Character
Has Strength (damage it deals), Willpower (damage it can take) and a Lore value. Quests for lore or challenges, from the turn after it arrives.
Learn to play
How to play Lorcana
Everything you need to play: how a turn works, what every kind of card does, how to build a deck, which cards to look for and which ones collectors chase. Watch the guide video first, then read on.
The guide video
The guide video plays here.
How to play
20
Gather 20 lore
Characters quest to collect lore, and locations add lore at the start of your turn. The first player to reach 20 lore wins.
∅
Their deck runs out
A player who has to draw a card from an empty deck loses the game.
The six inks
AmberDefence and recovery: healing, support and songs.
AmethystMagic and trickery with the cards in your hand.
EmeraldChanging and controlling the game: evasion, tricks and disruption.
RubyOffence: fast, aggressive characters with Rush and Evasive.
SapphirePlanning: drawing cards, items and extra ink.
SteelStrength and toughness: big challengers and sturdy defenders.
A deck uses one or two inks. Since Archazia's Island, some cards are two inks at once.
LoreCount up from 0. Reach 20 to win.
Play areaCharacters, items and locations you have played. Exerted cards are turned sideways.
DeckDraw from the top.
DiscardUsed actions and banished cards.
InkwellFace-down cards. Each one gives 1 ink a turn.
Kinds of card
Action
A one-time effect. Play it, do what it says, then put it in the discard pile.
Song
An action you can also play for free by having a character sing it: exert a character whose cost is at least the number shown.
Item
An object that stays in play. Many can be used the turn you play them.
Location
A place your characters can move to. It gives you lore at the start of each of your turns. Added in Into the Inklands.
Setting up
- Bring a deck. At least 60 cards, no more than four copies of any card, and only one or two inks.
- Pick who goes first, shuffle, and set your lore to 0.
- Draw seven cards. Once, you may put any number of them on the bottom of your deck, draw back up to seven, then shuffle.
Your turn, in order
- 1
Beginning
- Ready your exerted cards.
- Set: “at the start of your turn” effects happen.
- Draw a card. The first player skips this on their first turn.
- 2
Main phase
- Once, put a card with the inkwell symbol into your inkwell.
- Play cards by exerting ink equal to their cost.
- Quest, challenge, move to locations and use abilities, in any order.
- 3
End
“At the end of your turn” effects happen, then it's your opponent's turn.
Words you will see
- Exert
- Turning a card sideways to use it. An exerted card can't be used again until it is readied at the start of your next turn.
- Drying
- Characters enter play ready but can't quest, challenge or exert until your next turn: “their ink is still drying”.
- Quest
- Exert a character to gain lore equal to its Lore value.
- Challenge
- Exert your character to fight an opponent's exerted character (or a location). Both deal damage equal to their Strength at the same time.
- Banish
- When the damage on a character or location reaches its Willpower, it is banished to the discard pile.
- Shift
- Play a character on top of one with the same name for its Shift cost. It keeps the damage and can act at once if the one below could.
- Storyborn, Dreamborn, Floodborn
- Glimmers as they are in their films, reimagined versions, and versions changed by the great ink flood.
- Core and Infinity
- Core tournaments use only recent sets (older sets rotate out). Infinity allows every card ever printed.
This is a summary for new players. Ravensburger's official rules have every detail, and they win any disagreement with this page.
Reading a Lorcana card
Every Lorcana character card shows the same things in the same places. Here is Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor, a Legendary card from the very first set, The First Chapter (2023).
- Cost. The number in the hexagon, top left: 8 ink to play him. A swirly gold ring around it means the card is inkable: you can put it into your inkwell instead of playing it.
- Name and version. Mickey Mouse is the name, Brave Little Tailor is the version. A deck can have up to four copies of each name-and-version.
- Classifications. Storyborn, Hero, Prince and so on. Some cards care about them ("your Princess characters…").
- Strength and Willpower. ⚔️ 5 is the damage he deals in a challenge; 🛡️ 5 is how much damage he can take before he's banished.
- Keywords and abilities. Evasive: only other Evasive characters can challenge him. Abilities in capitals (like MUSICAL DEBUT on other cards) do something when the card is played, quests or all the time.
- Lore. The ◆ diamonds on the right edge: 4. When he quests, you gain 4 lore. The first player to 20 lore wins.
- Ink colour. The gem at the bottom left: Ruby. A deck uses one or two of the six inks.
Rarities from common to rare: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, Legendary, then the special printings: Enchanted (full-art versions), Epic and Iconic.
Every kind of card, and what it does
Characters
The heart of every deck. Play them with ink; from your next turn (once their "ink has dried") they can quest for lore or challenge an exerted opposing character. Most decks run 30 or more.
Shift characters
Stronger versions you can play for their Shift cost on top of a character with the same name. Stitch, Rock Star costs 6, or Shift 4 onto any Stitch. A shifted character keeps the one underneath's damage and can act straight away if that one was dry.
Actions and songs
One-shot effects, then they go to the discard pile. Songs are actions that one of your characters can sing for free: exert a dry character whose cost is at least the song's cost (Friends on the Other Side costs 3, so any cost-3 character can sing it and you draw 2 cards).
Items
They stay in play. Many have an ability you use by exerting the item (Dinglehopper: remove 1 damage). Items don't need to dry, so you can use one the turn you play it.
Locations
Places (from Into the Inklands on) that give you their lore at the start of each of your turns. Characters can move to them for the move cost and get their bonuses. Opposing characters can challenge a location at any time: it takes damage but deals none back.
The inkwell
Once a turn, put one inkable card from your hand into your inkwell, face down. Each card there is 1 ink to spend every turn. Every card can be ink, so choosing what to ink and what to keep is one of the big decisions of the game.
The keywords
Many characters have a keyword in bold. Each one is a short rule:
🛡️ Bodyguard
May enter play exerted. An opponent who challenges has to pick a Bodyguard if they can.
🪶 Evasive
Only characters with Evasive can challenge it.
⚡ Rush
Can challenge the turn it's played (but still can't quest).
⚔️ Challenger +N
Gets +N Strength while it's challenging.
🧱 Resist +N
Damage dealt to it is reduced by N.
🔥 Reckless
Can't quest, and has to challenge if it can.
🤝 Support
When it quests, add its Strength to another of your characters this turn.
✨ Ward
Your opponent can't choose it with their cards' effects (they can still challenge it).
🎤 Singer N
Sings songs as if its cost were N.
🎶 Sing Together N
A song any number of your characters can sing together if their costs add up to N.
⬆️ Shift N
Play it for N on top of a character with the same name.
💨 Vanish
When an opponent chooses it for an action, it's banished.
Building a deck
A deck has at least 60 cards (almost everyone plays exactly 60), no more than four copies of any card (same name and version), in one or two inks. A good starting shape:
30–38Characters
A curve from cheap to big: plenty at 1–3 ink to start questing early, a solid middle at 4–5, and a few big finishers at 6+.
10–20Actions and songs
Removal (deal damage, banish), card draw, and songs your characters can sing for free.
0–8Items and locations
Steady value over the game: extra lore each turn, card draw or protection.
What to look for when you collect
- Inkable cards. Aim for about three quarters of your deck to be inkable, or you'll get stuck with cards you can't use.
- Good lore for the cost. Cheap characters with 2 lore win games; big characters with 3–4 lore finish them.
- Removal. Cards that banish or damage the opponent's best questers.
- Card draw. Songs like Friends on the Other Side keep your hand full.
- Two inks that work together, such as Amber/Steel (big sturdy characters) or Ruby/Sapphire (fast and efficient).
Ready to play?
- Start right away with a practice deck. The Lorcana Arena deals you a free random deck of one or two inks. Swap any card you don't like (♻) and play the computer.
- Collect your own cards. Open your free Daily PlayPack every day. Every card goes into your PlayBinder.
- Play with your PlayBinder. Once your cards make a full deck by themselves (60 cards of one or two inks, every one of them pulled in your Play Packs), the Arena builds the best deck your collection allows. Lorcana has no free cards to fill a deck with, so this takes a while: until then, practice with a random deck. The Arena shows how close you are.
- Climb the ranks. Ten levels from Novice to Grandmaster. Beat one to unlock the next. Every level you beat makes your Lorcana streak bonus cards rarer.
The most wanted Lorcana cards
Enchanted cards (full-art versions that turn up only rarely) and the newer Iconic cards are what collectors chase most. A few favourites (they can turn up in Play Packs from their sets, just rarely):
Elsa, Spirit of WinterThe First Chapter, EnchantedThe best-known Enchanted from the first set, and a strong card to play too.
Mickey Mouse, Wayward SorcererThe First Chapter, EnchantedMickey as the Sorcerer's Apprentice: the classic chase card of the launch.
Tinker Bell, Giant FairyThe First Chapter, EnchantedA fan favourite for its art.
Robin Hood, Champion of SherwoodInto the Inklands, EnchantedOne of the most wanted cards of the third set.
Kida, Protector of AtlantisInto the Inklands, EnchantedAtlantis arrived in Lorcana with this one.
- Mickey Mouse, Brave Little TailorThe First Chapter, Legendary
4 lore and Evasive: a game-winner, and the card on this page's anatomy.
Ariel, Ethereal VoiceSet 10, IconicIconic cards are the rarest printings of all.
Lilo & Stitch, Fun-Loving FriendsSet 13, IconicTwo characters on one card, and a new chase for collectors.
Collector prices change all the time and depend on condition. Play Packs are just for fun: your PlayBinder cards aren't real cards and can't be sold.
How the Arena plays
The Arena plays the real game: 60-card decks of one or two inks, a 7-card opening hand you may redraw, one card a turn into the inkwell, drying, questing, challenging, singing, Shift, items, locations that give lore, and the race to 20 lore. Each card's real cost, Strength, Willpower and lore are used, and so are all the keywords.
The most common card texts work too: drawing, dealing and removing damage, banishing, returning cards to hand, Strength changes, exerting and readying, gaining lore, searching the top of your deck and more. Card text the Arena can't play yet is still shown on the card: such actions and items can't go in a practice deck, and such characters play with their stats and keywords. Moving characters to locations, Boost and some rarer abilities are coming later.