While my calendar insists it is almost February, Winterspell, the first Disney Lorcana set of the 2026 will soon sweep into the Great Illuminary with a sparkle of Christmas' magic, enchanted gifts and lots of shimmering snow. Stitch and Angel will be soon playing in the snow, glimmers from Mickey's Christmas Carol will sing and enjoy their peaceful Christmas, and we will all build new strategies to deck the Halls with, trying to enjoy some flurries of fun with our beloved characters.
However, the snow in Winterspell is not a late splash of Winter like the very cold weather we are having in UK these days but it is due to a new threat menacing the peaceful Realm of Lorcana. Yesterday a special Lorecast provided us a great insight into what is waiting for us in the upcoming 11th set of our favourite Trading Card Game. There is much indeed to enjoy in the new set but let's try to summarize what we discovered so far. Warning: it will take some time as there are tons of great news!!!
A new threat is growing....
In the previous set of Disney Lorcana, our heroes were investigating the secrets lurking in the depth of the Great Illuminary, and we learned about the Whispers, half-formed Glimmers that are summoned from half thorned parchment pages. While we were still investigating, we caught a prophetic vision of the future in “Henwen's Visions card” showing a thorned vine, but we haven't been able to make much out of it.
Now, that giant vine we briefly saw in the previous set has grown and we will learn in WinterSpell that is starting to drain the realm of Lorcana of the flood ink. We are not sure what is actually happening yet but the vine (or something a certain Illumineer did to deal with it) resulted in an eternal winter of sort that is spreading all over the Realm. As a result, some Glimmers are enjoying the fun and all the “snow and ice shenanigans” while others are trying their best to put a stop to this winter
Being a great fan of Disney, I couldn't avoid thinking of Frozen immediately after I heard about the Eternal Winter. I bet I was not the only one thinking about Anna singing "Arendelle's in deep, deep, deep, deep snow...” while she was confronting Elsa in her castle, and I was amazed to see we will have tons of cards from Frozen fitting into the new set, including the Ruby “Elsa, Concerned Sister” - a great 3-cost card that can reduce the cost of the next location by two when played and that can quest for two.
Winterspell will also feature “Elsa, Ice Artisan”, a Ruby 6 Cost Floodborn version of Elsa that can shift on the Concerned Sister for just 4 and can exert a character with a Strength of 3 on Play, and when another location is played. Playing a location with this Elsa is a must as she can quest for a whopping four Lore if she is at any Location.
Alternatively, Elsa can sing “The Cold Never Bothered Me” (one of the most iconic lines from Disney Frozen movie) in order to find a location among the first four cards of the Player deck AND reduce the cost of next Location played in the turn by three. Ravensburger made a great effort in this set to create thematically linked card segments, and these cards from Frozen are not just gorgeous but they all work together in a very nice and neat engine.
Locations are finally back!!!
Now we have also an action that can remove all Locations. This means this type of card may be quite huge as we go further into the year starting from the few presented today.
The first one, Frozen Vine is an Amethyst 3-cost location that can generate two lore per turn and that comes back to the Player's hand if it is banished when an exerted Character is at this Location. This ability has a huge impact on the game, particularly when we think of Characters like John Silver that strongly benefit from being at a Location or have multiple Locations in Play. The Greedy Treasure Seeker was re-printed in Fabled and I cannot wait to see if a Location heavy deck will be back in the meta-game . “Winterspell”, a new 1-cost Steel card that prevent chosen location to be challenged for a turn, may surely come in hand in this deck and I love how this card is named after the set and show a frozen Great Illuminary: it just makes sense!
New Iconic cards!
Against all odds, the Iconic cards for Winterspell are not Stitch and Angel. As revealed in the Lorecast, the most sought after cards of the set will be “Moana, Curious Explorer” and “Pocahontas, Peacekeeper”. This choice is pretty interesting considering this year is a 10th anniversary of the movie Moana while Pocahontas is a new franchise just added to Disney Lorcana. Moana is also a super playable card as you will see in a few paragraphs. From an artwork point of view, these two iconic cards are designed to “play into the paper cut snowflakes”. The cards will have an amazing glitter effect that will make then stunning and I cannot wait to see one in person!
In terms of gameplay, Pocahontas is a Floodborn Amber Princess that costs 5, has pretty decent stats and can quests for 2 that stops all Characters from challenging for a turn when she is played (including the Player's ones). This ability works in a similar way as Pete, Game Referee that stops all actions and can have strong impact on how the game develops. The obvious use of this card is to quest with all the Player's Characters to gain a lot of Lore while avoiding to be challenged back. You can also consider using it in order to exert your characters to trigger abilities or sing songs and still have them on board the next turn.
Moana, on the other hand, is the biggest surprise of this set as her ability completely changes (or improves) a core rule of the game. Disregarding her cost of 5 and her questing for two Lore, once Moana is in Play the player can put cards in their Inkwell from the discard pile. This ability does not change all other requirements for Inking cards (one per turn, must be inkable etc.,) it just gives the player the option to use their discard pile as a source of cards for this action. As explained in the stream, this will also apply to any card that allows the Player to add cards to the Inkwell like “Sail to the Azurite Sea”. I am pretty sure we will need a few Q&A's to clarify how this card interacts with other effects related to the Inkwell. However, I can immediately see this will be a massive game-changer for all the Sapphire players that suffered from a poor card draw since Hiram and Pawpsicle were banned.
Winterspell Franchise galore: so many new amazing Glimmers!
When we first heard about this set, we were told the main franchises that would be featured for the first time would be Darkwing Duck and Pocahontas. Recently, we discovered that Disney's Mickey's Christmas Carol will also be part of the set as well as the characters from Stitch the Animated series!!! I guess this may have been slightly expected knowing Stitch and Angel were featured on the set artwork but I would never imagined to see more characters from the series.
Among the new cards we will get Gantu and Dr. Hamsterveil that are engaged in a large snowball fight and Ruben that is instead preparing Sandwiches. “Gantu, Hamsterveil's Accomplice” is a 1-cost Character that can draw and discard a card on play. While his ability seems very similar to other 1-cost characters like Mulan or Ticker Bell, Gantu is a much better turn 1 play considering he has a strength and a willpower of 3: no other character in the game currently has such good stats for just 1 Ink cost!
“Doctor Hamsterveil, Infamous Scientist” is another very interesting Steel card that can prevent a character from Challenging on Play. Most important, its cost of 8 can be reduced for each alien character card in your discard, making it easier to play in particular if the set will feature more of the experiments he is being hunting in the series. “Ruben, Sandwich Expert” has a very connected ability although in this case the player can reduce the cost for playing other Characters when damages are healed by Ruben.
Last but not least, of course we have another Stitch card for the set: “Stitch, High Badness Level”! This 2-cost card is also Steel and it will be the seasonal promo card for the set. I love its amazing ability to get Challenger +3 if Lilo is in Play although I love even more the flavour text on the card “No more caffeine for you!”.
Winterspell Release, Promo cards and featured products
Winterspell will release on the 13th of February at your local shops and on the 20th elsewhere.
The set will include the usual product line-up of Booster Boxes, Booster Packs, Illumineer's Troves and Playmats. In addition, a new Gift Box featuring Scrooge McDuck, S.H.U.S.H. Agent will be released in March although we still don't know what type of booster pack combination we will find in this box. Also in March, we will have a chance to get our hands on a new Collection Starter set featuring Stitch Rockstar. This type of product was first released in Fabled and it is an amazing way to get your collection started or to boost your chances to get some very nice cards together with a beautifully illustrated binder and an exclusive promo card. In this case, the promo card will feature the new Winter-themed Stitch from Winterspell but with an amazing glitter treatment.
With a new set, comes a new Organized play season and a new OP kit. The promo cards for “Buying a Winterspell box” will be a gorgeous “Beast, Snowfield Troublemaker”. Together with good stats and Rush, this new Ruby card will take no damages when challenging if it is at a Location. Ruby seems to be getting progressively stronger with every new set and I am very curious to see if having better Locations may push this colour on top of the meta. The artwork on this card is also stunning as it captures the moment our Hero was playing with Belle in the snow and she figures out what she has feeling for him. That sequence does not only suits Winterspell theme perfectly but it is also a peak moment in the story thus making this card such a great one to finally add to Lorcana.
Interestingly, the promo cards for the weekly play included in this set will have the same golden frame we recently saw for the cards available at the challenges. Playing weekly at your locals will allow all Illumineers to secure four different promo cards. The first one, Gramma Tala is a terrifying 12-cost card (!) which playing cost can be reduced by the number of cards in the Player Inkwell. I am sure this new version of Gramma Tala will be quite interesting considering Sapphire tends to ramp quickly and the new Moana card.
“Eliza Maza, Transformed Gargoyle” is also quite interesting as it prevents the Strength of your Characters to be reduced once she is in Play. This is a pretty interesting defensive effect and the fact that it is a passive ability makes it more appealing.
The third Promo card, “Timon, Snowball Swiper” is also a pretty playable Amber card that allows the Player to discard a non-Character card from their Opponent's hand. Amber already has a very similar card, “Mowgli, Man Cub” thus having a second one with a similar effect can definitely increase the control potential of Amber-based Deck making them more appealing in the next set.
Last but not least, the OP Kit will feature “White Rabbit, Late again”, An emerald 2-cost card with the ability “Underdog” that reduces the cost of playing this Character by one if the player is going second. Winterspell will actually include one card in each colour with this ability in an effort to reduce the handicap of going second in a match. White Rabbit is a solid Character with a Strength and Willpower of 2 and Evasive thus I am quite excited to see what different abilities these 2-cost cards will have.
Overall, I am very pleased by the promo cards for this set. Ravensburger is clearly making a consistent effort to ensure the Players can secure very playable cards by playing Lorcana consistently at their local shop. I am blessed to have a great local community and I cannot wait to get into a new season of fun games all together start plotting my strategy for the next Set Championship. The Enchanted promo card for all participants and winners this time will be “Tinkerbell, Snowflake Collector”, awe-worthy cards both from an artwork and gameplay point of view. Tinkerbell's attire seems to be inspired from the 2012 movie “Secret of the Wings” but the artist behind this card, Koni, made it much more whimsical by going for a design that reminds the style used for the Iconic. The background of the card really pops-up in the foil version we saw yesterday but the standard participation one looks very cool too.
What will happen next?
As previously announced, “Wild Unknowns” will be the 12th set of Disney Lorcana and it will be released on 8th of May 2026. Toy story will be the first Pixar movie being added to Lorcana in this set, although we learned yesterday that Wild Unknowns will also feature The Incredibles and the Characters from Brave. This is not only an amazing line-up of beloved characters but also of some crazy villains like Syndrome and Mor'du!
After the Wild Unknowns and a new set rotation, Disney Lorcana will face the “Attack of the Vines” in the 13th set of this games releasing in Q3 2026. The set will likely release in the summer and I am pretty curious to see if it will links to the hint dropped recently by Hades of “having plans for August”.The name of the set seems to be suitable for the major showdown we usually have around that time of the year but we will see.
What we know for sure, on the other hand is that Attack of the Vines will be the first set to see Glimmers from Monster&Co and Turning Red (as previously confirmed). The artwork of the set also shows an interesting small house flying around attached to small colourful balloons, and I think perhaps we will also see Up franchise added to the game but I am sure we will get more details later in the year.
Last but not least, it seems that Coco will join the Realm of Lorcana in the last set of 2026 and I hope this will be an opportunity to have another themed set, perhaps just in time for Halloween and Día de los Muertos celebrations.
Coming back to Wild Unknowns, all players and collectors will be interested to know that product line-up for this set also includes two completely new products strongly requested by the player community for a while. The first one is a Pre-release Pack that will have everything a Player needs to enjoy the pre-release events for the new set including a deck box, 6 Booster packs, one random postcard out of three and one random promo card out of six. We still don't know which promo cards will be featured here but I really wish they will be somehow special and unique. My best guess is that they will be at least one per Ink colour considering the number but at this point, it is just speculation....
The other new product that will debut in this set is a Two players Starter Deck package. This promises to provide Players with everything they need in order to get started, including 2 ready-made decks, 2 deck boxes and 2 Lore counters. It seems there will be no additional Booster packs in this new packaging but the Lore counters looks pretty nice although they are probably still cardboard ones.
From the pictures we saw during the Lorecast, Wilds Unknown will include an Amber-Emerald and an Amethyst-Ruby deck that are surprisingly interesting combination. Among the cards featured there the four foils cards will include Buzz, The Queen, Mrs. Incredible and Jack-Jack Parr. “Buzz Lightyear, on the way” is a very good 3-cost characters that can allow the Player to draw and discard a card or to do one damage to a damaged Character when they play a 2-cost non-Character or Character card. Considering these are both passive abilities, they can be stacked together to trigger interesting combos. One of them, for example, can involve the new “The Queen, Evil Ruler” that gains two additional strength when there is a damaged Character in play.
Mrs Incredible and Jack-Jack on the other hand seems to have a more wide set of abilities. “Mrs. Incredible, Super stretchy” for example can either gain Evasive or quest for one additional Lore depending on what the Player prefer. “Jack-Jack Parr, Incredible Potential” effects are instead very random as the Player can discard the top card of their Deck in order for Jack-Jack to gain 2 strength if the card discarded is a Character, or two more Lore if it is an Item. If the discarded card is a Location, however, the Player can choose to banish a chosen character which is a massive ability for a 4-cost character. I love how Jack-Jack abilities in the movie have been translated into this card and I cannot wait to see how this may fit in the Location heavy deck.
Overall, I personally think Disney Lorcana Single Player Starter Decks have always been a great way for new Players to get into the game and for every Player to start dwelling into new sets and their themes. However, buying one Starter Deck was not enough to play with your friends as you both had to get one. Moving to a two-player format for Starter Decks is actually a very good idea as it ensures you will have everything you need to start playing with your friends while also avoiding the stress of choosing which starter Deck would be better for you. Players will be able to play both Starter Decks for a new set, swap them around etc making the experience surely more engaging.
