Greetings, Illumineers! It is now March 10th and Archazia’s Island has officially been released to hobby stores. It wasn’t that long since we published our list of the best-selling Disney Lorcana cards from the month of February. One week later and already that pole position has shifted.
From Out of Nowhere
Sapphire’s Oswald - The Lucky Rabbit from the Azurite Sea expansion and the newly minted Scrooge McDuck - Resourceful Miser from Archazia’s Island have solidified their place above Maui - Half-Shark as Disney Lorcana’s best-selling cards in the second-hand market throughout Archaiza’s Island debut weekend.
Comparing the three cards, we can see that Maui - Half-Shark still commands a respectable market value. Right now, they're selling for a $40 average with some cold foil copies going for about $65. About 70 copies of Half-Shark were sold over the course of March 7th to 10th.
Oswald - Lucky Rabbit is the most modest of the three cards. Starting at a $15 average at the beginning of the month, Oswald saw a steady climb before suddenly spiking to a $24 average. This is further backed by some cold foil copies hitting a $50 price point.
For Archazia’s Island opening weekend, this card saw about 20 copies sold over at TCGplayer.
In contrast, Scrooge McDuck - Resourceful Miser had a surprising performance in the second-hand market sales. This is rather appropriate given his original lore in the Disney intellectual property as a very successful business magnate.
Starting with his pre-sale prices, Scrooge was going for about $25. On the eve of the debut of Archazia’s Island, there was an average price drop to about $19. After three days, the copies of this Sapphire character are now demanding an asking price of $42; cold foils for Scrooge are going for as low as $48 but some hitting the $65 mark.
What’s astonishing though, isn't the price spike itself. Over the course of the weekend, over 600 copies of Scrooge McDuck - Resourceful Miser were sold in the second-hand market. This is more than the total copies of Maui - Half-Shark sold over the course of February that we know about.
The Opening Play of Archazia’s Island
Thanks to the active community over at Inkdecks, we’ve managed to get a peek at the local scene of organized tournaments happening all over the world.
Last weekend, a local Trading Card Game (TCG) store located in Margate, Florida -South Side Gaming- hosted a tournament in celebration of the release of Archazia’s Island. With a player population of 138 ilumineers, we can already see players testing the waters with the new cards.
Taking the top 4 spots for this tournament are a pair of Ruby-Sapphire and Sapphire-Steel decks. Just by looking at the results, we can see some proof as to why Scrooge McDuck became such a hot commodity overnight.
Each of the top placing decks in this tournament were running copies of the business astute mallard. While his ability to be cheated out via the use of four item cards can be useful, it’s his Fortune Hunter ability that makes him truly invaluable.
It’s not raw card draw power on the same level as A Whole New World or Friends from the Other Side. Instead, the ability to dig through 4 cards from the deck, taking the one you want while putting the rest at the bottom is a fast way of getting to your game-winning tools early.
This line of play is also turbo-charged by the likes of Tamatoa - Happy as a Clam being able to play any of the more expensive items -like Lucky Dime- for free.
Archazia’s Island is showing signs of a healthy upheaval in the competitive scene. At the moment, the sand still needs to settle on the experimentation phase. But come the next Disney Lorcana Challenge, we shall see if any surprising ink combination and take the top spots from the current competitive leaders.