Whispers In The Well Starter Decks & Illumineer's Trove Review

The newest Disney Lorcana set, Whispers In The Well, arrives on November 7, 2025, with larger retailers getting the products on November 14. As usual, the new set is launching with two new Starter Decks and an Illumineer’s Trove, alongside other products like playmats. Whisper In The Well also introduces the Boost ability.

The two new Starter Decks for Disney Lorcana: Whispers In The Well are Amber/Emerald and Sapphire/Steel. The cards feature iconic Disney characters like Simba from The Lion King, Megara from Hercules, Judy Hopps from Zootopia, and Robin Hood. Scrooge McDuck, Daisy, and other mascot characters return as well as fan-favorites like Genie from Aladdin and Zootopia‘s Nick Wilde.

What’s Included In Whispers In The Well’s Starter Decks

Everything You’ll Need To Get Started

Disney Lorcana Whispers In The Well Starter Decks

Both Starter Decks include a 60-card ready-to-play deck and a booster pack, which features 12 random cards inside. If you’re new to Disney Lorcana, grabbing either Amber/Emerald or Sapphire/Steel deck is a great way to dive into the TCG. Each one will teach you different strategies, and the decks can be good to play against one another if you have someone to play against.

The following items are found within the boxes for the Whispers In The Well Starter Decks:

1 booster pack, featuring 12 randomized cards
1 paper playmat
1 paper tracker token
1 booklet of game rules
11 paper damage counters
1 single-player deck of 60 cards, including 2 foils

This is everything you need to get started playing Disney Lorcana. While the Illumineer’s Trove is definitely aimed more at collectors, the Starter Decks for Disney Lorcana are more about learning how the TCG works — and how the new glimmers, abilties, and other cards work now that they’re added into the meta.

Whispers In The Well Amber/Emerald Starter Deck Overview

Card Highlights Include Simba & Megara

Disney Lorcana Megara Secret Keeper whisper glimmer card

The Amber/Emerald Starter Deck for Whispers In The Well includes foil cards of “Simba, King in the Making” and “Megara, Secret Keeper.” Both cards come with the new Boost mechanic, which means you’ll need to learn something new right out the gate. Both the glimmers are also “Whispers,” the newest classification of characters summoned from a torn or damaged lorebook page.

“Paranormal power” is the theme of this deck, so expect to see spirits. As a fan of The Black Cauldron, I was also excited to see characters like Princess Eilonwy appear here. As a competitive deck, Amber/Emerald is fairly balanced. Many of the cards work to introduce you to Boost and Whispers.

Between the Starter Decks, Amber/Emerald is the more aggressive of the two. I found “Simba, King in the Making” to be especially great in this deck given its solid stats. Although I found it to be evenly matched against Whispers In The Well‘s Sapphire/Steel deck, it may be a bit unbalanced against older decks that lack some of the latest Lorcana abilities and card types.

Whispers In The Well Sapphire/Steel Starter Deck Overview

Highlighted Cards Like Robin Hood & Judy Hopps

Disney Lorcana Judy Hopps Artwork from Whispers In The Well set

The Sapphire/Steel Starter Deck for Whispers in the Well includes foils for “Judy Hopps, Uncovering Clues” and “Robin Hood, Ephemeral Archer.” Neither card on its own feels as useful as “Simba, King in the Making,” but Robin Hood’s Expert Shot can quickly damage two opponents’ cards, giving it an edge.

The deck itself is built around Detectives, which is where the Judy Hopps card comes into play. Her “Thorough Investigation” lets you look at the top 3 cards and pull a Detective card into your hand. Nearly every card in this set revolves around using Detectives to stack Lore and go at your opponent, so that can be quite helpful.

Whispers In The Well‘s Sapphire/Steel deck requires a bit more understanding of the game in order to really succeed, which may make it more difficult for beginners to learn. I found it to be a bit of a slowburn, allowing me to eventually gather Lore quickly, but only after I’d managed to play the right combination of cards. Luck definitely helped with this too.

Whispers In The Well Illumineer’s Trove Overview

What’s Included & How It Compares To Past Troves

Disney Lorcana Whispers In The Well Illumineers Trove

If you’re more of a collector, there’s also an Illumineer’s Trove for Whispers In The Well. The Starter Decks will get you introduced to the TCG, or used to the new mechanics, but the Illumineer’s Trove is more about the booster packs and acquiring some premium items that help with organizing your collection. The contents include:

1 Lore counter
6 card dividers
6 damage-counter dice
8 booster packs (each with 12 randomized cards inside)
1 storage box

As with previous Illumineer’s Troves, the storage box is a great way to organize your cards—and the dividers can let you split them up easily by Ink type. The Lore counter dice are also great if you play a lot and are looking to invest. I didn’t get any Enchanted cards this time around from the boosters I opened, but did get some nice Gargoyles cards, which I was excited were added to Disney Lorcana.

No matter what part of Disney Lorcana you’re into, the Starter Decks and Illumineer’s Trove are great ways to begin diving into Whispers In The Well. The Boost mechanic and new Whispers cards are pretty interesting, and it’s great to see the TCG is still growing at this point in its lifespan.