One of the key elements of Disney Lorcana is protecting your characters. They help you keep your opponent at bay, have abilities you’ll want to use, and, most importantly, they’ll quest for lore to net you that precious victory. However, they’re also incredible vulnerable, as using them will open them up to be challenged and potentially even banished.
Fortunately, there is a way to keep them safe: throw someone else in the line of fire first. Enter the Bodyguard keyword, a mechanic that allows brave and powerful characters to take the heat, while your smaller, squishier friends focus on building up that lore.
What Is Bodyguard?
Bodyguard is a keyword found exclusively on character cards. Characters with Bodyguard enter play exerted, and any of your opponent’s characters who challenge must challenge characters with Bodyguard before they can challenge anything else.
Essentially, this means Bodyguards are walls your opponent must break through before they can deal any damage to the characters you want to protect. It also means they have to chisel down their own characters’ Willpower by challenging the Bodyguard, making it easier for you to take them out with other characters on your turn.
There are a few caveats to this to keep in mind. First, all of your characters with Bodyguard aren’t a legal target for challenging, your opponent can challenge anything as normal. This means your Bodyguards must be exerted on your opponents’ turn – so make sure you’re questing or challenging with them whenever you can, to keep them online and ready to take the damage.
The same applies to Evasive. If you give a Bodyguard Evasive, only Evasive characters will be able to challenge it. Anything else will be able to challenge your non-Bodyguard characters as normal.
Secondly, if you control multiple Bodyguards, your opponent can choose which one they challenge. All of them must be banished before you can challenge anything without Bodyguard, but your opponent could focus on them one at a time, or could spread their challenges out if there is more than one valid target.
Finally, if your last Bodyguard is successfully banished, your opponents’ other characters can challenge your other characters in the same turn. Lorcana doesn’t use attack steps or phases like other TCGs, meaning your opponent can go in to challenge multiple times in the same turn.
How To Use Bodyguard
Bodyguard works best in two different circumstances.
In the early game, dropping a Bodyguard can help you get your key pieces established. For instance, dropping a Hercules, True Hero on turn three gives you time to play an Aurora and shift Dreaming Guardian onto it for even more protection.
You may only have a short window to act, as cards like Hercules are on the smaller side. Timing is crucial; you’ll be using the Bodyguard more as a stumbling block than a stalwart shield.
On the other end, a late-game Bodyguard could be an unsurpassable nightmare for your opponent. A Mickey Mouse, Musketeer has an imposing Willpower of seven, preventing all but the very largest characters from taking it out quickly.
With this strategy, you want to use healing effects to stretch out how long the Bodyguard is in play. Dinglehopper, Hakuna Matata, Healing Glow, and Magic Flower are all excellent ways to remove damage from the Bodyguard, and will stall your opponent out for long enough that the characters it’s protecting can clinch you the victory.