Table of Contents
Introduction
Welcome to Lorcana.gg's weekly meta report! Each week we analyze the state of the meta using data from the previous week of tournament play. Our tier list is updated with the latest data, while this meta report will go over what it all means, as well as highlighting some particularly strong and interesting decks in each archetype.
The tier list is separated into three tiers. Tier 1 has the strongest decks, usually with multiple top 8 performances in major tournaments. Tier 2 and Tier 3 decks are a notch below the top tier, with these decks usually having one or two weaknesses keeping them from dominating the meta.
Meta Overview
Welcome to the first meta report from Ursula's Return! It has been a while since we've had a meta report, but we finally have enough data to begin to confidently say which decks are performing the best and which still need time in the oven.
Obviously, moving forward the meta reports will look a little different, due to Pixelborn no longer supporting Disney Lorcana. For now, we will just be tracking tournament finishes, as that is the most reliable data we can get our hands on. In the future, if we can consistently track deck lists for all decks entered into a tournament, we can look into adding meta share back into the list.
So how is the meta shaping up after the first week of serious tournament play? Well, we have a pretty clearly defined top tier of decks. These are Ruby/Sapphire Sisu on Ice, Emerald/Steel Bucky Discard, and the classic Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control deck. These 3 decks made up 85% of the top 8 finishes in tournaments this past week.
So the rest of the meta will be playing catch-up to these three. One deck that could definitely break into that top tier is Sapphire/Steel Ramp Wheel. It had the most top 8s outside of the top 3 and has been receiving a lot of testing amongst top players recently. I would not be surprised to see its performance improve next week.
The rest of the tier list is a collection of old decks from past metas that did not receive very much support in Ursula's Return or new deck archetypes trying to establish themselves. Decks like the Amber/Ruby Challenge deck or Amethyst/Steel Magic Brooms are wholly new builds that will need a lot of refinement before they can be considered amongst the best decks in the meta. But they are at least showing some potential.
Without further ado, the tier list!
Tier List
| Tier | Deck Name | Top 8s |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 |   Ruby/Sapphire Sisu on Ice | 19 |
  Emerald/Steel Bucky Discard | 12 | |
 Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control | 9 | |
| Tier 2 | Sapphire/Steel Ramp Wheel | 3 |
 Amber/Steel Steelsong | 1 | |
| Amethyst/Emerald Tempo | 1 | |
| Amber/Ruby Red Mufasa | 1 | |
| Tier 3 | Amber/Emerald Discard | 1 |
| Amber/Ruby Songs | 0 | |
| Amethyst/Steel Magic Brooms | 0 |
Tier 1
Ruby/Sapphire Sisu on Ice
The best deck of the early Ursula's Return metagame looks to be this Ruby/Sapphire control list. Dubbed "Sisu on Ice", thanks to its inclusions of Sisu - Empowered Sibling and Ice Block, it is effectively the Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicle deck of past metas now with some powerful new tools.
As mentioned, one of those new tools is Ice Block. This card pairs so well with all of Ruby's removal options such as the old meta staple Madame Medusa - The Boss but also the new cards like Brawl and Sisu - Daring Visitor. And then of course there is Sisu - Empowered Sibling, which when paired with an Ice Block or two, can often wipe your opponent's board.
This deck had a bunch of top 8s to its name this past week and clearly looks like a force to be reckoned with in tournament play. One of those top 8s was with this list from Kyuu, which took home the win in a 128-player tournament in France. His list includes the usual Lucky Dime finisher, alongside all the new removal cards at Ruby's disposal paired with Ice Block.
Emerald/Steel Bucky Discard
The squirrel is back, in a big way. After losing a bit of luster near the end of last meta, Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor has now solidified itself as the best discard card in the game. This is thanks in no small part to Diablo - Devoted Herald. Being able to curve from a turn 1 Diablo - Maleficent's Spy, into turn 2 Bucky then shift out Floodborn Diablo is very strong. And then you can follow it up with another Diablo on turn 3 or Aladdin - Brave Rescuer.
Really, just the inclusion of a couple new cheap Floodborn cards has really propelled Bucky into the stratosphere of power level. Many players are even pushing for it to be banned from competitive formats due to how disruptive and oppressive this little squirrel can be. I don't know if that is a good idea, as Emerald/Steel Discard is currently holding the Sisu on Ice deck somewhat in check. If you remove powerful discard options, that deck could run away with the meta. At the moment though, these two decks are at the top of the tier list and for good reason.
Here is a list from Jordan Bashy which won what will likely be the final large Pixelborn tournament from The Pack. In addition to Bucky and his cohort of accompanying Floodborns, this list also runs Hidden Cove - Tranquil Haven as a way to buff the Strength of key cards like Beast - Tragic Hero, bringing them out of Medusa range.
Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control
Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control continues to be a top tier deck in the Ursula's Return meta. Perhaps the most consistent deck throughout Lorcana's lifetime, there has almost never been a time when this deck wasn't a tier 1 build. The current list looks quite similar to what we saw from last meta, with a few new Ruby removals added, such as Brawl and Be King Undisputed.
But perhaps the most important addition, at least from a meta standpoint, is Flynn Rider - Frenemy. Flynn allows the deck to compete with Ruby/Sapphire, which can struggle to get any characters with more than 1 Strength on board until the mid-to-late game. Flynn can then represent 6 or more lore gained against those decks, giving Amethyst/Ruby the all-important fast start it needs to succeed in the matchup.
This Amethyst/Ruby deck from Adrien Krifa came in 2nd place in the 286-player The Pack online tournament. In addition to the new cards mentioned above, this list also runs Sisu - Emboldened Warrior, which is a great follow-up play to Flynn Rider.
Tier 2
Sapphire/Steel Ramp Wheel
At the top of tier 2 we have the Sapphire/Steel Ramp Wheel deck. This deck continues to rely heavily on its item synergies and now has a new item in Fortisphere that basically gives the deck 8 Pawpsicles. Because of all these items, Ariel - Treasure Collector becomes a powerful win condition, coming down and nearly always questing (or getting Lucky Dime'd) for 5 lore.
Here is a list from Lorcana streamer Specimen, who got top 8 with his Sapphire/Steel deck at the Friday Lorcana tournament at OPE UK Games Expo. 003-137 is an interesting inclusion in this list. With her and Lucky Dime on board, you can drop an Ariel and potentially gain 10 lore immediately!
Deck guide:
Amber/Steel Steelsong
The Steelsong deck finished out the last meta with a bang, coming in first place in the Disney Lorcana Challenge event in Lille. But now we are onto Ursula's Return and it finds itself in tier 2. It just seems it hasn't received as many new tools as the other top tier decks got. Ursula - Vanessa and Ursula - Eric's Bride are a nice addition, but not gamebreaking by any means. And Ariel - Sonic Warrior is a strong card but suffers from the Medusa problem.
There was one top 8 performance for Steelsong this past week, with this list from BriceFR75 coming in 8th place at the 128-player tournament in France. 004-196 has been a really useful tech addition to the deck, allowing it to slow down and compete with all the item-heavy decks in the meta.
Amethyst/Emerald Tempo
Amethyst/Emerald was another deck that had a strong performance last meta but has so far failed to have too much success in the Return metagame. It's still very early, of course, but the deck will need to innovate and adapt to compete against Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald/Steel.
The deck of course has access to Diablo - Devoted Herald, but that card is not nearly as good when you aren't combining it with Bucky. Pegasus - Gift for Hercules and the Floodborn Pegasus - Cloud Racer are good fits for the deck, but haven't been enough on their own. We shall have to see what sorts of changes the deck will undergo in the coming weeks.
One of those changes may be to go to a more control-oriented list? This deck from LordPicsou, which landed a top 8 at a 64-player tournament in France, includes a bit of that with 003-078 and Ursula - Sea Witch Queen.
Amber/Ruby Red Mufasa
Mufasa lives on. The perennial tier 2 deck, Amber/Ruby Red Mufasa, has been lurking in the meta since Rise of the Floodborn without ever becoming really dominant. It continues that trend into Ursula's Return. The deck did get some more card draw in Julieta Madrigal - Excellent Cook and new self-damage cards to enable her like Mulan - Injured Soldier. It also now has Gaston - Despicable Dealer as a new cost reduction option. But so far these additions have simply allowed the deck to keep pace with, but not overtake, the top meta decks.
The Red Mufasa deck did get one top 8 this week with this list from SeanMS, who came in 4th place in the 64-player tournament at OPE UK Games Expo. Goofy - Super Goof is another decent addition to the deck, giving the deck a bit of instant lore gain it previously lacked.
Tier 3
Amber/Emerald Discard
While Emerald has typically paired with Steel for its discard deck, there was a time early in the Floodborn meta where Amber was the pairing of choice. Amber has had some of its own discard cards since the launch of Lorcana, such as You Have Forgotten Me, and pairing them with Emerald cards like Prince John - Greediest of All is very attractive.
Now with cards like The Bare Necessities and the new Floodborn Ursula - Eric's Bride, Amber discard tools have become quite powerful. Pairing them with Emerald's discard payoffs like Flynn Rider - His Own Biggest Fan has made for a somewhat viable deck.
Here is an Amber/Emerald Discard deck that secured a top 8 at the 64-player Lorcana tournament at OPE UK Games Expo on Sunday. This list from dolo7 has all the discard stuff you would expect but also makes use of Pride Lands - Pride Rock, as the deck has a good amount of Princes in it already.
Amber/Ruby Songs
One of the few completely new deck archetypes that has come out of Ursula's Return is this Amber/Ruby Songs deck. The deck has two-prongs of synergies that it leverages: one is Ruby's self-damage paired with Amber's healing, the other are Ruby's songs paired with Amber's singers. Both provide a nice bit of tempo and value in one package, making the deck a solid midrange option.
For our deck highlight, I wanted to showcase this list that I've been playing on Pixelborn and having some decent success with. The deck has some of the most card draw I've ever been able to cram into one Lorcana deck with Julieta Madrigal - Excellent Cook, Rapunzel - Gifted with Healing, Ariel - Spectacular Singer and Look At This Family all giving you many ways to draw or fish for cards. It is hard to run out of gas completely with this deck, which means you always have a chance to pull out the victory.
Sleepy's Flute is also a key card in the deck, allowing us to get across the finish line against the likes of Ruby/Sapphire. There were multiple games against those control decks, where they had complete board control in the late game but it just didn't matter, as I played nothing but songs on the final two or three turns to get me the last bit of lore I needed for the win. It's a fun deck that, I think, with some further refinement could be a solid option.
Amethyst/Steel Magic Brooms
Last deck on our tier list is the Amethyst/Steel Magic Brooms list. Yes, the Brooms may have finally made it out of meme tier. But they still need a lot of help to become a top tier deck. But for now, the Broom deck is at least playable, thanks mainly to the additions of Yen Sid - Powerful Sorcerer and Mickey Mouse - Playful Sorcerer. Yen Sid gives the deck some card draw and early game aggression, while Mickey gives it that turn 3 power spike that a lot of the best decks in Lorcana need.
A recent deck guide article from Den highlights one possible build of the Magic Broom deck. His build utilizes the new Amethyst Bruno Madrigal - Undetected Uncle card, as a source of both card draw and lore gain. With so many Brooms in the deck, you are going to hit by naming "Magic Broom" much of the time. For more on the deck choices and how to pilot it, check out the full guide.
Deck guide:
And that's a wrap on the first meta report from Ursula's Return! It does look like the early meta has lost a lot of the diversity of the Inklands meta. But we still have months to go with Return, so I'm sure some more decks will emerge and break into that top tier. And who knows, maybe one of the upcoming Challenges will be won by a deck know one has seen before?
Until next time, good luck and have fun!
