There were lots of good answers to individual threats no matter how large, and most decks were sitting on several when it came time to finish them
Your report highlights the weakest axis and the exact reason, so you know whether a different copy might grade higher
If you mess with the graveyard at all and can cast it, it's worth considering
Yes, it activates before your Counter activates
There are multiple blue Beauty and the Beast cards in the likes of Gaston, Intellectual Powerhouse - which will help you to search through your deck for the cards you need by, for example, finding those Dwarfs to combo together - and song card Four Dozen Eggs, which will use Rise of the Floodborns Resist keyword to reduce damage your character take for the next turn
Additionally, at a reasonable cost, Ultimecia can transform into Ultimecia, Omnipotent, a significant upgrade that grants the player a second turn