We Played the New Disney Card Game Lorcana: Into the Inklands — And We Have Thoughts!

Have you heard of the Disney card game Lorcana?

Lorcana was first introduced to Disney fans in August 2023, and since then it has clearly become a popular hobby for those who want to experience Disney in a new way. The game by Ravensburger has had three sets released so far, The First Chapter, Rise of the Floodborn, and Disney100. It has sold out nearly everywhere it has been sold, and some sets are available by invitation only! So we wondered what exactly is Lorcana, and is it as fun as everyone makes it seem? We decided to try the brand new, third set, Into the Inklands, for ourselves!

Lorcana Background

Lorcana is a strategy card game in which the players are called “Illumineers.” The Illumineers wield magical ink to use “glimmers” which are Disney characters, items, actions, songs, and new to Into the Inkwells, locations. The goal of the game is to race your opponent across the realm of Lorcana to gain more “lore” aka points. The lore was scattered throughout the realm during Rise of the Floodborn (or so the story goes) when unleashed ink flooded.

So basically, you play a strategy game against an opponent or group of opponents using the abilities on the cards and race to gather 20 lore (points) before the others. Characters, items, actions, songs, and locations all bring with them special abilities.

For example, characters you can quest to gain lore or challenge opponents to slow them down from getting their lore. Items can give you special advantages such as picking up a card from the deck if one of your characters is banished during a challenge with an opponent.

Into the Inklands

The fourth deck, Into the Inklands, is available for purchase on March 8th (but you can preorder now)! Something new in Into the Inklands is the addition of “locations.” Locations can give you and other cards special abilities when you interact with them. They can amplify a character’s ability or even bring together groups of characters. It’s an exciting new aspect to the game for this new set.

Get Into the Inklands

Playing the Game

We decided to try out this new game without playing either of the first sets, which is totally ok! You can play each set together or individually. The game continues the same way regardless of which cards you use. We found that we really enjoyed this game! If you’ve ever heard of or played Magic the Gathering, it’s kinda like that. (If you haven’t played Magic, don’t worry we haven’t either, but people we played Lorcana with told us they were similar.)

Get the Gift Set!

There are a lot of parts to the game, but it becomes pretty easy and smooth to play once you get into a flow. Each turn you have two phases: the beginning and main phases. If you learn to follow this gameplay, the rest comes over time, and the rule book you get with the starter kit is great at explaining everything.

It is definitely a strategy game (and a bit of luck doesn’t hurt), and it took us a couple of games to really get the hang of it. We used one of the starter packs, but you can mix and match cards to build your ultimate deck to work on the strategy aspect. You play with 60 cards in your deck during the game, so if you purchase booster packs you can put together a strong deck with better chances to win.

Get the Into the Inklands Booster Pack

How to Play in 10 Easy Steps

Set UP

1. Determine who goes first by flipping a coin, rolling a die, etc.
2. Shuffle your deck (each player needs a deck of 60 cards.
3. Set your lore tracker to 0 on your playing mat.
4. Draw 7 cards for your starting hand. You can look at your cards, but no one else’s!
5. Alter your starting hand if you choose.

Beginning Phase

1. Ready your cards by turning them upright (exerted cards are turned sideways when you use them during your turn).
2. Set — Check for effects that happen at the start of your turn and follow their instructions.
3. Draw one card from the top of your deck.

Main Phase

1. Once per turn, you can add a card facedown into your inkwell (essentially your currency).
2. Take any of the following actions listed below as many times and in any order you want:

• Play a card
• Use a character ability that doesn’t require them to exert.
• Use an item ability
• Use a location ability (new for Into the Inklands)
• Quest with your character
• Challenge an opponent’s location or exerted characters
• Use an ability that requires them to exert.

Our Thoughts

The one aspect we noticed when we played was that the new locations seemed a little unnecessary in this set. They sound great in theory, but based on their abilities (and lack of protection), they were often the first thing we chose to attack when someone played them therefore rendering them useless pretty quickly. We don’t want to spoil it for you, but please let us know your strategy for the locations when you start playing with them!

The different strategies for this game make it fun and interesting to play. It’s a ton of fun in a group, but it’s still fun to play with two people. The game changes every time since you’ll get a different order of cards to play each time. It’s worth taking the time to try out, especially if you enjoy strategy games! Having iconic Disney characters in action as different forms of themselves is so cool, too.

Into the Inkland Starter Decks

There are two starter decks for Into the Inklands. The first is the Ruby and Sapphire Deck which includes Moana and Scrooge foil cards.

Ruby & Sapphire Deck

Or you can get the Amber and Emerald Deck with Pongo and Peter Pan foil cards.

Don’t miss out on grabbing this new set; it is available online for preorder on March 7th and becomes available on March 8th!

Amber & Emerald Deck

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Have you played Lorcana? Tell us what you like about it in the comments!