Lorcana Ink colors explained: Strengths, weaknesses & combos
Disney/RavensburgerThe first step towards building your Disney Lorcana deck is selecting what Ink colors you want to play with. This guide will go over each of the six Lorcana Ink colors and everything they offer.
Disney Lorcana combines a host of beloved IP with impeccably tight TCG mechanics. The game has been building a massive community of players that looks set to keep growing thanks to a new international release schedule.
Drawing players and collectors alike with a killer suite of Enchanted cards that go for a decent amount of cash, there’s plenty to love. Of course, if you’re looking to start your Disney Lorcana journey, then a solid grasp of the basics is always advised.
One aspect of the game that governs nearly everything else is the ink colors of your character, item, and action cards. We’ve compiled a quick breakdown of the Disney Lorcana Ink colors and how they work.
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Why are Ink colors important in Disney Lorcana?
Ink colors in Disney Lorcana govern your deck archetype. Each one has its own unique identity and will excel in some aspects of the game while falling short in others.
There are six Ink colors in total: Amber (yellow), amethyst (purple), emerald (green), ruby (red), sapphire (blue), and steel (grey). When building a deck in Disney Lorcana, the rules state that players can only include up to two of the six Ink colors except in special circumstances like draft events.
This means if you begin building a deck for constructed play and you start with an amethyst character card you like the look of, then add an Item card from steel, you can’t add an emerald card. Or any other Ink color for that matter.
For this reason, it’s important to have an understanding of every Ink color in Disney Lorcana so you can decide what type of deck you want to play. Below is a list of all six Disney Lorcana Ink colors as well as their strengths, weaknesses, and combo potentials.
Amber
Disney/RavensburgerLike every Ink color in the game, Amber has a few different utilities. The Disney Lorcana website calls glimmers of the Amber color “purposeful, patient and dedicated”.
Many characters of this Ink color offer the ability to heal damage from your other characters and will offer benefits like card draw when you do. Amber also has a number of cards with the support ability meaning that when they quest, you can add their strength to another character.
Interestingly, amber is one of the favorite colors for an aggressive playstyle thanks to a number of low-cost characters with high questing potential. It’s also the only Ink color that allows players to play cards from their discard pile which can be an interesting theme to focus on.
Disney/RavensburgerAnother ability that is unique to Amber so far is characters with the Singer ability. These characters can sing songs that are higher than their Ink cost meaning you get access to powerful gameplay options earlier than your opponents.
For this reason, amber pairs very well with the steel Ink color because steel has a number of damage-dealing songs that can easily get rid of your opponent’s board. If you’re looking for a more aggressive style of play, you could also use amber in combination with amethyst to flood your board with cheap characters and quest faster than your opponent.
Amethyst
Disney/RavensburgerSpeaking of amethyst, the team at Ravensburger describes this as an “otherworldly Ink of sorcerers, sages, and animated objects”. Amethyst features a number of magical Disney characters with powerful on-play abilities.
Amethyst has access to a lot of options for card draw meaning you’ll usually have a lot more options than your opponents. You also get a number of characters with rush for instant attacking and evaisive cards that can’t be challenged directly by many other colors.
Like amber, amethyst has a range of good cards that are relatively cheap and usually have added bonuses for being played and even defeated. One of the staples for this Disney Lorcana Ink color is the Merlin/Mim bounce package.
Disney/RavensburgerCards like Merlin – Goat will award you one Lore when it enters and leaves play and Madam Mim – Snake forces you to send a character back to your hand to keep her on the field. By playing a Merlin card and sending it back to your hand with a Mim, you can get twice or even four times the value from their abilities.
Amethyst works well in combination with Steel because many amethyst characters have low willpower making them easy to get rid of. Steel’s sturdy characters and damage-dealing action cards complement amethyst by keeping your board full and softening targets.
You could also pair amethyst with ruby which has a number of powerful characters and songs that banish opponents directly. Amethyst’s excellent card draw means you’ll have a better chance of finding those cards in your deck.
Emerald
Disney/RavensburgerEmerald is an Ink color in Disney Lorcana that is “gifted with the ability to adapt to changing circumstances”, according to Ravensburger. What this means in practice is that Emerald decks are full of tricks that can frustrate opponents.
Emerald has access to a number of evasive characters that are hard to challenge. Those that aren’t will make you think twice about hitting them by applying a penalty such as Banishing the Challenging Character or forcing their player to discard a card.
In fact, making your opponent discard cards is an ability unique to the emerald Ink color and a core part of its identity. Not only do a number of characters, songs, and actions cause your opponent to Discard cards, but some even have abilities that give you a bonus for opponents having fewer cards in their hand than you.
Disney/RavensburgerEmerald, like many of the other Ink colors we have discussed so far, is particularly adept when paired with Steel. Both Colors have a number of very good Floodborn Characters that, when paired with Bucky – Squirrel Squeek Tutor, force your opponent to discard plenty of cards.
Ruby is another good option for emerald players. While your emerald cards want to be challenged by your opponent to activate their abilities, ruby specializes in rewarding you for taking the fight to your opponent for a good balance.
Ruby
Disney/RavensburgerDisney Lorcana’s ruby Ink color features characters who are quick and strong making them perfect for challenging. This Ink color has a number of cards with the rush ability meaning they can instantly attack the turn they are played.
It also has a suite of characters and actions that reward you for challenging with extra Lore or card draw. Coupled with plenty of evaisive cards that allow you to hit opponents trying to avoid you.
Unique to ruby is the ability to reduce your opponent’s Lore and set them back. It also has options for hard removal that can instantly banish characters, including Disney Lorcana’s only board wipe thanks to Be Prepared.
Disney/RavensburgerRuby can be used in combination with Amethyst to supplement your challengers with some handy tricks. Amethyst has a number of cards that will exert opposing characters leaving them vulnerable to attack.
Another solid pairing for this Ink color is sapphire thanks to its ability to outpace your opponent’s Inkwell. This lets you play powerful Characters and Actions faster and can be hard to keep up with.
Sapphire
Disney/RavensburgerSapphire glimmers are “intellectual, intelligent, and creative” according to the brochure. This Ink color excels at the use of Items and often has cards that interact with items by banishing them for new benefits.
Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker for example can banish an Item to draw two cards. Tamatoa – So Shiny is a powerful game closer that gets an additional Lore for every Item you have in play.
Sapphire also has a lot of access to Disney Lorcana’s Ward mechanic meaning they can’t be chosen as a target for action cards which increases your characters’ survivability. The most unique part of sapphire’s identity however is ramp options that allow you to put extra cards in your Inkwell to outpace your opponents’ resource generation.
Disney/RavensburgerSapphire excels when partnered up with ruby in a control-style deck that lets you push into the late game to play powerful removal options. It also adds some much-needed speed.
Steel is another viable option thanks to that Ink color’s useful Items. Steel also has a number of high-cost Characters with great stats and sapphire’s ramp allows you to play them early enough to overwhelm opponents.
Steel
Disney/RavensburgerSteadfast and strong, Steel features some of Disney Lorcana’s sturdiest Characters. This Ink color has a surprisingly balanced range of offensive and defensive capabilities that make it easy to build around.
Steel has a number of solid direct damage options thanks to Character abilities and Action cards like And Then Along Came Zeus. It also has some powerful Floodborn Characters that you can Shift in early with the right combos.
Defensively, this Disney Lorcana Ink color has a few Bodyguard options that when Exerted, force your opponent to deal with them first keeping your other characters safe. Steel also has access to the Resist mechanic which reduces incoming damage making it difficult to remove your characters without expending multiple cards.
Disney/RavensburgerSteel goes well with pretty much any Ink color in Disney Lorcana but we do have some recommendations. As previously mentioned, amber’s singer characters allow you to play powerful dteel songs ahead of time.
Both steel and sapphire have access to a suite of cards with synergistic benefits to hero characters which is a relatively new strategy. There’s also the tried and true ramp into powerful characters option.
Finally, pairing up with emerald is an insanely good combination thanks to each Ink color’s specialty. Steel keeps your opponent’s board clear while emerald’s discard keeps their hand clear. This constrains their options to a frustrating degree and forces them to rely on luck.
Disney/RavensburgerHopefully, this overview of Disney Lorcana’s Ink colors has helped you decide which of the six options seems suited to you. Of course, there are a number of potential playstyles and we’ve had trouble sticking to just one.
Now that you know enough about each Ink Color’s identity, why not take a look at our ranking of the Disney Lorcana Starter Decks to check which ones perform best with your favorite Ink?