Top 4 Lorcana Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicle Control Deck List & Strategy

When the first chapter came out, many called Sapphire/Ruby the best deck in the Lorcana. However, it quickly faded into the background due largely to its lack of draw support while other decks like Amber/Steel and Ruby/Amethyst took center stage.

Following the release of Rise of the Floodborn, however, Sapphire/Ruby has become one of the most popular decks in the game. Since Lorcana’s third set, its popularity has only increased, with many seeing its growing presence in the competitive scene and taking note.

Take this deck list below that took top four at a massive Lorcana tournament recently.

Updated March 20, 2024

Sapphire/Ruby Pawpsicle Control Deck List

Get this deck on TCGplayer

4 Be Prepared
4 Develop Your Brain
4 Fishbone Quill
4 Gaston - Intellectual Powerhouse
1 Gramma Tala - Keeper of Ancient Stories
1 Hades - Infernal Schemer
4 HeiHei - Accidental Explorer
4 Hiram Flaversham - Toymaker
2 Jim Hawkins - Space Traveler
3 Madame Medusa - The Boss
4 Maleficent - Monstrous Dragon
4 Maui - Hero to All
2 Maui's Fish Hook
4 McDuck Manor - Scrooge's Mansion
3 Motunui - Island Paradise
4 Pawpsicle
2 Queen of Hearts - Impulsive Ruler
2 Stitch - Little Rocket
2 Sumerian Talisman
2 Tamatoa - So Shiny!

Sapphire/Ruby – Basic Strategy

Sapphire/Ruby is a pretty hard control deck. That can be a really good strength and also a really big weakness. Take, for example, the fact that Ruby/Sapphire doesn’t run any one-cost characters. That’s not going to be an issue against decks like Amber/Steel that are pretty good at decimating one-cost characters anyways. But against hyper aggro decks, this could be a problem, making it a little tricker it keep them from getting too far ahead before you start clearing their board.

What this deck does have turn one, however, are a couple of strong draw cards: Develop Your Brain and Pawpsicle. This will help keep your hand nice and healthy so you can gain significant card advantage over your opponent later on.

A quick note on how Pawpsicle works

Pawpsicle can be a little bit tricky to use, especially when playing it with Flaversham. First of all, Pawpsicle’s card draw effect only happens when it is played. Second, in order to use “That’s Recdwood”, you have to activate that ability and then banish the item. You don’t need another card to banish Pawpsicle in order to use this effect, and the healing capability won’t work if you happen to banish Pawpsicle via another effect like Flaversham’s Artificer ability.

Turn two – rush

While Ruby/Sapphire may not run any one-cost characters, it makes up for that with plenty of strong rush characters you can start playing on turn two. These include Stitch and The Queen of Hearts. Of the two, Stitch is the more powerful attacker, but he’s uninkable so keeping the Queen of Hearts around helps keep the deck in balance.

Apart from using these Rush characters to keep your opponent off-balance, you can also play Motunui. Motunui is an excellent location card that will gain you passive lore and help you ramp more easily as your rush characters are traded with opposing characters.

Flaversham makes up the bulk of your draw engine

Flaversham is a strong character simply because of his pretty broken draw ability. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s got a pretty high will power stat, making him rather annoying to banish via a challenge or with damage alone. Use his ability whenever possible to keep your hand full and search out those key cards you are going to need in order to win the game like Be Prepared.

Speaking of finding key cards – that’s one of the big reasons this deck runs a high cost card like Gaston. His Developed Brain ability is quite helpful in searching out those key cards you need, while his high lore count and strength make him an incredibly well rounded character.

Personally, I’m glad he’s getting the attention he deserves because he is certainly a solid card. And while Gaston may be your strongest option for selective card search, he’s not the only one. Apart from the strong draw engine this deck boasts, it also includes Gramma Tala – Keeper of Ancient Stories. Gramma Tala’s ability is very similar to Gaston’s only you draw one fewer cards. But that’s pretty good considering she’s a four-cost inkable character.

Items, items, and more items!

Ruby/Sapphire has to be the best example of an item deck in the current Lorcana meta. It uses items both for their abilities and for to discard them for extra cards, which really helps you get double use out of them. Along with the big and costly Tamatoa character, this deck runs a total of four different items. The most handy of these is also going to be the cheapest – your Pawpsicle card.

However, there are other strong items here worth noting. The first is Fishbone Quill. As you draw cards, Fishbone Quill makes it very easy to add those excess cards into your Inkwell as extra Ink.

While those are your two strongest items, this deck also runs the handy Sumarian Talisman – a card that lets you draw extra cards when characters are banished in a challenge (natural synergy there with your many Rush characters and Motunui and Maui’s Hook. Maui’s Hook isn’t the greatest of items, but it is good for granting Evasiveness and Challenger – both of which should help you counter opposing Evasive characters.

McDuck Manor is better than you’d think

While Motunui is a handy location card, McDuck Manor is actually your stronger location. It’s got an incredible nine will power making it pretty ridiculous to take out and it’s also going to gain you a passive two lore each and every turn. If that weren’t good enough, this deck also runs a Jim Hawkins, helping you play McDuck Manor for free.

Jim Hawkins – Space Traveler

Shop on TCGplayer

Card removal is where this deck really shines

If I were to pinpoint one thing about the Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicle Control deck that really makes it stand out, it’s its incredible capacity to clear the board. Thanks to all the ramping, you have plenty of ability to add Ink into the Inkwell, playing characters like Madam Medusa, Hades and Maleficent with ease.

Featured