Disney has started to dive deeper into the realm of gaming.

The company recently announced a new partnership with the creators of Fortnite to develop a new gaming universe. They also came out with their own strategy trading card game in August 2023. Lorcana, a game with similarities to Magic the Gathering and Pokémon, has become increasingly popular amongst Disney fans. It’s so popular that each of its first three sets sold out quickly, and some are now invitation-only on Amazon! So we thought it was about time to check this game out. I played Disney’s Lorcana — here are my thoughts.

What is Lorcana?

Since August 2023, Disney and Ravensburger have released three collections of this trading card game — The First Chapter, Rise of the Floodborn, and a Disney100 collection. Now, a new set has been released, Into the Inklands! The game combines the thrill of strategy with the whimsy of Disney storytelling.

The story goes that you are “Illumineers” who have landed in a new realm, Lorcana. You must go on quests to search and find the “lore” that was spread out during Rise of the Floodborn when a flood of mixed ink was accidentally unleashed. Your goal of the game is to collect 20 lore (points) before the other players. You quest to gain lore and challenge your opponents to slow them down.

Put simply, the game is a race to get 20 points by using the actions that are on each card. You can challenge your opponent and eliminate (banish) their cards that are in play to limit their opportunities to gain points. It’s a game of strategy with a bit of luck of the draw (pun not intended).

Into the Inklands

Now, an all-new chapter of Lorcana begins — Into the Inklands! This new set brings new adventures and strategies to the mix. You can play with just these new cards or mix any of the cards of the past sets to enhance your collection.

Into the Inklands brings a new type of card to the game — locations. Locations add new strategies such as bonuses when characters visit or advantages just from being in play. We’ll discuss locations more later on in the review.

You can get all-new cards with characters such as Scrooge McDuck, Moana, Pongo, Perdita, the 101 Dalmatians, Kit Cloudkicker from TaleSpin, and many more! Two new starter decks are now available.

New Starter Decks

The Ruby & Sapphire ink starter deck comes with foil Moana and Scrooge cards.

This deck is a great option if you like “using speedy characters and having plenty of resources.” There are no songs in this deck.

Get the Ruby & Sapphire Deck

Or you can purchase the Amber & Emerald ink starter deck which has Pongo and Peter Pan foil cards. If you like “drawing cards and using trickery to reach victory” then this deck is for you.

The starter decks above have everything you need to play the game: 60 cards, damage counters, a paper play mat (you don’t NEED it, but it’s useful), and a lore tracker. 

Get the Amber & Emerald Deck Deck

Game Play

To play the game, you need your own deck of 60 cards. You can use one of the starter decks or mix-and-match cards from any of the different chapters. If you’re going for strategy, you can design a stacked deck of masterful items, characters, locations, actions, and songs. You do not need The First Chapter or Rise of the Floodborn to play the game; the new Into the Inkland cards can work independently. You can also get booster packs that gives you an additional 12 cards to help you customize your deck!

Each booster pack comes with one foil card of random rarity, 2 rare (or higher rarity) cards, three uncommon cards, and six common cards.

Get a Booster Pack

10 Steps for Playing Lorcana

Setting Up

1. Determine the first player by flipping a coin, rolling a die, or so on.
2. Shuffle your deck. You can only have 60 cards in your deck.
3. Set your lore tracker to 0.
4. Draw 7 cards for your starting hand. You can look at the cards in your hand, but not anyone else’s hand!
5. Alter your starting hand if you choose.

Beginning Phase of a Turn

1. Ready — Ready your exerted cards by turning them upright. (Exerted cards were used the previous turn which means they end up sideways.)
2. Set — Check for effects that happen at the start of your turn and follow their instructions.
3. Draw — Draw a card from the top of your deck. The first player skips this step on their first turn.

Main Phase of a Turn

1. Once per turn, you can put a card facedown into your inkwell at any time. (Your inkwell is basically like your bank and ink is the currency.)
2. You can take any actions listed below, any number of times, in any order you want. This allows you to take full advantage of what your cards do in combination with other effects.
   • Play a card. You must pay a certain amount of ink for your character to be played, but you have to wait for the “ink to dry” (your next turn) before you can use their abilities (unless the card specifies differently.)
   • Use a character ability that doesn’t require them to exert. (Exert means turn sideways and be in position to be attacked by opponents.)
   • Use an item ability.
   • Use a location ability.
   • Quest
   • Challenge an opponent’s location or exerted character.
   • Use an ability that requires them to exert.

There are detailed instructions for these steps in the quick start rules book that you get with a starter deck.

Review

I got one of each new starter deck and played with my husband to see just what this game is about. My husband is an avid Magic the Gathering player, and he said this game has a lot in common with Magic. I love Disney (obviously), and I really enjoyed getting to use each of the different characters in an in-depth strategy game. It’s cool how the players have different abilities and some can “level up”, creating epic Disney characters.

Plus, the cards feature beautiful Disney artwork!

Lorcana can be played with two or more people. We’ve heard from other players that it’s more fun with a group. If you play with a group, be sure to pay close attention to your opponent’s cards! The game requires a fairly large space to be able to play since you end up laying down a lot of cards in your inkwell and those in play.

Once you get going, the different strategies you can use become apparent. It took me about two games to get a strong understanding of how to use my cards for a good strategy. We noticed that there are A LOT of different ways you can play this game. The items, actions, and songs bring in additional curve balls to your strategy. They can help you quest for lore faster or be a better attacker against your opponent’s characters. However, not every deck has each of these types of cards. It is dependent on the strategy that the deck is intended for.

The length of the game varies, depending on how many people are playing and how good your strategies are. As mentioned above, Into the Inklands adds the all-new location cards. Disney shared that some of these location cards “give bonuses when characters visit them, while others provide benefits just by being in play.”

Our perception of the location cards is that they aren’t really necessary, and they didn’t seem to add much of a benefit. They did seem to provide a distraction to the opponent, and they can certainly help you gain lore. Essentially, location cards are fine, but they’re definitely not needed, in my opinion.

Overall, this is a really fun game! It’s a well-rounded and thought-out card game. I’m already thinking about how I can fill my deck with better cards so I can finally beat my husband. If you’re looking for a fun, new, family-friendly game, I would recommend giving this a try. It is for people 8 years old and up, so regardless of whether you want to play at home with your kids or with a group of adults, this game will give you lots of entertainment that is never the same twice.

If you’re looking for a good gift, this game would be great! They also have a gift set available.

A gift set includes foil cards of Tinker Bell and Stitch, thirty-two damage counters, four booster packs of 12 game cards, and two tracker tokens with Stitch and Tinker Bell art. It would be a great gift for someone who already enjoys Lorcana!

Get the Gift Set

As Lorcana becomes more and more popular, we hope this helps you decide if it’s a game you want to start playing. When we’re not here creating helpful Disney content, you can probably catch us playing Lorcana!

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Have you played Lorcana? Let us know in the comments!