Disney Lorcana evolves with Into the Inklands and Ursula’s Return

Posted on July 18, 2024

Disney Lorcana might be relatively new to ANZ, but with the first four sets all launching within a two-month period, we’re almost caught up with the rest of the world now when it comes to getting our gorgeous TCG fix. Where the first two sets introduced us to the world of Lorcana and were a brilliant entry point, Set 3, Into the Inklands and Set 4, Ursula’s Return, evolve the game in some truly interesting ways; games are more intense, mechanics are deeper, and it makes for a tactically good time.

Diving Into the Inklands

So far, Into the Inklands offers the biggest change to how Disney Lorcana plays on a mechanical level. A new card type, Locations, has been added, making for a new layer of strategy that already increased our thinking time and made for some closer games than usual. Location cards can be played for an Ink cost, much like characters, and allow players to move characters into those locations for benefits. For example, one Location allows you to draw additional cards for characters who visit them, and another will give you Lore points if you banish a character with another character who is visiting.

“The slow buildup of Lore points from Locations can be a real difference-maker in close games…”

It’s only a small cost to move characters to a Location once it’s played, and Locations take damage when they are challenged, which is the only way to have them banished from the game. They usually have a decent amount of health, but the real kicker is that they also can automatically generate Lore points at the start of your turn. That slow buildup of Lore points from Locations can be a real difference-maker in close games, and when played smartly, make a huge difference.

Locations feel like a big change, but also a natural evolution of Disney Lorcana. We’ve seen how intense and rule-filled games like Magic: The Gathering are today after so many years of additions, but Locations integrate cleverly with the gameplay we’re used to while offering fun alternatives for strategy. Already, in our play sessions with Into The Inklands and Ursula’s Return, turns are taking a little bit longer; there’s more thinking involved, more difficult choices to make, and more thought was given to how you put roadblocks up for your opponents while still progressing to your victory. It’s a noticeable improvement in the flow and lessens the opportunity for a total runaway victory.

Ursula’s Return comes with some caveats

The fourth set, Ursula’s Return, doesn’t bring with it the same scale of epic changes as Into the Inklands, instead smartly building on what’s come before with some modifications that are subtle, but meaningful for seasoned deckbuilders. The first is a change to the Shift mechanic. First introduced in Rise of the Floodborn, Shift allowed you to pay a lesser Ink cost to essentially stack a different, more powerful version of the same character as one that’s already in play. In Ursula’s Return, Shift can be done in other ways, for example by discarding a character/song/location/item card, to then Shift for free. Being able to discard a card to Shift instead of using up valuable Ink could make for some interesting plays, for sure.

The other addition is the new Sing Together ability, which means that any number of you (or your teammates) characters with a total combined cost can sing for free, with bonuses. Exerting multiple characters to sing is helpful considering the high cost of the new Song cards, but given the swift pace of Disney Lorcana, we didn’t find much opportunity to use them.

Also, see how I said “or your teammates” above? That means they’re useful in 2v2 co-op (which I haven’t tested)… But it’s more relevant when playing the new co-op expansion Illumineer’s Quest – Deep Trouble… which hasn’t been released in Australia yet. Overseas, it launched at the same time as Ursula’s Return, so it’s weird to not be available yet Down Under. We’re hoping for more information on this soon, as a co-op mission of Disney Lorcana is enticing to say the least, and would make good use of some of these new mechanics.

I can’t finish this article without mentioning again just how gorgeous the artwork on these cards really is. The pleasure of opening boosters and sifting through the new decks is a joy, with new additions from 101 Dalmations (so many cute Dalmations cards, seriously), Encanto, Mulan, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and more. I still love the different versions of loved characters, and it makes Disney Lorcana easily one of the most visually appealing TCGs on the market.

Into the Inklands brings in the biggest gameplay change so far with Location cards, while Ursula’s Return makes smart tweaks, although feels a little inessential until the co-op expansion is hopefully released over here in Oz. Still, all the artwork is stunning, and the Disney Lorcana takeover continues with Shimmering Skies launching in local game stores on August 9.

Disney Lorcana: Into the Inklands and Ursula’s Return is available now in retailers.

Thanks to Disney ANZ for providing us with Starter Decks and Boosters to provide this coverage.