With Moana 2 out in theaters now and making bank, there’s little doubt that Disney’s South Pacific princess has emerged as royalty on par with Cinderella, Snow White, Tiana and the other princesses that aren’t named Esmeralda, Pocahantas, and Merida. Back in 2016, my family and I saw the original film in the theater and Moana, Maui, and the Kakamoras are household favorites. We were of course delighted Moana as one of the marquee characters of Lorcana’s First Chapter. And as a few sets have come and gone down the line, it’s been kind of surprising how much Ravensburger has gone all in on Moana Mania. There are eight Moana cards alone, five Mauis (including a couple of his animal forms), seven Heiheis, two Te Kas, five Kakamoras, two Chief Tuis, two Tamatoas, three Gramma Talas, and I’m not even going to count the songs, items, actions, and locations.
Disney
Indeed, in some ways I feel like Moana is the perfect princess to headline the game- maybe even moreso than Elsa, the so-called “Charizard” of the game. Moana is the most current Disney princess (look, Wish’s Asha just didn’t cut the mustard) and it’s great that she is a respectively represented person of color. And as much as I love the classic princesses, Moana is thoroughly modern and relatable to modern day audiences of all ages and cultural backgrounds. Heck, her movie even has what I believe to be the only wee-wee joke in all of Disney’s animated films- that’s something that crosses all kinds of boundaries, right?
And the early identity of the game for me is very much bound up with Moana. From my daughter running Moana – Of Motunui in virtually every deck from the very first time she played her starter, to sacking Gramma Tala into the inkwell ad infinitum, to groaning whenever a Ruby Amethyst dropped yet another Maui – Hero to All, and on through trying to make Te Ka work in any deck, those characters were especially formative in the early days of the game. But we did feel a little Moana fatigue after a few sets. Like, “hey look, more Moana and Maui stuff”. Over the year I’ve been writing this column I’ve probably joked a few times about the Moana population of the game.
In a way, it all kinds of makes me wish that the Lorcana design team were doing more with specific films and settings rather than just throwing them in the blender so to speak. They’ve leaned really, really hard into ink colors expressing somewhat standardized characteristics but each movie or show also has a specific atmosphere, tone, or theme. I don’t think it’s always satisfying that there are a couple of Duck Tales or Rescue Rangers cards mixed up with everything in the big ol’ Disney Mulligan Stew that is the Lorcana setting. I like the mix-ups, I like having Moana team up with Peter Pan and all of that of course. But there’s a lot of potential for things like an Illumineer’s Quest style boxed game that is strictly Moana or a couple of Moana-specific starter decks.
Ravensburger
The thing is, aside from there being Moana cards in every ink color, there’s not a tremendous amount of synergy between them. You can build a Moana deck and it’s fun, even if you limit to two colors. But I find myself wanting to really use the game to explore the Moana setting and that’s kind of tough. Some properties do better than others, as of right now- my little ol’ Hercules deck for example is not too bad for a $25 deck. Some properties don’t have nearly enough cards or just don’t work together all that well.
It also makes me wish that in addition to the usual keyword types that there was one for the films or shows. So all the Moana cards would be tagged Moana, and perhaps you could include any card regardless of ink color in an all-Moana deck. Sure, you can do this on your own in casual settings. But I’d like to see it an official option. With that said, the cards themselves simply aren’t designed to have much “inter-IP” synergy aside from a couple of instances where named cards are part of a card effect. I’d be very interested in hearing if anyone has ever successfully gotten Moana – Chosen By the Ocean to pop off her anti-Te Ka ability.
Ravensburger
Regardless, there are lots of great cards from the Moana subset and I love variations like the Pirate Moana that’s a Kakamora captain. Maui’s Fishook turned out to be a surprisingly effect card in the meta, largely because it is designed to synergize with the Ruby Mauis. Hero to All is still a great turn 5 bomb drop. Tamatoa can be a game winner in item heavy builds. How Far I’ll Go is a very decent scry and ramp song for Sapphire. And bless Gramma Tala, she is still out there dying to inkwell even though she has a very good Floodborn in Spirit of the Ocean.
As for Te Ka, well, maybe next set they’ll find their way!
Next time: Return of the Pirates!
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