At long last, Disney is ready to hit the TCG scene thanks to Ravensburger’s Disney Lorcana, a card game that looks set to offer players a magical, albeit competitive, experience. While the Disney Lorcana release date may still be a good few months away, we can’t help but already tremble with excitement. Disney is finally ready to enter a whole new world of cardboard rectangles, and take us along for the ride.
However, just because we appreciate the best card games and love all things Disney, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Disney Lorcana TCG is a guaranteed hit. There are a few things we reckon would truly elevate the tabletop game, and help it stand tall and – crucially – stand out among the other established trading card games we know and love. Yes, we’re looking at you, Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon cards.
So what exactly do we want to see from the Disney Lorcana game? We’re glad you asked – here are three big things we want to see from the upcoming TCG.
Lorcana cards (a LOT of them)
Firstly, we want to see a serious amount of variety in the first wave of Lorcana cards. Yes, we know the likes of Mickey Mouse are a guarantee, as is Elsa, the Ice Queen of Arendelle, alongside other members of the Frozen cast.
But we want some of the more obscure characters and franchises to finally have their moment to shine, too. One of the best things about any TCG is the diverse range of cards on offer, so we hope the Disney Lorcana cards introduce characters from a wide range of heroes and villains.
Happily, judging by the current information on offer, the first wave of Disney Lorcana cards looks promising in this regard. Not only are Mickey Mouse, Elsa, Cruella De Vil, and Stitch (some of the most popular Disney characters) set to appear in the first wave of Disney Lorcana cards, but so is Robin Hood – a famous face we don’t so often see in Disney games.
This gives us hope that there are some surprises on the horizon among the character cards. We can’t help but hope more beloved yet minor characters get a redesign that puts them in the forefront, rather than keeping them in the bit-part background they’ve often occupied in the movies. Just off the top of our heads, Ravensburger – we’d love to see Hercules’ Pegasus, Tangled’s rascally reptile Pascal, and Treasure Island’s Jim Hawkins in cardboard form. Just saying.
Lorcana rules and realms
Then, of course, there are the Disney Lorcana rules. This is perhaps the aspect of the game that intrigues us the most, and we certainly have some thoughts on what we’d like to see. Currently, we know there are different types of ‘ink’, such as steel, that allow you to summon various Disney characters as ‘glimmers’.
It’s an intriguing thought, and while we’re not unfamiliar with different categories and types in TCGs, we’d like to see some innovation here. Sure, Disney Lorcana is bound to follow in the footsteps of those that came before it, but there’s still room for some originality.
With the dizzying array of fictional worlds and stories under the Disney umbrella, there’s the potential for some interesting rules, or at least varying game mechanics. Realm cards could be a good feature, and realms tend to appear frequently in Disney-inspired games.
Just imagine a one-on-one duel between The Lion King’s Zazu and Scrooge McDuck taking place in Halloween Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and you’ll see where we’re coming from here.
Lorcana meta – fun over balance
Perhaps the most controversial thing we’d like to see from Lorcana is to do with the game’s competitive aspect – the inevitable Disney Lorcana meta. Sure, we certainly want to be able to face off against other players. That’s a big part of what makes TCGs enjoyable – for those with a competitive streak rather than enjoying a simple collection, at least. However, a Disney game of any kind should be, first and foremost, a reliable engine for generating pure, unadulterated fun.
Therefore, when it comes to Disney Lorcana, we can’t help but hope it places more focus on simple fun than on engineering a tough, meticulously balanced competitive scene. Of course, many card games feature a meta; it’s crucial to certain key parts of the TCG experience, and we’re sure many would-be players will want, and expect, Lorcana to operate a lot like MTG Arena, Yugioh, or Pokémon in this regard.
But, for our money, the Disney Lorcana card game should at the very least feel as though tournament balance and meta deck lists are taking a back seat to silly, light-hearted fun. There should be no sure-fire way to win, with enough random gameplay elements to prevent any one strategy from dominating. Such an anti-meta approach would open up the battlefield a little bit more, potentially making Lorcana a more accessible game overall.
So: a diverse cast with overlooked faces; intriguing rule play that takes us to new realms; and gameplay that delivers classic Disney capers more than hard-bitten TCG meta – these are three things we most want to see from Disney Lorcana. It’s exciting to think about where the Disney card game may go, and we can’t wait to see what Ravensburger has to offer as and when new information comes to light.
For now, we wait with bated breath, as Disney finally takes a long-awaited plunge into the TCG realm. After various mobile games, triple-A games, and Disney board games like the excellent Disney Villainous, it feels like this move is long overdue.