I have been loving Lorcana since it came down under to Aotearoa and Australia. The simplified gameplay has been getting more complex, but for the last couple of sets there wasn’t a lot of innovation. Don’t get me wrong, they were loaded with fun characters, art, and cards, but I was wanting to see something new. Well, Archazia’s Island has brought heaps of new things.
So what even is an Archazia’s Island?
After the journey across the Azurite Sea, the team has landed at Archazia’s Island. Archazia is a freaky owl, well, a person wearing owl clothes that is an old illumineer. Pretty cool and freaky. Best of all, there is a way to enjoy the story now. Each booster has a card in the back; collect all 20, and it tells a short story.
Even cooler, there is a little image at the bottom of each one, which, when you flick through them, is a little flipbook animation. Frickin ‘cool!
What’s new in Archazia’s Island?
This island must be loaded with pets because there are heaps in this set. We got Bolt, who is new to the game, but also heaps of others. We have Aristocats, we have 101 Dalmatians, we have Lady and the Tramp – so many pets!
The biggest new change is the dual ink cards. These ones have 2 colours and in constructed games can only be used in decks using both colours. This is an awesome change, as it means they can be powerful but are limited in the decks they can be used. But you can do whatever you want in sealed and draft, so go hard!
There are new card types, which are Illusions. These are consistently super powerful cards, but they all come with a Vanish keyword. If a card has Vanish, this means if any items target them, then they are immediately banished.
These are some great mechanics, and the shot in the arm the game has needed after a dry spell of new mechanics.
So how can you buy it?
As always. you can purchase boosters on their own and booster boxes. There are two Starter Decks, or Single Player decks as they are called. I reviewed the decks themselves here, so I won’t belabour the point, but they are great. They also come with a booster, so at $33 they are still damn good value.
On top of that are the Treasure Trove, Lolo Gift Set, and the accessories, which I will cover below.
Lilo Gift Set
The Lilo Gift Set is an interesting one. Before I criticise it, I will say I think it’s great. Similar to ETB boxes in the Pokemon TCG and the Bundles in MTG, this gift set has a box. OK, that sounded underwhelming. Hard boxes are FANTASTIC. I have stacks of them filled with cards in my house. The hard box with some fantastic art on it – I was sold immediately. The box is well built, it looks fantastic, and I will use the heck out of it. In there it has a promo Lilo – Escape Artist, which has unique art and is beautifully foiled to make it a slick card.
Now for the things less glowing. The box, which is a great size for loose cards, isn’t wide enough for an official Lorcana deck box. I love using these kinds of boxes to carry decks around, so I would have loved it if it snuggly fit the official deck boxes. A minor critique but a critique nonetheless.
The other weird thing is the boosters included. It promises to have 5 random boosters from sets 2-6. Looking at other ones, they are genuinely random, but this is a release from set 7. If it was 5 boosters from Archazia’s Island, that would have been amazing. Or heck, 1 from this and 4 other random boosters. The only other minor critique is there are some card dividers, which is a win, but they are in a punch-out card, so they have the little paper dimples that are left and are super flimsy. If they were the same as the Illumineer’s Trove dividers, they would be a big win.
Now that I have critiqued it a whole bunch – this is a review after all – I will say this product is still a banger. For $60-ish NZD you get 5 boosters, a great box, a great promo card, and some passable dividers. Should you buy one? Hell yeah! There are some areas I would LOVE to see the product improved in future sets. But by god, I hope this is a staple for future sets. Include a booster for the set, please.
Illumineer’s Trove
The Illumineer’s trove is a Lorcana staple at this point. What you get is a card storage box with 2 lanes, a bunch of card dividers for each colour, a Lore Counter, and 6 dice for tracking damage. Oh, and some boosters, of course. I loved these before, and I still love them.
This one has dice that have more of a pearly effect, which, while they don’t stand out as much as the glittery ones from previous releases, actually look beautiful. The Illumineers trove has 8 of the set’s packs, so at around $100 you are paying about $12 for the rest of the stuff. This is a pretty damn good price if you need card storage and like the dice, which I do! Between the style on the box and what’s in it, I highly recommend these.
Other accessories
As always, Archazia’s Island has a range of playmats, deck boxes, and sleeves. The deck boxes and sleeves have the options of a Cinderella image or an Ursula image. The Cinderella one has a classic image but is drawn in a way that looks hand-drawn and is beautiful. Urzula has the flair you would expect, and it’s stunning.
The deck boxes are the usual plastic ones, which aren’t amazing but are solid and, given the price of $12, are great value. Best of all, it adds some slick flair when you’re pulling your deck out! I keep seeing online that the sleeves aren’t the best quality, but I have had some that I have sleeved, re-sleeved, and shuffled like crazy, and they are still sweet as. I find them super comfy to shuffle and play with. The sleeves are around $20, which isn’t cheap for 65 sleeves, but I am happy with them and love the style.
The playmats come in Big Hero 6 and Tigger options. Big Hero 6 has the characters around Hiro and looks pretty damn cool. I got the Tigger, which has him as a pirate in the crow’s nest of a ship. This is what I am here for in Lorcana. Disney characters in alternate styles, yup, love it. The playmats are neoprene and are exactly what you need from a playmat. I prefer playmats to have a stitched edge; unfortunately, not many do, and at $40 these are bloody fantastic.
So should you check out Archazia’s Island?
HELL YEAH YOU SHOULD! This set is the shot in the arm the game needed. New fun mechanics, new fun style and new fun cards. The set is fun to play in sealed and has heaps of awesome cards for constructed gameplay. It’s a fantastic set that I am absolutely loving!
It's got new mechanics! It's got new characters! It's got fun cards for constructed! It's fun to play sealed!
Archazia's Island is a banger!
