Reviewing Archazia's Island: the Stand-Outs from the new set!

Hello, everyone!

On my last article, we talked about the first spoilers from Lorcana's new set, Archazia’s Island, and also about the new mechanic of multicolored cards - if you missed it, take some time to check it out!

In today's article, now that the entire set has been revealed, we're going to take a look at each ink color - and the multicolors! - to talk about some cards that stand out.

As always, it's worth remembering: The cards I'm going to talk about are not necessarily a list of the best/most powerful ones, and the purpose of the article is also not to make a buy list of the new set. The idea here is to point out some interesting synergies and possibilities. Let's go!

Amber

Let's start with an inseparable duo: Cinderella and her famous slipper!

It was very fun the way Lorcana's designers created the interaction between these two cards - in fact, it almost feels like a side quest you need to accomplish!

You need the slipper in play, and a prince character, so you can activate the slipper and find a Princess, which in this case will probably be the beloved Cinderella. When she's played, you will be rewarded, returning the slipper to the deck and gaining 3 Lore!

Analyzing the cards themselves, The Glass Slipper is a strong tutor - a term used for cards that search for specific cards in your deck. The limitation of using only 2 copies is also unique to Lorcana, but with good reason, as there are many very strong Princesses in the game - Rapunzel, Gifted With Healing is perhaps the best example. It's a great addition to the Princess archetype, and only requires 3 slots in the deck - 2 for the Slipper, 1 for Cinderella.

Although at first it seems like another addition to the Madrigal family archetype, Pepa could actually fit very well into the songs deck!

In addition to combining some excellent features - good defensive stats and a 3-cost to sing songs - the fact that Pepa makes you closer to 20 Lore every time you play a song is a huge advantage. Many versions of Amber-Steel Songs used Sleepy’s Flute, a card whose problems - not being inkable and having no impact on the board - seem to be completely solved with Pepa Madrigal.

Ultra-fast or aggressive decks also gain some new tools in the set!

Koda threatens 3 Lore every turn, thus demanding a quick response from the opponent, or the little bear will alone carry the game. But one of Koda's greatest qualities is precisely that it is inkable, something that is often missing in fast decks, which accumulate copies of Lilo - Making a Wish and the like in hand when they needed 1 or 2 more inks to further develop their gameplan.

Amethyst

The adorable - huh? - Yzma, in her kitten form, can certainly be a constant headache for opponents who cannot manage to have more cards in hand than you. In this sense, Yzma is very similar to Lilo - Escape Artist.

Note that the effect of Yzma is not restricted to whoever turn it is, or if it is banned in either a Challenge or by some effect, in short, you just need to have more cards in your hand - something common for Amethyst decks - and you are guaranteed to always have a cheap character to bother your opponent.

This is the first card in the game with an effect of this type, directly affecting the opponents' win condition - take note, as many people on a quick initial reading think that the ability affects both players.

Once again, we see new areas of design being explored, even though, in essence, it is an indirect effect of removing 5 Lore from the opponent. It is also important to highlight that the way it is written, the effect is not cumulative - having two Donald Ducks on the board will not make the opponent need 30 Lore, since the text just fix it at 25.

It seems that with each set new cards appear that seek to make the mill deck viable - that is, a deck that seeks to win the game by discarding cards directly from the opponent's deck. Show Me More! is another piece for the archetype, and perhaps now we have enough resources to think about the viability of the strategy.

Emerald

The Emerald-Steel discard deck, centered on Diablo - Devoted Herald, gains in Pacha another reward for emptying the opponent's hand - including an important win condition, since if the opponent focuses on Pacha, you will still have Diablo on the board, and if they spend resources to take out Diablo, you will still have Pacha putting you ahead in Lore.

It can also pair well with the new Emerald-Amethyst decks focused on going back and reusing character effects, and thus keeping your hand bigger than your opponent's. Pacha has a lot of potential!

Interestingly, on the opposite spectrum to Pacha, we have another powerful card here that makes you discard your entire hand when you play it. Of course, the idea would be to use it in an ultra aggressive deck, and to have no more cards in your hand when you play Shere Khan.

Another possibility would be an Emerald-Sapphire deck with a lot of ink acceleration, to combine Shere Khan - Infamous Tiger with Ink Geyser, renewing your hand and sapping your opponent's resources at the same time.

There was a lot of hype when this card was first revealed, and since then some clarifications have been given by the developers, which is certainly worth the highlight.

Upon resolution of the effect, you will reveal your card before the opponent reveal theirs. In other words, your opponent will make their choice while already knowing which character you will play.

This undoubtedly affects the viability of the card, which may become a specific option for decks that can take bigger characters out of the opponent's hand, and then use The Return of Hercules to accelerate some bigger character, while the opponent runs out of options.

Ruby

With the variety of effects that Ruby ink already has to ready characters, The Matchmaker can be an important tool for slower decks to counter opponents' fast starts. With its good offensive attributes, The Matchmaker can take out 2-3 of the opponent's characters and, with that, 2-3 of Lore as well, effectively nullifying some previous Quests.

This card is a perfect fit in the self-inflicting damage archetype, a deck that we analysed in a previous article. Perhaps it is the missing part to make the deck competitive, as now it would not only allow you to play board control but also advance your Lore gain, while dealing damage to your characters as planned.

Sapphire

Of the Coils cycle, the Sapphire one is perhaps the most efficient - without a doubt, it is the one with the most competitive potential. As this ink color can put more than one card in the inkwell every turn, it will often be possible to reduce the power of opposing characters more than once in the same turn, which would put them in range of cards like Brawl or Sisu - Empowered Sibling.

The new Belle is, perhaps, the best first-turn character in the game - provided, of course, you have a Pawpsicle in your opening hand too. While it allows for very aggressive starts for Sapphire decks, that's not exactly the focus of this ink color - so perhaps Belle is a card that brings along new archetypes!

Speaking of new archetypes, Lucky is one of the Sapphire-colored additions to the 101 Dalmatians archetype, which will probably be the color of choice alongside Amber for the future iterations of the deck.

Lucky has a similar effect to his Amber counterpart, Lucky - The 15th Puppy, and thus generates more consistency to the deck due to the redundancy of effects.

Steel

Gantu is a hate card - a card that punishes certain archetypes - like few that existed in the game until now. On the same character, we have an anti-songs, anti-items and anti-actions effect at the same time, with the big disadvantage being the fact that it is uninkable. It's the type of card that every deck with access to Steel may want to use 1 or 2 copies of, given its potential to shut down the opponent's entire gameplan.

Mulan's father strengthens decks aimed at challenging the opponent's board, and in combination with cards like Calhoun - Marine Sergeant can make you gain more Lore by challenging than by Questing! Take note, its effect would already work in the same turn you play it - as long as you have characters available to challenge, of course.

Multicolor

A powerful version of Belle, with the potential to generate six Lore in the same turn you play it. The Ruby/Sapphire combination, especially the item-focused archetype, gets a very strong card, and on top of that an inkable one!

Effects that ready characters without restrictions - such as not being able to do Quests until the end of the turn - are still somewhat rare in Lorcana. And then this card suddenly has a repetitive effect of readying characters?! Mr Smee has immense potential, even if restricted to Emerald-Steel, but the fact that he doesn't even need an entire deck of pirates - since he himself can be targeted by the ability - will probably see its way to more competitive lists.

Another card that solidifies the 101 Dalmatians archetype in the Amber-Sapphire combination, Perdita not only protects your Puppy characters but also helps you fill the board with them. It goes perfectly with Lucky, which we talked about previously, and on top of that it's an inkable card!

A character whose card was highly anticipated a few sets ago, Mushu finally appears in Lorcana, ready to bring dishonor to all cows! Jokes aside, Mulan's Dragon solidifies Ruby-Steel into the challenges archetype, allowing board control concurrent with Lore gain. It will be an essential card for strategy - and, as usual, we have to highlight the fact that it is inkable, which brings a lot of flexibility to it.

And with that we finish our initial analysis of the set! Archazia’s Island showcases several cards with innovative designs for the game, lots of different effects while also developing new and existing archetypes.

From the looks of it, we should expect a set capable of shaking up the competitive metagame - and with the expectation for the announcement of the Lorcana Worlds, it could bring a lot of innovation to the table!

And you, what did you think of the set? Which card caught your attention the most? Share with us!

Hugs and see you next time!