Disney Lorcana reveals its multiplayer answer to Commander

Disney Lorcana is testing a new multiplayer format inspired by the ideas that made Magic: The Gathering’s Commander so popular. Codenamed Format Coconut, the format entered playtesting at Gen Con 2026 in Indianapolis, running from July 30 to August 2.

The name comes from Moana’s “Consider the coconut!” refrain in “Where You Are”. Coconuts are an important part of Motunui culture, and the reference provides a fitting name for a format built around considering a special character before constructing a deck.

How Format Coconut differs from regular Lorcana

Standard Magic is generally a two-player game with decks that can contain up to four copies of a card. Each player begins with 20 life, and losing all that life ends the game. Commander changes the structure: players choose a legendary creature that determines their deck’s colours, build a 100-card singleton deck including that creature, begin with 40 life and commonly play in groups of four.

Format Coconut takes a similar broad approach without copying those exact rules. It is designed for more than two players, uses a higher Lore target instead of the usual life total, and asks players to build singleton decks around a selected Coconut card. Lorcana co-creator Ryan Miller announced the concept in a blog post published before Gen Con.

Miller said co-designer Steve Warner and he had imagined group play from the beginning. Players can already use Lorcana’s basic multiplayer rules with more than two people, but Format Coconut is intended to take that experience further.

Choosing a Coconut card

Lorcana does not have an equivalent to Magic’s legendary creature classification, so Coconut cards come from a curated group of 18 beta options. Players select one before building their deck, then include four copies of that card in a deck containing at least 60 cards. The complete beta selection is available in the list of 18 beta cards.

The available characters are major Disney figures, mostly protagonists from individual films and franchises, with several villains included. Each is already designed as a build-around card with abilities that can establish a deck’s central plan. Under Format Coconut, every chosen character also receives an additional special ability.

Moana sets the deck’s direction

Moana – Curious Explorer from the Winterspell set demonstrates how the extra ability works. Her Ancestral Legacy ability allows cards to be inked from the discard pile. Her Coconut ability permits an additional card to be inked during a turn when Moana, Heihei or Pua is in play.

That combination rewards a player who can keep the discard pile stocked while accelerating their inkwell. Moana – Curious Explorer is a Sapphire card, and Format Coconut permits three ink types per deck, provided one matches the selected Coconut card. A Sapphire, Amethyst and Steel build could therefore support the discard and draw engine the character requires.

The result is a deck identity established before the rest of the list is assembled. Players still have room to decide how that identity should be expressed, rather than beginning with a completely open-ended search for the most efficient combination.

Disney themes are part of the strategy

Moana’s design also encourages a collection of Moana, Heihei and Pua cards, giving the deck a strong thematic centre. The other 17 beta choices follow the same philosophy. Snow White – Merry as Morning wants all seven dwarfs brought out of the deck. Ariel – Spectacular Singer provides extra Lore when a princess sings. Pocahontas – Peacekeeper increases the Lore gained when one of your characters quests.

These abilities make the format feel like an opportunity to build around a character’s story and supporting cast, rather than simply reproducing a proven competitive deck. That character-driven approach could give multiplayer Lorcana a distinct identity as testing continues.

An early experiment with plenty of room to grow

Format Coconut remains in its early testing phase, so its long-term place in Lorcana is not yet established. Its combination of multiplayer rules, larger decks, higher Lore requirements and character-led construction nevertheless gives it a clear point of difference from the core game.

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If players respond to Format Coconut as enthusiastically as Commander players did to that format, it could become one of Lorcana’s most popular ways to play. The beta choices already suggest two very different directions: a Nick Wilde – Wily Fox deck featuring Pawpsicles and other items, or a Robin Hood – Sneaky Sleuth build focused on firing arrows at opponents.