Disney Lorcana Archazia’s Island Spoilers and Set Breakdown

Archazia's Island, the 7th set released for Disney Lorcana the Trading Card Game is finally available on all shops and online retailers. Since Ravensburger released the first visuals for this set at the beginning of the year, there has been a lot of interest for this set for a many different reasons. From a story point of view, our heroic Illumineers have finally overcome the challenges of travelling through the Azurite Sea and they set foot on the Island hinted by the “Owl” clues. Welcoming them to the Island is the mysterious Illumineer herself, Archazia (hence the name of the set) that has been long awaiting them. Archazia not only reveals them that the Island they reached is home to a forge used in the past to create items of great power including the Hexwell Crown but she also teaches the Illumineer how to master new energies and summon more powerful Glimmers by combining two different Ink streams. These dual-Ink Glimmers are extremely powerful and very versatile and they will be powerful allies in the upcoming battle against the new threat to the magical realm of Archazia. In fact, Jafar too reached the Island and re-built the Hexwell Crown gaining new tremendous powers and the ability to summon a new type of glimmers: the Illusions.

Together with the new developments in the story, Disney Lorcana Archazia's Island is a set full of great cards and interesting new mechanics largely impacting the metagame. We already had a taste of the impact this set is having on the gameplay but we should expect more to come in the upcoming weeks leading to the next Set Championship. With this in mind we thought of focusing our review on the cards you really should know (and look for) in this set.

Archazia’s Island – Set breakdown

As usual, Archazia's Island set includes Booster Boxes, Booster Packs, Illumineer's Trove, a Gift set (Lilo Collectors Gift Set), and themed playing mats, Deck Sleeves and Deck Boxes. Each Booster pack includes 6 Common, 3 Uncommon, 2 of higher rarity (Rare, Super Rare or Legendary) and 1 foil card of any rarity. Each pack will also include one out of 20 Lore cards that will have a piece of one of two different 3 by 3 puzzles on one side and a portion of story related to Archazia on the other. This new type of puzzle art cards are really well made and thematic and add a great depth to this set.  

Archazia's Island Booster Box includes as usual 24 Booster Packs with a chance of pulling an Enchanted card every 4 boxes. Both Boxes and Packs will feature Mirabel Madrigal, The Mad Hatter and Bolt that are the three main Characters for this set. Characters from the movie Bolt and The Lady and the Tramp, are featured in this set for the first time. The set also features a number of recurring Characters from various movies including Big Hero 6, The Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmatians, Mulan and Frozen 2. It should also be noted that this set finally marks the appearing of Mushu, a character that has been loudly requested by the fans since the very first set.  

As usual the card list of this set includes 204 cards although Lorcana Archazia's Island set features 44 cards per each colour instead of the usual 36 as the “dual-Ink cards” are counted twice, one per each colour featured on them.

Expensive and Competitive Cards to look for

Archazia's Island card list is filled with very interesting cards including those featuring the new mechanics introduced in this set. As a reminder the first one are “Double-Ink” cards that can only be used in deck using both Ink colours present on the card. These cards are designed to support a very specific type of deck and strategy thus are expected to be very effective with respect to generic mono-colour cards. The second new mechanics introduced are the “Illusions”, glimmers that will be banished automatically if chosen as targets of an Action played by the opponent. There are only a few Amethyst Glimmers with this ability for now but they are all stronger than other cards with similar cost in order to balance their Vanish effect.

Interestingly, however, the most expensive and meta-defining cards in the set are neither dual-colour or Illusions. As largely anticipated, Archazia's Island true main characters are the Sapphire cards, in particular those interacting with Items. The Legendary “Tamatoa, Happy as a Clam” is the most expensive card from the set at the moment of writing considering it is currently trading for around £50. The main reason for this card to be so sought after is its ability to return 2 items from the discard pile on play and then to play one for free every time it quests. These abilities not only synergize perfectly with “Tamatoa, So Shiny!” but also help Sapphire decks to recover their items even when they use Hiram Faversham ability to draw cards.

Another great way to re-stock your hand with items is the 4-cost “Scrooge McDuck, Resourceful Miser”, the second most expensive card any Sapphire Deck would need from Archazia's Island. Scrooge allows a player to check the first four cards of their deck when played and then retrieve one Item among them. This ability can for example allow a player to find a Lucky Dime and then play it for free using Tamatoa ability providing a great way to get ahead of your opponents in particular in Sapphire-Steel type of decks.  

Among the new items to look for in this set, “Sapphire Coil” is an excellent option to include in Sapphire decks although it will mainly benefit Sapphire-Ruby decks. These decks exploit Ruby control abilities of cards like “Brawl” or “Sisu, Empowered Sibling” that are usually based on the Strength of your opponents Characters. Sapphire coil extends the efficiency of these control effects by reducing the Strength of any character by 2 every time a card is placed in the Inkwell. This effect is stackable and can be triggered multiple times in a turn by playing cards like “Sail to the Azurite Site” or “Tipo, Growing Son” or “Fishbone Quill” improving massively the efficiency of the Ruby side of these decks.  

The last card players will need to keep an eye for in this set is “Mushu, Majestic Dragon”, a great addition to any Ruby-Steel deck, in particular those based on aggressive challenging. The 5-cost Majestic Dragon has a passive ability that not only grants Resist +2 to any Player Character while they are challenging but it also allows the player to gain 2 Lore every time a Character banishes an opponent one in a challenge. Combined with "Li Shang - Newly Promoted” that can challenge ready-characters or “Maui, Hero for all”, a Ruby-Steel deck powered by Mushu can become a very interesting deck with a an engine not seen previously in competitive events.

Final thoughts – Why you should collect Archazia's Island

Overall, I think I am not the only one considering Archazia's Island among the most exciting sets we had in Disney Lorcana so far. The theme of the set is great and there are many interesting and highly playable cards to please a wide range of players. This is likely the most interesting side of this set as it will likely bring more variety to the game. The very first events using this set were obviously dominated by Sapphire decks but we can for sure expect players will come up with new and interesting strategy as the season progresses.

With this in mind, I personally recommend to make sure you get any box for your collection as soon as possible. Magic Madhouse offers really good prices on all Lorcana Products in general but with Archazia's Island being a great set, the discounted price on these Booster Boxes is even more appealing. Remember also that Magic Madhouse offers a large selection of Single cards from the set with prices comparable or lower to those you can find on other platforms. On the day the set released, for example, Magic Madhouse had 7 “Tamatoa, So Shiny” but I am pretty sure they will not last for long considering how on high demand this card has been. Last but not least, always consider that shipment is free on any order of £30 or more which definitely adds even more value to their overall good deals. Time to open as many Booster Packs as possible!!