Yesterday, Disney Lorcana has announced through their official socials and website that two cards, “Hiram Falversham” and “Forstisphere”, will no longer be legal in competitive play with immediate effect. This announcement marks the very first ban list for Disney Lorcana since its release in August 2023 and it has been driven by an effort to keep the meta-game healthy and challenging.
In an open letter to all Illumineers, Steve Warner, the Game Design Manager and lead game designer for Disney Lorcana at Ravensburger, mentioned that “Our primary goal with Disney Lorcana is to create a fun and engaging experience for all players. After extensive observation and feedback from the community, it became clear that Hiram Flaversham, Toymaker and Fortisphere were constantly leading to gameplay scenarios that were not conductive to this goal.”
As mentioned in the letter and the announcement, this urgent action from Ravensburger is linked to the increasing number of players playing Ruby-Sapphire or Sapphire-Steel in competitive events. While Sapphire-Steel and Ruby-Sapphire decks have both appeared in numerous tournament finals all through 2024, the latest set release of this TCG, Archazia’s Island, included a few very good cards that consistently strengthen the Sapphire engine of these decks. As a result, players were able to create very competitive new versions of these decks that have a definite advantage in the meta-game. Unfortunately, the increasing number of players using these decks has grown so much that recent events saw more than 50% of the players using them.
As Steve mentioned, this situation lead to the a possibility that the meta-game will feel stale or repetitive as players are forced to face the same strategies again and again. Therefore, it does not surprise that the game’s developers have taken the urgent decision to ban two cards with the intent of levelling the playing field. This approach is actually very common in Trading Card Games where new cards are released constantly making possible that players find unexpected combinations that can go against the way the game is intended to be played. In this case, for example, the ability of Hiram Flaversham, Toymaker to discard an item in order to draw two cards can provide a strong card advantage now that a deck can also include “Tamatoa, Happy as a Clam” that can recycle 2 Items from the discard and play eventually one of them for free. Having both cards in play essentially allows players to create a potent card draw engine that could typically recycle Items multiple times before the opponents can knock Hiram out of play.
Fortisphere, on the other hand, can be used in combination with Pawpsicle in Sapphire-Steel deck to increase the changes to play “Belle, Apprentice Inventor” on turn one after also drawing a card. Having the 3-cost Belle in play on turn one allows the players to sing song like “Let the storm rage on” on turn 2 to deal damage to any Character on the board while drawing an additional card. Considering Sapphire-Steel decks can include 4 Pawpsicle and 4 Fortisphere cards, there is a high chance players can have multiple copies of Belle in play very early in the game providing a strong board presence and control.
Overall it seems quite clear that, in both cases, the issue were not the abilities of the cards themselves but it was the way they interacted with the latest cards released in Archazia’s Island that made too unbalanced. It is clear this decision was not taken lightly but Steve Warner mentioned how his team is constantly reviewing the tournaments logs and the overall competitive scene with the support of dedicated players and influencers in order to ensure the game remains appealing for everyone. I personally appreciate the effort considering that Disney Lorcana is designed first and foremost a game that should be fun to play at every age. In fact, this ban does not prevent the players to continue to play with their beloved Sapphire-Steel or Ruby-Sapphire decks as Lorcana has a few alternatives that can be used to fill the gaps left by Hiram and Fortisphere. The resulting decks will likely be less consistent but this does not mean they will have less chances to still top a competitive tournament. Most important, these decks will keep providing a lot of fun to both the players driving them and to those facing them that is a key aspect of playing any game socially.
