Lorcana Is Great But…

Just before Christmas, I picked up three starter decks for Lorcana. The collectible card game from Disney had me very interested from when it was announced. The sheer breadth of characters they have access to meant that the card art was always going to be outstanding. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the gameplay also impressed.

Having played a lot of collectible, or trading, card games (CCG) I thought I knew what to expect from Lorcana. I expected a Magic: The Gathering (MTG) clone but with Disney cosplay. That is not at all what I found. Instead, I found a system I much prefer to almost any other CCG I have played.

In Lorcana, there is no specific resource card like a Land in MTG or Energy in Pokémon. Instead, any card in your hand can be played face down to become your resource, ink. This immediately removes a layer of complication though it still creates complexity. You have to decide which cards in your hand, at any given time, which give you the most valuable by being turned into ink. Simple yet complex at the same time. Ideal.

Additionally, in Lorcana, you don’t win by defeating your opponent. You win by earning 20 Lore points which you get by sending your played character cards Questing. Practically, this means they become used for that round and can do nothing else. Different cards have different abilities making some better for questing and some better for other uses. It’s a refreshing change to know you don’t have to send Beast to tear Stitch to pieces.

However, if you Quest with a character they can become challenged by an opponent card on their turn, and potentially sent to your discard pile. Therefore, you need to Quest to get Lore points and win but, in doing so, you put your cards at risk of defeat. It’s an elegant game of balance that works really, really well. On top of this, there are some cards that gain Lore from other methods adding plenty of variety to the possible decks.

Artwork wise, the cards are some of the most beautiful I have seen in card gaming history. Disney have an embarrassment of riches to draw from and they are, so far, using it well. Seeing beloved characters, items, and locations redrawn with a particular style or theme in mind is genuinely always fun. Winnie The Pooh Hunny Wizard is an absolute favourite of mine.

Each card wonderfully captures the essence of that character and the theme of the set. I can absolutely see Lorcana as a gateway for even more fans to find characters and movies they didn’t know existed. I also want to give huge credit to Ravensburger and Disney for making sure that artists are credited on the cards. It would have been easy to miss out and put elsewhere so credit where credit is due.

If anything, the artwork is a little too good. I have had matches where every turn has resulted in me, or the opposing player, asking if we are ok to pick up a card and look at it. There is a joy and dedication in the artwork created for the cards and I only hope that it continues for as long as Lorcana runs.

You might be asking where the but is then. Here it is: but Lorcana is still a collectible, or trading, card game. It has done nothing to avoid the traps and piftalls of every other trading card game and that saddens me. They could have tried to do something different, especially as Lorcana will naturally appeal to a younger audience too.

As in all trading card games, there will be some cards that are inherently more useful or powerful and are therefore rarer to find. This creates excitement when you pull one from a booster pack but it also creates an awful pay-to-win world. If you have enough money, you can just buy the massively overpriced cards direct from another person and create a deck no ordinary player could really even dream of. This isn’t exclusive to Lorcana but it is still a valid criticism.

This then ties into the second problem Lorcana chose not to avoid and that is the competitive scene being dominated by those willing to pay-to-win. Anybody who has joined a Friday Night Magic at their local gaming store, or any other card game event, knows the feeling of playing against THAT player. The one who has spent hundreds and has all the best cards. The one who it is no fun to play against. The one who makes you want to just leave. That’s still there just wrapped in Disney goodness.

Finally, like all other major card games, Lorcana is fixed on a regular release cycle of new sets and cards. These sets introduce new keywords, systems, or mechanics. Sure, you could just not engage with that but they are almost always very powerful when first introduced. This leads back to that problem of playing against others when they have bought an entire booster box of the new set. Ultimately, if you want to play against anybody other than your friends, you are going to be stuck in a constant money cycle.

In short, Lorcana is great – it is probably my favourite physical collectible card game right now – but it is still a collectible card game. For some, that will be fine and for others that will be enough to prevent them even starting with it. Both opinions are fine and valid. It just feels like companies as big as Disney and Ravensburger could have done something different and, for as beautiful and fun as Lorcana is, it feels like a missed opportunity to move card gaming forwards.

In short, Lorcana is great – it is probably my favourite physical collectible card game right now – but it is still a collectible card game.

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