Setting Up a Lorcana Game
Each player shuffles their Lorcana deck. Each player needs their own deck of Lorcana cards, and using a starter deck is the easiest option if it’s your first game. Shuffle the cards thoroughly so they’re thoroughly mixed. Set the deck somewhere where it’s easy to reach throughout the game. Lorcana usually works best as a 2-player game, but you can play as many people as you want. As you get more experienced, you can add new Lorcana cards to a starter deck or make your own for a better strategy.
Choose a first player randomly. Flip a coin or roll a die and see who gets the highest number to decide who takes the first turn. Going first has a slight advantage since the starting player has a chance to play cards before anyone else.
Draw a starting hand of 7 cards. Each player takes the top 7 cards of their deck and puts them in their hand. It’s okay to look at your own cards, but keep them hidden from the other players. After drawing cards, you can alter your opening hand (also known as a “mulligan”). Starting with the first player, choose any number of cards in your hand that you don’t want and place them on the bottom of your deck. Then, draw new cards until you have 7 cards again. Finally, reshuffle your deck.
Lorcana Cards
Card Information Lorcana cards have a lot of information on them, so take a moment to look over them. Most cards have similar parts, while some cards may have additional powers and symbols. Parts on all cards Cost: The number in the top-left corner shows how much ink the card costs to play. Inkwell Icon: The Inkwell Icon looks like a golden circle around the cost. If a card has this icon, then it can be converted into ink to pay for other cards. Name: The name of the card. Some cards have a version name listed under them, like “Stitch - Covert Agent.” Ink: The color band and symbol underneath the card’s name shows its ink type. There are 6 ink types in the game. Classifications: Cards may have various classification keywords under their name. These keywords may be referenced by other card effects. Abilities and effects: Abilities and effects appear on the bottom half of the card. They are either passive or they can be activated during a turn. Parts on some cards Strength: Strength appears inside of a sun symbol on the right side of the card and shows how much damage it can deal. Willpower: Willpower is a number inside a shield on the right side of the card, and it tells you how much damage a card can take before it’s banished (removed from the game). Lore Value: Lore Values appear as diamond shapes on the bottom right side of a card. These cards earn Lore needed to win the game based on the number of symbols.
Characters Characters are the main cards that are played in Lorcana, and they feature art of characters from your favorite Disney movies. Character cards are used to defeat ones that your opponent plays and earn Lore that you need to win the game. Some characters even have special abilities. A few characters that appear in the game are Pongo from 101 Dalmations, Simba from The Lion King, and Maui from Moana. Some Character cards feature the same character but have different abilities. For example, Mickey Mouse - Detective is considered a different card than Mickey Mouse - Playful Sorcerer.
Items Items are power-ups that stay on the field once they’re played. Items either give a passive bonus or can be activated during a turn to trigger powerful abilities. Some items you may see are the Dinglehopper from The Little Mermaid, White Rabbit’s Pocket Watch from Alice in Wonderland, and Dr. Facilier’s Cards from The Frog Princess.
Actions Actions are one-time-use cards with effects that immediately trigger once they’re played. After all the card effects are resolved, then the card is discarded. Actions usually reference a movie, like Steal from the Rich features art from Robin Hood while Fire the Cannons! has art from Peter Pan.
Songs Songs are special Action cards that can be played like any other Action. However, they can be played for free if a Character has a cost that’s equal to or higher than the Song. Songs are immediately discarded after they resolve. Song cards are usually from classic Disney movies, such as Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast or A Whole New World from Aladdin.
Locations Locations are cards that Characters can move to during a turn. When Characters are at a Location, it may grant a special ability or perk during a turn. Locations also have a Lore Value that scores at the start of every turn. Some example locations are Forbidden Mountain from Sleeping Beauty, McDuck Manor from Duck Tales, or The Sorcerer’s Tower from Fantasia.
Beginning Phase of a Turn
Ready cards, activate abilities, and draw for the Beginning Phase. Every turn begins with the same 3 steps in order: Ready: Turn any horizontal exerted cards so they’re vertical and ready to use during the turn. Set: Check any cards in the current player’s play area for start-of-turn effects and activate them. Draw: The current player draws one card from their deck. For the first turn of the game, the starting player doesn’t take their Beginning Phase because they have no cards in play, and they skip drawing a card to make it fair for the other players.
Main Phase Actions
Take any combination of actions during the Main Phase. During the Main Phase, a player can use the cards in their hand and in the play area to take various actions. When a player can’t or doesn’t want to take any more actions, then their turn ends and the next player to their left takes a turn. We’ll cover these in more detail in the next steps, but they are: Add a card from your hand to your Inkwell Play a card to the play area Use a Character ability that doesn’t require them to exert Trigger an Item or Location ability If a Character was in play at the start of your turn, then you may also take the following actions: Quest to earn Lore Challenge an opponent’s exerted Character or Location to banish them Use an ability that requires being exerted
Add a card face-down to the Inkwell. Choose a card from your hand that has the Inkwell Icon around the cost. Show the card to your opponents and set the card face-down in front of you to form your Inkwell. The card now counts as 1 Ink you can use to pay for other cards. You may only add 1 card to your Inkwell every turn. Once you play a card into your Inkwell, it stays there for the rest of the game and you cannot use any abilities printed on the front.
Play a card by paying its Ink cost. Choose a card from your hand and check the Ink cost in the top-left corner. Exert that many cards in your Inkwell by turning them horizontally. Then, place the card face-up above the Inkwell. When you play a Character, play it vertically in the Ready position. However, you can’t use the card for its abilities or other actions until your next turn. You can use the effects on Items and Locations right away after playing them. When you play an Action card, resolve the effects immediately and place it in a discard pile. If you play a Song action, then you may exert a Character with a cost equal to or higher than the Song to play it for free.
Use an ability printed on a card. If there is an Ink cost next to the ability, then exert that number of cards in your Inkwell to activate the ability. If the card has an exert symbol with an arrow, then turn the card horizontally to exert it and activate the ability. Complete the ability in full to resolve it. Remember that you can’t activate abilities on Characters you played during the same turn. Abilities typically target another card in play, or in a player’s hand, deck, or discard pile.
Quest with a Character to gain Lore. Turn a ready Character card horizontally to exert them. Gain Lore equal to the number of diamond symbols on the bottom-right of the card and add it to your score. Keep track of Lore on a sheet of paper, or use the Lorcana companion app to keep score.
Challenge an opponent’s exerted Character to banish them. If your opponent has an exerted Character, you may exert one of your characters to challenge them. Both Characters deal the damage listed under their Strength value to the other card. If the challenged card or your card takes more damage than its Willpower value, then the card is banished and put into the discard pile. You may also challenge a Location to banish it to the discard pile. The Location does not deal damage back and any Characters that were at the Location stay in play.
Move a Character to a Location card. Look for the Move cost on the Location card and exert that number of cards in your Inkwell. Then, place a Character card in play underneath the Location. You can have any number of Characters at a Location. You may move a Character to a Location on the same turn it’s played, and it doesn’t matter if it’s exerted or not.
Winning the Game
Reach a total of 20 Lore or more to win the game. Keep taking turns playing cards, challenging your opponent, and questing for Lore. As soon as a player reaches 20 or more Lore, they automatically win the game! Alternatively, if a player needs to draw a card but doesn’t have any cards in their deck, they automatically lose.
Lorcana Strategy
Build your own deck to customize your strategy. As you get more familiar with the Lorcana rules, start using booster packs to get new cards. You may either add cards to a starter deck or build your own completely. Just make sure your deck has at least 60 cards and doesn’t contain more than 4 copies of the same card. You can also only use 1 or 2 different Ink colors, and they each have their perks. Amber cards usually support other actions, like healing or readying Characters. Amethyst cards have powerful abilities that let you draw more cards or slow down your opponent. Emerald cards are more defensive and can help quest for more Lore and protect yourself against challenges. Ruby cards focus primarily on banishing your opponent’s cards, but they come at a high Ink cost. Sapphire cards prioritize adding cards to your Inkwell so you can play more powerful cards faster. Steel cards make you stronger when you’re challenging your opponent and dealing more damage.
Use cards with keyword abilities to strengthen your deck. On top of powerful abilities, many cards also have keyword abilities that affect how they interact with other cards. Prioritize cards that have these abilities to keep your opponent guessing your next move throughout the game. Common keywords are: Bodyguard: Your opponent must choose a card with Bodyguard during a challenge if they’re able to. Challenger: The card gets the printed strength bonus when you challenge another card. Evasive: Only other cards with Evasive can challenge the card. Reckless: The card cannot quest and they must challenge if they’re able to. Resist: Reduce any damage dealt to the card by the number printed on the card. Rush: You can challenge with this card the turn it’s played. Shift: Pay the cost listed next to Shift to play this card on top of a card with the same name. Singer: The card counts as the cost listed toward a Song action. Support: After you quest with this card, add its strength to another Character card for the rest of the turn. Ward: Opponents can challenge this card, but can’t choose it when resolving an effect.
Add high-cost cards to the Inkwell early in the game. When you’re first starting a game, try to build up your Inkwell right away with cards that have too high of an Ink cost to play. As you start having more cards in your Inkwell, then switch to adding low-cost cards so you can play your most powerful Characters and Items. Remember that cards stay in your Inkwell for the rest of the game. Don’t add all of your high-cost cards to the Inkwell, or you may not have strong cards to play later in the game.
Use all the Ink in your Inkwell each turn. During your first turn, add a card to your Inkwell and play a 1-cost card if you’re able to. On your next turn, add another card and try to play a 2-cost card. Try to use as much Ink as possible to plan efficient plays since you get to use it again next turn.
Try to quest when your opponent can’t banish your cards. If your opponent has Characters that have lower Strength values than your Characters’ Willpower values, then you’re safe to quest without losing any momentum. Prioritize questing so you can get an early lead scoring Lore. If you and your opponent have evenly-matched Characters or if you have more Characters than your opponent, then challenge instead to slow down their progress.
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