Merida - Formidable Archer sits near the top of every expensive-card conversation right now, and Wargamer's rundown of the priciest 2026 Lorcana cards is the reason she's back in the spotlight. Their figure for the Iconic version is $1,844. Our live feed agrees, which tells you something: this one hasn't cooled.
Two different cards share that name, and they are not the same purchase. The Legendary is the one that goes in a deck: $2.12 today.
The Iconic is a collector's print of the same character, $1,844.18, and essentially nobody sleeves it. The rules text is identical on both. If you came to play her, the first number is the only one that matters. If you came for the chase card, the second one is the whole story. The rest of this splits along that line.
- The Iconic variant is priced at $1,844 by both Wargamer and our live feed. Non-Iconic copies start at $2.12.
- STEADY AIM doubles up on any action that already deals damage. Pair her with Three Arrows for repeatable value.
- Goofy - Klutzy Skier banishes her for 3 ink and doesn't care how big she is. Unconditional removal is the real threat.
- She's a 3/5 at 5 ink. She can survive most challenge trades on her own, but straight banish ignores that entirely.
If you are playing her: the $2.12 Legendary
Merida - Formidable Archer is Steel, costs 5 ink, and comes in at 3 strength and 5 willpower with 2 lore. She has two abilities and both are about actions.
FULL QUIVER reads: "When you play this character, you may return an action card named Three Arrows from your discard to your hand." That's a built-in reload. Play an action, she gets it back. The loop isn't infinite because Three Arrows has to actually be in your discard, but in a deck built around her, it's close enough.
STEADY AIM is where it gets interesting. "Whenever one of your actions deals damage to an opposing character, deal 2 damage to that character." So any action that already deals damage triggers a bonus 2 on top. She doesn't deal the damage herself. She amplifies what your actions already do. That's a different kind of threat than raw strength.
Where the combo actually lives
The Three Arrows engine is the obvious home for her. FULL QUIVER names that card specifically, so if you're not running it, you're leaving half her text in the dark. The action loop she creates means an opponent can't just wait her out. Every turn you're threatening another trigger on STEADY AIM.
The 5 willpower also matters. She survives most challenge trades without being banished. A 3/5 body at 5 ink isn't stealing any awards for efficiency, but she's not a glass cannon either.
The Iconic version isn't expensive because she dominates every board state. The case for the price is that she's one of the best-looking prints in the catalogue, and collectors treat that as the premium worth paying.
What actually takes her off the board
Here's the honest version of the removal question. Her 3 strength means effects that only banish characters with 2 strength or less cannot touch her. Red Alert at 4 ink and Elsa - Ice Artisan at 6 ink both read from the bottom up, and she dodges them cleanly.
What she can't dodge is anything unconditional. Goofy - Klutzy Skier banishes her outright for 3 ink and doesn't care about her strength or willpower at all. Dragon Fire does the same at 5 ink. Red Moon Ritual at 7. None of those check her statline.
Let It Go puts her into the inkwell at 5 ink. That's not a banish, but it removes her from the board just as effectively, and STEADY AIM stops firing.
Conditional removal can also reach her once its own condition is met: Firefly Swarm at 3 ink, Jack-Jack Parr - Incredible Potential at 4, and Maleficent - Monstrous Dragon at 9. Those aren't free removal, but they're not off the table.
Nobody plays the $1,844 Iconic. The card that sees a board is the $2.12 Legendary, and it does everything the expensive one does. That's the game, and it applies to everything at this power level.
If you are collecting: the $1,844 Iconic
Everything above describes the card you would actually play. None of it explains the Iconic's price, and it is worth being blunt about that.
The rules text on the Iconic is identical to the $2.12 copy, so the premium is not buying power. It is buying scarcity, an alternate art, and demand for the character. Those move with collectors rather than with the meta, which is the risk in the purchase.
Wargamer also listed Pocahontas - Peacekeeper on the same list, and here's where our data says something different. They cited that card at $982.
Our live feed today shows the top end at $982.06, which is close, but their piece appears to have included a comparison to Colors of the Wind, an Amethyst Song at 4 ink that lets each player draw based on ink types revealed.
Their number was accurate when they wrote it. Markets move. Wargamer saw the card near $982 at publication; our feed now shows it topping out at $229.50, a drop of roughly 77%.
That context is worth carrying when you look at the Iconic's $1,844 figure. High-end Iconic prices can shift, and a card that's held its value while adjacent cards dropped is a different story than one riding a temporary spike.
Should you actually play her
If you're building around Three Arrows, she's the centerpiece. The FULL QUIVER loop and STEADY AIM work together in a way that makes her more than a stat-line. If you're not in that archetype, she's a 3/5 for 5 ink that quests for 2, which is functional but not exceptional on its own.
So there are two honest answers, depending which one you came for. To play her, buy the Legendary at $2.12 and sleeve it next to something that keeps Three Arrows moving.
To own the Iconic, understand you are buying scarcity and art at $1,844, not a better card. It does nothing on a board that the $2.12 copy does not do.
Prices update daily. Price any list as you build it in the deck builder, which reads the same feed as this page, and every card above links to its own page in the card library.
Source: The rarest and most expensive Lorcana cards of 2026, Wargamer
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