Lorcana: Whispers in the Well - Review

We're in full spoiler season, and very soon Lorcana's 10th set will be released: Whispers in the Well!

In today's article, we'll review the set's info, release dates, new abilities, which Disney originals will debut, and also talk a little about some spoilers!

The new Lorcana set will have its pre-release event on November 7th, with the general worldwide release on November 14th.

The set will have the traditional 204 cards, and since there won't be any multicolor cards this time, each ink color will receive exactly 34 cards.

Reprints

To the day this article was written, only two cards from the set are confirmed as reprints:

Incidentally, these are two cards that I particularly love and had been using in several decks before the rotation. Mickey Detective is an ink ramp that leaves a relevant body, since the stats are reasonable and the 3-cost allows it to be used for songs as well. Dragon Fire is a simple and straightforward effect: banish any character for 5 ink, no questions asked. Two great reprints!

New keyword: Boost

Boost is a new keyword introduced in the set. A character has the Boosted status when they have a card under them—that's exactly what the ability granted by the keyword means: paying a cost to have a card taken from the top of the deck and placed face down under the character.

The idea is that by doing this, and therefore granting the Boosted status to a character, some kind of bonus will trigger. For example, in the case of Ariel - Ethereal Voice, you'll be able to draw a card when you play a song, once during your turn!

New keyword: Alert

Alert is another very interesting new ability, which allows a character to Challenge as if they had the Evasive ability—that is, challenge other characters with Evasive, even without having the ability itself.

Some existing cards have a very similar ability: this card has Evasive on your turn, for example Cruella De Vil - Fashionable Cruiser, which in practice ends up being almost the same thing as Alert. The biggest difference is in the interaction with cards like Dumbo - Ninth Wonder of the Universe, which specifically requires a character with Evasive. Alert is a different ability, so in this case there is no interaction.

Disney Originals making their debut!

Gargoyles

Gargoyles was a Disney series that ran for three seasons, airing between 1994 and 1997. It tells the story of the Gargoyles, beings who protected a castle in Scotland in medieval times, but due to a curse, are turned to stone. They are awakened a thousand years later, in present-day Manhattan, and decide to learn and adapt to the new times, protecting New York City.

It's great to see some universes coming to Lorcana that deviate a bit from the Disney standard, so to speak. Gargoyles is a series known for its dark themes, but it is still widely remembered and celebrated, and undoubtedly deserves praise for entering the game in Whispers in the Well!

The Black Cauldron

Keeping with this darker thematic, another work chosen to debut in Whispers in the Well was the 1985 animated film The Black Cauldron.

The film tells the story of a group of adventurers and friends, led by the young and courageous Taran, who seek to prevent the villain Horned King from finding the Black Cauldron, which would allow him to create an army of zombies to conquer the world.

The Black Cauldron may not be among Disney's biggest box office hits, but it's an excellent and entertaining story, and certainly deserves its spotlight in Lorcana!

More Spoilers!

Of course, in addition to highlighting the set's new features and the theme as a whole, we'll also talk about some individual cards!

Remember, the idea isn't just to talk about powerful cards, but also interesting or unique abilities, and cards that can help both improve existing decks and create new ones!

Amber

Mrs. Beakley may not seem like it, but she brings an interesting power creep in the game. After all, she's a common with high stats for her cost, and the Bodyguard ability, which protects your board.

Amethyst

A 2-cost character capable of generating 3 Lore when they Quest isn't something you see every day. Precisely because of its low ink cost, it can be used in conjunction with other support cards, which will help maintain it questing for 3 Lore, and in the meanwhile your deck continues to reuse cards from the discard pile.

Emerald

Megara offers an interesting value for its cost For its initial 3 ink, it can be very useful for Challenges in the early turns, and with its 4 Willpower, it can probably survive a few combats. And then, when you no longer need it for Challenges, for just 1 Boost, you have a great 2 Lore generator, which your opponent will need to respond to—and thus lose another card!

Ruby

This is a card that seems strange, but in fact it helps with several synergies within Ruby, such as: it is an Action that can be played for 0 cost; it readies characters, allowing them to reuse several different effects, or simply for more Challenges; and finally, it rewards you for doing a Challenge with the character you end up readying.

Sapphire

Item decks haven't been as prevalent since Sapphire ink lost a few tools to rotation, but with cards like Might Solve a Mystery that could change. Of course, being a song always helps in several ways too, and even in decks with few items, you still get a selection effect, like Be Our Guest did specifically in Amber.

Steel

After a few sets without Locations, they're back in style! Tunnels are a welcome support for Location-focused decks, which, together with John Silver - Greedy Treasure Seeker can further improve the game by controlling multiple Locations.

Whispers in the Well brings many new cards, a great contrast to Fabled, as most of the cards in the last set were reprints. The reprints in Whispers are precise and surgical, without being overdone.

The new abilities are very synergistic and show a refinement of certain things in the game that hadn't been explored much, such as how to best deal with Evasive before the emergence of Dumbo, among other issues.

With the release, we'll have a good idea of ​​which cards will first impact the metagame.

Hope you enjoyed it!

And please leave your feedback below.

Cheers, and see you next time!