Disney Lorcana took the roundabout way to reach the Australian market. By the time the trading card game’s first major expansion, The First Chapter, was available in the country, there had already been multiple other set releases overseas, necessitating multi-set drops, at a rapid pace that required players to catch up very quickly.
Speaking to ScreenHub, Disney Lorcana’s International Product and Brand Manager Naomi Kim described this launch as ‘not as smooth’ as the team would’ve hoped, but the early response in Australia was so encouraging that Disney and Ravensburger remains excited to keep forging ahead.
‘It was a new TCG, there’s so much already in the market,’ Kim said. ‘There so many other options. There’s a lot of new ones that are constantly coming down the pipieline. To see the response from the Australian market has been very, very encouraging for us.’
Disney Lorcana and the Australian market – quick links
How Disney Lorcana’s Australian launch has gone so far
Kim recently visited Australia to help kick off the Disney Lorcana Challenge at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, which took place between 21-22 February. The event pitted players of all experiences against each other, with prizes for players who excelled.
According to Kim, the event was the culmination of a period of significant growth for the competitive Disney Lorcana scene in Australia.
‘There’s been a big growth in the competitive side of things for Australia, which is wonderful,’ Kim said. ‘That’s always where the base is, right? The foundation of a TCG is you need that strong player base, and then, how do we continue to support and grow that, and then also continue to find new ways to get new acquisition, and new collectors?’
Kim and the wider Disney Lorcana team are currently listening to player feedback, particularly about the competitive scene, with the aim to better serve the community, and find new ways to enhance and grow opportunities for competitive play.
Connecting with players in Australia, and around the world, Kim told ScreenHub the most exciting part is seeing how Disney Lorcana players interact with the game, and create their own meta.
Many players, as noted, are engaging with Lorcana in competitive play, forming the most reactive decks or attempting to be the best-of-the-best in local tournaments. Other players are more into the ‘flavour’ of the Disney card game, and how characters are adapted into the format.
‘You can do whatever you’d like with Disney Lorcana,’ Kim said. It’s completely up to you.
‘If you want to play, you don’t have to play competitive. You can also play casually. We have a lot of people that just focus on theme decks … I love playing theme decks, because of the sheer ridiculousness of what you can create.’
How the Disney Lorcana team balances the needs of its audience
Theme decks, in this regard, are typically non-competitive player decks that feature characters, items, songs, and other cards that all adhere to a particular theme. Players can create their own decks featuring their favourite characters, theme decks to Disney movies entirely, or even include more esoteric cards.
Kim’s personal favourite theme deck is a ‘ducks’ deck that includes all manner of duck cards, from Donald Duck to Daisy Duck, Darkwing Duck, and more.
‘It’s been encouraging to see here in Australia as well, there’s no right path for it,’ Kim said. ‘Everyone has been able to find their own way, and their own direction for Lorcana.’
It’s a balancing act, to serve all parts of this TCG community. Per Kim, it’s also an important part of her role in guiding the design of new Disney Lorcana sets, and deciding which characters make it in.
The latest Lorcana set, Winterspell, is a smaller expansion, but one that introduces new fan-favourite characters, like Darkwing Duck and his menagerie of villains. Many of the cards represent mainstream characters and moments from popular media. But there’s also plenty of niche references too, like a Space Cows card that references the Twin Peaks parody episode of Darkwing Duck, that is a personal favourite of the ScreenHub team.
Per Kim, these references are a result of a concerted push by the Disney Lorcana team to reach deeply into Disney lore, and provide easter eggs and fun tidbits for players who do like some flavour in their gameplay.
‘When we’re trying to find those niche characters, it’s like, “will people know this?” But it’s speaking to those few, right?’ Kim said. ‘The joy and the beauty of Disney is that there’s so much to work with. Along with that is the joy and beauty of getting to choose what makes the most sense, that we really try to build off a strong theme.’
For Winterspell, the theme was cosy, winter fun, and reimagining Disney’s main crew of characters in all sorts of new situations – taking part in snow fights and snowboarding, warming themselves in a winter landscape, and just having fun.
‘We work through with our team, as we’re brainstorming and building off the theme of a set. It’s like, okay, here’s what people are going to expect, if we have a winter theme. They’re going to expect these characters … so it’s having a strong, thematic base, and then all of our teams – game design, narrative, and art – work together very closely to [get balance].’
‘We need the top tier characters. We want some deep cut characters in there too … We try to be as global as possible. So we’re trying to take into consideration all these characters, all the properties, all the films, and not put too much focus on one over the other.’
As Kim described, there’s a lot of layers to this game design, to listening to the game’s growing community, and ensuring that fun and competitive gameplay remain hand-in-hand.
What’s next for Disney Lorcana
In the months ahead, the Disney Lorcana team will have their heads down, working on ample new expansions for the future. Already, we’ve seen the announcement of the Wilds Unknown set, which will introduce new cards inspired by Pixar franchises, Toy Story and The Incredibles.
The next set, Attack of the Vine, has also been announced for later in 2026. This set will introduce characters from Monsters, Inc. and Turning Red.
Additionally, the team has confirmed that Coco will be featured in future cards, likely in the set that follows Attack of the Vine.
Kim confirmed to ScreenHub that there’s plenty still to be announced, particularly as tied to Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, in August.
‘It’s the 40th anniversary of Pixar this year, so we thought that was just a really great tie-in, and a great, monumental moment, to give Pixar the focus [of Lorcana],’ Kim said. ‘The stars could not have aligned better, as we’re reaching for the sky.’
‘It’s just the start of what’s to come.’
Disney Lorcana fans have plenty to look forward to, with more news set to be shared in future. Given the popularity of the ever-evolving TCG, and that it’s seemingly proving competitive in a market dominated by long-established rivals, we expect big things in the months and years ahead.
