Last year’sIllumineer’s Quest, Deep Trouble, was one ofDisney Lorcana’sbest surprises. No other TCG is doing these kinds of narrative-driven, co-op spin-offs, and in just two iterations, they’ve become an important part of what makes Lorcana stand out in a sea of other card games. It’s one thing to offer players an alternative, cooperative way to enjoy the game, but it’s another to deliver that experience in such a thoughtfully-made and well-designed package. WithPalace Heist, the Illumineer’s Quest series proves it has the production value and level of quality to stand on its own exceptional deck-building game.
With a new box, board, and a few other fun surprises, Palace Heist is a major improvement over last year’s already-impressive Deep Trouble.Ravensburger’sboard game expertise shines through Palace Heist, from the quality of the box and components to the way the gameplay perfectly captures the fantasy of a tug-of-war battle with anall-powerful Jafar. This is a must-play for fans and a great intro to the world of Lorcana for anyone looking for an alternative to intense head-to-head card game battles. I can’t think of a more perfect way to wrap up Disney Lorcana’s second year, or to get players excited about what’s coming next.
Illumineer’s Quest Becomes A Bonafide Board Game
It’s remarkable how much of a difference presentation makes. As much fun as I had mixing it up with Ursula in last year’s Deep Trouble, I didn’t have much fun figuring out what to do with a bunch of loose cards and paper game pieces afterwards. Currently, I have it all stuffed in anUrsula’s ReturnIllumineer’s Trove with a sticky note stuck to the lid with “Deep Trouble” scribbled on it. I don’t know if this is the direct cause, but I haven’t gone back to play Deep Trouble again since it came out last May.
This month’s Reign of Jafar tie-in, Palace Heist, comes in an actual box, and a beautiful one at that. The inside of the lid features a gorgeous piece of original Jafar art not seen on any cards, while the box has a divider to keep each of the three decks separate. The box would look right at home on a shelf next to your Villainous expansions, and I’m excited to display it with the rest of my Lorcana collection once I’m done playing with it, which probably won’t happen anytime soon.
You also get an actual game board this time instead of a paper mat. It has everything you need to manage Jafar’s turns and keep things organized, while the back side has yet another stunning piece of art featuring Jafar and our heroes racing for the Hexwell Crown. Finally, you get a paper deck box for each deck (with unique art on each that matches the theme of the deck), an oversized cardboard token of The Reforged Crown, and three oversized cards for the scenarios and Jafar himself. You get all of that for the same $60 MSRP as Deep Trouble, which is a pretty impressive deal.
A Treacherous Game Of Keep Away
While Deep Trouble introduced the basic structure of Illumineer’s Quest’s boss fight gameplay, Palace Heist evolves that structure, personalizing it to both Jafar and the narrative that has been unfolding over the last year. After stealing both halves of the Hexwell crown and reforging it to transform Archazia’s Island into his own sandy citadel, it’s only fitting that the Illumineers would stage a heist of their own to take back the crown and end Jafar’s evil reign. Palace Heist’s unique twist is that it’s built around a game of keep away with the false sultan. Whoever starts their turn with the crown in their possession will inch closer to the finish line with a couple of extra bonus lore. So not only are you racing for lore, you’re also fighting back and forth over the crown itself. It’s a wonderful bit of cohesion between the gameplay and narrative that makes playing this Illumineer’s Quest just that much more exciting.
Jafar’s scenario deck is made up of a lot of things you’d expect: duplicitous palace guards, illusions of Aladdin and his friends, giant cobras, scarabs, and scorpions, and his not-too-loyal companion, Iago. All of these threats will work to slow down your team, push Jafar’s lore total, and use their abilities to take back the crown. Jafar’s minions include a new character classification, Colossus, as well as Lorcana’s first ever Location classification, Obstacle, which can’t be moved to and will prevent your team from stealing the crown if Jafar has two or more in play.
It’s the only classification with its own ruleset, and it isn’t mentioned on the cards themselves. Since it’s specific to Jafar and Palace Heist I’m concerned I won’t remember this rule when I replay it later, but I’m nonetheless excited to see new card types and mechanics that are specific to Illumineer’s Quest.
While each battleground card represents a different difficulty level (four levels from Easy to Extreme) just like Deep Trouble, I found Palace Heist to be a lot more balanced and manageable than Ursula’s game, even when using the included preconstructed decks. Deep Trouble could be rather challenging even on the Easy battleground, and I’m glad to see the difficulty has been brought down somewhat here. I never even attempted Extreme in Deep Trouble, but I can see myself working up to it in Palace Heist, especially now that I have a nice organized box to keep everything in.
I’m very fond of the Illumineer’s Quest format and how it can make Lorcana feel approachable to different types of players, and I’m even more fond of it now that we know how Lorcana’s set rotation will work. As the last set of the year, Reign of Jafar will be legal in core constructed for the shortest amount of time of any expansion. Like Jafar’s illusions, the cards in this newest set will fade away in barely over a year, but we’ll still have Palace Heist to keep its story alive. Whether by design or happenstance, it’s nice that the end-of-year sets will get this nice commemorative package in the Illumineer’s Quest, since we’ll only have a short time to enjoy the cards in the core format.
I don’t need to tell Disney Lorcana fans to play Palace Heist as soon as possible, but I also want to encourage newcomers and the Lor-curious to jump into this Illumineer’s Quest and see what Lorcana is all about. It’s a great way to learn the game with friends and family and get a taste of the story and world-building behind the TCG. The only thing I don’t like about Illumineer’s Quest is that it only comes once a year.
