Disney Lorcana · Illumineer's Quest

Palace HeistQuick Reference

Jafar has reforged the Hexwell Crown and crowned himself Supreme Sorcerer. Sneak into his palace, out-build his self-playing deck, and steal the Crown back before his power peaks. A co-op game for 1–4 Illumineers played with ordinary Lorcana decks.

♛

You winEvery player reaches 20 lore and a player holds the Crown — at the same moment.

☥

You loseJafar hits 40 lore, or any player must draw from an empty deck.

Setup

≈5 min

Pick a battlegroundChoose one of the four battleground cards — this is your difficulty. Set up Jafar's board, his starting lore, and his draw token exactly as that card instructs.
Seat JafarShuffle Jafar's 50-card scenario deck and place it on his board. He starts with no hand, places the Reforged Crown on his side, and takes the first turn.
Ready the IllumineersEach player takes a 60-card deck (use the two included decks or your own), shuffles, and draws 7.
MulliganEach player may put any number of those cards on the bottom of their deck and redraw the same number — once.

The Basics

Core Lorcana, refreshed

Reading a card

⬡Cost top-left — ink to play ۞Inkwell ring — may be inked

⚔Strength — challenge damage 🛡Willpower — damage it survives ◇Lore — gained per quest

Six inks: Amber · Amethyst · Emerald · Ruby · Sapphire · Steel. Types: Character, Action (Songs are Actions), Item, Location.

Your turn — “Ready · Set · Draw”

ReadyUn-exert all your cards: characters, items, and ink.
SetResolve start-of-turn triggers; gain lore from your Locations.
DrawDraw 1 card. (The very first player skips this on turn one.)
MainThen act freely, in any order, as long as you have ink ↓

Main phase actions

Ink (1×)Once per turn, put one card bearing the inkwell ring face-down into your inkwell.
PlayPay a card's ink cost by exerting that many ink. Any ink pays for anything.
QuestExert a dry character to gain its lore.
ChallengeExert a dry character to attack an exerted enemy (or a Location).
MoreMove a character to a Location (pay its move cost); use ⟳ abilities.

No end step — your turn ends when you choose to stop.

Quest vs. Challenge

♦ Quest

Exert the character → add its Lore to your total. Safe, but exerting leaves it open to being challenged.

⚔ Challenge

Both characters deal Strength damage at once. Damage ≥ Willpower → banished to discard.

Ink must dry: a character can't quest, challenge, or use ⟳ abilities the turn you play it — unless it has Rush (challenge only). Damage stays across turns; it vanishes if the card leaves play. Locations have Willpower but no Strength, so they never hit back.

Keywords you'll meet most

Bodyguard — may enter exerted; enemies must challenge it first if able.

Evasive — only Evasive characters can challenge it.

Rush — can challenge the turn it's played.

Reckless — can't quest; must challenge if able. (Jafar leans on this.)

Ward — opponents can't choose it (except to challenge it).

Resist +N — reduce damage it takes by N.

Challenger +N — +N Strength while challenging.

Support — when it quests, lend its Strength to another character this turn.

Singer N — exert it to sing (play free) a song costing N or less.

Shift N — play it onto a same-named character for the Shift cost.

The Heist

What Palace Heist changes

The win is shared, the clock is Jafar

Win: when all players have hit 20 lore and one of you is holding the Crown at the same time. You cannot win while Jafar holds it — even with the lore.

Lose: Jafar reaches 40 lore (he reclaims the Crown and wins outright), or any player decks out by failing a draw.

Holding the Crown gives its controller +2 lore at the start of their turn — so it's both a win requirement and a lore engine. Jafar gets that +2 too whenever he holds it.

The Reforged Crown

Its controller gains +2 lore at the start of their turn.
You may steal it only when Jafar has no Location in play.
To steal: each player exerts a character, then you choose which player takes the Crown.
Jafar has cards that snatch it back — and if the Crown is ever removed from the game, it returns to him.

Grab it before you cross 20, but expect a tug-of-war to keep it.

Running Jafar's turn — “Ready · Set · Resolve · Draw”

ReadyReady (un-exert) all of Jafar's cards.
SetResolve his start-of-turn effects; he gains lore from his Locations; if he holds the Crown, add +2 lore.
Resolve the row — left to rightEach of his characters quests if it can (Jafar gains its lore). A Reckless character must challenge instead — you pick which of your characters it hits. Exert each card as you finish it.
DrawDraw cards equal to his draw token, stack them, and resolve top-down. Jafar never spends ink: if his inkwell already holds enough ink for a card, he plays it free; if not, that card goes into his inkwell instead. Locations drop into his location slot.

His draw token climbs (roughly 2 → 5) as his lore and your player count rise. Card draw feeds more card draw — keep his lore down or the snowball buries you.

After Jafar finishes, all players take their turn together, simultaneously, each as a normal Lorcana turn. Coordinating in real time is the whole point — and you may spend lore to trigger your battleground's abilities.

Battlegrounds

Difficulty & abilities

Each battleground sets Jafar's starting defenses and grants Illumineer Abilities — at any point on the players' turn, any player may spend their own lore to trigger one. It lowers your total (you still need 20), so time them. Medium and up start with the Ink Moat already in play, so the Crown is guarded until you banish it.

EasyJafar's Throne Room

Jafar startsHis characters enter play exerted.

Spend lore →
1	Chosen character gets Resist +1 until end of turn.
2	Another chosen Illumineer gains 2 lore.
3	Deal 5 damage to a chosen character or location.

MediumSecret Passage

Jafar startsWith the Ink Moat in play (the Crown is protected until it's gone).

Spend lore →
1	Ready a chosen character; it can't quest for the rest of this turn.
2	A chosen Illumineer draws a card.
3	Deal 5 damage to a chosen location.

DifficultThe Crown Chamber

Jafar startsWith the Ink Moat in play; his locations gain Resist +1 (harder to banish).

Spend lore →
1	Chosen character gets +2 Strength this turn.
2	Each Illumineer pays 1 ink less for their next character this turn.
3	Each Illumineer puts the top of their deck into their inkwell, exerted.

ExtremeFull Alert

Jafar startsWith the Ink Moat in play; his locations gain Evasive and +1 Lore.

Spend lore →
4	Chosen character gains Evasive this turn.
The Extreme board gives just this one, costly option — players get the least help here.

Two double-sided cards hold all four. Start at Throne Room until you've found your footing. To banish the Ink Moat (or any location), challenge it with a character — locations have Willpower but no Strength, so they never hit back.

★

Heist Tips

Throttle Jafar's lore early — his draw, and everything else, snowballs off it.
Banish his Locations to crack open a Crown steal.
Time the grab: +2 lore/turn is huge, but he'll claw it back.
Don't over-quest into open Reckless attackers — trade with challenges.
Watch your own deck size; milling yourself loses the game for everyone.
Spend spare lore on battleground abilities when the board is quiet.

Created by

Questions or corrections · steve@commonplay.io