The Lorcana Course

For someone who has never played a trading card game. We assume nothing.

By the end: Play a full game without help.

• 1 What Lorcana actually is The goal, the shape of a game, and what a trading card game even is.
• 2 How to read a card Every symbol on the frame, in the order you actually need them. Writing
• 3 The table Hand, inkwell, play, deck, discard. Where cards go and why it matters. Writing
• 4 A turn, start to finish Ready, Set, Draw, then the main phase. What you may do and when. Writing
• 5 Ink, the resource everything runs on One card a turn, face down, and why that choice is supposed to hurt. Writing
• 6 Questing, and how you win Exert, gain lore, race to twenty. Writing
• 7 Challenging The combat rules, and the two conditions people forget. Writing
• 8 Play your first game A guided walkthrough of an opening, decision by decision. Writing

Rules fluency. The things that decide close games and cause arguments.

By the end: Know the rules that decide close games.

• 9 Drying, and why your new character cannot do anything The rule every new player trips on, and exactly when it wears off. Writing
• 10 Songs and singing The rule most players have wrong, including people who have played for a year.
• 11 Shift A discount, a damage trick, and a skipped turn, in one keyword. Writing
• 12 The keyword tour What each keyword does, and the trap hiding in each one. Writing
• 13 Items and locations The card types new players ignore for too long. Writing
• 14 The bag: how triggers really resolve The most under-taught rule in Lorcana, and it decides games at every level.
• 15 Damage versus damage counters Putting counters is not dealing damage, and the difference costs people games. Writing

From sixty cards you like to a deck with an actual plan.

By the end: Build a deck that does what you meant it to.

• 16 What a deck actually is Roles, not favourites. Every card is doing a job or taking a slot from one that would. Writing
• 17 The curve What it is, what shape you want, and how to see your own. Writing
• 18 Choosing your two inks What each ink gives you, and which pairs actually cover each other. Writing
• 19 The inkable ratio The quiet number that decides more games than any card choice. Writing
• 20 Cutting cards The hardest skill in deckbuilding, and the questions that make it easier. Writing
• 21 Upgrading a starter deck The honest order to spend money in. Writing

Skills that transfer to any card game, taught with Lorcana examples.

By the end: Think in tempo, trades and races.

• 22 Tempo What it actually means, past the phrase 'playing on curve'. Writing
• 23 Card advantage, and its limits here Why Lorcana punishes pure card advantage more than most card games. Writing
• 24 The race Lore maths. Working out who is actually ahead, and how many turns are left. Writing
• 25 Threat assessment Most losses come from answering the wrong thing. Writing
• 26 Mulligans and opening hands What to keep, with the reasoning made explicit. Writing
• 27 Playing around what you cannot see Reading an opponent's ink and inferring what is in their hand. Writing

Lines of play. The part nobody else teaches for this game.

By the end: See lines, sequence them, and pick the best one.

• 28 What a line actually is A line is not a move. Most players have never written one out.
• 29 Finding more than one line The core error: thinking of one decent option and taking it.
• 30 Sequencing The same cards in a different order produce a different game. Writing
• 31 The three principles Information, commitment, denial. And why Lorcana changes all three. Writing
• 32 Ink as information What your inkwell tells your opponent, and how to lie with it. Writing
• 33 Thinking in game plans, not turns The single biggest jump in card game skill. Writing
• 34 When to break every rule in this tier Heuristics are training wheels. Mastery is knowing when they fail. Writing