Disney Lorcana’s last release, Fabled, saw the popular TCG resettle itself into a new phase with its first round of card retirements and reprints for players, and new rarity streams for collectors. Even with the help of the greatest Disney film ever made, A Goofy Movie, the set ultimately came off a little flat. But optimism remained for the future of Lorcana and now here with are, turning the pages on a freshly-inked new story – and a bit of a mystery to solve.
Yes, it’s time for an entirely new chapter in the world of Lorcana, and the introduction of the mysterious Whispers – partially-formed Glimmers discovered kicking around in the thought-to-be-abandoned Inkwell Caverns. Driven to determine how these Whispers have come to be, and what their existence means for the effort to restore the realm of Lorcana, Zootopia’s Judy Hopps and Basil of The Great Mouse Detective fame Don their sleuthing hats and descend into the Well. And as the brave Lumineers, we’re coming along for the ride.
Right out of the gate, this is some of the most interesting and strongly-themed Lorcana story craft and feels poised to set up some exciting adventures to come. It also leans hard into the darkly magical side of Disney that has long felt left in 90s nostalgia and the occasional Epic Mickey or Kingdom Hearts, which is exactly the space Lorcana has long flirted with but never fully committed to before now. It also means that room has been made for some deeper, darker cuts from Disney animated history – the likes of Gargoyles and The Black Cauldron in particular.
But what of these Whispers, then? These ghostly Glimmers could be mistaken for any other Lorcana character card at first glance, but look closer and you’ll see they’re, well, not quite all there. Seemingly trapped within the borders of a torn page, each is a haunting, spectral version of their respective Disney character, which leads to some really neat and interesting art that’s uniquely Lorcana.
In play, Whispers also come with fun new Boosts that work on the idea that they’re ‘incomplete,’ gaining boons like greater power, questing or abilities should their controlling Illumineer be willing to risk volunteering the top card of their deck. They’re played as normal Glimmers, and function just fine that way, but each can be Boosted at the cost of an amount of Ink along with putting the top card of your deck face down underneath them. This triggers their unique buffs, which work on an “if there’s a card under this character” gate.
This (Epic!) Little John, Impermanent Outlaw that I pulled, for example, is an expensive but heavy quester with a lot of power to boot. And once per turn, at the cost of three Ink as well as sliding the top card of my deck underneath, I can instantly ready him. This makes him particularly formidable to have on the board, though I’d want to build my deck entirely around feeding him a card every turn to keep the hits coming.
The great thing is that these Whisper mechanics are incredibly diverse among the cards featured in this set, opening the door for a heap of new strategies. Take one of the two new prebuild decks in Whispers in the Well, the Detective-fuelled Sapphire/Steel deck. This one’s for the Zootopia girlies and features the team-up of Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, while peppering in Whispers of some iconic Disney folks like Zeus, Jasmine and Robin Hood. Each Whisper in this deck offers great utility – like quickly adding to your inkwell or dealing ad hoc damage to opposing characters – and the huge cohort of Detectives is on hand to help unearth them all.
The other deck available, an Amber/Emerald job with a more eclectic roster, is appropriately scattered in its approach and would definitely suit someone with a mind for playing the field and seeing their opponent’s strategy quick enough to react. Sadly, that someone is not me, but it’s a fun enough time regardless.
And look, I’m absolutely more of a fawn-over-pretty-cardboard type than a boots on the table player, so it helps that Whispers in the Well is riddled with some of the most beautiful cards the game has seen to date. All of this cave diving and detective work alongside spirits, specters and spells coalesces into a very cohesive collection of cards, not just from the obvious sources but all the way down to the typically-whimsical likes of Baloo, Genie and Pluto. The art direction here is simply superb, shining a moody but magical light on your faves.
The line-up of rare cards this go around? Just divine.
We weren’t sent the Illumineer’s Trove this time around, but given how enamoured I am with the overall look of Whispers in the Well I’m absolutely going to be picking one up. Other than that, I’d easily recommend either of the decks to players looking to mess around with the new Whispers. Overall, this set is a massive turnaround from the slight fumble with Fabled, and hopefully an indicator of what to expect from the next few Disney Lorcana releases.
You can find out more about Whispers in the Well and Disney Lorcana on the official website here.
These Disney Lorcana Whispers in the Well products were provided to WellPlayed for the purposes of this feature
