Last week, we learned that Lorcana’s official gameplay demo is scheduled for later this month, however what appears to be a May 2023 edition of Game Trade Magazine has been leaked early, showing several pages worth of never-before-seen information surrounding Lorcana’s gameplay.
Allegedly first shared by Geeks 1st, the images are taken from Games Trade Magazine (GTM). Each page has a wealth of new information for Lorcana fans, including the anatomy of a card, rarity information, basic how-to-play, new cards, and more. You can find a full breakdown of that information below.
How To Play Basics
According to the first page, the objective of Lorcana is to use your characters (known as glimmers) to acquire lore. The first player to gather 20 lore is the winner. Players (known as illumineers) will battle with 60 card decks comprised of up to two ink combinations. The game starts with each player drawing seven cards, and subsequently drawing a new card each turn. Once per turn, players may select a card from their hand and turn it into ink for their resource pool, known as the inkwell. As with most resource-based card games, adding more resources to the inkwell will allow you to play more powerful cards.
In order to gather the lore needed to win the game, players will need to send their glimmers on quests. To send a glimmer on a quest, players will “exert” it by turning the card sideways. When a card is exerted, you’ll gain lore equal to the amount shown on the card. Exerting a glimmer is also how challenges take place. Challenges allow opportunities for players to contest opposing characters and hinder their lore gathering capabilities. Of note, only characters that have already been exerted are eligible to be challenged.
The second page shows a detailed breakdown of what appears on each card.
Every card in Lorcana has a casting cost indicator, an inkwell icon, which indicates which cards can be put into your inkwell, a name, classification, ink-alignment, and a text box for abilities and effects. Exclusive to glimmers are the strength and willpower values, which are akin to attack and defense, as well as a lore value, which tells the player how much lore they will acquire by exerting that glimmer.
When damage is dealt to a glimmer’s willpower, either through a challenge or other means, it sticks on that glimmer in the form of counters until either healed, or reduced to zero, at which point that glimmer is banished and placed into the discard pile.
Additional details on this page include a breakdown of the card rarities and their respective symbols.
Cards in Lorcana are broken down into five rarities: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, and Legendary.
Organized Play
Lorcana organized play begins with Leagues and Game Nights. League play will consist of 12 weeks of events, broken up into three separate rounds. League points can be earned by playing casual best-of-three games at your local game store, or by “Lorcana-related activities”, such as teaching someone how to play. While everyone will earn prizes for participating, those who earn the highest amount of points during each round will earn additional special prizes. Information on larger, more competitive tournaments is still forthcoming.
So what do you think of this basic introduction to the world of Lorcana? Share your thoughts with us in the comments on Facebook and Twitter.
Lorcana’s The First Chapter is scheduled to release on August 18 in local game stores and September 1 for mass-market retail.
If you’re just now learning about Lorcana, be sure to read our comprehensive articles below, detailing the game’s product lineup, up-to-date card gallery, deckbuilding, and more.