Disney Lorcana took the trading card game world by storm when it released The First Chapter in September, and we’re already surging towards the next set this fall. Titled Rise of the Floodborn, it will introduce over 200 new cards including all manner of Disney characters, items, and songs, and deliver an exciting development in the overall story of Lorcana. IGN has your exclusive look at some new cards from the second set, as well as an interview with Disney Lorcana Narrative Lead Samantha McFerrin where we unveil the epic, inky inciditing incident that’s caused a great calamity in the realm of Lorcana. Get ready for an advanced lesson in Lorcana lore!
Check out IGN’s impressions of Lorcana after playing a hands-on demo.
What Caused the Rise of the Floodborn?
The First Chapter kicked off the story of Lorcana and established the context of a game of Lorcana, which features Disney characters in their classic form as well as radical reinventions. What exactly are we doing when we sit across from one another and summon sorcerer Mickey to do battle with a fiery version of Scar made from lava? According to the story, the players have been called to aid the magical realm of Lorcana and found themselves in the Great Illuminary, a magical library full of Disney stories. We take on the role of “Illumineers,” who use magical ink to summon “glimmers” of Disney characters and go on an adventure to recover lost Lore. It’s a race to see who can collect 20 Lore, and the first one to succeed is the winner. Each character card has a Lore value (the diamond pips on the bottom right side), and each turn they can either challenge opposing cards to banish them from the board or go questing for Lore to take one step closer to victory.
The different kinds of character cards are key to the new story developments in Rise of the Floodborn. A character that appears in its original form is labeled a Storyborn character, whereas a character with a new look is called a Dreamborn character. Then there’s the far more dramatic Floodborn characters, which have been exposed to a magical flood of mixed ink and have taken on an extreme new form. They also have the Shift gameplay mechanic that lets you transform an existing character card into the Floodborn version of that character.
For example, Beast – Tragic Hero is a Floodborn character that shows what would happen if he never broke his curse and remained a beast forever. Note the enchanted rose in the back is wilted but remains intact.
The magical flood of ink is what brings about the rise of the Floodborn, and it’s what we have some juicy new details to talk about today. We’ve known about the Floodborn since the first set, but now we can reveal what caused the flood that created them. As it turns out, an Illumineer made an unexpected discovery while exploring the Great Illuminary. He found a secluded room with a mysterious locked lorebook, which he unwittingly opened by playing a few musical notes. When the lorebook opened, it let loose a power that damaged the Great Illuminary, released a chaotic wave of all six inks (Ruby, Amethyst, Amber, Sapphire, Emerald and Steel), and swept away some important items from Disney lore with it, including King Triton’s powerful trident.
“When the Illumineer finds the locked lorebook in a somewhat hidden inkcasting room, it’s a complete mystery as to how it got there,” McFerrin explained to IGN. “When it’s accidentally opened, the force that comes out of it is so big and explosive, it’s hard to know what it is. But it crashes out of the lorebook, through the Great Illuminary, and into the Inklands, leaving damage in its wake. Essentially, the Great Illuminary has sprouted a big leak. The six magical inks are now flowing out of it, turning storyborn and dreamborn glimmers to floodborn and changing the Inklands in unusual ways.”
But what exactly was released from the locked lorebook? Was it simply a surge of power? Maybe it was a powerful someone or something? Presumably, the answer won’t come until a later Lorcana expansion, but until then, there are plenty of clues scattered throughout the cards for collectors to piece things together themselves.
“A good example of a card that communicates part of a set’s story is Judy Hopps – Optimistic Officer in Rise of the Floodborn,” McFerrin points out. “The flavor text speaks to the incident in the mysterious inkcasting room: ‘I’ll get to the bottom of what happened with the locked lorebook. You can count on me!’”
Another instance of in-card storytelling can be seen in the new card pictured below, Pinocchio – On the Run. We can see the chaotic flood of magical ink coursing by as Pinocchio races into the Inklands. Perhaps we’ll continue to follow the flood and explore more of the Inklands as the story of Lorcana continues to unfold in further sets.
Lorcana Launches a First-of-its-kind Card
For the first time, a card will be released that’s an original creation from the world of Lorcana, as opposed to being adapted from a pre-existing Disney story. This new card from Rise of the Floodborn is an Action card called Launch.
“Launch is an action card with a strong mechanic and an illustration of a whimsical contraption. Lorcana is a magical realm with a distinct style, and we will reveal more exciting things connected to the realm in future sets. We always want narrative and game design to align, so we do plan to bring the details from the realm into cards,” McFerrin said.
What’s the Difference Between Storyborn, Dreamborn, and Floodborn Characters?
As we mentioned before, the different types of character cards are key to understanding the story of Lorcana, but it’s not always easy telling the difference between them, so McFerrin laid out the specifics.
“Dreamborn glimmers are inkcast from story stars but with a touch of an Illumineer’s imagination, so they can look different than their canon version,” she McFerrin. “Floodborn glimmers start off Storyborn or Dreamborn, but when they encounter the magical ink flood, they change in surprising, unpredictable ways. That could mean they become more powerful, but it doesn’t have to. They could become smarter or wiser, for example.
“Here’s an example of how it all works: Stitch – Carefree Surfer is Dreamborn, so he looks a little different than he did in the film, thanks to an Illumineer’s imagination. Stitch – Rock Star is Floodborn, which means the magical flood enhanced a trait or talent of a Storyborn or Dreamborn version of him—he always liked music, but now he’s a modern rock star playing to crowds of adoring fans! The change to Floodborn is unpredictable, but the seeds are already present in the Storyborn or Dreamborn glimmer.”
Rise of the Floodborn will be released in local game stores on November 17 and mass market retailer stores on December 1.
