At the end of its first year, Disney Lorcana was thrown into a cataclysmic conflict between good and evil. A seemingly unstoppable villain who had been hiding in the shadows rose up and threatened to destroy Lorcana from within, and Illumineers across the world were forced to endure a time of great discord, t⭕esting our resolve. The villain of Ursula’s Return, of course, was none other than Bucky, Squirrel Squeak Tutor. Like divine intervention, Lorcana’s designers reached into the world of Lorcana and struck down the squirrel with a nerf so severe we will likely never hear from Bucky again. What, which villain did you think I was talking about?

Yes, there are interesting connections to make between the storyline of Lorcana, which saw our heroes face off against a power-hungry Ursula Glimmer set on taking control💙 of the Inklands, and the game’s meta, which was largely defined by a Bucky-filled discard deck that became the very definition of anti-fun. I don’t know if this counts as life imitating art, but I can app♎reciate the parallels.

Shimmering Skies Is A Celebration For Locana In More Ways Than One

That throug⛄hline continues into Shimmering Skies, a set themed around a big celebration across Lorcana, marking the end of the conflict and the beginning of the story’s next chapter. Indeed, there is much to celebrate as this new meta begins - one that’s seemingly much more diverse and healthier than what we had during Ursula’s revenge - and Lorcana begins its second year. A party-themed set filled with our favorite Disney characters celebrating and having fun is especially sweet, and well-timed, when you consider how much we have to celebrate right now.

Even without context, Shimmering Skies is carried by the strength of its theme. While the adventurous Into the Inklands set proved Ravensburger could execute on a cohesive theme earlier this year, Shimmering Skies demonstrates the publisher’s ever-growing ambition. There’s so much to explore and appreciate across this set. From the charming food fight storyline to the connected series of cards featuring various villains waiting to get in outside the party (with Kronk as the bouncer), the🗹re’s endless little gags and details to appreciate. Even the stuff that isn’t quite party themed, like the Seven Dwarfs and Snow White as knights, is still delightful. In terms of character design, this is the most charming Lorcana set yet.

This is also the first set not to feature any new mechanics. It has a handful of featured mechanics, like a set of 9-cost characters that can get their cost reduced if certain conditions are met (reminiscent of Hearthstone’s giants) but there is no truly unique mechanic or card type like Resist, Locations, or Sing Together. It doesn’t feel like there’s anything missing from Shimmering Skies however, and while I’m hopeful the next set will bring something new and exciting to the table, I appreciate that Ravensburger is confident enough to not cram in something new in every set just for the sake of novelty. Shimmering Skies stands on its own through its personality, flavor, and powerful cards that are already proving to have a big impact on how ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚthe game is played.

The Enchanted cards in Shimmering Skies are my favorite so far. The swirling rainbow colors pop off of the card and inkwash foili💟ng makes them look stunning. Creative director Shane Hartley says they wantedꦗ to create the sense that Lorcana itself was celebrating through these cards, and I think they nailed it.

The quality of the products, from Troves to sleeves and mats, is what we’ve come to expect. New this set are card back sleeves - a much-requested product - and while I’m glad to have them, the quality of the sleeves is still a big concern. I don’t recommend using them without൲ oversleeves, which is a shame. The new binder is a great replacement for those dinky mini-binders from The First Chapter, and the playmats are as gorgeous as ever - though I’d prefer to have ones that feature new art. I’d like Lorcana to take after Pokemon and release some bundles and collections throughout the set with promo cards and pins. I want m♒ore reasons to keep buying sealed product after the initial rush to open booster boxes at the start of the season.

I also would like to see the Player🌺’s Guides return to the Troves,⛦ I really miss those.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:I haven’t been shy about admitting I wasn’t the biggest fan of how Ur🌳sula’s Return shaped the meta, and not just because of Bucky. This weekend’s Disney Lorcana Challenge will be the first official event of Shimmering Skies, but we saw some significant evolution at tournaments in Atlanta that indicate the meta is in a signific💧antly healthier place post-Bucky. This weekend will be illuminating, and I’m expecting to see nearly as wide a range of decks being playable as we saw at DLC Atlanta. I was excited to see that a 200+ person constructed event from Toronto had eight different decks in the top eight. That tells me there’s a lot to experiment with and discover in Shimmering Skies.

We’ve been through the It’s So Over/We’re So Back cycle once before in Lorcana during the transition from Rise of the Floodborn to Into the Inklands earlier this year, and the release of Shimmering Skies feels very similar. This is a natural part of card games, and while I don’t think it's wise to totally ignore how bad the Bucky situation was, it does feel l🌠ike Ravensburger has a good handle on what Lorcana is and where it’s going. We’re at a point with the card pool where there are multiple ‘good’ options for deck building and players can start to have more expression and creativity in their decks, and I think that’s where Lorcana will really shine compared ꦓto other TCGs.

After an incredible first year, Lorcana has earned thiಌs celebration. There’s so much more I want to see in the future - not because there’s problems to be fixed, but because Ravensburger has done such a great job laying the groundwork for a game that can continue to grow in so many directions. We saw a taste of what the future of Lorcana looks like during a panel at D23 Expo, like the World Championships at Disney World next year, the new Disney Lorcana Quest fan events, and the introductioꦫn of Pixar in 2026. There’s a lot of reasons to love Shimmering Skies, but most of all, its theme represents exactly how I feel about the game today.