Lorcana Set 4 “Ursula’s Return” Unveiled - New Cards, Gameplay, and More

Lorcana Set 4 “Ursula’s Return” Unveiled: New Cards, Gameplay, and More

After a long wait, the newer Chapter of Disney Lorcana, “Ursula's Return”, is finally here!!!! As the name of Lorcana set 4 clearly suggests, this new Chapter in the story of the magical realm strongly focuses on Ursula. Almost a year from the beginning of this journey, we finally discover that she was the dark and powerful glimmer unleashed from the Great Illuminary together with the chaotic flood of Ink that lead to “Rise of the Floodborn”.

Of course, we had a lot of hints cleverly hidden within the cards starting from the gooey material “Mickey Mouse, Detective” was investigating in the very First Chapter but we never fully understood what the Sea Witch was plotting. In the new set, we finally discover that the Witch managed to entangle (“take control”) some of the powerful glimmers and she is now using them to finally become the ruler of the realm.

The new set brings new amazing cards, new mechanics but, most important, a new way to play the game with the release of the first Illumineer's Quest, “Deep Trouble”. This new product is a fully stand alone game that allows up to four Illumineers to challenge Ursula herself in order to fulfil their role and protect Lorcana from her evil plot. There is much to be excited for in this set so let's dig together into it!

Ursula is back! - Set Overview

As some of you may already know, Ursula's Return released on the 17th of May in all local TGC shops and on the 31st in all other distributors and online. As usual, there have been a number of Release parties with some venues hosting also a draft or sealed release tournament on the same day.

The set includes as usual 34 cards for each Ink colour for a total of 204 cards plus 18 Enchanted cards. Ursula's Return also features three more cards with alternate graphics bringing the total of the set to 225. These last ones are foil only version of standard cards and they are featured in the Deep Trouble set (“Yen Sid, Powerful Sorcerer”, “Mulan, Elite Archer” and “Mickey Mouse, Playful Sorcerer”) .

In terms of products, Disney Lorcana Set 4 features the usual Booster pack and Booster Box format (12 cards per pack, 24 packs per box), 2 Starter decks (Madrigal Magic and Stand Together), 2 playing mats (Giant Tinker Bell and Rapunzel), Card Sleeves and Deck Boxes (Snow White and Genie) and an Illumineer's Trove. The damage dice and the Lore counter included in this last one are coloured to match Ursula dark theme. Moreover, the Trove includes 6 cardboard dividers although this time they depict card rarity colour and logos instead of the 6 Ink colour. The value of the Trove is still quite good, although I personally wish future ones will have some double sided dividers to allow players to chose whatever method they prefer to store their cards.

“The boss is on a roll” – Illumineer's Quest Deep Trouble

Considering Disney Lorcana set 4 comes as the pinnacle of the story so far, Ravensburger decided to release a brand-new type of product: the “Illumineer's Quest”. This product takes the slot of the Gift set that is therefore not available for Chapter 4 but it will be hardly missed. In fact, the first one of a hopefully long series of Quest, “Deep Trouble”, is likely the most exciting product we've seen so far in Lorcana.  

Illumineer's Quest Deep Trouble introduces the possibility for 2 to 4 players to join their forces against Ursula and her army of entangled glimmers. The box comes with everything you need in order to play including an Oversized Ursula Card to remind you who are you against, her powerful deck of 50 cards, 2 Prebuilt Player decks of 60 cards each, a playmat that includes a Lore tracker, cardboard Lore and Damage counters, a rulebook and four scenarios at increasing difficulty. As you may have spotted in the picture, there is also a golden envelop with a very special card that can be awarded when you beat Ursula. No spoiling as opening the envelop after a tense fight with the Sea Witch is such a great moment!

One of the main aspects that makes Deep Trouble a great product is that is completely stand alone and can be gifted/played by anyone interested to have a taste of Lorcana. The game is quite engaging and fun to play and I quite like that it comes with four scenario at increasing difficulty. This way, it is easy to tailor each game to the level of experience of the players and to their decks so that the replayability of the game is quite high. Most important, considering also that players work cooperatively to achieve the same goal, it can be a great entry level product to teach the game.

“Life's full of tough choices” - New Ways of Playing!

Together with being a great set from a product and Storyline point of view, Ursula's Return will also mark a milestone in the Gameplay and in the Meta for a number of reasons. First, we have a full new mechanic (“Sing Together”) aimed to foster Singers and large board/Expensive Characters. Moreover, we have a new Shift mechanics that does now requires Ink in order to pay for the new Character and, finally, we can see even more cards supporting a Control type of gameplay and we will likely see this type of Decks becoming the benchmark in the upcoming Competitive events.

Among the new mechanics, the new Shift mechanics seems quite interesting. While in the past players had to pay the cost to Shift a character using Ink, some of the new cards of Ursula's Return can be played by just discarding a specific type of card. For example, “Diablo, Devoted Herald” can be shifted by discarding an Action card while “Flotsam & Jetsam, Entangling Eels” will require the player to discard 2 cards in order to be played. The type of card(s) to be discarded seems quite interesting linked to either the Ink colour or they type of Character so that it should fit the deck play style. It should also be noted that the set includes some Characters that can Shift for a Ink cost together with the new ones.

We will, of course, have to see what will be released in the upcoming sets but I think this new Shift mechanics will have a serious impact on the game. In particular, the new Floodborn characters are able to enter the playfield much quicker than usual as they do not require Ink to be played. As such, opponents will likely find more difficult to prevent a Character to Shift and they may need to focus on removing the Characters instead of preventing them to enter the playfield.

The new Sing Together songs also offer some interesting options although I think they will be less impacting on the game with respect to the new Shift mechanics. In summary, the songs featuring the new keyword are extremely expensive and powerful songs that can be sung by multiple characters banding together. For example, “The Mob Song” can deal 3 damages to 3 Characters and/or Locations for a cost of 10 while “Under the Sea” forces all opposing Characters with 2 or less Strength to go to the bottom of their owner Deck for a cost of 8.

As expected, together with new powerful songs Ursula's Return also features some highly skilled new singers including “Ariel, Singing Mermaid” and “Cinderella, Melody Weaver” that can sings songs of a cost of 7 and 9 respectively. Yes, you read it right, the new Cindy has Singer 9....

One interesting aspect to flag about Ursula's Return set is the amount of cards featuring abilities that can deal damage to multiple targets. These includes among others “The Mob Song” (deal 3 damages up to three Characters), “Mulan, Elite Archer” (deal damage to up to 2 additional characters after challenging) and “Ariel, Sonic Warrior” (deal 3 damages to a character every time a song is played). These abilities are quite interesting as they provide a good way to deal with wide boards without the need to use the usual cards (“Grab your sword” and “Be Prepared” for example). In addition, these cards can be quite helpful in dealing with your opponents Evasive characters and with the ones you really don't want to challenge...  

“Babies! My poor little poopsies” – Best cards of the set

Ursula's Return includes a few new Themes and Archetypes, starting from the first appearance of the Characters from the movie Encanto. All the members of the Familia Madrigal can be found in the new Amber and Amethyst Starter Deck together with some very good other cards. In particular, the iconic song “We don't talk about Bruno” is now also a very good card for any Emerald Deck as it forces an opponent to take back one of their Characters and then to discard a card. The song “I find' em, I flat 'em” that banishes all items will also likely see a lot of play in the future.

Together with Encanto, the 4th set features more Characters from the movie “Fantasia” including “Yen Sid, Powerful Sorcerer” and a new “Mickey Mouse, Playful sorcerer” designed to interact very well with all the Magic Broom Characters in a very thematic Deck.

To stand their ground against the powerful Sea Witch, the set includes a lot of Hero characters. Among these new characters, it is worth mentioning “Anna, True-Hearted” that increases the Lore value of all other Heroes when she Quests and “Hercules, Daring Demigod” that can be a good alternative to “Maui, Hero to all” with its Reckless/Rush combination and a Strength of 7.

Finally, there are a few very interesting cards we have not yet mentioned in this article. The first one is “Hidden Inkcaster” as it can make any Emerald Deck more reliable by allowing a player to consider any cards as Inkable and to draw a card when the item is played. “Diablo, Devoted Herald”, on the other hand, is a little Evasive nuisance that allows a player to draw a card every time an opponent draws. For as little as 3 Ink, this card can easily boost any Emerald deck but it can also become an unstoppable engine in a dedicated Deck.

“Sisu - Empowered Sibling” is another example of a card with a great potential. On paper, its ability to banish all Characters with Strength of 2 or less may not seem too much but it can be combined with cards like Ice Block to extend its efficiency a little further or even with “Kida - Protector Of Atlantis” to create a board cleaning wave of destruction.

Last but not least, “Ursula, Sea Witch Queen” itself is an amazing card worth to feature the main Character of this set. Ursula in fact not only can quest for 3 and exert a chosen character but she can also prevent any other Character from Singing. Interestingly, her Shift ability also make Ursula a nice fit for an Emerald/ Amethyst deck with her beloved Flotsam and Jetsam.

Well, it's time Ursula took matters into her own tentacles – Final Thoughts

As I mentioned at the beginning, I personally love the new Disney Lorcana Set. I mean, what's not to love?! You have some new great cards, very good support to some loved Themes and Archetypes, amazing new mechanics and a Cooperative format that can growth in the next sets. From a pure gameplay perspective, this set shows that Disney Lorcana is steadily growing into a very engaging and fun-to-play Trading Card Game.

Most important, this set represents a great step forward in the very complex background story designed for the game. Sometime we forget about how many Disney Lorcana cards tell a deeper narrative with hidden hints, misdirections and unexpected twists. For example, we now know Ursula may be the powerful glimmer released from the Great Illuminary in Chapter 2 but is she really the Powerful Villain that is really treating the Realm? There are a few hints in all the cards on this set but we will for sure know more in the upcoming sets and I personally can not wait to learn more.