enough Bodyguards in play for the larger John to matter.

Little John – Robin's Pal is a fitting Shift base: a three-ink Bodyguard, with the larger Little John able to Shift onto him for four ink.

Now I want to keep that board

Exerted characters invite challenges. Bodyguards help keep Merida safe, but they do not stop an action wiping the board.

I want characters to provide this protection: Pete – Games Referee and Toulouse – Rough and Tumble stop opposing actions until the start of my next turn when played. In the new set Hyperia City, Toulouse joins the plan for just two ink. Bounce lets me return and replay either character, while Merida or Powhatan’s Staff can give them exerted entries for Draw and lore.

Actions and songs belong when they solve problems, protect my board or generate card advantage. I still want to trigger Merida consistently, so characters remain the core: every action has to earn its slot over another character.

Mufasa rewards a character-heavy deck

Mufasa – Betrayed Leader fits this plan. When banished, he lets me reveal the top card of my deck and play it for free, exerted, if it is a character. Other cards go back on top. More characters mean more hits and another reason to choose actions and songs carefully. I keep one ink available for the Coconut’s lore; if the entry happens during my turn with Merida still in play, she can also draw a card.

Tiana – Restaurant Owner makes challenges expensive

While Tiana – Restaurant Owner is exerted, a character challenging one of mine gets −3 this turn unless its player pays 3 . I can use the Coconut to play her exerted and reinforce my Bodyguards immediately.

Two items I want to try

Source of the Vine offers me 1 whenever an opposing character quests unless that player pays 1 . It is not guaranteed lore, but I like the decision it repeatedly puts to the other players.

DunBroch Family Tapestry shuffles every player’s discarded characters into their deck. Nobody gets them straight back into hand, and opponents benefit too. I see it as a way to replenish my deck later, alongside targeted recursion.

“DunBroch Family Tapestry is a fantastic multiplayer card in singleton for me. Even after the fourth board wipe, it puts my characters back into the deck. What a card!”

Björn · CocoDex

Where I would start

Cheap exerted entries, Merida for Draw, ink reserved for lore and protection for the board. Removal and recursion should help me keep going when opponents interfere.

The 60-card reference with four Meridas is available on CocoDex. Its balance still needs to prove itself at the table. I particularly want to see how often multiple character plays leave enough ink for protection.

“Our fate lives within us, you only have to be brave enough to see it.”

Merida · Brave · Disney

Open sample deck · 60 cards · Hyperia theorycraft

Coconut image: Beta 2, Javi Salas. Card text: official Lorcana catalog. This is an initial deck concept, a first impression and theorycraft.