The Pixelborn shutdown has undoubtedly left an open wound in the Lorcana world. It’s not like we didn’t expect The Mouse to come a-callin’ with a C&D in his white gloved hand, but as I’ve written at length the app was absolutely critical to cementing the game’s foundation and establishing its identity among any number of TCG also-rans. It was an incredibly well-made and maintained platform that offered full availability of the cards, integration with deckbuilding tools, and practically flawless online matchmaking complete with rankings. And with Ravensburger and Disney dropping the axe on it without a surrogate, it’s left players like me that were playing far more online than at the table in the lurch. There’s been a couple of rumors floating around that an officially supported and properly licensed Lorcana game is in the works but a release date seems remote, especially assuming that the game will need to go through a public beta or early access stage to get to where it needs to be.
But that leaves me with the question, where I do need it to be? I’m not entirely optimistic about the prospects of “Lorcana Online” or whatever simply because of the current marketing culture around TCGs in the digital space. I fully expect whatever Ravensburger is cooking up will be loaded with scrip currency, “best value” packs, microtransactions, cosmetics, daily check-ins, timers, grinding, and whatnot. But with that said, if it’s a solid implementation and offers value to players then I love Lorcana enough to put up with some of the nonsense- even if I wind up being one of those lowly freeloaders that never spends a buck. But hey, if they implement the following list of demands I might be willing to pay my way!
Complete availability of all the cards in every set. This is a huge ask, I know, but here’s the compromise. Make every card available in a single player mode against an AI opponent or an “unranked” mode for matchmaking. Ranked and progression still require the booster packs, card unlocks, whatever. I think this is a critical ask because it fundamentally supports the tabletop game (and thus sales of the tabletop game) by offering players a test bed for deckbuilding. I would be totally OK with just being able to build and playtest without getting into the ladders and all of that. I know MTG Arena has modes where you are able to draft and play with cards outside of your digital collection, but I think Lorcana could benefit from going a step further and opening the whole game in a limited environment. I would be willing to pay a monthly subscription fee for this kind of service.
Multiple game modes. I feel like this is more of a given as it’s fairly common among digital TCGs, but I want to see a single player game, possibly even based on the Illumineer’s Quest format. Illumineer’s Quest wouldn’t even require AI programming to accomplish day one. But looking even further down the road, I’d love to see drafts implemented. There isn’t an official format for drafting as yet, but I think the launch of an app would be an ideal time to introduce it. This would likely follow the format (and pricing) of similar modes in Hearthstone and MTG: Arena and I’m kind of OK with that.
Collection tools and app integration. Let’s get this thing integrated into the official Lorcana app to make it more useful overall. I’d like to be able to use the app as a one-stop shop for everything Lorcana. Let me look at my collection, see the cards I have versus what I need, and let me build a deck right there to take into that prospective playtest mode. All digital TCGs have tracking and collection tools, but I’d like to see Lorcana bridge the gap and make the app mutually integral between online and tabletop play.
Matchmaking parameters beyond ranking. This is maybe a little more of a specialized, niche request, but I’d love it if I could limit matchmaking to certain ink colors. When playtesting, sometimes you really want to run against Steelsong, Bucky Discard (RIP), Ruby Amethyst, or whatever. With a large enough player base like what this game potentially has in the digital space, I doubt you’d ever fail to get paired up with the desired opponent. Further, I could see tags applied to decks to further filter and refine the kinds of players you could be matched with. This would again support a division between casual, unranked play and a competitive, progression based mode. I think supporting casual players is absolutely essential, and it’s something that I think a lot of digital TCGs don’t do well enough.
Bell(e)s and whistles. This is a game about Disney animation so by jingo let’s see some animation on these cards. When a character sings “Let it Go” I expect to hear Elsa belting out her showstopper, even if it’s really Gaston singing it. Digital is an opportunity for Ravensburger to bring the almost uniformly outstanding artwork to life with a flourish of Disney magic. I’d love to see a lot of these cards in motion, even if it’s just the kind of rudimentary style common in digital TCGs.
Writing as someone that played the original Magic: The Gathering PC implementation way back in 1995, there’s no doubt digital TCG implementation has come a long way and Lorcana has an opportunity to innovate and excite rather than falling into some of the same tropes and traps that plague the category. And in many ways, Lorcana feels uniquely primed to succeed in an electronic format especially as it feels heavily influenced by Hearthstone as it is. Let’s see what Ravensburger Digital has in store and soon because I miss playing 20-30 games a week!
Next time: Happy Birthday, Lorcana!
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