Ink drops are set to join Disney Lorcana with the upcoming release of the Hyperia City set, introducing a mechanic functionally identical to Magic: The Gathering's popular Treasure tokens. These artifacts can be sacrificed to generate one ink, offering players a way to accelerate their resource generation or save for larger plays. However, early analysis of Hyperia City's card interactions suggests that ink drops are more than just a simple reskin of an existing mechanic, offering unique strategic depth across Lorcana's various ink colors.
First introduced in Magic: The Gathering's 2017 Ixalan set, Treasure tokens quickly became a ubiquitous and versatile mechanic, fundamentally altering modern Magic gameplay. Lorcana's ink drops, arriving with the Hyperia City prerelease on October 16 and wider launch on October 23, are designed to function similarly. They can be generated through various in-game actions and added to the inkwell, where they can be removed to produce one ink.
Initial hands-on experience with Hyperia City cards indicates that ink drops are not merely a cosmetic change. The set distributes these new resources across all six ink types, though not uniformly. More significantly, several new cards reward players for producing and spending ink drops in ways specific to their ink color's strategy. This encourages diverse deck-building approaches, particularly a focus on cards from the 1963 film The Sword in the Stone when combining specific ink types.
Ink Drops Beyond Simple Resource Generation
Hyperia City encourages players to view ink drops as more than just a temporary boost to ink. Certain cards generate ink drops through actions like questing, challenging other characters, or when the card itself is banished. Conversely, other cards gain power or require the spending of an ink drop as part of their cost. This creates a strategic tension: using an ink drop for immediate advantage might mean forgoing a more potent effect later in the game.
Emerald, for example, ties ink drops to its collection of "Super" characters, drawing synergy from franchises like Big Hero 6, The Incredibles, and Darkwing Duck. Cards like Fred - Awesome Boss allow players to generate an ink drop each time a Super character is played, encouraging a strategy of playing multiple low-cost Supers to rapidly accumulate ink drops. Go Go Tomago - Extreme Tester generates them when challenged, while Baymax - Lab Assistant creates two upon being played if specific board conditions are met.
Steel offers a more aggressive approach to ink drop generation, rewarding players for common actions such as playing characters, questing, and challenging opponents. Kit Cloudkicker - Sure Shot generates an ink drop or deals damage when questing, and Shere Khan - Khan Industries CEO creates one whenever one of your characters banishes an opponent's in a challenge. Steel also includes direct actions like Ink Explosion, which deals damage and generates an ink drop, and Khan Transport, which draws a card and creates an ink drop, positioning Steel as a strong secondary color for ink drop-focused decks.
The Merlin and Arthur Ink Drop Strategy
The most potent demonstration of ink drops' potential lies in the Steel-Amethyst combination, particularly with cards featuring Merlin and Arthur. The Steel location Central Station - Transportation Hub generates an ink drop once per turn when a character moves to it. Arthur - Novice Assistant can be played to move to a location for free and create an ink drop, enabling consistent ink generation through repeated movement.
Arthur - Jousting Knight, which can Shift onto other Arthur cards, generates an ink drop upon banishing another character. Arthur - Novice Blacksmith offers another method for ink drop creation upon entering play. When combined with Shere Khan, these cards can facilitate substantial ink drop generation through consistent challenging.
The Amethyst ink color introduces Merlin cards that synergize with this Steel-based Arthur engine. Playing Merlin, Bauble Expert while an Arthur is in play generates an ink drop. Shifting into Merlin - Ink Drop Tinkerer can then yield two additional ink drops. This sequence can rapidly generate three temporary ink resources, significantly accelerating a player's ink advantage. Amethyst cards like Madam Mim - Resourceful Trickster reward players with card draw for spending ink drops, while Steel's Jousting Match provides a damage bonus if paid for with ink drops.
These synergies highlight how ink drops function as a shared language spoken differently by each ink color, unlike the more uniform Treasure tokens in Magic. Emerald uses them for superhero synergies, Steel for combat and movement, and Amethyst for Shift strategies. While Ruby, Sapphire, and Amber have less direct ink drop focus in Hyperia City, they compensate with strengths in songs and singing characters.
The design of ink drops as more than just generic resources provides significant mechanical flexibility. While immediate use can speed up gameplay, hoarding them for opportune moments can lead to more engaging and complex turns. The Merlin and Arthur combination exemplifies this, showcasing how ink drops can be integrated into Lorcana's systems—enabling characters to Shift, locations to fuel engines, challenges to create resources, and those resources to either accelerate future plays or enhance current ones. This integration gives ink drops a distinct identity, setting them apart from their Magic: The Gathering counterparts.