Ursula’s Return was rightfully regarded as a season finale for Disney Lorcana. After building up her dark undersea empire, the titular villain swung with full force at Lorcana‘s cast of heroes, unleashing all manner of beasties in an attempt to overthrow power in the Disney universe. In clashes across the seas and land, she was eventually defeated, and so we arrive at Shimmering Skies, the post-finale celebration of freedom.
Shimmering Skies is essentially that last five minutes at the end of a TV show, when the evil has been defeated, and our heroes are allowed to revel. The new set has perhaps the strongest theming of any Disney Lorcana set so far, with its in-story celebrations shared across vibrant card artwork. New items, abilities, and themed characters add to the jovial theme, with clever mechanics bolstering the set’s sense of fun.
I was particularly enamoured with two of the set’s new Minnie and Mickey Mouse cards – Enthusiastic Dancer and Dazzling Dancer – both of which buff each other when they’re in play. Minnie adds lore gain to challenges for herself and any card named Mickey Mouse, and Mickey gets +2 strength when any Minnie is in play. The cards are also just lovely by design, with both characters having a great time dancing together on a glittery stage.
Elsewhere in Shimmering Skies, you can find characters taking part in a variety of wonderfully-illustrated activities. Goofy, Mickey, and friends are seen having a light-hearted food fight, and the crew of Wreck-It Ralph are taking part in races across the candy-coloured Royal Raceway. There’s nary an Ursula in sight – which makes Shimmering Skies feel like an easy, breezy respite from the ratcheting tension of the Ursula Saga.
Read: Disney Lorcana: Into the Inklands is the game’s best expansion yet
Notably, this is also a rare Disney Lorcana expansion that doesn’t introduce any new mechanics or card types. While previous expansions added transformative “Shift” characters and Location cards, amongst other features, Shimmering Skies is content with keeping the status quo. That means this set is relatively peaceful, stress-free, and easy to learn – but as an added side-effect, it also feels slightly less essential, compared to its predecessors.
It’s the calm before the storm, really. We know there’s likely much more drama on the way for the Disney Lorcana crew, with plenty of villains waiting in the wings to strike when it’s least expected. Shimmering Skies is not the moment they strike, even if there are a few villains toddling around in decks and Booster Packs. It’s best to go in with expectations for a quieter, lower-key set than usual. Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies is all about playing delightful, wholesome cards, and having a wonderful time while doing so.
Elsa & Ralph Amethyst / Ruby Deck – Review
During a Shimmering Skies preview event, the GamesHub team – myself and Managing Editor, Steph Panecasio – faced off with two different Starter Decks. Mine was the Elsa & Ralph (Amethyst / Ruby) Starter Deck, while Steph played the Scar & Kronk (Emerald / Steel) Starter Deck. For the record (and because I know Steph will have to read this during the edit), I won both of the two rounds we played, largely because the Elsa & Ralph Starter Deck has plenty of neat synergies. [Editor’s Note: A rematch is definitely on the cards, so to speak.]
This deck is filled with low ink cost characters, with similarly low lore value. You’ll be able to play your characters and their abilities fairly early on, with the caveat that quests will slowly build your lore. Sometimes, slow and steady is enough – I managed to brute force my way to victory by playing a number of character cards each turn, and planning carefully around how much ink I needed to play them.
As mentioned, the synergies also work very well in this deck, with characters like Minnie and Mickey working together to provide buffs. There’s also a handful of neat locations that provide additional buffs, boosting your lore gain each turn.
On the other hand, the Scar & Kronk Starter Deck had some vicious inclusions, with the three hyenas from The Lion King having particularly brutal abilities that impacted damaged characters. The focus of this deck appears to be challenging an opponent to damage them (even if it doesn’t kill them) and then taking advantage of that damage to attack. Again, it’s very strong thematically, when you consider the nature of the hyenas and Scar.
Personally, I would’ve liked to see more of these heavier-hitting characters with higher lore value in the Elsa & Ralph Starter Deck, as progress was slow-going until I placed lands for surefire lore each round, but given the nature of Starter Decks, it’s a perfectly cosy release, with reliable and safe abilities to keep you moving along the lore track.
Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies – the overall verdict
While a season finale is an odd place to start, Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies does feel like a very welcoming set that could serve as a great introduction for newbies. It relies heavily on sturdy, well-established mechanics to define each new card, and with villains taking a back seat, it shouldn’t be too stressful or overwhelming to jump into. There’s also the added bonus that the art for this set is particularly colourful and pleasant, and there’s plenty of good humour to make up for the set’s less engaging aspects (the lack of a major threat, for example).
Returning players won’t find too much “new” in this collection, as it’s a purposefully lighter-hearted romp, but if you’ve loved past chapters of Disney Lorcana, more of the same isn’t so bad. In the end, Shimmering Skies is a bright spot of fun, and a breath of fresh air. The peace it brings to Disney Lorcana likely won’t last for long, so it’s best to savour the good vibes for now.
Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies Booster Packs, Starter Decks, and other accessories were provided to GamesHub for the purposes of this review. The GamesHub team was also invited to a pre-release event as part of the Shimmering Skies launch.
