Disney Lorcana: the story of Ravensburger's Disney TCG

Disney Lorcana is the trading card game that brought Disney's animated characters to the hobby. The German games publisher Ravensburger makes it under licence from Disney. It launched in August 2023, and within a year Disney said more than a billion cards had been sold.

Origins: Ravensburger's biggest bet

Ravensburger announced Disney Lorcana on 30 August 2022. Fans got their first look at the game at the D23 Expo the following week. The publisher, already known for board games, described Lorcana as a multi-year project. ComicBook.com reported that it was Ravensburger's largest investment ever. The game was presented as more family-friendly and less confrontational than older card games. Its "modern storybook" art mixes digital painting with a hand-drawn look.

The game was designed by Steve Warner and Ryan Miller. Disney's D23 names Warner as co-creator and game designer and Miller as co-designer. According to ComicBook.com, Miller had worked in Wizards of the Coast's R&D department before joining the project.

The characters on Lorcana cards are "glimmers", versions of Disney characters made of magical ink. Cards come in six inks: Amber, Amethyst, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire and Steel.

The First Chapter and a chaotic launch

The first set,

, had more than 200 cards. Its 12-card boosters each contained one foil. The first copies were sold at Gen Con 2023, where the launch was chaotic. Local game stores, Disneyland Paris and Disney's Times Square store followed on 18 August 2023. Mass retail and shopDisney got it on 1 September 2023. Stock at the US Disney parks was delayed until 28 August and came with purchase limits.

The launch markets included the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux countries. Cards were printed in English, French and German.

Gen Con also saw Lorcana's best-known surprise. Players opening packs found a sixth, secret rarity: Enchanted. The First Chapter has 12 Enchanted cards. They are full-art alternate versions of existing cards with "Inkwash" foil, and their collector numbers run above the set's 204 standard cards. Ravensburger made them identical in play to the normal versions, so they matter only to collectors.

The set's Mickey Mouse – Brave Little Tailor became a symbol of the game. Disney later chose a gold version of this card as the unique prize for the first World Championship.

Other First Chapter characters, such as Elsa – Spirit of Winter and Stitch – Carefree Surfer, are part of the set collectors know best:

Milestones: new sets, countries and languages

A steady release schedule

Ravensburger planned four sets a year. The second,

, reached game stores on 17 November 2023 and wide release on 1 December 2023. It introduced "floodborn" characters and the Resist keyword. A Disney100 Edition collection with animator-signed artwork was released alongside it.

In October 2023 Ravensburger announced 10 more countries for 2024: Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Mexico. Italian became the fourth language from the third set,

. Takara Tomy took on a Japanese edition, which it planned to launch in January 2025.

By May 2025, the game had grown from the 216 cards of The First Chapter to more than 1,500 cards across seven sets.

, the eighth set, had its prerelease on 30 May 2025 and general release on 6 June 2025.

Organised play

Organised play grew as quickly as the card pool. In August 2024, Disney reported 100,000 players in regular organised play and more than 76,000 events. The Disney Lorcana Challenge circuit added a European Championship at Disneyland Paris, a North American Championship at Disneyland Resort and a World Championship at Walt Disney World. Ravensburger said the World Championship would finish on 28–29 June 2025, with 28 competitors.

Fabled: rotation and new rarities

, the ninth set, launched on 5 September 2025 and changed the game in two ways:

• Rotation. The first four sets (The First Chapter, Rise of the Floodborn, Into the Inklands and Ursula's Return) left the Core Constructed tournament format. Ravensburger plans a rotation every year and says Core Constructed will usually have five to eight legal sets. A new Infinity Constructed format keeps every card legal. Rotation affects only Core Constructed; casual and Limited play are unaffected.
• New rarities. Fabled added Epic cards, which appear more often than Enchanted cards and have special art and foil, and Iconic cards, of which there are only two per set. It also reprinted some favourite cards from the early sets, including Enchanted versions.

Curiosities

• A Disney 100 tie-in. The Disney100 Edition released with Rise of the Floodborn marked the company's centenary. It had six cards with animator artwork and signatures.
• Park-ready cards. At D23 in 2024, Disney announced cards designed to be signed by characters in the Disney parks.
• Pixar is coming. The same announcement said Pixar characters would join the game in 2026.
• One card, one copy. The prize at the first World Championship was a single gold card of Mickey Mouse as the Brave Little Tailor.

The collecting market today

Lorcana's early market was shaped by short supply. In January 2024, ICv2 reported that the first sets had been underprinted. That made it hard for new players to get in, until more product and reprints of The First Chapter and Rise of the Floodborn arrived. When supply grew in December 2023, sales rose and prices "normalized". ICv2's review of 2024 described a strong start and a weaker autumn. It put this down to the "new TCG smell" wearing off and some short-term buyers moving their money elsewhere.

What this means for collectors:

• Check the rarity, not just the character. Enchanted cards, and since Fabled also Epic and Iconic cards, are special versions of cards that also exist in normal rarities. A listing should show which version it is.
• Rotation affects players, not collections. Older sets left Core Constructed in 2025, but they are still legal in Infinity Constructed and at the kitchen table.
• Reprints exist. Ravensburger has reprinted early sets and brought back some early cards in Fabled, so the set symbol and version matter.

For card-level data, see the most valuable Lorcana cards, market movers and our indices. The glossary explains terms like "Enchanted" and "rotation".