Summary

• Ursula's Return introduces an engaging new adventure called Deep Trouble, challenging players to race against the sea witch for Lore.
• The game offers various difficulty levels for replay value, but even Easy can be tough. Custom decks are recommended for higher levels.
• Deep Trouble is a fun and challenging game that can be played solo or in co-op, providing a unique experience within the Disney Lorcana TCG.

Since its arrival late last year, Disney Lorcana has done an excellent job of keeping the trading card game fresh by constantly adding and updating it in interesting ways. Locations cards, for example, were a well-welcomed addition that affected gameplay while adding iconic places from some of Disney's most popular movies. Now, with the arrival of the first-ever Illumineer's Quest, Disney Lorcana: Ursula's Return is bringing a new kind of adventure to the TCG.

Called Deep Trouble, the Illumineer's Quest from Ursula's Return sees the sea witch from The Little Mermaid trying to gather all the Lore in the current Lorcana story arc, and players must race against her to claim Lore first. It's an interesting enough premise that can be played out as a co-op game or as a solo endeavor.

What's Included In the Illumineer's Quest - Deep Trouble Box

Spoiler-Free Contents From Ursula's Return

Ursula comes with her own deck full of Disney villains and characters who have been warped by her, and the rules can differ depending on the difficulty level. It's a mostly different format from standard Disney Lorcana, and Deep Trouble will likely appeal to fans of co-op games who may not have otherwise touched a TCG. The box set of Disney Lorcana: Ursula's Return - Illumineer's Quest "Deep Trouble" comes with the following contents:

• 1 oversized Ursula, Ruler of Lorcana card
• 1 Ursula scenario deck
• 2 prebuilt decks of 60 cards each
• 2 oversized, double-sided battegrounds cards
• 1 Deep Trouble playmat
• 1 Ursula draw token
• 3 Lore tracker tokens
• 29 Damage counters
• 1 Deep Trouble rules sheet
• 1 Secret card for winning the game

To avoid spoilers, the contents of each deck and the secret victory card won't be spoiled here. As with everything related to Disney Lorcana, the collectibles inside the box are certainly a draw. However, as a standalone game, Deep Trouble succeeds in an impressive way. The rules are just different enough for the Illumineer's Quest to feel unique, but at the end of the day, it's still a race to see who can collect their Lore goal first.

Players race against Ursula, and if they can get 20 Lore, they win. Ursula must acquire more Lore to win, but the cards in her deck are fairly OP, so the game on any difficulty level feels skewed in her favor. The prebuilt decks are nice, but players are also free to use their own custom decks against the sea witch if they desire. On a higher difficulty like Hard or Extreme, a custom deck is pretty much a necessity and will most likely have to be created with the sole goal of defeating Ursula in Deep Trouble.

Deep Trouble Is A Fun But Challenging Adventure

Difficulty Levels Offer A Lot Of Replay Value

The difficulty levels (battlegrounds) in Deep Trouble offer replay value, but even in Easy (called "The Encounter"), it's pretty tough. The rules recommend starting out with Easy or Normal (called "A Dark Realm") and that's sound advice. Even as someone who's played Disney Lorcana regularly since The First Chapter, I lost two out of the initial three games in Easy using the prebuilt decks and playing in co-op. I tried a game solo as well and found it to be even more difficult.

Deep Trouble is a challenge, but that's part of the fun. It's doubtful even the best veterans could breeze through it on their first try. However, that also means newcomers may initially struggle since every concept would be brand new to them. For fun, I recorded the number of co-op games I played, and in which difficulty, to illustrate the challenge:

• Easy (prebuilt decks) - 2 wins, 4 losses
• Normal (prebuilt decks) - 1 win, 4 losses
• Hard (prebuilt decks) - 0 wins, 2 losses
• Hard (custom decks) - 0 wins, 1 loss
• Extreme (prebuilt decks) 0 wins, 1 loss

It really all comes down to the luck of the draw, but Ursula's deck is full of cards that can easily Quest, she doesn't have to pay Ink costs, and in Extreme, a banished card can be replayed. As with anything else, practice makes perfect - once we were able to win on Easy, we were able to win again.

From now on, we're mostly playing in Normal since that's the difficulty that seems to have the best balance of fun and challenge to our current knowledge of the game. All of this is to say that the inclusion of difficulty levels is a big win for players and makes the game more accessible.

Final Thoughts On Ursula's Return - Deep Trouble

An Enjoyable First Illumineer's Quest

Deep Trouble is an excellent addition to Disney Lorcana that can even work as a standalone game. It may be the newness of it, but at this time, I might enjoy it even more than the standard TCG. As a first offering, it's great - but it also leaves me hopeful for future Illumineer's Quests.

As a first offering, Deep Trouble is great - but it also leaves me hopeful for future Illumineer's Quests.

The secret victory card was ittedly a bit underwhelming, but it did leave me intrigued about what's on the horizon for the next Disney Lorcana set, so it succeeded as a nice teaser. However, the gameplay and replayability of this Illumineer's Quest are its biggest strengths. Deep Trouble is available now for $59.99 MSRP.