Whether you have been playing Disney Lorcana for a while or are new to the game, you may have heard that Disney Lorcana has an official organized play program (OP). Disney Lorcana OP includes both local and large-scale events, ranging from casual to competitive gameplay, offering several different ways to enjoy your favourite Trading Card Game.
At the local level, the competitive events take the form of the “Set championships” tournaments organized by hosting shops every three months. Set Championships are slightly larger events held for each set just before the next one releases. Players may join multiple Set Championships at different stores to compete for a special promo card and a playmat that only the top few players can earn.
Local shops usually also organize weekly meet-ups where players can test their decks in a casual environment or engage in semi-competitive tournaments. A lot of these tournaments can be themed or use one of the many Disney Lorcana formats, either officially supported or created by the fans of this game. of these tournaments can be themed or use one of the many Disney Lorcana formats, either officially supported or created by the fans of this game.
The most interesting part of this program is that Ravensburger strongly supports it by providing prizes and promo cards to the organizers. This not only applies to the Enchanted promo prize cards for the Set Championship, but it also offers the opportunity for all players to get some nice prizes every week. This approach that goes behind the quarterly Set Championship events has been for me a great way to make sure players will not just see the weekly meet-up as a practice session for the upcoming set championship, but as a way to enjoy playing their favourite Trading Card Game. As it all starts with the Lorcana Organized Play kit, I wanted to catch an opportunity to remind everyone how many ways they can enjoy Lorcana while we are all readying our decks for the Archazia’s Island Set Championship. Ready, Set, Draw!
Archazia’s Island Organized Play Kit: What is it, and what changed from the previous one?
In case you are new to Lorcana, the Disney Lorcana Organized Play Kit refers to a collection of promotional items that local shops can request from Ravensburger to support their weekly Lorcana game sessions. The kit was initially designed to support the “Disney Lorcana League” a format in which players can play any number of games they like every week to obtain points to then use to get the promotional prizes. The system was designed to be very casual, allowing pretty much everyone to get some nice goodies every set.
Starting from Archazia’s Island, Ravensburger is looking to move away from the League format by removing the point system. In lieu of the league, the new OP kit recommends that the stores organize different events every week and distribute the prizes routinely. This system is aimed at engaging the players a bit more, and avoiding Illumineers will just play their deck week after week to prepare for the Set Championship. I personally welcomed this new format as it reminds you that Lorcana is a nice game to play and that the Set Championship is just another way you can enjoy it, not your only goal season after season.
In terms of content, therefore, the OP kit includes not the usual range of products but some important changes. In detail, the kit includes 6 copies of two different Character pins (“Bolt, Superdog” and “Mad Hatter, Unruly Eccentric”). As previously done, this kit also includes 8 copies of a Disney Lorcana Ink Pin, although the one in this set is the first of a new series, as the previous one was completed in the OP kit of Azurite Sea. The new pin looks quite stunning as it represents the Amber Ink Colour, and I cannot wait to get all six of them for my collection. In line with previous kits, the Archazia’s Island one includes 6 “Belle, Mechanic Extraordinaire” lore counters and 18 Disney Lorcana unnumbered table tents to help with more official events. Last but not least, the newer kit also comes with 12 Amethyst boxes decorated with the artwork from “Show me more!”. This box is the second one of a new type of promotional items launched first in the Azurite Sea set, and it is a great way to store your cards or your pins.
In terms of content, therefore, the OP kit includes not the usual range of products but some important changes. In detail, the kit includes 6 copies of two different Character pins (“Bolt, Superdog” and “Mad Hatter, Unruly Eccentric”). As previously done, this kit also includes 8 copies of a Disney Lorcana Ink Pin, although the one in this set is the first of a new series, as the previous one was completed in the OP kit of Azurite Sea. The new pin looks quite stunning as it represents the Amber Ink Colour, and I cannot wait to get all six of them for my collection. In line with previous kits, the Archazia’s Island one includes 6 “Belle, Mechanic Extraordinaire” lore counters and 18 Disney Lorcana unnumbered table tents to help with more official events. Last but not least, the newer kit also comes with 12 Amethyst boxes decorated with the artwork from “Show me more!”. This box is the second one of a new type of promotional items launched first in the Azurite Sea set, and it is a great way to store your cards or your pins.
The other big change in this set is related to the promo foil cards in the kit. Previously, the kit usually included 3 different Promo cards, while Archazia’s Island OP kit comes with four different cards. The additional one, “Snow White, Fairest in the Land” promo card, is specifically designed to be held off to players coming to the set release to help promote local gatherings to enjoy the new set. The reference sheet provided with the kit suggests using these cards as prizes for Pack Rush matches so that players can enjoy the new cards and win some nice new cards right away. Snow White is also a great card to have for any fan of Amber, considering she cannot be challenged and quests for 2 Lore.
To further help the local communities and shops, the kit also recommends using the 32 copies of “Kronk, Laid Back” promo cards as gifts to customers who purchase a full Booster Box at the shop. Buying locally is usually a great way to support the shops running Lorcana events, and I quite like Ravensburger thinking of ways to make local players and shops more engaged together.
How to make the most out of the Organized Play kit
There is so much you can do to enjoy Disney Lorcana and benefit from the many wonderful prizes provided in the OP kit. I think the first aspect to consider is how to make your weekly events a great and exciting moment for all the Illumineers. There is no need to prevent people from practising for the Set Championship, but it would be a great idea to also plan other events during the season. For example, my son and I enjoyed playing a lot of different formats at our local friendly Bookstore for the first few weeks after Archazia’s Island released. We also had a few casual nights where we started building up our competitive decks, and the last two weeks were focused on getting as much practice as possible with them to be ready for the Set Championship.
Among the formats we played this season, Pack Rush and Franchise Decks were likely the most enjoyable of them all. If you have never heard about Pack Rush, I would suggest having a read here, as it is likely one of the easiest ways to add fun to the packs and boxes you get when a set releases. Franchise Deck is a fan-made format where players can build decks using cards from a single Disney movie. Considering some Movies have many more cards than others, we decided to allow players to build their decks using two different Franchises if any of them did not have at least 40 cards in Lorcana. If you are wondering, the list provided at this site can help identify all the cards belonging to a movie. Any card specifically created for Disney Lorcana (for example, any of the Coils or “Sail to Azurite Sea”) does not belong to any movie, and thus cannot be used at all.
I had to think a lot about which movie I wanted to use for my Deck, but I finally decided to go for Mulan. I really love Mushu, and I wanted to bring it to the table with all the Mulan cards I possibly could. To my surprise, every player in the event picked a different franchise, thus every deck was very distinct and unique. I had a lot of super challenging matches, and I won a few of them at the very last second. The most fun movement was against a Duck Tales-based deck. We were 18 to 10 for my opponent in the third game (after we both won one round), and I managed to win before my opponent by questing for more than 10 lore in a turn. How did I do it? I top-decked and then played a second Fa-Zhou, and I had a Mushu in play, so I challenged twice with both Mushu and a Li-Shang, a very healthy “Scrooge McDuck, Aficionado of Antiquities”. Li-Shang and Mushu gained two Lore each when they challenged due to Mushu’s ability, and when I challenged for the second time, the two Fa-Zhou in play provided me a whopping 6 additional lore, propelling me to 20 lore and granting me the win. It goes without saying my opponent was shocked by my impressive luck…
On the other hand, I had a super challenging game against a deck based on Aladdin that proved impossible for me to beat. The MVP of that deck was “Jafar, Tyrannical Hypnotist,” a 6-cost card with the ability to prevent any character with a cost of 4 or less from challenging. Imagine how strong this card can be against my Mulan deck that was designed to almost only gain lore by Challenging….
Overall, the Franchise event proved to be very enjoyable and filled with hilarious moments. Best part, there was no entry fee other than the usual one for playing in the shop, but we all took back some promos while the winners also got some nice Lorcana pins. The group also came up with a few other themed meet-ups that were very successful, and we are definitely looking to play another super fan round of Poorcana very soon (a format where you are only allowed Common and Uncommon cards). There are a lot of formats created by the community that you can try and enjoy, and nothing prevents you from coming up with your ones. The most important part is to have fun all together and to enjoy playing Lorcana! And a big thank you to Ravensburger for looking out for our local communities and providing so many nice prizes!
Do you know Zatu is hosting a weekly Lorcana night (including Archazia’s Island specific events!) at their Gaming Centre in Norwich? If you are in the area and you are looking for a friendly community to join, or you just want to meet some new players, you can book your slot at this link. See you there!
