Disney Lorcana is an incredibly entertaining card game once you get started. With familiar Disney faces, unique gameplay mechanics, and a victory system that prioritizes strategy over attacking opponents, there is plenty to offer players of all skill levels. However, once you have the basics of Lorcana and have played through a number of the latest Starter Decks, you may be looking for something more. Perhaps you are looking for an extra challenge or the chance to challenge your opponents with far more powerful moves.
To that end, it may be time to build your very own custom deck.
In some trading card games, this is a daunting prospect. But it is still fairly easy to create a custom deck in Lorcana for a number of reasons: The rules are clear and simple and the game does not yet have an overwhelming range of built-in mechanics. Once you get used to the gameplay in LorcanaBrewing a deck is quick and easy.
Here’s how to get started:
Disney Lorcana: Basic rules for custom decks
There are three basic rules you must follow when building a deck for Disney Lorcana:
- Your deck must consist of 60 cards.
- Your deck can only consist of cards with two different ink colors (Amber, Amethyst, Emerald, Steel, Ruby, Sapphire).
- You can only have up to four copies of the same card.
These are the crucial rules that make a deck “legal,” but it’s important to note that there are other considerations that must be made when creating a functional, powerful deck. You can of course go with your gut and just pick your favorite characters, but you should consider more strategic selection if you enjoy playing Lorcana So.
Disney Lorcana: How to choose your two ink colors
Before you pick up your first cards, you should consider what kind of deck you want to build. Will it be filled with your favorite characters? If so, you need to check what colors they are and which two colors will give you the most favorites. I really wanted to have Magica de Spell in my deck and I also liked cards from Steel (Hades), Emerald (Morph) and Amethyst (Stitch, Rock Star). I could only have two colors, so I went with Amethyst and Steel.
Read: Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies is the calm before the next storm
The other way to build a deck is to go purely for power, in which case you’ll need to mix and match your two ink colors based on ability preference. Amethyst cards are usually geared towards magic, Amber is for healing and protection, Steel and Ruby cards tend to have higher challenge power, Sapphire is more strategy-oriented, and Emerald is a little bit of everything.
You can combine Steel and Ruby for powerful decks. Amber and Ruby would also work well together, offering challenges and healing abilities. Or you can just use whatever looks best. There’s a lot of room and a lot of opportunity to be creative with these types of cards.
Disney Lorcana: How to make strategic card selection
Once you’ve decided on a color, you can start selecting cards. As mentioned, you can choose your favorite characters, and you’ll still have a viable deck even if you choose one-off heroes and villains that you just really, really like. But as you start to build your deck, there are additional factors to consider.
Do you have enough cards to flip over to get ink? If there is no golden circle around a character’s cost, they are only a character card and cannot be played for ink. I guess a good mix would be if 2/3 of your deck could be used for ink, so you always have those cards on hand.
Do you have a mix of costs on your cards? If your deck is filled with only high power cards, you won’t be able to do anything for the first few turns. To ensure your deck is balanced and you can play cards on your first few turns, you’ll need a mix of 1-3 ink cards and 4+ ink cards. If that means sacrificing some of your favorites for functionality, consider it. Ultimately, the game is about gaining knowledge, and even lower power characters help with that.
Do you have synergies in your deck and are you making the most of the characters’ abilities? Rather than just putting random cards in your deck, start by reading the character’s abilities to see if they have additional synergies with other cards. For example, if you choose Hades, he will allow you to have Titans ready in your deck. If you don’t have Titans in your deck, he’s simply a strong challenger and lore earner – so you’ll need to use a few Titans to bolster his inclusion. Many of the Dwarves from Snow White also have shared synergies that are only activated for other dwarves, so it makes sense to put them together.
You should also consider this with any cards with Shift. While you can play Shift cards individually, you can play them at a reduced price if you have a basic version of that character in your deck. You won’t always be able to play Shift characters at this reduced price, as you’ll need to draw and play those basic characters first, but it’s still worth considering whether or not to include Shift characters (or their basic counterparts) in your deck.
Finally, you should also consider what buffs and boosts you have available in your deck. You can just throw character cards in there and create a perfectly functional deck, but you might also want to add items, actions, songs, or locations to spice things up. Locations seem particularly important, as they allow you to gain passive knowledge each turn, but the right items, actions, and songs can also speed up your rise to the top – so make room for some handy buffs.
Once you have considered all this, you are ready for your first Disney Lorcana custom deck. You may need to experiment to find your favorite cards, but once you learn the basic rules of deck building, the world of Disney Lorcana is at your feet.
Disney Lorcana cards were provided to GamesHub by Ravensburger to cover the release of new sets.
