It’s here! Today, with the start of Gen Con 2023, Disney Lorcana — the new trading card game from Ravensburger — made its official debut. With this weekend marking an exclusive premiere for the game, lines to purchase began early and, when I walked through around noon, still stretched well out of the showfloor and down a hallway. While all of this was happening, the first Disney Lorcana Starter Deck Challenge was also getting underway in Hall B. That’s where you could find me this morning as I was invited to come check it out.
In order to play in the tournament, attendees first needed to purchase a ticket for the event (which apparently also sold out quickly). As players — or Illumineers, now — gathered, they were informed about the rules and format of the tournament. First, each round of the tournament would be a best-two-out-of-three match, with the winner moving on. Keep in mind, this was just the rest session with more to follow throughout the weekend. Next, each entrant would receive one starter pack to play with. Although there are actually three different starter packs, these were distributed at random.
In addition to the core pack, each box also contained one booster pack. Normally, Illumineers are limited to playing with just two deck colors. But, for this event, players would be allowed to use any cards in their booster packs regardless of deck color (so a “rainbow deck,” if you will). Tournament judges came around to take a photo of the cards received along with attendee badges so they’d know which cards were legal in the game. Also, while Illumineers could opt to not use any booster cards, it was ruled that they could not elect to add them after the fact.
With the rules out of the way, there were just a couple of other things to mention — including prizes. First, for each round that Illunineers played, they’d receive a bonus booster pack. Plus, the winner of each session (there will be eight total finalists who will compete on Sunday) would receive a special mat. As for what the overall tournament champion will take home, that remains a secret for now.
Before the tournament truly got started, I had a chance to meet Shawn Fisk — known to friends and Twitter X as Leebarbs. Not only is Fisk an active member on the Lorcana HQ Discord but also hosts of the podcast Uncommon Cardboard and is part of the Lorcana-specific podcast Glimmer Gang.
As decks were being distributed, you could see fans eagerly opening their packs, looking through their boosters, and, of course, slipping their cards into protectors. Upon getting his decks, Fisk remarked, “I’ve been waiting so long to have these cards in my hand, it’s kind of insane.” Leebarbs told me that he was sold on the idea of Lorcana when it was first announced at the D23 Expo. Since then, he’s spent plenty of time keeping up on all of the news, studying the cards as they’ve been announced, and even engaged in some mock matches. Yet, this was the first time he’d have a chance to play with a real deck. By the way, Fisk ended up with the Amber/Amethyst deck. Asked how he felt about that, he admitted it was the one he was least looking forward to but was happy nonetheless.
Once everyone had their decks, the first match-ups were set. Even though the game was brand new to everyone, you might not have known it from the outside. While Illumineers might occasionally ask to pick up a card to take a closer look at its powers, the play was fluent and fairly fast. More than anything, though, it was clear just how excited everyone was to finally get to play the game they’ve been waiting nearly a year for.
For the record, Fisk ended up winning his first round match-up after taking two games in a row. Unfortunately, in the second round, he wasn’t quite as lucky. It was after this that I decided to take a stroll over to the Lorcana booth where things were still hopping (and probably will continue to throughout the weekend).
Having had a chance to play Disney Lorcana a bit for myself, having a chance to see it played by those who are more passionate about trading card gaming than I am was really a treat. While I wouldn’t say I was ready to jump in and compete (even in the first round), I did feel like I was able to follow the mechanics of the game just as it had been taught to me. Given this experience, I expect it will be a quick-learn even for those who may not have done as much studying as Leebarbs did.
Luckily, even more Illumineers will have their chance to play Disney Lorcana soon. Following its run at Gen Con, the game will become available at local game shops and at the Disney Parks on August 18th followed by a release at larger retailers (including shopDisney) on September 1st.
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