Disney Lorcana

• Designers: Ryan Miller, Steve Warner
• Publisher: Ravensburger
• Players: 2
• Age: 10+
• Time: 20-40 minutes per game
• Played with review copies provided by Ravensburger USA

So, unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few months, you’re likely already aware of Ravensburger’s newest entry into the CCG market, Disney Lorcana.  The game is set in the rich and fantastical world of Lorcana, a combination of the words “lore” and “arcana”. Players will take on the mantle of Illumineer, a powerful sorcerer, and band together Disney characters from Lorcana’s “The Great Illuminary”, a treasury of all Disney songs and stories ever made.

I had the chance to acquaint myself with the game back at GenCon 2023, and I was given a starter deck at their press event.  However, as this is enough for only one person to play the game.  I was able to get a few games in against people at a local game store, but given the huge surge of interest, I was unable to purchase any more cards.  I did eventually get a second starter deck for review purposes, and I have since been able to play the game at home with those starter decks (and 6 booster packs also provided from the Ravensburger press team).  I have not been able to get other cards as all the local stores have been sold out!

Since that time, a second set of cards has been released in mid November – Rise of the Floodborn. I did go to a local gamestore to see the new cards and watch a tournament, but I did not get there in time to sign up and participate.  Just this week, Ravensburger has announced that a third set will come in early 2024 – Into The Inklands.

Into the Inklands set introduces location cards depicting popular locations from Disney stories. These offer players special abilities and interactions. In the set, new in-game mini-stories are told for the first time and other Disney characters make their first appearance.   

It’s nice to see that the current expansions continue to add new elements to the gameplay – rather than just adding new cards.  I hope to learn more about the new expansions as they come out.  Ravensburger has mentioned plans of ramping up production to meet the surging demand.

So how does the game play?    If you have played any other CCG before, a lot of the game will feel familiar, and it is pretty easy to jump into the game – though there are a number of things which feel innovative for the genre.  Each player has a deck of cards – at least 60 total, though no more than 4 of any particular card (specific card, not character!), and you are limited to having cards from only one or two of the 6 ink types.  

Thus far, I pretty much just used my starter decks straight from the box with a few cards added from the booster packs that come in those starter decks.    I have a Ruby/Emerald starter box and an Amber/Amethyst starter box.  Interestingly, all of the Steel and Sapphire cards that come in my booster packs are essentially useless at this moment.  I simply don’t have enough cards to generate a deck of either color, and honestly, I don’t have enough of any of my four starter colors to bring a deck up to 60 with the limited numbers I have of Steel and Sapphire.   

So, my first tip for a starter would be – be prepared to make a large investment at the start, i.e. get three starter decks so that you have enough cards to play any color combination that you want.  If you’re going to get some of the pre-packaged gift sets, be sure to check that there will be enough cards to actually build a deck!  

The goal here is to collect 20 Lore – unlike other CCGs, the goal is not to defeat your opponent by killing them or draining them of life – but rather gaining Lore by succeeding in quests.  Obviously, it’s mostly semantics, but given the anticipated audience for Disney Lorcana, it is thematically fitting and a much more palatable victory condition to explain to younger gamers.

To start, the deck is shuffled and a hand of 7 cards is dealt. You can take a one-time mulligan and discard any unwanted cards from your starting hand and drawing replacements from your deck. Reshuffle your deck prior to starting.

Again, the game is played until someone has 20 Lore.  Turns are split into two phases – the Beginning Phase and the Main Phase.  In the Beginning Phase, you “Ready” your cards, which means you stand them all upright, you enact any start of turn actions on your cards, and then you Draw a card from the top of your deck.

The Main phase is a freewheeling phase where you can do any legal actions in any order you want and as many times as you want, with one exception – you can only add a single card to your inkwell per turn:

• Add a card to your Inkwell – take any card from your hand and place it face down on the table in your Inkwell.  Once placed, it is there for the rest of the game.  Cards in the Inkwell can be “exerted” – that is rotated 90 degrees as if you were t*pping them – to provide 1 ink.
• Playing a card – put a card from your hand into play on the table, exerting cards from your inkwell to match the cost seen in the upper left corner.  Newly played character cards have summoning sickness, er, I mean, they are newly painted, and you are waiting for their ink to dry – so you can’t use them until the next turn.  They do come into play upright though, and not t*pped… I mean, exerted – as this keeps them safe from Challenges.  Items can be used immediately, and Action cards generally resolve and then are immediately discarded
• Sing a song – Song cards are special action cards that can be paid for in the traditional way, but previously played character cards can be exerted to pay for the cost.
• Use a character effect – there is often a cost associated with this; if it involves exerting, be sure to remember whether that card is able to do so
• Quest – using a character played in a previous turn, exert the card and gain lore equal to their lore value.
• Challenge – exert one of your characters to initiate the challenge, and then designate a target – this must be an opponent’s character who is already exerted.  Both characters deal damage to their opponent equal to their strength, putting counters on their target.  If the counters exceed the card’s willpower rating, the card is banished and discarded from play.

Whenever you are done doing stuff, you let your opponent know that you’re done and they take their turn.  The game can end in two ways – usually when one player has 20 or more Lore and wins, though it is possible to lose the game if you are unable to draw a card from your deck.

It is important to state that I have only played four of the colors, and only with cards that were available to me from my two starter decks.  I have been able to generate decks with different combinations of Ruby, Emerald, Amber and Amethyst – with my opponent then obviously taking the combination of the two colors not chosen.   Again, given the rules for deck construction, I simply don’t have enough cards to use the other two colors in a deck.

One thing that I have surely missed out on is the ability to craft a deck to my liking.  As with many CCGs, better decks involve strategies built around a few cards, and likely 3 or 4 copies of each of those cards in order to maximize the potential of getting a desired combination into play.

So between my 2 starter decks and four booster packs – here’s what I have by color

• Ruby: 34 cards
• Emerald: 39 cards
• Amber: 40 cards
• Amethyst: 37 cards
• Steel:  8 cards
• Sapphire: 5 cards

So. for my 2 starter boxes (MSRP 16.99 each  though current online prices can be north of 30 bucks for each), I have enough to play a rudimentary game, but really not enough for any meaningful deckbuilding.  As I’m starting out with the game, it’s just fine – and I can explore the cards I have and get a chance to see how they work; but I simply don’t have the tools to build anything that focuses on a particular strategy.  Further, I don’t have enough cards to even change up with any one particular color does; though if I’m willing to use all the cards I have of one color, I then might be able to winnow down the cards of the other color to maybe try to focus a bit…  I have definitely enjoyed my games so far, but I know that I haven’t been able to explore the full Lorcana universe because I simply haven’t had access to the cards. 

The game feels both familiar and new.  I used to play a lot of Magic: The Gathering in my youth (from Alpha to Fallen Empires if that helps show my age), as well as a number of other games, and there are a fair amount of similarities.  Yet, there are a lot of things which felt new.  I like the ever-growing Inkwell, which is your source of casting power.  The cards do not require any particular color of ink to be cast, you simply exert cards from your Inkwell – regardless of their color/identity.  There is a lot of interesting strategy around the Inkwell, as any card that you place in there is gone from your deck for the duration of the match.  I found that critical decisions can come early in the game if you are trying to rush out a card, but then you have to decide if it is worth sacrificing another good card in order to get enough ink to do so.

Pacing your play is also pretty important.  You start out with seven cards, and you should remember that you are only drawing a single card in each Beginning Phase to replenish your hand.  In the cards that I have available to me, I don’t have many other ways to draw cards into my hand – these are actions found on more rare cards I suppose.  

As you are free to play as many cards as you can afford, in addition to playing a card each turn into your Inkwell, you could end up with a very small hand – and if you get to that point, you really may have limited options with what to do on your turn.  Figuring out how and when to play cards feels like it is going to be a big part of the overall strategy.  

If players do not watch their pace of play, it is quite possible to end up with a hand of zero cards, and then options plummet.  At this point, you can draw a single card to start their turn, then essentially pass or play that single card, and then wait to draw another card on their next turn.  That’s not a great way to play a deck as you end up with not a lot of strategic decisions to make on your turn…   If I were buying cards to build a deck, I would certainly make sure to include cards that let me draw cards as a way to keep my options open.

Quests are the way to gain Lore, and much of my game was focused on getting Characters in play and then exerting them for Lore.  Of course, each time that I did this, I put them at risk of being challenged on my opponent’s turn.  Conversely, on my turn, you have to sometimes consider whether you should Challenge or Quest.  If you choose to challenge an opponent’s card, you’ll lose the ability to gain Lore from your card, but it might be worthwhile to do in order to stop your opponent from Questing with that card again on the next turn.  The cumulative damage helps keep cards from being unbeatable, but there is a bit of fiddliness involved in tracking the damage on each card – nothing too complicated for a gamer.  This decision of Questing or not often is the main strategic focus of a turn; but in the end, the goal is to gain Lore, and Questing is the best way to do that – so more often than not, I find that I send my characters Questing when possible.

And speaking of Lore, I really like the different take on scoring – in that you are trying to gain Lore rather than defeat or kill your opponent.  It’s a much kinder game as a result; though you certainly still need to Challenge your opponent at times, this isn’t a game necessarily about fighting or confronting them.  For a family setting, this is a much more palatable system to explain to your kids.

The amount of theme in the game is pervasive and well done.  At least, that is what I’m told.  I’ll admit that I’m not a Disney-phile, in fact, I know very little about many of the more modern films; you know, stuff older than say Lion King.  But, some of my fellow gamers at the event were marveling at how many of the card actions actually reflect events in the movies; and how clever it was that these things made it into game design.  One example is found on one of the Ariel cards.  Apparently in the movie, Ariel gives up her voice – and this particular card notes that this version of Ariel cannot be used for paying the cost of Songs.  Because, of course, she gave up her voice!  I would expect that there are multiple little easter egg like things in the cards that will be found by the fans of the Mouse.  

Speaking of songs, I appreciate the way they have been woven into Disney Lorcana.  In the movies, the songs are often the focal points of the story; and they are by far the most memorable parts of the movies (at least for me).  I might not remember much of the story of The Lion King, but man, I can still sing Hakuna Matata.  The actions on the few Song cards I have seen so far can be pretty important to your success; and I like the way that parallels their importance in the movies.   Here’s a song that lets you draw cards!

The artwork is fantastic, and the amount of new art made for the game is staggering. The overall look of the cards is very attractive, and the cards themselves are easy to read.  The foil cards are quite nice as well – the technology for this sort of stuff has really improved over the years.  The paper damage counters are a bit lightweight, but I’m sure that there will soon be DisneyLorcana metal markers coming at some point to bling your game up.  I will probably be using a good old fashioned d20 like I did in my fledgling M:TG days for my Lore counting.  It’s great that they provide a paper mat and tracking chit in the starter box, but it’s easily displaced by wind or fat fingers.

The game is simple enough that it can be played by just about anyone, even non-gamers.  In fact, given the Disney theme, I’d bet that the majority of card purchasers are not gamers.  The DisneyLorcana people seem to be aware of this, and they have devoted an entire panel of the rules to help flesh out some basic strategy for each of the starter decks.  Sure, this advice is pretty basic, and really becomes obsolete as soon as you move past this 60-card starter deck, but it is a clever and simple way to give people a nudge in the right direction if they’ve never tried this sort of thing before.  It reminds me a lot of the same sort of advice that is included in DisneyVillanous where the characters come with a reference card that helps lay out some basic strategy in that asymmetric game.

At this point in my DisneyLorcana journey, I didn’t need those basic hints as a quick read-through of the starter cards made it pretty obvious what each color wanted to do.  However, as I mentioned above, between both general availability as well as financial prudence, I don’t know enough about the possible cards in the game to fully explore anything.   As with most CCGs, the best card effects are found on the rare and super-rare cards, and I only have a smattering of those in each color, and I certainly don’t have four copies of any of those – so there can not be any focused deckbuilding around those cards.  But, FWIW, with the starter decks that I have, we’ve had some spirited and competitive games which have been enjoyable.  

I think it’s fair to say that the cards are available, some in stores and definitely on the secondary market.  Personally, given my history with CCGs, I have chosen to not purchase cards even though they are now available.  I have gone down the rabbit hole of CCGs in the past, and for my own sanity and bank account balance purposes, this is the sort of game that I will have to enjoy with what I’ve got.  Starter decks are $16.99 a piece, and I believe that a twelve card booster pack is $5.99.   If you’re looking for single cards, you can find them online for as little as a penny (commons), $5-40 for Legendary rarity cards, and rares between $0.25 and $4.00.   

If I were to play Disney Lorcana seriously, I’d want at least two competitive decks, and that would require a LOT of cards – whether buying lots and lots of boosters, then selling/trading away cards I didn’t want to fund the purchases/trades of cards I did want.  I state this not to scare people away from the game, but to make it clear that a certain investment of funds will be necessary to play the game.  At minimum, $33.98 will be needed for two starter decks to allow for the basic 2p game.  If you’re planning to give someone a gift say for a holiday at the end of this month, keep that in mind or else your recipient will be in the same spot that I was in – enough cards to look at but not enough to play with a friend!

Overall, I think it is an interesting start for this new CCG, but one that will require more cards to become more interesting for me.   My initial games with the starter decks have all been enjoyable, but the decks obviously don’t have the focus that a tuned deck would have.  Thus far, I’ve played with maybe 80 or 90 different cards out of the 200-ish available in the First Chapter; and only cards of the four colors of which I have starter decks for.  Also, as most of the cards in the starter deck are commons, their actions are pretty vanilla as you would expect.  It goes without saying that I don’t have enough experience to really give meaningful feedback on the full game yet – and I likely never will (for reasons explained above); but I can say that the Starter decks are a good way to learn the system and still have fun doing it.

And, of course, there will likely be plenty of folks who just get the cards for the art, the trading and the collectability.  For instance, I know at least five kids who collect Pokemon cards and don’t even know how to play the game for each one that actually duels with the CCG cards.  Given the Disney theme, and the fact that adults will also be interested, I can imagine that the proportion of non-playing card owners might even be higher.  In the end, I don’t think Ravensburger cards about the reasons for why people are buying the cards, so long as they continue to do so… And given the rampant demand for the cards and the quick sell-outs, Disney Lorcana remains a hot property for sure!

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor