The Disney Lorcana Trading Card Game brings together the magic of Disney’s iconic characters, locations, and songs for a competitive, head-to-head table-top game. Launched in August 2023 by game developer Ravensburger and The Walt Disney Company, Lorcana is a new TCG with only a handful of expansion sets released, so now is a great time to join in while the game is in its early stages. We’re going to explain how a game of Disney Lorcana works and everything you need to start playing.
The Basics of Disney Lorcana
Disney Lorcana has players take on the role of “Illumineers” who use magic ink to summon copies of Disney characters and use them to collect victory points called Lore. Whichever player reaches 20 Lore first is declared the winner.
Whereas other popular TCGs such as Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon TCG, and Yu-Gi-Oh! have players battling against one another, the family-friendly Lorcana is more of a friendly contest between players. No one is sent to the Shadow Realm in Lorcana.
How a Game of Disney Lorcana Works
To play a game of Disney Lorcana, each player builds a deck of 60 cards featuring two different Ink colors. The Ink colors represent different kinds of strategy (more on that below). Each turn, a player may place one card bearing an Inkwell icon (located in the upper left hand corner) into their Inkwell face down to turn it into ink. Ink is the resource used to play your cards.
From there, players may spend their ink to play characters, items, actions, or locations in an effort to be the first to hit 20 Lore. Players will continue to take alternating turns, playing increasingly powerful cards as their inkwells grow, until a winner is decided.
Disney Lorcana’s Different Card Types
Lorcana features an impressively wide array of titles from the Disney library. There are the expected classics represented such as The Little Mermaid and The Lion King, as well as modern hits like Moana and Encanto, but also cult favorites Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. In Lorcana, you’ll see various aspects of these films represented as four different types of cards: characters, items, actions, and locations.
Character cards depict characters exactly as you remember them from your favorite Disney flick. But there are also brand new “Dreamborn” and “Floodborn” versions with all sorts of unexpected twists. So far we’ve seen a Scar made from lava, a Hades that rules atop Mount Olympus, and a giant Tinker Bell three-stories tall.
In the game, characters are used to gain Lore and contest your opponent’s characters. Characters cannot be used on the turn they’re played because, as the Lorcana rulebook says, “You need to wait for their ink to dry!” After waiting one turn, your now dry characters are free to challenge opposing characters in an attempt to deal enough damage to send them to the discard pile. (Remember this is Disney, so there’s no fighting or death, just challenging and banishing!)
Alternatively, characters can “quest” to add their Lore value (the pips on the right side of the text box) to your score. This is the main way you’ll gain points, although other types of cards can have Lore-gaining effects, as well.
Item, location, and action cards can all be used without having to wait a turn. One might play a Dinglehopper item to heal a character once per turn. A location such as The Queen’s Castle can be used to draw extra cards. Actions have a variety of useful effects, from Dragon Fire’s ability to banish one character to Reflection’s effect that lets you manipulate the top cards of your deck.
How to Sing Songs in Disney Lorcana
It wouldn’t be Disney without someone breaking into song! Songs such as “A Whole New World” and “Let It Go” are a special subtype of action card that can be sung by one of your characters instead of paying its ink cost. As you can imagine, playing an action for “free” can be incredibly advantageous. (Singing the lyrics to the song out loud as you play the card is not required but heavily encouraged.)
Explaining Disney Lorcana’s Ink Colors
The six different ink colors of Disney Lorcana are named after precious stones: sapphire, ruby, amber, amethyst, emerald, and steel (which is not a gem but is still made of valuable resources from the Earth, so let’s just go with it). Players tend to refer to the ink colors by their primary color – blue, red, yellow, purple, green – except for steel, which is just called steel. Probably so we can have a deck called “Blue Steel.” Each ink color has its own set of signature attributes that lend themselves to different strategies.
Sapphire
-Puts extra ink into your inkwell (also known as “ramping”)
-Peeks at the top cards of your deck (aka “scrying”)
-Gains advantages with items
Ruby
-High strength (attack)
-Allows characters to challenge immediately
-Steals Lore from the opponent (aka “burn”)
Amber
-High toughness (defense)
-Sings songs at a discount
-Healing damage from characters
Amethyst
-Draws extra cards
-Gains Lore without questing
-Controls opposing characters
Emerald
-High Lore values
-Returns characters to hand
-Discards cards from opponent’s hand
Steel
-Protects your characters
-Deals direct damage
-Destroys items and locations
Certain characters are associated with each color. For example, Aladdin is a signature Ruby character while Maleficent is for Amethyst. We recommend choosing your first two colors based on your favorite characters. If you’re already familiar with competitive card games, consider choosing your colors based on the strategy type that best fits your personal style.
How to Play Disney Lorcana Multiplayer and Co-op
Disney Lorcana can be played multiplayer or cooperatively. The game works just as well with two players as it does three, five, or however many are in your group.
To play Lorcana co-op, there’s a product called Illumineer’s Quest that pits a group of players against a villainous raid boss with its own deck of devilishly powerful cards.
Best Starting Products for Disney Lorcana
For anyone looking to jump into Disney Lorcana, we recommend picking up a pair of starter decks featuring your favorite characters and sitting down to play with a buddy. A starter deck comes with one deck ready to play right out of the box. It also includes instructions on how to play and the necessary game tokens. Starter decks are easy to build upon and upgrade with new cards.
If you want to acquire additional cards and get some cool accessories, consider purchasing an Illumineer’s Trove. They come with eight booster packs, a Lore counter, a set of dice for keeping track of damage, and a set of dividers. The Trove box is great for storing your cards and the dividers will help you keep it organized by ink color.
Best Starting Supplies for Disney Lorcana
If Disney Lorcana is your first TCG, then you’ll need some supplies to protect your cards–and show off your Disney fandom at the same time. Ravensburger has released numerous card sleeves, deck boxes, and playmats sporting some absolutely gorgeous Lorcana art. You can choose from the likes of a Winnie the Pooh honey wizard, a stone gargoyle Beast, or a battle-ready Mulan, among many others.
You’ll also need some six-sided dice to represent damage on your characters, as well as a way to keep track of each player’s Lore, whether that be a notepad, smart phone, or the digital Lore tracker on the official Disney Lorcana app.
How to Play in Tournaments and Join the Disney Lorcana Community
Once you’ve got the basics down and you feel ready to test your Lorcana skills, use the official website’s Store LocatorOpens in a new tab to find a local shop where you can play with others. Game stores welcome players of all skill levels and typically host a weekly tournament or a casual playday. Don’t sweat it if you don’t have all the rules down pat. There will be other players who are more than happy to teach you the ropes.
When you’re ready to advance to the next level of competition, you can compete in your local Store Championships to win special promo cards. Beyond that, there are big regional tournaments called Disney Lorcana Challenges where top finishers earn the coveted golden Mickey and an invite to play in the Disney Lorcana World Championships.
Online Resources for Disney Lorcana Beginners
If you want to take your game to the next level, there are plenty of online resources to help you do so. There are many active Lorcana communities on social media, Discord, and reddit. If you want in-depth tutorials on how to play a particular deck, there are dedicated strategists on YouTube that will show you how it’s done. Several different Lorcana podcasts will get you caught up to speed on the latest metagame developments. Official tournament broadcasts are a great way to learn as the commentators explain the high-level tactics being used by top players.
Note that there is no official Disney Lorcana game app to play online. There is an official app to help you keep track of your collection.