Lorcana Bans Its First Two Cards To Balance The Meta

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home April 8, 2025 27 Views 4 Min Read
Lorcana Bans Its First Two Cards To Balance The Meta



Summary

  • Disney Lorcana has issued its first ever card bans to address powerful Sapphire decks dominating the competitive scene.
  • The banned cards are Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker and Fortisphere, deemed to create unenjoyable and predictable gameplay outcomes.
  • The development team aims to maintain game balance, apologizes for any disruption, and plans to monitor the impact of the bans going forward..

Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon TCG, and pretty much every other massive, long-running tabletop game out there has inevitably had to ban a handful of cards to ensure that the competitive nature of the game is fair. You can’t predict how players will use the cards that are put out there, and bans are a part of the process of making competitive matches exciting.

Ever since launch, Disney Lorcana has managed to avoid banning any cards, but that has now changed thanks to Sapphire decks dominating the competitive scene ever since the release of Archazia’s Island last month. Sapphire decks are known to have some extremely powerful cards in them, especially when combining with either Steel or Ruby, and these bans are designed to address that meta.

Disney Lorcana Has Announced Its First Ever Bans

Hiram Flaversham is a menace no longer

Fortisphere Disney Lorcana Card Art.

The cards have the honor of being the first two bans in Disney Lorcana are Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker and Fortisphere, which are part of Sapphire and Steel respectively. In a letter to the community, Lorcana head of game design and development Steve Warner explains some of the reasoning for the bans, as the team believed that the “inability for opposing players to interact with Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker felt less enjoyable than we want.”

Tamatoa from Moana

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It’s going to be a long set for Sapphire haters.

Warner goes on to explain that Fortisphere was banned as the team believed the item placed “too much emphasis on players using items in Steel”, and that playing both of these cards together led to “predictable, one-sided outcomes”. He also claims that the Lorcana team was throwing around the idea of banning Pawpsicle, but felt like the card could still play a role in item-based decks in Sapphire.

Finally, Warner ends the letter by apologizing for potentially disrupting existing decks with the bans, and that players will be supported and the game’s balance will continue to be monitored. These bans will undoubtedly shake things up a lot more, potentially shifting the meta somewhat radically, so we’ll have to see what the competitive scene looks like in a week or two after players have adjusted. It’s a win for Sapphire haters today though.

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