Even if it is almost the end of January, last week I received a belated Christmas present from Ravensburger: my first Booster Box of Winterspell , the new set of Disney Lorcana! The set is planned to be released only on the 13th of February therefore receiving some preview products early is always super appreciated. This is even more true when the set is a very thematic one and it is filled with tons of cards with both great artwork and good gameplay value.
In fact, I have been very keen to see what Winterspell has in store for all the players since I saw the first card reveals for Winterspell on the Lorecast of the 20th of January. Don't get me wrong, I think Winterspell is one of the most amazing set in terms of artwork too. The theme of the Eternal Winter and the “flurries of fun” mentioned on Ravensburger website (https://www.disneylorcana.com/en-GB/) really comes out from every card. There are actually tons of cards awe-worthy in the set that please my collector side. However, Disney Lorcana is primarily a Trading Card Game for Players and I just couldn't wait to break my packs open and find out what amazing new strategies and decks I can design. Are you also curious to know which amazing new cards can be found in the set and what Decks may take the lead next season? Let's start from the beginning and see what we found.
Winterspell: a set full of glimmering magic!
Winterspell, the 11th Set of Disney Lorcana is going to be the first set of 2026 once releases on the 13th of February at your local game shops (and on the 20th everywhere else). The set will feature a total of 204 card as usual and it does not seem it will include any double-Ink cards again. Together with three different Enchanted per Ink colour, the set will also contain three Epic cards, a new type of rarity released for the first time in Fabled, the 9th set. On top of this, the set will also include two new Iconic cards, “Moana, Curious Explorer” and “Pocahontas, Peacekeeper”.
The product line-up will include the usual Booster Box and Booster packs (featuring Darkwing Duck, Tinkerbell and Angel), 2 different playing mats (“Dragon Fire” and “Ariel, Sonic Warrior”) and the Illumineer's Trove. I am super grateful to the Ravensburger team as they sent me the Dragon Fire mat and I am madly in love with this one! As you likely know this new playing mat is based on the card featured in Whispers in the Well set that is a re-print from the one released in The First Chapter. The new original artwork by Luis Huerta was pretty cool but I prefer the new one by David Otalora/Xavi Planas as it feels much more dramatic. The new mat is really well made as usual and the artwork is simply stunning!
For the very first time, this set will not have Single Player Starter Decks as Ravensburger is working to release two-players Starter Decks from the next set, “The Wild Unknown”. However, the set will include a new Collection Starter set themed around “Stitch, Rockstar” and a new Gift Box featuring “Scrooge McDuck, S.H.U.S.H. Agent”. In both cases, these products will have gorgeous new Promo cards together with Booster Packs and other accessories.
What would to expect from Winterspell?
In terms of the background Lore, you may remember that 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 torn parchment pages. While our Detectives were investigating, we caught a prophetic vision of the future in “Henwen's Visions card” that showed a thorned vine.
Now, that giant vine has actually grown and 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. With Lorcana completely covered in snow, some Glimmers are taking the chance to enjoy the fun this late Winter season brings while others are trying their best to put a stop to this vine and save the Realm. The overall result is a set with a lot of different themes, all connected by a nice snowy and Christmassy feeling.
Players with a keen eye for details should be able to find clues in the card flavour text about the new Cards and Whispers and how they are eventually connected to the main story. I have a few theories based on what I saw but I don't want to spoil anything or to ruin the hunt for anyone thus I will go through them later. More info will also surely be available on the Art cards of the set. This time, Ravensburger provided us with another great nine-piece puzzle art card and with some Lore cards. The Artwork for the puzzle art is taken directly from the Emerald card “Snowball Fight” and it is the first one to have a landscape orientation. The Lore card, on the other hand, looks like a set of messages sent through a communication device. I had a laugh reading some of them but I will let you discover what they say.. I think you will be also very interested to find out which Glimmers have been more involved in protecting Lorcana from the Vine through those messages.
In terms of gameplay, Winterspell expands on the mechanics that were introduced in Whispers in the Well, in particular the Boost mechanic that becomes extremely interesting in the cards featured in this set. The key aspect of the Whispers released in this set is that they have a lot of abilities that benefit from adding multiple cards beneath them. “Genie, Magical Researcher” for example will quest for as much additional Lore as the cards beneath him while “Goofy, Ghost of Jacob Marley” will force the opponent to discard as many cards as those under Goofy when this Character is banished. In addition, there are other amazing Whispers cards like “Alice, Well-Read Whisper” that will send all cards under her to the Player's hand every time she quests. Considering how may abilities and items can now add cards under your Whispers, the Boost mechanic is bound to play a relevant role in this season meta.
Additionally, Winterspell will introduce 6 new cards with the ability Underdog, one for each Ink colour. These cards have been designed to reduce the disadvantage for Players going second. In the current meta, going first in the first round provides Players with a great advantage as they will likely be the first one to play higher cost cards. The underdog cards have all cost 2 but they can be played for a reduced cost of 1 if the player went second. This way, the Player going second can bring out a better character for a lower cost reducing the advantage of the Player that went first. Limiting this ability only to the first turn of the Player allows the card to be more balanced as each of them has some additional ability like “White Rabbit, Late Again” that is also Evasive etc. I quite like the idea and it will be very interesting to see these cards being played.
Last but not least, Winterspell will also bring us “Game Preserve” a beautiful Emerald Location that cost 3 and generates 2 Lore every turn. Best part? If you have an Evasive Character at it, this Location gains Evasive itself and can only be challenged by Evasive Characters. That's a first for a Location and quite an interesting idea...
First Box Opening: What amazing cards can you pull?
Now, we should come back to the Box Opening and the cards I pulled. Overall, it was not a bad box as I was able to get four Legendaries and an Epic card. Unfortunately, I was not super lucky as last time and I haven't pulled any Enchanted but I was pretty happy as the Epic card I pulled is “Stitch, Carefree Snowboarder”, the first Epic card in Disney Lorcana to have an Alternate Artwork with respect to the original card. I also think the card looks pretty awesome and I would love to have a full play set of these.
The legendaries I pulled from this first box were also pretty nice and quite playable starting from the super-amazing “Tinker Bell, Snowflake Collector”. This is one of the cards illustrated by Koni in this set and you may notice that the dress and general attire seems to be inspired from the 2012 movie “Secret of the Wings” although the artist made it much more whimsical and unique in this card. In terms of gameplay, this card is pretty interesting as it gains evasive and quests for a total of 4 Lore when the Players has at least 4 and 7 cards in hand respectively. “Anna, Soothing Sister” is the second Legendary from this set I was very happy to pull. This new 5-cost Anna has the ability to gain as much additional Lore when questing then the value of a Character in the Discard pile. While this ability alone should make this card already pretty interesting, this Anna can also be Shifted for zero if a card left the Discard pile during the same turn you play her. You can already see a few synergies here and with more and more cards that interact with the discard pile being released I am pretty sure we will see Anna's ability shining in future events.
Together with Tinker Bell and Anna, I also pulled the Legendary “Tod, knows all the tricks” and “Darkwing Duck, Cool Under pressure”. Tod is particularly interesting as it can Ready himself every time it is chosen for an Item or Action Ability and potentially quest for 2 Lore multiple times in a turn. Considering the amount of effects that this can also chain, Tod can become quite a good tool to have in Emerald decks. Darkwing Duck, on the other side, it's one of the most iconic Hero of this set (and not surprisingly he has also the keyword “Super”...). The Terror itself can deal 2 damages every time an Item is banish during the Player Turn and he can also challenge ready Villain Characters. You may think this ability is not super handy but there is a new Item in Winterspell , “The Thunderquack”, that adds the Villain classification to all opposing Characters extending the value of Darkwing Duck.
Among the other cards I pulled another good one worth of notice is “John Smith, Undaunted Protector”, a Steel bodyguard that can also be chosen as target for Actions and Abilities. This addition is pretty interesting as most bodyguard cannot protect your other Characters from Songs and Abilities while John Smith can instead. This makes him the perfect tank for your team. However, the way his ability is written is pretty important as it also applies to all Actions and Abilities triggered by the Player, not just those used by your Opponent making him quite an interesting new take on a Bodyguard.
Going through my cards, I want to mention “Lilo, Rockstar”, the perfect partner for Stitch due to her ability to play a Character of cost two of less from the discard every time she quests. Let's also be honest, who would not like to see them playing together on a stage....
Last but not least, I was pretty surprised to see the new action “Raging Storm” in my Booster Box. Considering the latest competitive events have seen a surge in Emerald/Sapphire board-wipe strategies, the community has been asking for a while to see “Be Prepared” reprinted to leverage a bit the field. However, the game designers went in a different direction giving us a new Amber. “banish all Characters” card. Unfortunately, it is a 8 cost Action that cannot be sang making it quite hard to be used in the current setting. It is possible there will be more ways to play it sooner in the future and perhaps to combo it with all the new Amber cards that can bring cards back from the discard pile... I would love for example a strategy based on the Black Cauldron and this card but I feel we will need to wait a bit longer to see if this will ever become feasible.
Final thoughts on Winterspell products
Winterspell is likely one of the best set ever released for Disney Lorcana, stat. Honestly, everything in this set makes me excited to open Packs and to build new decks. You have tons of new franchises, a magical and fun Winter setting, amazing artwork and, most important, a landslide of great cards to try and build around. Whispers in the Well was a good set but most of the good cards it features improved Decks that already existed and that were already well established (Yes, I am talking about Blurple and Amethyst Steel...). My expectation is that Winterspell , on the other hand, will enable a lot of new Decks and strategies and there is a high chance we will start seeing a shift in the meta pretty soon. This will be a great thing to happen in particular considering that there will be another set rotation just one set after Winterspell therefore any new deck or strategy that we start seeing today may become super relevant once all sets from 5 to 8 will be rotated out.
Considering all of the above, I cannot wait to start building some decks and to start play testing a bit with my friends at our Locals. I am very grateful to Ravensburger team for the opportunity to open a Booster box ahead of the release and to get some of the new products. I am impatient to see how many good cards I will pull when the set will release. On that note, remember that the set releases on the 13th and that you can find local pre-release events on Playhub in order to enjoy the set right from the first day!
