Best Disney Lorcana Cards (First Chapter)

As we head in to the end of Lorcana’s first year, it’s hard to imagine just how far the game has come. From its first reveal in September 2022, to the rules being revealed, and then the whole of The First Chapter launching a year later, it was a moment in tabletop gaming people likely aren’t going to forget any time soon.

The First Chapter introduced just about everything we know and love from Lorcana today. Its storybook art style, its mechanics, Enchanted rares, Floodborns, and more all made their debut here, and the set still has some of the most-played cards in the game. Let’s take a look at 15 cards from The First Chapter that stick out as all-timers, as we’ll likely be playing with them for a long time yet.

Mickey Mouse, Detective

Mickey Mouse, Detedtive was one of the first cards in the game to enable ramping up your ink. This is something we’ve seen Sapphire specialise in a lot in the future, with cards like Gramma Tala, but it all started here with Mickey. Combine that with a decent Willpower score, and Detective more than makes up for its uninkability.

Even as more effective ramping options have been printed in future sets, Mickey still still sees regular play in Sapphire decks. It doesn’t need any extra hgoops to jump through – play Mickey, get more ink.

Pongo, Ol’ Rascal

It’s almost quaint looking at Pongo now, but for a long time it was one of the scariest threats in Lorcana. This was thanks to its evasive ability, which means it could only be challenged by other characters with evasive. Pongo costs four ink, but in exchange you get some incredible stats.

Most importantly, Pongo can quest for two lore. If your opponent isn’t running enough evasive characters of their own, there’s a good chance you’ll run away with the game before they can do anything about this spotty dog.

Belle, Strange But Special

Like Mickey, Belle is a regular part of the average Sapphire ramp package. But instead of only being a one-off effect like Mickey, Belle lets you just do it every single turn. At four ink to play, she is incredibly cheap to get out and then the profit you gain off her just keeps growing and growing.

Belle has also been one of Lorcana’s most prolific characters. This means that this version of Belle works great as a target for shifting others on to, like Rise of the Floodborn’s Hidden Archer, or the upcoming Belle, Accomplished Mystic in Ursula’s Return. Thanks to the extra ink you’re throwing out there, you’ll be shifting these on top way, way ahead of your opponent.

Tinker Bell, Giant Fairy

Tinker Bell, Giant Fairy doesn’t see a lot of play in top-tier competitive decks these days. She’s been outpaced by better options, but that doesn’t do anything to reduce the impact she’s had on Lorcana. Giant Fairy has become the poster child of what Lorcana can do creatively, by offering such a radical redesign for as famous a character as her.

The popularity of Giant Fairy hasd continued to this day, with one of the Ursula’s Return playmats finally bringing this stunning art to your table, regardless of if you run her in your deck or not.

A Whole New World

Whether you know it as a Windfall or a Professor’s Research, just about every TCG has its own take on A Whole New World. Discarding your hand might sound rough, but if you have fewer than seven cards in your hand anyway, you might as well!

The real power for this, though, is that you’re also completely upending your opponent by having them discard their hand. Now they have to replan their future turns and change their entire strategy, and it might not be as good as the one they just chucked away.

Grab Your Sword

Though Grab Your Sword has been replaced by other threats since The First Chapter, this card was terrifying back in the day, and to an extent still is now. Dealing two damage to each character your opponents control is a great way to either wipe the board or get a head start on taking things out.

The fact it’s a song makes this even more deadly, as you don’t need to keep your ink open to play it. Just exert a five-cost character and just like that, you’re spreading a lot of damage around the board.

Captain Hook, Forceful Duelist

Challenger-matters decks have been on the periphery of Lorcana ever since The First Chapter, and while it’s never really had the space to flourish, Captain Hook was a fantastic early player in the deck.

On its own, its two Willpower for one ink made it a great first turn play, but then the Challenger trigger comes in and makes him fight like he’s a 3/2. This lets him easily pick off characters who come out on the first few turns – as in, the critical ones to set up key engines in your opponents’ decks.

Maui, Hero To All

If you need a way to just delete your opponents’ characters, Maui is a fantastic way to do it. For just five ink you can be dealing six damage, thanks to the combination of Rush and Reckless letting you hit as soon as he enters play

This isn’t the only Maui in this set, but he is the one that, as other Challenge-matters tools have been introduced in future sets, has gone from strength to strength. Plenty of big threats, like Tinker Bell and Madam Medusa, completely fold under the might of Maui, making him, to this day, still one of the best Ruby cards going.

Maleficent, Monstrous Dragon

Maleficent, Monstrous Dragon was one of the first cards revealed for Lorcana, and its effect is so simple, yet so devastating. When she enters, you get to banish one of your opponents’ characters.

It doesn’t matter how big or tough it is, Maleficent just melts it with her Dragon Fire ability. And after that, she’s still a 7/5 that can quest for two lore, making her a costly character for your opponent to deal with.

Fishbone Quill

Fishbone Quill is a neat little Sapphire item that serves a lot of different uses. It provides that much-needed ramp, letting you put extra cards from your hand into your inkwell that cards like Mickey Mouse, Detective, but without the fuss.

It’s also one of the early all-stars of Lorcana’s item decks, which have gone from strength to strength in later sets. It’s cheap, it’s powerful, it plays nicely with item synergies like Belle, Inventive Engineer and Maurice, World-Famous Inventor.

Friends On The Other Side

If A Whole New World is a Windfall, Friends On The Other Side is Pot Of Greed. Drawing two cards for just three ink –- or even better, exerting a three-cost character to play it for free – is undeniably a great deal for Lorcana.

One thing people often forget with Lorcana is that, on an ideal turn, you’re playing at minimum two cards per turn: one to ink, and at least one to play regularly. Without card draw, you’re going to run out of gas incredibly quickly, and so things like Friends on the Other Side can keep you going for longer as you find your answers and generate your lore.

Elsa, Spirit Of Winter

Far and away the most oppressive deck of The First Chapter was Ruby/Amethyst Control. Exerting your opponent’s characters, bouncing them back to their hand, and generally interfering in their strategies was the dominant deck for a long, long time, and it’s all thanks to Elsa.

With Elsa, you can lock down your opponent’s key pieces, and keep them out of action for a whole extra turn. It isn’t even just one character, but two of them for extra injury. Add to that the shift cost to get Elsa in two turns earlier, and you can see why she froze out the competition for so long.

Rapunzel, Gifted With Healing

Rapunzel was one of the first cards that really did it all. When it enters play, it can heal any other of your characters for up to three damage, which keeps heavy hitters like Maui or Captain Hook going for even long.

On top of that, she’s also a massive card draw engine, giving you up to three cards. That’s three cards, healing, and an impressive 1/5 body with two lore value, all in one card. This is still played extensively to this day, and it easily one of the most powerful cards Lorcana has ever printed.

Be Prepared

Rapunzel and Elsa are powerful, sure, but no other card has had as much discussion around it as Be Prepared. This takes Maleficent and makes her look silly, as seven ink (or exerting a seven-cost character) to completely wipe the board clean is wild.

As a result, Be Prepared is played in just about every single Ruby deck. Whenever conversaions of a ban list ever come up, Be Prepared is right up there at the top. This is such an oppressive card that’s especially easy for ruby to build back from, and the lack of choosing targets means it gets around the biggest weakness of Maleficent – characters with Ward. If you’re ever making a Ruby deck, this is the card to put in it first and foremost.

The Future Of Lorcana

Looking at The First Chapter for Lorcana really helps us see just how far the game has come. Lots of the cards that were once top contenders have fallen by the wayside – for instance, Elsa and her Amber/Amethyst Control deck have mostly folded in favour of a Ruby/Amethyst Item Control deck instead, for example.

Looking ahead, it’s likely we’ll eventually see Challenger-matters finally become a full archetype, letting the likes of Captain Hook and Maui really shine. It’s been just about there ever since The First Chapter, but with other decks becoming more popular ever since, Challengers haven’t had their time to shine yet.

The big question hovering over Lorcana at the moment is the banlist. We’ve not seen any cards be banned so far, but The First Chapter gave us a real candidate in Be Prepared. Between that and Madam Medusa, Ruby is looking very likely to be the first ink colour to be hit with the banhammer when the time comes.

And of course, The First Chapter had no locations, a new card type that didn’t appear until Into the Inklands, two sets later. We’re seeing locations become more and more viable thanks to their passive lore generation, but The First Chapter could be left behind with its fewer ways of dealing with them.

But it’s only right for an older set to be surpassed by its successors. It’s how a trading card game evoles and grows, and the fact so many cards from it are still viable shows just how well Ravensburger is managing the dreaded ‘power creep’ many games fall into. Instead of feeling weak and useless, the First Chapter is a nostalgic set full of cards that were once heavy hitters, but in their old age have retired into more comforting, but still powerful, options for your decks.