Which Ursula’s Return Starter Deck is best?

Each new set of Lorcana brings with it new starter decks to try out. This can be fun for new players because they get premade decks that they can dive straight into. These decks are usually not massively complicated, and tend to have some synergy built into them from the ground up. Theoretically, players could pick these decks up and play them as is. Of course, if you really want them to be any good, they’ll need to be upgraded with cards either from your collection or, if you are new to the game, ones you get from booster packs.

In this guide, we’ll be covering the deck lists for both starter decks releasing in Ursula’s Return: Amber/Amethyst and Sapphire/Steel. We’ll be sharing insights into how to play these decks that you won’t be getting from the box, and comparing the strategy of these two decks to find out which is best.

Ursula’s Return: Amber/Amethyst Encanto Deck List

Agustin Madrigal – Clumsy Dad (3x)
Ariel – Singing Mermaid
Félix Madrigal – Fun-Loving Family Man (2x)
Julieta Madrigal – Excellent Cook (2x)
Mickey Mouse – Leader of the Band (2x)
Mirabel Madrigal – Gift of the Family (foil)
Mirabel Madrigal – Prophecy Finder (3x)
Prince Eric – Seafaring Prince (3x)
Rolly – Hungry Pup* (2x) (Into the Inklands)
Sebastian – Court Composer* (2x) (The First Chapter)
Stitch – Alien Dancer (3x)
Heal What Has Been Hurt* (2x) (Into the Inklands)
Healing Glow* (2x) (The First Chapter)
Look at This Family
Lost in the Woods (2x)
Antonio Madrigal – Animal Expert (3x)
Bruno Madrigal – Out of the Shadows (foil)
Camilo Madrigal – Prankster (2x)
Dolores Madrigal – Easy Listener (2x)
Elsa – Queen Regent* (3x) (The First Chapter)
HeiHei – Persistent Presence* (2x) (Rise of the Floodborn)
Isabela Madrigal – Golden Child
Luisa Madrigal – Magically Strong One (2x)
Marshmallow – Terrifying Snowman (3x)
Pepa Madrigal – Weather Maker
The Queen – Hateful Rival* (2x) (Into the Inklands)
Tick-Tock – Ever-Present Pursuer (2x)
Poor Unfortunate Souls (2x)
Casa Madrigal – Casita (3x)

Amber/Amethyst Ursula’s Return deck review

The Pros:

At first glance, this deck actually looks pretty solid. It has a good balance of costs with plenty of low cost characters to get you started in the early game, and a lot of really strong characters you can rely on to clear your opponent’s board and stop them from outpacing you.

The cards that really stand out in this deck are Ariel and Isabella. Ariel is likely going to see a lot of play competitively, especially considering how popular Sing Together songs are likely to be when the set releases. She has the unpresedented Singer 7 ability, meaning that she counts as a cost seven character when singing songs. There are some hyper powerful Sing Together songs coming out in Ursula’s return, and this Ariel can pay the bulk of the cost of them herself.

Apart from Ariel, this deck also has Isabela. Not only is she Evasive, she’s got an ability that lets her quest for four lore. This could be a really effective late game move for you when you play this deck. Bolster your lore up as high as possible and then use Isabela to gain the remaining lore. Piece of cake.

The Cons

Where this deck falls short is in the synergy between cards. Quite honestly, there isn’t much of one. This deck reminds me quite a bit of the Amber/Emerald deck from last set. It’s filled with a many, disparate but good cards while lacking a clear synergistic whole.

Not to mention cards included here seem to not only lack synergy – their strategies actually feel in direct conflict with one another. For example, if you are looking to take advantage of a bunch of low cost characters (which this deck has plenty of) to overwhelm the board, why are you worried about super powerful, high strength characters?

Similarly, why include a bunch of characters that bounce characters back to the hand when banished and a bunch of cards that heal characters. None of that really seems to make sense and it’s going to hurt you in the long run.

Tips on playing this starter deck

If you play Amber/Amethyst at a Lorcana Starter Deck tournament, you’ll want to focus on the aggro side of the deck and not so much on the challenger side of things. Look to overwhelm your opponent quickly with a lot of characters while taking care to play Prince Erik for his bodyguard ability. This will keep your characters in turn longer so that you can actually play them.

Additionally, this deck does have decent draw support. Cards like Delores Madrigal and Julieta both are strong draw cards that can be played to build up resources in your hand while also getting characters into play.

Your chances of winning a game with this starter deck are better if you can win quickly. If you don’t win quickly, you’ll have trouble going toe-to-toe with other decks.

Casa Madrigal is strong in starter deck tournaments

Last but not least, Casa Madrigal could be a very strong advantage in starter deck tournaments. This deck equips you with three of these handy cards right off-the-bat. And while there are stronger locations to add to this deck once you customize it, at starter deck tournaments where pickings are slim, players will likely have trouble taking out this location early on. If you have a character here (and you should), you will gain lore passively from very early on.

Ursula’s Return Sapphire/Steel Hero Deck List

Anna – Braving the Storm (3x)
Anna – True-Hearted (foil)
Aurora – Regal Princess* (3x) (The First Chapter)
Aurora – Tranquil Princess (3x)
Basil – Of Baker Street* (2x) (Rise of the Floodborn)
Flounder – Collector’s Companion (2x)
Mickey Mouse – Detective* (2x) (The First Chapter)
Pascal – Inquisitive Pet (2x)
Prince Phillip – Gallant Defender
Rapunzel – Appreciative Artist
Sisu – Wise Friend (2x)
Transformed Chef – Castle Stove (2x)
Dig a Little Deeper (2x)
Seldom All They Seem (2x)
Aladdin – Resolute Swordsman (3x)
Ariel – Determined Mermaid (3x)
Hercules – Beloved Hero (foil)
Kida – Royal Warrior* (3x) (Into the Inklands)
Li Shang – Imperial Captain (2x)
Ling – Imperial Soldier (2x)
Mickey Mouse – Standard Bearer (3x)
Mulan – Armored Fighter (2x)
Philoctetes – No-Nonsense Instructor
Robin Hood – Beloved Outlaw* (3x) (Into the Inklands)
One Last Hope
Smash* (2x) (The First Chapter)
Imperial Bow (3x)
Thebes – The Big Olive (3x)

Ursula’s Return Sapphire/Steel deck review

If the lack of synergy found in Amber/Amethyst (apart from the Encanto theming) isn’t your thing, you might prefer Sapphire/Steel. This deck focuses on the hero classification to grant you access to pretty awesome added benefits. For example, Dreamborn Anna grants your hero characters added lore when questing, and Phil, meanwhile, grants you lore just for playing heroes.

Of these, I think Phil’s ability is actually the strongest. This deck has plenty of hero characters meaning you are gaining lore passively all the time without even questing. Too bad this deck doesn’t run more Phil cards because if it did, you’d be in a great spot.

Thebes, meanwhile, is a location that grants you additional lore whenever a character banishes another character while there – essentially granting the ability Floodborn Robin Hood has from Into the Inklands.

Between Phil and Thebes you could gain a lot of your lore just by playing heroes and then using them to challenge and banish opposing characters.

Use Rapunzel with Pascal plus Anna to gain some serious lore

Apart from gaining lore via challenges, this deck does have some solid ways to quest for lore. Your strongest quester in the game is actually Rapunzel – Appreciative Artist. She has three lore and because she is a hero character, she has four lore when paired with Anna – Truehearted. Additionally, if you have Pascal in play she gains Ward, meaning she can’t be chosen except in a challenge.

Dig a Little Deeper

Last but not least, Dig a Little Deeper is included in this deck. This card is incredibly strong, letting you search the top seven cards of your deck for any two that you want. It’s one of the strongest card search abilities in the game now thanks to Ursula’s Return, and well worth prioritizing if you end up playing Sapphire/Steel.

Final verdict: which Ursula’s Return Starter Deck is best?

If you can’t tell from what I wrote above, I’m a lot more into the Sapphire/Steel deck than I am into the Amber/Amethyst one. Sapphire/Steel has some really broken cards in it (Dig a Little Deeper) and actually has a coherent strategy that doesn’t contradict itself.

If you don’t mind working a little harder to get its strategy to work (it’s a little trickier than the more vanilla Amber/Amethyst deck) then it will repay you in spades with a more powerful, thought out gameplay.

If, however, you want a bunch of Encanto characters that you can “turn sideways” for questing, be our guest!

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