Ink Drop Deep Dive

Hello, Illumineers! My name is Sam Johanson, and I lead Game Development for Hyperia City.

If you’re new to Disney Lorcana Trading Card Game, or even an experienced player, you know that adding additional cards to your inkwell is normally something we only do in Sapphire. In Hyperia City, we switched that up with the new ink drop mechanic! Ink drops are a new type of temporary ink that you can gather as you play. Plus, every ink color combination can make them, not just Sapphire. Each ink drop is worth 1 ink, and once you use it, you remove it from the game.

Making Ink Drops

In the game, you’ll make ink drops using the cards in your deck. Cards can make ink drops in many ways.

The Tadashi Hamada – Making Waves card makes 2 ink drops whenever the card is banished, which is a fantastic upside to its 3 lore. Your opponent won’t want you to have this guy around for too long!

Higitus Figitus drops ink too, this time as a song! Since you can use ink drops in the same turn you make them, you can combo this card’s song ability with a Singer 6 to make an exciting play. Sing this card early with the plethora of singer characters in this set to give yourself 3 ink drops and play an 8-cost character as early as turn five! Maybe later in this article there will be a cool 8-cost character that would be perfect for this . . .

Okay . . . I Have Ink Drops. Now What?

Once you have ink drops, you can use them the same as you would ink! Just remember, once you use an ink drop, it goes back outside the game until you make it again. Use your ink drops early and fast to play out lots of small characters or save them up for one big play later in the game! Having lots of ink drops gives you great flexibility at any point in the game.

Augment Your Cards with Ink Drops!

Some cards change their ability when you use an ink drop to play them.

Remember when I mentioned exciting 8-cost characters? Well, Madam Mim – Resourceful Trickster activates her on-play ability when you use ink drops to play her. And when we check out her second ability, Bauble Game, we can see that she gives your ink drops future value as you continue making them. We expect lots of Amethyst ink drop decks to focus their strategies around getting this card out as soon as possible.

The Jousting Match card deals 2 damage to a chosen character, OR when you use an ink drop to play it, it deals a whopping 5 damage instead! Combining this card with Arthur – Jousting Knight makes a fantastic pair against opposing aggressive strategies.

As you can see, ink drops are sure to change the competitive landscape. It’ll be a blast when Illumineers can get their hands on these and start playing! Make sure to check out your local Hyperia City Prerelease event to play with these cards as soon as possible.