The Op’s successful Disney Sorcerer’s Arena: Epic Alliances launched with a variety of Disney icons to control on the battlefield. Since the initial set’s release they’ve been steadily adding new characters and unique elements to the experience. The second expansion in the line is titled Turning The Tide, moving oceanic characters into the spotlight. Turning The Tide introduces three new characters to build out your teams with, including Stitch, Moana, and Davy Jones, and each character brings not just their own unique abilities, but also new mechanics like Constant Abilities and new Status Effects, and they all infuse the game with some welcome fresh energy.
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As with all characters in the core game, Davy, Moana, and Stitch can be mixed and matched with any other characters released thus far. All three are Oceanic, so they work quite well as a team unto themselves, but there’s enough to them outside of just that trait that will allow them to excel with non-oceanic characters. The main benefit to having Oceanic characters is that they can all take advantage of Ocean Tiles, which are distributed to the board by Moana.
Moana’s Skill gives her the ability to put an Ocean Tile on an unoccupied and adjacent space if there are two or fewer on the board already, and she also has cards that allow her to put additional Ocean Tiles on the board. You’ll be doing this often, as they are only good for one use. That said, they are incredibly useful, as an Ocean Tile will allow an Oceanic character to move across that space without being penalized, essentially giving you an extra space on your Movement Action. If you’re able to have Moana early in the lineup, you can help our the rest of your team by putting these in specific spots on the board, giving your teammates a boost to critical spots when their turn comes around.
Moana as a character focuses more on movement and aiding her allies’ movement. While some of these cards allow you to deal some damage or heal as well, the totals are a bit low. That means that aside from two specific cards, you’re going to be hitting for 1 health most of the time. The benefit to this though is that Moana can really affect the entire team with those cards, moving one character to an adjacent space, putting an Ocean Tile on the board to help another teammate get to target on their next turn, and then finishing up with some healing.
The damage dealer of the group is clearly Stitch, and he’s also a Tank if you keep him around long enough. Stitch’s movement cards aren’t vast, but he makes up for it in attacks, as he has a nice mix of melee and ranged. Many of his cards are tied to his health, so if he’s at an odd number you will get one effect, while an even number will get you the other. Many of his cards hit for high damage, and he can also gain Strong and Tough from some of those cards. His Skill allows you to banish a card to remove a status effect, which is extremely handy, including when I was hit with immobilize for two turns. Stitch also benefits from a Constant Ability, which as their name suggests are always active, and if the little guy takes 3 or more damage in a phase, he gains 2 Tough and soaks up even more damage.
The final character of the set is by far the most unique of the bunch, Davy Jones. His effectiveness is all tied to the Cursed status effect, which when cast on your allies will be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you’ll lose a health every turn that you have the Cursed effect, but on the other, you will open yourself up for bonuses and benefits caused by Davy, as most of his abilities get a big boost when there are Cursed allies or enemies on the board.
For instance, Do You Fear Defeat? deals damage to an adjacent rival equal to the number of cursed characters on the board plus 2, so you can find yourself doing 4 and 5 damage with one attack if you’ve managed to stick a few people with that Status Effect. Some cards give Cursed Tokens to other people, while other cards allow you to heal or draw cards, and all are linked to Cursed being in play in some form or fashion. Your Skill also allows you to hit an ally with 2 Cursed, and Davy’s Constant Abiity is directly tied to this, as it allows Davy to heal 1 when an ally deals 1 or more damage to a rival when Cursed themselves. Hitting as many with Cursed as possible will only benefit you, but it can take a minute to get a feel for the best way to make that happen.
The upgraded abilities might not seem like much from the get-go, but once you get a feel for the characters’ skills and abilities, you start to appreciate them far more. That’s not the case for Davy’s Summon The Kraken, which is easy to grasp and makes a huge difference, but it’s one-time use before flipping over, and having to upgrade again means you want to save it for a big moment if you can.
The acrylic standees are gorgeous once again, and I enjoy the art style overall. The Ocean Tiles does help to break up the sameness of the board, but with only up to 3 Ocean Tiles available at once, I do hope to see more additions that make the board itself feel as lively and fun as the characters that battle upon it.
If you already own the core game, the Turning the Tide expansion is a surefire addition to your experience. The three new characters all offer their own playstyles and unique abilities, and Constant Abilities and Ocean Tiles bring even more strategy and tactical options to your experience. Turning the Tide is an easy recommendation, and fans will find at least one of the three to love.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Published By: The Op
Designed By: Sean Fletcher
The Turning the Tide Expansion is available in stores and digital platforms now.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
