We are finally getting close to the 29th of August, the pre-release date for the new Disney Lorcana set, Fabled. The pre-release takes place in all local Disney and game stores while all the products will be available at all other shop and online on the 5th of September, the date of the actual release for the set. In the two years since the First Chapter came out, the pre-release has becoming more and more interesting as Players looked to secure their cards to start play-testing their decks and local stores started to host events on the pre-release day.
Ravensburger also started supporting these events recently adding a pre-release and a buy-a-box special foil promo card to their Organized Play kit to reward the Players and the stores that start enjoying the new sets right away. For example, the Fabled OP includes the new “The Queen, Conceited Ruler” to be given to all players at the pre-release events and the new “Alice, Accidentally Adrift” for everyone purchasing a Booster Box. Both cards are not only new to Disney Lorcana but they actually have a decent gameplay value adding interest in joining any pre-release events.
In case you are in London on Friday the 29th of August, you may for example start your pre-release celebration at the Disney Store. Although you may be used to attend these events in Oxford Street, this month you will also have the option to visit the Disney Store in Westfields where the Ravensburger team will host a pop-up event for the release. Together with the opportunity to grab a copy of the Seasonal Promo card “Dumbo, The Flying Elephant”, you will be able to meet Jochem Van Gool, the artist behind many amazing cards in Disney Lorcana. I was able to interview him almost a year ago and I cannot wait to have some of my cards signed by him again. The store in Oxford Street will also have the Seasonal Promo card but no event or card signing is planned as Ravensburger recently mentioned on their socials.
All our Zatu readers in Ireland will also be very happy to know that Ravensburger is also hosting an event at the Disney Store in Dublin for the release on Friday the 29th of August where fans will able to meet the French artist Jeanne Plounevez. Jeanne is the amazing artist behind tons of great Lorcana cards inlcuding the new “Aurora, Holding Court”, “Stitch, Alien Troublemaker” and “Genie, Of the Lamp”. I find super fun that both Jochem and Jeanne will attend the release events for this set as they both illustrated “Mufasa, Ruler of Pride Lands” as one did the standard and the other illustrated the Enchanted version of this card.
Together with joining the fans in London, you should obviously try to meet other Players in your local communities and use the recently released Playhub to search for any event in your area. My usual go-to event when a new Disney Lorcana set releases is to play a sealed tournament where you can compete with other Players using a deck made from the content of six Booster Packs. These events are usually super fun as they offer an opportunity to familiarize with the new cards of a set and use many of the ones that you will likely not play in the competitive format. Considering that Fabled is largely made of reprints, however, the Sealed format may not be as appealing as usual for some Players but you should not be worried as there are plenty of options to enjoy the pre-release of this set!
Personally, the other best option you have to enjoy a new set is Pack Rush format and that’s what we are going to play at my locals. In this format, each player can challenge themselves at Disney Lorcana by buying just two packs and playing with the 24 cards they find. The rules for this format have been adapted to make the game very engaging and suitable for everyone. I love Pack Rush because is pretty fun to play and it can be very cost efficient as players can either just buy two packs or they can agree to open new packs every few rounds in case they want to collect more cards from the set. Plus, it is a very fast format as you only need to get to 15 Lore in order to win thus is the perfect format for a fun release night!
Further alternatives to the more common format may include doing a Tournament using only Starter Decks or even celebrating the start of Set Rotation by doing a Tournament using only cards from Set 1 to 4. There are plenty of other ideas Players have come up with and I am sure your local community may have a great plan in place for the day or the week after the 29th . I know some players prefer to wait a couple of weeks to give time to everyone to collect some cards from the set and to come up with some new Decks and this means you can have more time to enjoy Fabled! Whatever you decide to do to enjoy the release, make also sure you start building your post-rotation decks as soon as possible. Fabled 1k Tournament at Zatu Headquarter is in fact scheduled on the 6th of September, the large tournament in Cardiff will be right at the end of September and the Fabled Set Championship will start pretty much in October. All these events are supported by Ravensburger thus you can expect great prices and the opportunity to also get the Season promo for Fabled. It feels we are going to have an amazing Season of Disney Lorcana and a Great start of the Third year of this amazing TCG!
