In my review for Ursula’s Return, I expressed some reservations about the shape of the then-burgeoning meta, which was defined at the time by a couple of decks with what I consider to be oppressive play styles. A month later, my perspective hasn’t changed much. I’m happy to see a couple more decks rise to challenge the dominance of Emerald/Steel Discard and the Ruby/Sapphire “Sisu on Ice” decks that dominated the first two weeks, but with Bucky and two ramp decks dominating the meta, I’m still finding myself stuck in a lot of matchups that just aren’t enjoyable to play.
The shining light of hope this season has been the success of Ruby/Amethyst. The ink color combo that once completely controlled the meta has somehow become the most fair deck in the game. As it shifted away from a control deck into a tempo deck last season, I found myself gravitating towards Ruby/Amethyst, and had a lot of success with it at Into The Inklands Set Championships. So, naturally, it’s my top choice for this season’s championships too.
![Cinderella Stouthearted from Disney Lorcana by Ravensberger Games with TheGamer Threads logo](https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/wm/2024/06/disney-lorcana-cinderella-stouthearted-tg-threads.jpg)
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Which Character Are You Still Hoping Will Appear In Lorcana?
Disney Lorcana is the biggest trading card game in years, thanks in no small part to its reimaginings of classic Disney characters. It has an enormous cast, but then again, so does the Disney filmography. Which character has yet to appear on a Lorcana card that deserves a trip to the Inklands?
Ruby/Amethyst is still a top contender in Ursula’s Return thanks to its success at major events like Disney Lorcana Challenge Chicago, where two of them made the Top 8 cut, and more recently, last weekend’s CCS $10k, where 15 year old Luca Serano took home the win with the deck.
If you’re familiar with the deck, it hasn’t changed dramatically from last season. It still has the full bounce package of Merlins and Mims, plus Be Prepared, The Queen’s Castle, Maui, and some combination of the red ladies, Madame Medusa and Lady Tremaine. New editions fill out the low end and push this archetype even further into the tempo category. Flynn Rider, Frenemy replaces Kuzco in the 2-drop slot to put early lore-gaining pressure on the board, and he pairs perfectly with Sisu, Emboldened Warrior on turn three. Most lists, including Serano’s, also make use of two new low-cost removal actions, Brawl and Be King Undisputed. This deck’s strategy revolves around establishing lore-gainers like Flynn and The Queen’s Castle and ensuring they stick with lots of removal tools.
But if I was just planning on playing Serano’s deck, I wouldn’t have claimed I’m bringing off-meta spice to Set Championships. I have a different take on Ruby/Amethyst based on one that I’ve seen have a lot of success at my local store. Without further ado: here’s Ruby/Amethyst – Location Edition.
![Ursula's Return Set Championship Deck](https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/download-2-1.png)
The Jim Hawkins Ruby/Amethyst deck had some momentum in the early Into the Inklands meta, but players eventually discovered that less is more when it comes to locations. Now, there are a few things about the current meta that create openings for a location-heavy deck to thrive.
While Emerald/Steel is the boogeyman of the meta, it isn’t very good at dealing with locations. The best tool it has to do so is the Steel action Avalanche, but with Ruby/Sapphire lists cutting McDuck Manor and Ruby/Amethyst not being much of a threat until recently, Steel players typically only run one or two copies of Avalanche, and usually only as a back-up for Tinker Bell, Giant Fairy in Emerald mirror matches. That goes for both Emerald/Steel and Sapphire/Steel, which means two of the four top decks aren’t well-equipped for dealing with locations.
When it comes to mirror matches with other Ruby/Amethyst decks, this list’s advantage is that many have stopped playing Merlin, Crab, instead relying on Sisu and Maui when they need a big strength character. Sisu is much easier to play around than Crab, and Maui can’t take out either location in one hit. Without the ability to bounce Crab with Fox for a clean hit into the Castle, Ruby/Amethyst decks are struggling a bit against locations this season.
![Lorcana Commander](https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/lorcana-commander.jpg)
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The other matchup to consider is Ruby/Sapphire, but it’s even worse at dealing with locations than Ruby/Amethyst. While the deck has plenty of ways to remove characters, its only answer to locations is Maui, and again, Maui alone won’t clear The Queen’s Castle or RLS Legacy.
What’s more, Locations throw a wrench into the plans of both ramp decks, forcing them to pause and find solutions when they’d prefer to ignore the board state and build up to their big Lucky Dime turn. Items can still be a challenge to overcome since Ruby/Amethyst has no way to remove them, but this deck puts the pressure on ramp decks in a way they aren’t designed to deal with easily.
Of course, you won’t always have the luxury of being on the front foot in your matchups, but this deck has ways of dealing with aggressive opponents. While Magic Carpet and Tuk Tuk are both included for their location synergy, they’re also low-cost Evasives that can deal with Emerald players’ Diablos. Any character at RLS Legacy is also an answer to Diablo, Devoted Herald, and any other Evasive you might encounter. When all else fails, Brawl can take out Diablo. It also clears troublesome cards like Flynn Rider, Frenemy; Ursula, Deceiver of All; and Hiram Flaversham, Toymaker.
To deal with threatening Ward characters like Bucky and Ariel, Treasure Collector, a new staple in Sapphire/Steel decks, we have both Lady Tremaine and Be King Undisputed. Madame Medusa is still the best answer to cards like Robin Hood, Champion of Sherwood Forest and Beast, Tragic Hero, and if all else fails, we still have Be Prepared to deal with everything else.
This is not the final version (as if I’d publish my actual Set Championship deck before the event!) and there are still many variations to consider. Flynn and Sisu are a potent combo that have been replaced by Magic Carpet and Tuk Tuk in my current list, but that could change. I’m also a big fan of Dolores Madrigal as a substitute for Maleficent, and I’m experimenting with splitting them two and two. Crab is always an option, and I’m still working on fine-tuning exactly how many locations and Jim Hawkins cards I need.
With so many great cards in both Ruby and Amethyst, it’s a delicate balancing act that requires a ton of testing. But ultimately I’m confident that the meta isn’t built to deal with location-heavy decks right now, so that’s what I intend to play.
![Disney Lorcana: Ursula's Return Review](https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/23-disney-lorcana-ursula-s-return-review.jpg)
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Disney Lorcana: Ursula’s Return Review
Ursula’s Return rounds out the first year of Lorcana with a story-rich expansion and a new must-play co-op game mode.