Disney Lorcana’s Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble changes the game completely

We got a hands-on session with Disney Lorcana’s Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble and its name is no exaggeration. This standalone co-op experience is as challenging as it is fun.

Disney Lorcana’s explosive popularity in the TCG scene has been a wonder to behold but it’s certainly well-earned. The combination of a treasure trove of beloved IP and incredibly tight TCG mechanics has evolved into a surefire hit with a varied and healthy competitive meta.

The game itself is still less than a year old but we’ve already seen the release of four different sets that have each shaped the game in their own unique way. Disney Lorcana Ursula’s Return didn’t just change the standard Lorcana experience however, it added a whole new way to play.

Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble is a co-op iteration of the TCG that plays great out of the box but our hands-on time with it showed far more potential than that.

Ursula does not mess around in Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest

Befitting of her role as one of Disney’s most iconic villains and the major antagonist for set four of Disney Lorcana, Ursula is no slouch. The Sea Witch is so powerful in fact that you’ll need two players to take her down.

Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble pits you and a partner against a jacked-up version of Ursula with a set of rules that allows her to pilot herself. There are multiple levels of difficulty that govern things like how many cards Ursula draws per turn and what tools you have to take her down.

She has a deck made up of unique Disney Lorcana cards that feature stunning artwork of mind-controlled Disney characters (and Hei Hei) which are only playable in this offshoot. Your aim is to use teamwork to keep Ursula at bay while you and your teammate quest to 20 Lore each. If Ursula gets to 40 Lore, you both lose.

The cards in Ursula’s deck aren’t just pretty however, they’re also insanely powerful. Characters are tuned up to balance out against facing two opponents at once. This means two-cost cards like Bruno Madrigal – Unspeakable Seer will have a whopping four Strength and Willpower despite coming out so early.

To make matters worse, she also has powerful Action cards that can instantly mess up multiple turns of calculated planning. Lightning Storm causes each opposing player to lose three Lore and the most intimidating is Tsunami which banishes all of Ursula’s opposing characters. It’s basically Be Prepared on steroids.

Taking on Ursula in Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest

As well as Ursula’s deck, Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble also comes with two prebuilt decks to challenge her with. The Amethyst/Steel deck has a bunch of direct damage tools and extra card draw while the Ruby/Amber deck comes with some strong challengers, supportive Bodyguards, and the ability to return characters from your discard pile.

The best part about this version of Disney Lorcana is that you’re able to approach the game differently by strategizing with your teammates and targeting their characters with buffs. It’s almost like playing one big deck with four Ink colors instead of two.

As challenging as Ursula is, we were able to come within a hair of defeating her. We were each only a few Lore away from taking her down before an unforeseen board wipe stopped us in our tracks. It’s definitely possible to pick up a win in the game’s easiest difficulty with what’s in the box.

Our true downfall came when using the game’s Player Abilities. These are special actions you can use by paying some of your Lore. They allow you to do things like let a player draw two cards or heal some damage. Unfortunately, we may have gotten a little greedy.

The real value of Disney Lorcana Illumineers Quest

The preconstructed decks that come in Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest make the purchase incredibly worthwhile. Both come with multiple Rares and Super Rares as well as a guaranteed foil Legendary for each deck.

You’re getting much more than that though. Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest gives you a much friendlier version of the game to play with friends and family but it also retroactively boosts the value of certain cards in your collection that may not have received a look otherwise.

Because of the distinct playstyle of this co-op game, we’ve already got to work on a deck that prioritizes the unique suite of Ruby cards that remove Lore from your opponent. Adding cards from Emerald that force Ursula’s characters to Challenge is another way to slow her down.

You could build a hyper aggro deck that has more Lore than it needs to feed your teammate buffs. All the better if they have a Challenge focus deck to keep you safe. There are so many options to revitalize cards that might not be darlings of the Disney Lorcana meta.

After some proper hands-on time with Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble, we can’t recommend it enough to Lorcana enthusiasts. It’s been massively popular in the US and Europe and can be a little hard to track down.

Fortunately for those readers in Australia who have only just started their Disney Lorcana journey, we can confirm that it is getting a release down under.

“Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Quest: Deep Trouble will be available at Australian and New Zealand retail in Q4 of 2024,” Ravensburger confirmed. “Please keep an eye on local retailers for updated release timings in the near future.”

We’ll be sure to update this piece with the official date when more information is revealed.