Lorcana has been going for two years now, or in the case of ANZ, over one year. This has included eight sets of awesome cards and even more awesome art. But now there is a new set in town with a whole lot of reprints and the first case of rotation for this card game. So what does that mean for playing the game, and what is the new set, Fabled, like?
What is a rotation?
If Lorcana is your first TCG, or the first you have played constructed in, then this may be a new concept to you. In essence, at a set point in time older sets rotate out of a format to keep the game fresh. In the case of Fabled, the competitive format is called Core Constructed, and every year, four sets will rotate out. So in this case, a month ago there were eight legal sets, but with year 1 rotating out and Fabled releasing, there are five.
This can seem quite intimidating to a new or casual player, but it is important to the health of a format. Fortunately your cards are still legal for two reasons. The first is that Lorcana has a new eternal format called Infinity Constructed. In Infinity Constructed events, all your cards are legal. The other way that cards can still be legal is if they are reprinted into a new set, and in the case of Fabled, there are a lot. So if you have a Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy from The First Chapter, it is still able to be used in Core Constructed, as it was reprinted in Fabled.
It can seem like a bit to get used to, but don’t panic; once you get the rhythm, you will learn it. It took me a while to wrap my head around legality and reprints in Magic: The Gathering, but once you get it, you get it.
So what’s the deal with Fabled?
So for the first time, there isn’t any story to get your head around. Fabled is a core set of sorts that is here for awesome cards, and the stability of the constructed format is important. Cards have been reprinted before, but this set has 33 new cards and 171 card reprints.
Initially this may seem like a bad thing, but there is a lot to like about it. If you are a longtime player and have heaps of old cards, you may not be looking to pick these reprints up, but the good news for you is this means those cards you already have are now legal for two more years.
For newer players and players for whom Lorcana came around later, this is a good thing. A lot of these cards are now way easier to find with another reprinting, and for new players it will be the first time they pull some of these cards.
The only issue I have with the reprints, is that outside of extra rare cards like enchanted ones, the art is the same as the original printing. It would have been amazing if the new cards had been stylised like the cool old-school Mickey on the box. A minor criticism, but a criticism nonetheless.
The use of reprints also makes the sealed and draft experience fun. There are cards you know and ones you don’t, which makes the whole experience a heap more fun than I expected. Lorcana is already a fun game to play in these formats, but with the reprints your deck building is much quicker now.
New rarities and characters!
Up until Fabled there were the normal Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, and Legendary cards. The massive chase cards were the incredibly rare Enchanted cards, which were alternate arts of cards in other rarity slots.
Fabled has the same normal card rarities but has introduced two new alternate art versions. Now you have Epic cards, which are more common than Enchanted, and Iconic cards, which are rarer than Enchanted. I like this, as the full-art Epic cards mean more people get to see super cool cards, but they are all cards that are available in the normal rarity slots. So these are for collectors and people that like shiny stuff; it doesn’t affect the game itself.
Fabled introduces the games Dumbo and A Goofy Movie. It had genuinely surprised me that we hadn’t had a Dumbo card yet, but man, I forgot about A Goofy Movie. Cracking into the packs brought back some delightful memories, in the same way Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers did. When this game does that, I love it so much.
So how can you buy it?
As always, you can purchase boosters on their own and full boxes of boosters. Also, like with other sets, there are the two Starter Decks, which include a full deck and a booster, which is an excellent value at $33. Then there is the Illumineer’s Trove and accessories.
It appears there is still a Starter Set, which includes a folder, and a Gift Set, which all come out later in the month. I have rated the previous incarnations of these two highly before, but without having them in my hands, I won’t comment on them.
You can read more about what I have played with below!
The single-player decks
As always, there are two single-player decks. One of them is an Amber Sapphire deck headlined by Mulan and Ariel. I got to play with the other deck, which is an Emerald Ruby deck with A Goofy Movie characters Powerline and Max.
As always, they come with a booster pack, a 60-card deck you can play out of the box, a paper playmat to help you with your first games and some pop-out tokens to help you play. The main two rares are given a nice special foil treatment which looks awesome. In the case of the deck I played with, they were Powerline and Max Goof. They look so dang nice.
This deck is A Goofy Movie heavy in cards, meaning heaps are new cards from the set. As expected with a main card like Powerline, the deck is musical in style. Powerline can sing songs for Power 9, and heaps of other cards have singing abilities, and it is loaded with great songs. As a deck, compared to other single-player decks, it’s great. A clear theme of singing songs is a fun way for newbies to learn the mechanic, and it’s decent out of the box.
Illumineer’s Trove
Every time I crack an Illumineer’s Trove, I am always happy. It comes with a soft cardboard card storage box with two lanes, eight booster packs, card dividers for each colour, a Lore Counter, and six dice. In the Fabled Illumineer’s Trove, the dice are all different colours and look amazing, and the dividers are shiny and look absolutely stunning. The lore counter is perfectly fine but is also super shiny, which is kind of fun.
As always, I rate the Trove as at around $100 you get the $88 worth of packs. For the other $12, you get the box, dividers, dice, and counter. Even with having bought and received a few of these, I still love getting them. I hope these never get dropped, as it’s a super fun way to rip some packs and store your cards.
Other accessories
Fabled has the usual range of playmats, deck boxes, and sleeves. I was sent a playmat but not the sleeves or deck boxes for this set. As such, I can’t comment on if they have improved or declined in quality. The playmat, as always, is top quality. I was sent the Cinderella one, which looks nice. I am eyeing up buying the Mufasa one with the art from Mufasa – Ruler of Pride Rock, as The Lion King is amazing and that art is stunning.
The deck boxes and sleeves have The Goofy Movie and Mulan artwork which I rate. But again, I can’t comment on the quality of them; they look pretty.
So should you pick up Fabled?
This is an interesting set. There will be new cards for long-time players to get, but the most value is for newer players that may not have the cards that were reprinted. I would have loved some unique art on those cards, and more cards using the art style on the cover, as it’s gorgeous. But treating this as a core set that is focussed around the constructed formats, it is a banger.
It may not be the most exciting set, but it's an important set that shows that Ravensburger cares about the constructed format and has some wicked cards. Some unique art on the reprinted cards would have tipped this over the edge to be a total banger.
