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As we came to realize very well , the Magical Realm of Disney Lorcana is filled with magic, amazing characters and interesting places to visit but not everything is as it seems. Since the release of The First Chapter, we know that a great threat was approaching like a black storm gathering at the horizon and we all watched the story progressively unfold one Chapter at a time. If you are already a fan of Lorcana, you know very well that the latest Chapter of the game just released on the 17th of May finally revealed that Ursula, The Sea Witch, is the Super-Villain that has been lurking in the shadows all this time.
Now that her evil plan is in motion, the Illumineers will have to raise to challenge and try to defeat the Sea Witch and bring back the peace in the realm. I know what you are thinking: isn't this an amazing background for an epic quest? And yes, it is indeed and what's even better is that Ravensburger has packed it all together into a brand new product called Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble. I tried this new way of playing Lorcana at the release party at the Disney Store in London and I had to buy a copy right away to enjoy it over and over. Let's discuss why together.
What is Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble?
Illumineer's Quest is a new type of product designed to allow up to four players to play Disney Lorcana cooperatively. As the name suggests, Deep Trouble is the paramount quest of the Illumineers aimed to defeat the ultimate Villain: Ursula. The game includes four scenarios with increasing difficulty called Battlegrounds (Easy, Normal, Hard, and Extreme) that can be played separately varying the number of players and the difficulty level. Alternatively, you can play them as a sort of campaign in way similar to how the final bosses in video games go through multiple stages before players can finally defeat them. However you want to play the game, the players who defeat Ursula can obtain a very special reward card hidden in a Golden Envelope.
One of the most interesting aspects of this product is that it is a stand alone game that comes with everything you need in order to play it. This, together with the cooperative gameplay, makes Deep Trouble a great way to teach the game to new players or to just enjoy Disney Lorcana without committing to buy any card or packs. On the other hand, experienced players can also bring their own decks into the campaign to challenge the Boss solo or with friends. This is particularly relevant if you want to have reasonable fighting chance when playing at the Extreme level of difficulty.
Exploring the depth of the sea: Components
Disney Lorcana, Illumineer Quest: Deep Trouble includes tons of great components packed in a shiny box. The list includes: 1 Oversized Ursula card, 1 Ursula scenario deck of 50 cards, 2 Prebuilt Disney Lorcana TCG decks of 60 cards each, 2 Oversized, double-sided battleground cards with the 4 scenarios of the campaign, 1 playmat, 1 Ursula draw token, 3 cardboard Lore tracker tokens, 29 cardboard Damage counters, 1 Golden envelop with a Secret victory card, and, of course, 1 Deep Trouble rules sheet
When unpacking the game, the golden envelop clearly caught my attention right away but I don't want to spoil its content as it is super-rewarding to open it when you finish the game. The second item that I really wanted to have in my hands was the oversized Ursula card. The card does not have any impact on the gameplay as it only serves as a visual reminder of the enemy the players are facing. However, the artwork of “Ursula, ruler of Lorcana” is so stunning that I personally think this is one of the best rendered characters in the game at the moment.
Of course, the core of this game are the three decks of cards, two for the players and one for Ursula. The two players decks include cards from all the four sets and they are designed around two different playing style. Without spoiling too much, the first one is a Ruby/Amber deck that features “Mulan, Elite Archer” and “Piglet, Pooh Pirate Captain”. The second one, on the other hand, is a Steel/Amethyst deck strongly centred around Broom Characters thus it does not surprise the two key cards here are “Mickey Mouse, Playful Sorcerer” and “Yen Sid, Powerful Sorcerer”. It should be noted that the two main characters of these decks have some black entangled arts on the card and therefore may need to be approved to be played in official tournaments. On the other hand, all the other cards from these decks are standard version that can be played without restriction.
Last but not least, we should remind that Ursula has her own deck filled with an army of glimmers and evil tricks. Unfortunately, the cards of this deck cannot be used to play the standard Lorcana as they have been specifically designed and balanced for the Illumineer’s Quest Deep Trouble. Due to this peculiarity, the cards of this deck can be easily recognized by some specific features including the gold art on the back of the cards, black tentacles around the frame on the front and the set background colours on the card ability text box and on the card name (instead of the usual Ink colour). Each character of this deck is also an alternate art of a known character as they fell victim of the Sea Witch spell and they are now Entangled as you can clearly see from their purple bright eyes.
The Heroes Arise: Gameplay
The gameplay of Ursula's Return Illumineer’s Quest is quite simple to learn and yet very engaging. Each turn, the players will draw, ready their characters and play cards as they would do in a standard Disney Lorcana game. The main difference is that players can discuss their strategy and support each other by sharing card effects. For example, a player can exert their Lantern to allow another player to reduce the Ink cost of the next Character they play. The Inkwell and the Lore however can not be shared as well as the cards in hand or in the deck.
In addition, each Battleground offers some special bonus or action the Players can activate once a turn by paying their cost in Lore. These abilities are quite useful and can take the players out of a difficult spot but they have to be used carefully as they can delay the player to achieve their goal of getting to 20 Lore.
Ursula's turn, on the contrary, is very different from the players' ones. The Sea Witch, in fact starts her turn by reading all her cards in play and then activating them one by one. In particular, she will always choose to banish her items to use their abilities and her Characters will always Quest unless they are Reckless. This offers a good advantage to the players as they know that their Characters may not always risk to be challenged when exerted.
Once all cards activated, Ursula will draw her cards one at a time. If there is enough Ink in the Inkwell to match the card cost, Ursula will play it right away for free (i.e. Ink is not used to play cards as Players do). Alternatively, the card will be added to the Inkwell every time its cost is higher than the amount of Ink available. This card-playing mechanic creates a nice sense of pressure on the players as they see the Boss Inkwell growing larger and larger knowing more powerful glimmers will progressively come out on the playfield.
In order to win the game and defeat Ursula, each player has to reach 20 Lore. Ursula, on the other hand, will vanquish the Illumineers if she manage to reach 40 Lore. Keep in mind that Ursula's powers grow stronger the more Lore she gains thus allowing her to increase the number of cards she draws every turn. This ability create a strong sense of urgency on the player creating a fast and exciting “race for lore” that feels very exciting.
Final thoughts
Being a big fan of Disney Lorcana, I am already very passionate about this Trading Card Game and
I have enjoyed each new set and new rule/keyword. I was, however, not expecting to be so pleasantly surprised by the Illumineer's Quest. The game is extremely fun and engaging to play and it can provides a lot of fun to any players. I can see myself playing it over and over in an effort to see if my fun-to-play decks can beat Ursula as well as my more competitive ones. The game is very nice when played solo although it shines much more when played with friends. If you want, you can also have one of them to impersonate the Sea Witch to add more fun and character to the game.
Most importantly, the game is completely self contained in its box meaning that it can be gifted to anyone and then played as they would do with any other card game or boardgame. I think this adds a lot of value to this product as it can allow any players to enjoy the game without investing in any card or deck right away. Moreover, the cooperative nature of Deep Trouble is greatly suited to introduce new players into Disney Lorcana as it allows them to learn the game at their pace without feeling the pressure of competing against each other.
Overall, I think Ravensburger has done an amazing job in creating this Cooperative Game set and I am very interested to see how this product will evolve and grow in the future. We know that Deep Trouble and, in general, Ursula's Return set marks the end of the first main story arc in the Disney Lorcana world but we do not know what the future holds for this magical realm. From a gameplay point of view, I really hope there will be more Illumineer's Quests available in the future or even to see some expansions to use different Battlegrounds or Bosses in your games. Perhaps, the new Quest will see the Villains fight back a Hero Boss-card or we will find that Ursula is not the biggest threat to the peace in Lorcana. Whatever direction the story will take, I am very excited to find out.
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