🐭 Welcome to the untested and unmastered Lorcana Cube! 🐭
The Lorcana Cube is a specially curated pool of cards designed for drafting, where players build their decks on the spot by selecting cards from packs. Unlike traditional draft this selection of cards is at a higher power level than regular packs and cards should be evaluated more on synergy rather than raw power or rarity.
Packs are constructed like a regular set draft with 4 packs of 12 cards. The alternative rules at the bottom of the overview could be experimented with to see if they encourage a more interesting draft environment.
Overview of a Lorcana Cube for Magic Players:First of all, here is the rules in 60s. here are the rules for locations and this is Lorcana's rules for the stack.
Lore Over Life: In Lorcana, you win by collecting Lore rather than reducing an opponent’s life total to zero. This drastically changes how players approach drafting and deck construction. You will want to prioritize characters and actions that generate lore rather than focusing purely on powerful removal spells or combat-based mechanics.
Questing vs Combat: In Lorcana, questing is more akin to how creatures attack in Magic. However, instead of damaging opponents or creatures, questing progresses your Lore total. Drafting cards that can quest efficiently, even if they're not great at combat, can be a winning strategy.
Resource Management: Unlike Magic's land cards for mana, Lorcana uses inkable cards, where you may place cards face down in your ink well as a resource. A key draft strategy is to balance inkable and non-inkable cards. Non-inkable cards are typically ahead of curve on stats or abilities but drafting more than 7 or 8 can cause mana screw.
Synergy & Archetypes: Just like in Magic, Lorcana cube drafting can emphasize different archetypes depending on the cards in the pool. Some Lorcana strategies rely on building around specific mechanics like Shift, Floodborn, or Song cards. Understanding these synergies during the draft is key to building a coherent deck.
Limited Removal: Lorcana features less removal than Magic, making the available removal cards more valuable in drafts. You’ll need to be selective when drafting cards that can directly interact with the opponent’s characters.
Tempo-Based Play: Lorcana drafts often reward tempo-based play, where you can stay ahead of your opponent in both board presence and lore accumulation. Playing characters early that can quest for Lore and later adding supporting pieces can establish momentum that’s hard for your opponent to recover from.
Your Sideboard is in Your Deck: If you want to draft tech for bad matchups make sure that it is inkable so that you can play it as a land when you do not run up against the match. This can allow you to surprise niche synergies game 1.