Ravensburger has details its upcoming 12th and 13th Disney Lorcana sets, Wilds Unknown and Attack of the Vine!

Wilds Unknown sees characters from Toy Story, Brave and The Incredibles join the Disney Lorcana TCG for the first time – and is available for prerelease on May 8th in game stores and select Disney Parks and stores. The set will be available everywhere a week later on May 15th.

“The addition of glimmers of characters from Pixar films is one of the most exciting moments in the ongoing story of the Disney Lorcana TCG,” said Elaine Chase, Head of Category for Trading Card Games at Ravensburger.

“Everyone has fond memories of growing up with Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the rest of the toys, reliving the adventures of the Parr family, joining forces against the Omnidroids, and watching as Merida embarks on a journey where she forges her own path. Now fans can have fun collecting those cards and create decks to play together with family and friends.”

Enchanted cards in Wilds Unknown will feature an Art Nouveau-inspired style dubbed Lore Nouveau. This art style is also depicted in the rarest cards of the set, known as Iconics, which also feature full-art and additional foil treatments. Merida – Formidable Archer and Buzz Lightyear – Jungle Ranger are the two Iconic cards in Wilds Unknown.

Anna Stosik, Art Director at Ravensburger on Disney Lorcana TCG, said: “Working with artists on each Disney Lorcana TCG card is a real thrill. We all have such a strong connection to these characters and applying the themes of working together to travel through these fantastic locales is enlightening.

“I think the Lore Nouveau style looks fantastic. The artists and card art directors put a ton of love and thought into these compositions and it’s wonderful to see the familiar Disney characters in this new and unexpected way!”

Following Wilds Unknown is the 13th Disney Lorcana TCG set, Attack of the Vine!, which prereleases at game stores on July 17th and will be available everywhere July 24th. Glimmers of Pixar’s Boo, Mike Wazowski and Sulley from Monsters, Inc. will make their debut appearance in the set, as Illumineers must team up stop a monstrous vine growing out of control.

The story arc will reach its peak this fall in a new product called Illumineer’s Quest: The Great Hunny Rescue. This cooperative all-in-one package releases in October. More information will be available at Gen Con 2026.

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Ravensburger has details its upcoming 11th Disney Lorcana set, Winterspell.

The set introduces characters from Disney’s Pocahontas, Angel from Lilo & Stitch: The Series and Darkwing Duck, and lands at local game stores and in Disney Stores on February 13th, before releasing everywhere on February 20th.

“Wintertime is such a reminiscent theme for so many of us. Lots of people have fond memories of snowball fights, spending time with loved ones, or sipping hot cocoa, and we wanted to bring that feeling of cozy, winter fun to Winterspell,” said Naomi Kim, Product Manager at Ravensburger on Disney Lorcana TCG.

“With these gorgeous cards, Illumineers will get the chance to experience flurries of fun around the table with friends and family – no snow required!”

McKay Anderson, Art Director at Ravensburger on Disney Lorcana TCG, added: “The craftmanship that goes into each Disney Lorcana card is profoundly special. Each piece of commissioned artwork and the game design and thoughtfully chosen and executed, so players and fans get an immersive gameplaying experience each time they open a card pack and begin Questing..”

Following Winterspell in the Spring will be Wilds Unknown, which introduces Glimmers from Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story, The Incredibles and Brave. Previews of the new set will start in April, and Wilds Unknown will be available everywhere on May 15th. Then, in the summer, Attack of the Vine! will land, introducing glimmers such as Mike Wazowski and Sully from Monsters Inc.

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Ryan, it’s been another big year for Disney Lorcana. What are some of the biggest additions to the game that your 2025 sets introduced?
The first thing that comes to mind is dual inkcards introduced in Archazia’s Island. Aside from looking really cool, they added a fun new twist to deckbuilding. The Iconic and Epic rare cards we added in Fabled have made collecting and pack-opening so much more exciting! I finally opened my first Epic just last week, and it really took me back to the days of The First Chapter.

Fabled is the latest set – and, as you mention, it introduced Iconic and Epic rarities. How you decide which characters take these new rare spots?
The process is similar to how we choose enchanted rares: a mix of card utility – that is, how useful the game text is – and the ‘star power’ of the character. Star power is totally subjective and debatable, but we try to choose cards that are very exciting from a character or story perspective. Of course, we also like to surprise and delight, so not all cards follow this path… Making Winnie the Pooh – Hunny Wizard an Enchanted card in Fabled is a great example of this!

On that, are there any cards from Fabled that you were especially excited to launch?
I’ve been lucky in that I’ve been able to meet thousands of Disney Lorcana fans over the past couple of years, and one of the most asked-about franchises is A Goofy Movie! Of course, I knew when we’d be doing it, but I couldn’t say anything! Making games is like that feeling you get when you’ve bought someone a gift and you can’t wait for them to open it. Cards from A Goofy Movie have been in the works for a long time, and I’m excited that Disney Lorcana fans finally get to play with them!

We’re now a few years into the brand’s history and it remains a sensation. How has your relationship with Disney evolved over this time?
When we started this journey, well before the game came out, we had lots of dreams of where it could go. Maybe we could be in the Parks? Maybe on the Cruises? Maybe we could work with Disney artists for card art? The team we work with daily within Disney has been nothing short of amazing and, since the game’s launch, they’ve helped bring those dreams and more to reality. I’m really thankful for the Disney folks! They really have been there every step of the way to help make this game the wonderful work of art that it is.

What would you say is key to fruitful collaborations on a trading card game such as this?
TCGs are a specific type of product, and generally more complex on every level than standalone board games and card games, which are not simple products to begin with! So it was important early on to get the game into the hands of as many Disney folks as possible… That’s the best way for people to see what we’re trying to accomplish here.

I go on several trips a year to Orlando and Glendale to do immersion meetings with various Disney teams, giving them booster packs and walking them through the game and the realm it’s set in. This in-person time is an invaluable tool in communicating the concepts and needs of a TCG. It’s also a lot of fun!

What makes trading card games an especially powerful tool for igniting fandom?
One of my favourite things about TCGs is the capacity for self-expression they offer. I can express myself through the deck I build, but also with the playmat I play on, or the sleeves I use on my cards, or the way I track victory… This level of self-expression just gets me more excited for my favourite characters and stories… Now, I’m not just being told a story, I’m becoming a part of it in my own way. It’s hands down my favourite aspect of Disney Lorcana.

Now we’re a few years in, what keeps you energised and enthusiastic working on the brand?
The community. I’ve been in this industry for over 25 years now, and I’ve never been prouder to be a part of a game’s community. They are the nicest, most welcoming and creative people I’ve ever made games for, and it’s a true honour that I get to work on fun cards and events for them.

The other aspect is our team. We’ve got a growing team of talented and passionate folks working on this game, which is why it’s getting better with each set. Disney Lorcana fans give me and co-designer Steve Warner a lot of credit for this game, but the kudos really goes to the team that puts so much love and attention-to-detail into every Disney Lorcana card.

Finally, the next set, Whispers in the Well, is landing in game stores next week. Anything you can tell us that hasn’t been revealed yet – without getting into trouble?
We call that a “Bruno” question. We don’t talk about Bruno.

Ha! Worth a go! Thanks as ever Ryan – let’s speak again soon!

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Ravensburger has detailed the upcoming fourth set in its Disney Lorcana Trading Card Game series, Ursula’s Return.

In this new set, Ursula – who was freed from the Illuminary in the second set, Rise of the Floodborn – is ready to put her plans into motion and take over Lorcana. The game introduces new franchises and gameplay evolutions, as well as characters from Encanto and Sorcerer Apprentice Mickey Mouse and Yen Sid from Disney Fantasia.

Ursula’s Return will include two Starter Decks featuring combinations of Amethyst & Amber or Sapphire & Steel cards and Booster Packs. A new Illumineer’s Trove and play accessories, including Card Sleeves, Deck Boxes and Playmats will also be available.

All cards in the set can be used to customise or update existing Disney Lorcana TCG decks or played alongside the previously released sets.

Ursula’s Return will be released first at local game stores and Disney Parks on May 17th, followed by mass market retailers and The Disney Store retail locations on May 31st.

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Ravensburger has detailed the next expansion for its Disney Lorcana trading card game, Into the Inklands.

This third instalment introduces location cards into the game. These feature iconic Disney story settings and offer players special abilities and interactions. The set also debuts new in-game mini-stories and expands featured characters.

“With each new release, enthusiasm and excitement for the Disney Lorcana TCG grows in magnitude,” said Filip Francke, Global Head of Games at Ravensburger.

“Watching this community consistently grow and become more diverse tells us that we are getting it just right with Disney fans who are completely charmed by the art and stories, TCG die-hards who appreciate the strategic gameplay – and even new players who have tried their very first TCG and now play every weekend.”

Several popular Disney characters will be making their Disney Lorcana TCG debut in Into the Inklands, including Pluto, Scrooge McDuck and Jim Hawkins.

Into the Inklands will be released first at local game stores on February 23rd 2024, followed by mass market retailers on March 8th 2024.

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Ryan, it’s great to catch up. Disney Lorcana is Ravensburger’s huge new trading card game. It went down a storm at Gen Con, people were out in force at last week’s midnight launch last and Filip Francke – President of Ravensburger North America – has called it “game-changer”. Where did the idea come from?
Ravensburger has regular meetings with Disney and – before I came onto the project – an idea had been discussed for a trading card game. It’s an area Ravensburger had wanted to get into, so that afternoon – in a bar called The Famous – the Ravensburger people in LA percolated this idea. That’s why we called it Project Famous during development, after the bar!

I was working as a freelance designer at the time. My friend and co-designer on Lorcana, Steve Warner, was at Ravensburger already – he had been my producer for The Princess Bride game I’d done for Ravensburger. That experience was when I really started to understand Ravensburger and grasp the attention to detail and love they put into their products…

So that reassured you when this opportunity came along?
Absolutely. A trading card game is a huge endeavour and not to be taken lightly, but having experienced the company’s work ethic and values, when Steve told me about the Lorcana project it appealed straight away.

And I’m a lifelong Disney fan. I used to go to Disneyland with my grandmother when I five and even now, they are some of the most immersive experiences you can have anywhere. That really impressed me, even as a little boy. That ability to immerse is one of the things that actually attracted me to game design in the first place and it’s something we wanted to get right with Lorcana. We have designed a whole world and story arcs…

Because there is seriously long-term thinking at play here right?
Oh yeah! This is the biggest project this company has ever done. It speaks to Ravensburger’s organisational fortitude that they’ve been able to commit to something of this scale – and really do it right.

When Steve and I were designing the initial gameplay, it’s a weird process because we had specific goals but you don’t know when you’re going to hit them, but Ravensburger said “Take all the time you need.” It ended up taking us six months to get the basic game system down, but Ravensburger were committed to getting this right from the start.

You mentioned specific goals for that early stage of the game. What were they?
We wanted it to be strategic but fun – and inclusive too. Trading card games have traditionally been very male; we’re hoping to change that. And not just through the IP that we have, but through the art style and gameplay too. We also wanted accessibility; we needed the game to be easy to pick up and play.

A few other goals… We wanted you to be able to put your favourite characters together, so the deckbuilding needed to be relatively simple. We wanted you to have a great experience, even if you’re not a regular trading card game player. If you just want to bring the princesses together – do it! You’ll still have a fun time.

That said, we also wanted veteran trading card game players to have something to chew on – and it’s something that these kinds of games do quite well on their own. The rules of a trading card game are the skeleton and the cards are the meat. People don’t come for the skeleton, they come for the meat! It means the skeleton can be relatively simple and the strategy comes from which cards you put in your deck and how you play them.

Great stuff. How did you decide what and who to include in this first wave of cards?
It was a fun process. We’d watch the movies and take notes, but when we first started we had too many options! Who do you we want to include? Well, we want everyone! We had to drill down into who to include in this one, knowing that we’ll be doing more. That’s one of the nice things about having 204 cards in Disney Lorcana: The First Chapter – we can include the superstars as well as the ‘deep cuts’. Players will see characters that they’ve not seen in a Disney game in a while.

How did you approach taking classic Disney moments and translating them into a card in a way that feels authentic?
Well, a good example of this is ‘Song’ cards. These are special action cards – action cards being one-and-done cards where you pay their cost, do what they say and discard them. So one example of a ‘Song’ card is ‘One Jump Ahead’, inspired by the song from Aladdin. You can play that like a normal action card by paying its cost, or you can have one specific character sing it for you, which means you can play it for free. So, for example, Jasmine might qualify as a character whose cost means she can sing the song for free. It makes sense in the game, but it’s also fun because that character doesn’t usually sing that song in the movie.

Another example is our ‘Ariel on human legs’ card. In the film, to get human legs she has to give up her voice, so this card cannot sing songs. We also have flavour text on each card – flavour text being just a little bit of story we put on the card. Her flavour text just says “…” because she can’t speak. It’s a great example of authentically representing a character in the game through both gameplay and the art on the card.

I’d imagine a side-effect of that approach means some aspects of the game feel quite intuitive. ‘Ariel on human legs’ can’t speak, so of course she won’t be able to sing songs in the game…
Exactly. Story and theme isn’t just there for fun; it makes the game easier to learn. It’s a story being told to you, rather than rules you have to learn. And we wanted as much story as possible on each card… We gave abilities in the game thematic names. For example, Maximus from Tangled has the ‘Horse Kick’ ability. When you play him, the chosen character gets -2 strength – so he kicks somebody and makes them weaker for this turn. Maleficent has ‘Cast My Spell’, Yzma has ‘You’re Excused’…

We also have ‘Let it Go’, which is a Song card. Its effect is to take an opponent’s character and put them face down in their inkwell – basically turning them into ink! What’s great about that is that you can’t help but sing Let it Go as you play that card! It’s a fun bit.

And the art in this game looks great.
And every piece of art here is new. Some characters have little changes. We call them ‘Glimmers’ because they are a glimmer of a Disney character; they’re not actually the exact character. Some are ‘Storyborn’, which mean the characters look like they do in the stories, and some are ‘Dreamborn’ and ‘Floodborn’, which have been changed by the lllumineer that brought them to life.

We have a version of Steamboat Willie in the game – he’s black and white but his surroundings are colour. It’s beautiful. One of my favourites is a Hades card that features him sitting on the throne of Olympus as if he’d won.

We have a version of Scar from The Lion King that’s made of lava – so cool! We also have a Captain Hook who is a duellist, so instead of a hook he’s got a blade. It’s subtle but it’s a cool detail. And in the game, Hook is better at challenging than being challenged, so it’s another example of us trying to tie the gameplay and the art together as much as possible.

Here’s an analogy for you! I was a club DJ back in the 2010s and there’s a lot of similarities to game design. You need trust and to gain trust when DJing, you play songs people will like. Once you’ve got their trust, then you can go on a journey. This is very similar… We want the fans to know that we love Disney too. One of the ways we convey that is by doing all new art and through the design of the game. Hopefully they’ll trust us to go on the rest of the Lorcana journey.

A fantastic analogy – and not one I was expecting!
Ha! They are very, very similar – although you get faster feedback when you’re DJing!

Before we wrap up, I think it’s fair to say they’ll be a large chunk of the Disney fanbase that’s new to trading card games. Do you think Lorcana can help grow the audience for this sector of the industry?
That’s my deep goal. There are so many Disney fans out there and we’re going to get a lot of folks that just want to collect – which is great – but my hope is that some of them get interested in how the game plays. Trading card games are super fun – you’re making your own deck of cards with your favourite characters! There’s a lot of people that don’t know that yet who will discover this through Lorcana and that’s exciting… I want Disney fans to walk into core hobby stores and say “Where have you been all my life?!” To quote Aladdin, it’ll be a whole new world for them!

Nicely done! There’s no better place to wrap up than there Ryan; a huge thanks again.

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Ravensburger’s Disney Lorcana was developed with “approachability, fun, strategy, and whimsy” at its heart, according to the co-designer of the game.

“My co-designer Steve Warner and I kept four factors in mind when designing the game: approachability, fun, strategy, and whimsy,” said Ryan Miller, co-designer and Brand Manager for Disney Lorcana.

“We created streamlined rules that we believe will engage new players, while also developing enough strategy in the game to engage experienced players. We also wanted to make sure Lorcana feels like a Disney game, which is shown through the art, flavour text, and design.

“For example, there are ‘song’ cards in the game based on songs from Disney films. Whilst you’re not required to sing them when you play, we highly encourage it.”

Disney Lorcana – a collectible trading card game – transports players to the magical realm of Lorcana. Here, they become ‘Illumineers’ and wield magic ink to summon a team of Disney characters – known as ‘glimmers’ – to search for lost lore. The first player to collect 20 lore wins.

Disney Lorcana: The First Chapter is being previewed at UK Games Expo in June, before launching at specialist game stores on August 18th and nationally on September 1st.

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In 2023, Ravensburger will publish Disney Lorcana, Disney’s first collectible trading card game.

The game will feature Disney characters in both original and reimagined art styles, and will boast “more original Disney artwork than any other single product ever created.”

“Disney Lorcana is the result of the powerful alchemy of Disney magic, Ravensburger game excellence, and several years of dedicated work and investment,” said Filip Francke, Ravensburger North America CEO and Global Head of Games.

“This potent combination has poised Disney Lorcana to be a game-changer in the billion-dollar-plus trading card game market.”

John Balen, Vice President of Product Design at Disney, added: “The breadth and scope of Disney characters represented in this game will be unprecedented, and it will contain more original Disney artwork than any other single product ever created.

“Our dedicated Disney product design team has enjoyed collaborating with Ravensburger and our Walt Disney Animation Studios partners to create a unique Disney experience for fans of all ages to take home.”

Set in the fantastical world of Lorcana, the game sees players take on the mantle of a powerful sorcerer and band together Disney characters from Lorcana’s The Great Illuminary, a treasury of all Disney songs and stories ever made.

“The Disney Lorcana team is an incredible and passionate group with over a century of combined experience creating trading card games,” said Ryan Miller, Disney Lorcana Co-Designer and Brand Manager at Ravensburger.

“Great care has gone into delivering an unforgettable world and gameplay experience that will be equally fun for Disney superfans, trading card game beginners, and the most enthusiastic and advanced players.”

Disney Lorcana will be released globally in autumn 2023 and will be supported by four new card set releases each year.

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