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Gunslinger in the Fire

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26-001R – Azeyma EX

Whats this “The Twelve” you speak of? Kind of reminds me of Knight of the Round, but I doubt that’s what these Twelve are.

Azeyma comes in and if you have at least 4 of the Twelve on the field she gains Haste and First Strike. That in itself is alright considering Azeyma is a Rare, but we’re not done.

Whenever Azeyma attacks, you get to pick one of your opponent’s Forwards and deal it 2000 damage for each member of the Twelve that you control.

Are we getting Soiree 2.0? I already think The Twelve will be fun to play.

26-002R – Ayame

It feels like I was just talking about Samurais.

Maybe I dreamt about it.

Anyways, Ayame is here to make Samurais better. And, what better way then to reveal the top 2 cards of your deck and hope for Samurais.

If both cards are Samurais you are in luck, as Ayame will let you play a Samurai up to 3CP straight to the field, and add the other Samurai up to 9CP to your hand.

And, if you hit both of those, and the Samurai you play is 3CP, then Ayame has just turned into a Free Play! If not, well then you paid for her.

Ayame also has an S ability where she deals 8000 damage to a Forward.

Samurais might be getting a jumpstart.

26-003R – Ifrit (XVI)

Priming is back, and it looks like it’s better than ever.

That’s not saying much as this is the second set that we have that has Priming.

Either way, Ifrit needs to be Primed into, by Clive.

First off, when Ifrit is blocked or if he is chosen by an ability, Ifrit deal your opponent 1 point of damage. That means that your opponent will need to find a way to get rid of Ifrit A.S.A.P.

We’re not done yet.

If Clive has primed into Ifrit, Ifrit is nearly untouchable. Because, all damage dealt to Ifrit that is less than Ifrit’s power becomes a big fat 0. Zero! Zero!

Can’t say I didn’t warn you.

26-004C – Elwin

Searchers are always great.

They’re even better when they don’t give you a specific Category or Job, just an element.
Elwin here does just that. I’m sure the main idea was for Eldwin to search for Clive, but the Archduke will do so much more. Elwin will search for a Fire Forward.

I don’t even think we had a card that searches for a FIre Forward before this. I will need at least 3 of these.

 

26-005H – Clive

Well Clive is back, along with FFXVI’s Priming!

Since we already know how Priming works, we now get more options. And Clive has plenty of them. When he enters the field, you will remove a card from either player’s Break Zone. That’s not very exciting. That’s cause we skipped the first part of Clive.
Clive gains all the special abilities of the Job Eikon you own removed from the game.
That means that Clive can use the Eikon (S) abilities and deal plenty of damage to your opponent.

Let’s not forget that you will also draw a card when Clive enters the field, making his total cost 1CP!

26-006C – Zack

If you ever needed a reason to throw Zack into a Fire deck, here it is.

For 4CP, you can play Zack and then play another Fire Forward from your hand that costs 3CP or less.

That in itself would be a good enough reason to play Zack, but we’re not done. Not yet.
When ever a Forward enters the field, that Forward will gain +2000 power until the end of the turn. This does exclude Zack.

The good thing is that you don’t need to place Zack in a Final Fantasy VII deck, you can throw him into any Fire deck, let’s say Samurais. Especially Samurais with Haste.

Zack is smiling like that because he’s thinking about all the possibilities for a great Fire deck.

26-007R – Sazh

Sazh comes in with his guns ablaze.

As soon as Sazh steps onto the field, Sazh will deal one of your opponent’s Forwards 4000 damage.

If he was sent in through an ability that came from a Final Fantasy XIII Character, that damage will become 8000.

I believe it was Lightning that brings in a Final Fantasy XIII character and form a party whenever she attacks. Sazh will fit right in there. You’ll be breaking a Character every time Lightning attacks. Maybe even 2 characters.

26-008C/15-007C – Samurai

Here’s a reprint, of a reprint, of a reprint.

So, we’re just going to, you guessed it, Copy/Paste from Opus XV Crystal Dominion.

“Exchanging 2CP for a Crystal.

Seems like an even trade. Now to find what we’re going to use these Crystals for?

Samurai has no abilities, that consume Crystals, but there are plenty other cards that do. Samurai’s job is to give you a Crystal and then hopefully you’ll find a way to Break Samurai so you can play the your real Backups.”

26-009L – Joshua

I feel like I just read this card.

Or, it was another card that was talking about Eikon in the Break Zone, or RFG.

Any way, by the time you play Joshua, you should have enough broken Eikons or Removed Eikons that you can break one of your opponent’s Forwards.

And that’s about it.

How good Joshua is will depend on Phoenix.

26-010C – Onion Knight (FFTS)

What’s Final Fantasy Tactics S?

Onion Knight, a 2 cost Backup that has an ability that needs ammo. That ammo will be a card. You can use any card for this.

This ability deals 3000 damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

But, if you discarded an Earth card that damage becomes 6000.

Just a simple Backup, that can deal damage on demand. As long as you have ammo for it.

26-011C – Naji

Well, we got a Naji that isn’t useless.

This one is actually a great Backup.

Naji will search for a Warrior. Either Job or Standard Unit, and you will add it to your hand. Plenty of Warriors to look for. I might even add this one to that Warrior deck that I made a while back.

And, let’s not get started on the art.

 

26-012H – Nald’thal

Part 2 of 12. Yeah, that sounded better in my head.

Depending on how many “The Twelve” cards you have on the field, will determine how good Nald’thal is.

The more you have, the better the card will be that you grab from the Break Zone to play to the field. Which in itself is great. And it looks like Nald’thal will help with color fixing, as it doesn’t include element in the description, just choose a Job The Twelve card from your Break Zone to play to the field.

Better yet, Nald’thal is a Backup that can send itself to the Break Zone, just so you can play another Nald’thal from your hand.

I can’t wait to see the other 10.

26-013C – Byron

The Warden of Port Isolde.

When he enters the field, Byron will grab either Clive or Joshua from the Break Zone and bring them back to your hand.

So far, so good.

On the next turn, if you decide to use Byron’s ability, you will be able to play either Clive or Joshua on to the field. I don’t know if this one is worth it unless you’re strapped for CP, but I would rather pay the 3CP or less for Clive and Joshua and keep Byron on the field.

We can always use a body. And, this one has 7000 power.

26-014L – Faris EX

Faris is back again, and this time she is ready to make your Pirates/Viking deck that much more powerful. Luckily we have Class Fourth Moogle to help with the color fixing for Faris.
When Faris enters the field, she will search for Lenna. Bringing her cost down to 3CP. And, 3CP is a great price for what Faris offers.

Other than being a 9K body that will be hard to get rid of, At the begining of every Attack Phase, Faris will play a Fire or Water Forward onto the field. Which Forwards depends on how many Backups you have. I would suggest at least 3 Backups, that way you can bring any Viking that is in your hand onto the field.

I’m hoping for a Full Art of this Faris, and I’ll take 3 of them as well.

26-015H – Fang

We finally got a Full Art Fang. I’ve been waiting for this since Opus IX, when Full Art cards first came out.

Let’s get to it.

Fang comes right in and searches for a L’Cie. And she also reduces the next L’Cie you play by 1CP. You know you’ll be looking for Lightning. Yes, the Lightning Lightning in this set.

Fang also searches for Bahamut, but in order to grab him, you’ll have to send Fang into the Break Zone. You’d think that they would have added a Bahamut to this set, considering you have a searcher for it, but nope.

That only brings me to one conclusion. We’re getting a new Bahamut next set. Full Art Final Fantasy XIII Summons. You heard it here first.

Fang is technically a free play, with all the cards that you’re searching for. And, the reduced costs that you will be paying will put your CP into the Green.

I’ll take 3. Full Arts.

26-016C – Bugenhagen

Bugenhagen finally makes his way to FFTCG.

And, it’s close to what we expected Bugenhagen to be.

First off, Bugenhagen comes in and you reveal the top 4 cards of your deck, and you can add 1 Final Fantasy VII Character to your hand. This in itself would be worth playing Bugenhagen, especially in a Final Fantasy VII themed deck, but you already knew that.
Next off the real reason you’ll be playing Bugenhagen is his ability to allow you to play Nana … I mean Red XIII from your hand onto the field.

We’ll go with Red XIII (14-019R) for this, then you can play 1CP and play another Forward from your hand onto the field.

And, if that doesn’t work for you, I’m sure we’ll be getting another Red XIII soon enough.

26-017R – Phoenix

Well I can see why Phoenix is just a Rare.

For 3CP you can grab a Fire Forward that costs up to 2CP and play it onto the field. If you don’t want to pay 3CP, you can always dull 2 of your Fire Forwards that are on the field.
This card would have been a lot better if the cost for the Fire Forward was at least 3CP, but then Phoenix wouldn’t be a Rare card.

At least the artwork is spectacular. I like these Final Fantasy IX Summons that we’re getting.

26-018H – Phoenix (XVI)

Phoenix is ready to raise the dead … err the Knocked Out?

Of course your going to prime into Phoenix, cause if you don’t, well, there’s no point in playing this card.

Once Joshua primes into Phoenix, you’ll reveal the top 4 cards of your deck and add a couple of Fire cards or Final Fantasy XVI cards to your hand. Any cards, doesn’t have to be a Character, a Forward, a Summon, or a Monster or anything. just pick the two that you prefer.

Joshua and Phoenix will do well in any Mono-Fire deck. Or a FFXVI deck.

We still have Flames of Rebirth. Simply grab any Final Fantasy XVI Forward in your Break Zone and play it on to the field.

We’ll be seeing plenty of Phoenix.

26-019C – Behemoth

A Monster that becomes a Forward. This isn’t something new, but this Monster comes in with Haste.

So far so good, the question is “Can Behemoth deal damage to your opponent?” Cause that is where these new Monsters will shine.

If Behemoth does deal damage to your opponent, you will send Behemoth to the Break Zone and you will deal 8000 damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

You can also have 3 of these on the field at the same time.

26-020C – Lanista

Ready to bulk up your Forwards. Lanista is here to help.

Any time one of your Forwards attack they’ll gain +1000 power to give them that little extra oomph they need to take your opponent out.

And, if you take a better look at this card, it only costs 3CP, and you get an 8K body.
If you have 3 of these on the field, and let’s say 3 Warriors (5-014C) you can get some Fire Forwards with +9000 power. Let’s not forget Lebreau (1-1030R) and that’s 10k.

I’ll be keeping an eye on Lanista.

Hot Singles!

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Cecil’s Dark Knights

Its the Red Wings! Sort of.

We’re starting off with Dark Knights.

Cecil, of course will be the first card that we’ll be putting in our deck.And, after looking at all of the Cecils available, we decided on 2 different Cecils. This way you can always have a Cecil on the field. Our main Cecil will be Cecil (15-073H). You’ll want a Crystal Generator on the field, before you play this one, or you can just go ahead and take the one point of damage. Because at 3 points of damage, Cecil will search for Cecil when he is sent into the Break Zone. And,as a true Dark Knight, Cecil will deal your opponent 2 points of damage with the help of Souleater.

The other Cecil is Opus I (1-108H). Cecil will be mostly used for the cost to pay for Souleater, but if he is on the field and you receive damage, Cecil will deal one of your opponent’s Forwards 5000 damage.

The rest of the Dark Knights are Graham (8-075C) who will break a Forward when he is put into the Break Zone. Zeid (25-024H) who can come in with Back Attack and every time Zeid is dealt damage, your opponent selects one of their dull Forwards and sends it to the Break Zone. And, Teodor (18-028L) 9CP? Yeah, no. We’re Warping! For 2CP Teodor will enter the field on your next turn. When he enters he field your opponent discards 2 cards, and since Teodor warped into the field, your opponent will discard another card as well.

We have Tilika EX (18-061R) to generate Crystals. Garland (IX) (8-026L) to keep your opponent’s Forwards at bay. 3 different Dark Knights. And a Baron Guardsman.

Our Backups include Tyro (11-072R) just because if you’re playing Earth you should play Tyro. The rest of the Backups include Crystal Generators and Dark Knights. Nothing special going on here.

Two Summons in this one. Zalera, the Death Seraph (24-026H) and Hecatoncheir (15-082H). You could probably add Cu Sith (10-068C) in here as well.

Monsters, just a handful Antlion (11-066C), Behemoth (19-066C) and Seeping Brie (17-073C)

And, the LB deck consists of 3 cards Maat (22-119R), Selh’teus (24-118R) and Noctis (23-125R). There’s still not much of a selection with the Limit Break cards, so we take what we can get.

Well this is what we got. What would you do different?

Let us know in the comments!

Forwards

1-108H – Cecil x3
8-026L – Garland (IX) x1
15-073H – Cecil x3
17-072H – Baron Guardsman x1
18-061R – Tilika EX x2
21-063C – Dark Knight x2
1-054C – Dark Knight x1
2-073C – Dark Knight x1
8-075C – Graham x3
17-082R – Lich x1
25-024H – Zeid x3
18-026L – Teodor x3

Backups

8-070C – Dark Knight x2
15-033C – Knight x2
15-080C – Geomancer x2
23-058C – Dark Knight x3
16-064C – Dark Knight x3
21-024C – Scholar x2
16-036C – Devout x1
11-072R – Tyro EX x3

Summons

24-026H – Zalera, the Death Seraph x2
15-082H – Hecatoncheir x2

Monsters

17-073C – Seeping Brie x1
19-066C – Behemoth x1
11-066C – Antlion x2

Limit Breaks

22-119R – Maat LB x3
24-118R – Selh’teus LB x2
23-125R – Noctis LB

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FFIV Themed Decks

How will we make a deck that can tell us the story of Final Fantasy IV? I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, and I never came to how we would do it.

Do we focus on each Character? Do we focus on Good Guys and Bad Guys? Do we take into account Interlude and The After Years? We can probably do it all, but where do we start? How will we make the decks without using the same cards over and over again?

As of today there are currently 192 Final Fantasy IV cards. This includes The After Years.

Cecil.

Do we take his story on how he changes from a Dark Knight into a Paladin? Or what if we just keep Cecil as a Dark Knight? Can we make a deck with Cecil and all of Baron’s Soldiers? Probably not. We only have Barn’s Guardsmen and Kain. Maybe Baigan can fit somewhere into that deck. What about Paladin Cecil, as he is set to battle against Golbez. Do we add Golbez in the deck?

There are so many questions. And, so many decks that we can build.

Stay tuned.

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Tears of the Limit Break

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25-106R – Machina LB

How much you like this card depends on when you can play it.

Machina is a 2 cost Forward, who’s power will range from 4K – 10K, as every point of damage that you have received gives Machina +1000 power.

This is not bad at all. The only problem I see is that you can’t play Machina if you already have a Forward on the field.

And, that might be the reason Machina is a Limit Break.

.
25-107H – Red XIII LB

This is what a Limit Break should be.

Red XIII comes in and he gives all of your Forwards +2000 power until the end of the turn. With all the Final Fantasy VII Characters in this set, I see Red XIII being a great Limit Break to play.

And, since we’re talking about Final Fantasy VII, if you have another 2 FFVII Characters on the field, Red XIII will also gain Haste, First Strike, and Brave.

This will be a great play after a couple of turns. You’ll have a Forward that will be tough to beat.

I do like this one.

25-108R – Kam’lanaut LB

I’m not sure if Kam’lanaut looks more like a Transformer or a Super Hero.

Either way Kam’lanaut will do the same thing once he enters the field. He will break a Forward.

Why am I so sure, that Kam’lanaut will break one of your opponent’s Forwards? Because you wouldn’t be playing it if you didn’t control a Dark Forward.

After that you’ll have a Meat Shield on the field.

Hey, that rhymes.

25-109H – Shuyin LB

Shuyin! What’cha doin?

Looking for Vegnagun, that’s what Shuying is doing!

Shuyin will come in and search for a Dark Forward. If you don’t want Vegnagun, you can always look for Emissaries of Light Chaos, and go that route.

And, hey if you get Vegnagun in your starting hand, you won’t need Shuyin, but it’s always good to have him.

Yeah, I can’t think of anything else.

25-110R – Aerith LB

Here’s a way to make sure you can start your FFVII deck off right.

If your hand isn’t good, and you need to just find Zack or Cloud, Aerith knows where to find them.

You can then play them on to the field, and go along with your plan.

Aerith can also cancel an auto-ability targeting a FFVII Character.

It’s almost as if she’s sacrificing herself to protect the rest.

I’d call Aerith the perfect Meat Shield, but that feels wrong.

25-111H – The Emperor LB

Do you want to draw more card?

The Emperor her will help you out with that.

Every time your opponent searches for a card, or brings a card back from the Break Zone, you get to draw a card. And, there’s no limit on how many cards you can grab.

Since we already know that every deck has a card that searches for cards, and most decks have a way of bringing cards back from the Break Zone, you will draw enough cards to make The Emperor a free play in the long run.

You also get a body on the field with 5000 power.

You’ll want to keep The Emperor on board for as long as you can.

25-112H – Sarah (MOBIUS) LB

We were just talking about MOBIUS, somewhere during this set, and it is getting some love here.

Sarah will come in and if you find a MOBIUS card in the top 4 cards of your deck, you can add it to your hand, if not then all the cards go to the Break Zone.

It can work in your favor, it can also work against you.

But, the real reason you’ll be playing Sarah, is her second ability, in which she reduces the cost of playing your MOBIUS Forwards by 2CP.

And, you get a body, but you’ll probably just be dulling Sarah to help pay for your Forwards.

125-113R – Yang LB

Bring on the Monks!

This is just a way to get an extra Monk on the field.

What am I saying? I gotta read a little better here.

This is a way to get a Forward on the field, any Forward, any Element, any Category, any Job.

As long as you have enough Monks on the field you can even play Mont Leonis (14-075H) and Chaos (16-129L)

Just find a way to break Yang, and play him again, and then play him once again. Since Yangs LB cost is only 1 point, you can play all 3 Yangs if you have them in your Limit Break deck.

25-114R Kain LB

Kain might cost 9CP, but you can bring that cost all the way down to 2CP.

How?

Its simple really.

If you have 3 Dragoons on the field, Kain’s cost comes down to 4CP. And, once Kain enters the field you’ll grab a Forward from your Break Zone. Bringing it down to 2CP, just like we mentioned.

You can grab the Forward you just used to pay for Kain’s cost, or you can grab another one.

Most likely, you’ll be grabbing another one. Probably that Dragoon that was just broken last turn.

Did we mention Kain has First Strike?

If you’re playing Dragoons, you should throw at least one in your Limit Break Deck.

25-115H – Sephiroth LB

This is a fun card to play. I managed to pull it on Prerelease along with a couple of FFVII Legends, but that’s a story for another day.

The high cost of Sephiroth is worth it.

Whenever Sephiroth attacks or when he enters the field, Sephiroth will dull all the Forwards except for himself.

And, at the end of your turn you will break a dull Forward. At the end of your opponent’s turn, you will break another dull Forward. And so on, and so forth.

You will slowly break down your opponent’s front line, but be careful. Once your opponent loses all their Forwards, you’re going to start breaking your own Forwards.

But, then again, if your opponent doesn’t have any Forwards on the field, you’re probably winning the game.

25-116H – Graff LB

The Grand General. Graff looks like he could be a captain, and when I saw it the first thing I thought about is Vikings.

Why Vikings?

Well, when Graff enters the field, choose a Forward you control remove it from the game. If you remove a Viking, you will draw a card.

Which should be a good enough reason to play Graff in your Pirate deck.

And also, whenever Graff attacks, you’ll choose one of your opponent’s Forwards and they lose 4000 power until the end of the turn.

Let’s not forget about Graff’s 9000 power either.

25-117R – Leonora LB

One more card that can search for another card.

A Forward to be exact, A Final Fantasy IV Forward.

Which Forward? Well, that’s up to you.

Leonora can also help protect your Final Fantasy IV Forwards, with her second ability which turns the next damage dealt to them to 0.

Final Fantasy IV now has 2 cards that will search for a FFIV Forward.

We might be on to something here.

25-118H – Golbez LB

We’ve seen all the Archfiends, now let’s take a look at their leader, Golbez.

5CP plus 2LB to play a 9K Golbez.

So far this is meh. Just your regular High Powered Forward.

Now let’s take a look at the ability. Once per turn, you can search for an Archfiend and play it onto the field. Just like that.

Imagine, looking for Cagnazzo, right when you need to get rid of a Forward that you don’t want on the field. Or playing Scarmiglione when one of your Forwards gets attacked and needs to be saved.

And, that was just a couple of Archfiends from this set. Imagine what you can do if you go through all of the Archfiends.

That Golbez VS Cecil deck is looking pretty good right now.

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Tears of the Light & Dark Planet

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25-103H – Fusoya

Need to deal 9000 damage to a Forward, look no further, Fusoya here can do just that. And, that’s all he does.

Sure, 9000 damage to a Forward is a lot of damage, and more than half the time you will be breaking that Forward.

The real question though is it worth the cost?

Fusoya is a 2 cost Backup, but you’ll also remove the top 2 cards of your deck from the game when Fusoya enters the field. That’s technically 6CP, and you don’t know what the two cards are that will be removed.

Fusoya also has Flare, which is the same thing.

I know High powered attacks should cost more, but this feels like you’ll be paying more than you have too. Especially since we have Ifrit 25-004H.

25-104L – Yuna

This better be a Full Art.

For 2CP you get access to 3 separate abilities, that can go off at any moment, as long as you have 2 active Forwards.

1) Dull 2 Forwards.

2) Freeze a Character

3) Cancel a Summon or an auto-ability, if your opponent doesn’t pay an extra Crystal Point.

Although Yuna is not over powered, she can still put a stop to parts of your opponent’s strategy.

I don’t think this is ground breaking, considering Yuna is a Legend, but I have been wrong in the past.

Let’s see what happens 3 months from now.

25-105L – Vegnagun

Can we say game over?

Kind of like Emissaries of Light Tidus, there are way to keep Vegnagun out of your Break Zone. At least for the time being. And, after that, there still are some ways to grab Vegnagun back from the Break Zone.

With 10,000 power, Vegnagun is a force to be reckoned with, and having the ability to activate it whenever you’d like, Vegnagun will be ready to deal damage and take damage without worrying about having the War Machine Break.

And, once you already have 2 Vegnuguns in your Break Zone, Vegnagun will break all of your opponent’s Forwards. Leaving the road open for an easy victory.

This is probably where Yuna comes in play to block Vegnaguns abilities.