If Lorcana’s first three sets were mostly establishing the game, its mechanics, and its key cards, Ursula’s Return would be the upgrade expansion. It’s not introducing anything too new, but delivers a pack of powerful cards that are going to work their way seamlessly into every existing Lorcana deck right now.

In this guide, we’re going to be looking at the best cards in Ursula’s Return, and breaking them up by type so you can see the best of the best in each category.

Updated May 17, 2024

Best Songs

We’ll start with the best songs first. This is because without a doubt Songs tend to have the biggest impact in the game, even greater than characters at times. And songs are going to be an even bigger deal than ever in Ursula’s Return due to the new Sing Together mechanic introduced.

Sing Together basically works the same as normal singing except you can use more than one character to pay the cost of these hyper powerful song cards.

The Mob Song

The Mob Song is most definitely going to see play, and almost every Steel deck will run at least one copy of this powerful card. It’s really unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, rolling the powerful Grab Your Sword and Along Came Zeus together into one convenient, destructive package.

Really the cost of 10 to sing this song is a small price to pay, and most Steel decks will happily pay it via their characters that they will then use to overwhelm you once your board is cleared of all threats.

Second Star to the Right

Another “Sing Together” song, Second Star to the Right is the strongest draw card we’ve seen in the game since Whole New World broke hearts and minds in The First Chapter. Second Star to the Right is an arguably better card in many situations, enabling you to draw cards and your opponent not. It’s got a cost of 10 but that’s worth it to bulk up on cards before you throw out a Be Prepared or the like.

Best Characters

Despite more card types available, and a pretty varied game thanks to Into the Inklands, Characters are still what the game is primarily about. And that makes sense given this is a Disney card game and that’s what Disney is all about: the characters.

But which Characters will reign supreme in Ursula’s Return?

Well, to be honest, there are plenty of very powerful characters in the expansion. However, here are our favorites and why.

Ariel – Treasure Collector

My mind almost can’t quite comprehend the possibilities of this card. She gains two lore for just having more items in play than your opponent? But most decks don’t play items, meaning this is a pretty easy advantage to gain. Not to mention she had Ward, making her much, much harder to take out than other high lore characters out there.

Pair Ariel with your item deck and powerful items like Lucky Dime and you’re good to go.

Cri–Kee – Lucky Cricket

Cri–Kee has a lot going for it. Its got three lore, and an awesome ability that grants all of your characters +3 Strength the turn it is played. That’s going to be especially good for Emerald – an Ink without the strongest challenger characters in the world.

Best Floodborn Characters

Although Ravensburger is doing something a little different in this expansion in delivering lower power, easier to play Floodborn characters via the alternate Shift mechanic introduced in this set, Floodborn characters still tend to be the baddest characters around for a number of reasons.

For this reason, they deserve their own category on this list.

Mulan – Elite Archer

I don’t know why but seeing this card makes me really want to build a Ruby/Steel deck. Mulan’s got some Steel vibes, dishing out damage when she challenges, very similar to Tinker Belle – Gian Fairy from The First Chapter. However, in many ways she’s stronger. Assuming you use her the turn she is Shifted, you can presumably dish out five damage to a character in a challenge, and then deal that same amount of damage to two more characters in play. That’s a pretty insane ability and you can bet she’s going to work her way into some good decks.

Mickey Mouse – Playful Sorcerer

It’s not that Mickey Mouse – Playful Sorcerer is so great in and of himself that I put him on this list. Is he the greatest Floodborn character of this set? No. But I’m really excited about the potential he has to finally possibly make the Magic Broom deck competitively viable!

I hope it happens and I know I’m certainly going to give it a try.

Sisu – Empowered Sibling

Sisu is incredibly broken, and players are already pairing her with Ice Block, the powerful item you can learn more about below. When combined, you can do a one way board clear that makes Be Prepared look like child’s play.

Best Items

Hidden Inkcaster

When this card was revealed, the Lorcana community sort of freaked out. The likes of this item have not been seen in the game before, granting all cards in your hand the ability to be Inked. This is a hugely helpful tool in Emerald’s already powerful arsenal, enabling characters to add extra Uninkable cards into their deck and avoid getting stuck more easily without Ink.

Great Stone Dragon 167/204

Great Stone Dragon adds additional versatility to Sapphire’s already strong Inking skillset. Only this time, you can Ink cards from your discard. This is pretty strong – until now you’ve mostly had to Ink your resources. However, most decks don’t have cards targeting characters in the discard yet, meaning they’re not really part of your resources the way the cards in your hand or in your deck are.

Ice Block

As said above, Ice Block can be used in tandem with the already deadly Ruby/Sapphire strategy to achieve some pretty chilling feats, making it easier for cards like Sisu or Madem Medusa to outright banish anything and everything in sight.

Best Location Card

Unlike Into the Inklands that really hyped up Locations, this set is relatively lackluster in regards to Locations. Most of the Locations introduced are pretty niche and don’t have passive lore. It seems that the Lorcana design team is trying to make Lcoations impact the game as more of a mechanic and less of a way to just gain passive lore and annoy your opponent. That being said, there is one location that’s been revealed that does look pretty cool.

Areil’s Grotto – A Secret Place

Ariel’s Grotto stands out for a number of reasons. First, it’s only two-cost, making it quite easy to play. Second, it’s got a high willpower stat of seven, which is basically the minimum cost willpower these days to make a location competitively viable.

Third, if you are running an item deck, then this card is incredibly useful, letting you gain two lore passively each turn. While most decks will opt to just run MckDuck Manor still, I think this card could see some play in item heavy decks where they can benefit from the reduced cost of playing it versus McDuck Manor’s slightly higher four-cost.

Ursula’s Garden – Full of the Unfortunate

No one’s spoken much about Ursula’s Garden. However, this might just be the first really handy Emerald location card to come out. It’s got enough will power to survive the Maui onslaught. Meanwhile, it only costs two to move a character to move there. This could work well in Emerald/Steel discard decks to counter other decks getting ahead too quickly.

Not to mention it is one of the few location cards in Ursula’s Return to grant passive lore.

The Best Cards in Lorcana: Ursula’s Return by Type