122 Disney Lorcana terms in plain English: the rules vocabulary, all 14 keyword abilities with official rule numbers, formats, deck slang and collecting words.
Rules vocabulary and keywords are checked against the Comprehensive Rules version 2.2.0 (effective 2026-07-09). Definitions here are our own plain-English explanations; the official documents always win if they differ. Slang is informal and varies by player.
A card with the inkwell symbol around its cost, meaning it is allowed to be put into the inkwell.“Powerful uninkable cards are worth saving to play rather than ink.”
The subtitle after a character's name. It tells apart cards that share a name, so "Elsa - Snow Queen" and "Elsa - Spirit of Winter" are different cards.
Exert one of your characters to attack an opposing character that is already exerted (or an opposing location). Both sides deal damage equal to their Strength.In Lorcana: You can only challenge characters that are exerted, which is why ready characters are safe from challenges.
A character that was already in play when your turn began is dry and can quest, challenge or use exert costs. One played this turn is drying and can't, though its other abilities still work.
Each turn has three phases: Start-of-Turn (Ready, Set, then Draw), Main (do as many turn actions as you like, in any order), and End-of-Turn. The player who goes first skips their first draw.
The invisible waiting area where triggered abilities queue up before they resolve. When several trigger at once, the turn player orders their own and the others follow.
A pile of cards in play, such as a shifted character sitting on top of the character it was played onto. If the top card leaves play, the whole pile goes with it.
You begin with seven cards. Once, you may put any number back on the bottom of your deck and draw back up to seven. Lorcana calls this altering your hand.
Lets a character challenge evasive characters as though the Evasive restriction wasn't there. It does not give the character Evasive itself.Official rule 8.2 · on 11 cards · see every card
The character may enter play already exerted. While a Bodyguard is in play, opposing characters that challenge you must pick a Bodyguard if one is available.Official rule 8.3 · on 67 cards · see every card
Once during your turn you may pay N ink to put the top card of your deck facedown under this character. Other cards care about how many cards are under a character.Official rule 8.4 · on 32 cards · see every card
While this character is the one challenging, it gets +N Strength. It does nothing when the character is defending. Multiple instances add together.Official rule 8.5 · on 41 cards · see every card
The character can't quest, and you can't end your turn while it is ready and able to challenge. It can still be exerted to use abilities or sing songs. A strong but forced attacker.Official rule 8.7 · on 20 cards · see every card
Reduces damage dealt to this card by N. If that brings the damage to zero, no damage is taken. Multiple instances add together.Official rule 8.8 · on 40 cards · see every card
Pay the Shift cost instead of the ink cost to play this card on top of one of your characters with the same name. They become one stack. If the card underneath was exerted, the shifted character enters exerted.In Lorcana: Some cards have Shift variants that relax the same-name requirement. Check the card text.“Shift Elsa onto Elsa for four instead of paying full price.”Official rule 8.10 · on 196 cards · see every card
This character can exert to sing a song as though its cost were N, even if its real cost is lower. Its actual ink cost doesn't change.Official rule 8.11 · on 33 cards · see every card
A song you can play by exerting any number of ready characters whose costs add up to N or more, so several small characters can sing one big song.Official rule 8.12 · on 20 cards · see every card
Whenever this character quests, you may add its Strength to another chosen character's Strength for the rest of the turn.Official rule 8.13 · on 58 cards · see every card
If an opponent chooses this character as part of an action's effect, it gets banished afterwards. A built-in risk for anyone who targets it.Official rule 8.14 · on 7 cards · see every card
Opponents can't choose this card when resolving an effect. Effects that don't choose, such as ones that hit everything, still affect it.Official rule 8.15 · on 58 cards · see every card
The main competitive format: a 60-card minimum deck of up to two inks, no more than four copies of any full name, using the current rotating pool of sets.In Lorcana: The legal sets change over time. Check the official Tournament Rules for the current pool.
An official multiplayer format built around a companion card, still in beta when this was written. It allows up to three inks and a single copy of each card. See our Coconut leader tools for the rules as implemented here.
A made-up set of rules for casual play, such as Poorcana (commons and uncommons only) or Mono (one ink only). See our custom rules page for ready-made ones.
Short for metagame: which decks are popular and winning right now. It changes with every set and rules update.“Always check a dated source before saying what is meta.”
Lorcana wording vs Magic wording
Much of the slang came over from Magic: The Gathering. These are the Lorcana words to use instead.
Actions and songs are the one-shot cards. You play them on your own turn; there is no holding up an instant to respond on your opponent's turn the way Magic allows.
A deck's overall plan, such as aggro, midrange, control or combo. Often named with the ink pair too, like "Ruby-Sapphire midrange".In Lorcana: With only two inks per deck, the ink pair is part of an archetype's identity.“What archetype is it? Ruby-Sapphire midrange, so it's flexible.”
A fast deck that tries to win by questing early and often, before the opponent can stabilize.In Lorcana: Lots of cheap characters, Rush, Challenger and evasion. The goal is a short clock.
A slow, reactive deck that answers threats and wins late through card quality.In Lorcana: Pure control is harder here than in Magic because lore keeps ticking up. Control decks lean on banishing, bouncing and drawing.
A deck built around specific cards that win or snowball when assembled together.In Lorcana: Usually a lore engine or a Shift loop, not an instant win. Ordinary synergy isn't a combo.
Playing many cheap characters instead of a few big ones. It quests for a lot of lore but is weak to effects that hit the whole board.In Lorcana: The opposite is going tall: a few big, boosted characters.
Any card or play that deals with an opponent's threat: banishing it, bouncing it, or blocking it.“Do I have an answer to that? Yes, but only one copy.”
Return a character or item to its owner's hand instead of banishing it.In Lorcana: A strong tempo play because the opponent loses the ink they spent and must pay again. It also resets damage and breaks up shift stacks, and it lets a character's on-play effect happen twice.
Precisely removing one chosen key character, especially one that is hard to reach.In Lorcana: Matters most against Evasive characters, which are hard to challenge.
An ability that triggers when a card enters play. On Lorcana cards it reads "When you play this character".In Lorcana: Bounce can reuse an on-play effect, which is a classic trick.
An effect that does nothing because its target is gone or can't be chosen.In Lorcana: Ward is the usual cause: with no legal target, the effect simply does nothing.
A character with no abilities, just stats and a lore value.In Lorcana: True vanillas are rare in Lorcana. Players more often say "just a body" or "no text".
The spread of card costs in a deck. "Curving out" means using all your ink every turn.In Lorcana: You can ink only one card per turn, and only inkable cards, so the curve and the choice of what to ink matter. Good players ink the weaker inkable cards and keep powerful uninkable ones to play.“Your curve needs plays at two, three and four, or you'll waste ink.”
Getting extra resources early so you can play expensive cards sooner.In Lorcana: Limited in Lorcana: there are no lands and only one ink drop per turn. It shows up as cost reduction, Shift, Singers, and a few effects that add cards to the inkwell. Only call a deck ramp if it really works that way.
How many turns until someone wins. In Lorcana, how many turns each player needs to reach 20 lore.“They're on a three-turn clock, so I have to slow them down.”
Winning in a single turn from a position that didn't look winning.In Lorcana: True one-turn kills are rare because winning means reaching 20 lore. Players usually say "big lore turn" or "going off" instead.