The trading card game is still young, but each of the Disney Lorcana colors already has a distinct identity. All six Lorcana ink types come with their own theme, standout mechanics, and typical archetypes – and knowing a little about each can help strengthen your deck-building skills. If you’re looking for the Lorcana colors explained, you’re in the right place.
Below we give an overview of each Lorcana color, including some of the best Disney Lorcana cards for each kind of ink. If you’re a new player, this guide pairs nicely with our Disney Lorcana rules tutorial. And, if you’re a keen collector, we can point you to the most expensive Lorcana cards in the trading card game before this explainer begins.
Here’s the low-down on every Disney Lorcana color:
Lorcana Amber
According to the official Disney Lorcana website, Amber glimmers are “purposeful”, “patient”, and “dedicated” characters with a big focus on community. Mechanically, this means that Amber makes synergy and support a big priority.
Many Amber glimmers come with abilities that are triggered by your other glimmers. Others provide protection and healing to keep their fellow glimmers on the board. The Lorcana Amber ink isn’t best known for its damage-dealing capabilities, but there’s still plenty of aggro strategy involved in Amber decks.
Some of the best Lorcana Amber cards include:
Lorcana Amethyst
Ravensburger tells us that Lorcana Amethyst glimmers are fond of using magic to achieve their goals. This means they offer complex and unconventional strategies for winning games rather than plain old brute force. The range of abilities on show in Amethyst makes the ink suitable in all manner of decks, from Aggro to Control.
Right now, one of Amethyst’s most recognizable features is cards that bounce back to your hand or the battlefield after they’ve been removed (something other trading card game communities call Recursion). You can also expect plenty of glimmers that mess with your opponents or offer extra card draw.
The best Lorcana Amethyst cards include:
Lorcana Emerald
The Disney Lorcana website calls Emerald glimmers “flexible” and “quick-thinking”. This could mean all manner of things mechanically, so it makes sense to see so many Lorcana Emerald cards fit into Midrange archetypes – Emerald has a finger in many pies.
The most recent Lorcana set has given Emerald a more distinct identity. More and more, this seems like the ink to choose if you want to mess with your opponent. A lot of the cards force opponents to discard, and many allow you to draw more of your own cards to further your advantage.
Some of the best Lorcana Emerald cards are:
Lorcana Ruby
“Daring”, “speedy”, “daredevils” – we’re not describing a red MTG deck, but a Lorcana Ruby one. This is an ink color full of glimmers that take a more direct approach. That includes card removal, abilities like ‘Rush’ that let cards challenge faster, and big, beefy glimmers that hit hard.
Despite its clearly aggressive tactics, Ruby often does best when paired with a less direct ink color. The top of the Lorcana meta features several Ruby Control decks, with Amethyst / Ruby Bounce currently stealing the show.
The best Lorcana Ruby cards include:
Lorcana Sapphire
Ravensburger describes Sapphire glimmers as “intelligent and creative”, so strategy and tactics are a big part of the ink color’s identity. Right now, its most successful strategy seems to be ramp and big combo cards like Belle, Strange but Special, which are able to generate a game-winning amount of lore in just a handful of turns.
Lorcana Sapphire cards generate plenty of resource advantages and new ways to steal a win from under your opponent’s nose. But while there’s plenty of strength in this ink color, the current meta suggests it’s one of the less popular choices for competitive Lorcana players.
Some of the best Lorcana Sapphire cards are:
Lorcana Steel
Finally, there’s Steel, home of Lorcana’s “imposing, armored, or just plain powerful” glimmers. This is the ink color for fans of defense and direct damage, so you can expect to see lots of cards with high Strength and high Willpower.
Highly strategic decks often rely on Lorcana Steel to keep them steady while they set up their big combos. Midrange and Control are the most popular archetypes for Steel players right now.
The best Lorcana Steel cards include:
For more explainers, here’s all you need to know about Lorcana card rarity. We can also teach you how to play Disney Lorcana online.