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 wanted to see something new. Well, Archazia’s Island has brought heaps of new things.
What is Jafar doing Reigning?
Our heroes have been doing their thing on Archazia’s Island, which is all well and good, except Jafar has taken our distraction to get up to some shenanigans. He has managed to piece together the Hexwell Crown. This little crown gives him the power to rule the realm, so you know, pretty good. He turns Archazia’s Island into a nasty place, and so our heroes are left to pick up the pieces.
Like before, there is a cool story told on the flip cards in some packs. I still love this idea, but I wish we could consume the story some other way. Come on Disney, make some awesome animation to help this excellent card game thrive.
What are the cards like?
Reign of Jafar obviously includes characters from Aladdin, as well as heaps from all the other franchises we have already seen. The big new addition is the Bambi characters with some seriously cool cards here. It doesn’t introduce any new mechanics. I am happy with this as we have got a bunch of new mechanics on Archazia’s Island. Having a set following it that expands the card pool for the mechanic is a nice pace.
What it does bring is a bunch more cards using said mechanics. There are some super-cool dual ink cards, and some fantastic new cards for constructed formats. I am personally keen to see if I can work Bambi Little Prince into my aggro deck that doesn’t quite seem to win, but is so much fun to play.
This is also the last set to be released before rotation kicks in, so I am interested in seeing how some of these cards perform when the first four sets rotate out of Classic Constructed.
So how can you buy it?
As always, you can purchase boosters on their own and booster boxes. There are two single-player decks which, including the booster, are still fantastic value at $33. Then there is the Treasure Trove, the usual accessories, and the new Illumineer’s Quest game called Palace Heist. There isn’t a new Gift Set like the Lilo one from the last set, which makes me sad as I loved the hard card storage box, and would love one from each set like other TCGs.
I will dig into what I have played with below.
The single-player decks
The decks come in two flavours: Amber Amethyst and Ruby Steel. Weirdly, neither of them are headed by Jafar of the Aladdin theme, but there is some cool in here. Bruno and Tiana lead the Amber Amethyst deck with a nice big mix, from the Madrigal family, to Madam Mim to Huey and Louie. The Ruby Steel deck is led by Mulan and Stitch and includes some Bambi love with Thumper, which is fantastic to see.
Unlike the Archazia’s island decks, these two are actually balanced. Matches with them going head to head can go either way, which is great for new players to the game. The Amber Amethyst deck is classic aggro. Get stuff down and quest as fast as you can. The Ruby Steel deck, on the other hand, is more about getting bigger characters down that can slow the aggro deck to a halt.
These make the decks fun to play against each other, but if I had to choose one it would be the Amber Amethyst deck. It’s easier to pilot, and I also have an aggro bias. As usual, these won’t be competitive in constructed formats, but they are a great starting point for the game, and to start building your own deck from.
Illumineer’s Quest: Palace Heist
This is the second Illumineer’s Quest after Deep Trouble. That game had you playing against Ursula in 1-4 player teams and was a heap of fun. The biggest problem with it was the way the game came, in that there was no permanent storage for it.
Well, now you get to battle Jafar, and it’s easier to do now as Ravnesbuger has stepped up in the storage department. The whole thing comes in a nice board game-sized box. Opening it up, you have two decks to play with which come into their own box which can fit the cards sleeved, and Jafar’s deck, which is also able to be housed sleeved. There is a hard board game-style mat for the Jafar’s deck, making the whole thing feel like something that should be on your shelf and can be pulled out at any time. Ravensburger swung from one extreme to the other here, going from terrible boxing to exceptional boxing.
If you haven’t seen one of these before, basically you are doing the lore quest against Jafar. There are two location cards that give you four difficulty options to choose from. The easiest one has Jafar’s characters come in exert, and a bunch of abilities you can use when battling him. On the hardest, all his characters get an extra lore, and are evasive and your only ability is to occasionally make one of yours evasive. So hard.
To win the game, you need to have all players get to 20 lore, and have possession of the Hexwell Crown. The crown gives Jafar two extra lore, so getting it early is essential, and then each player has to exert a character to get the crown.
The coolest thing in both of the Illumineer’s Quest games is how they designed your opponent. You basically turn cards over, the first gets inked, and then it automatically plays any cards it can afford. They don’t have to use any ink to play, so the longer the game goes, the more Jafar can drop. This stops any requirement for you to make decisions for Jafar.
This game is an absolute banger. The initial decks in the box can get you to win on easy mode, but as it gets harder, you need to build some decks that can win. This is a fantastic way for new and experienced players to enjoy Lorcana in small or larger groups.
Illumineer’s Trove
The Illumineer’s Trove continues its reign as a Lorcana staple. In an Illumineer’s Trove you get a soft cardboard card storage box with two lanes, some beautiful card dividers for each colour, a Lore Counter, and six glittery yellow dice with red numbering for tracking damage. This is on top of the eight boosters.
These sell for around $100, so you get about $88 worth of packs, and for around $12 you get the rest of the stuff. If you want the card storage and like the dice, then it’s a great buy. I consistently love these, and still do! It’s a fun way to store cards, the dice are awesome, and you can rip heaps of packs.
Other accessories
As always, Archazia’s Island has a range of playmats, deck boxes, and sleeves. I was sent one of the playmats, but haven’t played with the sleeves or deck boxes for this set, so I can’t comment on if the quality has changed. I will have to get the Tinker Bell sleeves though, as I love that design.
The playmats come in two flavours. This time they have Rescue Rangers and Hades art. The playmats are neoprene and are solid quality. At $40 these are bloody fantastic.
So should you try to fight the Reign of Jafar?
We have to stop Jafar, right? As a set, while it doesn’t revolutionise the game, it is a nice next stage after the newness that was brought by Archazia’s Island. Great cards, great art, what more do you want? The Illumineer’s Quest is a must-buy!
