Disney Lorcana Tournament Rules for Your First Competitive Event

Welcome to Level 4. You can build a deck, count the race, and read an opponent. Now it is time to play under the official Tournament Rules, effective July 14, 2026. They apply at every sanctioned event, but how strictly depends on the event’s level. This lesson covers what a player needs to know for a first Competitive event, such as a Set Championship.

The three levels, from the player’s side

• Entry-level events, such as prereleases, run with relaxed rules and a focus on fun and learning.
• Competitive events, such as Set Championships, expect you to know the Tournament Rules. Some penalties are stricter.
• Premier Play events, such as Disney Lorcana Challenge events and the World Championship, expect you to know the Tournament Rules and the full Play Correction Guidelines.

Before the event

Register your deck. At Competitive and Premier Play events, you submit a deck list, through the Ravensburger Play Hub or on paper, as the organizer directs. If no deadline is announced, it is due before the first round. Use full card names, with versions. The list decides which cards you meant to play, so a mistake on it can cost you.

Check your sleeves. If you sleeve your deck, every sleeve must be the same size, color, and style, with a fully opaque back, unmarked and not reflective.

Bring the tools. Dice for damage, a way to track lore, and pen and paper. Competitive and Premier Play events allow only unaltered, official cards; altered artwork is for Entry-level events only.

Starting each game

Each player shuffles and offers the deck to the opponent to shuffle or cut. You may pile count your deck once before shuffling at the start of a game, never during play. Each player draws 7 and may alter their hand once. The player going first skips their first draw.

Keeping the game clear

The rules ask every player to keep the game state clear, all game long.

• Layout. Characters, items, and locations go in front of your inkwell. Characters at a location must be clearly at it.
• Exerting. Turn exerted cards about ninety degrees, the same direction every time.
• Inking. When you ink a card, announce its full name and let your opponent check the swirl. The cards you ink stay faceup until your turn ends, then turn facedown. Keep your inkwell apart from any other facedown cards.
• Lore. Announce every gain and loss with your new total.
• Status. When your opponent asks about a card in play, whether it is exerted, damaged, or dry, tell them fully and correctly.
• Mandatory effects. Point out any effect that must happen, even if it is on your opponent’s card. Reminding them of a “may” effect is not required, but it is encouraged.

Notes and devices

You may write down lore totals. You may not take any other notes during a match, including the names of cards your opponent inks. Tokens may track only your own public information. Phones may be used for the Companion app and the card database, but must stay in plain view of both players.

Takebacks

The standard is simple: once a play is made, it stands. A Lore Guide may allow a takeback of your most recent play for an honest slip, but only if no later action has happened and you gained no new information from it. Revealing a card from your hand to ink, then naming a different one at once, is an example the rules allow. Drawing a card from an effect, then asking to undo the play, is not. Never take a play back yourself; call a Lore Guide.

Lore Guides and penalties

Officials at Lorcana events are Lore Guides, and the Lead Lore Guide has the final word. Calling one is never an accusation. Lore Guides do not point out play mistakes; they step in when something illegal happens or when a situation needs calming.

The Play Correction Guidelines list corrective actions from a caution and a warning up to a game loss, match loss, or disqualification. A missed trigger, for example, usually earns only a caution, though at Competitive events it becomes a warning when the missed effect would have hurt the player who missed it. At Competitive events, most other rules errors earn a warning, and a third warning for the same kind of rules error in one tournament becomes a game loss.

Conduct

The rules forbid wagering on matches, collusion, harassment, and unsporting behavior. You may not offer anything in exchange for a concession or a draw, and you may not ask an opponent to concede.

The short checklist

• Deck list submitted, with full names.
• Sleeves matching and unmarked.
• Dice, lore tracker, pen.
• Ink announced. Lore announced. Layout clear.
• No notes, no takebacks without a Lore Guide.