To celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2023, Walt Disney Studios teamed up with Ravensburger to debut one of the most thrilling – and certainly one of the most addictive – TCGs we’ve seen recently.
In Lorcana, you compete as an illumineer, creating spells using cards featuring iconic Disney characters and iconography in a race to beat your opponent and collect 20 “lore” points. The power of each card is determined by the strength and willpower scores printed on them, and if you defeat your rival on a quest along the way, you get to move closer to 20 by the number of lore that card holds.
However, it’s not just strength and willpower which determine what makes the most powerful Lorcana card, as the side effects listed below these stats are what can separate winners from losers. We’ll dive into the cards with the best side effects a little later, but first, here are the most powerful Lorcana cards issued as of March 2024, based on their raw score totals.
Most powerful Lorcana Cards
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When you think of the strongest Disney characters, chances are your mind goes to the likes of Hercules or Mulan, and not the lovable canine Goofy. However, included within the second set of the card game – Rise Of The Floodborn – is the most powerful Lorcana card created to date, and as barking mad as it sounds, it features Disney’s premier pooch.
The Goofy – Knight For A Day card is the first to have strength and willpower stats in the double digits, scoring a maximum of ten for both strength and willpower. Questing with Goofy can get you four lore points if successful (the joint highest count of all available cards), but it has two separate catches, the first being that you need to have a whopping nine ink in play to exert this card in battle.
The second, and much more crucial, factor is that despite its impressive stats, this card doesn’t have any additional side effects. It may look like it’s unbeatable in terms of sheer power, but its success still comes down to what your opponent holds in their hand.
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Slightly behind but equally impressive in terms of strength and willpower is the Maui – Demigod card, which you’ll be saying “you’re welcome” to if its ranking of eight in both categories can help you in battle, where a victory will move you forward by three lore. The catch here is the same as that of Goofy, however; its impressive total doesn’t make it invincible, as it has no additional side effects to help propel it further above the pack.
A little further behind is the Maleficent – Monstrous Dragon card, which even with an impressive seven strength and five willpower total, still suffers the embarrassment of being less impactful than Goofy. However, this card comes with a crucial side effect that distinguishes it, as she can banish any of your opponents cards of choice when coming into play; this is one of the many examples of why you shouldn’t take too much solace in the score totals for the otherwise side effect-free Goofy or Maui cards, as the dragon could easily wipe both out.
Finally, the Mickey Mouse – Brave Little Tailor card is equipped with a five score in both strength and willpower, proving that sometimes, a mouse can be more powerful than a man. However, the real selling point here is that this card is also “Evasive”, meaning it can only be challenged in battle by players who also hold a card with that rare distinction, giving Mickey an edge in the game.
Which Lorcana Cards Have The Best Side Effects?
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So, whilst the likes of Goofy and Maui seem the most powerful – at least of the cards released at the time of this article – their stats only tell half the story. They may both put you in a solid position to collect more lore, but without side effects, neither is undefeatable.
There’s no way of quantatively ranking which cards with side effects are the most powerful, as they all have unique benefits when played against opponents. Instead, here’s a rundown of the cards experts have singled out as the ones any player would be lucky to have in their deck.
First up, there’s Jafar – Striking Illusionist, which may cost seven ink to play, but is extremely worth it. For starters, you gain one lore whenever it’s exerted, and on top of that, it’s an Evasive card, meaning few others are able to actually challenge it, which is crucial when it comes to climbing the ladder to twenty lore. Every point counts!
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Also great for collecting lore is Magica De Spell – The Midas Touch, which similarly costs seven ink to play, but once exerted, will allow you to gain lore equal to one of your items in play. Use wisely, and this card could be what edges you over the finish line first.
Other ways you can inch towards a win include playing cards which dramatically reduce your opponenents’ strength. The Queen – Commanding Presence reduces your opponent’s strength by four, transferring it directly to yours, all for the cost of five ink.
Similarly, when Fairy Godmother – Mystic Armorer from the Rise Of The Floodborn pack is in play, the strength of all your characters in play increases by three points, and if this card is banished, you get to return it to your hand, not the discard pile.
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If used wisely, these additional powers aren’t just about increasing your abilities, but decreasing those of other players. Take the Belle – Hidden Archer card, which if challenged, would make your opponent discard all cards in their hands, or the Lady Tremaine – Imperious Queen card, where each opponent must banish one of their cards.
From Belle to Beast – Tragic Hero, which if undamaged in battle, will let you draw an additional card – and if he has been damaged, you can add four strength points back to his total. For this reason, it’s a pretty useful card to have in duels, if you have five ink to play it, of course.
Finally, if you need to build up your arsenal, the Perdita – Devoted Mother card will lt you retrieve a character from your discard pile, so long as they cost two ink or less. At a six ink cost, it’s one of the riskiest listed here, but played wisely, will yield great results.
