For generations, the name Sullivan meant one thing in Monstropolis: a roar so powerful that has not equal on the Scare Floor. James P. Sullivan, Sulley among his friends, is not only the youngest born in this family of top scarer but also the one that recently broke the all time record of energy collected by scaring the human children. As Henry J. Waternoose once said, the energy shortage would soon be over if he had “... scarers who are confident, tenacious, tough, intimidating. I need scarers like... like... James P. Sullivan.” But where would we be able to find such amazing individuals?
For years, Monster, Inc. and Monster University have scouted, grown and trained generations of Scarers but it turns out they were looking in the wrong place. Legends now speak of a roar so mighty that can send shivers down the spine of the Lockness monster. The coming of this Scarer was able to cause havoc among the population of Monstropolis and to shake the doors of Monsters, Inc. This roar so powerful to be heard also in the human world came from the most terrifying of all the Scarers.... a toddler name Boo. Yes, that correct, the tiny human befriended by James P. Sullivan has officially flipped the script thanks to Sulley's love and support. She is not scared any more by low-rank scarers like Randall, she is brave and strong, and, most important, she is now part of the Sullivan family. Sulley may have a terrifying roar, but is nothing comparable to the mighty “RAAAWR” Boo and Sulley can achieve together as a family. Would this power be enough to solve the energy crisis in Monstropolis and help with the overgrowing issues caused by the Vine in the Realm of Lorcana? As you know, Boo and Sulley are joining the ranks of the Glitters summoned by the magical Ink in Disney Lorcana together with the other characters from the Monster&Co franchise. This duo showed us one of the warmest (and funniest) friendship among all Disney Movies and it is great to see them immortalised on Lorcana cards. The best part is that the newly released set, Attack of the Vine! will showcase Boo and Sulley in the cinemahyem style of the Enchanted of the set. You hear me correctly, there is a new Enchanted coming right now and the team here at Zatu has the great pleasure to reveal it in all its glory!
“Sulley & Boo, Scare Buddies” is a new “Team” card (Amber and Ruby) that can be shifted for a cost of four onto either a Boo or a Sully Card. For a 6-cost card, the Players get some pretty good stats (6 Strength and 5 Willpower) and a very cool ability that make Shifting this card much more valuable than playing it directly. The bond between these two Characters is in fact so strong than if Sulley & Boo is banished, the Player can play all Characters underneath it for free from the discard. This ability, called “The Power of Friendship” is pretty cool and neat as it provides a lot of additional value to the Players as they will get a new ready Character for free ready to be used on their next turn.
Among the options, “Boo, Energetic Child” can be a pretty good shift target for the team card. While Boo does not have much willpower or Strength, she can be played for a cost of 3 and use Rush to banish any opponent with a cost of 3 or less with her Kid-Tastrophe! ability. “Sulley, Protective Monster” and “Sulley, The New Boss” are also very good options as they all have good value in game both before and after being shifted into Scare Buddies. Moreover, we should consider this card can have a few interesting synergies with both the Boost related cards we saw in previous sets and the discard-pile related abilities we recently saw in this new set. Last but not least, Amber-Ruby proved to be a very solid deck in recent Set Championships and Official events and the addition of Sully and Boo will likely make this combo even more interesting to play.
From a collectible point of view, the Artwork by Mariana Moreno is nothing less than spectacular and a great example of the cinemayhem style for this set. The first detail that catches the eye, is how all the card artwork in encased in a frame that reminds of a door of a kid's wardrobe. This choice is really thematic and a great first hint to the movie. Moreover, the door activation indicator on top of the frame is lighted on, creating the strong feeling that Sulley and Boo just opened the door to scare the children inside. The fact that the two main Characters dominate the scene completely adds to the general feeling to be one of those kids sitting in the bed and feeling like something is going to happen soon... I love how Boo mirrors completely Sulley pose, even if the mock-up Monster disguise she is wearing just looks too cute and too funny on her.
In the background you can also see the vine attempting to take away Schmoopsie-poo from Googley Bear (Celia Mae and Mike Wazowski). As seen on other Enchanted the background of these cards includes scenes and characters from the original movie as well as Vine-related events and challenges. I found this strategy to be quite a fun mix as it creates the impression that the Vine was actually part of the original movie, just behind the scenes. I think this new art style and the idea to integrate Lorcana lore into the original story is a very clever decision and another step toward a fully-fledged Lorcana art-style.
Thinking about Mike and how close Boo and Sulley look in this card, I would say you can easily hear him saying “Great. Now there’s TWO of them.” In fact we should not forget that all the Illumineers will be able to pull “Sulley & Boo, Scare Buddies” also as non-Enchanted card. In this case the Super Rare card was already revealed a few days ago and it will be much easier to pull and to use in your decks. Interestingly, the Super Rare version of “Sulley & Boo, Scare Buddies” has the same exact abilities and stats but a very different artwork. In this case, Mariana Moreno's illustrations show a Sulley that carries Boo as the two are running away from the Vine. That's pretty different from the artwork of the Enchanted card where the two do not look scared at all. In fact, it almost feels like the Enchanted is a “powered-up” version of the Super Rare card where Boo and Sulley decided to really team-up and fight back against the Vine. Personally, I love it and I cannot be more grateful to both the Artist that illustrated these grate cards and the Ravensburger team that offered me the opportunity to share it with every Lorcana fans. Cannot wait to open some packs from Attack of the Vine! and have a chance to pull this card in real life!
