I have a confession to make. I haven't entirely been around for the spoilers of Ursula's Return thanks to the Disney Lorcana Challenge. Now, with that out of the way, I'm super excited to bring you coverage on some of the best Emerald cards available to start brewing with.

Strong Considerations

Cri-kee - Lucky Cricket is a fantastic 5 cost inkable character that gives Emerald something it's been lacking for quite some time, which is effects that add additional strength to your characters. This can be extremely effective when dealing with high willpower opposing characters or locations. He can also quest for 3 on the following turn, allowing you to maintain tempo from utilizing other characters from attacking on the previous turn.

While in Atlanta, I couldn't stop hearing about Diablo - Devoted Herald and the possibilities. I had my first chance playing with it last week in league play, and I'm here to say that this is one of the most impactful cards of Ursula's Return. With the ability to play as soon as turn one, you're looking to gain massive hand advantage if he's not dealt with. Having evasive makes it even stickier, requiring direct removal if you're not using any evasive characters of your own. Be Prepared (no pun intended) to see this bird highly represented in the early meta.

Talking about evasives, we have another crowd favorite called Pegasus - Cloud Racer. Pegasus provides immediate value when shifted on to Pegasus - Gift for Hercules thanks to its ability Hop On!, which grants all of your characters Evasive until the next turn. This is great for a turn where you need to quest aggressively to maintain tempo or drastically pull ahead. This can definitely be a late game closer when played correctly. Given that it's only an uncommon, there's a good chance you'll see it highly represented in a few different Emerald/X decks.

The Muses - Proclaimers of Heroes fits the bounce identity that Emerald has provided since The First Chapter. Tempo decks are going to love enabling this with Ursula - Deceiver of All to bounce up to two characters back to their owner's hand. Being inkable allows you to send this to the inkwell when you're dealing with a character with higher strength, giving you flexibility throughout the game.

Under The Sea is Emerald's first Sing Together song, which allows you to use multiple characters to sing a really powerful song that can have devastating effects to shift the tides in your favor. For a cost of 8, you are able to send all opposing characters with 2 or less attack to the bottom of their owner's deck in any order. This song alone is great, but pairing it up with Kida - Protector of Atlantis can help bring everyone's attack down by 3, giving more value to Under The Sea in a later play.

We Don't Talk About Bruno is an Action - Song card that is inkable and can be played (or sung) for a cost of 5 ink. What's neat about this card is that this is our first card with a randomization effect. However, Emerald players are going to want to play this when an opponent has an empty hand, forcing them to bounce a threat on the board back to their hand and having to discard it. This can be a devastating card late game when you already have your opponent playing in top deck mode after already depleting the rest of their hand with other staple discard effects Emerald has to offer.

Underrated Options

Megara - Liberated One fills the Emerald profile by readying herself whenever you play a character named Hercules. This is great for something as simple as questing with her one or even two times a turn. With her 5 ink cost, she can sing some pretty strong songs, Such as the new We Don't Talk About Bruno. If you pair Emerald with Steel, you can even gain access to the infamous Grab Your Sword and A Whole New World.

Hidden Inkcaster is a new item in Emerald that solves one of Emerald's long standing issues from The First Chapter; not having an abundance of inkable strong cards. Hidden Inkcaster changes this by allowing all cards in your hand to be inkable. It also does a good job at replacing itself by drawing a card when it's been played. I don't expect this to necessarily be an auto-include in most decks, but it's nice to see Emerald finally get some love in an area that it so desperately needed.

Conclusion

Emerald was a clear winner with this set, thanks to Diablo - Devoted Herald. It's a shame the amount of market share this legendary is getting now, but it makes sense due to how strong of a card it is and how it synergizes well with one of the strongest decks right out of Ursula's Return. The Disney Lorcana Challenge in Chicago will be a great showcase for how strong this card really is. Thankfully, we have both previous and new forms of removal to hopefully keep it in check. Otherwise, the rest of the cards on this list will most likely see play in other forms or strategies given the demand that Diablo - Devoted Herald is bringing on the market. I know for a fact that I will be using Pegasus - Cloud Racer in my Emerald/Amethyst bounce deck.

What are your thoughts though? Let me know what Emerald cards you plan on using from Ursula's Return on X/Twitter@_ EmeraldWeapon_.

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