Summary

• The Rise of the Floodborn expansion for Disney Lorcana provides a good entry point for beginners, with starter decks that are not too complex.
• The new mechanics and refreshed concepts in the expansion add depth to the game, making it more interesting for experienced players.
• The artwork on the cards is gorgeous, making them appealing to collectors, and the foil treatment is noticeable but not overpowering.

Having missed out on the initial wave of Disney Lorcana excitement, getting into the game felt a little daunting. Being friends or working with people who were deeply invested in the game only deepened that anxiety; they were often discussing card concepts in ways that far outstripped my meager knowledge of the game. Starter decks were hot commodities and by the time the option of acquiring one came my way, it had felt like I missed out entirely.

Luckily in the world of trading card games, there are generally many opportunities to find an entry point, and that's especially true of a game as young as Lorcana. With the Rise of the Floodborn expansion on the horizon, I was able to pick up and play with the two new starter decks accompanying the set: Tactical Teamwork and Might and Magic. While Lorcana feels simple to pick up - it only took a few games to really get the hang of things - the new expansion also introduces a few mechanics and refreshes some existing concepts in ways that feel like they'll be much deeper.

Decks With Identities

There are plenty of more experienced analysts to break down how these mechanics and decks interact with the Lorcana card pool at large, so I'll just focus on my perspective: someone who knew a little about the game going in but was ultimately introduced to proper play through these decks. In that regard, they're both great successes. Tactical Teamwork features the Seven Dwarfs as a major thematic selling point, alongside item synergies that want players to think carefully and setup draws or banishes.

It's a pretty simple concept that opens up a lot of different lines of play once you start to get the hang of the basics of the game, but at the same time, none of these cards are so overly complex that they're too daunting for beginners like myself. Cards like The Queen, Commanding Presence and Gaston, Intellectual Powerhouse are about as tricky as things get, but they simply do what they say on the card and get players used to the powerful (at least in my eyes) shift mechanic, which is a cost reduction method.

The other deck is Might and Magic, which felt like the slightly more complicated strategy, simply because it has prominent cards featuring Resist. Resist reduces the damage dealt to a card by the amount it states - so Resist 2, on Tiana, Celebrating Princess, reduces damage by 2. It changes the math of each turn enough that it requires some double-checking and re-evaluation, which can be a little frustrating for a new player who is still trying to figure out what their cards do. Ultimately, though, like every Lorcana mechanic I was introduced to in these two Rise of the Floodborn starter decks, it only took a few games before it became much easier to understand, and the flow of the game was natural.

Beautiful, Memorable Art

I do also want to highlight the gorgeous art on these cards. Even as someone who isn't necessarily interested in competing in the game, simply owning them might be enough to entice collectors. Floodborn cards in particular present characters in such exciting new ways that those familiar with their original properties will really enjoy the spin on a well-known archetype. The foil treatment is nice, too, not too over-the-top but enough that it's noticeable. I do tend to enjoy more dramatic foiling personally, but as an aesthetic on already very pleasantly laid-out cards, sometimes less is more.

A Great Way To Learn

Ultimately, I feel confident in saying that the Lorcana Rise of the Floodborn starter decks achieve what any good start deck should: laying out the game in its most basic form and letting players do the rest of the work to see how much more they want from it. Playing these two decks against each other is a great way to learn and feels fairly evenly matched, at least for newbies like myself. They also create intrigue in the way they're built - after having done some research, I think there's obvious upgrades for both that aren't too hard to find.

And from there, anyone with a TCG they enjoy knows what happens next. It's always just one little upgrade and then in a few months you own three fully-built decks and are arguing with someone online about a spoiler card. Look out for me in some of those threads - these Lorcana starter decks were more than enough to get me interested in learning more, and they're a good time for anyone looking to educate themselves on how the game works and whether or not it's for them.