Disney Lorcana Release Date Revealed

Disney has announced that its new trading card game, Lorcana, is coming out in August.

By Jason Collins | Updated

Artwork from Disney Lorcana

Following Disney’s announcement of entering the gaming market, and a history of poorly-reviewed releases, the company has flooded the same market with some surprisingly good games. The massively popular Dreamlight Valley attests to Disney’s discovery of a good game-making recipe, and while the company’s Disney Speedstorm has been delayed, we just learned that Lorcana, a physical trading card game, will be releasing on August 18.

Ravensburger announced that the card game would be released in August, according to IGN, and it will be officially titled Disney Lorcana: The First Chapter. As per the same report, the game will initially release in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Benelux countries. The August 18 release date applies to the US, while the rest of the aforementioned countries are supposed to get their own releases on September 1, featuring all the iconic characters from Disney’s various franchises.

Those characters are supposed to include the iconic Mouse, Moana, and classic Disney Princesses, among others, designed in their original and re-imagined art styles. Ravensburger said that the Disney Lorcana players are to assume the role of a powerful sorcerer called Illumineer, tasked to band together all the characters from Disney’s collection of songs and stories called The Great Illuminary. The characters in question will be featured on their individual cards, and just like with other trading card games, they’ll have their own power levels and unique mechanics.

A number of Disney Lorcana cards have already been revealed via social media, detailing some of the cards from The First Chapter. The release will include a total of 200 cards for players to obtain through starter decks, booster packs, gift sets, and collectible sets called the Illumineer’s Trove. The First Chapter will introduce three starter decks, each coming with a specific list of 60 cards in two of the six magic inks. The booster pack will contain 12 randomized cards, including one foil card and two rare cards.

A preview of some of the cards.

The Illumineer’s Trove is the most exciting pack, and it’s likely to be the priciest. Players can expect to get eight booster packs with one foil and two rare cards each, a guidebook, and a themed storage box. The gift set will include four booster card packs that are guaranteed to contain Hades and Mulan cards, as well as two foil game cards, game tokens, and two oversized cards—perhaps they might end up on some TCG tournament as Pokemon cards did.

Of course, The First Chapter is designed to cater to beginners who want a starter set, as well as more experienced TCG players who want the whole Disney Experience—the Illumineer’s Trove is aimed at the latter. Disney Lorcana’s designer, Ryan Millar, also explained that Disney is looking to expand into TCG more, aiming to rival other TCG in the scene, such as Magic: The Gathering and its numerous crossovers, as well as the iconic Pokemon. Knowing just how strong the Disney craze can be, it’s highly probable for these to disappear from the shelves as soon as they release.

This might be a dawn of a new era in the TCG scene, with Disney entering the market. Needless to say, things are bound to get even more interesting once other sets are released as well.