Lorcana

Disney Lorcana is a collectible card game released by Ravensburger in collaboration with The Walt Disney Company. It was first released on August 18, 2023. It is Ravensburger's first trading card game and features characters from throughout Disney's animated films and television series.

Players take on the role of "Illumineers" who use magical ink to summon "glimmers"—reimagined versions of Disney characters, items, and songs. The objective is to be the first to collect 20 "Lore" points, primarily by sending characters on quests.

Gameplay

A typical game of Lorcana involves two players, each with their own deck of at least 60 cards. Decks can contain up to two different Ink colors. Each player starts with a hand of seven cards and a life total of 20 Lore. The first player to reach 20 Lore wins the game.

Turn Structure

Each turn consists of three phases:

Ready – Turn all your cards upright (ready them for use).
Set – Check for effects that happen at the start of your turn.
Draw – Draw one card from your deck.

During the Main Phase, players can:

Put cards into their Inkwell (their mana pool) by placing them facedown.
Play Character, Item, Action, or Location cards by paying their Ink cost.
Quest with Characters (exert them to gain Lore equal to their Lore value).
Challenge opposing Characters (attack exerted enemy Characters).
Use abilities on Items or Characters.

Ink Types

There are six types of magical Ink in Lorcana, each representing different strategies:

Amber – Focuses on defense and recovery.
Amethyst – Focuses on spells and abilities that can change the course of the game.
Emerald – Includes characters and abilities that focus on strategic plays.
Ruby – Focuses on attacks and offensive strategies.
Sapphire – Provides card draw and resource management abilities.
Steel – Focused on defenses and resilient characters.

Card Types

There are four basic types of cards:

Character – A person or creature from a Disney property. Characters can quest to gain Lore or challenge other characters. Each character has Strength (damage dealt), Willpower (damage it can take), and Lore value (points gained when questing).
Item – An object from a Disney property. Items can be used immediately and have passive or activated abilities.
Action – An event or activity. Actions are discarded after use.
Location – A place from a Disney property. Locations accrue Lore passively at the start of every turn and can be entered by characters for benefits.

Mechanics

Shift – Allows you to play a card on top of another card with the same name, paying an alternate cost.
Evasive – Can only be challenged by other characters with Evasive.
Rush – May challenge the same turn it is played.
Challenger – Gains a strength bonus when challenging.
Ward – Cannot be chosen by opponents except for being challenged.
Resist – Reduces damage taken from challenges.
Vanish – Removes the card from play after use.
Sing Together – Allows multiple characters to pay the cost of a Song action.

Story

Disney Lorcana is set in an alternate world where Illumineers use magical ink to summon "glimmers"—beings that resemble Disney characters. The world is centered around the "Great Illuminary," a repository that keeps track of every story ever told. The Illumineers disappeared, and the Great Illuminary now calls upon players to retrieve lost "Lore" fragments.

There are three types of glimmers:

Storyborn – Identical to characters featured in the original Disney films.
Dreamborn – Reimagined versions created by the imaginations of Illumineers.
Floodborn – Characters born from a cataclysmic event yet to be disclosed.

Development and release

Lorcana was announced at the 2022 D23 Expo, where attendees received a promotional card of Mickey Mouse - Brave Little Tailor. The premier set, "The First Chapter", was released to board game stores on August 18, 2023 and major retailers on September 1, 2023.

The game was designed by Ryan Miller and Steve Warner, both former Wizards of the Coast employees. In June 2023, shortly before the game's release, Miller was sued by his former employer Upper Deck Company, which alleged that Lorcana used game design elements from an unreleased trading card game Miller worked on while at Upper Deck. Ravensburger filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Expansions

Lorcana releases four sets per year. As of 2026, the following sets have been released:

The First Chapter (August 2023)
Rise of the Floodborn (November 2023) – Introduced "Resist"
Into the Inklands (February 2024) – Introduced Locations
Ursula's Return (May 2024) – Introduced Alternate Shift and Sing Together
Shimmering Skies (August 2024)
Azurite Sea (November 2024)
Archazia's Island (March 2025) – Introduced dual-ink cards and Vanish
Reign of Jafar (May 2025)
Fabled (September 2025)
Whispers in the Well (November 2025)
Winterspell (February 2026)
Wilds Unknown (May 2026) – First Pixar-themed set

Organized play

In January 2024, Ravensburger announced the Disney Lorcana Challenge, an official competitive circuit. The circuit includes local tournaments, regional championships, and a World Championship. The first Lorcana World Championship took place in 2025 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

Additional organized play includes:

Store Championships
Set Championships
Leagues

Reception

Disney Lorcana was a commercial success upon release, with cards quickly reselling for high prices. By 2025, over 1 billion cards had been sold. The game received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its accessibility, artwork, and strategic depth while noting the high secondary market prices.

In 2025, sales declined compared to the initial launch hype, but the game remains one of the top-selling trading card games on the market.

Digital presence

An official Disney Lorcana app is available for iOS and Android, providing a card library and collection tracking. There is currently no official digital version of the game for online play. However, fans have created unofficial simulators, the most notable being Pixelborn, which was shut down by Disney in 2026 due to intellectual property concerns.

References

External links