Disney Lorcana Trading Card Game - What is it and how to play

Disney Lorcana is a collectible trading card game released by Ravensburger in collaboration with The Walt Disney Company, with the first set (The First Chapter) released in August 2023. It is Ravensburger’s first trading card game and features characters from Walt Disney Animation Studios films and The Disney Afternoon series.

Disney Lorcana is a game where you team up with your favorite Disney characters and embark on exciting adventures! In the magical realm of Lorcana, you’ll work with your team of characters in a race for prized story stars. This immersive trading card game involves collecting cards and building decks, offers fun and strategic play, and lets you play against one or more opponents.

Game Setup

To set up Disney Lorcana, start with a deck of at least 60 cards. Shuffle well and place it in front of you.

Draw seven cards. You’re allowed one mulligan – return any number of cards to the bottom of your deck and draw new ones to have a full hand again.

Decide who goes first using your preferred method. The first player doesn’t draw a card on their first turn.

Each player may place one card face down from their hand into their inkwell per turn. Show the card’s gold ring before placing it face down.

Set Lore trackers to zero and prepare tokens for damage. Once ready, begin the game.

Disney Lorcana Trading Cards Box Set — Photo credit: Disney Parks Blog

Deck Building

When creating your Disney Lorcana deck, start with a clear strategy. You’ll need a minimum of 60 cards, with no more than four copies of a single card.

Choose up to two ink types. Each offers strategic advantages and guides a specific play style. Stick to your chosen inks and build around them. There are six different inks:

Amber ink glimmers love teamwork and utilizing the melodious power of songs
Amethyst ink adds a touch of the mystical
Emerald ink embodies those flexible in spirit and wits to adapt easily to their situation
Ruby ink glimmers are daring, working quickly to achieve their goal.

Sapphire ink glimmers are intellectuals, using smarts and inventiveness
Steel ink represents those who are bold and imposing, both strong in build and heart

Select cards that complement your play style and have a reason for inclusion. Test your deck and be willing to make adjustments as needed.

Enter each game with your optimized deck, ready to unleash your unique strategy.

Gameplay Phases

Each turn in Disney Lorcana consists of a Beginning Phase and a Main Phase.

The Beginning Phase has three steps:

Ready: Turn all exerted cards upright
Set: Resolve Start-of-Turn effects
Draw: Except for the first player’s first turn

In the Main Phase, you can:

Transform cards into ink
Summon characters
Deploy items
Weave quests and challenges

Exert characters to embark on quests and earn Lore. Newly played characters must wait a turn before questing.

You can also challenge an opponent’s exerted character. Successful challenges lower the opposing character’s Willpower.

Make calculated decisions to push you closer to the goal of 20 Lore. The first player to reach 20 Lore (or 20 points) wins the game.

Card Types and Abilities

Disney Lorcana features several different card types:

Character cards (also know as Glimmer cards): The main protagonists with Strength and Willpower attributes featuring Disney characters. They often have unique abilities.
Action cards: One-time strategic moves that go to the discard pile after use.

Songs cards (a specific type of action cards): Allow characters to perform actions by exerting a character with the appropriate ink value.
Item cards: Persistent effects that stay on the battlefield.
Location cards: Act as stage settings with challenges and rewards. They can be challenged and require strategic placement.

Mastering the use of these card types is key to crafting an effective gameplay strategy.

In Disney Lorcana, crafting a strategy is about harmonizing your choices to guide you to victory. Focus on creating a series of moves that leads you closer to achieving 20 Lore.

No matter the type, each card in Disney Lorcana is assigned a particular rarity, indicating how difficult they are to find.

From easiest to hardest to find, these are:

Common

Uncommon

Rare

Super Rare

Legendary

Epic

Enchanted

Iconic

Disney Lorcana Card Sets

Every card is a work of art, but the harder the card is to find, the more spectacular the card design and elements are. Epic, Enchanted, and Iconic cards sport foil treatments, foil stamping, and many more deluxe embellishments. The Epic and Iconic rarity cards were introduced in the Fabled set. The different Disney Lorcana sets of cards are:

The First Chapter

Rise of the Floodborn

Into the Inklands

Ursula’s Return

Shimmering Skies

Azurite Sea (Introduction of Dual Ink Cards)

Archazia’s Island

Reign of Jafar

Fabled

Whispers in the Well

Disney Lorcana Trading Cards Retail Box — Photo credit: Disney Parks Blog

Ready to play!

Disney Lorcana is a thrilling trading card game that allows players to embark on a quest with artistic Disney character cards. Now that you know all about the cards and the game, you are ready to play the game. Or if you aren’t into playing the card game, the trading cards have become highly coveted collectibles by Disney fans. And in this post, you have all the information you need to find the rarest Disney Lorcana trading cards. There is even a Disney Lorcana app available for free download on iOS and Android devices. The app allows fans to track their card collection with an extensive visual card catalog.

Disney Lorcana trading cards and accessories can be purchased at DisneyStore.com, Amazon.com and many of your favorite retailers.