After vanquishing Ursula and Jafar’s plots to take control of the realm, the Illumineers took a very deserved break, but the story of Lorcana is far from being completed and more secrets and mysteries are waiting to be uncovered by our heroes. The first one of these secrets lies in the depth of the Great Illuminary, where the Illumineers encounter the Whispers – half-formed Glimmers that are summoned from half thorned parchment pages. Where do these pages come from? Why have the Whispers been summoned to the abandoned area where all the magical Ink used by the Illumineers is collected? This is a mystery only the most cunning among the Illumineers can unfold, and also marks the beginning of a new adventure in the upcoming set of Disney Lorcana “Whispers in the Well”.
Scheduled to pre-release on the 7th of November and to fully release a week later, the set will be largely focused on the Whispers. This new card classification comes with a completely new artwork that sets all these cards aside from the normal Glimmers. In a very thematic approach, all Whispers cards have a parchment frame, reminiscent of the pages of the book we saw in the set artwork. The frame is not only beautiful but it also works pretty well in creating a strong connection between the narrative aspects of the set and the actual gameplay mechanics. It also looks amazing in the foil version as we saw yesterday during the Lorecast.
To add even more emphasis to the narrative aspects, the Whispers will also have a whole new mechanic called “Boost”. This new ability allows the player to spend a certain amount of Ink (one, for example, if the ability is “Boost 1”) in order to tuck the first card of their deck under the Whisper Character. The main reason for placing a card under your Character is to activate their other powerful abilities. In some cases, having a card tucked under them is a condition to activate the ability of he Whisper. For example, “Robin Hood, Ephemeral Archer” can deal 1 damage to two different Characters when questing and “Megara, Secret Keeper” can gain one more Lore when questing and can force the opponent to discard a card when challenged. In other cases, the ability of the Whisper is triggered every time a card is placed underneath it. For example, the player can spend 3 Ink to use “Simba, King in the Making” ability and play the top card of their deck for free if it is a Character. “Scar, Eerily Prepared”, on the other hand, can reduce a Character Strength by 5 when a card is put underneath it. Last but not least, “Gaston, Frightfully Bully’s” ability can prevent a Character from challenging during the opponent’s next turn.
In both cases, each boost ability can be triggered once per turn although there is no limit on how many cards can be placed under another Character. The only rule is that all cards have to be placed face down so the Player will not know which card is actually under the Whisper. In addition, as seen for the Shift mechanic, the Whisper and all cards beneath it will always stay together. This means that all cards underneath it will be discarded when the Whisper is banished or they will all go together into the Inkwell, but it also means that a Player can get all of them back to hand as a result of an Action or Ability (for example, by singing “mother knows best”). In this sense, Boost can be an interesting and indirect way to draw cards to hand. For example, for Emerald decks or a way to increase your Inkwell massively using cards like “Pleakley, Scientific Expert”.
There are other particular aspects of Boost that will likely make these cards very interesting in competitive events, in particular when compared to Shift. In both cases, you take a negative card count (2 cards are spent but only one is on the field) in order to get a much more powerful Character. However, Shift allows a Character to “evolve” into a different version of themselves, usually increasing their cost and stats and getting better abilities. This means that the card can sing higher costs songs and usually stays on the field longer. Boost, on the other end, does not change the stats or the cost value of the Whisper, although it activates his ability by “making the Whisper whole”. I think it will be interesting to explore how Boost abilities can impact the game, especially considering that the cards we seen so far have a Boost cost between 1 and 3, while in most cases the cost of Shifting a Character is around 4 or 5, with just a few costing between 2 and 4.
Together with the Whispers, the 10th set of Disney Lorcana also introduced the “Detective” characters. A few of them from Zootopia were revealed a while ago, and today we have been promised many more Characters will join them in their quest to find the truth behind the origin of the Whispers. “Daisy Dusk, Paranormal Investigator” is the first one to be revealed and a very important one considering it is the new Enchanted Promo that will be given to the winners of the next Set Championship. Daisy is a pretty interesting card considering she can quest for two and she has a Strength of 4 and a Willpower of 6. Together with being able to play her for a cost of four on top of another Daisy Duck card, our Investigator forces the opponent to only add exerted cards to their Inkwell while she is exerted. While the Ink will still be available for them to use in the subsequent turn, the possibility to slow a ramp down for a turn can be quite interesting in particular considering the current meta-game.
Speaking of new and amazing cards, it has been confirmed that Whispers in the Well will feature two new Iconic cards: “Hades, Looking for a Deal” and “Ariel, Ethereal Voice”. Hades is an Amethyst card with the very useful ability to draw two, unless the opponent places one of their Characters at the bottom of their Deck. Amethyst has a lot of drawing potential but the possibility to draw and/or control your opponent board is pretty sweet. Ariel also adds a good drawing engine to Amber decks as she can draw a card every time the Player sings a song. This ability needs to be triggered with Boost 1 but I am sure it will add a lot of fuel to the Amber-Steel Song decks.
In terms of franchises, Whispers in the Well will features Characters and Songs from both the Gargoyles animated series and The Black Cauldron movie. I am pretty fond of both of them and I am very excited to see what these movies will bring to Disney Lorcana. “Demona, Scourge of the Wyvern Clan”, is the first Gargoyle card we have seen and it is pretty impressive. Demona reminds me of “Elsa, Spirit of Winter” considering her ability to exert all opposing Characters on play. However, this Gargoyle also allows all players with three or less cards in hand to draw 3 cards and this second effect is pretty interesting as it links into Demona’s trait “Stone by day” that prevents her to Ready at the start of the Player turn if they have more then 3 cards in hand.
Interestingly, it seems that all Gargoyle Characters will have the same ability as this links directly to their story and background. I found this effort to be an amazing idea that helps combining the narrative of Lorcana and of the original movie to the Gameplay adding a lot of depth to the game. I cannot wait to see all other Gargoyle cards and I hope it will be possible to create a Gargoyle deck just to be able to see them awaken together from their stone slumber.
A different type of awakening will come to Lorcana from the distant land of Prydain, where the Black Cauldron itself has been discovered and put to use to raise an army of banished Glimmers. The Cauldron is obviously the key Item card from the movie and it can be exerted in order to tuck a Character from the discard pile below it by paying 1 Ink. The Player can then choose to pay another Ink in order to be able to play Characters from under the Cauldron for a turn. While their cost in Ink still need to be paid, the ability to re-play Characters from your discard pile can be a very interesting way to get an advantage in the late game.
Of course, the Horned King itself cannot miss the opportunity to exploit the Cauldron and its Wicked magic in order to carry out its evil Plans. Whispers in the Well will feature two different Horned King cards, 1-Cost Vanilla card with no effect and a second one with the ability “Arise!” that can used bring back to hand a Character that was banished in a challenged as long as the player discards another card. I think we can all see how this ability can be combined with the Cauldron to allow players to keep their stronger Characters on the field while recycling other Characters that can be revived later in the game.
Last but not least, The Black Cauldron movie line-up cannot be considered complete without the cutest and bravest piggy in the animated world: Hen Wen. The “Prophetic Pig” is a beautifully illustrated 2-cost Sapphire card that allows the Player to look at the top card of their deck every time Hen Wen quests and put it at the bottom of their deck if they want. Interestingly, while the artwork of this card just shows Hen looking into a small water spring, there is another cards “Hen Wen’s Visions” where we can see the same scene from a different perspective and take a peak into what her power are showing to her. The best part is that the vision on this Action Card reveals a few details of future Disney Lorcana sets literally showing us literally the future of the game from within the story and the cards itself. I love this aspects of Disney Lorcana where the narrative and game are tangled together in a beautiful harmony.
The first set coming right after Whispers in the Well, as we know, will be Winterspell. The set will release on the 13th of February, just in time to be gifted as a present for Valentine’s day. There is actually a lot to love in this set, starting from the amazing White-Christmas theme of all products. Tinker Bell is showing on the product dressed in the a Winter coat while Stitch is enjoying the weather snowboarding through Booster Packs and Troves. The card associated to Stitch is clearly a quote from “Stitch, Carefree Surfer” from the First Chapter and they also share a similar ability with the new card being able to draw a card when questing as far as the Player has 2 or more Characters in play. This ability has a strong synergy with both the Rockstar and the Surfer and I cannot wait to try to exploit it in a Deck in the new year!
Angel, also makes an appearance on this set as a 2-cost Amber Character with Singer 3. Together with being super cute, Angel is a first attempt to provide some balance when a Player is not going first in a Lorcana match. In this case, Angel’s cost is reduced by one allowing the Player going second to play it on their first turn. Disregarding the fact that this ability only triggers on the first turn of each match, playing a cost 3 Singer on turn one will definitely make all the Amber-Steel players very happy after losing Cinderella due to Set Rotation.
Finally, Winterspell will bring us the long-awaited “terror that flaps in the night”. The cards featuring Darkwing Duck and its loyal support “Launchpad” revealed today are strongly focused on Items which is quite an interesting change with respect to what we saw in the most recent sets. Launchpad ability allows essentially the Player to draw a card to strategically discard an Item card while Darkwing can quest and put an Item from the discard pile into the deck in order to play a Item from free from the discard pile. In the current meta, Items are not really used in particular in Sapphire and Steel thus I wonder if the newer sets will bring some interesting ones to make this strategy interesting again in competitive games.
Darkwing Duck is not the only super-awaited addition to Disney Lorcana announced in upcoming sets as 2026 will be the year when Pixar will be added to the game. The first Movie coming to Lorcana is Toy Story as previously announced and it is very fitting considering the movie is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Buzz and Woody will be the main characters of a wild adventure in a treacherous forest filled with thorns and dangers in the set “Wild Unknowns” but we should not be afraid as our Illumineers will be fully prepared to handle this task. Do you know why? Because the trees in the Artwork of the set is are the same ones that we saw reflected in the water of Hen Wen’s Vision! The other detail we saw is the blurred face of a red-haired Character that may be the protagonist of “Turning red” that we learnt during the Lorecast will soon be added to Disney Lorcana. Personally, I am not fully sold on this and I have a feeling we may have a surprise on who this Character will be but only time (or Hen Wen) will tell.
