Disney Lorcana: Archazia’s Island arrives with two new single player decks – an Amethyst/Steel deck starring Jafar and Iago (Aladdin), and a Ruby/Sapphire deck starring Belle and The Beast (Beauty and the Beast). To date, they feel like the most well-designed and well-themed single player decks the game has had, and it’s all down to simple, clever choices, and a strong dose of synergy.
The first clever choice is one I personally enjoy: rather than having two distinct characters teaming up for a wild crossover pairing, both decks are headlined by characters that do actually pair together. Belle and The Beast are partners, and their particular abilities bounce off each other for a very cool, canon-accurate theme. Likewise, Jafar and Iago flit around each other, causing mayhem with magic.
While only a minor touch in the grand scheme, it feels like exactly what Disney Lorcana needed. You can look at these decks and know one is inspired by Aladdin, and one is inspired by Beauty and the Beast. While there are cards from other franchises within the decks, a good helping of each deck is themed to their cover films, making it much easier for Disney fans who may be pursuing cards from a favourite tale.
Let’s break down each new single player deck in turn.
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Disney Lorcana: Belle and The Beast Single-Player Deck – Analysis
The Archazia’s Island Ruby/Sapphire Single-Player Deck, as mentioned, is headlined by Belle and the Beast, and the entire deck is themed around their core abilities. Belle can “Salvage” items from your discard pile, and use them to reduce her Shift cost. She can also pull these items from your discard pile and “Repurpose” them to the bottom of your deck, while also gaining lore for each item card moved.
As for where she’s getting those items? Well, that’s where The Beast comes in – for a very funny bit of synergy. He’s a “Frustrated Designer” and as such, he’s getting annoyed with his new inventions, saying “I’ve Had It” and throwing those items into the discard pile.
So the flow and narrative of this single-player deck is that The Beast is throwing away items in frustration, dealing damage to characters as he goes – and Belle is salvaging these items, using them to advance games in more helpful fashion. It’s a really clever bit, and one that aligns so well with Beauty and the Beast‘s story.
Read: Disney Lorcana: Azurite Sea’s Pirate-themed Starter Deck is a winner
This theme also continues well in other cards included in this single-player deck. You’ve got your usual cannon fodder in lower-cost characters that can be played to gain lore as they quest, but littered amongst these, you’ve also got a bunch of handy new item cards, and some characters with abilities all themed around discarding and recovering items from the discard pile.
Cards like Maurice, Unconventional Inventor allow you to banish cards to draw other cards. If you banish the Maurice’s Machine card, you can also banish a chosen character with two or less strength, allowing you to whittle down the battlefield. Elsewhere, other cards allow you to salvage cards from your discard pile and put them into your inkwell, for an added boost to your strength.
Essentially, the loop is all about putting cards into your discard pile when it benefits you most, then taking those cards out when you can, creating ample opportunity for strategy and allowing you to keep your opponents on their toes.
A card being put into the discard pile is usually the end – but with this particular deck, you can keep flitting items and characters in and out, creating real subterfuge as you go. It’s a very neat system, and makes this particular deck a challenging new contender for Disney Lorcana players.
Disney Lorcana: Jafar and Iago Single-Player Deck – Analysis
The second single player deck of Disney Lorcana: Archazia’s Island is the Jafar and Iago combo Amethyst/Steel deck. This one is all about magic and mayhem, and it spotlights one of the coolest new keywords in Disney Lorcana: Illusion.
This refers to literal illusions, with some new character cards being illusory versions of their more solid counterparts. There’s an Illusion version of Iago (which is one of the two deck headliners) as well as Illusions of Rajah (Ghostly Tiger) and the Giant Cobra (Ghostly Serpent), with these all causing a particular kind of chaos in matches.
These Illusions are all very powerful cards, with strong strength stats for their ink costs, but their quirk is once they’re chosen by an opponent, they’re banished. Essentially, if a player chooses to attack these characters, they’re revealed to be illusions, and they disappear. (Did we mention Archazia’s Island has some very cool theming?)
As an added bonus, if you can build up your inkwell enough (and you get lucky with card draw), you can eventually play Jafar, Newly Crowned to support your cast of Illusions. When he’s on the battlefield, if an opponent dispels an Illusion character, Jafar lets you return it to your hand instead, and then replay it again.
So thematically, you’re casting Illusions, building your magic back up, and then recasting your spells.
Elsewhere in this single-player deck, you also gain access to a range of other spells, with folks like Madam Mim, Cheating Spellcaster around to exert opponents, and special items around to transfer damage costs to your opponent. Basically: if you’re looking to mess up an opponent’s strategy, cause confusion with Illusion casting, and nab extra card draw, this is the deck for you.
Overall Verdict
Comparing both of these new Disney Lorcana single-player decks, there’s a lot to like. Both are very well-themed and clever, and there’s plenty of cool synergies to bounce off, to ensure you get the advantage on the battlefield.
If we’re playing favourites, I will say I think the Belle and The Beast single-player deck is the stronger of the two, largely because its themes carry throughout each card, and I love how strongly Belle and The Beast bounce off each other, for a fun bit of strategy and storytelling.
It has the edge on the Jafar and Iago single-player deck, if only because I think this deck’s themes could be slightly stronger overall. The Illusions are the coolest part of the deck, but there aren’t a heap of them packed in here, and I would’ve liked to have seen more synergy with these character types bouncing off other cards. Regardless, I still think this is a great deck, and the magic theme is very fun.
Disney Lorcana: Archazia’s Island launches via local game stores on 7 March 2025. Stay tuned to GamesHub for more.
