Lorcana Reveals Dual Ink Type Cards and a New Keyword
Perhaps ironically, less than a day after it was announced that spoilers for Lorcana’s seventh set would be starting on February 10, 2025, brand new cards were somewhat accidentally revealed via Lorcana’s marketing site. And they weren’t just run-of-the-mill starter deck cards. No – instead the biggest update to the game probably since Locations were first announced back in set three has been confirmed: we are getting dual Ink type cards.
As if that weren’t enough, we’re also getting a new keyword: Vanish.
Here’s what this could mean for the game.
Dual Ink types could bring variety to the game
In the early days of Lorcana it seemed we were getting new decks and meta-relevant cards almost every set. That pace of innovation began to slow somewhat around set four, until today when most of the top tier Lorcana decks are basically the same deck (albeit with meaningful enhancements).
As such, brand new decks infrequently make it into the metagame, or perform particularly well competitively.
Could that change with dual Ink types? Indeed, it is possible.
Although we don’t have any official statements on how dual Ink type cards will work, it seems safe to assume that they probably are cards that count for two different Inks. By bridging the gap between Ink types in this way, decks could finally break out of the two-color mode that’s defined Lorcana to date, and potentially lead to deck building innovation at a scale simply not possible before.
Bringing key cards into the folds of more than one Ink type could also help balance the game, ensuring more strategies have access to key cards to help their mechanics run more smoothly.
Combo decks could get better with dual Ink type cards
The general failure of combo-specific decks in Lorcana to date feels like a travesty given the sheer number of interesting mechanics written into the game. By and large these mechanics go unused in favor of the stronger and arguably more reliable mechanics that have come to make up the backbone of key decks.
Sapphire decks are dominated by items and the powerful Flaversham draw engine, while Amethyst is built around the Merlin/Madam Mim bounce package that was introduced as early as set two.
Building decks that combo specific cards to gain an advantage are growing more scant as the game grows more aggressive, partly to deal with a lopsided meta that sees the deck with the strongest cards that ramps the fastest utterly dominating.
Dual type cards could potentially help this situation, although its far from a done deal. Cards would have to be very strategically released to help enhance existing strategies rather than what is typically done where half-fleshed out strategies are released into the game with little follow through on supporting mechanics.
What kind of dual type Ink cards could have the biggest impact?
While other TCGs tend to introduce brand new decks and strategies in big sets, new Lorcana sets simply come with winners and losers. Some Inks get stronger, while others fail to keep up. In this way the Lorcana doesn’t change so much as it “shifts” to use a Lorcana term.
To that end, dual Ink type cards that democratize specific, key functions would go the farthest in making the game more balanced.
For example, a dual Ink type card that enables consistent draw support could make specific combo decks more feasible, as they could rely less on deck consuming combos like Flaversham to make more space for cards that would better support a more alternate strategy.
Other games have these sorts of cards that are basically deck neutral – cards like Mew ex from Pokemon TCG are a great example that pair with a variety of strategies. By being more neutral and not fitting within a specific wheelhouse, it makes it possible for a much greater variety of decks to flourish.
Greater access to ramp could impact the game
Draw support isn’t the only type of card that could be well served by a dual Ink type. Another problematic issue with Lorcana is that one Ink type has a manopoly on adding cards to your Inkwell outside of the standard once per turn stipulation. It still boggles my mind how Lorcana creators could have built the Inking system into the game as a way to keep the game balanced but also added the insane cards to Sapphire that it has, making it possible for players running that Ink type to add so many cards to their Inkwell and add so many more options to their deck than any other combo is capable of.
If every Ink type had access to some sort of additional Ink, the gap could potentially close a little and make Ruby/Sapphire less of an overwhelmingly strong deck.
Lorcana gets a new keyword: Vanish
We don’t know yet how dual Ink types will impact the game but there is hope they will do so positively. However, putting that aside we do have a new keyword entering the game: the first of its kind since we got the Sing Together mechanic back in Ursula’s Return. That keyword appears to be the Vanish keyword: a new ability that enables a character to banish when chosen by an action.
This keyword does seem a little odd given the current meta game as there aren’t many scenarios where banishing a character would be better than letting them be chosen by an action. However, given the text available in the Jafar card, it’s quite likely some new strategies will be cooked into the cards found in Archazia’s Island that will impact this.
Despite having some incredible sets last year, there hasn’t been huge innovation in the Lorcana gameplay in several sets. Could that all change with the new things getting introduced in Archazia’s Island? I hope so. Lorcana’s game has a solid foundation built already. It’s time to put the pedal to the metal and see just what some of the existing cards and strategies can do with the right kind of added support.
