The Arkham Expert Guide: Ursula High-Speed Solo Rush

Feel the Adrenaline

Welcome everyone to a new chapter of the Arkham Expert Guide, where I present competitive decks based on community wishes that can beat Expert & Ultimatum difficulty, but which can also be used to have great fun in Standard and Hard campaigns. This week's voting fell on True Solo Expert with Ursula Downs, so please enjoy the journey through her deckbuilding, strengths and challenges! A little teaser: It's all about speed, more speed, and going fast!

If your personality is similar to our restless & overly energetic Ursula (aka you don't have patience), but you would like to know towards which build this deck is ultimately heading, I have included the Upgraded Full-XP Ursula Combo version here. If you are interested in trying out something even fancier, I can recommend my alternative Track Shoes-Versatile Upgrading Path, which includes the super powerful Track Shoes (!) as a tech card in Ursula. Please note that in both versions, the "I've got a plan!" should be replaced with the new 0xp Disc of Itzamna card that is about to come out in the Seeker Starter Deck (but sadly isn't on Arkham DB yet for me to link you to).

If you like what you saw so far, please keep on reading and enjoy the step-by-step Expert & Ursula walkthrough below!

Some words on Ursula Expert Solo

Ursula is by far my favourite seeker to date, and I simply love the cool combos and turns you can pull off with her ability. As a matter of fact, her 3/4/1/4 statline is actually the perfect stat distribution for Solo runs, and it's ironic that FFG gave this statline to someone who is not suitable for Solo - or is she?

It's important to be humble here that Ursula Expert Solo is a real challenge. She can definitely pull off great & consistent feats on Standard and Hard Solo, but on Expert, her inability to efficiently handle enemies truly shows and can create big trouble for the player. After some failed attempts of mine on playing Expert Solo campaigns with her, it became clear to me that there is no real way for Ursula to handle too many enemies that are engaged with her, and that she will basically always lose the late-game. So I took a step back and thought outside the box: if I cannot manage enemies well and if I will always lose the late-game, then why don't I just build a deck that is incredibly fast and tries to finish the scenarios so quickly that I draw less and less encounter cards and thus decrease the probability of drawing enemies? A deck that doesn't play any "Plan B"s or gimmicks, and just focuses on very efficient cards and action compression engines that allow it to get through a scenario asap? However, if you think this (attractive) strategy through, it also implies that you will not collect too many victory points and additional experience during each scenario, as you really want to get out of them quickly. The amazing thing here is that Ursula/Seekers usually don't really need more than around 9-14xp to have their best cards together (which you'll pick up quite quickly), and this is what made this quick-and-dirty play style feasible for Ursula to begin with, which is where my testing started.

It made me smile that after playing Calvin Expert Solo, which is an absolute late-game player that focuses on lengthy and slow set-up strategies, I was now playing a deck that is focused solely on speed and getting the scenario done before anything bad happens to you. You just run, run, run, don't care about anything that happens around you, don't let yourself get distracted by any shiny treasure (xp-points), feel the adrenaline pumping in your veins, and let our favorite adventurer girl show these monsters that all their brute force & cruelty is meaningless to someone who outruns Death and finishes scenarios even before the mythos knows what's happening. You can really apply your True Solo mindset here, as this deckbuilding and playstyle is not made to take care of others - it is simply trying to survive.

Despite the strong speed focus, you naturally still need some asset set-up with Ursula to really pull off her high-speed turns, a set-up consisting of Fieldwork, Pathfinder, and Archaic Glyphs. With this setup, you can do insane things like tapping Pathfinder for a free movement, then entering a new location with a clue on it, tapping Fieldwork for a +2 buff, then using Ursula's ability to start an investigate action, and use this extra action to trigger your Archaic Glyphs, get the clue from the new location, and evade an enemy at that location as well all at the same time. So you just moved, investigated and evaded at once, and haven't even used a single action this turn yet, still having 3 left. Usually in Solo, there is also only 1 clue per location, so you now cleared the location where you can leave your evaded enemy behind, and move on to a new location, likely never having to bother with said enemy again because you can just keep running away from them. Naturally, you can also just use the combo of Pathfinder & Fieldwork by themselves without the Glyph, in situations when you are not under enemy pressure. Please note that you cannot use Pathfinder when engaged with an enemy, so you should always keep some buff cards in your hand to successfully evade potential enemies that you may draw - or you keep investigation buffs instead so that you can investigate your location and evade said enemy with the Archaic Glyphs).

This set-up is the heart of what makes Ursula Solo so powerful, and I will refer to this as the "Turbo Mode" going forward. You will have realized by now that this combo consists of cards worth 8xp (6xp for 2x Archaic Glyphs and 2xp for 2x Pathfinder). This brings me to another important part about Ursula Solo: you are most likely going to fail your scenario 1, and that is important to come to terms with. Your main goal for scenario 1 of a campaign is thus not to necessarily win in it, but to collect at least 6 experience points and to fulfil the requirements of the 0xp-version of Archaic Glyphs (placing 3 secrets on it by discarding book-icon cards), so that starting from scenario 2, you have your Turbo set-up ready.

To sum, the scenario 1 of any campaign that you may choose to play (I have included some campaign advices further below that also treats exceptions to this general rule) is going to be fundamentally different from all other scenarios in the sense that you do not really focus on speed in scenario 1, but instead focus on maximizing xp-outcomes and unlocking your glyphs, whereas all scenarios after that are focused on speed only. You can of course still try to go for a successful resolution (and sometimes it will work), but it shouldn't be your top priority if you want to be successful in the long-run. From scenario 2 onwards then, the deck will work much, much better and actually becomes enormously fun to play once you have mastered all the different combos the deck allows.

Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado, may I thus present to you: one of the fastest Solo decks in all of Arkham, second only to Ashcan Pete, whose deck(s) will be covered in one of the upcoming chapters of the Arkham Expert Guide!

Deck-Building Philosophy & Upgrade Path

As mentioned above, the key idea of this deck is to get the Pathfinder-Fieldwork-Glyphs Turbo set-up out so that you can rush through each scenario asap, usually not caring too much about VPs and instead focusing on not getting caught by enemies; see it as a game of hide and seek. Given the strong combo focus, the deck thus contains some cards that appear a bit slow on first sight (such as Mr. "Rook" and Occult Lexicon), but which are needed for consistency (and also handle enemies in the case of Occult Lexicon). Mr Rook comes paired with Astounding Revelation, a synergy that allows Ursula to use Mr Rook for an extended period of time, thereby getting access to her combos early on. As mentioned, Archaic Glyphs are to be upgraded after fulfilling their upgrade condition, and cards like Magnifying Glass, Eureka!, Manual Dexterity, Perception and Unexpected Courage simply serve the purpose of passing difficult tests, so you do not miss the windows of Ursula's abilities and thus ensure that you can upkeep speed.

Working a Hunch provides further speed to the deck by granting test-less clues, and since Solo campaigns usually only have 1 clue per location, this means that you can just walk 1 location with Ursula (action 1), play Working a Hunch to get the clue there without using an action, then use Pathfinder to move to another location, use Fieldwork to buff your investigation value to 6 (or 7 with Magnifying Glass), then use Ursula's ability to gather another clue at this location, and you now still have 2 actions left after having cleared 2 locations on the board, which you can use to play a Blood-Rite or to further move around on the board. Don't forget that you can also just use Mr. "Rook" whenever you are in need of additional buff cards. With Rook, I usually always scry full 9 cards, as I do not think Ursula's weakness (Call of the Unknown) to be a big problem, given how fast she can switch between different locations with all her action compression, but it of course depends on the other weaknesses you have in your deck. Don't forget that in Arkham, you can also investigate locations without any clues on them, so if you have spare actions in a given turn, you can also just investigate a 1 shroud location somewhere to be spared from Ursula's weakness for this round. If you still have to shuffle Call of the Unknown back at some point, please remember that before you shuffle the weakness back into your deck, you can use Rook to profit from a low-risk tutor. Shortcut is the 0xp version of Pathfinder which you only use in scenario 1 and then upgrade later on, the same is true for "I've got a plan!", which is basically your scenario 1 enemy management (that can be tutored with Mr Rook), before you then switch 1-2 copies of it for other cards later on, once you have access to the upgraded Archaic Glyphs. Lastly, Crack the Case is an amazing cash engine that allows Ursula to reach her Turbo Mode without any resource problems, and ensures that the flow of your deck is not disrupted.

Taken together, what you definitely don't want to do with this deck is to just stand around and draw cards or resources trying to find solutions to your problems, which is why it focuses a lot on self-replacing cantrip cards like Manual Dexterity, Eureka! and Perception, and fast-speed cash-generating cards like Crack the Case and Astounding Revelation. Everything else in this deck is likewise focused on reaching and supporting Turbo-Mode, aiming to finish a scenario as quickly as anyhow possible, before we run out of solutions for our enemies. Fine Clothes are simply in the deck because they are super strong early on in the two campaigns that you are likely going to first test Ursula in - more on that in the campaign recommendations below.

As a short outlook into the future, the new Arkham Starter Decks are very promising for Ursula as they provide her with new in-class enemy management cards like the new Disc of Itzamna, which provide one extra solution for enemies other than the Glyphs, Blood-Rites, I’ve got a plan, basic evading, and the "finish the scenario before you draw too many enemies" strategy.

Upgrading Path

Given what we discussed above, it won't be surprising to you that our first priority upgrades are Pathfinder and Evade-Mode Archaic Glyphs. After that, in second priority, we are definitely most interested in Studious (helping us to get our combo pieces together) and Segment of Onyx, which will allow us to craft the Pendant of the Queen, which offers another solution against enemies as well as teleportation opportunities, which can be combined in incredible ways with Ursula's ability and the other combo-setup in this deck. Likewise, since we largely focus on drawing, cantrips & tutoring anyways to find our Turbo mode pieces, gathering the 3 segments to craft the pendant can nicely be done "on the side", helping us with even greater action compression and thus even greater speed than we already had before.

You will be replacing cards like Shortcut, I've got a plan, Fine Clothes (after they become useless in a given campaign, usually after scenario 2) or the base-form Archaic Glyphs, which are often just 0xp versions of the stronger cards you want to add anyways. To maximize consistency, I then usually (as priority 3) add the upgraded No Stone Unturned to replace Eureka, which just gives the deck another level of speed, consistency and combo potential.

What you see here is that throughout most of the campaign, you play a very similar deck where you basically just replace certain cards that fulfil a given function with a card that fulfils the same function a bit better. Overall, it always stays the same deck, focused on fast cards, draw engines and insane action compression. You can of course feel free to play or upgrade other cards than I suggest, but please don't forget that whereas some cards may look great on paper, for them to work well in & with this specific deck, they must be cheap, fast, easy and effective, otherwise they'll slow Ursula down - and given her over-energetic nature, she definitely doesn't like to do things slowly.

A really cool gimmick I've also enjoyed is to purchase Versatile to get access to Track Shoes (which are purely insane in Ursula, because together with Pathfinder and her ability, you can cross & investigate across half the map without even using any actions), and then rather than having to add cards you don't want in your deck, you just instantly replace the new Versatile cards with 3 Segment of Onyx, thereby only leaving you with 1 extra card that you have to add to your deck, which you can even tailor as a tech to the specific scenario you are in, similar to a weaker version of what Adaptable offers.

Finally, if you decide to play Ursula in a Carcosa campaign, there is also a really cool cheat play that I found. In the 8th scenario of Carcosa ("Dim Carcosa"), you start with all locations revealed in play. Since your deck is anyways made up of a dozen cards that tutor or draw extra cards (especially Rook, No Stone Unturned and Studious), it will be no problem for you to find a certain 1-of card in your deck that will give you a huge advantage in this scenario: Deciphered Reality. Simply make sure that throughout scenario 6 and 7, you gather enough experience points so that you can upgrade Deciphered Reality before going into scenario 8, get your Turbo setup out, then complete act 1 and act 2 (I would suggest aiming for the Doubt/Search For the Stranger (v.II)/King in Yellow Hastur or the Neutral/Search For the Stranger (v.I)/Tattered King Hastur version of the scenario), tutor/draw Deciphered Reality, pass the investigation test (a 4 shroud test), collect all clues on the map at once, and then just bombard Hastur with all the story-effects on the backside of the now-empty locations across the map, that you can flip over easily as you run through the map with Ursula's insane speed, covering as much as 5-6 locations in 1 turn.

Suitable Campaigns

Given that you don't really care about winning scenario 1 (and since you really want to pull off that scenario 8 madness with Deciphered Reality I just described), Ursula is another great candidate for a Carcosa Expert Solo run, as you can use the "Suicide Cheat" (that I'll explain in a second) in Carcosa's scenario 1 without feeling bad about it. However, the deck works just as well for Dunwich scenario 1B, which you are even very likely going to succeed in given that it's not an enemy-heavy scenario, and I have also managed to play TFA with this deck, so you don't need to limit yourself to Carcosa and Dunwich, even though those two are definitely the most welcoming campaign starts and most suitable for a first test run.

Going back to Carcosa, the Suicide Cheat refers to a strategy where you do not advance act 2 ever as it will add bad tokens to your token bag, and instead your goal is to die in the scenario after collecting as many victory points as possible, solving the Archaic Glyphs challenge, and having a killed Royal Emissary in your victory display for maximum xp outcome (you'll kill him using "I've got a plan!" since you will be sitting on your clues anyways given that you are in no hurry to finish acts). By following this Suicide Path, you ensure that your token bag in scenario 2 is quite easy, which will help you a lot in finishing Carcosa's scenario 2 successfully, thus getting rid of all the VIP-Bosses via the Conviction resolution, which is crucial for succeeding in the Expert Solo run.

If you are unsure about how to optimally play through different scenarios in Carcosa, I would suggest reading this Calvin Expert Solo guide here that goes in-depth into every single Carcosa scenario.

That's it! I hope you have enjoyed this walkthrough for the unique playstyle that Ursula can provide, which I deem to be the most suitable for Solo runs on any difficulty, and which requires a very specific "lean" tweaking of her deck. Expert Solo with Ursula is definitely a very hard challenge and I applaud everyone who is willing to try this crazy achievement! Let's see what the future will bring in terms of efficient enemy management cards for Seekers, as Ursula will definitely welcome them warmly. Until then: Have fun, show Ursula some love, and don't forget: Run, Run, Run !!!