We’re now (in Australia) racing towards the end of “year one” in Disney Lorcana. Launching Down Under in June last year and with sets flying out in a fairly intense cadence, the seventh expansion, Archazia’s Island, has recently been released, bringing with it more new mechanics and adorable new Disney characters to add to your decks. Much like the last expansion Azurite Sea, Archazia’s Island doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to Lorcana, but it continues to add fresh ideas that show how the ‘new card game on the block’ is looking at the long-game, and very likely to stick around.
Ink on ink action
An addition that has been requested by fans since the outset, Dual Ink cards are the biggest highlighted feature of Archazia’s Island. This is something that Magic: The Gathering fans have had for decades now, but Disney Lorcana is still in its adolescence, so this feels like a major change that will mostly impact how decks are built.
“…this feels like a major change that will mostly impact how decks are built.”
Since Disney Lorcana launched, every card has belonged to one of six magical ink colours: Amethyst, Amber, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire and Steel. Importantly, each of these colours has its own personality and style when it comes to gameplay. When building decks, you’re limited to only using a maximum of 2 ink colours.
Dual Ink cards belong to two colours and have characteristics from both; this means they can really bolster those decks that use those two colours. They can bring in different traits and allow for some creative synergies for characters that weren’t possible before, and while some of them are indeed powerful, the limitation of what decks they can show up in balances that somewhat.
Of course, unlike Magic: The Gathering and other TCGs where mana must be spent from a specific colour pool, Disney Lorcana always pulls its Ink cost from the one pool of Ink, which can be used to play any card. In that sense, the Dual Ink cards debuting in Archazia’s Island certainly offer more tactical options, but aren’t going to necessarily dominate your opponents more than single Ink cards. That’s likely intentional for now, but there are some stand-outs; Te Ka – Elemental Terror has a cost of 10, but with a 12 Strength and 12 Willpower, it’s the highest stat card ever, so far. It offers the ability to banish exerted opposing characters, which means it can be combined with cards that use exert abilities to devastating effect.
By your powers combined…
The two starter decks for Archazia’s Island offer players the opportunity to test out what a Dual Ink deck will look like. The first, a Ruby/Sapphire deck featuring Belle and Beast uses their character traits cleverly, where Beast – Frustrated Designer can use his ability to banish 2 items, dealing 5 damage to an opposing character. Belle – Mechanic Extraordinaire, the cool-headed one of the couple, of course, can use her Salvage ability to get her into the game quickly, and then Repurpose up to 3 items from your discard back into your deck, gaining 1 lore for each. It’s a clever push-and-pull that shows off the combination of aggression and strategy.
Jafar and Iago’s Amethyst/Steel deck is a little different, focused on magical characters and mystical actions. It focuses partly on a new card type, Illusion, and a new keyword, Vanish. When an opponent chooses an Illusion for an Action card, it banishes them immediately. This might not sound like a good thing – and it’s not – but if used cleverly with Jafar – Newly Crowned, his ability allows you to return the card to your hand instead of the discard pile, giving your Illusions more options. They’re risky cards but could well be worth the payoff.
Iago – Giant Spectral Parrot is not only a visual delight, but it only costs 4 Ink for a 4 Strength and 6 Willpower, plus he has Evasive, one of the keywords I hate most, meaning only other characters with Evasive can target him. That means he’s relatively strong, but his weakness is again Vanish, so it seems that this deck is somewhat about pushing your luck and forcing your opponent to spend Ink on Action cards instead of other characters. In practice, this deck is less immediately fun than Belle/Beast, but I can see how it could appeal with the right combination of cards in your hand for some surprising moves to keep your opponent on the edge.
Thematically, Archazia’s Island isn’t the strongest expansion, but it does add a lot of dogs and cats into the mix, which this pet-lover appreciates. The speedy, cute Bolt, the singing, dancing Aristocats and the loyal, lovable Lady and the Tramp all make their Disney Lorcana debuts, and it makes for a tail-wagging collection that once again features some truly stunning artwork from the large pool of talented artists that Lorcana draws from with each set.
The also-new Lilo gift set (with five assorted booster packs, a “Glimmer Foil” Lilo – Escape Artist Promo Card and Lilo & Stitch storage box) is also a very clever way to bring in new players with a mix of cool cards from previous sets, featuring everybody’s favourite alien-and-girl duo. The approachability and charm remain undeniable, and with the Reign of Jafar right around the corner, Disney Lorcana continues to impress, even if its changes and additions could stand to be a little bolder.
Disney Lorcana: Archazia’s Island is available now.
Thanks to Disney ANZ for providing us with Disney Lorcana: Archazia’s Island products to provide this coverage.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
