Ravensburger has taken a detailed look at the headline gameplay addition in the upcoming Disney Lorcana set, Hyperia City: ink drops. Sam Johanson, Game Development lead on the set, walks through how this mechanic changes resource management.
What is an ink drop?
Until now, ramping your inkwell beyond one card per turn was essentially a Sapphire specialty. Hyperia City changes that:
- Ink drops are a temporary ink you collect over the course of the game.
- Every ink color combination can make them, not just Sapphire.
- Each ink drop is worth 1 ink.
- Once spent, an ink drop is removed from the game (until a card makes a new one).
- They can be used the same turn they are created.
How do you make them?
Ink drops are generated by the cards in your deck, in a variety of ways:
- Tadashi Hamada – Making Waves: makes 2 ink drops when banished. With 3 lore, he puts your opponent in a bind — let him quest, or banish him and hand you ink.
- Higitus Figitus: a song that makes 3 ink drops. Sing it early with a Singer 6 character — and the set has plenty of singers — to drop an 8-cost character as early as turn five.
What do you do with them?
Ink drops are spent exactly like regular ink. Two ways to play them:
- Spend them fast to flood the board with cheap characters and seize tempo;
- Bank them for one big turn later in the game.
Either way, they give you real flexibility at any stage of the game.
Cards that get stronger with ink drops
Some cards change their effect — for the better — when you use an ink drop to play them:
- Madam Mim – Resourceful Trickster (8 cost): her on-play ability only triggers when you use ink drops to play her. Her second ability, Bauble Game, gives future value to the ink drops you keep making. Ravensburger expects plenty of Amethyst ink drop decks built around getting her out as fast as possible — and the turn-five Higitus Figitus line looks tailor-made for it.
- Jousting Match: deals 2 damage to a chosen character, or 5 damage if you use an ink drop to play it. Paired with Arthur – Jousting Knight, it makes a strong answer to aggressive strategies.
Our take
Ink drops open resource acceleration to every color, which should broaden the range of ramp decks and shake up the competitive meta. Dual-mode cards like Jousting Match also add an interesting layer of decision-making: play it now, or wait for an ink drop to get the bigger effect.
To try these cards as soon as possible, check out a Hyperia City Prerelease event at your local store (findable through the Ravensburger Play Hub).
Source: Ink Drop Deep Dive – Disney Lorcana (Ravensburger)