Disney Lorcana is Ravensburger’s Disney-themed trading card game where you build a deck of 60 cards around two ink colours, race to collect 20 lore before your opponent, and watch characters from Mickey to Moana slug it out across the table. This guide walks through the full setup, card anatomy, turn sequence, and core strategy, with worked examples so you can sit down at a kitchen table or a Canadian game store and actually play a game.
Table of Contents
What Disney Lorcana Actually Is
Lorcana is a two-player (or multi-player) trading card game released by Ravensburger in 2023, with new sets arriving roughly every quarter. You are an Illumineer, a magical storyteller who summons Glimmers – shimmering versions of Disney and Pixar characters – to go on quests and gather lore. The player who reaches 20 lore first wins the game. You can also win if your opponent tries to draw from an empty deck.
The Six Ink Colours
Every card belongs to one of six inks, each with a loose identity:
- Amber – support, healing, wide boards of small characters.
- Amethyst – card draw, magic, bounce effects.
- Emerald – tempo, disruption, stealing ink.
- Ruby – aggression, damage, fast questers.
- Sapphire – ramp, items, long-game value.
- Steel – big bodies, removal, combat tricks.
A correctly constructed deck uses up to two inks. Most decks pick a pair – Ruby/Amethyst aggro and Emerald/Steel ramp are two of the most beginner-friendly combinations.
Deck Rules at a Glance
- Exactly 60 cards (no upper limit, but 60 is the competitive standard).
- Maximum four copies of any individual card by full name.
- One or two inks only.
- No sideboard in standard play.
Setting Up Your First Game
The easiest entry point is the 2-Player Starter Set, which Ravensburger is relaunching on May 8, 2026, alongside the Wilds Unknown set. It comes with two pre-built 60-card decks, a rules sheet, ink and damage counters, and play mats, so nothing else is required. If you already have decks, you need a flat surface, a six-sided die or two tokens for scoring lore, and some counters for damage.
Pre-Game Steps
- Each player shuffles their 60-card deck and places it face-down as their draw deck.
- Each player draws an opening hand of seven cards.
- You get one free redraw: if you dislike your hand, you may shuffle it back and draw a new seven. You only get one mulligan, so take it if you have fewer than three inkable cards or no cheap plays.
- Decide who goes first. Randomly (die roll, coin flip) is the tournament default.
What a Board Looks Like
Each player has five zones in front of them:
- Deck – face-down draw pile.
- Hand – cards you hold.
- Inkwell – face-down cards that pay for spells and characters.
- Play area – your characters, items, and locations in play.
- Discard pile – face-up, visible to both players.
Card Anatomy
Before your first turn, get comfortable with where each number and icon sits. The top-left hexagon shows the ink cost. If it has an ornate silver or gold border around it, the card is inkable and can be added to your inkwell. Character cards also show a strength number (sword icon), a willpower number (shield icon), and a lore value (diamond icon) at the bottom.
Card Types
- Characters – the core of the game. They quest for lore, challenge other characters, and sing songs.
- Actions – one-shot effects, discarded after use. Some actions are songs.
- Items – permanent artifacts that stay in play and provide ongoing or activated abilities.
- Locations – added in the Into the Inklands set; characters can move to them, score lore each turn, and trigger passive effects.
Keywords You Will See Often
- Evasive – can only be challenged by other Evasive characters.
- Rush – can challenge the turn it is played.
- Bodyguard – must be challenged first.
- Ward – cannot be targeted by opponents’ abilities (it can still be challenged).
- Shift – play this version of a character on top of one you already have, often at a reduced cost.
- Singer N – counts as having ink cost of N when paying to sing a song.
The Ink System
Ink is Lorcana’s only resource, and it is different from mana in games like Magic: The Gathering because you choose which cards become resources instead of drawing dedicated land cards.
Inking a Card
Once per turn, during your own turn, you may take one card from your hand that has the silver Inkwell border around its cost, reveal it, and place it face-down in your inkwell. That card now produces one ink per turn and can never be played as a character or action again – it is a resource until the game ends.
Paying Costs
To play any card, turn it sideways. The number of ink cards in your inkwell is equal to the card’s cost. Exerted ink untaps (readies) during your next turn’s Beginning phase. Planning your ink curve is the single biggest skill in the game: if a card costs four ink, you cannot play it until turn four at the earliest, so your deck needs cheap plays for turns 1–3 and bigger payoffs for turns 4 and beyond.
Turn Structure
Every turn breaks into three phases: Beginning, Main, and End. Think of the Beginning phase as a quick checklist, the Main phase as where the game is played, and the End phase as a clean-up.
Beginning Phase (in order)
- Ready – untap all your exerted cards, including ink.
- Set – any “at the start of your turn” abilities trigger. Characters that have been in play since the previous turn lose their “drying ink” status and can now quest, challenge, or exert for abilities.
- Draw – draw one card. The player going first skips this draw on turn 1.
Main Phase
You may do the following in any order and as often as you can pay for:
- Put one card into your inkwell (only one per turn).
- Play characters, actions, items, or locations by paying their ink cost.
- Quest with a ready character to gain lore.
- Challenge an exerted opposing character.
- Sing a song with a character whose ink cost (or Singer value) equals or exceeds the song’s cost.
- Move a character to a location (pay the move cost printed on the location).
- Use activated abilities on characters, items, or locations.
End Phase
Clean up any “at the end of your turn” effects, discard down to a maximum hand size only if an effect demands it (standard Lorcana has no hand size limit), and pass the turn.
Questing and Scoring Lore
Questing is how you win. To quest, you exert a ready character and add that character’s lore value to your lore total. Track your lore with a die, a notepad, or dedicated counters – 20 is the finish line.
Worked Example: A Turn-3 Quest
Suppose on turn 3 you have three ink and two ready characters: Mickey Mouse – Brave Little Tailor (2 lore) and Moana of Motunui (1 lore). You exert both to quest. You gain 2 + 1 = 3 lore this turn. If you started on 2, you are now on 5 and only 15 from winning. Those exerted characters are vulnerable until your next turn because opponents can only challenge exerted characters.
Drying Ink
A character you play this turn cannot quest, challenge, or exert for an ability the same turn, unless they have Rush (for challenging) or an ability that says otherwise. New characters have “drying ink” and must wait until your next turn.
Challenging and Combat
Lorcana’s combat is simple but punchy. You can only challenge a character that is already exerted – typically an opponent who has just quested. There is no blocking phase: the defender cannot intercept.
How Damage Resolves
Exert your ready challenger. Both the challenger and the defender deal damage equal to their Strength to the other. Track damage with counters on each character. When a character has damage equal to or greater than its Willpower, it is banished (goes to the discard pile).
Worked Example: A Trade
Your opponent has exerted Maleficent – Monstrous Dragon (Strength 7, Willpower 5) after questing. You have a ready Te Kā – Heartless (Strength 5, Willpower 5) with Rush. You challenge Maleficent. Your Te Kā deals 5 damage to Maleficent, meeting her 5 Willpower – she is banished. Maleficent deals 7 damage back to Te Kā, also banishing it. You traded 1-for-1 but removed a huge threat that would have kept questing every turn.
Songs – Lorcana’s Signature Trick
Songs are a special kind of action. Instead of paying the ink cost, you may exert a character whose ink cost is equal to or greater than the song’s cost to sing it for free. This turns high-cost characters that are sitting on your board into a second resource. A classic example is Friends on the Other Side, a 2-cost song that draws 2 cards – any 2-cost or higher character in play can sing it instead of paying ink.
Strategies to Win
Once you know the rules, these are the habits that separate winners from coin-flips.
Hit Your Ink Curve Every Turn
Aim to put one card in the inkwell and spend all your ink every turn of the early game. A clean opening looks like: turn 1 ink + pass, turn 2 ink + a 2-cost character, turn 3 ink + a 3-cost character (or a 2-cost + quest with turn 2’s character). Missing a land drop is catastrophic in other TCGs; in Lorcana, skipping an ink turn on turns 1–4 is usually game-losing.
Commit to a Role
Before the game, decide whether your deck is the aggressor (rushing lore) or the control deck (slowing the opponent down and winning later). Aggro decks quest relentlessly and only challenge when forced. Control decks challenge every exerted attacker, neutralize the board, then quest when it is safe. Trying to do both at once usually ends in half a board and 7 lore.
Know When to Quest vs Challenge
A character that quests is exposed to a challenge next turn. If your opponent has a big, ready Bodyguard waiting, questing with your 1-Willpower Rapunzel invites her banishment. Sometimes holding back and playing a second character first is worth more than one lore right now.
Use Songs as Free Tempo
Include a few songs that match the cost of your mid-range characters. A 4-cost character that already quested can still sing a 4-cost song in the same turn as a second action. This is one of the cheapest sources of card advantage in the format.
Protect Your Win Conditions
Identify the one or two characters that actually close the game – usually high-lore questers like Elsa – Spirit of Winter or Mickey Mouse – Brave Little Tailor – and keep them alive. Cards with Ward, Bodyguard, or heal effects (Rapunzel – Gifted with Healing, Cinderella – Gentle and Kind’s shift line) exist for exactly this reason.
Common Beginner Mistakes
- Inking your best cards early. If your only win condition is your 7-cost Dragon, do not shove it under the inkwell on turn 2 just because it is inkable.
- Forgetting the “once per turn” inking rule. You only get one new ink per turn, full stop.
- Over-challenging. Challenging eats a turn that could have scored lore. If the opposing quester is not threatening anything urgent, quest instead.
- Ignoring Bodyguard. You must target Bodyguard characters first when challenging; plan your attacks around them.
- Drawing from an empty deck. If you are deck-thin, check your discard and think twice before cantripping – losing by deck-out is a real failure mode.
Where to Buy Disney Lorcana in Canada
Lorcana is widely distributed in Canada. The Ravensburger 2-Player Starter Set and individual booster packs are stocked by chains such as Indigo, Toys “R” Us, and Walmart Canada, plus dedicated Canadian game stores like Face to Face Games, 401 Games in Toronto, Sentry Box in Calgary, and Gauntlet Games in Victoria. Competitive play is supported through Ravensburger’s Organized Play program, and most local game stores run weekly or monthly Lorcana events.
Final Thoughts
Disney Lorcana rewards the same things every good TCG does – curve out, commit to a plan, and protect your payoff – but wraps them in Disney characters your whole family already knows. New sets land roughly every quarter, with Wilds Unknown bringing Toy Story, Brave, and The Incredibles in May 2026 and an Attack of the Vine! set following in July, so the format stays fresh without invalidating your existing collection. Grab the Starter Set, play a couple of teaching games, and the rhythm of “ink, play, quest, pass” will click faster than you expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a game of Disney Lorcana take?
A single game between two reasonably experienced players usually lasts 20–35 minutes. Teaching games can run longer, and constructed best-of-three matches at local tournaments are typically capped at 50 minutes.
Do I need two inks in my deck, or can I play just one?
You can legally play a single-ink deck, and it simplifies your mulligan decisions. However, most competitive decks pair two inks to access a wider card pool and cover their weaknesses, so a dual-ink deck is recommended once you move past your first few games.
Can you challenge a character the same turn you play it?
No. Newly played characters have “drying ink” and cannot challenge, quest, or exert for abilities on the turn they enter play. The exception is any character with the Rush keyword, which can challenge (but still not quest) the same turn.
What happens if I run out of cards in my deck?
If you have to draw a card from an empty deck, you lose the game immediately. This matters for “mill” strategies and also means cantrip-heavy decks need to finish the game before running themselves out.
Is Disney Lorcana good for kids and family play?
Yes. Ravensburger markets the game for ages 8 and up, and the Disney theme is a natural draw for younger players. The 2-Player Starter Set is specifically designed to teach the rules in a single sitting, making it one of the most family-friendly trading card games on the Canadian market.