The Ink Table Podcast Episode 17: "Going the Distance"
The Thrill of Competition
We stand on the shores of Destiny. Salt fills the air, and a commotion can be heard from across the seas. Whispers slowly grow louder, until audible cheers and excitement can be made out. Illumineers from all over the globe have converged. A friendly contest between heroes has begun, and only one question remains. Who will go the distance?
Welcome to The Ink Table, where the team has been keeping a diligent eye on the first DLC of Lorcana’s 2nd competitive season. So pull up a seat and join the conversation as we dissect what happened in Bologna, and what Illumineers have to look forward to in the near future.
But First…
Community Clash
Recently Dylan was invited to represent The Ink Table in a Lorcana creator tournament hosted by Lorcana Heat. This tournament is titled Prince Ali’s Thrilla in Vanilla. Fittingly, all decks will be themed around vanilla cards who do not offer anything other than their stat line.
Random ink pairings were given to each participant before sending them off to build a deck. A minimum of 30 characters must be used, and all must be vanilla. There are no restrictions on any other location, action, song, or item cards played outside of that they must meet your ink requirements. Dylan’s random ink pairing will be Amythest / Emerald.
The Thrilla in Vanilla tournament couldn’t have come at a better time, as the recent release of Fabled brought in Lorcana’s very first set rotation. Although many cards are now unplayable in the normal Core Constructed, fun and engaging community driven events such as this give players the chance to still “Play with their cards”.
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Announcement!!
On November 16th at 1pm EST, The Ink Table Podcast will be recording LIVE across YouTube and Twitch to celebrate the 1 Year Anniversary of the show. We hope you pull up a seat and join the celebration as we reflect back on our first year, discuss the latest Whispers in the Well news, and give back to the community that has supported us thus far.
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A Whisper of News
We hope you are as excited as we are about this one. On October 14th at TWITCH.TV/DISNEYLORCANA Ravensburger will be holding a special Whispers in the Well themed Lorecast. We can’t wait to learn more about the next set and dive back into the overarching story, while checking out Glimmers and characters from Ips being added for the first time…like Gargoyles and The Black Cauldron.
DLC #1: Bologna
Wrought with controversy, Season 2 of Lorcana is now underway. To this point, the community has remained divided as constant setbacks have continued to appear. This second season, while providing DLCs to more countries, cut back how many DLCs would take place in Europe and The United States. Not only are there less but also bunched within a smaller area making them less accessible to many Illumineers. Then there were issues with ticket sales and hotel blocks.
But… We can now get a definitive answer on whether the hype and suffering were worth the wait. What happened at Bologna and was it full of Disney Magic?
Firstly, we would like to congratulate all of the hosts and commentators who brought the heart and passion over the course on the event and acted as the bridge between Illuminners at home and the event itself.
As always, our friend Rebekah Quests and her co-host Baker did a fantastic job facilitating and entertaining the masses. Kawa and “Speci” Joe Curley were very informative and showcased an understanding of the game that made it easy for viewers to follow along with matches. Erica being from Italy, the location this event was taking place, brought insight on many of the EU players we otherwise may not have had. And the charismatic Kim was a shining star as her genuine excitement and joy was contagious.
Above you can see the Meta-Breakdown of Ink pairings brought to Bologna. We at The Ink Table like to refer to this as our current State of the Inks. We don’t necessarily cover the individual decklists, but we do attempt to analyze and give feedback on ink itself.
Zero Emerald/Ruby
Out of all the possible ink combinations that exist, there was only one that not a single player brought to this DLC. In a way, this is comedically ironic. Releasing alongside Fabled was a new Single Player Deck honoring this ink pairing. This entry level deck also included some featured cards including Powerline and Max Goof along with many more of the game’s first A Goofy Movie cards. Fabled released with 171 reprinted cards and very few mechanically new cards. The lack of Emerald/Ruby decks at this event shows that these new cards, though from a popular Ip, have made little impact to the game overall,
Ruby/Sapphire
Arguably the most prominent deck throughout Season 1, only one Illumineer brought this ink combination. Popularized by DKP, the reigning World Champion, this combination dominated past events. Ravensburger has made it a goal to flip the meta. Seeing this deck at the bottom of the list, it is safe to say that they have accomplished what they set out to do.
Amethyst
One ink color stood high above the rest. Just as Sapphire reigned supreme during Season 1, making up almost 70% of the competition at one point, Amethyst now commands the meta. About 53% of the deck brought included Amethyst, and 3 of the top 4 decks included it. This may be because of the focus on containing pure card drawn as a mechanic solely to this ink type.
Amethyst/Sapphire
To Preston’s delight, it was ultimately Blurple that won the entire competition. Although an astonishing 683 people brought this ink combo (about 36% of the overall field), only one of these decks made the top 8 before going to win.
DLC Milwaukee
The next DLC of the circuit will take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the weekend of October 24-26th. And Surprise, Surprise!!
Just as we did for Gen Con, we will be bringing you direct coverage from the event as Preston will be attending. So follow the socials to keep up with the stories as this event takes place. And join the Discord, where Illumineers from all over the world gather to take part in the “table talk” and discussions as these events occur.