We were all pretty surprised to learn Disney is making its very own TCG, featuring beloved characters from the House of Mouse. The movie company has partnered with game publisher Ravensburger to create Disney Lorcana, a card game where players will bring together their favourite Disney characters for a storybook-style adventure.
Disney’s empire spans more franchises than you can count on all your fingers and toes, but so far every revealed Lorcana character hails from the studio’s animated movies. The trading card game has been created with the help of Ravensburger, which previously worked on Disney puzzles and the popular Disney board game Villainous (plus every Disney Villainous expansion). As you might have noticed, the game’s name is a portmanteau, combining the words lore and arcana. That hopefully gives you some idea of the themes Disney is going for with the game.
Featuring analogues to power, toughness, and mana costs, as well as a few keywords that seem rather familiar, Lorcana looks to be quite inspired by Magic: The Gathering, and perhaps it’s the reason the crossover-happy Wizards of the Coast is yet to produce a Disney Secret Lair or Universes Beyond product. Right now, the exact details on how Lorcana plays are still vague, though some fans got their hands on the first batch of Lorcana cards at Disney’s D23 event.
There’s no need to wish upon a star for more information, we’ve got all the Disney Lorcana release date details right here.
Disney Lorcana release date
Disney Lorcana will be released in sets called ‘chapters’. The release date for Disney Lorcana: The First Chapter is August 18, 2023 in the United States. This will be for local game stores, with a mass retail release date following on September 1.
Disney Lorcana will be available in the US, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. Its international launch will also be in August, and for Germany at least, it’s confirmed to match the US dates.
Just before the official release date, there will reportedly be select Disney Lorcana products available at Gen Con 2023. This takes place from August 3 to August 6.
Disney Lorcana will reportedly release four sets a year. We can expect the second set to release on November 17 for game stores and December 1 for mass retail (thanks Games Radar). We could assume future releases will be on a quarterly basis, but no more details have been revealed at this stage.
Disney Lorcana ink colours
At Essen Spiel 2022 (October 6 – 9), Ravensburger revealed the official names of six Disney Lorcana ink colours. Each of the colours is linked to different cards in the TCG.
Here are the six official ink colours in Disney Lorcana:
- Amber
- Amethyst
- Emerald
- Ruby
- Sapphire
- Steel
At this stage, we’ve been given a few hints about how different ink types work, and they seem to share some similarities with the various MTG colours. Disney Lorcana has also been steadily dropping hints on social media to give us further insight into the ink types.
Amethyst glimmers apparently rely on enchantments, while Sapphire glimmers are fond of using tools (though without knowing what ‘tools’ and ‘enchantments’ are, this doesn’t tell us much). Ruby glimmers “often leap without looking”, while Emerald glimmers are highly flexible. Steel glimmers focus on brute force, and Amber glimmers instead prioritise defence.
Disney Lorcana cards
More and more Disney Lorcana cards are being revealed all the time. So far, we’ve seen a multiverse of Disney characters, interpreted to create TCG cards. Here are a few of the most interesting ones we’ve spotted so far.
Starting with the nasties, we’ve got Maleficent, Monstrous Dragon; a big stompy villain that can ‘banish’ another character. There’s also Cruella de Vil, Miserable as Usual; and Captain Hook, Forceful Duelist.
As for goodies, we have characters like Stitch, Rock Star; Elsa, Snow Queen; Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor; and Robin Hood; Unrivalled Archer.
Olaf the friendly snowman and a Dragon Fire ability card showed up on Instagram in December 2022, expanding the cast roster. Meanwhile, a rogue Jumba Jookiba card was shared on the Disney Lorcana Twitter, all by itself on January 13, 2023. As expected, this ‘renegade scientist’ has got some alien alchemy going on.
Disney Lorcana decks and boosters
The IGN article from January 17 gave our first magical glimpse of Disney Lorcana decks and Disney Lorcana boosters. There’ll be over 200 cards available at launch, neatly packaged in a variety of products.
Disney Lorcana starter decks
First up, we can expect to learn how to play using the three starter decks available at launch. These are 60-card decks with two ‘ink’ colours. Here are your ink choices:
- Steel and Sapphire
- Emerald and Ruby
- Amber and Amethyst
We see some unlikely team-ups on the packaging of these starter decks. Sleeping Beauty’s Aurora stands alongside Simba from the Lion King (Steel and Sapphire). A magical Mickey Mouse meets Moana in the Amber and Amethyst deck. Perhaps most surprisingly, Aladdin is teaming up with Cruella for the Emerald and Ruby deck.
Each starter deck also comes with a booster pack of 12 cards, and the 60 core cards include two foils of the characters on the packaging. The Disney Lorcana website says these decks also include tokens and a rulebook.
According to GamesRadar, starter sets will cost $16.99 / £17.99.
Disney Lorcana booster packs
In general, the 12-card Disney Lorcana booster packs will have six common cards, three uncommon cards, one foil, and two cards that are rare, super rare, or legendary rare. Individual booster packs will apparently cost $5.99 /£4.99.
Disney Lorcana gift set
A dedicated Disney Lorcana gift set has also been shown off, with Mulan and Hades taking centre stage. The set includes two oversized foil cards of these characters, as well as smaller, actually-playable versions. The card names are Mulan – Imperial Soldier and Hades – King of Olympus.
Also inside the gift set are 34 game tokens and four booster packs. You’ll need to do all the deck building yourself with this one. This particular product is expected to set you back $29.99 / £27.99.
Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Trove
This is, as Disney Lorcana itself calls it, the “ultimate choice”, the “ultimate treasure for both collectors and players”. The Illumineer’s Trove is a full-art storage box, with two deck boxes, eight boosters, a player’s guide, and 15 game tokens inside. Expect strategy suggestions as well as plenty of visual Disney goodness in that player’s guide. You should also expect a price of $49.99 / £49.99.
Disney Lorcana rules
We’re yet to see a full breakdown of the Disney Lorcana rules, but some early leaks have given us an idea of how the TCG will play. The short version is this: Lorcana has plenty of features seen in existing trading card games, but it stands out by avoiding too much violence. Rather than focusing on head-to-head combat that reduces opponents to zero life, Disney Lorcana challenges you to be the first to earn 20 lore by ‘questing’.
Players use 60-card decks, and they start a game by drawing a hand of seven cards. Ink cards are played to pay the cost of ‘glimmers’, which allow you to use characters, items, and actions to affect the state of play. ‘Exerting’ characters is important – turning a card to its side allows you to send it on quests, challenge an opponent’s quests, or activate powerful abilities.
Disney Lorcana organised play
Like other famous TCGs, Disney Lorcana plans to have a tournament scene and organised play program. Players will earn League points for various activities – ranging from winning games (of course) to bringing a friend along, or teaching someone new how to play.
Qualifying LGS will receive promos and packs to help them run tournaments, and League play will be split into 12-week seasons.
