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There are two new starter decks being released with the launch of Ursula's Return, the fourth set of Disney Lorcana. Each starter comes with a 60 card deck that can be used to play the game immediately. It's also a great way to jumpstart your collection, getting you a lot of guaranteed cards from the new set. Here are the deck lists for the two starter decks in Ursula's Return.
Ursula's Return Starter Deck Overview
Disney Lorcana Starter Decks typically have two reasons to be purchased:
- You could be looking for something to play with your friends and family without the need to collect cards and build a deck yourself.
- You see potential value in some cards included in a Starter Deck, making it cheaper to buy rather than purchasing each card individually or hoping to pull them from Booster Packs.
You could add a third reason, which is to test a synergy you want to play, but can't afford to invest hundreds of dollars into without testing it. If that is the case, a Starter Deck obviously won't give you the full potential of said synergy, but you can at least get an idea of how the gameplay feels, or whether certain cards are the building blocks you thought they were.
For Ursula's Return, the Starter Decks are focused around two synergies. The Amber Amethyst deck features the Madrigal family, alongside a couple of interesting standalone cards. Sapphire Steel is built around the Hero synergy, one I actually think has potential, but more in the Amber Steel deck.
Overall, I think the Amber Amethyst deck has a better standalone inclusion, and would recommend it to someone buying mostly to acquire certain cards. On the other hand, the Sapphire Steel deck is pretty cohesive already, even if most key cards will only have one copy included. Together, the Starter Deck pair for Ursula's Return represent a nice balance for each kind of player, and look like a nice investment to get started with this new set.
Ursula's Return Amber Amethyst Starter Deck
The Madrigal family is worth every penny!
Although they share the same name, there isn't a clear reason to have all the Madrigals together in the same deck, except for 004-018. Yet, because we only have one copy of it, it is difficult to build your entire game plan around it. With this in mind, I would consider this Starter Deck the perfect occasion to test a lot of abilities within the Madrigal family.
Here are a few of my favorites:
- 004-018 could be a win condition in certain decks, for sure a card I want to see in action.
- 004-060, 004-029, and 004-028 are three Songs I've included in competitive decks I intend to test with the new set. Very glad to grab a few copies here.
- 004-003 could be a sleeper card in an expansion introducing expensive Songs. The perfect occasion to test out how impactful this new mechanic can be.
Overall, I think this Starter Deck is worth its price, especially if you have your eyes on certain Madrigal cards you want to test before purchasing multiple copies of them. At worst, you should get useful Songs if you intend to play an Amber or Amethyst deck.
Otherwise, if you would be looking for a Starter Deck to play immediately, the Sapphire Steel option might be a little better.
Ursula's Return Sapphire Steel Starter Deck
A Hero deck you can play immediately!
I criticized the Madrigal deck for only having one win condition in 004-018, this one has more agency in that regard. First, we have two potential win conditions in 004-138 and 004-190, alongside 004-183 to help with the challenge. Already, this gives our deck much more consistency, and a clear game plan: play Hero cards.
Then, we can easily turn 004-174 into a cycle engine through adding a few more Songs into the deck, which we have plenty of if we played the game in the past. Same if you have some Hero cards from previous sets, they should be great to include, and represent an immediate upgrade.
The other reason I like this deck more in terms of immediately playability is the mechanics it focuses on. Indeed, not only we have a clear direction as which kind of characters we want to play, the deck itself focuses on some core card games mechanics, such as efficient challenges, or developing big numbers.
Starter Decks always pack a lot of vanilla cards, which never see play in the competitive world. Yet, it is important to find some value out of those cards when using a Starter Deck, typically their Challenge ability, as vanilla cards have decent statistics for their cost. Then, with 004-201 in the deck, or the single copy of 004-197, we have tools in order to help our vanilla cards have an impact on the match, and be more than the burden they typically are. This creates a simple situation with the strong ability cards taking minimal risk while we use vanilla cards to do the dirty work.
Closing Words
I like these new Starter Decks, they mostly complement each other well, providing different value depending on what you are after. The Sapphire Steel deck is a nice deck to just play casually, as you don't need an extensive knowledge of the game to understand how it functions. Plus, you should easily be able to improve it if you have other Disney Lorcana cards available.
The Amber Amethyst deck feels weaker if we were to compare them in a head-to-head match, mostly due to feeling more unreliable due to the need to certain cards required to function properly. However, if we were to compare the sheer value you would get from both decks, this one has more cards I could picture in the competitive world, or worth a few bucks to sell individually.
Depending on your goal, the choice is all yours on which Starter Deck to get (or both), precisely the reason I like these Starter Decks for the upcoming Ursula's Return expansion. I hope this breakdown was helpful in picking your Starter Deck. Feel free to let us know which one you intend to grab in the comments. For any question, you can reach out through my Twitter page.
Good Game Everyone.
