One of the most exciting characters to come out of Ursula’s Return is none other than…Ursula herself!
While there’s been no shortage of Ursula cards released in this game to date, what we have in Ursula – Sea Witch Queen is likely the strongest Ursula to date.
In this guide, we’re going to be looking at my custom build for Ursula, pairing her with the formidable Sapphire ramping engine.
I’ve tested this deck out substantially and am really happy with the results. Because this deck relies quite a bit on The Blue Fairy for draw support, you have to be very careful about how you manage your hand. Cards like Fishbone Quill that typically make their way into Sapphire decks aren’t going to be ideal here. Instead, you’ll need to look elsewhere to add incremental Ink into your Inkwell. Cards like Great Stone Dragon and Mickey Mouse – Detective are ideal as they don’t rely on cards in your hand.
Ursula – Sea Witch Queen Ramp Deck List
If you play your cards right, this deck can ramp FAST.
Turn one, you are looking to play either Rafiki or Develop Your Brain. I would pick Rafiki if you can as he is the stronger opening.
Turn two options
This Ursula – Sea Witch Queen deck boasts a wide rank of options on turn two depending on your situation. Against more aggressive decks, you may need to use Rafiki to trade with opposing characters.
If your opponent doesn’t have anything to challenge, you can use Rafiki to then play Madam Mim – Snake to bounce him back into your hand.
The stronger play here, however, is to simply play One Jump Ahead. This will help you get closer to the numbers you need in your Inkwell to start doing some serious damage to the board.
Meanwhile, Blue Fairy is a solid option. Getting her into play early means taking incremental quests while usually unchallenged (she’s Evasive). Down the line, you will need one or more Blue Fairies in play ot take advantage of her excellent draw engine that works in tandem with your Floodborn characters.
Alternatively, if you are playing a deck that likes to run Evasive characters (think Minnie Mouse Surfer or Diablo here) then you can get started early with Cruella De Vil.
Mickey Mouse – Detective is the backbone of your ramp
As I’ve mentioned already, this deck does not rely on Fishbone Quill because you want to try and get as strong of a card advantage in your hand as possible when you start playing your dominating characters later down the line.
For that reason, it is very critical that you play Mickey Mouse – Detective as soon as you can. I typically will keep one copy in my hand when playing this deck during the Mulligan to ensure I can play him on turn three.
Mickey Mouse can then be used to quest or even better he can be used to sing One Jump Ahead or (my favorite) Friends on the Other Side.
Mickey Mouse – Detective is a pretty unassuming character – you’d be surprised how hesitant people are to go out of their way to banish him, meaning you can often use him to get some incremental Lore.
Roll out your Floodborn characters
If you’ve done a good job ramping and setting up your Blue Fairies, you’ll be able to start playing your powerhouse Floodborn characters really quickly and collecting additional draw cards.
It’s worth taking a moment to go into each of your Floodborn characters specifically as they serve different roles in the current meta and which you choose to prioritize will depend on your matchup.
Pinocchio – On the Run
Originally I ran two Hades – Infernal Schemer from The First Chapter in this deck. And while that worked really well, I couldn’t help but feel like Pinochio could be an even better alternative than that powerful card in this deck. For starters, he’s Floodborn, meaning he will work well with Blue Fairy to get you that card advantage that is so desirable in this deck’s gameplay.
Second, his cost is considerably cheaper, making him easier to get out and combo with other cards.
Third, I like that he can let you choose either items or characters to be returned to the hand. He’s this deck’s only counter to items, and while that’s not nearly the strongest item removal card in the game, it could be what you need to just get a little ahead of strong item decks like Ruby/Sapphire
Aurora – Dreaming Guardian
Apart from being one of my favorite cards (she boasts incredible artwork), I would argue Aurora has a place in the current competitive format, mostly because of her Ward ability. While many Sapphire decks run Cogsworth, Cogsworth is really mostly good against Steel decks that like to dish out damage. But the dominant decks right now aren’t Steel, plus control decks like this one tend to fair decently against Steel decks–not to mention Ursula can utterly crush them.
Meanwhile, Aurora can be a powerful defense against a lot of different attack vectors from powerful songs like And Along Came Zeus to even preventing Ruby/Sapphire players from choosing your characters with Ice Block or Madam Medusa.
To get the maximum effect of Aurora, you’ll need two of her in play to protect all of your characters.
Yzma – Scary Beyond All Reason
Yzma is a multifaceted card that has seen play in many, many different Amethyst decks. In this deck, she can be used to help you clear the board of undesirable, opposing characters or to draw extra cards. I’ve pulled off combos with this deck where I play her, gain cards from Blue Fairy, sent Merlin – Rabbit back to my deck, gained cards from her ability and Merlin.
She can be a pretty insane combo in this deck, but she’s not as powerful as what else this deck has to offer.
Elsa – Spirit of Winter has the strongest ability
If there was any question as to howe powerful the new Sea Witch Queen is from Ursula’s Return, that question should be put to rest. She’s good. She’s really good. She has three lore, she can exert characters at a whim to make them easier to challenge, and she prevents your opponent from exerting characters to sing songs which is literally one of the strongest (if not the strongest) mechanics in the game.
She is strong in most situations and absolutely lethal against decks like Amber/Steel that rely heavily on exerting characters to sing for the win.
A final note on Great Stone Dragon
Last but not least, we’d be remiss not to discuss the powerful new ramping tool at Sapphire’s disposal: Great Stone Dragon. I thought this card would be good when I first saw it (and said so in my spoilers review). That being said, I didn’t realize just how good it would be.
The reason I’m covering it last, however, is to not give the misguided interpretation that this card is anyway the same as Fishbone Quill. It isn’t, and it works very, very differently. This is not a card you’re likely to prioritize on turn three as it is a slower ramping mechanic than just dropping Ink into your Inkwell via Mickey Mouse – Detective or via One Jump Ahead. If used right, however, it can become a powerful ramping engine in its own right that keeps you far, far ahead of your competition in the late game without taking a toll on your resources.
I really love this deck and it has proven incredibly strong from my initial testing. Try it for yourself and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
