Greetings, Illumineers! We're another week closer to the upcoming set, Archazia's Island, where we get to experience dual-ink cards, new mechanics, and new franchises as well. We'll go over some of the most talked about cards so far, and also reflect a bit on some tournaments happening over last week. Let's dive right in!

Highly impactful cards to keep your eyes on

With new sets, come new strategies. By now, all cards should be revealed or are close to being revealed. With enough information, this gives us a good starting point for new brews. Here's some cards I'm very high on at the start of the meta:

Sapphire Coil

Sapphire Coil is one of the many new toys Sapphire-based decks get to test out. This item enables so much more value for Ruby removal, which makes me think who the big bad of the meta will be early on. Ravensburger insisted they did enough play-testing with this card to confirm its impact, so we'll see how things play out early on. Thankfully, they've shown us before that they're not afraid to make changes to cards with erratas if the impact of the card is less than desirable.

Giant Cobra - Ghostly Serpent

Giant Cobra - Ghostly Serpent gives Amethyst even more lore gain without interaction, causing enough pressure early to force answers. While some control decks can start worrying about other decks once they're around 10-12 lore, Amethyst proves that consistent lore gain through the game is just as dangerous. Between this, Merlin - Goat, and The White Rose, games are able to close out even quicker than before. That's not even considering the fact that this card has above-average stats from other characters at the same cost. Amethyst/Steel is poised for greatness, and I'm here for it.

Ink Geyser

I want to dismiss this card so bad, but it's impossible to. Sure, it's locked into a less common ink pairing, but its impact is so dramatic that there will be decks built specifically around this card. Because of this, Sapphire-based decks are going to need even more ramp to recover from this effect. We could see a resurgence in the use of Fishbone Quill to quickly put those cards back in the inkwell. Other decks will have to understand that the traditional curve no longer exists when this card is being played, and I'm both excited and frustrated until I see its initial impact.

Get ready as we go in-depth on each ink once the entire set is revealed!

Sudlore Meisterschaft at Battle-Bear in Germany Tournament Report

Battle-Bear hosted a 222 player event in Germany this past weekend, showing you that even during a lame duck session, Lorcana events continue to draw in large pools of competitive Illumineers. Interestingly enough, Dinh Khang Pham, better known as DKP, took down the event with, you guessed it, Ruby Sapphire. He faced a well-known competitor, Jan Moy, in what I could only imagine as a grueling mirror match in the finals, where DKP claimed victory. Below is his list:

Ruby/Sapphire Dinh a Little Lore | Sudlore Meisterschaft, 1st Place Battle-Bear 2/15/2025

• Characters (22)
• 3 Gramma Tala - Keeper of Ancient Stories
• 3 Hiram Flaversham - Toymaker
• 4 Goofy - Super Goof
• 4 Maui - Half-Shark
• 4 Maui - Hero to All
• 4 Tipo - Growing Son

• Actions (16)
• 4 Brawl
• 4 Develop Your Brain
• 4 Sail the Azurite Sea
• 4 Vision of the Future

• Songs (14)
• 2 Let It Go
• 4 A Pirate's Life
• 4 Be Prepared
• 4 How Far I'll Go

• Items (4)
• 4 Pawpsicle

• Locations (4)
• 4 McDuck Manor - Scrooge's Mansion

This looks a bit familiar, right? That's because it's the same decklist he won with at the Disney Lorcana Challenge: Melbourne. This goes to show that DKP continues to trust his choices to address the meta, and he has the results to prove it. Congratulations DKP on your back to back wins! I can't wait to see what new cards from Archazia's Island he plans to test out, or if he's confident enough with the current list for now. Only time will tell as we wait for more organized play events!

That's it for this week! Tune in for more previews for Archazia's Island, as we eagerly await its release date on March 7th at hobby shops, such as CoolStuff Games!

This article was brought to you by CoolStuffInc, where you can get your sealed and singles from not only Disney Lorcana, but other games, such as Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and much more!