Summary
- 2024 was a busy year for Disney Lorcana, and 2025 introduces Archazia's Island.
- Previous expansions added locations and mechanics, while the latest might bring dual-colored cards.
- Images from Archazia's Island hint at dual-color cards and challenge the traditional gameplay.
2024 was a huge year for Disney Lorcana, as it saw the release of four expansions for the TCG as well as plenty of tournaments and special prizes being handed out in Set Championships, such as the recent Scar card and playmat for January 2025. There is a lot to look forward to from Disney Lorcana this year, especially with its first 2025 expansion on the horizon. The first set of the year is called Archazia's Island, and it was first revealed with an image of Bolt from its titular movie, signaling that characters from this franchise would be added to the game. With Bolt and more recent reveals, the art for Archazia's Island may have spoiled its new gameplay gimmick.
The first four sets of Disney Lorcana added Locations and mechanics to the game to spice things up for players, whereas sets 5 and 6 (Shimmering Skies and Azurite Sea, respectively) only added cards to the overall collection. The reveal image for Archazia's Island included a short line saying "Learn new tricks," which players interpreted as new mechanics or potentially even card types coming to the game. So far, there is one addition that seems more likely than the rest, and it's dual-colored cards.
Interview: Disney Lorcana Co-Designer Ryan Miller Talks Early Days and Making a True Disney Game
The Best War Games chats with Disney Lorcana Co-Designer Ryan Miller about the development journey behind creating an authentic and immersive Disney game.
Why Archazia's Island is Likely to Add Dual-Colored Cards to Disney Lorcana
Starting with Bolt from Disney Lorcana's banner for Archazia's Island, the superhero dog is wearing an Amber-colored collar and some kind of armor on his shoulder and paw. This alone may not tip off too much about the new expansion, but it was a good indicator that dual-ink cards could be a thing. The reason is that Disney Lorcana has six Ink colors - Amber, Steel, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and Amethyst. With an Amber collar and a Steel armor piece, Bolt is already looking like a likely candidate for the dual-color treatment.
How Archazia's Island's Characters Tease Disney Lorcana's First Dual-Colored Cards
Following Bolt, an image of Lady from Lady and the Tramp was shared, this time with Lady wearing Emerald-colored and Amber-colored accessories, giving further credence to the theory. Finally, just a couple of days ago, Ravensburger revealed the official art for what is believed to be Archazia from its titular island, a non-canon Disney character that was never shown before. This creature is an owl with heterochromia, as it has a blue eye and a green eye. To be exact, they look the exact shade of blue and green for the respective Sapphire and Emerald Ink colors in Disney Lorcana.
On top of that, the art for the expansion includes some background characters, such as Alice, Perdita, Pongo, Mulan, Mushu, Belle, and Beast, who all look lost in a labyrinth-like forest. They are all surrounded by multicolored wisps that reflect the Ink colors in the game. A similar treatment to that of Bolt, Lady, and Archazia is reserved for the characters in the art for the new pre-constructed Starter Decks for Disney Lorcana - namely, Jafar and Iago for an Amethyst/Steel deck and Belle and Beast for a Ruby/Sapphire deck. For example, Beast wears clothes that have both colors of the deck (red and blue).
Additionally, the characters depicted on Archazia's Island booster boxes for Disney Lorcana all seem to feature two main colors on them. The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland wears a green outfit and hat, but he handles a pink teapot and other items with similar colors, possibly hinting at a version of the character that is either Emerald/Amethyst or Ruby/Emerald. Mirabel from Encanto wears a blue skirt and is surrounded by purple swirling wisps, possibly indicating she will be an Amethyst/Sapphire character. Finally, there is the same design of Bolt as the banner for the expansion, and if the Mad Hatter is truly a Ruby/Emerald character, all Ink colors would be represented on the box.
As such, it doesn't seem a red herring that there may be dual-colored cards in Archazia's Island, and instead, it could be the main gimmick for the set (or the only new one). Dual-colored cards would open up a lot of possibilities for new Disney Lorcana expansions further down the line, and they would inevitably reshape the current meta in competitive games. It remains to be seen if this will be the case, but it seems very likely considering the set's official art.
- Franchise
- Disney
- Original Release Date
- August 18, 2023
- Publisher
- Ravensburger
- Player Count
- 2+
- Age Recommendation
- 8+
- Length per Game
- 30-45 Minutes
As an Illumineer, you’ll wield six magical inks to summon glimmers of Disney characters. Glimmers can appear as familiar friends or in fantastically reimagined forms. Recruit glimmers to your team as you travel through the realm of Lorcana.
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info