Disney’s Lorcana trading card game (TCG) has kicked off the week with a preview finale of epic proportions! Below you’ll find over 40 new cards, rounding out their debut set — The First Chapter.
Amber
Pumbaa, Friendly Warthog is a four-cost 3/5 that quests for one lore. Pumbaa’s stat line is on par for his cost and generally a well-rounded common.
The loveable Mr. Smee keeps his gentle nature in Lorcana as a three-cost 2/5 with no abilities. He can quest for one lore and be used as a resource in your inkwell.
Cinderella, Gentle and Kind is a four-cost 2/5 that strong for an uncommon. The singer 5 ability allows her to sing songs as if she costs five, and her A Wonderful Dream ability exerts to remove three damage from a princess each turn. She can even quest for two lore on turns where removing damage isn’t necessary.
I can understand why you’d forget this four-cost discard action… Jokes aside, this is another card that gains value for each additional opponent in your game. Paying four to force a two-card discard in a one-on-one game feels bad, but in a multiplayer environment, I could see this being playable.
Aside from being a fan-favorite character, Maximus, Palace Horse is also a great card. A five-cost 4/5, the strong stat line with bodyguard prevents your key characters from being challenged, and then on subsequent turns, he can quest and support your challenging character. The versatility here definitely deserves the super rare rarity.
My initial impression of Rapunzel, Gifted with Healing is that it is incredibly strong – in the top five of my best characters in The First Chapter. Removing damage and drawing up to three cards for four ink is an insane rate and it can slot into just about any deck that cares about card advantage. The 1/5 stat line also makes Rapunzel difficult to defeat in a challenge and questing for two lore each turn is the cherry on top.
Amethyst
Ursula’s Cauldron is a two-cost item that is aligned with amethyst ink. This uncommon allows you to exert it in order to look at the top two cards of your deck and then put one on the top and one on the bottom. While it doesn’t net any card value, being able to manipulate the top of your deck is traditionally a strong effect in trading card games (TCGs), and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this card quickly find a home.
Freeze is a cheap, common action that exerts an opposing character. Exerting an opposing character on your turn is a good way to challenge a problematic glimmer, but keep in mind that character won’t stay exerted once you pass the turn. It’s also important to note that you cannot use this card in your inkwell.
Song decks get another strong tool in Dr. Facilier, Remarkable Gentleman! A three-cost 2/4, his Dreams Made Real ability allows you to look at the top two cards of your deck whenever you play a song, and put one on the top and one on the bottom. Currently, amber has the strongest song synergy, followed by sapphire, but this could turn the tide in amethyst’s favor.
Dr. Facilier, Agent Provocateur is a seven-cost 4/5 that can quest for three lore. While seven ink is a steep cost, the Shift 5 ability will allow you to play the doc for five ink instead if you play it on top of another Dr. Facilier card. His Into the Shadows ability provides great value for decks that plan on doing a lot of challenging. I foresee this rare seeing a good bit of play.
Behold, a new super rare! The Queen, Wicked and Vain is a five-cost 4/5 that has a straight forward ability – exert to draw a card. The Queen can challenge weaker characters when necessary and is difficult to challenge when exerted thanks to her five willpower. Don’t sleep on consistent card draw effects!
Ursula, Power Hungry has arrived, and she is certainly an interesting card. A seven-cost 2/8, Ursula is very difficult to defeat in a challenge and causes each opponent to lose a lore when played. You’ll also draw a card for each lore lost this way, making her one of the first Lorcana cards that expressly gains value when played in games where you have more than one opponent. Despite being a legendary, this card feels a bit weak to me, especially for one-on-one games, but I think she’s a card that could get stronger as more sets are released.
Emerald
For a common, Tinker Bell, Most Helpful does a lot. A four-cost 2/3, she comes equipped with evasive, can quest for two lore, and can protect one of your other characters by giving it evasive on the turn she’s played.
Next up is Sudden Chill, a two-cost, song that is aligned with emerald ink. Going by other TCG standards, two is rather expensive for a discard effect that your opponent has control over, but the fact that any character you control that costs two or more can sing it in order to cast it for free adds its playability. Plus, if you’re able to consistently recur it, this common can quickly eat away at your opponent’s hand.
A two-cost 1/4, this Drab Little Crab has a lot of stats but no abilities. Look to find Tamatoa in low-curve, go-wide decks.
Mad Hatter, Gracious Host is a five-cost 2/4 that punishes opposing challengers. Questing for three lore is a serious clock, and if your opponent doesn’t have a way to remove him outside of a challenge, you can draw a card thanks to the Tea Party ability.
A two-cost item that discounts the next action you play each turn? Yes please! If an action-based deck becomes viable, I can’t imagine this card being excluded.
Steal from the Rich costs five ink and makes each opponent lose one lore whenever your characters quest the turn it is played. This is one of the most interesting new cards I’ve seen, as it is one of the few payoff cards for decks playing lots of cheap characters.
As expected, Genie is big and powerful. An eight-cost 3/5, Genie, Powers Unleashed can be cast for Shift 6 , if played on top of another Genie card. He also comes with evasive and the Phenomenal Cosmic Power! ability which allows you to cast an action that costs five or less for free whenever it quests. If you’re able get this card into play, it can easily take over the game – burying your opponent in card value while being difficult to remove.
The perfect tool for a control-style deck, Mother Gothel, Selfish Manipulator is a six-cost 3/6 that prevents opposing characters from questing as long as she is exerted. You can pair her with bodyguards to stall out the board, or utilize ward to make things extra difficult for your opponents, but I think as more cards are released in subsequent sets, Mother Gothel will get much stronger.
Ruby
While it’s pretty straight forward, I love the flavor of this card.
Peter Pan, Fearless Fighter is a three-cost 3/2 with rush. He can clear out smaller characters in a challenge, and even quest for one lore should he survive the fight.
Tangle is as straight forward as an action can get: pay two, each opponent loses a lore. This ruby-aligned common is cheap and can be used in your inkwell, but unless some combination of cards is discovered that can allow this to be used multiple times, I doubt it will see much play.
A five-cost 6/5 with no abilities is more common than uncommon in my opinion, but a strong vanilla character regardless.
Moana, Chosen by the Ocean is a five-cost 2/6 that banishes a Te Ka character when played. I don’t foresee Te Ka cards being prevalent enough in the metagame to warrant a slot for this uncommon in ruby decks, but time will tell.
Shield of Virtue is a cheap item that readies a chosen character. While three ink to activate is rather expensive, in a deck where your win condition is centered around one character, this investment seems worthwhile, as you can ready that character to protect it from being challenged, or you can exert its ability , then ready it to be used again.
Moving on to the rares, we have Lefou, Instigator. Lefou is a two-cost 2/2 that is aligned with ruby ink. His Fan the Flames ability allows you to ready any chosen character when he is played, however that chosen character cannot quest for the rest of that turn. With the cheap cost and balanced stat line, Lefou’s ability feels strong and pairs great with characters that have exert-activated abilities.
Poisoned Apple is a three-cost item that is aligned with ruby ink. It has the Take a Bite ability which costs one to activate and also requires you to banish it as part of the cost. When activated, you’ll exert any chosen character, but if that character happens to be a Princess, you’ll banish her along with the item. At a glance, this card is underwhelming, as it costs three to play and has no immediate impact. Being able to banish any Princess for one ink (four total) is great though, so depending on how popular Princess cards become, my opinion of this card may change. For now, I think it’s it may be too expensive and narrow.
Sword of Truth is a straight forward removal item that mirrors the Poisoned Apple. You’ll pay four ink and banish it along with a Villain. I think this card is slightly better than Poisoned Apple, since Villains are a broader character type than Princesses, but once again, time will tell.
Stitch, Abomination is a six-cost 4/6 with no abilities. What he lacks in abilities he makes up for in lore, as he can quest for a sizeable three lore each turn.
I’m a big fan of Maui, and a five-cost 6/5 with rush and reckless is effectively a removal action in the form of a character. The Hero to All is above average on stats, and can take out most mid-game characters while he himself stays alive. Maui will likely find a home in most ruby-aligned decks.
This ruby-aligned Captain Hook is a seven-cost 5/5 with rush. Hook can not only challenge the same turn as he’s played, but also has the You Coward! ability, which makes opposing characters with evasive gain reckless as long as Hook is exerted. While seven is expensive, Hook can immediately challenge most glimmers right away, and then his ability provides a good answer to problematic evasive cards on the following turn. Lorcana’s more expensive cards feel difficult to evaluate this early, but I feel confident that this Ruthless Pirate will see play.
Te Ka, The Burning One is a big six-cost 8/6 with reckless. The flavor of this super rare is on point and the stat line is strong for six ink. I could see most ruby decks wanting at least one copy of this as a way to control the board in the midgame.
Steel
Aladdin, Cornered Swordsman is a cheap, basic common. His stat line is pretty average, but questing for two lore is nice.
Ransack is a decent uncommon looter. Draw two, discard two is a classic a TCG inclusion, but I’m not certain it will be as good in steel as it would be in an ink identity like sapphire.
Donald Duck, Musketeer has fantastic artwork and gets two thumbs up. Artwork aside, he has a reasonable stat line, but the main draw for this card is is giving all your Musketeers evasive. I’d imagine that most Musketeer-themed decks will want at least one or two of this uncommon to deal with ruby and emerald’s evasive threats.
Simba, Rightful Heir is a decent uncommon that can gain you lore both from challenges and from questing. While versatile, I doubt he’ll make the cut in most steel decks.
Lilo, Galactic Hero is a vanilla uncommon with an oddly high strength stat. She can challenge many higher costed characters because of this, but I don’t think she’s likely to find a home any time soon.
To be honest, I don’t even remember this character from Peter Pan, but a five-cost 5/4 is reasonably statted and even gets a questing value boost if you have a Captain in play. Not bad for an uncommon.
Another card featuring awesome artwork, Captain Hook, Thinking a Happy Thought is a five-cost 2/5 that can be played for Shift 3 if played on top of another Captain Hook card. The 2/5 stat line turns in to a 5/5 when challenging, thanks to Challenger +3, and can’t even be challenged by characters that cost three or less on the backswing thanks to his Stolen Dust ability.
Plasma Blaster is a three-cost item that can deal one damage to a chosen character for two ink. While five total ink to deal one damage is a poor rate, it gets better over the course of the game – becoming a nice sink for your extra ink and cleaning up low-willpower characters.
Te Ka, Heartless is a powerful legendary that is likely a staple for steel decks. A six-cost 5/5, Te Ka seeks to challenge as often as possible, as you’ll gain two lore each time you banish an opposing character with it. Cards that remove damage will also pair great alongside Te Ka, Heartless.
Sapphire
We’ll have to wait and see how impactful removing damage from characters becomes, but for now I think this cheap item is a reasonable inclusive for challenge-heavy sapphire decks.
I’m not entirely sure why Stitch, Abomination is a rare while this is a common. My best guess is the quality of possible Shift upgrades, as they are both equal in stats, cost, and questing lore value. But what I do know is this is a strong vanilla card. If Lorcana introduces a Limited game type similar to Magic, I’d expect this to be a top-tier common.
Work Together is a cheap, common action that can turn the tide of a challenge by giving your chosen character support. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume this card will see some play.
Phil is one of my favorite Disney characters, but his sapphire iteration isn’t very interesting. One willpower makes it weak to everything in a challenge, but the three strength support will be conditionally strong in the right deck.
A cheap way to expand your inkwell? Sign me up. With how limited our options are for cheating the ink curve, I think this card will be a staple for Lorcana’s early ramp decks.
Cheif Tui, Respected Leader is a solid uncommon. Seven ink for a 3/7 that can quest for three lore each turn and support one of your other characters is a reasonable rate that I’d imagine will see some play, especially among the budget-friendly crowd.
Eye of the Fates is a four-cost item that can be exerted each turn to give a chosen character +1 questing value. This card feels weak to me, but my mind may change once we know more about Lorcana’s metagame.
Jasmine, Queen of Agrabah is a unique and difficult to evaluate card. A five-cost 2/5, her cost can be reduced to three ink when played for her shift cost on top of another Jasmine card. While her stat line leaves much to be desired, her Caretaker ability feels strong – removing up to two damage from each of your characters whenever you play her or whenever she quests.
Sapphire has become the definitive ink for ramp strategies and Fishbone Quill adds another tool to the arsenal. This item is essentially pay three ink, gain an extra inkwell resource each turn. Obviously there will be a fine line when selecting the cards you want in your hand versus those you want to convert to ink, but the fact that this card allows you to select any card – even those that are “uninkable” – is impressive.
Looking for a big payoff for all those sapphire ramp cards? Well here ya go! Tamatoa, So Shiny! is a massive eight-cost 5/8 that returns an item from your discard to your hand whenever he is played or quests. He also gets +1 questing value for each item you have in play, making for a powerful late-game threat.
Another fantastic payoff for big ink decks, Hades, Infernal Schemer is a clean answer to any opposing character that doesn’t have ward. The 3/6 stat line is a bit weak, but I could see this being a one or two-of in ramp or slower control decks.
Belle, Strange but Special is everything a legendary card should be (and more). For four ink, you get a 2/4 body that allows you to put an additional card into your inkwell each turn. Then, if you have 10 or more cards in your inkwell, Belle gets a huge +4 bonus to her lore questing value. She’s not only a mid-game inkwell accelerator, but also a late-game threat that can end a game quicker than just about any other card. Don’t forget that you can have multiple copies of this card in play too, with stacking abilities. This card definitely rivals Tinkerbell, Giant Fairy as the strongest card so far.
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 how to play, the game’s product lineup, deckbuilding, and more.