12 best Disney Lorcana cards in The First Chapter
The characters to look for in Lorcana’s debut set.
Disney Lorcana is finally here, launching the hotly-anticipated Disney TCG with its debut set The First Chapter. With the set spanning over 200 cards, spanning characters, actions, songs and more, it can be tricky to know where to start when it comes to picking out the best Disney Lorcana cards for your first deck.
Lucky, we’re on hand to help, having been through every card in The First Chapter to find the characters that deserve a place in your deck. From powerful heroes to wily villains and everything in-between, we’ve put together a list of the best Lorcana cards in The First Chapter to help you dive right into the new TCG. (If you’re brand new and wondering how to play Lorcana, we can help with that, too!)
Best Disney Lorcana cards in The First Chapter
- Mickey Mouse, True Friend
- Belle, Strange but Special
- Captain Hook, Forceful Duelist
- Dr. Facilier, Agent Provocateur
- Rapunzel, Gifted with Healing
- Aladdin, Heroic Outlaw
- Simba, Rightful Heir
- Mad Hatter, Gracious Host
- Aurora, Dreaming Guardian
- Ursula, Power Hungry
- Flynn Rider, Charming Rogue
- Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor
Here we’ve focused on the top characters in Lorcana; you can find our separate round-ups of the best Lorcana action cards, best Lorcana items and best Lorcana songs in their own dedicated lists. We’ve selected a combination of cards you’ll find in The First Chapter’s Lorcana starter decks - each made up of two ink colours - and a few others you might need to search for in booster packs, meaning you shouldn’t have to empty your wallet to pick up everything you need.
These aren’t all necessarily the most powerful cards in terms of pure strength - though there are plenty of big numbers to keep your deck muscly if that’s what you’re after. Instead, we’ve picked out a selection of ink colours, costs and a mixture of both pure firepower and useful abilities - spanning card draw, banishing rival characters and generating both ink and lore - that make all of these among the very best Disney Lorcana cards in The First Chapter.
1. Mickey Mouse, True Friend
An extremely dependable card for a fair cost
It’s little surprise that Disney mascot Mickey Mouse ranks as not just one of the best Lorcana cards in The First Chapter, but makes multiple appearances on this list. It’s not like Disney was going to let its beloved cartoon mouse down, was it?
This first entry, Mickey Mouse, True Friend, is one of the simplest cards in The First Chapter. The Amber card has no extra ability text - simply a bit of flavour text - and middle-of-the-road stats. The card costs three ink to play (it can also be added to your inkwell), has three strength and three willpower, and will gain you two lore when it quests.
While other cards might be a bit more fancy and powerful, Mickey Mouse, True Friend lives up to its name with a very dependable, solid card that’s good at a bit of everything, for a very fair price. Whatever deck you plan to build, this is likely to be worth including.
2. Belle, Strange but Special
Massive lore gains
We’re calling it now: Belle, Strange but Special has the potential to become one of Lorcana’s most controversial cards, with the power to inspire some seriously inventive decks that could bring matches to a close in a matter of turns.
The four-ink card has two strength and four defence, along with offering a single lore when you quest. That’s not much to write home about.
Belle, Strange but Special’s ability text is where things start to get wild. ‘Read a Book’ allows you to add an additional card from your hand to your inkwell during your turn. That’s pretty good, providing a way to quickly ramp your available ink for bigger and better cards for a fairly low cost.
Even better is Belle, Strange but Special’s second ability, ‘My Favorite Part!’ Once you’ve amassed at least 10 cards in your inkwell - helped by the card’s first ability - Belle, Strange but Special’s lore is increased by four, allowing you to quest for a massive five lore every turn.
That hypothetically means you could reach the 20 lore needed to win in just four turns once the card’s power kicks in - making it a powerhouse card, and one of Lorcana’s best cards when it comes to decks built around churning lore as quickly as possible. Combined with other cards that add to your inkwell, such as Gramma Tala and Mickey Mouse, Detective, or other lore-generating cards, you could be in with a deck that barely gives your opponent a chance to know what hit them.
3. Captain Hook, Forceful Duelist
Cheap power to go after your foes
Peter Pan’s Captain Hook is fairly singular-minded. His Lorcana card Captain Hook, Forceful Duelist is no different, specialising in pure aggression - but doing an excellent job of it.
Captain Hook, Forceful Duelist is one of the cheapest cards on this list, costing just a single ink to play. That means you can have him out on your first turn, immediately taking the fight to your opponents. The card can also be turned into ink if he appears later in a game, without much of a downside to including the card in your Steel deck.
Captain Hook, Forceful Duelist’s one strength may not look like much at first glance, but look again: the card has Challenger +2, which brings his strength up to a total of three when challenging on your turn. Three strength on a character you can have out on your first turn is mighty impressive, and a quick way to start shutting down your rivals’ weaker characters before they have a chance to quest or retaliate.
4. Dr. Facilier, Agent Provocateur
Ensure none of your characters stay off the field for long
At seven ink, Dr. Facilier, Agent Provocateur costs a little more than some of the other cards on this list. The price is absolutely worth it, though, as the Princess and the Frog villain unleashes some of The First Chapter’s most powerful effects.
To begin with, Dr. Facilier, Agent Provocateur’s stats are no slouch. You get four strength, five willpower and can quest for three lore off the bat. That’s before you even get to the card’s ability text, and things really start to pop off.
Dr. Facilier, Agent Provocateur can shift for five, meaning you can play it on top of another Dr. Facilier card and save yourself two ink on the standard cost. That’s an even better price for this Amethyst card’s showstopping ‘Into the Shadows’ effect, which allows characters to return to your hand when banished, instead of going into your discard pile.
Opening up the power to constantly cycle your characters back onto the field, hold his own in any challenges and contribute to your quest for lore, Dr. Facilier, Agent Provocateur is absolutely one of the best Lorcana cards we’ve seen so far.
5. Rapunzel, Gifted with Healing
Card draw, healing, defence and lore - what more can you ask for?
Rapunzel, Gifted with Healing is easily one of the standout Lorcana cards in the game’s first set. For the price of four ink, you get a bit of pretty much everything: defence, lore, the ability to draw cards and the power to heal your other characters.
The Tangled heroine’s ‘Gleam and Glow’ ability allows her to remove up to three damage from one of your characters when played, before letting you draw a card for each damage removed. With the right timing, you could find one of your characters back to strength and a fresh hand of cards to help you on your way to victory.
If you’re building an Amber deck, Rapunzel, Gifted with Healing pairs nicely with the action card Healing Glow - which allows you to remove two damage from a character for the price of a single ink - helping to support your other characters. On top of all that, she also has a solid five willpower and can quest for two lore (or turned into ink, if you prefer), making her a very adaptable card.
6. Aladdin, Heroic Outlaw
Quest or challenge? Why not both!
Aladdin, Heroic Outlaw’s playful Floodborn take on the titular street rat-turned-Prince Ali cuts straight through Lorcana’s key dilemma of whether you use your characters to quest for lore or challenge your opponents’ characters to slow them down.
The seven-ink card can be Shifted onto another Aladdin card for just five ink, bringing the five-strength, five-willpower hero into play.
While you can just quest the card to gain two lore, Aladdin, Heroic Outlaw’s ‘Daring Exploit’ ability allows you to not only gain two lore, but force your opponents to each lose two lore, whenever you banish a character on your turn using the card.
Taking out rival characters to gain lore and take away your opponents’ lore is a no-brainer, and makes Aladdin, Heroic Outlaw a formidable pick in any Ruby deck. While it might take some careful deck construction and luck of the draw to fully unleash his powers, their immense potential make this one of the best Lorcana cards in The First Chapter.
7. Simba, Rightful Heir
Clear out rival characters and keep your lore going up
Between his four different appearances in The First Chapter, Simba has some of the best Lorcana cards in the debut set. Our current favourite is Simba, Rightful Heir, a balance of affordability, power and ability that makes him a must-have in any Steel deck.
Simba, Rightful Heir costs five ink, which will bag you three strength, five willpower and two lore right away. Those are all decent stats, but maybe not quite enough to justify the cost alone.
Luckily, that’s not all Simba, Rightful Heir has to offer. His ability ‘I Know What I Have to Do’ allows you to gain a lore every time you banish a character using the card, making it a very valuable way to finish off weakened characters while progressing your lore count towards victory. Paired with some solid attackers, it’s a perfect combination that means you don’t have to always choose between challenging and questing.
8. Mad Hatter, Gracious Host
Lots of cards and lots of lore
The Mad Hatter may not be the most reliable character in Alice in Wonderland, his appearance in The First Chapter is an incredibly dependable way to amass cards and lore.
Mad Hatter, Gracious Host will cost you five ink for a reasonable two strength and four willpower. He’s not really a fighter, so that’s not what this card is best used for. Instead, the Hatter comes with three lore every time you quest and, its highlight, the power to draw a card whenever it’s challenged by your opponent.
That sets you up to steadily amass lore, and be rewarded with cards if an opponent tries to stop you by taking Mad Hatter, Gracious Host out of the picture. It’s win-win for a fairly affordable Emerald card that can also be added to your inkwell in a pinch, and earns it a well-deserved spot on any list of the best Lorcana cards.
9. Aurora, Dreaming Guardian
Protect your characters from being banished
Sleeping Beauty’s princess is the ultimate support card in The First Chapter, coming in strong with the power to grant Ward to all of your other characters on the field.
The five-ink Sapphire card’s ‘Protective Embrace’ ability means that your opponents can’t target any characters with Ward except to challenge them, stopping actions or powers that might instantly banish them or force them to be exerted.
On top of that, Aurora, Dreaming Guardian’s three strength and five willpower pair with its two lore to make it a solid card by itself, able to likely withstand a few attacks in the early game - especially given that having Shift 3, allowing you to bring it out on top of another Aurora card for a lower ink cost, means you can have it on the field very early on.
Aurora, Dreaming Guardian is the ideal combo card, working with the rest of your Sapphire deck to keep that lore going up and your characters safe. As far as Lorcana cards go, it’s a beaut!
10. Ursula, Power Hungry
Don’t just slow your opponents down - reverse their progress
You might baulk at Ursula, Power Hungry’s seven-ink cost. It’s a lot compared to many cards, but it’s incredible value when you start to look at what the Little Mermaid villain is capable of bringing to your Amethyst deck.
While Ursula’s strength isn’t her highlight, it’s balanced by a whopping eight willpower - making her a tough character to take off the field. There’s a good chance you wouldn’t want to use her in challenges anyway, because she comes packing a massive three lore to help speed you towards victory.
Ursula, Power Hungry doesn’t just accelerate your own progression, either. On entering the field, she can reverse the lore progress of your opponents, forcing every opponent to lose a lore. For every lore that’s lost, you get to draw a card into your hand. This is good in two-player matches, but unparalleled in multiplayer games as you literally take your rivals further from victory while boosting yourself forward.
11. Flynn Rider, Charming Rogue
Cheap lore that’s a pain for your opponents to remove
Joining Rapunzel in this list is fellow Tangled hero Flynn Rider, whose appearance on Flynn Rider, Charming Rogue marks him as one of the best Lorcana cards for early-game turns.
Costing just two ink - with the option to add him to your inkwell - Flynn Rider, Charming Rogue can grant you two lore whenever you quest, helping you to quickly start ticking your lore towards victory in the first few turns of a match.
While the Emerald card’s one strength and two willpower aren’t exactly a powerhouse, they’re attached to a caveat: whenever Flynn Rider, Charming Rogue is challenged, the attacking opponent must discard a card. It can make the card surprisingly costly to attack for such a cheap character, but if he remains undealt with you could find yourself quickly seeing your lore pile up.
12. Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor
A lore machine that packs a punch - if your opponents can even hit it
If Mickey Mouse, True Friend is the Disney mascot’s entry-level card, Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor amps up the mouse with some serious firepower.
Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor will set you back a costly eight ink. That’s a lot, so don’t expect to get this card out early on. (It can also be added to your inkwell if it arrives a little too soon.) When it arrives, though, it lands with a bang.
Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor packs five strength and five willpower. Those are fairly chunky stats to begin with, but they’re combined with the card’s Evasive keyword, which means it can only be challenged by other characters with Evasive. That makes taking Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor down difficult unless your opponent has Evasive characters to hand - and even then, his stats are enough to pull through most challenges.
In the meantime, Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor’s four lore points will be able to send you sailing swiftly towards victory, requiring just five turns at most to hit the 20 lore you need to win.
It’s another impressive outing for Mickey, and one that’s sure to make an appearance as the crown jewel of many Ruby decks.