20-022C – Alhanalem
I feel like I just wrote about this card.
Alhanalem is a cheap Forward to play. Very cheap. At 1CP and a 3000 body, he can block any attack that you throw at him. Surviving the attack is another story.
Alhanalem also comes with 2 abilities. All you have to do is dull Alhanalem, and you can either Dull or Freeze a Forward.
I don’t see any reason not to have a couple of these laying around.
20-023C – Armourer
The Common card between all the elements.
Let’s just Copy and Paste here.
If you got 3 Backups already on the field, this Backup is free.
Other than draft, I really don’t see much use for this card, but I’ve been wrong before. Watch a Forward show up where you discard a Backup for a great ability.
20-024H – Calbrena
Rerouting damage to the nearest Forward.
Calbrena comes in whenever it wants to come in. Your turn, your opponents turn, or whenever one of your Forwards is being targeted by one of your opponents abilities.
You can now reroute that damage to Calbrena.
And when Calbrena is dealt damage by one of your opponents Forwards, you can deal damage to your opponent equal to Calbrena’s power, which will usually be 7000.
A nice little counter to have in your hand.
20-025C – Juggler
Backup.
Back Attack.
Juggler enters and dulls a Forward.
‘Nuff said.
You can actually play Juggler, when your opponent attacks and dull the Forward that is attacking.
20-026C – Edward EX
The Spoony Bard is back again, as a Backup.
And with his trusty harp, he will take a dull Forward, and break it.
As long as your opponent has 2 Dull Forwards on the field, that is.
For 2CP, I’d say this is a good deal.
20-027C – Genesis
We Finally got another Genesis card. We’ve been waiting since Opus III. Let’s see if it’s been worth the wait.
5CP for a 9K body.
Common.
Either Freeze 2 Characters, or have your opponent discard a card.
If Genesis comes in with Warp, you can use both abilities. Warp cost is 2 Ice CP.
It’s worth a try. At least in draft.
20-028R – Cissnei
This is interesting.
Cissnei uses Shuriken Counters, just like Edge.
Cissnei can use Shuriken Counters from other Characters to use her ability.
Edge (11-045H) gains a Shuriken Counter every time a Ninja enters the field.
Are there any Ice Ninja’s. Besides Vanilla Ice in TMNT 2.
We’re either throwing Edge (19-070C) in a Turks deck, or finding a way to put Cissnei in a Ninja deck.
20-029C – Jihl Nabaat
Am I the only one that still likes to play Opus I Jihl Nabaat? If I am, I might not after this set is out, as this Jihl has the same Enter the Field ability, but better.
Jihl comes in and if you pay the extra 2CP you can not only Freeze 2 of your opponents Characters, but dull them as well. That way you won’t need to pick from the dull Characters, cause you will dull the Characters you want to Freeze.
Jihl Nabaat is also a Forward, and if you’re playing Mono-Ice, well she’ll gain +2000 power.
I don’t know how well she’ll do in the XIII Custom Starter Set.
I guess we’re about to find out.
20-030R – Setzer
Setzer deck incoming.
First off, all the FFVI Ice cards look amazing this set.
Setzer comes in and allows all of your VI Forwards to form a party together regardless of element. Combine this with Locke, and get that table of four, to combine their attacks into one big party and get Locke’s ability to go off.
And with a party of 2 you get to dull and freeze a Forward.
Yes, please, I’ll take 3.
Is this a Full Art as well?
20-031R – Celes
If you’re playing Celes, you’re playing Locke, and whole bunch of FFVI Characters. Might be time to dust off my Setzer deck and update it.
Celes gains Haste if Locke is on the field, and Locke gains Haste if Celes is on the field. A win-win for these two.
Other than that, when Celes enters the field, you can dull all of your opponents Forwards, if you have enough FFVI Characters on the field.
And you get that for only 2CP. After that Celes is a 5k body, able to block an attack, get sent to the Break Zone, and then you can just play her again.
20-032C – Soldier : 3rd Class
Cloud’s old SOLDIER buddies are here.
These one’s gain 1000 power for each SOLDIER : 3rd Class in your Break Zone. They also search for each other when they enter the Break Zone, + you get to play them straight to the field.
Pair these SOLDIERs with the Opus III Soldiers and you can have up to 5 SOLDIER : 3rd Class in your Break Zone, to make this Soldier an 11k power house.
20-033C – Cerulean Drake
I was going to say, How come I don’t remember Cerulean Drake from FFVII? Then I realized it’s from the Remake.
Cerulean Drake is a 1 cost Monster that will Freeze a Forward when he enters the field.
Not much to write home about, but it does have some abilities that will allow you to dull a Forward, or break a dull Forward.
If you got 2 of these on the field, you can use the abilities back to back and Break an active Forward.
20-034R – Terra
There is a nice combo right here. Along with Lock and a couple more FFVI Characters. And, I probably won’t even scratch the surface here.
Terra comes in and you can grab a Summon from the Break Zone. This makes Terra’s CP go from 4 to 2. And once Terra forms a party and attacks, you’ll be able to cast that Summon for Free.
And along with the Free Summons from the last set. You can cause a lot of damage.
Considering this Terra is only a rare, it’ll be easy to get a playset.
20-035C – Knight
Ice Reprint Standard Unit.
Just find what I wrote for Samurai and change the word Samurai to Knight.
20-036H – Number 24
Number 24? This card is Number 36. They should get their facts straight.
All jokes aside Number 24 in the Royal Rumble is pretty good.
No?
Ok, Number 24 is a great blocker. Just keep a Barrier Counter on him and block any attack that comes your way. Add a Barrier Counter at the beginning of the Main Phase, and you’ll always have a constant supply of Barrier Counters.
Just make sure you keep blocking, because once those Barrier Counters are 3 or more, Number 24 will become dull at the end of each of your turns. But, he should activate during the beginning of your Main Phase, so you should be good.
20-037H – Mateus (FFTA)
2 cost Summon that will either Freeze all of your opponents Forwards, or all of your opponents Backups.
Pick and choose, but the end result will always be the same.
Mateus will be removed from the game.
No way to save this one.
20-038H – Wicked Mask
Chris Isaak would have had a field day with this card.
“Such a Wicked Mask to play”
3 cost Monster that reroutes a Summon from one Character to another Character of your choice. I’m seeing plenty of Counters this set, even if they aren’t called counters.
After Wicked Masks enter the field ability is used, Wicked Mask stays on the field until you decide to turn it into a Forward.
And, let’s not forget – Back Attack.
20-039R – Rude
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you can play an ability if it doesn’t have the dull icon.
I’m 99% sure of that, so that means, Rude enters the field, Dulls and Freezes a Forward. After that you can use Haymaker to Break it.
Only drawback I can find with this card is that, you can only use Backups to pay for this card. Other than that, Shinra should be getting stronger this set.
20-040L – Rufus
Rufus, President of Shinra, doing Presidential things.
You can lower the cost to cast Rufus by 2 if both Reno and Rude are in the Break Zone. Making Rufus a 2 cost Forward with a 7K body.
Once Rufus enters the field, you can grab one of the Turks from the Break Zone, making Rufus a Free Card. And, we all like Free cards.
After that whenever Rufus attacks, you can choose from 3 different abilites. Dull and Freeze a Forward, grab a Turk from the Break Zone, or you can make your opponent discard a card.
Rufus is the President that keeps on giving, even after he has been elected.
Doesn’t Weiss (18-019R) have an ability that activates when your opponent discards a card. (hint hint)
20-041R – Reno
Just goes to show you that the Turks are here to stay.
You play Reno for 3 and pay the extra cost to give Reno Haste. After that you can attack with Reno, search for Rude and play Rude onto the field.
It’s almost Buy 1 get 1 Free.
This even works better if you play Rufus first.
Let’s take a look.
Reno and Rude are in the Break Zone. You play Rufus for 2CP and grab Reno from the Break Zone. You play Reno, pay 1CP and give Reno Haste. Reno Attacks and searches for Rude and Rude gets played straight to the field. That’s pretty much comes out to 4CP for 3 Forwards.
Bright Spark? Dulls 2 Forwards.
20-042L – Locke EX
Really?
Now I’m definitely dusting off that Setzer deck.
Locke comes in and you get to grab a FFVI Character from the top 4 cards of your deck. Which should be pretty easy to get since most of your deck should consist of FFVI Characters.
Once Locke is on the field, get as many FFVI Forwards on the field, and form a a party of 4 FFVI Characters. Do that once per turn and your opponent won’t ever have any Forwards to attack or block. Which should work in your favor. Cause, even if you form a party with only 2 FFVI Characters, you’ll still be dealing your opponent a point of damage.
Yes, I’ll take 3. Hopefully we get a Full Art here.
This could have been a real easy article to write. I could have just said let’s throw Zack into your AVALANCHE deck and call it a day. But, where’s the fun in that?
Genesis deals damage, your opponent discards a card.
