Disney Lorcana Ursula's Return set analysis

Note: This article was written in the week of the release, so this is mainly theorycrafting. Let's get brewing!

Overall:

• New keyword: Sing Together, which allows multiple characters (including those of your teammates!) to sing / exert to cast the Action. Each color has one, and it’s mostly found on actions with a high ink cost: 6, 7, twice 8 and twice 10. Until now, there was only 1 7-cost Action - and the new ones are even easier to play due to Sing Together.
• There are more cards that are songs or care about songs compared to previous sets, but they’re mostly in Amber and Steel. An Amber Steel Song deck should be feasible.
• There are 9 characters with 3◊, but none of them are cheap. The standout is Ariel - Treasure Collector who can get up to 5 Lore value! It's the first set without a character with baseline 4◊.
• Item distribution is quite even - Ruby actually has the most (4), so Sapphire isn't the exception this time, although it has several cards that care about items, with two outstanding characters!
• All colors get 2 new locations, but there's not as much location synergy as in Into the Inklands.
• We get 3 Floodborn characters per color. For the first time, each color gets an uncommon card with Shift. There's a new cycle of Floodborn cards with a "discard a xyz card" as Shift cost. One watchout: we now have 4 Floodborn cards that cost only 3 ink. This likely makes a Floodborn deck with 1 or 2 of the "when you play a Floodborn character" cards from Rise of the Floodborn, especially those that cost 2 ink. Diablo - Devoted Herald looks like the prime candidate to be played the turn after, or even in the same turn as Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor when you shift him on the playable Diablo - Malificent's Spy. Emerald will likely want to team up with Steel (for Aladdin - Brave Rescuer), Ruby (for Li Shang - Valorous General), or Sapphire (for Olaf - Carrot Enthusiast, with other Sapphire Support cards) to get sufficient mass at 3 cost. There's no cheap Amethyst Floodborn character yet, so Blue Fairy - Rewarding Good Deeds looks less appealing.
  • Update: on August 9, Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor got an erratum, crippling the interplay with decks that played him with the Diablo and Aladdin cards mentioned above.
• The color distribution for Evasive is a bit different this set. Ruby only has 3 and they only have 1◊ - only 1 has an ability, for a move deck. Emerald has 4 and they're all very playable. Amethyst also has 4, with 1◊, but the two Madrigals can gain more lore per turn through their abilities.

Amber:

• Amber has a Madrigal, a Musketeer, and a Bodyguard theme.
• The Madrigal theme enablers are Alma Madrigal – Family Matriarch, who lets you search for another Madrigal card, and Mirabel Madrigal – Gift of the Family, who boosts the lore value of your Madrigal cards. Look in Amethyst for other Madrigal cards.
• Amber has 5 new Musketeers, but they don’t provide synergy to other Musketeers. Do have a look at the 3 Musketeer cards from the First Chapter set, as they do provide that synergy – are there now enough Musketeers to create a Musketeer themed deck? 3 of the new Musketeers synergize with Bodyguard characters, so perhaps a Musketeer - Bodyguard deck? Mickey - Musketeer Captain looks strong as he draws cards. Who will they protect though? If all your characters have Bodyguard, your opponent can choose any to challenge.
• Cards that care about songs: Ariel – Singing Mermaid (Singer 7!), Cinderella – Melody Weaver (Singer 9!! + ◊Princess boost), Golden Harp – Enchanter of the Land (watch out: big dependency on songs! I'm skeptical), Ursula – Vanessa (Singer 4), Record Player (-strength, needed?), Atlantica - Concert Hall (boosts singing, needed?), but Amber has only 2 new songs: the Sing Together Look at this Family (filter 5, keep 2 characters) and Lost in the Woods (-2 Strength to all opposing characters until your next turn).
• Gaston – Despicable Dealer is the first character whose activated ability reduces the ink cost of the next character you play by 2, providing Amber another character cost reduction card.
• 4 cards that remove damage from your characters. Miracle Candle allows you to remove 2 damage from a location and gain 2 lore, but you need at least 3 characters in play.
• 4 characters with Support, more than in any previous set.

Amethyst:

• Amethyst has a Madrigal and a Magic Broom theme.
• The Amethyst Madrigal cards have good abilities, but don’t synergize with other Madrigal cards – those are in Amber.
• Yen Sid – Powerful Sorcerer synergizes with Magic Brooms. You’ll want to look into Steel, which brings 2 new brooms into this set as well as Mickey Mouse – Playful Sorcerer. Combined with Mickey Mouse – Wayward Sorcerer of the First Chapter and The Sorcerer’s Tower – Wondrous Workspace of Into the Inklands and the Brooms from all 4 sets, we now have 13 broom themed cards. Is it enough to make an Amethyst Steel Broom deck?
• The two Belle cards and Rose Lantern allow you to move damage counters to opposing characters. Note: that ignores Resist!
• Try out Bruno Madrigal – Undetected Uncle with Sapphire cards like Aurora – Lore Guardian or other cards that tell you what the top card of your library is.
• Amethyst gains aggressive challenge cards in Bruno Madrigal – Out of the Shadows, Elsa – Storm Chaser, Flotsam – Ursula’s Baby (especially when teamed up with Jetsam – Ursula’s Baby) and Ursula’s Lair – Eye of the Storm, with a new twist: you get your character card that was banished in a challenge back in your hand. That's cost intensive but may work in an attrition deck.
• Ursula – Sea Witch Queen is another card that hinders songs (on top of Ursula – Deceiver) but watch out as she also affects your own characters.
• Just 2 songs, including Second Star To The Right, the first 10 ink cost song, with Sing Together, to draw 5 cards. Amethyst doesn't have cards that care about songs, so look elsewhere to build a song-themed deck.

Emerald:

• Several interesting individual cards, but there’s no obvious theme to Emerald. For example, Hera – Queen of the Gods and Megara – Liberated One both care about Hercules cards – although Hercules cards are in Ruby and Steel?
• Diablo – Devoted Herald has Evasive, so his ability to draw cards could trigger multiple times if the opponent doesn’t have an answer (or stop your opponent from playing characters). His Shift ability requires you to discard a card instead of paying ink. Also, don't lose sight that he's a cheap Floodborn character which will trigger the 5 character cards of Rise of the Floodborn. Could he become the cheap card those cards were looking for?
• Prince Phillip – Vanquisher of Foes can be a one-sided board sweeper, combined with the right cards, such as Steel's Avalanche, Grab Your Sword (a Song, so you could play it in the same turn as Phillip), Tinker Bell - Giant Fairy and especially Chief Bogo – Respected Officer whose ability triggers when you play Prince Phillip! Prince Philip costs a whopping 9 ink though, so you may want to add Prince Phillip - Warden of the Woods to your deck so you can Shift the Floodborn Prince.
• Hidden Inkcaster allows you to increase the number of non-inkable cards in your deck and draws you a card. Interesting, but is it needed?
• Ursula’s Garden – Fall of the Unfortunate reduces the lore value of opposing characters if you have an exerted character there. Games are won by gaining lore, so this is interesting! However, if a character doesn't gain lore by questing, it will likely challenge this location... Just a speed bump?
• Don’t overlook the fact that the abilities of Cri-Kree – Lucky Cricket and Pegasus – Cloud Racer apply to all your characters!
• Just 2 songs, and 2 other card that cares about songs. Under The Sea is the 8 cost Sing Together Song, but it's situational as it only hits characters with 2 Strength or less. It would cripple an aggro go-wide deck though.

Ruby:

• 11 cards that care about challenging!
• As mentioned above, Ruby's new Evasive characters won't be win conditions.
• 2 songs, but no other cards that care about songs. A Pirate's Life is the 6 cost Sing Together Song, but is - 2 lore, + 2 lore something we're looking for?
• Two characters that enter play damaged. Ruby doesn’t have cards that can remove that damage though. Look into Amethyst for moving those damage counters to opposing characters, or Amber for removing them.
• 3 new cards that can ready a character.
• Flynn Rider – Frenemy can gain you a lot of lore without exerting him!
• You could play Hercules - Daring Demigod if you don't have enough Maui - Hero To All for your deck. But cost 5 but Hercules is not inkable, and has lower willpower (3 vs 5), but he hits for 1 Strength more (7 vs 6).
• Lumiere – Fiery Friend boosts all your other characters with 1 Strength – no conditions. Ruby character care about challenging so this 2-cost card could be a solid enabler.
• Mulan – Elite Archer can damage up to 3 characters when challenging, and when you Shifted her, that's 3x 5 damage on the turn you play her - likely challenging a low strength character and taking out two big baddies. Namaari – Heir of Fang does the same, but to two characters and a turn later, but she could hit hard if you can boost her Strength.
• Mulan – Enemy of Entanglement (+2 Strength) and Noi – Acrobatic Baby (no damage from challenges!) both care about playing actions (not songs), but there are only 3 actions in Ruby in this set.
• Sisu – Emboldened Warrior should have high Strength most of the time. At 3 Ink cost and 4 Willpower, she should be able to take out 1 or more threats, and 2◊ is nice too. Likely great to play after Flynn Rider – Frenemy.
• Sisu - Empowered Sibling would be the ideal answer to cheap (Amber) go wide decks. However, will you be able to play her quickly enough? 6 or 8 cost and not inkable...
• Tuk Tuk – Lively Partner is made for a "move to a location" deck. Can we build a good one though?
• Imperial Proclamation reduces the ink cost of the next character you play per challenge and costs only 1, so you can play if for free. Also consider that this ability can trigger multiple times per turn.
• Brawl is conditional, but you may need it for pesky cards that your opponent won't exert like Flynn Rider – Frenemy or Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor.
• Snuggly Duckling - Disreputable Pub looks strong in a challenge-move deck, which Ruby has several cards for. Gaining 1 to 3◊ when a character challenges (and takes out) another character there can be strong. It only costs 2 and has 9 Willpower but the move cost is 2. Ruby luckily can get around that move cost.

Sapphire:

• 5 cards care about items, with The Queen – Diviner as enabler, and Ariel – Treasure Collector (with Ward) as a new finisher in an item control deck as it should have 5◊. Should work well with Tamatoa – So Shiny!
• 3 deck fixing cards, smoothening your draw.
• 3 songs, instead of the typical 2.
• Just 3 items, which is less than usual for Sapphire.
• We have a Hero subtheme with Anna - Braving the Storm, Anna - True Hearted (◊ boost) and Winter Camp – Medical Tent, which can heal a character for quite a lot, especially if it's a Hero character. There are many Hero cards already (8 in Sapphire in this set alone), so could we build a deck with a Hero sub-theme? Steel has a similar synergy. Sapphire Steel Hero deck anyone? Prince Phillip - Warden of the Woods (Emerald) also has Hero synergy (Ward) by the way.
• Prince Philip - Gallant Defender provides a nice Resist+1 bonus when you use a Support ability (and has Support himself). Sapphire has several Support characters: 8 in previous sets, 3 in this set + 1 that grants Support to Villains. Amber has 10 characters with Support, but you may want to couple with a color that likes to be picked as target for Support, like Ruby or Steel. Watch out: Olaf - Carrot Enthusiast's ability is some kind of super Support, but it's technically not a Support ability.
• Triton - Champion of Atlantica and Triton - Young Prince would like to team up with John Silver - Greedy Treasure Seeker and his friends of set 3. First time I thought of making a Sapphire Steel location-go-wide deck.

Steel:

• 2 Ariel cards that care about Songs, and they both have quite good abilities, especially Ariel - Sonic Warrior, and Steel has 3 new Songs. Team up with Amber?
• 6 (!) characters with Resist (and 1 action). Set 1 had none. Set 2 had 6 as well (+ an action and an item), set 3 had 2 characters + 1 who could get Resist (+1 character, 1 item and 1 location that could grant Resist).
• See above in Amber for note on Musketeer and Bodyguard as Steel has some as well.
• See above in Amethyst for note on Broom cards.
• 3 cards that care about Heroes, especially Philoctetes – No-Nonsense Instructor and One Last Hope. See note on Heroes in Sapphire.
• Two new cards that gain a benefit when you don’t have cards in hand. RLS Legacy’s Cannon can discard your cards to get to those 0 cards in hand and could be the card that Sheriff of Nottingham – Corrupt Official was waiting for? Quick enough? They're both uninkable though.
• Raya - Unstoppable Force challenges for 5 and has Resist+2 (with Willpower 6) and draws a card when she banishes a character in a challenge. 7 is a high cost though. Too bad she doesn't have Shift.
• The Wall – Border Fortress protects your other locations. Is this the best way to protect your locations?
• Fortisphere joins Pawpsicle. 1 cost, draw a card, banish for 1 ink to grant a character Bodyguard. The 1 ink cost on its ability makes it more expensive but having 8 copies to juggle in a Tamatoa - So Shiny! deck will improve its consistency a lot. And Bodyguard/throwing another character in front of your Tamatoa may be needed when healing him with Pawpsicle wouldn't be enough.
• Thebes - The Big Olive doesn't have a lore value, so your opponent may ignore it. But with just 1 move cost, you can move multiple characters there and then challenge & banish and get 2 lore each time. I'd give it a shot in a go-wide-locations John Silver & Triton deck.