How to play Disney Lorcana: a beginner’s guide

In Disney Lorcana, two players race to 20 lore. Each turn you may add one card to your inkwell, spend ink to play Disney characters, items and actions, then send characters to quest for lore or challenge your opponent's characters. A character can quest or challenge, not both, and that single choice drives almost every game.

Lorcana launched in 2023 and brought a lot of people into trading card games for the first time. The Disney artwork gets them through the door, and the game is good enough to keep them. These rules follow Ravensburger's official quick start rules. For the full set list, see every Lorcana set in order.

What is on a Lorcana card?

• Ink cost (top left): how much ink it costs to play. A swirl around the cost, the inkwell symbol, means the card can also be put into your inkwell.
• Ink colour: one of six, Amber, Amethyst, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire or Steel, each with its own style of play.
• Strength and willpower (on characters): the damage it deals in a challenge, and the damage it can take before it is banished.
• Lore value: how much lore the character earns when it quests.
• Abilities and keywords such as Evasive, Bodyguard, Rush, Ward and Singer.

Card types

• Characters: the heart of the game. They quest for lore and challenge other characters.
• Actions: one-off effects that are discarded after use.
• Songs: actions that a character can sing instead of you paying ink. Exert a character whose cost is equal to or higher than the song's cost, and you play the song for free.
• Items: stay in play and give ongoing effects. Unlike characters, items can be used on the turn you play them.
• Locations: added in Into the Inklands. Characters can move to them, and they earn you lore at the start of your turn.

Setting up

1. Both players set their lore to 0 and shuffle their decks.
2. Draw seven cards. Starting with the first player, each player may alter their hand once: put any number of cards on the bottom of the deck, draw back up to seven, then shuffle.
3. Decide who goes first. The first player does not draw on their first turn.

How a turn works

Beginning of the turn: ready, set, draw. Ready all your exerted cards (turn them upright), resolve any start-of-turn effects, then draw a card.

Main part of the turn, in any order you like:

• Ink a card (once per turn): put a card with the inkwell symbol face down into your inkwell. It stays there all game.
• Play cards: exert ink cards equal to a card's cost to play it.
• Quest: exert a dry character to gain lore equal to its lore value.
• Challenge: exert a dry character to fight one of your opponent's exerted characters.
• Sing songs, use abilities and move characters to locations.

When you have done everything you want, your turn ends and play passes to your opponent.

Drying ink: why new characters wait

A character you have just played is "drying". Until your next turn it cannot quest, challenge, sing or use abilities that require exerting it. Characters with the Rush keyword can challenge straight away. This gives your opponent one turn to respond before a new threat starts earning lore.

Questing and challenging

This is the core of Lorcana. When a character quests, it exerts and earns its lore value. That leaves it exerted during your opponent's turn, and exerted characters are exactly the ones that can be challenged.

In a challenge, both characters deal damage equal to their strength to each other at the same time. Damage stays on a character from turn to turn. When a character has damage equal to or greater than its willpower, it is banished to the discard pile. So every turn you decide: quest now and risk being challenged, or hold back and keep your characters safe.

How do you win?

Reach 20 lore. Most games are won by questing steadily while challenging away your opponent's best lore-earners. You also lose if you need to draw and your deck is empty, but with a 60-card deck that is rare.

Formats: Core and Infinity

For casual games, any cards will do. For organised play there are two main formats. Core Constructed uses only recent sets and rotates; after the July 2026 rotation it covers Fabled, Whispers in the Well, Winterspell, Wilds Unknown and Attack of the Vine! (sets 9 to 13). Infinity allows every set, with its own banned list. New set 14, Hyperia City, releases on 23 October 2026.

What should you buy first?

If you want to play: two ready-made decks

Ready-to-play decks need no deck-building. Two of them means you can sit down with someone and play immediately, which is by far the best way to find out whether you like the game. See decks and kits.

If you want to open packs: boosters

Booster packs are for collecting and for improving a deck you already have; they will not give you a playable deck by themselves. The newest set in stock is Attack of the Vine!, and packs such as Wilds Unknown are Core-legal.

If you want both: an Illumineer's Trove

The Trove is Lorcana's premium box: booster packs plus a storage box, deck boxes and a play surface. The Reign of Jafar Trove is in stock.

If you want a specific card: singles

The cheapest way to finish a deck is to buy the exact cards you need. Browse Lorcana singles in stock; singles-only orders post anywhere in the UK for £1.75.

What are Enchanted cards?

Lorcana's rarities run from common, uncommon and rare to super rare and legendary. Enchanted cards sit above them all: full-art, foil alternate versions that are the chase cards of every set. Their pull rates are low, which is exactly what makes opening packs exciting.

Is Lorcana good for children?

It is one of the best first card games for younger players. The rules are short, games are quick, and children already know the characters. Two ready-made decks and half an hour make a good afternoon. Browse the full Disney Lorcana range.