Quick Links
Summary
Disney Lorcana, well into its run by now, has quickly enchanted TCG fans and Disney lovers alike; blending strategic gameplay with nostalgia-soaked characters from across the company’s animated vault. Alas, as is the case for pretty much every TCG that lasts beyond a year or so, power-creep tends to become a thing, and certain cards wind up becoming stronger than was bargained for. EnterHiram Flaversham, Toymaker, the first card to be officially banned from competitive Lorcana play.
But why, you may be wondering, would a Z-list face from ‘80s classic The Great Mouse Detective be banished from the Great Illuminary? Here’s everything you need to know about the card, its associated controversy, and what it all means for Lorcana’s evolving meta (sorry, Sapphire players).
A quick note: this situation is constantly changing, andthere may be a line for Hiram to return to the game in the futurewith errata alterations. For now, at least, our information is accurate.
Who Is Hiram Flaversham?
If you haven’t seen The Great Mouse Detective (which, come on now,you should rectify at your earliest convenience), Hiram Flaversham isa kindly inventor mouse whose toy-making skills are exploited by the villainous Ratigan. It gets a bit daft and complicated, but the upshot is the poor Scot is pressganged intobuilding a robotic version of the Queen, so as to dupe England into giving Ratigan the throne.
In Lorcana, he’s represented asa character glimmer with a strategic focus on item usage– pretty fitting for a tinkerer, right? But ah, how naïve we all were. The original card text for Hiram Flaversham, Toymaker reads:
Artificer: When you play this character, and whenever he quests, you may banish one of your items to draw two cards.
And therein lies the rub. At first glance, it seems likea decent support card for item-heavy decks.But in practice, it opened the floodgates for some truly busted combos.
Why Was Hiram Banned?
The short answer is that Flaversham enabled decks that couldplay multiple draw-enabling item cards in a single turn for minimal cost, while also drawing cards via the Artificer ability to replace themselves (with interest), allowing players tocycle through their deck at lightning speed.
The longer and more technical answer is that Hiram had phenomenal, borderline broken, synergy withPawpsicle and Fortisphere, two inexpensive item cards thatcost just 1 ink each and also allow you to draw a card when they’re played.Because Hiram’s ability lets you banish an item to draw two more cards whenever he quests or enters play, players couldrapidly tear through their deck and load up obscene hands by looping cheap items, all for minimal ink investment.
Fortisphere hasalso met the business end of the ban hammer, though Pawpsicle has not, despite their associated issues being very similar. It’s thought that this is toavoid crippling Nick and Judy from Zootopia,whose abilities directly tie into the Pawpsicle (and indeed each other).
Combined with Hiram’slow play cost of 4 ink and a not-to-be-sneezed-at 6 willpower (health), he was not only easy to field but extremely hard to remove, creating a snowball effect whereone well-timed Hiram could turn into an overwhelming hand advantagebefore opponents had a chance to respond. Thanks to his ink colour of Sapphire, whichfavours ramp decks, he was also often on the board within only a few turns.
All of this became especially problematic in competitive play, where several top-tier decks began revolving arounditem spamandFlaversham-fueled draw engines. Games were becoming predictable, lopsided; and, if we’re being frank, less fun.
Ravensburger’s Response
Ravensburger, the publishers of Lorcana, have beenremarkably hands-off on the competitive scene thus far,which is uncharacteristic for a major TCG. The only real intervention they’ve made was toemergency-errata Bucky, the seemingly innocuous squirrel sidekick from The Emperor’s New Groove,whose ludicrous passive discard ability was corrected in reprints.
So it’s perhaps telling that theynot only banned Flaversham and his beloved Fortisphere, but alsoissued an explicit statement to this effect:
A ban is an important part of keeping a trading card game like Disney Lorcana thriving and fresh. The game design team chose to ban “Hiram Flaversham — Toymaker” and “Fortisphere” to ensure the greatest diversity of successful strategies was available to competitive players.
The ban is in effect as of April 8th, 2025, meaning all Disney Lorcana events taking place after that date will no longer accept deck lists with those cards included. This marks the first time cards have been banned since Disney Lorcana TCG launched in Aug 2023.
“No card is ever designed with the intention of it not being played in competition,” elaboratedElaine Chase, who’s Chief Marketing Officer for TCGs at Ravensburger.
“But in order to keep the meta-game healthy and challenging without it feeling stale or repetitive seeing the same strategies again and again, the TCG design team at Ravensburger made the difficult decision for the good of the game.We know bans are the last line of defense, and we will only pull that lever when it will increase excitement for competitive play.”
What does this all mean for the meta? It’s hard to say.Steel-Sapphire decksremain highly viable, as they deliver a one-two punch of ramping and high defensive capabilities. Steelsong may see a prominent return to the meta, or old favourites likeDiablo or Shark Mauimay be the backups in this scenario.
One thing’s for sure, though: at least for the moment,bonny ol' Hiram is consigned to the toy chest.
