Lorcana Pre-Launch in Berlin
Insights from the Disney Lorcana event in Germany
Author: Thomas Preyer
The new trading card game Disney Lorcana, published by Ravensburger, will be released on August 18. I had the opportunity to attend the exclusive pre-launch event in Berlin for Three for One Trading.
Excitement before the start
The event took place directly across the street from the Berlin Brettspiel Con at the Aletto Hotel. Convenient, because right before, I gave a few hours of demo games with the Berlin Flesh and Blood community for interested visitors of the fair.
At the meeting point at 16:45, there was a nice queue of invited guests, some of whom I already knew from previous Magic: The Gathering and Flesh and Blood events.
Welcome
At the entrance, Steffen Vierrether, the marketing manager for Lorcana at Ravensburger in Germany, greeted us with Ursula’s fishbone pen (Arielle fans know what I’m talking about) and a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), which he presented to me for signing.
The event was divided into two parts, of which the information shared in the second part was not yet public knowledge and was to be kept secret. That’s why the agreement. As a result, today I can unfortunately only tell you about the first part of the event, which was no less exciting.
On what was probably the hottest day of the year, the invited guests were able to refresh themselves with non-alcoholic cocktails, stylishly decorated in the colors of the game’s inks. After that, Steffen officially welcomed us and there was a presentation about the products, the design of the game and the artworks.
Presentation
A live link to the USA, to Ryan Miller (Brand Manager) and Steve Warner (Head of Game Design) was followed by a presentation by Shane Harley, the Head of Design and Art Design. He gave us exciting insights into the development of the various logos, the inks and revealed that the developers have hidden both Mickey Mouse and a Ravensburger logo on the back of the cards.
During the presentation, some yet unknown cards were also shown directly, such as the Musketeer Tabard.
Most of the products could also be examined more closely on site. In addition to starter decks and booster packs, we could already examine playmats, deck boxes and binders up close.
The presence of Lorcana artist Peter Brockhammer, was one of the highlights of the opening. The artist got to see the card he illustrated for the first time and showed us the exciting process of how Aladdin, Street Rat was created.
We get to know the game
After a short Q&A session, however, we were finally allowed to pick up cards, in the form of demo decks. I read up a bit more on the Lorcana rules the day before the event, and accordingly it was quite easy for me to get into the game. I also think that it should not be a problem, even for inexperienced TCG-players, to quickly get a grasp on the game.
My first Lorcana opponent was Leon, who I already know well from the Berlin Flesh and Blood community. On my first turn, I had to make the tough decision whether to start my first adventure as a Luminari with one of my favorite characters, Flounder from Arielle, or with a Goons card. The flavor text from the Goons then convinced me to give the card a chance: “They may seem useless, but they came with the castle.”
Art and delicacies
After the demo, we had the opportunity to have Peter sign a small poster of his card, Aladdin, Street Rat. At the same time, the buffet was opened. There were tasty canapés, of course again in the colors of the Lorcana inks.
From this point onwards, I’m not allowed to tell you how the evening went on. But I can say, it was an exciting and entertaining event, which has made absolutely desire for the release of the game on August 18.
Prerelease and Release
We at Three for One Trading are really looking forward to welcoming you to our store for the prerelease of the game! We still have a few details to work out, but they will follow soon. The best thing to do is to sign up for our Lorcana newsletter, so you won’t miss any news about the launch and the prerelease event in Vienna.
In the meantime, you can still pre-order booster boxes here with us. These will be available in September!
Here you can learn more about the game rules of Lorcana.