Disney Lorcana Gateway Starter review - A Dazzling Place I Never Knew

We love a good card game at GGRecon. Whether it's Pokemon, Magic, or a digital option, we're always excited to see something new. You can imagine the surprise, then, when Lorcana was initially revealed.

Disney? In a card game? It felt a little like a match made in heaven, and while cynics would suggest it's just a logical next step in a corporation's gameplan, Lorcana hit the ground running - to an extent.

Shallow starter sets and a lack of availability meant that the initial decks I picked up were shelved for months. Thankfully, the game's second effort at a starter kit, the Gateway set, is a marked improvement and has me ready to kickstart a whole new world of card collecting.

Do you wanna build a card game?

While the idea of a 'Disney Adult' may have some less-than-favourable connotations, I'm a big fan of Disney and have been for as long as I can remember.

We all have our favourite eras, of course, but what struck me about the cards included in the Gateway set is the range of properties they're pulled from. Each player gets a 30-card deck to kick things off, with one helmed by Stitch and Maleficent and the other led by Elsa and Mickey Mouse.

Each has its own set of cards that run between four 'ink colours' (think of these a little like Magic's colour types), and comes with its own mini strategy guide. The play guide is well laid out, with a table of contents in the back to prevent you from needing to thumb through with every action, but my favourite part here is the game board.

Not only is it much sturdier than the paper ones included in the first set's Starter Decks, but it also encompasses an entire board, not just your half. That, combined with a quick guide to the steps of each turn printed on each side, made it really easy to pick up Lorcana's basics with a card game novice.

You're encouraged to play a few turns to get to grips with the mechanics of placing cards in your inkwell to summon characters and play Actions, but things get more interesting the more you play - we'll come to that shortly.

After a couple of years of Magic The Gathering's impetus on attacking, blocking, and keeping cards in reserve to cover one's rear end, I was pleasantly surprised by just how simply Lorcana feels in comparison.

You send cards to quest for lore, and the first to 20 lore wins. Cards can be challenged if they've quested, so it becomes a sort of tug-of-war balancing act between sending your heavy hitters to get more lore or holding something back to counter an opponent.

Go the Distance

I played a full match with my partner just using the smaller, 30-card decks, but things then started to open up. That's because there are four reward packs to open when you hit a certain objective, like questing with a certain number of characters on a single turn, for example.

These packs offer seven additional cards to build out your deck, ranging from star characters like Pluto and Ariel, to more surprising additions like Chief Tui, and entire new mechanics like Song cards.

It gives the whole starter set more of a campaign-based feel, and while there's something to be said for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Starter sets more scripted nature, or the Star Wars Unlimited Starter Set's "have at it" mentality, Gateway feels like it strikes a really nice balance that does a great job of giving you just enough to let new strategies percolate without throwing too much at once.

That's a little to its detriment, with Location cards being active at the time of Gateway's release but not featured inside, but I hope it'll continue to grow over time. I'm also really curious to see if Ravensburger could ever offer a digital tool to help players get involved, like Magic's Arena client, which offers a whole suite of tutorials.

For now, though, Gateway is just that - and there's a lot more to explore.

Can't Let It Go

It's also worth mentioning that Gateway arrives at an interesting time for Disney Lorcana. Dropping a starter kit alongside your fifth set is a bold choice, but it stands toe-to-toe with any other starter sets I've seen - and hey, at least there's not the 30-odd years of catchup something like Magic The Gathering can offer depending on how you play.

As part of this review process, Ravensburger sent over some additional cards from the current Shimmering Skies expansion, and even months after I first picked up my starter decks, I'm still consistently impressed at the artwork on display.

Whether it's appearances from Wreck-It Ralph characters that cause my son to cheer or new takes on old favourites from Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella, it feels like Disney and Ravensburger have really struck gold when it comes to the scattershot approach of its card sets.

Rather than, say, a Pixar set or a Tangled set, I love how many of these characters keep taking me by surprise, and I'm itching to get to grips with Baymax next season. For someone still learning the lore of Magic and who is a fair few generations behind on their Pokemon knowledge, I love cracking packs for Lorcana because it feels like there's a cultural touchstone in almost every one.

That naturally makes it a more family-friendly entry in the card game space, and with a comprehensive starter set like Gateway, I really hope it keeps that focus.

The Verdict

Disney Lorcana's Gateway set is an absolutely fantastic starter set in an increasingly crowded market, offering everything you need while pacing its process with clever reward packs that lean into the inherent joy of the IP it's based on.

It's an absolute steal for around £25, and I can't recommend it enough.

5/5

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