Since Disney Lorcana Launched on August 18, curious friends and family didn’t waste any breath in asking me their most pressing questions: How is it going? How does it compare to Magic: the meeting? To the Pokémon trading card game? And why on earth can’t I find any product in the stores? It’s complicated, I say. The game is quite good and compares favorably to both of the leading trading card games on the market. The product is hard to find because people these days are very eager to try and make money on collectibles. It is also difficult to build the production capacity to compete with the two global revenue leaders in tabletop gaming. Very difficult, actually.
But what I talk about most in these informal conversations is the fact that there are a lot of holes in the design of Disney Lorcana – gaps that very clearly need to be filled with new cards, new mechanics, even entirely new decks to play with. With the release of The rise of the Floodbornat least some of those gaps are starting to be filled.
I spent some time with the two new starter decks — both Amethyst and steel like Amber and Sapphire – and they certainly fit with the three starter decks that came before. In fact, they fit into the metagame like a key fits into a lock… almost as if they were designed that way.
My favorite of the two, Amethyst and steelis a big, fighting thing with a slower build-up than my previous favorite, and The first chapter‘s breakthrough star, Amber and Amethyst. If you play it right, it’s almost as effective, as long as you have enough patience to get through a few early rounds just by dropping the ink. But once you’ve dealt Madam Mim and Merlin cards back and forth and earned lore left and right, it’s satisfying to then start making some big swings with Tiana, Celebrating Princess of Kronk, Junior Chipmunk. By keeping everyone protected with a few sets of Mouse Armor, it’s possible to cruise to a mid-game victory virtually unopposed.
Image: Ravensburger and Disney
Image: Ravensburger and Disney
On the other hand, my 13 year old daughter prefers it Amber and Sapphire. Also a slow burn, this one is a team builder that accelerates surprisingly quickly in the midgame thanks to Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs. The dwarves range in price from two to five inks, but the more you get on the table, the more powerful they become individually when faced with a challenge. It’s a great little flock of charming villains, backed by none other than Christopher Robin, adventurer, who is able to collect four knowledge each round – as long as he has enough friends at his side.
However, adding these two starter decks to the game does more than just open up two new ways to play. Each deck of 60 cards has arrived Disney Lorcana must be constructed from one or two different colors, and these starter decks are divided more or less down the middle. Amethyst and steelfor example, contains 29 Amethyst and 31 Steel cards respectively. With just a few booster packs (maybe even the ones that come with every starter deck) you can easily round each of those decks into two half-decks of 30 cards.
Combined with the other three decks sold at launch in August, these 10 half-decks give you 45 different combinations.
Will all 45 deck combinations be as viable as the five starter decks the game came with in the two launch sets? No. Absolutely not. There will definitely be some really bad matchups. But until you put them together and play against another deck of cards, you won’t know. And once you know, you’ll have a better idea of how to expand those decks to make them better. At its best, the game is so intuitive that you discover unique maneuvers and combinations at a steady pace. It is a starting point and a gateway to the larger world of collecting and building decks for competition.
It comes down to Disney Lorcana grows, just like Magic And Pokemon started growing more than thirty years ago. The rise of the Floodborn contains over 200 new cards in total, effectively doubling the number of available cards you can build and play with. It’s a great game, and its complexity is increasing at a rate that even the youngest fans can keep up with – and for a $16.99 starter deck, at a price that many people can afford.
Just don’t dare pay a cent more than $16.99 (plus taxes) for those starter decks.
Grab a stack or two, maybe all five starters, if you can find them as the reprint launches around the same time, and start learning the game. Stop worrying about the crazy prices paid online for shiny, sexy cards. Stop confusing these things for bitcoin. It’s a card game, one with a huge fandom and healthy momentum behind it. It’s going to be a long journey, one that gets even better as it progresses.
Disney Lorcana Rise of the Floodborn‘s two new starter decks arrive at local retailers on November 17, with a wider release on December 1. They were reviewed using physical pre-release copies provided by Ravensburger. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.