It’s very difficult for a new trading card game to break into a genre dominated by the likes of Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh!, but Disney Lorcana has a real chance of pulling it off. Presented as "less competitive" take on card games, Lorcana combines the booster pack ripping and deckbuilding of its contemporaries, with a colourful cast of Disney characters new and old.

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With Lorcana still a long way out, but it is getting ready to make a huge impact on card gaming, and there are more than a few reasons to get excited. Here is everything we know about Disney Lorcana.

Updated July 24, 2023 by Joe Parlock: Lorcana is only a few short weeks away now. Whether you've already brewed your first deck or are waiting to see what you find at launch, here's everything you need to know about the game.

What Is Disney Lorcana?

Disney Lorcana is a trading card game (TCG) by Disney and tabletop games publisher Ravensburger. Like other games, such as Magic: The Gathering and the Pokemon TCG, you’ll collect cards in booster packs and create decks with the aim of defeating your opponent.

It is being developed and published by Ravensburger, who previously worked with Disney on the Villainous series of tabletop games. It’s also known for other board games like Dingbats, Escape, Labyrinth, and El Dorado, however this will be its first-ever trading card game.

What Is The Story?

Disney Lorcana is set in the realm of Lorcana. You play as an Illumineer, who stumbles across a gigantic contraption in a building known as the Great Illuminary.

Here, elements of Disney stories, lore fragments, are combined with the pages of a magical lorebook to create glimmers - recreations of characters, items, and worlds from across the Disney universe.

Armed with a wand-like device known as the Inkcaster, it is up to you to protect the realm of Lorcana and search for missing lore.

Ravensburger has yet to fully reveal how this story will be told, although according to narrative director Samantha McFerrin, it will be through a combination of "cards, social media, and other materials". The first story arc will begin with The First Chapter, and continue right across the first year of the game.

What Are Floodborn Cards?

Even this close to launch, one of the biggest secrets in Lorcana has been the Floodborn cards. Characters in Lorcana can appear in three different forms: Storyborn, which are accurate to their original appearances in Disney; Dreamborn, which are idealised and more fantastical versions of them; and Floodborn. Floodborn look to be the most out-there of all, with designs that are radically different to how we know them.

Whether it's a gigantic Tinker Bell towering over a pirate ship, or Mickey Mouse as a skilled thief, Floodborn cards all appear to make use of the Shift mechanic, which so far is exclusive to them.

We don't know where Floodborn Characters are coming from in the world of Lorcana. However, we can assume they're going to be a big part of the unfolding story as the sets go on.

What Are Inks?

Every card in Lorcana is separated into one of six colours, known as Ink. This is similar to Magic: The Gathering's colour system, or Pokemon's types, with each ink having its own play style.

The inks are:

• Amber (yellow) - Amber appears to combine protective elements such as healing damage, with effects that care about having multiple glimmers in play at once.
• Steel (grey) - this ink will focus on "brute force", with a focus on attacking with your Characters, and effects that relate to challenging and combat.
• Ruby (red) - Aggressive, fast, and focused on dealing direct damage.
• Sapphire (blue) - Cares about playing Item cards, with lots of synergies involving using them as often as you can.
• Emerald (green) - Emphasises moving cards from zone to zone and avoiding combat, while being highly adaptable and able to rebuild its board state.
• Amethyst (purple) - Makes use of actions and the abilities of your Characters to control the pacing of the game.

When Does Disney Lorcana Launch?

Disney Lorcana, its starter decks, the Illumineer’s Trove, and the Gift Set will be launching in stages, with its first release coming in local game stores in the United States on August 18, 2023.

On September 1, 2023, it will receive an international release, launching in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada, with cards available in English, French, and German. Any other regions have yet to be confirmed, and will not be part of the initial roll-out for Lorcana.

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What Products Is Disney Lorcana Launching With?

Lorcana has a surprisingly large launch lineup planned, with more than just booster packs available from August 18.

Booster packs will be the primary way of collecting Lorcana, with each pack containing 12 cards. Each pack will include nine regular cards, one foil of any rarity, and two guaranteed cards of rare, super rare, or legendary rarity. These will be available both as individual packs and in 24-pack booster boxes.

It will also be launching with three Starter decks: the Amber/Amethyst Moana and Mickey deck, the Emerald/Ruby Cruella De Vil and Aladdin deck, and the Sapphire/Steel Aurora and Simba deck. These decks all contain a 60-card deck, an additional 12-card booster pack, a tracker token, and a paper playmat.

The Illumineer’s Trove is Lorcana’s version of Pokemon’s Elite Trainer Boxes or Magic’s bundles, containing eight booster packs, two deck boxes featuring art of Aurora and Mickey Mouse, and a handbook on playing the game, complete with a collector's checklist of every card in the set.

The last revealed product so far is the Gift Set, which is the only one to include promo cards, with Mulan, Imperial Soldier and Hades, King Of Olympus. This set includes four booster packs, the two promo cards, jumbo-sized promos, and two ‘tracker tokens’, though what they actually track is not yet known.

How Many Sets Will Lorcana Have A Year?

It has been confirmed by Ravensburger that Disney Lorcana will follow a similar release schedule to Magic and Pokemon, in that it will have four expansion sets each year.

It has not been revealed if these will be the only four releases in the year, or whether they’ll be supplemented with additional products between sets.

What Do We Know About The Second Set?

As mentioned, Lorcana's second set will be coming only a couple of months after the first, with a November 17 release date in local game stores, and a December 1 date for larger stores.

No details have been revealed about this set so far, other than hints of it continuing the story begun by the First Chapter. We'll likely hear more about this set shortly after the launch of The First Chapter, or in October at the latest.

Does Disney Lorcana Have Pixar, Marvel, Or Star Wars Characters?

For the first set, Lorcana will only be focusing on traditional Disney characters, like Elsa, Mickey Mouse, and Robin Hood.

Characters from Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel may come in later sets, but these have not been revealed yet, and likely won’t be until The First Chapter has launched.

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How Do You Play Lorcana?

Much like other TCGs, Lorcana has you and your opponents create 60-card decks (with a maximum of two colours in each). However, Lorcana has you try and build 20 'Lore' the fastest.

To do this, your characters will need to quest, producing Lore and becoming 'exerted' until your next turn. While you could go all-in on questing and producing Lore as fast as possible, your opponent can decide to challenge your exerted characters, putting them in combat and potentially even forcing your own characters to become banished.

To cast your characters, items, and actions, you'll need to spend ink. You generate ink by putting one card from your hand face-down into your Inkwell each turn, gradually building up your resources and letting you play bigger cards as the game goes on.

Damage in Lorcana is semi-permanent, remaining on characters across turns. Your big, heavy-hitting characters may be able to tank a few challenges early on, but will quickly run out of Willpower after multiple challenges, and accumulate enough damage to be banished.

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What Mechanics Have Been Confirmed For Lorcana?

Many cards in Lorcana have their own, unique abilities. For instance, Cruella De Vil, Miserable As Usual's ability is called 'You'll Be Sorry!', to give the card an extra hint of her flavour.

However, some mechanics will reappear on multiple cards. These are called keywords, and are likely to form the backbone of Lorcana's gameplay.

• Banished – sent to a graveyard or discard pile.
• Bodyguard – Bodyguards can enter play exerted, and must be challenged and banished before your opponent can challenge other exerted characters.
• Challenge – Lorcana’s version of combat. Only exerted Characters can be challenged, at which point both the challenger and challengee deal damage to each other equal to their specific Strength stat.
• Challenger – An ability that modifies a character’s stats whenever it challenges or is challenged.
• Evasive – only characters with Evasive can challenge this character.
• Exert – Like Magic: The Gathering’s tapping, where cards are rotated 90 degrees to show they’re ‘spent’.
• Rush – Characters with Rush can challenge the same turn they are played, much like Hearthstone's Rush, or Magic: The Gathering's haste. Characters without Rush can't challenge, as their "ink is still drying", preventing them from exerting.
• Shift – by paying an alternate cost, you can play characters on top of each other.
• Support – Whenever the character quests, you can add one Strength to another character's Strength stat.
• Ward – A character with Ward can’t be chosen by your opponent, such as when using a character’s ability or using an action card

What Are Action Cards?

Unlike character cards that remain in play for multiple turns, Action cards are one-off effects you can play by paying their associated cost.

Action cards can only be played on the Main Phase of your turn. Once you have paid their ink cost and resolved their effect, they leave play and go to your discard pile.

Compared to Characters and Items, fewer Action cards can be put into your Inkwell as well, meaning you'll have to be careful to balance Action cards with stuff you can ink for resources.

What Are Song Cards?

Songs are a subtype of Action card that can be played for free, provided you meet the requirements listed on the card. These are a great way to gain advantage, but you'll need to jump through some extra hoops for them to be most effective.

For instance, the song Let It Go can be played either for five Ink, or can be 'sung' if you already have a character that cost five or more Ink to play, such as Stitch, Rock Star or Robin Hood, Unrivaled Archer.

Other Songs have different requirements, such as One Step Ahead only needing a character with a cost of two or greater, or Part Of Your World just three. It currently isn't clear whether or not all Songs will use cost as the requirement, or whether we may see more specific ones like Character types or number of cards in play.

What Are Item Cards?

While most cards that have been revealed for Lorcana have either been characters or spells, Item cards let you use the various gadgets, MacGuffins, and doo-dads of the Disney universe.

Mechanically, Item cards fill a very similar role to that of Magic: The Gathering's artifacts. They remain in play once they've been cast, likely can't be challenged in combat like creatures, but still have abilities that can be used to gain an advantage.

For example, Magic Mirror is an Item card that requires you to tap it and pay a certain amount of resources to draw a card. Meanwhile, White Rabbit's Watch can do the same to give a character Rush, letting it challenge the same turn it's played.

Items will see most play in Sapphire inked decks, as the blue colour is the one most tied to using Items. However, we don't know the precise line between an Item and a character – if Magic Mirror is an Item, what is Pinocchio?

Will Disney Lorcana Have Organised Play?

Lorcana will have a full organised play scheme, with at least one 12-week competitive season.

However, instead of having the focus solely on winning games efficiently, Lorcana will also reward players for sporting behaviour and fostering positive communities in their game stores.

Stores will run individual events, with the usual prizes for winning such as pins, stickers, and promo cards. You'll also gain points for actions such as teaching others how to play, bringing friends along, or simply by participating. These leagues will run for 12 weeks, with plans for more traditional national and international leagues coming at a later date.

The first season will start with the launch of The First Chapter in local game stores.

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What Were The D23 Expo Promo Cards?

The first time we ever saw Disney Lorcana cards was at 2022’s D23 Expo. Attendees not only had the chance to see the cards and mechanics for the first time, but also get their hands on a set of seven limited-edition foil promo cards.

These cards were:

These editions of the cards were unique, thanks to the two stamps found on the bottom black border of the card. One marks it as a First Edition, while the other labels it as a D23 Expo promo.

Can I Still Get The Lorcana D23 Expo Promo Cards?

Unless you’re willing to pay a much higher price to get it from a secondary seller (where full sets of the promo cards can reach over $6,000), you can no longer get the D23 Expo promo cards.

However, the cards sold at the D23 Expo were just special editions of cards that will be included in the first full set for Lorcana, The First Chapter. While these ones won’t have the same D23 stamp on them, you’ll still be able to get your hands on Robin Hood, Unrivaled Archer or Stitch, Rock Star when the game launches.

Despite initial reports otherwise, Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor will also be in the first set release, and was not a D23 Expo exclusive.

NEXT: TCG Release Dates 2023