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How to get into Disney Lorcana
Lorcana is a race: the first player to 20 lore wins. It is easy to learn, cheap to start, and one of the best-selling card games in the world right now. This page is the whole route in, from your first rules read to your first real deck, without wasting a dollar.
Learn to play, taught by Lorcana’s co-designer
Ryan Miller co-designed the game, and this walkthrough with TheGamer is the fastest way to see a full turn in motion. Watch a game, then everything below will click.
Step 01
Learn the game
Each turn you may put one card face down into your inkwell. Inked cards pay for everything, every turn, forever. Then you play characters and send them questing to collect lore, or challenging to knock out the characters your opponent left exerted. That is the entire loop: build ink, deploy, quest, defend the race to 20.
Every card belongs to one or two of six inks. Your deck may use at most two, so the first real decision in Lorcana is which pair fits how you like to play:
Amber
Wide boards, healing, and singers. Plays to the board and protects it.
Amethyst
Magic, card movement, and evasive questers. Wins at odd angles.
Emerald
Discard, misdirection, and tempo. Makes opponents play your game.
Ruby
Removal and reckless speed. The best answer is usually a challenge.
Sapphire
Ramp, items, and card draw. Spends turn three building turn six.
Steel
Board wipes and tough bodies. Survives everything, then wins slowly.
Six terms cover most of the game
- Inkwell
- Your resource pool. Once per turn you may play a card face down into it; each inked card pays for one ink of cost, every turn, forever.
- Inkable
- Cards with the inkwell symbol around their cost can be placed in your inkwell. Uninkable cards can only ever be played.
- Quest
- Tap (exert) a character to gain its lore value. First player to 20 lore wins, and questing is how you get there.
- Challenge
- Attack an exerted opposing character. Both deal damage equal to their strength; reach willpower and the character is banished.
- Lore
- The victory resource. The diamond number on a character is how much lore it earns per quest. Race to 20.
- Shift
- Play a bigger version of a character on top of a smaller one for a discount. It keeps its damage and can act immediately.
Want the full rules walkthrough? The official How to Play tutorial takes about five minutes.
Step 02
Grab a starter, then upgrade
Skip the display box. A preconstructed starter deck is a legal, playable 60 cards for around $17, and both of these have a proven upgrade path on this site: play the starter as-is, then swap toward the linked list piece by piece as your budget allows.
Toys Starter Deck (Wilds Unknown)
Ruby/Amber toys out of the box, and it comes with Jessie - Lively Cowgirl and Buzz Lightyear - On the Way holofoils.
Upgrade path Ruby Amber Toys — 1st Place PCG Locals→
Super Family Starter Deck
The Incredibles shell: an Amethyst/Ruby midrange that teaches characters, tempo, and when to race.
Upgrade path Super Family Starter Upgrade — Set Champs Ready→
Step 03
Budget brews under $30
Rather build from scratch than upgrade a starter? We keep two budget brews stocked at all times: 60 cards, two inks, built entirely from the current Core sets, and under $30 at live market prices. Open a deck for the full list, card-by-card pricing, and a one-click TCGplayer cart.
Step 04
Bring a friend
Card games stick when someone across the table is learning with you. The two-player Gateway set boxes up both decks, tokens, and a guided first game. One purchase, game night sorted.
Already own two starter decks? Hand one over and play. That works just as well.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to start playing Lorcana?
A starter deck is the cheapest playable option: it comes ready to play out of the box. From there, budget 60-card lists built from inexpensive singles are the next step up — the budget decks on this page are priced from live market data.
How many cards do you need in a Lorcana deck?
A deck needs at least 60 cards, with no more than 4 copies of any one card and cards from at most two inks. There is no maximum size, but almost all competitive decks play exactly 60.
Are starter decks tournament legal?
Starter decks from current sets are legal in the Core format as-is. Older sets rotate out of Core over time, so check each card's legality before bringing an older starter to an event.
Do you need foil or Enchanted cards to compete?
No. Foil and Enchanted versions play identically to the regular printing — rarity of the finish only affects the card's price, never its power in a game.