Illumineer’s Quest – Deep Trouble: How to Play & Full Contents

With the Illumineer’s Quest – Deep Trouble reaching players’ hands, we finally have details of how a raid of Ursula will play out, along with the contents! Check out the post if you want more details!
(Or skip if you rather not know ahead of time)

The following content will be in order of the following:

• How to play a game of Illumineer’s Quest – Deep Trouble
• Contents of the included players’ decks
• Contents of Ursula’s scenario deck
• The victory pack card.

Warnings are provided prior to showing Ursula’s deck and the victory pack, so please skip those if you only wish to understand how to play, without looking at the respective content.

Guide and card images in this post are provided with thanks to werothegreat & Narzzghal, and card quantity with thanks to GoldenSandSlash.

How to Play

Objective

Working together, the players race for sufficient lore to stop Ursula from cementing her rule on Lorcana. If she reaches 40 lore before each of the players has 20 lore at the same time, the Great Illuminary and all its secrets will be hers!

Setup

1. Based on the number of players facing Ursula, place her draw counter on her playmat as indicated above. The first time Ursula reaches the listed lore total, move her draw counter up 1 to show that she’ll draw an extra card from that point on. She can gain each bonus only once and keeps it even if her lore falls below the listed total.

Players	Ursula’s Draws
1	Draw 2 cards. At 20 lore: Draw 1 more card.
2	Draw 2 cards. At 10 & 30 lore: Draw 1 more card. Draw 3 cards.
3	Draw 3 cards. At 20 lore: Draw 1 more card.
4	Draw 3 cards. At 10 & 30 lore: Draw 1 more card.

2. Choose a battleground and place it where everyone can see it. If your battleground has Ursula draw an additional card each turn, be sure to move up her draw counter.

TIP! Play at Easy or Normal difficulty for your first few games so you have a chance to get used to the rules for this quest.

3. In Ursula’s scenario deck, find the Ursula’s Stolen Trident card and place it faceup in her play area as the first card in the row. Then shuffle her deck and place it facedown in the marked spot on her playmat.

4. Place the lore trackers at 0 on the playmat, one for Ursula and one for each player facing her.

5. Each player shuffles their deck and draws their cards as normal. Altering hands is allowed, but the sea witch doesn’t bother.

6. Ursula takes the first turn. She isn’t one to sit around on her tentacles! Unlike in a standard game, she draws on her first turn.

Ursula’s Playmat

The Deep Trouble playmat for Ursula included inside the set.

Battlegrounds

Deep Trouble includes four increasingly difficult battlegrounds to choose from.

The Encounter (Easy)
A Dark Realm (Normal)
The Lair (Hard)
Infinite Wrath (Extreme)

Each battleground has one or more abilities the players can use on their turn by paying the listed lore cost. To do this, a player reduces their lore total by the amount listed for the ability they want to use, moving their lore tracker to their new total. Choose carefully-each ability can be used ONLY ONCE per turn.
The Hard and Extreme battlegrounds have special rules for Ursula in addition to the player abilities. The Hard battleground gives her an extra card draw every turn, and the Extreme one-well, it’s extreme, so don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Think you’re ready to try the Extreme battleground? Take our advice and come to the field prepared with decks you’ve built specifically for this quest. For your best chance at victory, play a few games at the lower levels first, both to become comfortable with the Deep Trouble rules and to see what kind of tricks Ursula has in store for any who dare oppose her.

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Ursula’s Turn

Follow the steps below on Ursula’s turn, which works differently than a normal turn. Her play decisions are built into the rules, so her deck will usually be able to run itself.

1. READY – Ready all of Ursula’s cards.

2. SET – Start of turn effects happen.

3. RESOLVE THE ROW — Resolve the row of characters and items Ursula has in play, from the players’ left to their right.

• If an item has an ability with an exert cost, Ursula exerts the card to use the ability.
• If a character can quest, they do. Exert them as usual.
• If they can’t quest and have Reckless, they challenge. The players choose a character of theirs that can be challenged as the defender, and the challenge proceeds normally. Otherwise, the character does nothing.

4. DRAW – One at a time, Ursula draws the number of cards indicated by her draw counter. Don’t reveal these cards yet! Place them facedown in a pile next to her deck. This is her hand.

Note: Any card that’s returned to Ursula’s hand goes to this pile.

5. REVEAL – One at a time, Ursula reveals and acts on every card in her hand. After finishing with each one, move on to the next one until she has no cards left in her hand.

• Turn the card over to reveal it, then check the amount of ink in her inkwell. Ursula doesn’t have
  to pay ink to play cards-she just has to have it!
• If Ursula has enough ink in her inkwell to play the revealed card, she does so for free. If the card is
  a character or an item, place it at the end of her row. If it’s an action, resolve the effects and put the card into her discard.
• If she doesn’t have enough ink to play the revealed card, put it into her inkwell, facedown.
  

If Ursula ever runs out of cards, the next time she must draw, shuffle the cards in her discard to make her new deck. Place it in the designated spot on her playmat and continue with her draw.

Special Rules at a Glance

Ursula

Ursula doesn’t pay ink to play cards. You only check to see if she the amount of ink that would normally be needed to play them. If she doesn’t, that card goes to her inkwell facedown.

If a card is returned to Ursula’s hand, it stays there until the reveal step and is then revealed.

If any effect requires Ursula to make a choice, players make that choice together and resolve it as though she had done it.

Reminder: On Ursula’s cards, “your” and “your” refer to Ursula, while opposing players” refers to the players facing her.

Players

All player turns happen at the same time, so you can coordinate your play and use abilities and effects on each other’s characters, etc. This is especially useful with Support or other effects that last until the end of the turn.

Reminder: “You” and “your” refer to the individual player, but Ursula is your only opponent.

TIP! An effect on one of your cards that refers to a “player” can be used on Ursula!

Winning

YOU WIN when every player facing Ursula has 20 or more lore at the same time.

URSULA WINS when she has 40 or more lore OR when any player facing her must draw but has run out of cards.

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Player Decks

Amber & Ruby Player deck

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Amethyst & Steel Player deck

Ursula’s Scenario Deck Cards

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The following content will feature the cards that are included in the Ursula scenario deck. If you wish to play through the Illumineer’s Quest – Deep Trouble scenario without knowing Ursula’s deck ahead of time, please skip this post.

Anna – Ensnared Sister
6 Cost | Character
Strength 5 | Willpower 6 | Lore 2
Entangled · Hero · Queen
Evasive (Only characters with Evasive can challenge this character.)
“Ah, royalty! So pretty. So naive. So utterly impressionable.”
– Ursula

2 copies

Bruno Madrigal – Unspeakable Seer
2 Cost | Character
Strength 4 | Willpower 4 | Lore 1
Entangled · Ally · Madrigal
DARK PROPHECY: When you play this character, each opposing player puts the top 3 cards of their deck into their discard.
“His particular talents have already come in quite hand.”
– Ursula

2 copies

Captain Hook – Devious Duelist
5 Cost | Character
Strength 7 | Willpower 4 | Lore 2
Entangled · Villain · Pirate · Captain
“An obvious choice, of course. So full of treachery and deceit. He reminds me of … me.”
– Ursula

2 copies

Flotsam – Wicked Defender
4 Cost | Character
Strength 5 | Willpower 5 | Lore 2
Ally
Bodyguard (An opposing character who challenges one of your characters must choose one with Bodyguard if able.)
URSULA’S SENTRY: This character enters play exerted.
“My darling baby, always so protective”
– Ursula

1 copy

Gaston – Egotistical Bully
2 Cost | Character
Strength 2 | Willpower 4 | Lore 1
Entangled · Villain
POSITIVELY PRIMEVAL: When you play this character, deal 4 damage to the opposing character with the lowest cost. (If there’s a tie, the opposing players choose from the tied characters.)

1 copy

HeiHei – Peckish Pal
3 Cost | Character
Strength 3 | Willpower 2 | Lore 1
Ally
Evasive (Only characters with Evasive can challenge this character.)
He doesn’t know why he’s here. Neither does Ursula.

2 copies

Hercules – Manipulated Hero
4 Cost | Character
Strength 3 | Willpower 7 | Lore 2
Entangled · Hero · Prince
Bodyguard (An opposing character who challenges one of your characters must choose one with Bodyguard if able.)
URSULA’S SENTRY: This character enters play exerted.
EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE: During the opposing players’ turn, they may together pay 3 lore to banish this character.

1 copy

Jafar – Double-Crossing Vizier
7 Cost | Character
Strength 9 | Willpower 9 | Lore 3
Entangled · Villain · Sorcerer
“With such a strong will, he was difficult to entangle. But I always get my way in the end.”
– Ursula

1 copy

Jetsam – Wicked Whisperer
2 Cost | Character
Strength 5 | Willpower 3 | Lore 1
Ally
URSULA HAS GREAT POWERS: When you play this character, deal 1 damage to each opposing character.
“My little poopsie can sway even the most stubborn glimmers.”
– Ursula

1 copy

Mad Hatter – Sinister Host
2 Cost | Character
Strength 3 | Willpower 5 | Lore 1
Entangled · Ally
“He’s simply wild for parties. He’s already celebrating my victory!”
– Ursula

2 copies

Magica De Spell – Shadowy Sorceress
3 Cost | Character
Strength 4 | Willpower 4 | Lore 2
Entangled · Villain · Sorcerer
“Her quaint spells are little more than trifles compared to my own. Still, she does have her uses.”
– Ursula

2 copies

Minnie Mouse – Wild-Eyed Diver
7 Cost | Character
Strength 6 | Willpower 7 | Lore 2
Entangled · Hero
CONFUSING PRESENCE: When you play this character, each opposing player loses 2 lore.
“The first -and best- of my entangled glimmers.”
– Ursula

1 copy

Prince Eric – Grim Groom
1 Cost | Character
Strength 2 | Willpower 5 | Lore 1
Entangled · Hero · Prince
Bodyguard (An opposing character who challenges one of your characters must choose one with Bodyguard if able.)
URSULA’S SENTRY: This character enters play exerted.

2 copies

Shark – Toothy Terror
5 Cost | Character
Strength 4 | Willpower 7 | Lore 1
Entangled · Ally
BIG BULLY: When you play this character, deal 2 damage to each opposing damaged character.
“He loves a problem he can sink his teeth into.”
– Ursula

2 copies

Tamatoa – Grabby Crab
4 Cost | Character
Strength 3 | Willpower 6 | Lore 2
Entangled · Villain
PICK ONE!: When you play this character, the opposing players together choose an item or location of theirs and banish it.
“It’s called a distraction, angelfish. Look it up.”
– Ursula

2 copies

Triton’s Daughters – Discordant Chorus
0 Cost | Character
Strength 2 | Willpower 3 | Lore 1
Entangled · Ally · Princess
“Perhaps I should have taken their voices, too. Well, there’s always’ time for that later.”
– Ursula

4 copies

Capsize
3 Cost | Action
If you have 6 ink or less, put the top 3 cards of your deck into your inkwell facedown.
If you have 7 ink or more, each opposing player chooses and banishes one of their characters.

2 copies

Choppy Waters
3 Cost | Action
Deal 2 damage to the highest cost character each opposing player has in play. (If there’s a tie, the opposing player chooses from the tied characters.)

2 copies

Crushing Wave
4 Cost | Action
Deal 2 damage to each opposing character.

1 copy

Entangling Magic
2 Cost | Action
Each opposing player discards a card. Then, put this card into your inkwell facedown.
“Fascinating, isn’t it? Don’t be shy – take a closer look …”
– Ursula

1 copy

Fortunate Hit
0 Cost | Action
The opposing player together chooses one of your items and banish it.

1 copy

Lash Out
2 Cost | Action
Each opposing character chooses and banishes one of their characters.

2 copies

Lightning Storm
6 Cost | Action
Each opposing player loses 3 lore.

1 copy

Riptide
6 Cost | Action
Banish all opposing characters, items, and locations with cost 2 or less.

1 copy

Tentacle Swipe
2 Cost | Action
Deal 1 damage to each opposing character. Then, put this card into your inkwell facedown.

1 copy

Tsunami
7 Cost | Action
Banish all opposing characters.

1 copy

Typhoon
5 Cost | Action
Return all opposing exerted characters to their players’ hands.

2 copies

Whirlpool
4 Cost | Action
Exert all opposing characters. They can’t ready at the start of their next turn.

1 copy

The Hexwell Crown
3 Cost | Item
PERKS OF POWER: Exert – Draw a card

1 copy

Ursula’s Contract
0 Cost | Item
SWEETEN THE DEAL: Opposing players can’t use battleground abilities.
MINOR STIPULATION: At the start of your turn, banish this item to gain 3 lore.

4 copies

Ursula’s Stolen Trident
0 Cost | Item
IT’S MY POWER NOW: Exert – Gain 1 lore.
“With my magic, the trident has powers the foolish sea king never imagined!”
– Ursula

1 copy

Secret Victory Card

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The final content below features the card included inside the victory pack that you are supposed to open only upon defeating Ursula. If you wish to play through the Illumineer’s Quest – Deep Trouble scenario without knowing the card that you get after you defeat Ursula, please skip the remaining content.

Half Hexwell Crown
6 Cost | Amethyst | Item
AN UNEXPECTED FIND: Exert, 2 lore – Draw a card.
A PERILOUS POWER: Exert, 2 lore – Discard a card – Exert chosen character.
The broken crown holds dark and mysterious powers.

It is important to note that this card has the card number 223/204·EN·5, which indicates that the Hexwell Crown SHOULD be included in set 5 which releases in August. Image provided by Narzzghal!