Archazia's Island: Updated decks with Lorcana's newest set!

Hello, everyone!

With the arrival of Archazia's Island, we have both new deck ideas and updates for existing archetypes!

Today, we’re going to focus on the second part, and think about some changes or even improvements that could be made in a few decks that we’ve already discussed in previous articles.

Remember, these lists are brought as a starting point for testing cards from the new edition - we don’t yet have results or big tournaments to say for sure what actually made it into the most competitive metagame.

Let’s go!

Amber-Steel Songs

Previous articles:

- The first article, detailing the deck's gameplan;

- The second article, with the updated list for the sixth set, Azurite Sea;

This is a first draft of how the deck should look like after the release of Archazia's Island, with the following new cards from the set:

You can't talk about a song deck without... well, songs! So Much to Give falls into the inkable song slot - normally reserved only for increasing the consistency of cards like Ariel - Spectacular Singer. However, So Much to Give even when played can also be useful, since it has the powerful words - draw a card - and can also help protect your characters!

Characters like The Troubadour or Pepa Madrigal, who join the team of singers, help your board be more resilient and, in the case of Pepa, may eventually come in hand with some extra Lore points.

Finally, Mulan - Disguised Soldier is another 1-cost card with 2 power, which means it helps to contest quick decks. In addition, its effect is useful for cycling non-inkable cards and even synergizes with Lilo - Escape Artist!

Amber-Sapphire 101 Dalmatians

Previous article:

almost 101 Dalmatians, a budget decklist we reviewed, specially recommended if you're a newcomer to Lorcana.

The 101 Dalmatians archetype received a surprising and very welcome support with the new set!

As we mentioned in our Archazia’s Island reviews, the adorable puppies were initially focused on Amber ink, which allowed for some flexibility in choosing the second color to support them. In our previous article, the chosen ink was Amethyst, as its ability to draw cards helped with deck's consistency.

Now that the second color has been shifted to Sapphire, this has led to some changes in the list from the one we previously reviewed.

Lucky and Perdita are new cards that bring a lot of strength with the addition of Sapphire.

Lucky, Runt of the Litter, like its Amber counterpart, Lucky - the 15th Puppy, function as a card advantage engine for the deck. This helps a lot with consistency, since there are now eight characters that advance the gameplan of filling the board with Dalmatians.

In the same vein, Perdita - Playful Mother very coherently protects your puppies and helps you to play them out even faster!

And finally, Roger Radcliffe - Dog Lover can be a flexible 1-drop, because it's still valuable in later turns, allowing your Dalmatians to fight a board and stay healthy.

Taking advantage of Sapphire's card pool, the Locations previously used have given way to a character that continues the card advantage theme. King Candy - Sweet Abomination can be a turn 5 or a turn 3 play - if you start the game with King Candy - Sovereign of Sugar. Its card draw helps to select useful cards in your hand, and send away non-inkable cards that end up hindering development in the early turns.

Amber/Ruby Self Damage

Previous article:

Self Damage Aggro, a list that aims to take advantage of self-damaging characters and effects.

An archetype we recently analyzed, the Self-Damage deck certainly has a lot of room for development, and Archazia’s Island is right on time to help it!

When looking at the actions, We’ve Got Company! ends up doing almost the same thing as On Your Feet! Now!, but for one less ink - a HUGE difference! Since the idea is usually to challenge with our characters, losing the 1 damage from On Your Feet! Now! shouldn’t make that much of a difference.

So Much to Give, similar to what we mentioned for Amber-Steel Songs, provides value by protecting your characters and drawing a card, which helps with consistency.

The big update is the addition of Devil’s Eye Diamond to the list, which allows for a game plan of challenging your opponent’s board and keeping an efficient Lore generation. Note that Devil’s Eye doesn’t care whether or not your character survived the damage received - as long as some damage was dealt, the Diamond will generate Lore.

It is important to note that characters like Mulan - Injured Soldier and Mother Gothel - Withered and Wicked do not trigger the Diamond's condition just by being played, since, in terms of rules, to receive damage and to enter play with X damage are distinct events.

With every new set, the initial natural thought process is to update existing decks with cards that have a lot of potential or are even more efficient versions of something that was already used.

Personally, this is one of my favorite moments in any card game, since the new options bring both new ideas to test and innovations in archetypes that are often considered solved - that is, in which there were no sign of possible changes.

And you, what did you think of the updates we brought today? Do you have any different decks to test with the cards from the new edition? Share them with us!

Hugs and see you next time!