Disney Lorcana Wilds Unknown - The Discovery of a Forgotten Tale
You’ve been wandering for hours and there is still no sight of another Illumineer. You are starting to get very tired and it feels like ages ago you were in the halls of the great Illuminary looking to find a way to address the issue with the vine. In reality, it has just been a few days but the time, here in the Wilds, feels slower and the forest around you thickens as you venture deeper and deeper. You were hoping you would have located the other Illumineer from your group or at least any of their glimmers by now but every direction looks the same and you start wondering if you are lost. Stopping would not help as well as start shouting for help. The canopy of the trees around you blocks the sky almost completely and you need to keep walking till you find where you actually are.
Then you notice it. The air around you now crackles with an eerie energy and the forest suddenly feels quieter. You stop for a second looking around to what seems to be a much ancient part of the forest you entered a few days ago. The trees also look to have been wounded by some kind of animal. The marks on the trees are deep and large, much larger than what you would expect from any animal you know.
A few steps further, you also start noticing some broken stones half-buried in the undergrowth. At the beginning they are just a few, isolated ones but there seem to be more and more as you walk. An old symbol is etched into a tall rock nearby. It feels familiar, though you cannot place why or where you saw it before. Can these be the lost ruins mentioned by the Wood Carver you encountered a few days ago in her cottage?
A whisper of wind curls around you, carrying a voice “Let me tell you the tale…”. You freeze on your feet. Who is there, Samantha? You are getting anxious but you keep following the trail of ruins, each step pulling you deeper and deeper into this forgotten part of the forest until you finally reach an opening. The path suddenly morphs into a stair made of large stones leading up to a ruined fortress. Do you know who or what is waiting for you in the darkness of the Throne Chamber?
If you know, you may have already recalled the legend of a kingdom divided, of princes whose bond was broken by ambition. The ruins around you should now begin to make sense: this was once a the great hall and the stone that lies broken in half is the testament of the tragedy that consumed the eldest of the four princes. Perhaps, you also know that the claw marks gouged into the stones around you belong to a formidable creature, a dark shadow that may still lurks in this hall watching you and waiting for the right moment to jump out.... from a booster box and into your collection!
I always have chills running down my spine when I watch the story of Mor'du and that's why I was super excited when the Ravensburger team choose me to reveal a new card from the upcoming set Wilds Unknown. “Mor'du, Wicked with Pride” is an amazing new Amethyst card that fully embody the main villain character from the movie Brave. In reality, the original movie focuses more on his black Bear form, while to learn more about the warrior Mor'du and his story we need to watch the Pixar short “The Legend of Mor'du”. In this very well designed 9 minutes movie, we learn more about the story of the ancient Kingdom and the seed of pride and jealousy that twisted the soul of the elder one leading him tp his demise. The artwork of the card illustrated by Javi Salas captures very strongly the warrior nature of this prince and it links very closely to the character we saw in the movies. You can almost feel the pride coming out from his gaze and posture and it is not hard to believe this man will become a terrifying bear in his seek for power and strength. In fact, the name Mor'du is likely derived from Gaelic for "Big Black" (Mòr Dubh).
In terms of Gameplay, this card focuses strongly on the warrior Mor'du was before his soul was twisted. As such, the Wicked with Pride is a 2 cost card with a strength of 3 and a Willpower of 2 that can attack on play due to his Rush ability. Amethyst has already a good number of very playable Amethyst Characters with Rush including “Sven, Leaping Reindeer” and the super great “Elsa, The Fifth Spirit”. However, a two-cost character with a strength of three is actually pretty useful as it can remove quite a lot of threats right away. If you are playing Blurple you can also consider to match it with the 1-cost Basil in order to use the Support ability of this last one to make Mor'du even stronger and more efficient in removing your targets.
One aspect I found quite interesting is having Mor'du released as an Amethyst card instead of a Ruby one. I think Ravensburger has put the attention on the magical nature of this character and I would not be surprised if we see a Floodborn version of this card in the shape of the black bear as this would be very thematic while perfectly fitting the Amethyst nature. At the time of writing, unfortunately, I haven't been able to confirm this will actually be the case but I have my fingers crossed and I will keep my eyes peeled on the Disney Lorcana website and on the various socials for the upcoming reviews. Make sure you also follow #DisneyLorcana and #WildsUnknown to get timely updates on this amazing set and the new cards it will feature!
