Lorcana’s eighth set, ‘Reign of Jafar’, has hit the market and with it, 202 brand-new cards have entered the field of play! A new Disney film featured in this set is ‘Bambi’, and some previously added films like ‘Bolt’ and ‘Princess and the Frog’ get some big upgrades. However, the set primarily features Jafar as he has taken control of Archazia’s Island after forming both pieces of the Hexwell Crown together. Him and his crew of Illusion’s: The Sultan, Abu, Royal Guard and Magic Carpet, to name a few, feature heavily in Reign of Jafar, and a lot of the card artwork is influenced by the battle taking place at his palace. What I love about each Lorcana set is that the art is such an important part of the story-building process of Lorcana and immersing the players into the game, and ‘Reign of Jafar’ does this incredibly well.
Another thing I love about Disney Lorcana is how cards of the same film often have a theme and interact with each other, to make it beneficial to play cards from the same film in the same deck. For example, ‘Tiana – Natural Talent’ and ‘Prince Naveen – Ukelele Player’ both have Singer 6 (can sing songs up to cost 6) and can sing the brand-new song ‘Down in New Orleans’, which features both of them on the card art. At my local game store, we like to do casual weekly tournaments, and something we play regularly is ‘Movie Theme Tournaments’. Everyone has to make a deck themed around a Disney film and ONLY feature Lorcana cards from that set. To begin with there were only a handful of films that had enough cards to make 60 card decks of only two ink-colours, however now there are tons! So here are some movie-theme decks created featured around new cards from ‘Reign of Jafar’!
Sister Synergy – Frozen
Since the ‘First Chapter’ Elsa and Anna have been combining to perform the action of ‘freezing’ their opponents: exerting a character and stopping them readying at the start of their turn. In Lorcana, that means that the card is effectively useless for your opponent’s next turn! The sister synergy has also grown in ‘Reign of Jafar’; ‘Anna – Trusting Sister’ puts a card into your inkwell if an Elsa is in play, and the shift ‘Anna – Magical Mission’ draws a card if you quest whilst an Elsa is in play. Combined with the 2 cost: ‘Elsa – Trusted Sister’, who gains a lore if she quests whilst an Anna is in play, extra abilities are being activated constantly! And finally, with all the Elsa’s in the deck it would be silly not to have the ‘First Chapter’ legendary ‘Elsa – Spirit of Winter’, which exerts two opposing characters in play which can’t ready on their next turn, tying together all the ‘freezing’ and controlling your opponent’s board. A super fun combination deck which ties perfectly into the theme of their sisterly love and reliance on working together to win!
Puppy Paradise – 101 Dalmatians
The dalmatian puppies have been a feature of Lorcana since ‘Into the Inklands’ but there were not enough cards (or good enough cards…) to make a full deck from it. But with the introduction of 15+ cards in the last two sets, it is finally a possibility! The best card I believe is ‘Thunderbolt – Wonderdog’, who can shift for 3 cost on ANY puppy character! This makes him super versatile and any puppies with a ‘when played’ ability are much more worthwhile to play as they can be a shift target. All puppies can be buffed by +1 Willpower with the ‘Canine Crunchies’, and the Perdita cards help to retrieve puppies from your discard to play for free or put into your inkwell, or give them ward and let them be played for 2 cost less. Super rare ‘Pongo – Dear Old Dad’ lets you play a puppy from your inkwell for free, regardless of cost. The theming behind this deck seems to be over-running your board with loads of puppies who keep popping up from everywhere, almost as if there are 101 of them…
Off with his head! – Alice in Wonderland
The Queen of Hearts is selfish, she does not care what or who she has to destroy to get what she wants, and this is reflected perfectly in Lorcana with the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ cards. ‘Queen of Hearts – Unpredictable Bully’ places a damage counter on every character that enters play, including your own! Many of the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ characters benefit from yours and opponent’s characters having damage on them, like ‘Cheshire Cat – Perplexing Feline’ who can do 2 damage to an opposing damaged character, or ‘Alice – Courageous Keyholder’ who can ready a damaged character of yours when played. However, the real winner of this card is ‘Queen of Hearts – Haughty Monarch’ with the ability: if there are 5 or more damaged character in play she can quest for 3 more lore, which means she can quest for 6, yes you read that right, SIX lore at once!! And the final piece of the puzzle is ‘Mad Hatter – Unruly Eccentric’ who draws a card whenever a damaged character challenges another character. This can be you or your opponent, so with everything having a damage on them from ‘Queen of Hearts – Unpredictable Bully’ every challenge draws you a card. So basically, don’t forget your damage dice, you’re going to need them!
Mushu’s Magic – Mulan
Mulan and her friends want to challenge everything and everyone, much like how in the film they have to learn to fight against the ‘hun’. Again, not until recently was this colour combination and film viable for a deck, but the introduction of fan-favourite Mushu changed that! ‘Mushu – Majestic Dragon’ gives your characters +2 resist when challenging (they take 2 less damage) and if you banish an opposing character, you get 2 lore! You may be thinking, “but what if your opponent just refuses to exert their characters?” well with the new ‘Mulan – Charging Ahead’ and ‘Li Shang – Newly Promoted’ this concern is no more, as they can both challenge ready characters, and Mulan even has evasive on her turn! Adding in the ‘Medallion Weights’ gives characters the opportunity to draw cards and a +2 strength boost, to take out even the most defensive opponents, and replenish your hand. A great deck for people who just want to attack, attack, attack!
The Family Madrigal – Encanto
Since their introduction in ‘Ursula’s Return’, the Madrigal family has been growing with lots more card options and is the first film to get two different ‘Sing Together’ cards, something that is hugely beneficial to them. ‘Alma Madrigal – Accepting Grandmother’ is a new card that allows any number of characters that sing a song to be readied afterwards. Paired with ‘Fantastical and Magical’ which gains you a lore and draws a card for every character that sings it, a huge lore gain can be made, with your characters then able to quest or challenge as well! ‘Bruno Madrigal – Singing seer‘ draws you a card for every character in play after he sings a song, and being a 7 cost character he can sing almost anything! So, with the right pairings and right characters, lore gaining can be quick and efficient, and if playing other theme decks it is unlikely they have a ‘Pete – Games Referee’ to stop you!
For a theme deck tournament, I would recommend playing a best of 3, so both players have a chance to figure out each other’s themes and plan accordingly. There are far more films that have amazing theme decks and synergy like: Lilo and Stitch (‘Beyond the Horizon’ and ‘Stitch – Alien Troublemaker), Bolt (‘Rhino – Power Hamster‘ and ‘Vinnie – Green Pigeon’) and of course Lady and the Tramp (‘Tramp – Dapper Rascal‘ and ‘Jock – Attentive Uncle‘) so have a go at making some for yourself!
