How a Turn Works in Lorcana

The three phases of a Lorcana turn

A turn has three phases, and they always happen in this order. Only the Main Phase asks you to make choices; the other two run themselves.

Ravensburger renamed the first phase in its April 2026 rules update. The Comprehensive Rules now call it the Start-of-Turn Phase, but the Quick Start book in starter sets and many guides still say Beginning Phase. They are the same thing.

The Start-of-Turn Phase: Ready, Set, Draw

The Start-of-Turn Phase has three steps. Nothing in it is optional, so most players do all three in a few seconds, but the order matters when a card triggers at the start of your turn.

Ready

You ready every card you have in play and in your inkwell, turning anything exerted (sideways) back upright. This is why ink you spent last turn is available again. Effects that last "until the start of your next turn" end here, and abilities that say "at the start of your turn" trigger now but wait until the Set step to resolve.

Set

Your characters stop drying, so everything you played last turn can now quest and challenge. Then you gain lore from each location you have in play that shows a lore value. That lore is not a triggered ability; it simply happens. After that, any start-of-turn abilities waiting from the Ready step resolve.

Draw

You draw one card. The one exception is the first turn of the game, when the starting player skips this step. After each of these steps the game checks for a winner, so a player who reaches 20 lore from a location in the Set step wins before drawing.

The Main Phase: everything you can do

The Main Phase is your turn proper. You can take these turn actions in any order, and each one as many times as you can pay for it, apart from inking, which is once per turn.

Order is a real decision. A common pattern is to ink first, play your cards, then decide which characters quest and which challenge, because the characters you play this turn are still drying and can't do either. Challenging before you quest also matters: if you banish an opposing character first, it can't threaten the character you were about to exert. The Lorcana challenge rules page covers the fight itself.

Songs are the one way to play a card without spending ink. A song card is an action that a character can sing instead: exert a dry character whose cost is at least the song's cost and the song resolves for free. Force of a Great Typhoon, for example, costs 2, so any character costing 2 or more can sing it.

Inking a card: once per turn

Once per turn, you may choose a card in your hand that has the inkwell symbol around its cost, show it to your opponent, and put it into your inkwell facedown and ready. Every card in the inkwell is 1 ink you can spend each turn. A card without the symbol can't be inked, and a card in your inkwell can't be played later, so inking is a choice about which card you need least.

There is no limit to how big your inkwell can grow, and you don't have to ink every turn. Some cards let you ink an extra card, and effects that put a card directly into the inkwell don't use up your once-per-turn action. Hyperia City (set 14) adds ink drops, counters you can remove to pay 1 ink each; they sit in your inkwell but aren't cards and don't count as ink. The guide to reading a Lorcana card shows where the inkwell symbol is printed.

Drying: why a new character waits a turn

A character that entered play this turn is drying. Until the Set step of your next turn, it can't quest, can't challenge, and can't exert to pay a cost, which includes singing a song. Its other abilities work right away: a "when you play this character" effect still happens.

Rush is the main exception: a character with Rush can challenge the turn it is played, though it still can't quest. Items and locations never dry, so an item's ability can be used the turn you play it. Moving a character to a location doesn't exert it, so a drying character can move. The Lorcana keywords guide covers Rush and the other keywords that change these rules.

Li Shang - Imperial Captain

Fabled #193

No text: played this turn, it can't quest or challenge until your next turn.

Queen of Hearts - Impulsive Ruler

Fabled #123

Rush: can challenge the turn it's played, but still can't quest.

Ending your turn

When you have nothing left you want to do, you declare the end of your turn. You can't end it in the middle of an action or while abilities are still waiting to resolve. Two keywords also stop you: a ready character with Reckless that can challenge, or a ready character with Adventurous that can quest, has to do so first.

In the End-of-Turn Phase, abilities that say "at the end of your turn" or "at the end of the turn" resolve first. Then effects that lasted "this turn" end, such as the Strength from Support. Damage does not go away: it stays on a character until it leaves play or an effect removes it. Last, the game checks whether you have any cards left in your deck. A player whose own turn ends with an empty deck loses, which how to win at Lorcana explains.

What the first turns look like

Each player draws 7 cards and may mulligan once, putting any number on the bottom of their deck and drawing back to 7. The starting player skips their first draw, and has nothing to challenge on turn one, so a typical first turn is to ink a card and play a 1-cost character if you have one. A character played on turn one can quest on turn two.

Ink grows by one each turn you ink, so on turn three you usually have 3 ink. Most decks plan their curve around that: a 1 or 2 on the first turns, then larger characters as the inkwell grows. The deck-building guide explains how to count inkable cards so you can ink every turn.

Frequently Asked Questions