The Six Disney Lorcana Inks and How to Pair Two

Welcome to Level 2. At Level 1 you learned to ink well, choose between questing and challenging, and upgrade a starter deck. Now you start building decks of your own, and that begins with a choice every Lorcana deck makes: which two inks?

A constructed deck can use no more than two of the six inks. That rule shapes everything. Each ink has its own personality, and a deck is the story of two of them working together.

The six inks

What follows are broad tendencies, the kind of thing you notice after looking through a few hundred cards. They are not rules, every ink has exceptions, and each new set shifts the picture a little. The card text always decides.

Amber. Warm and supportive. You will often find songs and characters that sing them well, healing that removes damage, and characters that protect or help each other. Amber decks often like having many characters in play at once.

Amethyst. Magical and tricky. Look for card draw, characters with abilities that change the board, and effects that move or return characters. Amethyst rewards players who read their whole board for combinations.

Emerald. Sly and flexible. Emerald has many ways to make opposing cards leave play or return to hand, plus elusive characters that are hard to challenge. It tends to win by disruption rather than by size.

Ruby. Bold and aggressive. Ruby leans toward challenging, damage, and fast characters, with keywords like Rush and Reckless showing up often. Ruby wants to fight for the board early.

Sapphire. Thoughtful and patient. Sapphire is the ink most associated with items, extra ink, and looking at the top of your deck. It often plays a longer game and ends with powerful, expensive cards.

Steel. Strong and sturdy. Steel brings high Strength, characters that are hard to banish, and effects that deal damage. Many Bodyguards and much of the game’s raw muscle live here.

Why two inks, and which two

A single ink has gaps. An ink full of supportive characters may struggle to remove a big threat. An ink full of removal may struggle to quest fast. The second ink is there to fill those gaps.

Three ways to choose a pair:

Start from a plan. Do you want to race, gathering lore quickly with many cheap characters? Do you want to control the board, challenging and removing until your opponent runs out of steam? Do you want to build toward big, expensive cards? Pick the ink that does your plan best, then pick the second for what the first one lacks.

Start from a card. Many good decks begin with one card a player loves. Find two or three other cards that make it better, see which inks they are in, and build from there.

Start from what you own. If your collection is deep in two inks, that pair is your best first build. A deck made from cards you have, tested and tuned, beats a deck you cannot finish.

Checks for any pair

Once you have a pair in mind, ask four questions. Each “no” is a gap to fill.

1. Can it quest? Does the pair have enough characters with good lore values at low and middle costs?
2. Can it remove a threat? If your opponent plays one huge character, how do you deal with it: a challenge, damage, or a card that banishes or returns it?
3. Can it refill? Does it have a way to draw extra cards, so you do not run out of things to do?
4. Does it have enough inkable cards? Some inks and cards lean uninkable. Count before you commit.

Dual-ink cards

Some cards carry two ink types and count as both. They only fit a deck whose two inks match the card’s two inks exactly. They can be great glue for the right pair, and unplayable in any other.

Find your pair

You do not need the strongest pair to learn. You need a pair you enjoy playing, with all four checks covered. Play it until you know every card, then try another. Each pair teaches a different way to win, and the lessons carry over.

Your starter decks are a good place to practice this. Check which inks each one uses, then run the four checks on it: what it does well, and what it lacks. That is the first pairing lesson, already in your hands.