Disney Lorcana‘s latest set stands out from the rest. While the last few releases have been focussed on advancing a villain-focussed story set within fanciful Disney realms, Hyperia City takes a break from the action, allowing players to explore colourful and culture-rich city streets in a new world inspired by our own.
The new Hyperia City setting is an urban fantasy landscape a bit inspired by Disney/Pixar film Coco, itself inspired by real-world Mexico and its culture, and a bit inspired by Disney’s theme parks. Across various card artwork you can see characters wandering through real-world locations like concert halls, shopping malls, city offices and streets filled with parades.
All the while, many are singing songs, adding to the set’s celebratory vibes.
As well as getting to explore this city and meet its many colourful denizens, the Hyperia City set is defined by its lighter-hearted musical tone, with the characters of Coco leading the call.
That’s not all. Hyperia City also houses one of the most game-changing mechanics of Disney Lorcana to date, making it feel like a must-get new arrival for long-time players and new fans alike.
Disney Lorcana: Hyperia City review – quick links
Music fills the streets of Disney Lorcana: Hyperia City
Hyperia City, as mentioned, is a very song and singer-heavy set. Most of the characters from Coco are singers (a character subtype that can sing song cards for one effect or another). Their artwork also reflects this, with many of protagonist Miguel’s cards showing him performing in the streets, surrounding by magical notes and flourishes.
An array of new, useful songs are also introduced here, including some Disney classics like ‘If She Doesn’t Scare You’ (101 Dalmations) which banishes an opponent’s character at the cost of banishing one of your own, ‘Another Tale to Spin’ (TaleSpin), which lets you draw a card and add an ink drop (and more on those later) and ‘Magnificent, Marvelous’ (The Sword in the Stone) which gains you two lore and card draw.
It’s nice to have a new set focussed on singers, and particularly non-princess singers. There’s already plenty of those in the game, and I’m already very well enamoured by my existing princess-themed singer deck, led by Ariel and Cinderella.
Here, the other singers of the Disney universe shine, including Miguel and one unexpected MVP returnee: Meilin Lee from Turning Red.
First, the character artwork for this particular card rules. But more importantly, she’s a very powerful singer that can transform any deck, thanks to her accompanying ink drop generation. She’s got singer 5, so she can sing songs of up to five ink cost. She also has the ‘Super Stoked’ ability which allows you to get one ink drop whenever you play a song per turn.
Now, those unfamiliar may be asking what an ink drop is and why it’s so important. As a new feature introduced in Hyperia City, it’s a real game-changer.
Ink drops change the game for Disney Lorcana
An array of cards in Disney Lorcana‘s Hyperia City set have the ability to create ink drops. These are single-use ink that exist in your pool and can be played during your turn to pay for card costs.
Prior to Hyperia City, you could only use ‘permanent’ ink from your inkwell to pay for cards. Now, you have a more flexible source that can be used to speed up the arrival of higher-ink cost cards or to make a surprise play.
I wouldn’t be surprised if ink drops completely changed the meta for Disney Lorcana, as they’re a really cool and fruitful new mechanic that transforms how you’re able to play, and how fast you can play certain characters. For those playing competitively, it would certainly be a good idea to consider an upgrade utilising the ink drop-generating characters from this set.
Take a card like Tadashi Hamada – Making Waves. He’s a three-lore dropper, and when he’s inevitably banished for being too powerful, you get two ink drops. In a game without ink drop cards, a banishment would leave players significantly behind their opponents. Getting two extra ink drops means you can speed ahead and potentially play a new, more powerful character immediately next turn. You could even sneak a two-ink cost effect in to ensure you’re still making strides.
There’s also an array of characters that feature ink drop creation per moves on the board while they remain in play. There’s Meilin Lee – Ecstatic Fan, who creates ink drops once during your turn when you play a song (which is a lovely bit of flavour, as she’s a music fangirl). There’s also Marie – Caught in the Act, which is a one-ink cost card that creates an ink drop whenever it quests, if an opponent takes damage that turn.
Another major highlight is Mickey Mouse – Best in Town, a one-ink cost card with Adventurous that gives you one ink drop if it’s exerted at the end of your turn. As long as you can keep this Mickey Mouse on the board, you’ll end up accumulating extra ink every turn.
Sneaking in a few of these ink droppers into your deck – and there’s some for every colour, which is great to see – means you can charge up your decks and ensure you’ve always got ink to sling around.
As mentioned, it’s a great mechanic. It’s one that feels very flexible in rounds of gameplay, and helps to keep the meta of Disney Lorcana fresh. You might need to consider revamping a deck to take advantage of this new mechanic but with plenty of options, new cards will likely slide in easily.
Overall verdict on Disney Lorcana: Hyperia City
With the arrival of this new ink drop mechanic, Hyperia City arrives as a strong and very useful new set.
While it doesn’t meaningfully advance the narrative behind Disney Lorcana – which may or may not rankle, depending on what you value in a TCG – there’s plenty of bright flavour and personality in the new lot of cards.
Its musical focus is a joy, and will absolutely serve players running any kinds of singer decks, particularly with helpful new boosting cards like the aforementioned Meilin Lee.
This set is liable to shake up competitive card decks, but that’s the fun and joy of TCGs. It’s nice to see Disney Lorcana taking a bolder leap forward, with new ways to play that keep the game feeling fresh and challenging.
A Disney Lorcana: Hyperia City Illumineers Trove was provided for the purposes of this review.
