Disney Lorcana release dates and latest news

Official House of Mouse trading card game Disney Lorcana gave some of us a shock when it was first announced in 2022 – going toe-to-toe with Magic: The Gathering is a bold move. Two years later, though, the game is now well established and growing. This guide tracks upcoming Lorcana release dates and all the basic facts about the newest mega-TCG on the block.

To learn more about specific topics about this up-and-coming trading card game, check out some of our other guides, covering all the basic Lorcana rules, the various released and upcoming Lorcana sets, the most expensive Lorcana cards, and tips on how to play Lorcana online.

For now, though, here’s the lowdown on new Lorcana releases and a tour through the game’s key facts. Click on the links below to jump to the info you need.

What is Disney Lorcana?

Disney Lorcana is an officially licenced Disney trading card game, designed and manufactured by popular family board game publisher Ravensburger – the firm behind the excellent Disney board game Villainous (plus every Disney Villainous expansion).

First announced in 2022, the game released its first full card set – The First Chapter – to game stores and retailers in August  2023, and followed that up with set two, Rise of the Floodborn, in November 2023.

Lorcana has gone down a hit with Disney fans – rather better than its creators planned, in fact, as demand for its starter decks and booster packs way outstripped supply across the world in the game’s first few months.

Don’t miss our Disney Lorcana review to see what we thought about the game on release. For more detail on how it works, and what’s coming up next for Lorcana fans, read on. 

Disney Lorcana release dates

After a successful but slightly chaotic start, hampered by massive supply shortages, the Disney Lorcana release schedule is now properly underway, with two full sets (called chapters) released, another launching in March 2024, and three more planned.

Ravensburger’s original plan was to offer four full sets each year, and so far that’s what we’re expecting in 2024, after a Lorcana competitive play announcement in January plotted out the whole year’s planned set release dates (but not the titles or any details of sets four, five, and six).

So far, each new Lorcana set has had a gap of around two weeks between its initial release date for specialist tabletop game stores (a.k.a. your Friendly Local Game Store) and its eventual release to regular retailers.

Here’s the full schedule, including the existing released sets, and everything we know is coming up:

Disney Lorcana ink colors

Now that Lorcana is fully alive and kicking, we know exactly how all six different Lorcana ink colors work – for the full details, read our complete guide to Disney Lorcana ink types.

Ravensburger first revealed the official names of the six Disney Lorcana ink colors at the 2022 Essen Spiel tabletop gaming show in Germany. Each of the colors is linked to different cards in the TCG.

Here are the six official ink colors in Disney Lorcana:

• Amber
• Amethyst
• Emerald
• Ruby
• Sapphire
• Steel

Amethyst glimmers apparently rely on enchantments, while Sapphire glimmers are fond of using tools. Ruby glimmers “often leap without looking”, while Emerald glimmers are highly flexible. Steel glimmers focus on brute force, and Amber glimmers instead prioritise defence.

As we reported in early 2023, they share some similarities with the five MTG colors, but there are some key differences, beyond the simple fact Lorcana has one extra flavor compared to Magic: The Gathering. 

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Disney Lorcana cards

Since early bird fans first got their hands on a batch of Lorcana cards at Disney’s D23 event in 2023, Ravensburger has picked up the pace of releases, showing off more and more new Disney Lorcana cards all the time.

Less than a year into the game’s life, we’ve already seen a multiverse of Disney characters, interpreted to create TCG cards. Here are a few of the most interesting early reveals that sparked fans’ interest.

Starting with the nasties, we’ve got Maleficent, Monstrous Dragon; a big stompy villain that can ‘banish’ another character. There’s also Cruella de Vil, Miserable as Usual; and Captain Hook, Forceful Duelist.

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As for goodies, we have characters like Stitch, Rock Star; Elsa, Snow Queen; Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor; and Robin Hood; Unrivalled Archer.

Olaf the friendly snowman and a Dragon Fire ability card showed up on Instagram in December 2022, expanding the cast roster. Meanwhile, a rogue Jumba Jookiba card was shared on the Disney Lorcana Twitter, all by itself on January 13, 2023. As expected, this ‘renegade scientist’ has got some alien alchemy going on. 

Disney Lorcana decks and boosters

There are 204 Disney Lorcana cards available in the First Chapter and 204 more in Rise of the Floodborn, each neatly packaged in a variety of products. However, right now demand is outstripping supply, and it can be quite hard to get hold of them.

Disney Lorcana starter decks

First up, you can learn to play using Disney Lorcana starter decks. These are 60-card decks with two ‘ink’ colors. In The First Chapter starter decks, your ink options are:

• Steel and Sapphire
• Emerald and Ruby
• Amber and Amethyst

We see some unlikely team-ups on the packaging of these starter decks. Sleeping Beauty’s Aurora stands alongside Simba from the Lion King (Steel and Sapphire). A magical Mickey Mouse meets Moana in the Amber and Amethyst deck. Perhaps most surprisingly, Aladdin is teaming up with Cruella for the Emerald and Ruby deck.

Each starter deck also comes with a booster pack of 12 cards, and the 60 core cards include two foils of the characters on the packaging. The Disney Lorcana website says these decks also include tokens and a rulebook.

Rise of the Floodborn introduced two extra starter decks. One combines Amber and Sapphire Inks, while the other matches Amethyst with Steel. Additionally, Into the Inklands two more starter decks to the mix, combining Amber and Emerald, as well as Ruby and Sapphire.

Starter sets cost $16.99 / £17.99.

Disney Lorcana booster packs

In general, the 12-card Disney Lorcana booster packs contain six common cards, three uncommon cards, one foil, and two cards that are rare, super rare, or legendary rare. Individual booster packs cost $5.99 /£4.99.

Disney Lorcana gift set

Dedicated Disney Lorcana gift sets have also been released. For The First Chapter Mulan and Hades take center stage. The set includes two oversized foil cards of these characters, as well as smaller, actually-playable versions. The card names are Mulan – Imperial Soldier and Hades – King of Olympus.

Also inside the gift set are 34 game tokens and four booster packs. You’ll need to do all the deck building yourself with this one. This particular product is expected to set you back $29.99 / £27.99.

Disney Lorcana Illumineer’s Trove

This is, as Disney Lorcana itself calls it, the “ultimate choice”, the “ultimate treasure for both collectors and players”. The Illumineer’s Trove is a full-art storage box, with two deck boxes, eight boosters, a player’s guide, and 15 game tokens inside. Expect strategy suggestions as well as plenty of visual Disney goodness in that player’s guide. You should also expect a price of $49.99 / £49.99.

Each Lorcana set has had its own Illumineer’s Trove. That means we’ll be getting another when Into the Inklands releases in February. 

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Disney Lorcana rules

As the game is out, we now know the full Disney Lorcana rules. We’ve explained them in complete, no-nonsense detail in our Lorcana rules beginners’ guide – but there’s a short form below.

Lorcana has plenty of features seen in existing trading card games, but it stands out by avoiding too much violence. Rather than focusing on head-to-head combat that reduces opponents to zero life, Disney Lorcana challenges you to be the first to earn 20 lore by ‘questing’.

Players use 60-card decks, and they start a game by drawing a hand of seven cards. Ink cards are played to pay the cost of ‘glimmers’, which allow you to use characters, items, and actions to affect the state of play. ‘Exerting’ characters is important – turning a card to its side allows you to send it on quests, challenge an opponent’s quests, or activate powerful abilities. 

Disney Lorcana card types

With two full Lorcana sets out, another nearly upon us, and several more on the way, we’ve already met and catalogued several distinct types of cards that’ll drive your games.

For the full information, read our dedicated guide Lorcana card types and the different Lorcana rarity categories. For now, here’s a brief summary of the four main card types:

• Characters
• Items
• Actions (including songs)
• Locations

Characters are, as the name suggests, Disney characters. They’re required to win the game, as you’ll need them to gather lore, and to challenge and defeat other characters.

Items are important objects from Disney movies, like Rapunzel’s Frying Pan, or Moana and co’s Coconut baskets. They stay on the board and may provide a permanent effect. Others will need to be exerted or banished to activate them, and you can wait and choose when to do this.

Actions, meanwhile, are one time use effects, that are played and vanish right after you use them. Examples include Maleficent’s Dragon Fire, which can Banish any Character.

Songs are a special type of Action card which can be paid for in a different way. You can exert Characters to ‘sing’ the Song card, playing it without ink. Some Characters are ‘singers’, which means they can be used to cheat out more expensive Song cards.

Locations are the newest card type added to the game, debuting in Set 3: Into the Inklands. Representing iconic places from Disney stories, they work a lot like MTG Land cards, remaining in play, passively generating Lore.

Differently from Lands, though, you can move your Characters onto one of your Locations to trigger certain in-game effects and bonuses. 

Disney Lorcana organized play

Like other famous TCGs, Disney Lorcana plans to have a tournament scene and organized play program. Players will earn League points for various activities – ranging from winning games (of course) to bringing a friend along, or teaching someone new how to play.

Qualifying LGS will receive promos and packs to help them run tournaments, and League play will be split into 12-week seasons.

The latest news in the world of tournament play is that Lorcana will host a European and North American Championship in “the 2024 Holiday season”. You can qualify for these by playing in regional tournaments, and the top players will be invited to a World Championship in early 2025.

For more on the Disney TCG, here are the most expensive Lorcana cards in the game so far. We can also explain Disney Lorcana rarity symbols.