Lorcana keywords and rules explained: Shift, ink drops, Bodyguard, Ward, Vanish and more

Disney Lorcana keywords are short bold words that stand for a fixed rule: Shift lets you play a character on top of one with the same name for its Shift cost, Bodyguard pulls challenges onto itself, Ward stops opponents choosing that card with effects, and ink drops, new with Hyperia City, are one-use counters that each pay 1 ink. This guide explains every keyword in the current rules, then the game rules people get wrong most often (inkwell, drying, locations, the bag, the opening hand, an empty deck) and the formats: Core, Infinity, Sealed, Draft and Pack Rush. Everything was checked on 21 October 2026 against Comprehensive Rules version 2.3.0, effective 16 October 2026, and the Tournament Rules effective 14 July 2026. Rule numbers are given in brackets; "TR" marks the Tournament Rules.

Four general rules frame all the others. The English cards, rules and rulings are the official versions for play, whatever language your copy is printed in (1.1.4). The italic text in parentheses after a keyword is a memory aid, not rules text (1.1.7, 8.1.1). When a card contradicts a rule, the card wins (1.2.1), and when one effect says something can't happen while another allows it, "can't" wins (1.2.2). Keywords followed by +N, such as Resist +1 and Resist +2, add up to Resist +3. Keywords without a number don't add up, and since version 2.3.0 a character that gets the same non-stacking keyword twice keeps the instance with the longer duration (8.1.2). If you collect rather than play, the Disney Lorcana collector guide for 2026 covers sets, rarities and wanted cards.

Every Lorcana keyword at a glance

If you only need to check one keyword in the middle of a game, look it up in the keyword glossary: it gives the rule in one line, alongside eight other games, and links to its section of this guide.

Shift in Lorcana: how it works

Shift is an alternate cost: if you have a character in play with the same name, you may pay the Shift cost instead of the ink cost and put the new card on top of that character (8.10.1, 1.5.5.2). The shifted character takes over the exerted or ready state, the dry or drying state and all the damage of the card underneath. That last part is why Shift matters: if the character below has been in play since the start of your turn, the new one can quest or challenge straight away.

Only the name has to match, not the version. The official quick-start rules use Robin Hood – Sneaky Sleuth as the example: it can be shifted onto any Robin Hood. The name line is all that counts, and the version after the dash is ignored for matching (5.2.6).

What carries over to the shifted character

• Ready or exerted: put on an exerted card, it enters exerted (8.10.2). If its own text makes it enter exerted, it does so even when the card below is ready (8.10.3).
• Dry or drying: on a dry character it enters dry; on a character played this turn it enters drying (8.10.4).
• Damage: all damage counters stay (8.10.6). If they already equal or exceed the new card's Willpower, the next game state check banishes it (1.8.1.4).
• Effects: effects already applying to the character below keep applying (8.10.5).
• Text: the new card does not gain the abilities printed on the card below (5.1.1.6, 8.10.5).
• Singing: it can exert to sing a song if the card below was dry when it entered (8.10.5).

Shifting still counts as playing the character, so its "When you play this character" abilities trigger (4.3.3.1, 4.3.4.1). Cards in the stack underneath aren't in play and can't be chosen by anyone (5.1.1.5). When the top card leaves play, the whole stack goes to the same zone (8.10.7): a banished shifted character sends every card in the stack to the discard, and one returned to hand takes every card with it.

Shift variants

A card that combines two variants in one ability, such as Sun Yee – Red Panda Spirit's Temporary Red Panda Shift, has to meet both conditions (8.10.9). On two cards, the shifted character is drying if either is drying and exerted if either is exerted (8.10.4.2). A Shift cost doesn't have to be ink. Baymax – Amped Up has "Shift Remove 2 ink drops", and the Hyperia City release notes confirm that removing those drops is not paying ink.

Worked example from the rules

Tinker Bell – Tiny Tactician has been in play since your last turn: ready, undamaged and dry. You pay the Shift cost of Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy and put her on top. Giant Fairy enters ready, undamaged and dry, so she can quest or challenge this turn. Tiny Tactician becomes "under" and is no longer in play (5.1.3, example B). Had you played Tiny Tactician earlier in the same turn, Giant Fairy would enter drying and couldn't quest until your next turn.

Common Shift mistakes

• Using Shift when an effect lets you play the character "for free". A free play ignores all costs and you can't pick another alternate cost, Shift included (6.1.7). The rules' example is Donald Duck – Pie Slinger played from the discard through Pride Lands – Jungle Oasis.
• Thinking the new card keeps the old card's abilities.
• Shifting onto a character played this turn and expecting to quest with it.
• Forgetting that the cards underneath leave together with the top card.

Lorcana ink drops: what they are and how to spend them

Ink drops are real: they are a counter added for Hyperia City, which had its prerelease on 16 October 2026 and its general release on 23 October 2026. A drop sits in your inkwell, and you can remove it to pay 1 ink toward any ink cost. Once removed, it's gone (1.13.1.2, 1.13.2). When people search "ink drops Lorcana" they almost always mean this: extra ink you can use once, on top of the cards in your inkwell. It is not a keyword, and inking a card from your hand never creates one.

How you get them

Only effects create ink drops. The release notes and Ravensburger's preview of 29 September 2026 give examples:

• Higitus Figitus, a 6-cost Amethyst song: "Get 3 ink drops." Sung by a character with cost 6 or more, it costs no ink at all and leaves you 3 drops.
• Tadashi Hamada – Making Waves creates 2 drops when it is banished.
• Mickey Mouse – Best in Town gives each player 1 ink drop at the end of your turn if Mickey is exerted.
• Port Authority – Center Hub, a location: once during your turn, when a character moves there, each player gets 1 ink drop and gains 1 lore.

How you spend them

Whenever you pay ink, you may exert ready ink cards, remove ink drops or mix the two (4.3.2.4). The same applies to activated abilities (4.4.3.4) and to the move cost of locations (4.7.3.4). The release notes add that there is no limit to how many drops you can have or remove in one payment, and Ravensburger's preview says a drop can be spent the same turn you get it.

• Drops are not cards (1.13.2), and the rules add that they don't count as ink (1.13.1.2). They are a way to pay, not cards in your inkwell, so they don't add to the size of your inkwell.
• Any object can stand in for them, such as a die or the printed counters found in Hyperia City boosters, but never a standard Lorcana card, and not the same kind of object you use for damage (1.13.3).
• The rules give them no expiry. Nothing in the Comprehensive Rules removes unused drops at the end of a turn, so they stay in your inkwell until you remove them or the game ends (2.4.1.2).
• Several cards reward paying with a drop. Intense Research looks at 5 cards instead of 2 if you removed a drop to play it, and The Jousting Match deals 5 damage instead of 2. According to Ravensburger's notes, Madam Mim – Resourceful Trickster's "Bauble Game" doesn't trigger from the drops used to play her, because she wasn't in play yet.

Worked example

You have 4 ready ink cards and 3 ink drops. You can play a 7-cost character by exerting all four cards and removing all three drops. Next turn you'll have your four ink cards (five if you ink a card) and no drops. Or you can pay a 3-cost action with the three drops alone and still have all four ink cards for something else that turn.

The diagram shows that same payment: each ink card is exerted and readies again on your next turn, while each removed drop is simply gone.

Common ink drop mistakes

• Exerting a drop and expecting it to ready next turn. A drop is removed, never exerted.
• Counting drops toward an effect that counts the cards in your inkwell.
• Using a spare Lorcana card as a drop marker.

Inkwell and inkable cards

A card is inkable when the swirl-shaped inkwell symbol surrounds its cost. Once per turn you may reveal one such card from your hand and put it into your inkwell facedown and ready, where it is worth 1 ink whatever is printed on its front (5.2.3, 4.2, 7.5.1). Cards without the symbol, such as the 7-cost item Lucky Dime, can only be played.

• Once per turn. Inking from hand is the only turn action limited to once per turn (4.1.1, 4.2.3).
• "Additional" cards. Belle – Strange But Special lets you put an additional card into your inkwell during your turn, which raises the limit to two while she's in play. Two Belles allow three. Returning Belle to your hand and replaying her the same turn doesn't give another one (4.2.3.1).
• Effects that put a card straight into the inkwell, such as Fishbone Quill's "Go Ahead and Sign", don't count toward the limit. The card isn't revealed and doesn't need the inkwell symbol (4.2.3.2, 7.5.6).
• Nobody can look at inkwell cards, not even their owner, but anyone can count them (7.5.4). The ink type and cost on an inked card stop mattering.
• Your ink readies in the Ready step at the start of your turn (3.2.1.1).

Tournaments add one procedure. The card you ink stays faceup for the rest of that turn and is turned facedown when the turn ends. Ready ink cards must all point the same way, and so must exerted ones (TR 5.5).

Example: it's turn 3 and your hand holds two inkable cards and one uninkable 4-cost card you want to play next turn. Ink one of the inkable cards now. Keeping the other gives you a card to ink next turn, so you reach the 4 ink you need.

Bodyguard rules

Bodyguard has two parts: the character may enter play exerted instead of ready, and when an opponent chooses one of your characters to challenge, they must choose this one, or another character with Bodyguard, if able (8.3.2, 8.3.3).

The first part exists because of the second. Only exerted characters can be challenged (4.6.4.2), so a ready Bodyguard can't be chosen. The opponent is then not "able" to challenge it and may challenge any other exerted character. Entering exerted means the Bodyguard protects your other exerted characters from the moment it lands. It readies at the start of your next turn like everything else. If it quests, it is exerted again and protecting again.

• Bodyguard only changes who can be challenged. It does nothing against actions or abilities that choose another of your characters.
• The rule talks about choosing one of your characters to challenge. It says nothing about locations, so an opponent can still challenge one of your locations instead (4.6.8). This is our reading of 8.3.3.
• With two exerted Bodyguards, the opponent picks which one to challenge.
• If the Bodyguard also has Evasive and the challenger doesn't, the challenger can't choose it, so it isn't "able" to. We read this as leaving the opponent free to challenge your other exerted characters. The rules don't give this case as an example.

Example with hypothetical numbers: you have an exerted Bodyguard with 4 Willpower and an exerted character with 2 Willpower that quested this turn. Your opponent's 3-Strength character wants the easy banish. It has to challenge the Bodyguard, which survives with 3 damage. Had your Bodyguard stayed ready, the opponent could have challenged the 2-Willpower character.

Here is that challenge resolved with the two steps from the rules: the Bodyguard limit applies at declaration, before anyone deals damage.

Boost in Lorcana

Boost N means: once during your turn, you may pay N ink to put the top card of your deck facedown under this card (8.4.1). You can do it whenever you could use an activated ability, and nobody may look at the facedown card, not even you (8.4.2).

• When: in your Main Phase, when no other turn action or effect is resolving (8.4.1, 4.4, 6.3.2).
• The turn it's played: Boost has no exert symbol, so a character can use it on the turn it enters play. Activated abilities without exert on a character can be used immediately (6.3.1.1).
• Once per turn per card: each Boost card tracks its own use (6.1.13.2).
• The card under it isn't in play, doesn't count as played (8.4.3) and can't be chosen (5.1.1.5). If the boosted card leaves play, the cards under it go to the same zone (5.1.1.7).
• Paying: the cost is ink, so ink drops can pay for it (1.13.1.2).

Boost does nothing by itself apart from moving a card. The payoff is printed on the Boost card or on other cards that care about cards under a character, so read those cards to see what you gain from boosting.

Vanish: when the character is banished

Vanish means that when an opponent chooses this character as part of resolving an action's effect, it's banished. The banish happens after the action has finished resolving (8.14.1, 8.14.2).

• Only actions. Songs are actions, so they count. Abilities of characters, items and locations don't trigger Vanish, and neither does being challenged, because a challenge is a turn action, not an action card.
• Only opponents. Your own action choosing your Vanish character does nothing extra.
• Only "chosen". An action that hits "all opposing characters" without choosing doesn't trigger it.
• Zone change. If the action moved the character elsewhere, for instance to the bottom of a deck, Vanish resolves with no effect (8.14.2).
• Ward. A character with Ward can't be chosen by opponents at all, so Vanish never triggers while it has Ward. Dodge!, for example, gives Ward and Evasive until the start of your next turn.

Worked example: your opponent plays Let the Storm Rage On ("Deal 2 damage to chosen character. Draw a card.") and chooses your Vanish character, which has 4 Willpower. The action resolves completely first: 2 damage, then your opponent draws. Then Vanish triggers from the bag and your character is banished, even though 2 damage wouldn't have done it.

Ward vs Resist

Ward stops your opponents from choosing the card when they resolve an effect (8.15.1). Resist +N reduces each instance of damage dealt to it by N (8.8.1). Ward doesn't stop challenges or effects that don't choose. Resist doesn't stop anything from choosing the card, but it shrinks the damage, challenge damage included.

The rules show both keywords in action. Noi – Orphaned Thief gains Resist +1 and Ward while you have an item in play. Its reminder text reads "Opponents can't choose this character except to challenge" (6.1.13.5). If an opponent chooses a Ward character for Let the Storm Rage On by mistake, that choice is illegal and is undone. They choose again, but the action is not taken back (1.7.7, example B). Namaari – Resolute Daughter has Resist +3, so Smash's 3 damage is reduced to 0 and no counters go on her (1.9.4, example B). The action still counts as dealing damage, so Merida – Formidable Archer's "Whenever one of your actions deals damage to an opposing character" still triggers (1.9.5). Resist also exists on locations (8.8.1).

Evasive and Alert: who can challenge

A character with Evasive can only be challenged by a character that also has Evasive (8.6.1). Evasive doesn't limit what the Evasive character itself can challenge. A character with Alert ignores that limit without gaining Evasive (8.2).

• Some characters have Evasive only at certain times. Triton – Young Prince gains Evasive during your turn only, so on your opponent's turn he can be challenged like anyone else (6.1.13.1).
• Evasive is checked as a challenging limiter when the challenge is declared (4.6.4.3). An exerted Evasive character with no Evasive or Alert opponents is safe from challenges, but effects can still choose it unless it also has Ward.
• Alert doesn't protect a character: since Alert doesn't give Evasive (8.2.2), anyone can challenge it.

Challenger vs Reckless

Challenger +N gives +N Strength only while the character is challenging, never while it is being challenged (8.5). Reckless means the character can't quest, and you can't end your turn while it is ready and able to challenge an opposing character or location (8.7).

Challenger stacks (8.5.1). The rules' example is Tinker Bell – Peter Pan's Ally giving your characters named Peter Pan Challenger +1, any version (5.2.6). According to the official quick-start rules, Challenger also applies when you challenge a location.

Reckless doesn't force a challenge that's impossible. A drying Reckless character can't challenge, so it doesn't block the end of your turn. Neither does one facing only ready characters, or only Evasive ones when it lacks Evasive. Locations are always open to challenges (4.6.8.2). If your opponent has a location in play, a dry, ready Reckless character must challenge before you can end the turn. You can still exert a Reckless character to sing a song or pay for an ability (8.7.4), and once it's exerted the restriction no longer applies. Some effects hand Reckless to an opposing character, such as Flippant Taunt "until the start of your next turn".

Adventurous: the new keyword in Hyperia City

Adventurous, added in Comprehensive Rules 2.3.0, is Reckless turned around: the character can't challenge, and you can't end your turn while it is ready and able to quest (8.16). As with Reckless, you can still exert it to sing a song or use an ability (8.16.4).

The first card with it is Mickey Mouse – Best in Town, a 1-cost Amber character. Ravensburger also gave the keyword to five older cards whose text said the same thing in longer words: Cobra Bubbles – Dedicated Official, This Growing Pressure, Ariel – Curious Traveler, Woody – Town Sheriff and Gaston – Frightful Bully. A drying Adventurous character can't quest, so it doesn't force anything on the turn it's played.

Support: adding Strength when questing

Support is a triggered ability: whenever this character quests, you may add its Strength to another chosen character's Strength for the rest of the turn (8.13.1). It's optional, it can't target itself, and it goes into the bag, so it resolves after the quest has finished (4.5.2).

The usual play is to quest with the Support character first and then challenge with the character that got the bonus. The bonus ends in the End-of-Turn Phase (3.4.1.2). Support doesn't change the lore you gain from questing. A character that already has Support and gets it again from an effect still has one Support (8.1.2). Each Support trigger resolves separately, though, so two different Support characters questing can boost the same target twice. The rules' example has two Heihei – Boat Snack questing to add Strength to Flounder – Voice of Reason (6.5.8).

Singing songs in Lorcana: Singer and Sing Together

Every song can be played by exerting one of your dry characters whose ink cost is equal to or greater than the song's cost, instead of paying ink. That is called singing (5.4.4.2). Singer N lets a character sing as if it cost N (8.11), and Sing Together N lets several characters add up their costs to reach N (8.12).

• Singing is playing the song. It's an alternate cost (1.5.5.1), so the song is played and resolves like any action, then goes to the discard.
• The singer must be able to exert. A drying character can't (5.1.1.11). A shifted character can if the card below was dry (8.10.5). Reckless and Adventurous characters can sing (8.7.4, 8.16.4).
• Singer counts only for singing. The character's real ink cost doesn't change (8.11.2, 4.3.5). Effects that add cost for singing combine with Singer. Ursula – Vanessa has Singer 4, and at Atlantica – Concert Hall (+2 to sing there) she counts as cost 6 (8.11.3).
• Sing Together adds the ink costs of one or more of your ready characters, and teammates' characters in team games. Every singer's "Whenever this character sings a song" ability triggers (8.12.2, 8.12.3).
• A character that already has Singer and gets it again, for example from Ancestral Guitar, keeps one Singer. The "+2 cost to sing" part still applies, according to the Hyperia City release notes.

Example: you hold a 5-cost song with Sing Together 5. Your dry characters cost 3 and 2. Neither can sing it alone, but exerting both reaches 5, so the song costs you no ink. A 5-cost song without Sing Together would need a single character of cost 5 or more, or one with Singer 5 or higher.

Rush

Rush lets a character challenge as though it had been in play since the start of your turn (8.9.1). It covers challenging and nothing else. A Rush character played this turn still can't quest, sing or pay an exert cost until your next turn.

Turn structure: Ready, Set, Draw

A Lorcana turn has three phases: the Start-of-Turn Phase, with its Ready, Set and Draw steps, then the Main Phase and the End-of-Turn Phase (3.1).

1. Ready: you ready all your cards in play and in your inkwell. "During your turn" effects start, "until the start of your next turn" effects end, and start-of-turn triggers go into the bag (3.2.1).
2. Set: your characters stop drying, you gain lore from your locations, and triggers from Ready and Set resolve (3.2.2).
3. Draw: you draw one card. The starting player skips this step on the first turn of the game (3.2.3).
4. Main Phase: you take turn actions in any order: ink a card (once), play cards, use activated abilities, quest, challenge and move characters to locations (4.1.3).
5. End of turn: "at the end of your turn" triggers resolve, "this turn" effects end, and a final game state check is made (3.4).

All three phases in one diagram, with the steps of the first and the six turn actions of the Main Phase:

You can't declare the end of your turn in the middle of a turn action or while abilities are waiting in the bag (3.3.2.1). The game checks its winning and losing conditions at the end of every Start-of-Turn step (1.8.1). If location lore in the Set step takes you to 20, you win before you draw.

Drying: what a new character can do

A character played this turn is "drying": it can't quest, challenge, or exert to pay a cost, which rules out singing too, until it has been in play since the start of your turn (1.7.5, 5.1.1.11). It can use activated abilities without the exert symbol, its "When you play this character" abilities trigger, and it can be moved to a location. The official quick-start rules sum it up as waiting for the ink to dry.

Sources: 4.4.2, 5.5.4, 5.6.4, 6.3.1 and the quick-start rules for moving. A character shifted onto a dry character is dry at once (8.10.4). Characters enter play ready (5.1.2.1), so a new character can't be challenged on your opponent's next turn unless something exerted it, such as a Bodyguard choosing to enter exerted.

Quest vs challenge

Questing exerts a dry character to gain lore equal to its Lore value (4.5). Challenging exerts a dry character to deal damage equal to its Strength to an exerted opposing character, which deals its own Strength back at the same time, or to an opposing location, which deals nothing back (4.6). Both need a ready character, so each character does one or the other each turn unless an effect readies it.

A challenge has two steps. In the declaration step you pick your character and an exerted opposing character (or a location), check limiters such as Evasive and Bodyguard, pay any costs and exert your character. Triggers like "whenever this character challenges" then resolve. In the damage step both characters deal damage simultaneously, and a game state check banishes whatever has damage equal to its Willpower (4.6.4–4.6.6). A character with negative Strength deals 0 (4.6.6.1).

The trade-off is simple: questing scores lore but leaves your character exerted, and exerted characters are the only ones your opponent can challenge on their turn. Challenging removes threats or attacks a location, at the price of the lore that character could have gained. The rules' basic example (4.6.9, example A) shows it: a ready Stitch – New Dog challenges an exerted Milo Thatch – Clever Cartographer, each deals its Strength to the other, and a game state check ends the challenge.

Damage, removing damage and banishing

Damage counters stay on a character or location until something removes them, and the card is banished as soon as a game state check finds damage equal to or greater than its Willpower (1.8.1.4, 5.3.6.3). What players call "healing" appears on cards as "remove damage". "Banished" means put from play into its owner's discard (glossary).

• Four ways damage changes: it can be dealt (challenge or effect), put, moved or removed (1.9.2). Only dealt damage is affected by modifiers such as Resist (1.9.4, 8.8.3).
• Timing: the check happens after every turn action, after effects resolve, after each challenge step and at the end of the turn (1.8.1). The rules' example is Luisa Madrigal – Confident Climber: she has 4 damage partway through her ability, but by the check it has all been moved off, so she survives (1.8.5).
• Willpower from locations: Pride Lands – Pride Rock gives +2 Willpower while a character is there. If the location is banished, a character with 2 damage and 2 printed Willpower is banished at the next check (1.8.3, example B).
• Leaving play: all damage disappears and the card becomes a new card (1.9.6, 7.1.6).
• Who banished it: damage from a character in a challenge, or from a character's ability, counts as that character banishing the victim. That matters for "whenever this character banishes" triggers (1.8.1.4).

Lorcana locations: moving characters and challenging them

During your turn you can move one of your characters to one of your locations by paying that location's move cost. The character can be ready or exerted, and either card can have been played that turn (4.7, quick-start rules). Opponents can challenge your locations at any point in their Main Phase, and locations never deal damage back (4.6.8).

Moving

• You can only move your own characters, and only to your own locations (4.7.1).
• Moving doesn't exert the character (4.7.3), so a character can move and then quest or challenge if it's dry.
• To leave a location, a character has to move to another one, paying that location's move cost. Moving to the location it's already at doesn't happen (4.7.2). There is no limit on how many characters a location can hold.
• The move cost can be paid with ink cards, ink drops or both (4.7.3.4).
• "While here" abilities, such as Pride Lands – Pride Rock's +2 Willpower, stop applying as soon as the character leaves or the location goes (6.1.13.5). If the location leaves play, its characters stay in play and are simply no longer at a location (5.6.6).

Challenging and damaging locations

• Locations are never ready or exerted, so they can be challenged at any time during the opponent's Main Phase (4.6.8.2, 5.1.2.3). They have no Strength and deal no damage (4.6.8.3).
• Challenger applies against locations, and Bodyguard doesn't protect them.
• Effects can damage or choose a location only if their text says it can be chosen (quick-start rules).
• A location's activated abilities can be used the turn it's played (5.6.4).

How locations gain lore

A location with a Lore value gives you that much lore at the start of each of your turns, in the Set step, as long as it's still in play. It's automatic, doesn't use the bag and isn't questing (3.2.2.2, 5.6.5.4).

• A location you play this turn gives its first lore at the start of your next turn, and only if it survives your opponent's turn. That's why locations attract challenges.
• Location lore doesn't trigger "whenever this character quests" abilities.
• A location with a negative Lore value counts as 0 (6.6.3).
• The game checks for a winner at the end of the Set step (1.8.1). If you start your turn at 18 with a 2-Lore location, you reach 20 and win before your Draw step.

Items: playing, exerting and using them

Items enter play ready and, unlike characters, can be exerted and use their abilities on the turn you play them (5.5.4, 4.4.2). They have no Strength or Willpower, can't be damaged or challenged, and leave play only when an effect banishes or removes them (5.1.2.2).

• Activated abilities are written as [Cost] -- [Effect]. Once an item is exerted, it stays exerted until your next Ready step unless an effect readies it.
• The quick-start example is The Black Cauldron's "The Cauldron Calls": exert it and pay 1 ink to put a character card from your discard under it faceup. You can do this the same turn you play the item.
• An item's cost can include banishing itself. Fang Crossbow's "Stay Back!" reads "exert, Banish this item -- Banish chosen Dragon character". If Tinker Bell – Very Clever Fairy then triggers from the item being banished, her ability waits until Stay Back! has resolved (6.3.3).
• Static abilities on items work for as long as the item is in play. Weight Set and Map of Treasure Planet are the rules' examples (6.4.2.3, 6.1.10).
• Up to 4 copies of an item with the same full name per Constructed deck (glossary).

The bag: resolving triggered abilities

Triggered abilities, the ones starting with "When", "Whenever", "At the start of" or "At the end of", don't resolve on the spot. They wait in the bag until the current action or effect has finished. Then the active player resolves all of theirs in any order they choose, and each other player follows in turn order (7.7).

• Only triggered abilities go into the bag. Playing a card, an action's effect and activated abilities don't (7.7.2, 5.4.1.2).
• A game state check happens after each ability resolves (7.7.4.3).
• If a new trigger of yours appears while you're resolving, you can pick it next. An opponent's new trigger waits for their turn to resolve (7.7.5, 7.7.6).
• "If" conditions after the trigger are checked only on resolution. Stitch – Carefree Surfer draws 2 only if you have 2 or more other characters when the ability resolves (6.2.4).
• You can't end your turn with anything still in the bag (3.3.2.1).

Example from the rules (7.7, example B): you quest and three abilities trigger, two of yours and one of your opponent's. You resolve both of yours, and one of them adds a new trigger of yours, which you also resolve. Then the bag passes to your opponent. If their ability creates another trigger for you, the bag comes back to you once they're done.

Opening hand size and mulligan rules

Each player starts with a 7-card opening hand (5 in Pack Rush). Once per game, starting with the first player, you may put any number of those cards on the bottom of your deck without revealing them, draw back up to 7 and shuffle (2.2.1.4, 2.2.2). Lorcana calls this "altering" your hand, and there is no penalty: you always go back to 7.

1. The starting player chooses cards, puts them on the bottom and draws back to 7.
2. Each other player, in turn order, decides whether to do the same.
3. Everyone who changed at least one card shuffles, and an opponent may cut or shuffle that deck (2.2.2.3).

The first player decides without knowing what the opponent will do, and nobody can alter twice. The starting player also skips the draw on their first turn (3.2.3.1). The official quick-start rules suggest altering when you have few inkable cards or too many expensive ones. In tournaments, whether to play or draw first is chosen before anyone sees their hand, and from the second game on the loser of the previous game chooses (TR 3.3, 2.1.3.2).

To get a feel for what altering your hand is worth: with 4 copies of a card in a 60-card deck, it is in your 7-card opening hand 39.9% of the time. If you put all 7 on the bottom whenever it isn't, the new 7 come from the other 53 cards, and the chance of ending up with at least one copy rises to 66.5%. Both numbers come from the hypergeometric distribution: 1 − C(56, 7) / C(60, 7) and 1 − C(56, 14) / C(60, 14). For other counts, use the opening hand calculator with Lorcana and 7 cards drawn afterwards.

Empty deck: when you lose

You lose if your turn ends with no cards in your deck (1.8.1.2, 2.3.3.2). Running out during the turn, or being told to draw from an empty deck, doesn't lose the game by itself.

Some learning material still says otherwise. The official quick-start rules, in both the English edition and the 2024 Spanish one, say you lose the next time you would have to draw from an empty deck. The Comprehensive Rules are the technical document, and in version 2.3.0 the check happens when your turn ends.

• If an effect tells you to draw from an empty deck, you do as much as you can, which means drawing nothing (1.2.3).
• You can still win that turn. Reaching 20 lore triggers a win at the next game state check, before your turn ends (1.8.1.1).
• If something puts cards back into your deck before the end of your turn, you don't lose.
• An opponent whose deck runs out during your turn only loses if their own turn ends with it still empty.
• Pack Rush is different: you shuffle your discard into a new deck (10.2.5).

Lorcana with three or more players

Multiplayer Lorcana uses the normal rules with a few additions: turns pass to the left, simultaneous actions start with the active player and go left, and a player who loses leaves the game at once (9). Each player has their own lore total, and you win at 20 lore or by being the last player left (1.8.1.3).

• Turn order goes clockwise from the starting player (2.1.3, 9.2.1).
• "Opponent" means every other player except teammates (1.3.5.2). "Each opponent" effects hit all of them.
• When an effect makes several players act, the active player goes first and then the others in turn order, one part of the effect at a time (6.7.6, 6.7.6.1).
• A player who loses takes all their cards and their pending triggers with them. Static effects they created with a stated duration still run to the end (9.2.3). The Hyperia City release notes confirm this for Flippant Taunt: the Reckless it gave stays even after its player leaves.
• Team games with simultaneous turns exist (9.3), but the rules leave the rest of team play out of the document (9.1).

Lore: how you win, with and without questing

The first player with 20 or more lore wins, at the next game state check (1.8.1.1). Lore comes from questing, from locations at the start of your turn and from card effects, and it can never drop below 0 (1.11).

• A character with a Lore value of 0, or a negative one, gains you nothing when it quests (4.5.3.1, 6.6.3).
• Some effects make opponents lose lore. Steal from the Rich makes each opponent lose 1 lore whenever one of your characters quests that turn (6.2.7.1).
• Some items give lore without questing. Lucky Dime is a 7-cost Sapphire item from Into the Inklands that can't be inked. According to the official card database, its ability "Number One" costs 2 ink and gains you lore equal to the Lore value of a character of yours. Into the Inklands is set 3, so Lucky Dime is legal in Infinity but not in Core.
• Pack Rush is played to 15 lore (10.2.4).

Deck building: 60 cards, two inks, four copies

A Constructed deck needs at least 60 cards, cards from no more than two ink types, no more than 4 copies of any card by its full name, and no banned cards (1.10.1.1, TR 1.3.1.1). There is no maximum, but you must be able to shuffle the deck in a reasonable time without help.

• The six inks are Amber, Amethyst, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire and Steel (5.2.5). A dual-ink card counts as both, so an Emerald–Ruby deck can't include an Emerald–Steel card (TR 1.3.1.1).
• Full name means name plus version: you can have 4 Ariel – On Human Legs and 4 Ariel – Spectacular Singer in the same deck. The limit uses the English name.
• Some cards change these rules for themselves. Christopher Robin – Hunny Sage lets you include other Hunny characters regardless of ink type, but he still needs an Amethyst–Sapphire deck himself (1.10.1.3).
• Count your inkable cards. Uninkable cards can't help you reach the ink you need.

Core and Infinity after the 2026 rotation

Since the release of Attack of the Vine! (set 13), Core Constructed only allows cards from set 9, Fabled, onward. Sets 1–8 are out, and new sets such as Hyperia City join the pool when they come out. Infinity Constructed allows cards from every set but has its own banned list (TR 1.3.1, 1.6.1). Checked on 21 October 2026.

• A legal card can be used in any printing. An older set's copy of a card reprinted in Fabled or later is legal in Core (TR 1.6; Ravensburger's rotation article of 4 August 2026).
• The name has to match exactly. Two Belles with different versions are different cards, and only the reprinted one is Core-legal.
• New sets are legal in sanctioned events from their prerelease in hobby stores, and promo and alternate versions follow their set (TR 1.6).

Dates for Hyperia City and the sets already announced for 2027 are in the release calendar, where you can add them to your own calendar.

Lorcana Sealed rules: the 40-card deck

In Sealed, each player opens at least six booster packs, from sets the organiser chooses, and builds a deck of at least 40 cards from them. Any number of inks and any number of copies are allowed (1.10.1.2, TR 1.3.2, 1.3.2.2). Everyone starts with the same number of packs from each chosen set. There's no maximum deck size apart from what your pool contains.

• Limited events supply the product, and you aren't expected to bring cards (TR 1.1). You build only from your pool.
• If you open 6 copies of a card you can play all 6. The rules' example is Genie – The Ever Impressive (TR 1.3.2).
• Competitive and Premier events allow 30 minutes to build and 20 minutes to register the pool, when registration is used (TR 6.2).
• Game rules don't change. You still start with 7 cards, can alter once and play to 20 lore.
• Sealed can be used at any tournament level, from prereleases to premier events.

Lorcana Draft: the 35-card deck

In Draft, players pick one card at a time from booster packs passed around a pod and then build a deck of at least 35 cards from their picks, with any inks and any number of copies (1.10.1.2, TR 1.3.2.4). The minimum is four packs per player.

• Pods should be as close to eight players as possible and never fewer than six (TR 1.3.2.4).
• Pack 1 passes left, pack 2 right, pack 3 left and so on, alternating with each pack.
• At Competitive and Premier events, picks are timed: 30 seconds with 12 cards left, falling to 3 seconds with 2 left. You get 30 seconds to review your picks after the first pack, plus 15 more after each later pack. Building and registering share 25 minutes (TR 6.2).
• In Competitive Draft, you only play against people from your own pod.

Pack Rush: two boosters, 15 lore

Pack Rush is a quick Limited game: each player shuffles the cards of two unopened booster packs, from any sets, into a deck of about 24 cards, starts with 2 ink and 5 cards in hand, and plays to 15 lore (10.2, TR 1.3.2.3).

1. Open both packs and set aside the marketing or puzzle cards.
2. Shuffle the rest together without looking. There are no ink restrictions.
3. Set lore to 0 and draw 5. You may alter your hand.
4. Put two marketing cards into your inkwell, ready. They can't leave the inkwell or be chosen by effects (10.2.2).
5. First to 15 lore wins. If you need to draw and your deck is empty, shuffle your discard to form a new deck (10.2.5).

The Comprehensive Rules set no minimum deck size for Pack Rush (10.2.1.1). The Tournament Rules describe the result as a 24-card deck. Preconstructed is the fourth Limited format: a random 60-card starter deck, which the organiser may let you adjust with the included booster. It's only used at Entry-level events (TR 1.3.2.1).

Lorcana rarities

Lorcana has eight rarities: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, Legendary, Enchanted, Epic and Iconic. The last two arrived with Fabled in August 2025. The rarity symbol is part of the card's ancillary information and has no effect on play (5.2.10.6). Ravensburger's announcement says Epic cards are rarer than Legendary ones and Iconic cards far less common than Enchanted ones, with 18 Epic and 2 Iconic cards per set. For what that means for collecting and trading, see the collector guide. For how language and edition affect a card, see the guide to TCG card language and edition.

Finding the cards you're missing

Whether you're building a Core deck after the rotation or chasing a shift partner for a character you already own, TradeMatches lets you list what you have and what you're looking for, shows matching collectors nearby and gives you a chat for your province. Before your first prerelease, read how to prepare for your first TCG event.

FAQ

Can a shifted character quest the turn it's played?

Yes, if the character it was put on had been in play since the start of your turn. It inherits the dry state. Shifted onto a character played that same turn, it is drying and has to wait.

Are Lorcana ink drops cards in my inkwell?

No. They're counters kept in your inkwell, removed to pay 1 ink each and then gone. They don't count as cards and can't be readied.

How many cards do you draw at the start of Lorcana?

Seven, or five in Pack Rush. You may then put any number on the bottom of your deck once and draw back to seven, and the first player doesn't draw on turn one.

Can Ward characters be challenged?

Yes. Ward only stops opponents choosing them for effects. A challenge isn't an effect, and effects that don't choose still apply.

How many cards is a Lorcana Sealed deck?

At least 40, built from at least six packs, with any inks and any number of copies. Draft decks need at least 35.

Do I lose immediately when my deck runs out?

No. Under Comprehensive Rules 2.3.0 you lose only if your turn ends with your deck empty, so you can still win or refill it before then.

Sources and checks

On 21 October 2026 we read the full Comprehensive Rules 2.3.0 (effective 16 October 2026), the keyword and format sections of the Tournament Rules effective 14 July 2026, the Hyperia City release notes and Ravensburger's ink drop preview. We checked each rule in this guide against them, together with the official quick-start and Pack Rush rules and the rotation and rarity announcements.

• Disney Lorcana Comprehensive Rules 2.3.0 (PDF)
• Disney Lorcana Tournament Rules, effective 14 July 2026 (PDF)
• Hyperia City set release notes (PDF)
• Ink drop deep dive (29 September 2026)
• Hyperia City announcement (22 September 2026)
• Rotation explained (4 August 2026)
• Epic and Iconic rarities announcement (4 August 2025)
• Pack Rush rules (PDF)
• Quick-start rules, Whispers in the Well starter deck (PDF)
• Lucky Dime in the official card database
• Disney Lorcana resources page