Hello there!
If you’re reading this, that means you’re curious about advice for playing the Lorcana card game. If that’s true, read on. If it’s not… read on anyway and maybe you’ll fall in love with a new hobby the whole family can enjoy!
(1) Don’t overInk it.
Ink is the core resource of the game, allowing you to play your cards, but it’s not necessarily the best option to add a card to your Inkwell every turn!
Turns 1 through 3, you absolutely should add Ink to your Inkwell if you can. But after that, it depends on the cards in your deck.
The reason is that (as of the writing of this blog entry) of the 204 current cards in the game, 108 (that’s over half!) of them cost 3 or less Ink to play!
If you only have 8 copies of cards that cost 6 or more, such as Mufasa — King of the Pride Lands and Triton — the Sea King (decklist), and they end up in your hand on your first turn, then you’ll want to put cards into your Inkwell, ideally, for the first 7 turns to be able to play them as soon as possible. But at that point, you should stop and consider if you really need to add more Ink each turn. You may not need to add any more Ink after that point.
When you draw a card, ask yourself: “Is this card more useful in play, saving it, or adding it to my Inkwell?” 🤔
Whereas, if you only have 11 copies of cards that cost 5 or more, such as Mad Hatter — Gracious Host, Dragon Fire, and Rapunzel — Letting Her Hair Down (decklist), you can pump the brakes on your Inkwell around 4 and ease into having 5 or 6. Unless of course you NEED to banish that character your opponent has and you’re holding a Dragon Fire.
But remember, it’s okay to not ink every turn and hold cards for the future after turn 3!
(2) Count the Lore!
On your turn, if you aren’t sure what to do next, count how much Lore production your opponent has available on their characters in play. Then, add it to their current Lore total and consider how close it gets them to 20. This is a way of gauging the pace of the match and how many more turns you may have left available.
It’s not easy! It will take time to get used to doing this. BUT, you cannot get used to doing it without trying and failing a bunch like all of those advanced players did.
This brings us to two very important terms in the competitive card game world:
“Board State” is the term players use to refer to what cards are currently in play for both players and how they can affect each other. The board state is the KNOWN information for both players. Think of the board state like a chess or checkers board. You can see your opponent’s options as well as your own to make informed decisions.
But the fun of a card game is that each player has secret information, the cards in their hand. This allows for surprises and bluffs throughout the game!
“The Meta” is the term players use to refer to all the cards currently available to be played in the format you are playing. Fortunately for new players, in Lorcana, there is only one format and one set available, so the meta is easier to digest.
In November, Rise of the Floodborn will release, adding an additional 204 cards, increasing the meta to 408 cards!
So if you’re interested in playing in tournaments, or more competitively in general, start playing more games and getting used to how the cards interact during a match.
Theorycrafting only works so well!