Matthew BaileyToday, I am finally going to talk about “Lorcana” and provide my best possible guide.
Strap in this is going to be a long one.
“Lorcana” is a new Trading Card Game (TCG) released through a partnership between Disney and Ravensburger, challenging the current industry giants, Pokemon and Magic The Gathering.
This is probably the most I have played a game before, from buying into it to posting a review here. My plan is to review it in stages, starting with the starter decks, and then offering my thoughts on the game as a whole in its current state, including a discussion of Pixelborn, the unofficial digital version in a legal grey area.
For context, I spent two evenings playing games with Jack (.8.), one evening playing with an adult friend, and have invested about 10 hours into the digital version of the game. (Hint: I like it, but I do have some concerns). I have currently purchased all 3 starter decks, 20 packs of boosters to mix in with those and 2 packs of sleeves.
The game is set in a world called Lorcana, a name blending “lore” and “arcana.” Players take on the role of The Illumineer and assemble Disney characters from Lorcana’s Great Illuminary to restore the world damaged by a great flood. As an Illumineer, you use ink to bring glimmers of Disney characters back to life.
Each player has a deck of 60 cards with the goal of raising their “lore” score to 20. This is a significant departure from most card games where the objective is to reduce the opponent to zero. While this doesn’t have a massive impact mechanically in a two-player game, it’s a unique aspect of “Lorcana” as it encourages multiplayer gameplay without changing the format drastically. This feature works well since no players are ever eliminated; one player eventually wins.
You start the game with seven cards in your hand. Unlike other card games with power cards, you discard functional cards from your hand into your inkwell to act as your resources for playing cards. I like this mechanic because one issue in many card games is not wanting to clutter your deck with highly situational cards. However, the fact that these cards can be used as ink means you’re not penalized for including situational cards that are only there to counter specific decks.
Most cards in the game can be discarded on your turn (only once per turn) to add “ink” to your inkwell that regenerates each turn.
You use your ink on your turn to play characters (with attack and defence values), items with ongoing effects, abilities that trigger one-time effects, and songs, which are similar to abilities but have the added mechanic of being exerted (turned sideways so they can’t do anything else that turn) to sing them for free.
The game is won through questing, which involves exerting a character on your turn to gain quest value. Exerted cards are vulnerable to attack, and they can deal and take damage. If a card’s health reaches zero, it goes into your discard pile. Damage persists like in Pokemon, unlike Magic where it resets at the end of the turn. Cards have various abilities and keywords, such as ward (which protects cards from being targeted by spells), evasive characters that can only be attacked by other evasive characters (similar to how flying works in Magic), and bodyguard, where characters can only be targeted if they have bodyguard.
If you’ve played Magic the Gathering, you’ll have a general idea of how the game plays. It’s slightly less complex, with the key difference being that you can’t take actions on your opponent’s turn.
Currently, there are three starter decks available, and I recommend getting at least 2 of these if you’re interested in getting into the game. All decks consist of one or two colours, and in the starter decks, you can choose:
- The best “Lorcana” starter deck for complete beginners: “Amber and Amethyst” (Mickey & Moana)
- The best “Lorcana” starter deck if you’ve played a TCG before: “Sapphire and Steel” (Simba & Aurora)
- The best “Lorcana” starter deck for TCG experts: “Emerald and Ruby” (Aladdin & Cruela De Vil)
Each starter deck comes with a spare pack of cards, tokens for gameplay, and a paper fold-out mat. I was a bit disappointed with the quality of the Damage and Lore Tracker tokens as they are made from the same card material as the box and insert, which is quite thin and doesn’t punch out cleanly. I hope better quality tokens are produced in the future.
Out of the accessories you can currently are the sleeves are fine if a little too matte and the deck boxes are good.
I’ve played several games with all the starter decks, and they feel fairly balanced, with the “Amber and Amethyst” (Mickey and Moana) deck being slightly weaker but definitely the easiest to play. These decks resemble reasonably decent decks, and while there are better cards out there, they provide a good starting point. If you’re just looking to have fun playing at home, you’ll have a reasonably good time with them.
In case you haven’t noticed by now, I really like “Lorcana” and think it’s an excellent TCG and a perfect starting point for children. I’m not a massive fan of Pokémon, and I personally prefer this TCG. One issue the game faces at the moment is that most games end up with both players top decking (having no cards in hand and drawing one each turn to play with) rather than having a hand of cards to choose from. Currently, there aren’t many ways to draw cards or reliably search your deck. These are not major issues and can easily be fixed with new cards in future sets (the second set is already due out in December).
If you want to play the game at home, I wholeheartedly recommend getting 2 of the starter decks and jumping right in for a good time. However, if you’re looking to be competitive, you’ll face a common issue in card games with a 60-card deck and a maximum of four copies of each card. The result is that you often use 15 cards that you have four copies of. Currently, card prices vary greatly, with some being quite expensive, but functional cards, much like in Magic and Pokémon, will cost you around £15 to £30 each for the ultra rare ones if you buy singles. Building a competitive meta deck could cost you hundreds of pounds, only to be replaced when the next set arrives.
People who enjoy collecting may not mind this, but I’m personally still looking for a physical card game with a card acquisition and deck size method similar to Hearthstone. A game with 30 cards per deck, a maximum of two of any card, and only one of each would be more accessible and likely still sell plenty of sealed packs.
The market is still settling, and time will tell how this unfolds. Currently, I’m resisting the urge to take Jack and myself to local game nights due to the cost of building a competitive deck. Magic has partially addressed this with the Commander format, and it would be interesting to see if “Lorcana” follows suit.
Another issue is that packs of cards are £4.99 each, making it more expensive than Pokémon and making acquiring ultra-rare cards even more challenging.
Visually, the artwork on the cards is beautiful and created specifically for the game, rather than using existing art assets. The cards are well made, but I must say that the quality of the foils doesn’t seem as high as in Pokémon.
I debated whether to discuss Pixelborn here, but as it’s prevalent in the community and no money is made from it, I figured I would. Pixelborn is a fan-made digital version of “Lorcana” that is free to download and use. It includes every card available in the game, allowing you to build any deck you wish. When I downloaded it, I was impressed by the quality of the client, visually resembling something like Hearthstone. It also features a league system where you can play against other players and climb the rankings.
I’ve spent about 10 hours playing it, and if you’re considering “Lorcana,” this might be a good way to test the mechanics. However, be aware that since all cards are available, many players use high-end meta decks, resulting in fairly similar games. If you use a non-meta deck, you’ll likely get beaten quickly. Consider using it as a way to playtest with your children to see if you want to invest money in the physical game.
I won’t provide a link to Pixelborn here, but it’s a quick Google search away.
Jack really enjoyed playing but oddly I don’t think he liked it as much as I did and I think for him prefers Pokémon. I pushed him to articulate why but I think it was largely due to the gaining lore rather than dealing damage and other players losing health.
In conclusion, “Lorcana” has had a strong start, and while it has some gameplay issues initially, these should be ironed out with upcoming card sets. If you plan to play with the starter decks and a few packs at home, I strongly recommend it. If you aim to become competitive, try playing online first to see if you can handle the financial investment.
