Disney Lorcana: How To Upgrade The Amber/Amethyst Starter Deck From Ursula’s Return – TheGamer

Ursula's Return is Disney Lorcana's newest expansion, a story-driven set that reveals Ursula's evil plan to take control of the Inklands with the power of the Hexwell Crown. Heroes and villains take center stage in this expansion, but Ursula's story, which weaves through many of the new cards, isn't the only exciting thing about Ursula's Return. Encanto's Madrigal family is making their first appearance in Disney Lorcana - and they're featured front and center in the newest starter deck

As its name implies, Madrigal Magic is a typal deck that has built-in synergies for the members of the Madrigal Family. It also has a big emphasis on healing characters through actions and abilities, lots of support characters, a few singers, and a little bit of bounce synergy too. This deck is more unfocused than its Hero-centric, Sapphire/Steel counterpart, but with a little work, it won't be difficult to get it into fighting shape.

This guide features three upgrade paths for this starter deck.

The goal of this guide is to improve the consistency and performance of the deck without losing the core themes.

There are likely better Amber/Amethyst lists out there, but these decks are designed to focus on and elevate the things that already work in the original starter deck.

These are the best Madrigal decks, not the best Amber/Amethyst decks.

Disney Lorcana's Ursula's Return Amber/Amethyst Budget Deck Upgrade

Agustin Madrigal, Clumsy Dad (x4)

Mirabel Madrigal, Prophecy Finder (x4)

Ursula, Vanessa (x4)

Felix Maddrival, Fun Loving Family Man (x4)

Julieta Madrival, Excellent Cook (x4)

Maleficent, Sorceress (x4)

Mickey Mouse, Leader of the Band (x2)

Camilo Madrigal, Prankster (x4)

Dolores Madrigal, Easy Listener (x4)

Luisa Madrigal, Magicaly Strong One (x4)

Mirabel Madrigal, Gift of the Family (x1)

Bruno Madrigal, Out of the Shadows (x1)

Isabela Madrigal, Golden Child (x1)

Swing Into Action (x2)

Poor Unfortunate Souls (x2)

Heal What Has Been Hurt (x2)

Friends on the Other Side (x4)

Lost in the Woods (x4)

Look At This Family (x1)

Casa Madrigal, Casita (x4)

A lot of the core Madrigal cards that make this typal deck 'turn on' are rare or super rare, but there's still a lot we can do to tighten up the budget version of this deck. We've increased the number of all our common and uncommon Madrigal cards to four, but limited them to just the most impactful: Agustin, Felix, Julieta, Camilo, Dolores, Luisa, Isabela, and both Mirabels.

Our apologies to Atonio and Pepa who did not quite make the cut.

Since this is an Amethyst deck, there are a lot options for card draw. This list sticks with the most basic: Maleficent, Sorceress, and Friends on the Other Side. Julieta and Dolores also have the potential to replace themselves, while Bruno lets you return a character to your hand after they are banished.

Plus, Look At This Family is one of the most powerful card draw tools in the game now, so you should have a lot of options to keep cards in your hand.

This list replaces Sebastian with Ursula, Vanessa as its two-cost, Singer 4. Her higher willpower makes her more likely to live after singing, and including her sets this deck up for a Floodborn Ursula in the other versions. This deck has a total of 13 songs, up from seven in the original starter deck, so there are plenty of opportunities to put Ursula to work.

Other than Friends on the Other Side, she'll most commonly be singing Lost in the Woods to reduce the strength of all opposing characters by two. This can either be used to protect your characters while they quest or to take some favorable trades against your opponent's characters without having to banish your own characters in the process.

An efficient Lost in the Woods turn might start with Ursula singing the song, followed by Luisa rushing in to challenge an opposing character for free. This deck has two copies of Swing Into Action, which is both thematic for an Encanto deck, and a great way to give any of your characters Rush.

When Bruno Madrigal, Out of the Shadows is played, he makes a chosen character return to your hand when it's banished in a challenge. If you have Bruno choose himself, you could combine this play with Swing Into Action, have Bruno rush into a big target like Maui, Hero to All, then immediately return Bruno to your hand.

Healing is still a core strategy of this deck. Julieta works like a miniature Rapunzel, Gifted with Healing, by healing your damaged characters and providing a card draw. Heal what has been hurt does practically the same thing in song form too. By combining these tools with Lost in The Woods, you can safely challenge your opponent's characters and heal the damage they've taken - or avoid it altogether.

The game plan for this deck involves creative use of its Support characters, healing abilities, and card draw to efficiently trade with your opponent's characters. Mickey Mouse, Leader of the Band in Both Mirabels can quest and give support to weak characters like Agustin, Felix, and Ursula, who can challenge more dangerous targets, and then Julieta can heal the damage they take.

Poor Unfortunate Souls offers a little extra board control by removing threats before they can act, and once you have the board, Casa Madrigal will generate passive lore each turn while you continue to remove your opponent's characters through efficient trades.

Disney Lorcana's Ursula's Return Amber/Amethyst Mid-Cost Deck Upgrade

Agustin Madrigal, Clumsy Dad (x4)

Alma Madrigal, Family Matriarch (x4)

Bruno Madirgal, Undetected Uncle (x4)

Camilo Madrigal, Prankster (x4)

Isabela Madrigal, Golden Child (x2)

Julieta Madrigal, Excellent Cook (x4)

Luisa Madrigal, Magically Strong One (x4)

Maleficent, Sorceress (x4)

Mirabel Madrigal, Gift of the Family (x4)

Mirabel Madrigal, Prophecy Finder (x4)

Olaf, Friendly Snowman (x4)

Ursula, Eric's Bride (x4)

Ursula, Vanessa (x4)

Friends On The Other Side (x4)

Look At This Family (x4)

Lost in the Woods (x2)

The Boss Is On A Roll (x4)

Now we can start to access the core synergies in the Madrigal typal deck. Alma Madrigal gives us Lorcana's first tudor ability, which is a type of ability that lets you search your deck for a specific card. When Alma is played, you can look for any Madrigal and put it on top of your deck.

This is a great way to manage your curve. By playing Alma on turn three, you can ensure you'll draw a four-cost card you can play at the start of your next turn. Later in the game, Alma can help ensure you find a Madrigal with a specific ability you're looking for.

Alma also synergies perfectly with Bruno Madrigal, Undetected Uncle. After playing Alma to move a card to the top of your deck, you can exert Bruno, name that card, and put it in your hand. This is a great way to get a Luisa right away when you need a Rush character or set up a big play on the following turn. As a bonus, you'll also gain three lore each time you do it.

You won't always have an Alma to pair with Bruno though, so this deck also utilizes The Boss Is On A Roll, which allows you to organize the top five cards of your deck in any order you choose. This can set up Bruno for multiple turns, allowing you to draw at least three extra cards and gain nine lore as long as Bruno survives. Thanks to his Evasive keyword, he isn't easily removed, even when he's exerted.

Outside of the Madrigal Synergy, Luisa is a much worse version of Madam Mim, Fox. If you're not finding that her synergy with Alma and Mirabel is coming into play often, consider exchanging Luisa for Fox. You'll lower your curve and your uninkable count while gaining a potent bounce tool.

The other big addition to this version of the deck is Ursula, Eric's Bride. Ursula allows you to discard a non-character card of your choice from your opponent's hand every time she quests, which is an incredibly powerful effect that, unlike similar abilities, can be repeated multiple turns.

Ursula features the new discard version of Shift introduced in this expansion. You have to discard a song to Shift this Ursula on top of Ursula, Vanessa, but luckily, this deck has 12 songs, so it shouldn't be hard to do.

Disney Lorcana's Ursula's Return Amber/Amethyst Mid-Cost Deck Upgrade

Agustin Madrigal, Clumsy Dad (x4)

Alma Madrigal, Family Matriarch (x2)

Bruno Madirgal, Undetected Uncle (x4)

Isabela Madrigal, Golden Child (x2)

Julieta Madrigal, Excellent Cook (x4)

Luisa Madrigal, Magically Strong One (x4)

Mirabel Madrigal, Gift of the Family (x4)

Mirabel Madrigal, Prophecy Finder (x4)

Olaf, Friendly Snowman (x4)

Rapunzel, Gifted With Healing (x4)

Ursula, Eric's Bride (x4)

Ursula, Sea Witch Queen (x4)

Ursula, Vanessa (x4)

Friends On The Other Side (x4)

Look At This Family (x4)

The Boss Is On A Roll (x4)

The best version of this starter deck - and frankly, any Amber deck - has four copies of Rapunzel, Gifted With Healing. This is the card Julieta Madrigal aspires to be, and the two create a nice play line that can consistently provide early card draw.

Consider playing Olaf on turn one followed by Mirabel Madrigal on turn two. If the opponent quests, Mirabel can give Olaf her Support and Olaf can challenge the opposing character, allowing you to play Julieta and heal the Olaf, drawing one card. Julieta herself is a great target for Rapunzel's ability thanks to her four Willpower, so if you can challenge something with Julieta on turn four (using Mirabel's support again) you can immediately heal her with Rapunzel and draw even more cards.

This deck also completes the Ursula Shift line with Ursula, Sea Witch Queen. This powerful new legendary forces the opponent to exert one of their characters when Ursula quests, which opens them up to be challenged - and for one of your characters to take damage for a future healing effect.

Ursula also prevents other characters from exerting to sing, which is a massive disruption for a lot of decks , especially those that utilize the new Sing Together mechanic.

Speaking of which, Ursula's secondary function in this deck is to sing Look At This Family. Remember, Ursula only stops other characters from exerting to sing songs, not herself. Because Ursula is a seven-cost character, she's able to sing Look At This Family all by herself, allowing you to pull two characters out of the top five cards in your deck and put them in your hand.

Whether Ursula is challenging, singing, or questing for three, she offers a tremendous amount of late-game value to this deck, and given that there are eight other Ursula cards, it's likely you'll always be able to shift her in when you want to.

The Madrigal typal synergy is one of the most flavorful in the Ursula's Return expansion, and with Alma Madrigal, it introduces a brand new mechanic that's sure to make a big splash. The combination of Amber and Amethyst creates a lot of potential for interesting deck designs, but if you want to prioritize the Madrigal typal, it's best to hone in on the most important, useful Madrigals, and then fill the deck out with stronger strategies.

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Disney Lorcana: How To Upgrade The Amber/Amethyst Starter Deck From Ursula's Return - TheGamer