After rotation and with the release of Set 10, Whispers in the Well, Ruby Amethyst has undergone a drastic transformation. Gone is the slow and methodical card advantage behemoth, that sought to grind your opponent down. Ruby Amethyst has turned into a board centric, lean and mean questing machine. Its playstyle is closer to the aggressive Amethyst Steel or Emerald Amethyst decks of old.
Example Decklist and Gameplan
Going into this Ruby Amethyst Starter Guide let’s first take a look at the decklist that got second place at the recent Enchanted Tour 2025 – Christmas Edition, piloted by Riccardo Picciafuochi.
The deck is almost all characters with solid stats for the cost and tons of questing power. The gameplan is simple, yet effective:
- play your best character every turn
- quest as much as you safely can
- take favorable challenges, while questing with your other characters
- use your powerful 5-cost characters to keep your board safe
- refill your hand with Dumbo – Ninth Wonder of the Universe and Demona – Scourge of the Wyvern Clan
The cost of this straight forward gameplan is that it is pretty hard to catch back up if you have fallen behind too much. This means you have to make sure to get as much lore out of the early game as possible, so you can squeeze out the last few points, once your opponent starts to overtake you.
Altering with Ruby Amethyst
Since your main gameplan in Ruby Amethyst is to play the best character every turn, you need to alter your starting hand aggressively to hit your early game.
- If you are missing a 1, 2 or 3-cost: alter every card that costs 4+
- Except: I personally like to keep Genie – Wish Fulfilled if I am the starting player, to make getting to Demona – Scourge of the Wyvern Clan easier
- If you have the 1-2-3 curve already you can keep a 4 and or 5 cost, if you have inkables to spare.
Tips and Tricks for Ruby Amethyst
- Against Steel Decks, Hercules – Mighty Leader is a great play on turn 4, since they cannot get rid of him with Strength of a Raging Fire.
- Lumiere – Fiery Friend makes the trading game very hard for your opponents, keep him safe, he’s your precious.
- The Headless Horseman – Terror of Sleepy Hollow triggers on every banish, so your characters get bigger and bigger, use him to clear as much as possible.
Possible Card Changes
Next Stop, Olympus
…is a great tempo play if you get to play it for free. You can challenge an additional character while gaining lore. It is also an answer to Iago – Giant Spectral Parrot, which can be a huge problem.
They Never Come Back
…keeps your opponent’s characters locked down for a turn and allows you to gain some free points. It is also an answer to Iago – Giant Spectral Parrot.
Hypnotic Strength
…Hey, it’s another answer to Iago! Notice a trend?
Medallion Weights
…helps you win the evasive wars against other Amethyst decks, while drawing you cards. It’s also really great in combination with Next Stop, Olympus. So if you put the Medallion Weights in your deck, also add some Next Stop, Olympus.
Hades – Looking for a Deal
…is just a great card. The only problem with him is, that he competes with Elsa – The Fifth Spiritand The Headless Horseman – Terror of Sleepy Hollow for his slot. A mix of all three would be fine though, if that’s more to your liking.
Conclusion
Ruby Amethyst is solid choice in the current Metagame. It has good matchups into some of the slower decks, due to its speed and like to beat up the cute doggies. It lacks a bit in flexibility and can struggle once it is behind – but if you are a fan of curving out, questing a lot and trying to ignore your opponent as much as possible, Ruby Amethyst might just be the deck for you!
And that is it for this quick, little Ruby Amethyst Starter Guide
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