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The Queen: Disguised Peddler by Tom Harrod:
Who’s the OG villain from the Disney archives? The Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, that’s who. Yeah, that’s right. I did just call ‘The Wicked Queen’ the original gangster. She featured in the 1937 movie, which was Disney’s first animated feature, after all. Every child gets terrified when she turns into a crone, who comes a-calling with apples. Let’s put some respect on her name! Yasss, (Wicked) Queen!
This villain has plenty of cards already within Lorcana. One of my favourites though, is ‘The Queen: Disguised Peddler’. Pulling this card was great! It’s an Emerald Super-Rare, so not an easy find. However, it’s not the rarity that excites me about this card...
It features The Queen in her witch-like appearance, complete with a tantalising apple. (We all know how that worked out…) This is a 3-cost, non-inkable 2|3 card (2 attack, 3 defence). This character card is interesting because it doesn’t provide any lore, when questing. That’s because the action on the card is A Perfect Disguise. “Exert this card; choose and discard a character card – Gain lore equal to the discarded character’s lore value.”
So you can exert The Queen, discard a character from your hand, and earn the lore from that discarded card. I’ve loaded my Emerald deck with loads of high-lore cards, knowing they could be sacrificial lambs for A Perfect Disguise. (Kuzco: Temperamental Emperor (3 lore) and Dr. Facilier: Fortune Teller (3 lore) to name but a few.) This means I can get the benefits of their lore far quicker than waiting to afford their high ink cost. (That Facilier card is a 7-cost, for example.) It also means I can find a way to afford more non-inkable cards in my deck, because I can use them for their lore this way.
I like to think of it theme-wise as The Wicked Queen shoving these other cards under the bus to continue getting away with her evil deeds! (Cue maniacal, old-lady laughter…)
Winnie The Pooh: Hunny Wizard by Tom Harrod:
You don’t get much more relaxed a character within the Disney universe than Winnie The Pooh. If he were a human, would you picture him as a retired, elderly, warm and friendly gent? He’s like everyone’s favourite grandfather!
I have a theory with Lorcana: for each new set of cards, the team vote on their favourites among the 204 released. These are then the ones that get selected for repurposed products, such as the amazing playmats. So far, there’s been two playmats per set. In The First Chapter, it was an Emerald Mickey Mouse: Steamboat Captain (it had to be him, really, didn’t it!) and an Amethyst Maleficent. They were the same artwork on the mats as on the corresponding cards.
For this set, Rise of the Floodborn? There was Steel Beast: Forbidding Recluse. It's a dramatic, brooding scene of the Beast among his castle’s gargoyles, in a storm. And then the polar opposite – Winnie The Pooh! They chose the glorious Amethyst Pooh: Hunny Wizard artwork for this playmat. It’s been a universal agreement among all my fellow Lorcana pals: the artwork for this one oozes with delight.
Therefore, you can imagine my delight when I pulled a foil version of this card! It isn’t a special card from a mechanical point of view. It’s a 5-cost, inkable, 5|5 common. (5 attack, 5 defence.) It’s a ‘vanilla’ card: it doesn’t even do anything cool when it enters the game. But come on: it’s all about the aesthetics for this one. Winnie is sat atop a floating beehive, dripping with overflowing honey. A purple gown, fit for a wizard, sits draped across his shoulders. Golden nectar clouds swirl with resplendent grandeur. Eyes closed, as if in the middle of some kind of magical ritual, Pooh-Bear wears a huge smile. And so too do I, every time I see this card! Especially with the foil glint to it, as it catches the light.
Ursula by Stefano Paravisi:
With Disney Lorcana new set “Into the Inklands” just released, my pull of the month had to be one of the beloved characters from the new set. The challenge, however, is that there are a lot of great cards in the third set of the trading card game and picking just one is not an easy feat. After a bit of thinking I decided to choose the two new emerald cards featuring the witch of the sea: “Ursula – Deceiver” and “Ursula – Deceiver of all”. These two cards are not only amazing by themselves but also a perfect addition for the Emerald/Steel deck I have been playing since the very first chapter. Pulling them both from my very first chapter 3 box was even more amazing.
“Ursula – Deceiver” is an uncommon inkable villain character with a play cost of 2, a strength of 1 and a willpower of 3. Considering its very low playing cost, Ursula can easily come to the table very early in the game so players can exploit its ability to look at the opponent hand and force them to discard a song of their choice. This quite unique ability not only can get rid of some of the key songs like “Be prepared” or “A whole new world” but it also allows the player to have a glimpse of what the opponent may be cooking, giving him a very powerful advantage.
The second Ursula card is surprisingly very similar to the other one in both name and characteristics. “Ursula – Deceiver of All” is in fact again an inkable character with a slightly higher cost (3 instead of 2) and a bit more strength (2 instead of 1). What makes this card worth to be a legendary is the ability to sing any song a second time without spending additional ink. For example, this card can sing “Let the storm rage on” to deal 2 times 2 damages and draw two cards. Or “Mother knows best” to force the opponent to take two of their characters back in their hand. Unfortunately, my new Ursula cannot sing some of the most devastating songs as she is just a 3 ink character but this is only a minor hindrance for such a great card.
Overall, the two version of Ursula released in Disney Lorcana – Into the Inklands have already proven to be very strong assets for my deck and that's why these two are definitely my highlight for the month. Of course, now the challenge will be to see if I can manage to pull the Enchanted version of Ursula – Deceiver of all that is a card “to lose your voice for”.
Voidslime Serialised Card by Melissa King:
Normally when I pick my pull of the month, I write about a card that I was really hoping to find when opening packs, or a card that will see use in one of my commander decks. My pick this month is a little different…
Serialised cards have been associated with trading card games from as early as 1990, but only started appearing in Magic: The Gathering sets from 2021. As with any TCG, the desirability of serialised cards varies depending on the card itself and the set it’s from. The most prestigious and undoubtedly most famous serialised card in Magic: The Gathering has to be The One Ring (001/001), from the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth set.
January saw the release of the Ravnica Remastered set; a collection of cards from the original Ravnica, Return to Ravnica and Guilds of Ravnica blocks. Whilst I wasn’t playing MTG at the time of the original releases of these blocks, I know many people were and this gave this set a real nostalgic feel. Something that hadn’t been seen before in Ravnica sets, were serialised cards… until now…
Players who splashed out on Ravnica Remastered Collector Boosters had a chance of pulling a serialised, retro frame, rare or mythic card in a double rainbow foil. 64 cards were selected for serialisation from 1 to 500, but with only 1% of Collector Boosters containing such a card - pulling one really is no mean feat.
I was fortunate enough to attend my LGS for a Ravnica Remastered draft event. Having not faired so well in the competition, I decided to ease the pain of defeat by purchasing a Collector Booster. I opened my pack, scrolled through the cards and reported “Nah, no big pulls” to my friends. My partner asked to see my pack and I didn’t think before I handed it over to him. Little did I know a few seconds later, he would be making a fool of me by announcing to the store that I had actually packed a serialised Voidslime!!! My thumb had perfectly covered the serialisation and I had missed it when I initially looked at the cards - Doh! *facepalm*
Voidslime is a 3CMC Simic counter-spell, that interrupts an opponent’s spell, activated or triggered ability. Whilst it may not be the most sought after serialised card, I am still absolutely delighted to have pulled one to have in my collection, especially seeing as I was able to pack it with my friends by my side, and with the memories of a fun draft night at our LGS associated with it.
Garbodor Art Rare by Rob Wright:
It seems to have been an age since the last main set in Pokemon, but Paradox Rift is still the gift that keeps on giving. I have dabbled with Paldean Fates and managed to pull a very fetching Shiny Baxcalibur, but I haven’t thrown hod-loads of money at PF, because Temporal Forces is just around the corner, which is a very exciting prospect indeed.
But, as I said, Paradox Rift is still delivering the goods and my Pull of the Month is literally rubbish - the sweet, sweet Garbodor Art Rare.
The undisputed king of trash sits atop his throne of old mattresses, battered armchairs, busted washing machines and many other things that every day folk leave behind. Lovingly rendered by Shinya Komatsu, an artist known for his bright and busy illustrations like the Machamp V Special Full Art from Astral Radiance and more recently the Special Art Rare of Alakazam from Pokemon 151. He also illustrated my favourite Wailord card from Silver Tempest.
Is it playable? Well… it’s interesting. For a single darkness energy, this will do 50 damage for each tool discarded from all your Pokemon. Potentially, this could be played with 151 Snorlax that retrieves two Leftovers cards from your discard pile and Honchkrow V with its Boss Pockets ability that allows up to four items to be attached to it. Heck, you could even throw in the Pachirisu from Brilliant stars and Rotom V/VStar. Frankenstein’s jank deck? Yeah, a bit, but that’s why I’m in the game. Regardless, it’s a nice card.
Chernabog: Evildoer by Tom G
Another month and another release for the brand new TCG, Lorcana! Into The Inklands is the third release for Lorcana, bringing new characters from films such as Atlantis, Treasure Planet and Duck Tales, as well as a brand new card type; Locations! Locations allow for players to passively gain lore each turn, as well as providing abilities to characters, such as offering protection, or giving them Evasive. This has really changed up the game and has continued to allow for varied gameplay.
Of course, as with any new set, we had the delight of brand new enchanted cards, with items, actions and locations also being added to the enchanted roster for the very first time.
I was lucky enough to pull the fabulous Chernabog: Evildoer enchanted card from some of my very first packs and this card really is a sight to behold. The towering, dark silouhette of Chernabog dominates this card, with Thomas Brissot doing a fantastic job of bringing the character to life. The card itself is a 10-cost, uninkable, with 9 strength and willpower and 3 questing power, making it a real force to be reckoned with, but at a cost. The ability does mitigate this cost though, as for every character card in your discard pile, you may reduce the cost of this card by 1. Not only that, but you can then take all character cards in your discard pile and shuffle them back into your deck when the Chernabog is played.
This card can be a real presence when played and works incredibly well when you are able to run lower cost characters into your opponent to grow your discard and get the Chernabog out earlier on in the game. I have now sent this card off for grading and I am excited to see what grade it gets. Fingers crossed for Gem Mint 10!
