Thursday the 3rd was officially the first day Lorcana was on sale anywhere in the world. We’ve been waiting patiently, but now the floodgates open and a sixth rarity and art cards have been confirmed!
A lot happened in the world of Lorcana at Gen Con 2023. We’ve covered all the big news, the first pulls, the promo card, tournaments – and more. Keep scrolling for all the deets.
Secret Lorcana Rarity Revealed – Enchanted
The highest rarity card has now been confirmed as Enchanted. The symbol is six-sided with a rainbow color – exactly what we predicted: “So our guess is that there could well be a hexagon shape, maybe with a rainbow color to represent the mixed inkpot of magic in the Illuminary?“
The very first Enchanted rarity cards started to be pulled throughout Thursday, with the last being pulled just before the day ended.
The first confirmed Enchanted card pulled was an alternate of Aurora Dreaming Guardian. It was pulled by a user named Zader in Lorcana HQ Discord. Congratulations!
Another has been pulled – Mickey Mouse Wayward Sorcerer by Patrick_FL on twitter.
The third is Elsa Spirit of Winter from Brian Burckley on twitter.
MatrixTCG (who are also Lorcana content creators on YouTube) pulled Tinker Bell Giant Fairy.
Huyen Do on twitter then pulled Hades King of Olympus.
William McCann on twitter pulled the sixth, Simba Returned King.
Edward Vanmanz has pulled Maui Hero to All!
Aladdin Heroic Outlaw was found by Cody Lightfuss at number eight.
Stitch Carefree Surfer was number 9, pulled first by James Mullins.
Then Belle Strange was Special was pulled by a friend of Cody Lightfuss.
Genie On the Job was pulled by Super Lorcana World on video but Patrick on twitter was the first to claim with the hashtag.
One left, it should be Emerald – we are guessing Mickey Mouse Artful Rogue. Guess who? Mickey Mouse Artful Rogue was pulled and the first person to tweet was Avon Irene.
The official Lorcana website and an article in thegamer confirmed the secret sixth rarity just before doors opened at Gen Con. The cards are versions of characters already in The First Chapter, taken from different rarities with the exact same stats and rule block.
They feature alternate art, a fully ink-washed foil treatment – the same as the D23 Expo Collector’s Set cards – and a borderless frame. They are found in the foil slot – which is in every pack and can be any rarity from common and up.
How Many Enchanted Cards Are There?
There are twelve Enchanted cards, two of each ink color. One of each ink is a Floodborn character, the other Dreamborn or Storyborn. From the original card’s rarity: four were Rare, four were Super Rare, and four were Legendary.
Their numbers are higher than the 204 in the set, going from 205 to 216 – much like the original Secret cards in Pokémon sets. Quoting thegamer, cards will be “selected based on their gameplay and story value, and in particular how each character relates to the overall narrative of the set.“
There was also an official competition where the first person to pull each of the twelve cards was invited to a special event that will happen on Sunday at 3 pm. They just had to post it on twitter and use the hashtag #EnchantedSeeker at @DisneyLorcana.
In the app and the quick start rules, there was always what seemed like a missing spot in the rarity tables. Also, each rarity conforms to a number of sides. Common is a circle with one side. Uncommon is a book with two sides to every story, rare a triangle with three, super rare a diamond with four, legendary a pentagon with five.
With so many of Lorcana’s symbols – the ink cost, ink symbols, exert symbol, and more – being six sided (hexagons) it just made sense for there to be a sixth rarity.
In fact, in our Guide to Lorcana Card Rarity we said: “Our guess is that there could well be a hexagon shape, maybe with a rainbow color to represent the mixed inkpot of magic in the Illuminary?“
Just a few days before we’d seen an unboxing of the Illumineer’s Trove, but no packs opened. The booklet showed the start of the collection page. The whole section only showed cards from the set we’ve seen.
But it hinted that “It doesn’t include promo cards…or secret cards“. Many took that as a sign that there were secret cards, many took the lack of them to mean the opposite.
The First Openings of The First Chapter – Art Cards In Packs
The first openings came in thick and fast on social media. They seem to have come from people opening their starter decks and the one booster pack at the first learn-to-play events in the morning at 9 am. These events are in a different place from the selling area luckily.
Packs have what we expected – 6 common, 3 uncommon, 2 rare or higher, and 1 guaranteed foil. However, we also have somewhat of a surprise with art cards!
One of four is included at the end of each pack, put together they form a larger picture that forms Mickey Mouse Brave Little Tailor and some original sketches of him by the artist Nicholas Kole.
Many months ago a low-quality image also circulated with what looked like four art cards of the sketches for the first Mickey card – arranged like a four-card puzzle. This seemed like pretty good evidence of art cards.
Collectively the community decided to discuss it but not post or publicize it as it hadn’t been officially acknowledged, and the potential surprise would be better if fewer people knew.
Promo Card
We revealed previously that the Gen Con 2023 Promo Card would be Mickey Mouse Musketeer.
The card is given to people who: –
- Participate in a demo (pre-booked)
- Play in a challenge (pre-booked)
- Buy any Lorcana product at Booth 2001
- Some people in line are also being given them
The cards were selling on eBay for anywhere from $500 to $1,200. However, these prices have dropped significantly to be closer to $50 and are dropping further. Phew.
Gen Con 2023 Queue Nightmares
The main doors at Gen Con 2023 were due to be opened Thursday morning at 10 am. People had been outside queueing since the night before, with many more joining in the early hours.
Unfortunately, it seems like the organization of the queues was a mess. The people who’d queued overnight were let in first at around 6 am and sent to a line where they were told to queue. Then, as the hall filled, some Gen Con employees started to say there was no queue – and pandemonium broke out.
At that point, people who’d just got inside the entrance hall got to go first past the hundreds who’d been lined up where they’d been told to. Then the doors opened and it seemed like the majority of the crowd headed for booth 2001.
There are stories of pushing, people crushed against doors, and people in wheelchairs being pushed out of the way. Some people who were literally first in line from the night before giving up and leaving as they’d been told to go outside and queue again by Gen Con staff.
Ravensburger Step In
To their credit, Ravensburger were well aware of this and quickly announced they were aiming to work with Gen Con to manage the situation in the days coming. Queueing is Gen Con’s responsibility first.
The queue did get managed with all of the Ravensburger staff pitching in with sales, managing the line around the hall, and monitoring for any queue jumpers. The stock of all products was completely sold out by around 1 pm, with everything apart from boosters and booster boxes apparently sold before then.
Ravensburger/Gen Con later made a further announcement. This allowed for seriously early queueing in an organized manner so people who wanted to do could do it safely. There was stock allocated per day so every day gets a chance – and it lets the rest of the con get on with things.
Ravensburger then cleared a lot more up on twitter. On the second morning/night before the queue, the line was separated and there were dividers between each block of people. The hall was open all night so the majority of people didn’t have to queue outside.
The team also brought coffee, donuts, water, and juice to many of the earliest. This continued on for the next day, and Ryan Miller and many others from the team were out chatting to the crowd. They really turned it around and should be commended for it.
Gen Con + Lorcana
Lorcana was announced to be at Gen Con just after Lorcana itself was announced in August 2022. For nearly a full year fans and collectors have been planning for the event – hoping to be among the first to experience the cards in person.
Ravensburger seems to be fully aware at this point just how much excitement Lorcana is causing. Disney characters, really good original art, a well-thought-out card game accessible to kids and dedicated card gamers, plus the collectibility of the first (good) Disney TCG – all were bound to cause this much fuss.
All are adding up. Based on a recent news post on the official site, queues will be heavily monitored for people skipping or pushing, with no saving spots allowed. There is also a strict purchase limit for each item. Only one purchase per person was supposed to be allowed per the whole event: –
- Booster Pack – $5.99 each (Limit 24 packs/1 display for $143.76)
- Starter Decks – $16.99 each (contains 1 Booster Pack)
- Amber/Amethyst (Limit 1)
- Ruby/Emerald (Limit 1)
- Sapphire/Steel (Limit 1)
- Captain Hook, Elsa, or Mickey Mouse Card Sleeve Pack (Limit 1 design) – $9.99
- Captain Hook, Elsa, or Mickey Mouse Deck Box – $5.99
- Maui, Maleficent, or Mickey Mouse Neoprene Play Mat – $19.99
- The Queen or Stitch 10-Page Portfolio – $19.99
Note that the Illumineer’s Trove and Gift Set will not be available.
The same strict attitude goes for the events, with ID required and no swapping of players allowed. A limit of one of each event type was put in place as people had bought multiple.
It does seem like once starter decks were sold out, badges weren’t stamped so people could line up again. We’ve definitely seen people line up and get multiple booster boxes. We also have vendors who are already reselling the boxes.
Lorcana Events At Gen Con
Gen Con ran from Thursday 3rd until Sunday the 4th of August. It is the largest tabletop game con in the USA, and every year has just got bigger – 2023 was confirmed as the biggest so far with 70,000 people!
For nearly a year, we had no idea what would be available to buy and what events there might be. Early bookers were happy to just get some cards. Only recently were the events announced: learn-to-play, Challenge events, as well as casual play.
Both the learn-to-play and Challenge events sold out quickly. Each cost $20 and came with a Starter Deck included, with different slots available all the way through the weekend. The first type is a simple demo of how to use your deck and play the game.
View all Gen Con Lorcana events
Challenge Events + Final Gen Con Winners
Each Challenge event had up to 59 entrants, who played three 50-minute Best of 3 Swiss rounds. They could make a deck from the cards from their starter deck and the included pack – no ink restrictions. The top 8 got a play mat and a free invite to the finale on Sunday at 10 am, with a certificate.
The format was the newly announced Sealed event. Each player was given six booster packs. They could use any number of different inks (normally up to 2) and any number of the same character or card (normally a maximum of 4). Their decks needed to be 40 or more cards.
All Finale participants got a prize and the Top 8 were rewarded well! They each were given another playmat, this time signed by John Grant (Organized Play Lead), Shane Hartley (Art Director), Steve Warner (Co-Lead Designer), and Ryan Miller (Co-Lead Designer/Brand Manager).
They also got an Illumineer’s Trove, 9 booster packs, another starter deck, a Ravensburger draw string bag, sleeves, two of the Mickey promos, and a deck box. The picture below is from ClydeTCG – who is also basically the top One Piece Card Game player in the US. All Top 8 got the same prizing, nothing extra for the winner.
Tim Batow came in 1st at the Gen Con final. He’s been a long-time card game player, playing everything from WowTCG ( which has some similarities to Lorcana, especially with ink resources), DBZ CCG (the old one), and VS system games, all the way through to poker!
There were also free casual play events and tonnes of people using every available table to play Lorcana games.
Nicholas Kole Signing
Nicholas Kole is the artist for 12 cards in the first set, notably Mickey Mouse Brave Little Tailor. He ran 6 short 30-minute signing sessions from Friday to Sunday at 4 and 5 pm all three days. Other Lorcana artists seemed to be at the event too.
If you’re interested in other events or key dates for Lorcana, with the possibility of getting promo cards, take a look at our Lorcana Event & Release Calendar.
