‘Lorcana’: Getting Started with Disney’s New TCG
There’s a new TCG in town, and we’re here to help you get started on the right foot. Check out Disney’s Lorcana!
TCGs are some of the most popular games on the market, and for a good reason. Players can customize their chosen decks in thousands of ways, make up entirely new game formats, or work to collect the shiniest and rarest pieces to flex to their friends. So, of course, Disney needed in on that action. Their answer was Lorcana, produced by Ravensburger Games.
While the mechanics are relatively similar to Magic: The Gathering, it’s distinct enough that new players might have a little trouble jumping right in. Well, worry not, noble Illumineer! We have you covered with a quick start guide and a few links to show you where to start!
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So, What is Disney’s Lorcana?
In the world of Disney’s Lorcana, you take the role of an Illumineer, a powerful wizard selected for their powers of imagination. Transported to the Great Illuminary and armed with an inkcaster, you must shape the stories that form the magical veins of the realm of Lorcana. You do this by forging items and summoning heroes with the power of the Six Inks.
In game terms, that means building a 60-card deck with no more than two Inks. Each deck contains characters to go on quests (or challenge your opponents), items to assist them in battle, and abilities to twist your fate. Every card requires Ink to play; the only way to make Ink is to sacrifice your drawings. Each turn, you can play one of your cards facedown in your Inkwell, similar to lands in Magic.
Every card played this way counts as a single Ink, regardless of its front face. Once you play your cards, you send them on quests to recover Lore, the magical currency of Lorcana. The first player to recover 20 Lore wins the game, but watch out! If your heroes are journeying for Lore, they can be challenged by your enemies and possibly destroyed!
How Do I Get Started?
One of the easiest ways to jump into the game is with one of the preconstructed starter decks for Disney’s Lorcana. Each is a complete 60-card playable deck themed around two of the Inks and designed by Team Lorcana. After that, you can grab a couple of booster packs to tune up your deck or tear it apart and start from scratch. Once you’ve started, there’s no end to the possibilities.
Why Can’t I Find Lorcana Anywhere? And Why is It So Expensive?
Unfortunately, the initial hype around Lorcana had a negative effect on the market. People thought the First Chapter would be a limited-run product, so when they found any packs, they would buy them all up. While there isn’t technically anything wrong with that, it definitely made what should be a fun, family game a LOT harder to break into.
People with more easily disposable income could clear out an entire store’s stock before it was even available for sale. There was more than one instance of a buyer approaching an employee unloading a Lorcana shipment and buying it before it was even on the shelf. That meant they could generate scarcity and either horde their beautiful cardboard gold or resell it for massive markups on the secondary market.
Thankfully, the good folks behind Lorcana did rerelease the First Chapter (take that, scammers) and assured fans that they would work to make enough product so that everyone could have some. Still, the high resale value of the more expensive cards like Elsa has made the physical barrier to entry very high.
Is Lorcana Worth It?
At the end of the day, even with all the difficulty surrounding getting actual cards to play with, Lorcana is an incredibly fun game. It isn’t too difficult to pick up the rules, so beginners won’t have a problem getting into it. However, much like the CCGs that came before it, it has several intricate interactions that will give savvy players a lot to work with.
However you like to play the game, Lorcana has a way for you to play. Not to mention, the aforementioned scarcity means that the big rares are going to be worth FAR more than the buying price for a few packs. At the end of the day, use your judgment, but I would happily recommend Lorcana to any Disney fan, CCG fan, or someone just looking for a fun game to play with friends.
To learn more about the game and download the quick start guide, visit the website here!
Happy questing, Illumineers!
