Many years of trying to convince my friends to play trading card games with me has taught me that the biggest barrier to entry isn’t cost, or the commitment, or even having an interest in TCGs – it’s simply getting through the first game. If you can get someone to play just one game with you, it’s much easier to get them to play a second, and then a third, and then come to a league night with you, and before you know it they’re sending your ideas for deck builds in the middle of a work day and trying to convince you to drive two states over for a regional tournament.
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But for so many reasons, getting someone to sit down and play that first game with you is the hardest thing. Some people have game anxiety. They’re afraid they won’t be able to understand the rules and they’ll feel stupid and overwhelmed. Others have preconceived notions about card games and the people who play them. A lot of times, it just comes down to the time commitment it takes to learn a new game.
Learning Lorcana Is Easier Than Ever
One of the best things about Disney Lorcana is how easy it is to teach, and how attractive it is to people who don’t usually play card games. The Disney theme alone brings a lot of people in, and its lower level of confrontation and simple rules makes it less stressful to learn. I’ve had a lot of success teaching people how to play Lorcana, but sometimes it’s still a challenge. A big deck of cards is always going to intimidate some people. Luckily, there’s a better way.
Brand Manager and Co-Designer Ryan Miller developed an alternative format for Lorcana called Pack Rush because he wanted to be able to play a lot of games quickly with fans he meets at conventions and tournaments. It turns out Pack Rush is also a phenomenal way to teach Lorcana to people. With just four sealed packs you have practically everything you need to play a quick game of Lorcana, and by the end you’ll know all of the essential rules to the game.
Pack Rush is a type of sealed game mode, meaning you build a deck using sealed packs of cards. All you have to do to build your deck is open two packs, remove the extra marketing cards, and shuffle them together. That’s it. You’ve got your first Lorcana deck.
Those two marketing cards become your first two ink, which is Lorcana’s resource. Normally you don’t start with any, but to accelerate Pack Rush, you’ll start with two. Next, choose someone to go first, draw five cards, and start playing.
In a normal game you’ll draw seven. You can still alter as many of your five cards as you want in Pack Rush, just as you would in a normal game.
Shorter Games, Easier To Play
Pack Rush is played to 15, rather than the normal 20, and since both players start with two ink, the games are quick. It’s not going to be nearly as strategically engaging as a regular game of Lorcana, but that’s not the point of Pack Rush. It’s about playing a quick, fun game of Lorcana with someone else, and maybe even getting them excited to learn more about the game.
The beauty of Pack Rush is that both players are discovering the cards in their deck at the same time, so no matter what each player’s skill level is, neither one has a significant advantage over the other, or ever has to feel like they’re making the other wait while they learn what their cards do. It’s really hard to screw up a game of Pack Rush. As long as you’re adding cards to your Inkwell and playing cards you can afford from your hand, you’re almost certainly doing a good job.
Aside from two packs each, the only other thing you need is a way to keep score (the Lorcana app is great for this) and some kind of damage counter. Coins, bits of paper, or even lint from your pocket will work in a pinch. If you have a flat surface and four fresh packs, you can play Pack Rush.
If you teach someone to play Lorcana this way, do what Ryan Miller does and tell them at the start, “If you win you get my cards, and if I win, you get my cards.” Not only do they get to learn a new game in a fun way, but they get to walk away with some cards of their own – cards that have some meaning to them, because they’re the cards they used in the first game they ever played.
I’ve been playing Lorcana from the beginning, and I still never miss an opportunity to play Pack Rush. I’ve used it to teach a lot of people how to play, and at least a few of those people have become die-hard fans of the game. It’s a great example of the game’s flexibility, and the best way to learn.
Disney Lorcana
Lorcana is a trading card game developed by Disney and published by Ravensburger, featuring iconic characters, settings, and more from the studio’s long history. As an Illumineer, you must build your deck and help protect Lorcana.