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Tabletop Game / Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

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Use the Sorcerers Crest!

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom was a Disney-themed Collectible Card Game that could be found at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. The plot of the game is that Hades wants to overthrow the Magic Kingdom so he can make it into his summer home, but the only thing that can stop him is Merlin and a magical crystal called The Crystal Of the Magic Kingdom. He sends his minions to steal it from Merlin, but it gets shattered in the process. Now Hades is recruiting some of the Disney Villains (Cruella de Vil, Dr. Facilier, Yzma, Maleficent, Ursula, Governor Ratcliffe, Scar and Jafar) to get the shards before Merlin, and it's up to you, the player to aid Merlin and recover the pieces of the crystal.

The game was played by finding various interactive portals scattered about the park. You are armed with special cards based off Disney characters, and by simply holding them up, you can activate the portal and use them to perform tasks. Tasks range from fighting a villain or using the back of the card to activate a spell that's needed at the time.

The game spanned across every land in the Magic Kingdom except Tomorrowland. You had to physically locate the portal in the park and then activate it. Once you do, you're put on a certain story track until you defeat the villain before moving onto the next villain. Defeating all the villains will put you in one final story arc wherein you go after Hades.

The game closed on January 24, 2021, after 9 years of service.

See also fellow Disney World interactive attraction World Showcase Adventure.


Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom provides examples of the following tropes:

  • Affably Evil: Hades' motivation for taking over the Magic Kingdom? He wants a summer home.
  • Agent Scully: Cruella and her men don't believe in magic, and are under the impression that 'Boss Teal' is just an underworld crime boss. As such they believe that Merlin and the player are nothing more than a bunch of stage magicians, and that your magic is just "parlor tricks".
  • And I'm the Queen of Sheba: This exchange:
    Horace: You don't think those mutts are in cahoots with that Merlin bloke, do you?
    Jasper: Oh sure, and Boss Teal is the Lord of Death hisself!
  • Back from the Dead: Hades offers to bring back certain villains from the dead in exchange for their help.
    Hades: (to Dr. Facilier) Tough career choice, I know, either keep your gig here as jester in the river of souls, or go back and be King of the Mardi Gras.
  • Big Bad: Hades, as he's the leader of the villains.
  • Bribing Your Way to Victory: There are 70 general spell cards thus far in the game. During the game's initial run, card numbers 61-70 were specially put into circulation. After that, they were pulled out of circulation, but started to get reissued in the summer of 2012 in booster packs that guests can purchase at various shops throughout the park.
    • During the separate admission events Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, special party-exclusive spell cards started to be released in the fall of 2012. The 2012 Halloween Party's card featured Chip & Dale, the 2012 Christmas Party card featured Wayne & Lanny from Prep & Landing, the 2013 Halloween Party card featured the Hitchhiking Ghosts and the 2013 Christmas Party card featured Huey, Dewey & Louie, the 2013 Halloween Party card featured the Skeleton Helmsman from the Pirates of the Carribean ride and the 2014 Christmas Party card features Elsa.
      • There was also a card was given exclusively to cast members.
      • There's an even rarer card that was given to the research team that conducted surveys when the game first came out.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Played literally. When Hades appears to Cruella Deville, he presents a card with 'Boss Teal: Underworld Crime Boss' on it.
  • Collectible Card Game
  • Cool Old Guy: Merlin. While most of the time he's incapacitated and leaves you in the hands of another character to serve as your guide, he's out there on the front lines battling Hades' forces. At one point he goes toe to toe with Jafar, and that's while he's still an all-powerful genie. He even manages to weaken Jafar to the point where the player can stand a chance against him.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: A good majority of the villains Hades tries to recruit at one point or another try to double cross him.
    • Maleficent is one of them. When she's defeated, Hades lampshades it, stating that he pretty much expected it since she's 'The Mistress of all Evil' but that watching a villain of her caliber work was such a joy that he couldn't bring himself to say anything.
  • Deal with the Devil: Obviously since Hades is involved. He brings the dead villains back to life, offers Cruella the dalmatians, Yzma another chance at a position of power, Ratcliffe a get out of jail free card, and Scar immortality so he could rule for all time.
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: When Cruella is defeated, she falls through the floor. When Hades comes looking for her, she yells "LET ME OUT OF HERE YOU IDIOT!!" ...let's just say that Hades takes a 'firing' very literally.
  • Dismantled MacGuffin: The Crystal of the Magic Kingdom.
  • The Dragon: Chernabog. In Hades own words, "My number one guy!" and the penultimate boss before Hades.
  • Dramatic Wind: The Pocahontas card's spell is "Colors of the Wind", which blasts a flurry of leaves when cast.
  • Edible Ammunition: The Tiana card hurls hot gumbo at the target when cast.
    • The Baloo card hurls coconuts at the target when cast.
    • The Halloween Party-exclusive Chip & Dale card sometimes hurls acorns and candy corn/popcorn at the target when cast.
    • When you fight Kronk, he throws a pupu platter at you.
  • Exactly What I Aimed At: Some of the victory animations feature the villain or henchman/men being defeated by the environment instead of directly by the player's spell. Ursula's eels and Kronk come to mind.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: No matter what you do, there will always be one villain who will successfully send their piece of the crystal to Hades before you can get it. This does, however, send you into the finale where you go after the final piece.
  • Finish Him!: When you defeat a villain, you'll be instructed to use one more spell to finish them off—it doesn't matter which you use to do this.
    • One example is Dr. Facilier's story. When you defeat him, he tries to bargain with the player before Louis trumpets in his ear. Mama Oodie yells at the player to finish him while he's stunned.
  • Fourth Wall Greeting: Whenever you open a portal to fight a villain or one of their henchmen, usually they're going about their business until they finally notice you there.
    Kronk: A nice pupu platter with an alpaca potion glaze, this oughta be popular with Yzma's targets. (looks up and notices the player) Hey, how'd you get in here?
    • Maleficent actually takes your sudden appearance in stride.
    Maleficent: (talking to her goons) Once the trap is ready, summon our friend from the Underworld. He'll think he can just claim his coveted crystal, when instead he'll be walking right into my trap. (looks to the right and notices the player) Shall we welcome our unexpected visitor? *attacks*
    • The first time anyway...
    Maleficent: (second encounter) The Sorcerer and Good Fairies have proven to be a bigger inconvenience than expected. No matter, prepare the trap to be turned against them first. (finally sees the player) YOU-!!
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: While it doesn't entirely apply to every villain, some of the defeat animations for the villains feature such comical humiliation like Jasper stepping into his rope trap or Yzma's sweater potion backfiring on her.
  • Irony: In their original movie, Hades' plan was freeing the Titans and unleashing them on Olympus so he can take over. Here, the player can unleash one of the titans (Lythos, the Rock one) on the villains in order to disrupt Hades' plan.
  • Lethal Joke Character: A few of the cards can seem this way. Who would have thought that a card based off THUMPER of all characters would have an attack power of 4?
  • No Fourth Wall: Every character in the game addresses you the player directly.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: When Hades wants to recruit a villain who isn't dead, he takes on various disguises. When he appears to Ratcliffe, he goes by 'Lord Indigo of the East Underworld Trading Company' or as 'Boss Teal: Undeworld Crime Boss' to Cruella.
  • Personal Raincloud: The Eeyore Card is his depressive raincloud, which when cast, blasts a lightning bolt at the target.
  • Players Are Goldfish: You'll be constantly reminded that the Sorcerer's Crest is found on the back of your cards. Justified since there's no set story track to start on, so the reminder needs to be there for players just starting out. However, the reminder goes away when you reach the finale—and once you move on to the Medium or Hard difficulty, only the finale requires use of the Crest at all.
  • Plot-Sensitive Button: The Sorcerer's Crest. It seems to be an all-purpose magic spell that can do anything from removing an illusion to sabotaging a potion while simultaneously setting someone free.
  • Power Equals Rarity: A card has three stats: attack, boost, and shield. Each of these stats has a number from 1 to 5. The Cast Member's Power of the Four Keys card has all 3's. It may not be the strongest, but it's the most balanced card in terms of attack, boost, and shield...and is the hardest card to get a hold of because only a handful of them exist, and they go for high amounts online.
  • Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: Doubles as a funny moment when you face Cruella.
    Cruella: Oh please darling. Why there's about as much of a chance of you stopping me with your parlor tricks as there is of me pulling a rabbit out of this hat! (She does so, with a hilarious expression.)
  • Revenge: As Mama Odie explains, Facilier wants some against Tiana. Part of his arc involves saving Tiana from him.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: The descriptions for nearly all of the cards, except for Pooh's Honey Bees
  • Scary Stinging Swarm: The Pooh card, when cast, unleashes a swarm of bees. At full-power, it's a whirlwind of bees that covers the entire screen.
  • Scavenger Hunt: About half of this game is a scavanger hunt in finding the portals around the park.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The fate of the villains in the end, they're trapped inside the Crystal of the Magic Kingdom, though not forever according to Merlin.
  • Shout-Out: During the last portion of the game, you go after Hades. After blasting open a portal to chase Pain and Panic, Merlin crashes down into the Underworld. He remarks that he had heard of rumors of there being tunnels under the Magic Kingdom.What, you don't get it? 
  • Stealth Pun: All of Hades disguises have names that are other words for blue. Lord Indigo, Boss Teal, Prince Azure, and Lazuli.
  • The Chosen One: Sort of...:
    Pocahontas:(Addressing the player) Once again my dreams have shown men coming to our shores bringing destruction to the land. Something's telling me that YOU are the one who will stop them.
  • The Unfought: Hades, surprisingly. Then again, he is the Greek God of the Underworld.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Some of the cards can be seen this way. Mr. Incredible's card is a good example. What does it do when cast? It hurls a TRAIN at the target!
  • A Winner Is You: After all that trouble of defeating the villains and walking a good ten miles across the park from portal to portal, what do you get for your trouble? Merlin congratulates you and dubs you 'Master Sorcerer of the Magic Kingdom' along with the image of a medal appearing on screen. That's it.
    • There is going to be a pin made modeled after the medal at the end, maybe they'll hand that out after beating the game when it comes out?
      • Nope, you'll have to shell out money to get the "ending medal" pin. The only physical reward you get for completing the game is another card pack if you choose to restart the game again.

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