WBG Score: 8
Player Count: 2-4 (but really 2)
You’ll like this if you like: Unmatched, Funkoverse, Smash Up
Published by: The Op
Designed by: Sean Fletcher
Disney Sorcerer's Arena is a fantastic two player, three-on-three character fighting game set in the magical world of Disney. You can read what I think of the main game here, or check my thoughts on the first expansion here, or the second one here. But if you want to see what is new with this new expansion, then read on.
You can read about how the game plays in the main review, let's get into this expansion and what new things it brings. New characters! This time, we have modern day Disney Queen, Elsa from Frozen. Scar from the Disney classic, The Lion King. And everyone's favourite disillusioned toy, Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. As is the case, they all come as a brightly coloured acrylic standee that look great. The standees and bases all have a protective cover on that needs to be peeled of when you first open the game. This time, they certainly seemed a lot easier to remove. Or, I am just getting better at it after practice! Mine were only on one side this time too, which was nice. I get they need to be protected in transit, but it does seem over the top with waste and effort to have both side. Anyway...
Let's take a look at each of the new characters closely. First up:
Scar
Scar is an amazing new character. He brings a new constant ability which is in effect, even when it is not his turn. This effect reduces other players ability to heal when he is on a yellow scoring hex. He can use his Opportunist Skill to move other characters off these spaces and take their spot instead to utilise this power even more often. And, you will notice he lets you hold three cards instead of the usual two. Big paws I assume?
Scar's movement offers various opportunities to close in three spaces and pounce up on your opponent. Which I find is often all you ever need. This, along with the opportunity to assist the movement of his team mates, makes Scar a nimble character to play with. He can also make further use of being on the yellow point spaces by drawing extra cards and forcing other players to lose cards from their hand. Scar even has a movement card that can be used as an attack which allows him to deal three damage and then move. A very useful way to catch another player out. Especially if you have the initiative, and can go first.
Where Scar becomes much more exciting is in his attack cards. Again, Scar gains an advantage from the yellow point scoring spaces, this time by attack other players on them, and being able to gain a point from doing so. Life's not fair, is it?
Or, he can use his faithful allies, the hyena, By attacking from range, moving the rival he attacked, and potential making them lose a point for the privilege.
My favourite card of his, and from this entire expansion is Scar's Treacherous Plot. This allow him to deal a mighty five damage. The rival attacked this way does gain three points however. But, Scar can take an additional turn this phase if he knocked out his rival with this attack. Which often he will with five damage. And again, Scar can play with the power of the yellow point spaces, by gaining an additional point himself from this attack, if this was done to someone on one of this hexes.
Elsa plays a little more fair. She brings in a new rule, Invulnerable. This allows her to become immune to attacks for one turn. Elsa has a big heart, with nine health, but rewards her rivals big, with seven points if she is knocked out. But she can keep opponents at bay by immobilizing other characters within a range of two when she upgrades. She is also then able to draw a card.
Elsas' movement also gives her lots of options to increase her hand count. She can also help her fellow tam mates recover health, and remove unwanted status effects.
Her attacks allow her to target multiple adjacent rivals, as well as freezing them stiff. Or my favourite card of hers, where she can attack a rival next to her, push that rival back, and then attack them again. Although, possible her most powerful card is Show Yourself, which combines brilliantly with other cards so essentially have two turns.
I am not a toy. And thankfully, neither is Buzz. He is a fully formed, fighting machine. Buzz is able to use his laser, useless in real life and the movies, so attack rivals from distance, with a rare skill that deals damage. His unshakable determination also allow him to deal damage through his upgradable skill, by adding another damage to any rival already attacked that turn. Buzz is the combo king.
Buzz has the ability to move through other rivals when movement, drawing extra cards this way, as well as bringing ally's with him as he travels through the board.
His attacks allow multiple attacks again, imagine combining his Rapid Fire with his skill and upgradable power. Sounds fun right? And similarly to the attack of Maleficent in the base game, if you are up against Buzz, you want to avoid allowing your characters to form a straight line, as he has the power to target you all in one attack this way.
So, all in, this is a great addition to the collection so far. I hope The Op continue to support this game, as more and more characters will just make it so much more fun. However, I have found that playing the same characters over and over does make for a better game. As you understand a characters deck more and learn which ones work better together, you will enjoy the game a lot more.
My current top three characters to play with are Jack Skellington, Scar, and Areal I think they work really well together, at least they do for me. My son is currently combining Stitch, Micky (his absolute favourite) and Maleficent. These six characters make for an epic duel. But I look forward to seeing what new ones we can add in future battles.
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