I know, I know. I don’t post for a month and a half, and the first thing I hit you with is a strange question about a card game that no one can seem to buy.
Funny enough, the title of this post was a real question asked about Flesh and Blood at one point. Was FAB a real game, or was it just a collector’s pump and dump that was dead on arrival? Lorcana has had an equally tumultuous beginning, with short supply at the LGS level, and big box stores being incompetent in protecting average consumers from scalpers.
Just today, Lorcana alerted the world that there is a Chapter 1 restock on the horizon. Your LGS will get more product in October, and there will be a full reprint in Q1 of 2024. So of course, market speculation is already rampant about the long term implications of these reprints for the game. Just avoid /r/Lorcana. ‘Tis a silly place.
Disney Lorcana TCG fans, we want to share the steps we've been working on to get more product into the market to meet demand. pic.twitter.com/MsNPq8P8Al
— Disney Lorcana (@DisneyLorcana) August 31, 2023
All of this going on, I want to actually just want to talk about Lorcana the game today. My good friend Flake, who used to co-host a Lorcana podcast called Podcana (check episode 11…I was on that one!), rightfully bemoaned that any chatter about Lorcana was about the money side and that any game play discussion was heavily doused in financial implications and speculation. I wholeheartedly agree. I’ll say that game play discussion has picked up since launch, but there is still very little tournament preparation discussion compared to market speculation.
Whether the game is actually good, or just a cheap knock off of something else, is hotly debated. So…what are my thoughts on it? (I realize literally no one is asking this)
Lorcana is a good game
Hot take alert, apparently. I’ve played quite a few games of Lorcana since launch, and I’m actively enjoying it. On one hand, it plays a lot like Pokemon in that I take my turn and you take your turn. There’s nothing I do on your turn.
BUT! I do get to interact with you. I sequence my turns, play my creatures, and set my board up in such a manner that directly impacts how you take your turn, play your creatures, and set up your board.
There are a variety of decks across the spectrum, including hyper aggro, hyper control, and everything in between. Now, I’m going to chat a bit about the decks I’ve been playing. I’m assuming for this article you know how to play, or are at least vaguely aware of Lorcana’s general idea. This isn’t a meta post so much as it is a “look at the options” post.
In a later post I’ll go more into the concerns I have with Lorcana, the organized play system, and some exciting plans I have for the game. Oh! I’ve also been playing part in person at league and online via Pixelborn, a free, fan made project for playing the game. It’s a great way to try it out for free, and, if you like it, get a lot of games in.
At any rate, I’ve been playing these:
Amethyst/Ruby Control
I’ve been playing Steadfast‘s list, and it’s a pretty strong control list. It struggles from having a lack of inkable cards at times, but such is the price you pay for strong effects. This particular list plays Dr. Faciliers, which helps a bit in this area, while giving you more game against hyper aggro.
Speaking of hyper aggro…
Lemon-Lime Aggro
This deck go brrr. It’s the defacto aggro deck of the format. I highly recommend this list for your local league nights, as it is really fast and gets you your 10 points one way or another quickly. (I’ll discuss league organized play in another post, but just know for now that you get two points for a match win, one for a loss, in a best two-out-of-three format, and you can get ten points maximum per week).
I mulligan pretty aggressively with this deck, keeping Lilo (1 mana that quests for two is great), and Cheshire Cat (a two quester that kills whatever kills it). I played against this at weekly league, and the guy destroyed me with it. Cheshire Cat is so fun to play with and against, which makes it great on its own.
A Whole New Mill
You want silly mill decks? Well, this one actually has legs. You use A Whole New World to make both you and your opponent discard your hands and draw 7. Then, you use Do It Again! to pick it back up and…well…do it again!
This deck is slow and clunky, but it’s very good against the Amethyst/Ruby control list that is dominating the meta. If they draw extra cards at any point, you’ll mill them out. You play 64/65 cards just to give yourself some wiggle room and not accidentally deck yourself out first.
Conclusion
I actively enjoy Lorcana, the decisions game play presents, and the variety of decks available with just set 1. I’m going to be writing about it, chatting about it, thinking about it, and yes, playing it a lot in the coming months.
I hope you give it a shot.
If you’ve read this far, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d consider subscribing, for free, to this newsletter. The weekly newsletter will hopefully grow as I get feedback and experience, and I truly look forward to sharing it with everyone.
Next time: probably Lorcana