Spoiler season is upon us. Set for release on March 7, 2025, Disney Lorcana’s very own Ryan Miller has given fans a deeper look at the upcoming expansion set, Archazia’s Island.
Dual Ink Cards; A Tale Between Two Designs
Back in our previous article, there were two leading theories as to the implementation of the upcoming dual ink cards. One theory was that the cards in question would be allowed into any deck so long as one of the ink colors was present. The other theory was that the dual ink cards could only be used in decks that had both specified colors, essentially asking the player to use that particular combination of ink if they wanted to use a specific dual ink card.
As it turns out, in an interview with TheGamer, Ryan and co-designer, Steve Warner, tested both avenues while developing the dual ink cards. Ryan himself was more favorable to the first theory presented as he wanted deck building to be less restrictive. Steve, however, managed to sway Ryan to the other side.
According to Miller, giving decks access to dual ink cards outside of their specific combination (e.g. an Amethyst-Ruby dual ink card being placed in a Ruby-Sapphire deck) would end up diluting the viability of the dual ink cards.
This design choice would then introduce a new set of balance changes that would need to be addressed as certain ink combinations were designed to adhere to particular playstyles or mechanics. Ultimately, this in turn would lead to the dual ink cards becoming suboptimal as the player would have to pay more for what the dual ink card would be able to provide in the game.
Miller continues the interview by stating that the restrictions to dual ink cards would allow the design team to support uncommonly played ink combinations with powerful new cards featuring a combination of mechanics that normally aren’t played on a single ink card.
A Taste of What’s to Come
Ink Geyser is one of the newest additions to the Disney Lorcana roster that is coming in the Archazia's Island expansion. An Emerald-Sapphire dual ink card that showcases a powerful if somewhat haphazard effect.
Starting at a cost of three ink, this action card sees both players exerting their entire inkwell. Any player who has more than three cards in their inkwell would then randomly return cards to their hand until only three are left. This would effectively dial back both players' momentum depending on the board state of the game.
This is also the first time Disney Lorcana has seen a card that actively affects cards already in the inkwell. Miller points out that players interacting with another player’s resources in a game could lead to potential frustration if left unchecked. Amusingly, Ink Geyser sidesteps this conundrum by not only having both players affected but also having an element of randomness.
At the same time, this is still an incredible tool for Emerald-Sapphire decks as they have access to cards that can easily allow their player to add cards into the inkwell at a faster rate than what is normally allowed by the rules (one card per turn).
So far, this is just the tip of the iceberg for Archazia’s Island. Disney Lorcana is still a relatively young Trading Card Game (TCG), only being released in August 2023, making it less than two years old at the time of writing. That said, it has been successful and is now on its way to its 2025 World Championship.
With creative minds like Ryan and Steve at the helm and always on the lookout for the game’s overall longevity, we may see Disney Lorcana become a juggernaut in the TCG sphere, if it isn’t already considered one just because of the intellectual property backing it.