Collectible card games are having an unexpected second life. Although most of those that have survived today were born in the 90s, in the last ten years it has become a niche market. Something much more specific than it was at the time. Its loss of popularity meant the death of many TCGs, but also that the market was divided, broadly speaking, among the three survivors: Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokémon.
Now collectible card games seem to be making a strong comeback. Perhaps it’s because of the rise of board games, perhaps it’s because of the success of card video games. Probably a combination of both. The reality is that in recent years, the three classic games have achieved unprecedented success since their early years. That, and the fact that, as a result of this popularity, other collectible card games have emerged that have managed to succeed where it seemed that everything had already been done.
One of the latest examples of this is Lorcana. A Ravensburger game, set in the Disney universe, which was released in the US in August 2023, and arrived in early 2024 in different European countries. Being one of the latest Spain, where it arrived at the end of last March, after generating great anticipation.
Much of the charm of Lorcana is, logically, the license behind it. It’s Disney. And be careful, not only the classic Disney, from the movies of our childhood, but also the more modern Disney. Among its ranks we can find characters like Mickey, Donald and Pluto, but also Peter Pan, the 101 Dalmatians, Lilo and Stitch, Elsa or Wreck-It Ralph. All this with promotional cards, alternative arts, and everything you can expect from a collectible card game, where it is as important to have a good deck as it is to carry it as personalized as possible.
In the game, we will explore the kingdom of Lorcana with a team of glimmers, our cards, to be the first to reach 20 legend points. These points are accumulated by playing cards, similar to how it is done in Magic: The Gathering. Where in Magic we have to tap our cards to attack our opponent, here we have to tap them to generate legend points. But be careful, because there’s a catch: our opponent can attack our tapped cards with their untapped cards. So knowing when to go on the offensive and when to stay on the defensive will be key to winning.
Also, like in Magic, each card is divided into different colors. In this case, they are called inks, and there are six: amber, amethyst, emerald, ruby, sapphire, and steel. How this is managed is similar, again, to Magic: The Gathering, but with a clear difference. All our cards can be played face down to generate an ink of their color. In this way, all the cards serve the purpose of allowing us to play the other cards, while avoiding the uncomfortable situation of not being able to play cards that often occurs in the Wizards of the Coast game.
In the game right now there are character cards, which generate legend points, as well as actions, objects and places, which serve as spells, equipment and enchantments respectively. All of this makes it a game that has a very pronounced casual component, being very easy to play in a relaxed manner with other people, but with enough depth to also have a competitive edge. This has been enhanced with a professional circuit that is slowly expanding by Ranvesburguer.
If you are interested in starting to play Lorcana, the easiest way to do it is with one of the starter decks. With everything you need to play, there are 7 starter decks available and they all contain a 60-card deck, 11 damage counters, 1 paper playmat, 1 cardboard score token, 1 quick start guide, and a booster pack with 12 random cards.
The game currently has three expansions available, with the latest being Into The Inklands. Available in specialized stores and large retailers, it has two starter decks, one Amber and Emerald focused on 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan, and one Ruby and Sapphire where the central pieces are Moana and Uncle Scrooge. In addition, there are also booster packs, packs, sleeves, deck boxes, and everything you may need, all personalized with the beautiful art of Lorcana.
Although Lorcana has been with us for a short time, we already know the name of the next collection: The Return of Úrsula. That’s why, seeing that the game is working and doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, there is no better time than now to get into a new collectible card game like Lorcana.
