As promised, Ravensburger announced its 🎐plans for the first Disney Lorcana competitive circuit this week. Starting in May, Lorcana players will be able to compete in the Disney Lorcana Challenge, a series of events held across North America and Europe, culminating in a World Championship in early 2025.
Beginnin𒁃g at a regional level, the top four players at each event will qualify for either the North American or European Championships, and from those contenders the top performers will qualify for the World Championship. The four dudes who consistently win every single event at my LGS must be psyched right now.
I don’t mean to be cynical about Ravensburger’s plans. I’m excited to cover and take part in some large-scale Lorcana events, and I’m pleasantly surprised to see them happening so soon. This is going to push me to take the game a lot more seriously starting in the next expansion, and I꧒’m looking forward to exploring the competitive side of the TCG, sharing those experiences with the community, and watching how it grows. But, realistically, I have almost no chance of finishing top four at a regional event, and, I’m sorry to say this, but neither do you.
Lorcana Reveals Organised Play Plans, 2🌳025 World Championship
Competitive Lorcana is on✨ its way with a series of event💃s starting this April.
It isn’t because you’re not good enough, it’s just a numbers game. While we don’t know how many regional events will be held, the likelihood of moving onto the NA or EU championshipౠ with such a narrow qualification window is as much a matter of luck as it is skill, if not more so. Though you still need to know how to play decks, assess the meta, track information on the board, and be able to read your opponent to do well at high-tier Lorcana, getting favorable matchups can take you quite far in a single event, as will drawing theꦯ right cards in your mirror matches, or just plain mulliganing better than your opponent. The qualifiers will be incredibly skilled players, no doubt, but this kind of winner-take-all structure cannot account for the incredible amount of variance that all TCGs have.
Note: Ravensburger says there will be additional opportunities to qualify for the NA and EU Chamᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚpionships beyond finishi♍ng in the Top 4 at regional-level Challenge Events. We’ve reached out for clarification on what those opportunities could be, but we’ll have to wait until the next OP announcement to find out.
I was hoping Disney Lorcana Challenge ✱would adopt a point-based system, similar to the one Pokemon uses for its competitive circuit. This would allow players that consistently perform well to qualify for the World Championships even if they’re never able to win, or even finish top four at regional events. To me, the player that finishes in the top 16 at a dozen events has proven their ability far more than someone that finishes top four in a single event. You can luck into a top four finish once, but to consistently perform at a high level, even if you never actually win, shows you deserve to compete at the biggest events.
It also makes the competitive season feel like a journey. Pokemon players plan out the events they’ll attend fo𝄹r the year and try to estimate how many points they can earn at each one. Some years you might qualify early on thanks to high placements, while other years you’ll end up grinding it out to the bitter end, attending more events than anticipated to get the points you need. The point system gives everyone a chance to engage with competitive play, set their own goals, and improve each year.
Lorcana’s system is closer to how Magic: The Gathering does it, and, at least at the star🅰t, won’t be nearly as flexible as a result. Most people will go to a regional event, and when they aren’t lucky enough to finish in the top four, that will be the end of their competitive season. It’s a lot harder to justify traveling to other regions for another chance to qualify when a top four finish is such a difficult thing to achieve. This system doesn’t feel like it aligns with Lorcana’s goal of creating an approachable and welcoming TCG, which is surprising.
It’s even more surprising that there is no junior league. Lorcana poses the biggest competition to Pokemon when it comes to bringing young players into the hobby, but if they’re expected to compete with adults, they’re not going to have a good experience, and it's going to be harder to foster a lifelong love for the game. I expect the competitive circuit will introduce age divisions in the future, but I’m shocked that it isn’t going to be part of Disney Lorcana Challenge from the start.
Ultimately, those who perform the highest at these events, qualify for NAꦕ and EU Championships, and compete at the World Championships, will be among Lorcana’s most extraordinary players. Everyone who competes at the highest level will have undoubtedly earned their place there, and the nature of any competition is that some people will be winners and some people will be losers. At the same time, Lorcana has done an incredible job of positioning itself as a friendly and welcoming TCG, and I don’t think these organized play plans reflect the game’s identity. I’m looking forward to attending and covering this year’s events, but I also hope the competitive circuit can find ways to be more inclusive in the future.
