Tier 1 · Pull Up a Chair · Lesson 8 of 15
Setting up a game
Most first games go wrong before anybody plays a card. Setup is five steps in a fixed order, and skipping one quietly changes who is allowed to do what. Done properly it takes about ninety seconds.
Five steps, and the order is not yours to choose
None of this is a strategy decision. You and your opponent work through all five steps together, out loud, before either of you takes a turn.
- Decide who goes first. Agree on a random method you can both see, such as a dice roll or a coin flip. That settles the order you take turns in.
- Shuffle, then offer a cut. Each of you shuffles your own deck, then hands it over so your opponent can cut it, shuffle it, or both.
- Set both lore totals to 0. Nobody starts ahead. This is the number you are taking to 20.
- Draw 7 cards each. That is your opening hand.
- Alter your hands, starting player first. The only step with a choice in it, covered below.
Step 2 is the one people drop, usually to be polite. It is not optional.
Once done, each player must be offered an opportunity to shuffle, cut, or shuffle and cut their opponent's deck.
Comprehensive Rules 2.2.1.2
In plain terms: you offer your shuffled deck to the other player every game. It is not an accusation. Refusing to offer is the odd move, not accepting.
Altering your hand
Your opening 7 is not final. Once per game, you may push any number of those cards back into your deck and draw fresh ones.
First, the starting player selects any number of cards from their hand and places them on the bottom of their deck without revealing them. Then, they draw until they have 7 cards in their hand.
Comprehensive Rules 2.2.2.1
In plain terms: pick the cards you do not want and slide them under your deck, face down. Then draw until you are holding 7 again. Your opponent never sees them.
The starting player does this first, then the other player decides. If you moved at least one card, shuffle your deck again and offer the cut again. If you moved none, leave it alone.
Plenty of new players keep a bad opening hand because they think altering costs them a card. It does not. You come back to 7 whether you put back 1 card or all 7.
The only price is that you get to do it once. After that, you play the hand you are holding.
You alter your hand and put 2 cards on the bottom of your deck. What happens next?
- You draw 1 card, because altering costs you one. That rule belongs to a different card game. Lorcana refills you to 7 no matter how many cards you put back.
- You put those 2 cards in the discard and draw 2 new ones. Nothing is discarded during setup. Those cards go under your deck, face down, and you may still draw them later.
- You draw until you are holding 7 again, and nobody sees the 2. Right. You place them unrevealed and refill to 7, so altering costs you no cards. The only cost is that you get one use per game.
When setup is over
The moment the last player has finished altering, the starting player begins their turn.
Nothing else happens first. No card is played, no ink goes down, no character enters play. You both simply sit there with 7 cards and 0 lore.
- Randomly decide who goes first, before anything else.
- Shuffle your own deck, then offer your opponent a cut.
- Both players start on 0 lore and draw 7 cards.
- Altering: any number to the bottom, then draw back to 7.
- You may alter once per game, and only during setup.
Take any ordinary deck of playing cards and deal yourself 7. Pick 2 you do not like, slide them under the deck face down, and draw until you are holding 7 again. Once, not repeatedly.
That is the whole altering step.
Rules quoted from the Disney Lorcana Comprehensive Rules, version 2.2.0, effective 9 July 2026. Every claim here was checked against that document rather than quoted from memory.
Next: A turn, start to finish. Setup ends the instant the starting player begins, and that is exactly where it picks up.
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