The Disney Lorcana TCG is Off to an Amazing Start

News

By RC Staff

21 April 2023

Key Points

• Disney Lorcana is an upcoming trading card game from Disney debuting in 2023. A small set of cards was made available exclusively at the 2022 D23 Expo

• The D23 Expo Collector’s set sold for $49.95 and included seven cards. Complete sets have resold for $4,000 or more, and certain individual cards have gone for $1,000+

• All of the characters in the set will be included in the retail release, but all seven from the D23 feature a unique foil finish

Item

Art & Collectibles

4.8K

Profit

This is the difference between the sale price and resell price. It does not take into account any costs associated with reselling. Things like shipping, storage fees, if applicable.

Disney Lorcana D23 Expo 2022 Card Set

The first ever Disney Lorcana card release, consisting of  a promotional set of 6 holographic cards, marked with D23 logos.  Sold exclusively at D23 Expo 2022.

Not content with movies, animation, toys, and Star Wars, Disney has dipped its foot into the trading card game business. Lorcana is an upcoming TCG produced by Disney in collaboration with Ravensburger. Modern and classic Disney characters are in a variety of cards that you can utilize throughout play. While we anticipate a full retail release in 2023, Disney gave fans an early taste of the game at the D23 Expo in September 2022. pa

Seven-card D23 Expo Collector’s Sets were available for purchase to conventiongoers. Unfortunately, after a miscommunication from Ravensburger, fans believed one of the cards from the set was an exclusive, causing aftermarket prices to explode. However, even after clearing things up, the D23 Expo Collector’s set has been reselling exceptionally well, with some sales well into four figures.

What is the Disney Lorcana TCG?

Most resellers are already intimately familiar with the successes of trading card games like Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and MetaZoo. Disney is trying to expand their empire by breaking into the lucrative TCG market with Disney Lorcana. From the looks of it, they’re on the right track.

Without getting to into the weeds, Disney Lorcana plays similarly to other offerings. Cards have various special abilities that affect play, as well as what appears to be energy or mana costs attached. Players take the role of “illumineers”, and each game plays like a unique story.

The cards are all based on Disney characters, both classic and contemporary. It also seems like there will be multiple cards for different variations of a character, as the D23 Set includes both “Rock Star Stitch” and “Brave Little Tailor Mickey Mouse”. This creates an excellent opportunity for creating rare and exclusive cards based on existing characters.

Disney has also implied Lorcana will be less competitive than comparable TCGs. Instead, they are seeking to cultivate a more casual gameplay experience, with less of an emphasis on deckbuilding. Purchasing cards for a collection rather than their gameplay edge seems to be the play here.

When is the Disney Lorcana release date?

Disney Lorcana has been confirmed for a September 2023 release. Prior to being available at major retailers, Lorcana cards will be sold through local game shops in August.

Disney has also pledged to produce expansion packs for Lorcana. No further information is available, but if they follow a similar pace to other TCGs, 2-4 expansions per year can be expected. Disney Lorcana Chapter One will almost certainly be the only release of 2023.

What does the Disney Lorcana pre order cost?

Depending on the version you buy, Lorcana will run from $5 to $50. If you only want to pick up a few cards, booster and starter packs can put your foot in the door. The Imagineer’s Trove costs $50, similar to the D23 Collector’s set.

The Disney Lorcana D23 Collector's set

At Disney’s D23 expo in September 2022, Disney showed off Lorcana to the world for the first time. After an incredibly positive initial reception, convention attendees received a chance to purchase the first set of cards available.

The D23 Collector’s Set was only available to in-person purchasers at the 2022 D23 Expo. It features seven cards: Robin Hood, Maleficent, Elsa, Captain Hook, Cruella de Vil, Stitch, and Mickey Mouse, which was the fan favorite.

While all the cards in the set would be in the future retail release, they had a unique foil finish exclusive to the D23 Expo Collector’s Set.

Disney Lorcana Brave Little Tailor Mickey Mouse card

Dubbed the “Brave Little Tailor”, this Mickey Mouse card was based on the 1938 film of the same name. Whether through rumor or a mistake by the presenters, attendees believed that the Brave Little Tailor card was a D23 exclusive, and would not be included in any future sets.

Much of the conversation around the D23 Expo set was centered around the Mickey Mouse Brave Little Tailor card because of this, and many people likely bought it for that card alone. Disney clarified the non-exclusive status quickly, but many sets had already sold by this point.

Did the Disney Lorcana D23 Collector's set resell?

After D23 attendees bought up all the Collector’s Sets for sale, they began listing them for sale immediately after the convention. Again, the response was immediate and intense.

Cards were reselling days after the convention for several hundred dollars. The Brave Little Tailor card made up most of the sales, despite not being exclusive to the set. These were selling for usually $200-$300, although some sales were for $500+.

Complete sets were reselling for more than $1,000 after the convention. Despite knowing virtually nothing about the game or future releases, fans were eager to go all in on Lorcana.

Also, eBay saw 100+ sales every day for Lorcana cards after the D23 Expo, all of which were for $200 or more. For a new TCG, these are incredible numbers. Disney’s status as an established brand is undoubtedly some help. In addition, Lorcana’s emphasis on casual play and collectability means that both TCG players and Disney fans were interested in the game, boosting demand and aftermarket sales.

Perhaps most impressive is that resell prices for the cards have not only stayed strong in the months after the Expo, but they are also increasing. Card grading house PSA has recently begun grading Disney Lorcana cards, and highly graded cards have sold for remarkable prices.

A PSA ten sealed Elsa card sold for $4,000, while a PSA ten Maleficent went for $2,700. Fan favorite Mickey Mouse has sold for almost $4,000 as well.

Complete sets are currently reselling for prices approaching $10,000, with new sales recorded daily. For both Disney and resellers, it is like they have struck gold.

Why did the Disney Lorcana D23 Collector’s Set resell?

The driving factor behind Disney Lorcana reselling is Disney itself. Many startup TCGs have attempted to break into the scene in the last few years but establishing a foothold took a lot of work.

TCGs need wide, dedicated player bases, with players willing to invest sometimes significant amounts of money into the project. The manufacturer also needs to put a significant amount of work into producing and distributing enough cards to keep a diverse pool of cards in play.

Disney obviously has a leg up here with the sheer wealth of both intellectual property and capital they have to play with. There are numerous characters and properties they can draw from to create enough cards for TCG, and the funds to develop and distribute it.

Critically though, Lorcana’s identity as the Disney TCG makes it appealing to a wide pool of potential players. Existing TCG players may be interested in picking up a new game, while Disney fans can buy and pick up Lorcana cards without even being interested in playing the game.

If Lorcana’s wider public release proves popular, the cards from the D23 set will be valuable. While the characters themselves will be in the Chapter One release, all of the cards in the D23 set are foils, which makes them rare and appealing. As both the first cards produced and in a rare presentation, the D23 cards would be the holy grail for any serious Lorcana player or collector.

A Disney collector uninterested in Lorcana would also have reason to buy a D23 set. Even if they have no intention of playing the game, owning a complete D23 set would be of great interest to them.

Overall, Disney made a great choice by entering the TCG landscape, and first impressions of the aftermarket would prove that. While we will need to wait and see if the hype around the production versions can maintain the resell prices, these numbers are seriously impressive, even in the short term.

Since the D23 set went up for sale on September 9th, eBay has recorded 2,000+ sales for cards since then. With each set selling for $50 and reselling for $4,000-$5,000, this is one of the most remarkable releases for a TCG in a long time, especially considering they only produced seven different cards.

That is all for now. We will be keeping our eyes on Disney Lorcana in the future. It is possible we have witnessed the birth of an incredibly popular and profitable TCG.