A new Disney Lorcana set has been finally announced during the 10th of September Lorecast and there are plenty of reasons to be excited for it. As you may remember, the magical world of Disney Lorcana is still celebrating the victory over Ursula as part of the set just released (“Shimmering Skies”). However, the Illumineers need to embark immediately in a new adventure in order to repair the damaged Great Illuminary. Following a treasure map, the Illumineers set sails along with their seafaring glimmers to the dangerous Azurite Sea seeking also the owner of the hidden inkcaster discovered in Ursula’s Return. What will they find in the depth of the Azurite sea (and in the set bearing the same name) is a mystery, although a sibylline owl symbol inscribed on the hidden inkcaster and on maps of the Azurite Sea may provide some clues. In the meantime, Jafar seems to continue his quest to find the other half of the powerful Hexwell Crown.
Considering the Pirate cards we saw in the previous Lorecast, we were expecting the new set to be a very “adventurous” one and it does not seem we will be disappointed basing on what we have seen today. We knew that Rescue Rangers was planned to be among the two new movies featured in Azurite Sea and the second one is none other but “Big Hero 6”. A lot of Disney Lorcana fans were hoping to see this movie featured soon and I love that Baymax and Hiro will come to Lorcana just on the 10th anniversary of its debut in US. It seems the characters from this movie will have the new “Inventor” characteristics that will allow them to synergize with each other and with the items in the game. Sapphire has been very relevant in the meta game of the last two sets and I cannot wait to see what these cards will bring to this Ink colour. The cards from Rescue Rangers also seem to provide support abilities to various type of decks although most of them appear to be less strategic and more fun to play like Dale's ability (“Nuts about Pranks”) that will reduce the attack of an opponent character by 3 upon discarding 3 cards from the player deck. You can literally picturing this card being about Dale throwing three acorns to an opponent's head to slow him down....
Among the other cards we have seen some well-known friendly faces that perfectly fit the Pirate/Adventure theme of Azurite Sea set. A new Kakamora and a new Jim Hawkins were quite expected for example but we also spot an eye-catching Tigger and a glorious Stitch in pirate attire. In both cases, the artists have done an impressive work to re-imagine these characters and the new cards are full of minute but elaborate details. Stitch in particular will definitely be among the best cards we have seen so far and I bet we will see an enchanted version of its new card “Alien Buccaneer”. My guess is based on the fact that Stitch will have a dedicated “Stitch Collector's Gift Set” releasing as part of Azurite Sea chapter. The set will include a special “Stitch-Alien Buccaneer” water foil promo card with a stunning water-inspired foil treatment. This will be the first time this type of foil treatment is used in Disney Lorcana TCG and I love the idea that has been used on a card dedicated to my personal favourite character. This Collector's Gift set includes 4 booster packs and a binder featuring the arts of all Stitch cards released until now including Set 6. Personally, this gift set is stunning and is going to be a great addition to every collection. The Illumineers Trove has also been heavily themed to match the set and therefore will include a lovely Stitch artwork on the Lore counter and 6 different characters on the card separators, each of them tied-up to a card of the set.
Together with the products above, Azurite Sea will include two playmats featuring Elsa – The Fifth Spirit from Disney’s Frozen and Donald Duck – Buccaneer. The new card sleeves and deck boxes will feature Scar, Vengeful Lion from Disney’s The Lion King and Winnie the Pooh, Hunny Wizard from Disney’s Winnie the Pooh. The artwork of this Winnie the Pooh has been a fan favourite since its release and I am super happy to see more accessories featuring this great character. Last but not least, there will be two new Starter decks. The first one will feature Tigger and Jim Hawkins (Ruby and Amber) while the main characters of the second one will be Gadget Hackwrench, and Go Go Tomago (Sapphire and Emerald). Both these deck combinations have find their own space in the current meta and I am very curious to see what support will be released in this set for these two ink colours.
I know we are just at the very beginning of our adventure on Azurite Sea but so far the first set of the second year of Disney Lorcana looks stunning. I cannot wait to see what new cards and interactions this set will bring to the game. Unfortunately, we will all have to wait a couple of months as the set will release on the 15th of November on local shops and Disney Stores and on the 27th on the other retailers. The best part: just on time for Christmas 🙂