An Illumineer's mission is suitable for a sultan

Last year's Illumineer's mission, Deep Trouble, was one of Disney Lorcana's best surprises. No other TCG makes such stories, co-op spin-offs, and in just two iterations they have become an important part of what makes Lorcana stand out in a sea of other card games. It is one thing to offer players an alternative, cooperative way to enjoy the game, but it is another to deliver that experience in such a thoughtful and well -designed package. With Palace Heist, the Illumineers Quest Series prove that it has the production value and quality level to stand on its own exceptional tire -building game.

With a new box, board and some other fun surprises, Palace Heist is a major improvement compared to last year's already impressive deep problems. Ravensburg's board game competence shines through Palace Heist, from the quality of the box and the components to how the game perfectly captures the imagination of a tug of war with a general jafar. This is a must for fans and a great introduction to the Lorcana world for anyone looking for an alternative to intensive head-to-head card games. I can't think of a more perfect way to end Disney Lorcana's other years, or to get players excited about what's coming next.

Illumineer's mission becomes a bonafide board game

It is remarkable how much of a difference presentation does. As fun as I had mixed it up with Ursula in last year's deep problems, I didn't have fun to find out what I would do with a bunch of loose cards and paper games afterwards. Currently, I have everything filled in an Ursula's return lighting cabinet with a sticky note stuck to the lid with “deep problems” scribbled on it. I don't know if this is the direct cause, but I haven't gone back to play deep problems since it came out in May last year.

This month's reign of Jafar binding, Palace Heist, comes in a real box and a beautiful on it. The inside of the lid has a wonderful piece of original Jafar art that has not seen on any cards, while the box has a divider to keep each of the three tires separate. The box would look at home on a shelf next to your rogue extensions, and I'm happy to show it with the rest of my Lorcana collection when I'm done playing with it, which probably won't happen at any time soon.

You also get a real boarding board this time instead of a paper mat. It has everything you need to handle Jafar's turns and keep things organized, while the back has another fantastic work of art with Jafar and our heroes competing for the Hexwell crown. Finally, you get a paper deck box for each tire (with unique art on each that matches the theme by tire), a large cardboard box of the buried crown and three big cards for the scenarios and Jafar himself. You get all this for the same $ 60 MSRP as deep problems, which is a pretty impressive deal.

A treacherous game with staying away

While Deep Trouble introduced the basic structure of the Illumineers Quest's Boss Fight game, Palace Heist develops that structure and adapts it to both Jafar and the story that has been developed over the past year. After stealing both halves of the Hexwell crown and recycling it to turn Archazia's island into its own sandy citadel, it is just that the lighters would arrange their own heist to take back the crown and end JaFar's evil reign. Palace Heist's unique twist is that it is built around a game of staying away with the fake sultan. Anyone who starts their turn with the crown in his possession will go closer to the finish line with a couple of extra bonuslore. So not only do you compete for Lore, you also fight back and forth over the crown itself. It is a wonderful piece of cohesion between the game and the story that makes playing this illumine's mission just so much more exciting.

Jafar's scening deck consists of many things you can expect: double palace guards, illusions of Aladdin and his friends, Giant Cobras, Scarabs and Scorpions, and his not-loyal companion, IAGO. All of these threats will work to slow down your team, run Jafar's Lore overall and use their abilities to take back the crown. Jafar's minions include a new character classification, Colossus and Lorcana's first classification, obstacles ever, which cannot be moved to and prevent your team from stealing the crown if Jafar has two or more in the game.

It is the only classification with its own control set, and it is not mentioned on the cards itself. Since it is specific to Jafar and Palace Heist, I will not remember this rule when I play the latter, but I am still excited to see new card types and mechanics specific to Illumineer's mission.

While each battleground card represents a different level of difficulty (four levels from simple to extreme) just like deep problems, I thought Palace Heist was much more balanced and manageable than Ursula's games, even when I used the included pre -instructed tires. Deep problems can be quite challenging even on the simple impact land, and I am happy to see the difficulty has been taken down something here. I never even tried extreme in deep problems, 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 am very fond of Illumineer's quest format and how it can make Lorcana feel easily accessible with different types of players, and I am even more fond of it now that we know how Lorcana's setting rotation will work. As the last set of the year, Jafar's reign will be legal in the core constructed during the shortest time for any expansion. Like Jafar's illusions, the cards in this latest set will disappear for just over a year, but we will still have Palace Heist to keep its history alive. Whether it is design or event, it is nice that the end of the year will get this fine memory package in Illumineer's mission, as we only have a short time to enjoy the cards in the core format.

I don't have to tell Disney Lorcana fans to play Palace Heist as soon as possible, but I also want to encourage newcomers and Lor-Nyfikna to jump into this lighter's mission and see what Lorcana is about. It is a great way to learn the game with friends and family and get a taste of history and world building behind TCG. The only thing I don't like about Illumineer's mission is that it only comes once a year.