Disney Lorcana Reveals New Twist to Shift Mechanic (Exclusive)

Disney Lorcana will feature a brand new twist to the game's popular Shift mechanic.

By Christian Hoffer

Disney Lorcana will introduce a new twist to its Shift mechanic in Ursula's Return. The next expansion of the popular Disney-themed trading card game will feature Floodborn character cards with the ability to Shift without paying an Ink cost. Instead, players can Shift the card onto an existing character with the same name through "other means," including discarding specific kinds of cards from their hand. 

""Shift" is such a powerful mechanic and we thought having a different way for players to leverage that ability added another layer of surprise and strategy," said Steve Warner, Disney Lorcana TCG Co-Designer, in a statement to ComicBook.com. "Getting to upgrade a character but not use any ink for your turn really changes how you prioritize resources and is such a fun effect." 

To demonstrate the new mechanic, ComicBook.com can exclusively reveal six new cards from Ursula's Return, all of which are Floodborn character cards that use the new Shift mechanic. 

dlc-s4-standard-en-24.png
dlc-s4-standard-en-44.png
dlc-s4-standard-en-70.png
dlc-s4-standard-en-112.png
dlc-s4-standard-en-149.png
dlc-s4-standard-en-171.png

The cards include a new Legendary card – Diablo – Devoted Herald – which can be played by discarding an Action card and has an ability that allows its player to draw a card whenever an opponent draws a card, provided that Diablo is exerted. "Being able to shift Diablo and quest him in the same turn without using any ink is quite a surprise," explained Warner. "Plus – his ability is activated when he is exerted, which means players will benefit from it immediately."

The new Shift mechanic appears to be tied to the color of the Floodborn character, with each ink type having a discard cost of a different kind of card in the game. The Amber Ursula – Eric's Bride requires discarding a Song card to shift (Amber cards are often associated with Song cards), while the Sapphire card Olaf – Carrot Enthusiast needs an Item card to be discarded, which fits in with the item-heavy Sapphire card type. "We spent a lot of time making sure the shift costs made sense for players by matching them to the ink color of the Floodborn character," Warner said. "We hope this makes it easier for players to understand and execute while also making play a little more interesting in sealed deck or draft play modes."

Related:

Ultimately, the new Shift variation has the possibility of being a game-changer for Disney Lorcana and opens up several possibilities for new deck archetypes. In general, the metagame has shied away from "uninkable" cards that can't be placed into a player's inkwell, but some cards might be a bit more viable if they can be potentially used to Shift a card into play. It also introduces new multi-card combos, as a player can potentially Shift a Floodborn character card into play while still having ink to play another character, item, location or action card on the same turn. 

Ursula's Return will be released on May 17th at hobby stores and May 31st at mass retailers. 

Trending Now: