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Earthlike Oceans

28-058R – Arciela

Earth Backup here, Arciela, the Red Mage hailing from Final Fantasy XI.

Arciela is an extra shot at Breaking a Character.

What I like about Arciela is that, it’s not just Forwards, it any Character. Backups? Yes! Monsters? Sure thing.

I was going to write this card off, but we don’t have too many ways of Breaking Backups.

It’s worth noting that in order for Arciela to Break a Character, you need to play a High cost Final Fantsy XI Forward. I’m pretty sure, we’ll see on in this set.

 

28-059C – Dark Knight

At 2CP, breaking a dull Forward is great.

The draw back is that you need to have 5 Backups on the field in order to use this ability.

But, dark knight is a Common, and only costs 2CP. If there weren’t any draw backs than Dark Knight would have cost a lot more than 2CP.

 

 

28-060R – Angeal

We have a young Angeal on our hands here.

Angeal might be a Soldier, but he acts as a Meat Shield. All of your opponent’s abilities must choose Angeal if possible. Which is something you want to happen. Because you are not playing Angeal to be your Forward, you’re playing Angeal so he can be sent to the Break Zone.

And hopefully deal some damage along the way.

Once Angeal is sent to the Break Zone, you can then decide if you want to remove him from the game. If you do, you will give one of your other Forwards +3000 power.

And, that to me is something that we can all use.

28-061R- Wylk

The true meaning of Warrior of the Crystal.

Wylk gets stronger the more Crystals that you possess.

When he enters the field Wylk will deal a Forward 4000 damage for each Crystal that you have. If you don’t have any Crystals then Wylk doesn’t do anything.

And, whenever Wylk attacks, he gains +1000 power for each Crystal that you have.

Technically, Wylk’s power has no limit.

It would suck if Wylk is put in the Damage Zone, and you don;t have any Crystals to make use of his EX Burst.

28-062C – Vincent

We always knew Vinvent was a beast.

And, this one proves it.

Vincent comes right on, on to the field, and breaks a Forward like it was nothing. Not only that, but he’ll gain a Crystal in the process as well.

Let’s not forget that this ability activates off of an EX Burst as well.

You can then use that Crystal to give Vincent First Strike.

Yeah, Vincent costs 7CP, but he’s worth the price of admission.

28-063H – Kirin

This is better than Opus I Shantotto, but needs a bit more work to get his ability to go off properly.

Shantotto wipes the board to a fresh slate, while Kirin only wipes out your opponent’s Forwards. Plus, he gets to stay on the field as a Forward with a 9K body.

What’s the extra cost?

You just need to remove 4 Forwards in your Break Zone from the game. And, they all need to be of a different element.

Shantotto ain’t got nothing on Kirin.

 

28-064H – Cactuar

Earth’s 2 cost Hero Summon, Cactuar.

Same as the other Summons, you can pay the extra cost of a Crystal, and use both of Cactuar’s abilities instead of just choosing one.

First off Break a Forward that has entered the field, from the Break Zone, by Warp, or any other way than being cast from your opponent’s hand.

The Second stops a Forward from attacking or blocking. Plus you get to draw a card.

Most of the time you’ll be using the second ability to draw a card, and stop your opponent.

28-065R – Cid Pollendina

Didn’t we already have this card? And, didn’t it cost 4CP? And wasn’t it a Wind card?

Yes. Nope. Yes.

We had the same card back in Rebellion’s Call. And it still was 3CP. The only difference is that it was a Wind Backup.

But, it’s still a good card. Searching is always needed.

And, this time it comes with the Full Art treatment.

 

28-066C – White Mage

How about a Revive from White Mage?

Sounds good, you’ll just have to use a Crystal.

And, when you do, you can grab a Forward from your Break Zone.

After that, White Mage will stick around on the field acting as a Paladin, sacrificing himself to block one of your opponent’s attacks.

Hey, at least you grabbed that Forward.

 

28-067C – Despachiaire

I have no clue as to who this is.

Probably cause I only played Final Fantasy XI for a couple of hours.

Anywho, Despachiaire enters the field, and grabs up to 2 Final Fantasy XI cards from the top 5 cards of your deck.

Hopefully making Despachiaire’s cost only 1CP.

After that Despachiaire stays on the field as a Backup, giving you 1CP per turn.

 

28-068R – Flowering Cactoid

More Forward than Monster.

Flowering Cactuar comes in for 2CP and once per turn you can turn it into a Forward with a 6K body.

Even if you’re not attacking, Flowering Cactoid will be a great blocker.

And, at 5 points of damage, you can put Flowering Cactoid into the Break Zone and deal 10,000 damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards. That itself is worth having at least one of these in your deck.

Why do I want to call it Flowering Crockpot?

28-069L – Prishe

As always Prishe is a powerhouse.

And if you have another Prishe in your Break Zone, you can bring Prishe’s cost all the way down to 1CP.

When she enters the field, she goes straight into the offensive. Trading blows with one of your opponent’s Forwards. They’ll deal damage to each other, and for the most part Prishe will survive, as she comes in with 9000 power.

Psychoanima – Prishe becomes unbreakable. Meaning Prishe will stick around for another turn.

 

28-070C – Mira

9 times out of ten, Mira will result in a free play.

And, we like free plays.

Mira comes in for 2CP. And, you get to pick one of two actions.

The first one, play a Monster from your hand on to the field. Any Monster up to 4CP.

And the second, reveal the top 5 cards of your deck and add a Monster to your hand.

She’s not a replacement for Relm, but she’ll steer you in the right direction.

28-071H – Yang

A 3 cost Forward with 9000 power.

Yes, thank you.

Downside? You can only pay with Backups to cast Yang.

Upside? All the extra cards in your hand that you didn’t use to play Yang, are now ammunition for his enter the field ability.
For every card that you discard, Yang will deal 9000 damage to that many of your opponent’s Forwards.

If I did the math right, you can get up to 6 Forwards. In Final Fantasy IV they called this Kick!

28-072L – Rydia

This is amazing. Especially if you’re running a deck with high powered Forwards already. Rydia will give them an extra 2000 power to help them get through your opponent’s attacks.

Yes, that +2000 power is on;y during your opponent’s turn, turning all your Forwards into Meat Shields.

Plus, once per turn Rydia will give herself and another Final Fantasy IV Forward protection against Summons and abilities that choose their target.

We won’t even get into the art.

 

28-073H – Rydia

This is what happens when Leviathan kidnaps Rydia. She grows older in a split second.

And when she does, you get another Full Art that is just as great as the previous one.

Rydia comes in and you reveal the top 2 cards of your deck, if you find a Final Fantasy IV character there, add it to your hand.
You can also put Rydia in the Break Zone and give a Final Fantasy IV Forward +2000 power.

And, when you do that, you can play Young Rydia, because that one is better.

 

28-074C – Rikku

Rikku will come on in and grab a Final Fantasy X Forward 2CP or less from your Break Zone and play it on to the field.
She’ll also deal you a point of damage.

If you ask me, I’d say leave this card alone. There are plenty of cards that will play a Forward from the Break Zone, and there are a lot better Rikkus to play as well.

 

 

28-075C – Lilty

Our elemental Common is back.

Lilty comes in and you gain a Crystal.

Lilty leaves, and you gain a Crystal again.

You can play up to 3 at once, and get rid of 3 at once.

That’s 6 Crystals.

Whatcha gonna do, with all them Crystals?

28-076C – Layle

Lolz for Layle.

This is both good and bad, and even funny. For your opponent not you.

Layle comes in for 3CP, and comes in with 7000 power, and if he is dealt damage, that damage becomes 0. He’s practically indestructible.

But, let’s take a look at his second ability. For 1CP Layle gains tha ability that he can not block. Now, why would we use an ability like that?

You won’t, but your opponent will. They can pay the cost to activate Layle’s ability. Then you will either have to block with another Forward, or take the damage.

I’m going to keep an eye on this card.

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Hidden Legends of Earth

24-055R – Ash

I really need to play Stranger of Paradise at some point.

Ash looks like he is the perfect Meat Shield.

Whenever he blocks, or is blocked he gains +3000 power.

And, since Ash already has Brave, you don’t need to worry about keeping him for defense.

Just add in Enna Kross, and I’m sure there are other cards that will give Ash a buff, and you’ll be set.

Let’s not forget about the Crystal you gain anytime Ash is targeted by Summons and abilities.

24-056C – Cu Sith EX

Well, we kept saying we need a way to remove Backups once their use is gone, and here we have it.

Cu Sith allows you to remove a Backup from the game, and then you can draw a card.

The other ability is to protect one of your Forwards from damage.

Both are pretty decent abilities. And, depending on the situation, wither can make Cu Sith a good play.

If you’re Backup heavy and you like rotating your Backups, once they’ve come in.

I mean once you’ve played the Backup and searched for the card you want, that Backup is taking up the place of another Backup that can come in and have a new ability trigger.

24-057C – Cloud

Really?

They gave Cloud a Violin?

Cloud comes right in and for an additional 3CP, Cloud will Break a dull Forward.

Other than that, there is Braver.

Which allows you to, you guessed it Choose a dull Forward and Break it.

I can’t really see Cloud playing an instrument, he’s probably the kid in the corner too cool to do anything.

24-058R – Titan (XVI)

Titan, coming in with Brave and a 9K body.

This Eikon already has built in protection from being dulled by your opponent.

Yes, you can Prime into Titan, but if you don’t Titan will cost you 6CP, and when he comes in he will deal 9000 damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards. But, they can block it by paying 3CP. Either way you’ll get something out of it.

Now, all we need is to see what Hugo does, and if it is worth Priming into Titan.

It usually is.

24-059R – Cactite

Cactite might look tiny, but he is a huge Monster.

Cactite can easily break a dull Forward regardless of cost. Sure the MS Paint art style might make you think that this card will be worthless, but the 2CP you’ll pay to play Tiny Cactus onto the field is worth it’s weight in gold.

I’m not saying the art is bad, it’s actually pretty cool, just different.

Anyways, whenever one of your Forwards attacks, you can toss Cactite into the Break Zone and break one of your
opponent’s dull Forwards.

Simple as that.

And, you can have 3 of these on the field at the same time.

24-060C – Noctis

The Prince and a his Cello. Or is that a Double Bass?

Any ways, Noctis comes right in and let’s you grab an Earth Forward from your Break Zone, and play it straight to the field.
After that you have a body with 8000 power.

6CP, might be a bit high, but you’ll be playing 2 Forwards.

And that, I think is worth it.

Should you play this card instead of another Noctis, probably not, but you can just throw this one in any Earth deck, and he’ll do fine.

24-061L – Basch

Just place Basch in your deck, and you’ll do great.

5CP is worth playing this card. I’d even pay more for it.

Basch comes in and doesn’t do anything right away, but at the beginning of any Attack Phase, Basch will give all of your Forward +2000 power and Brave. We don’t even need to mention his other ability, because you will probably never use it. I know the chances of me using it is close to none.

What’s the other ability?

Reveal the top 3 cards and add a FFXII card to your hand.

No need for that, not when you have +2000 power and Brave for all of your Forwards.

We forgot to mention that, if you already have 2 Final Fantasy XII Characters on the field, Basch’s cost is reduced by 3.
Making him cost a whopping total of 2CP.

24-062C – Bangaa

I got excited for a moment. I read the card wrong and thought that Bangaa was the perfect fir for Basch.

Rereading the card, Bangaa is still decent, just not as good as I thought.

Bangaa comes in and you draw a card, bringing his cost down to 1CP.

After that depending on how many Earth Backups yoou have on the field, Bangaa will give all of your Forwards +3000 power and Brave until the end of the turn.

You can still use this with Basch when you do have another 3 Backups on the field, giving all of your Forwards +5000 and Brave.

This is where you can use Cu Sith.

24-063H – Hugh Yurg

I always liked the look of these cards.

At 4CP, Hugh Yurg allows you to search for an Earth Forward with the cost of 1CP, and play it straight to the field.

And, once that Forward enters the field, you can choose a Forward and give it +2000 power and Brave.

And, Hugh Yurg isn’t even done.

Not only is Hugh a body with 8000 power, but every time you play a 1 cost Forward on to the field, you will give another Forward +2000 power and Brave.

I think I’m seeing a pattern here.

24-064R – Hugo

The answer is yes.

You should Prime Hugo into Titan.

I mean why wouldn’t you.

You can still play Titan (XVI) right from your deck, but if you Prime into him from Hugo, it’ll cost one less CP, and it’ll also cost your opponent 2CP more. Or not, depending on if they want one of their Forwards to take 8000 damage.

And, once that enter the field ability goes off, Hugo is just a meat Shield, so you might as well Prime into Titan (XVI) as soon as possible.

24-065H – Fenrir

A 2 cost Summon that will allow you to break a card equal to the CP of a card that you discard.

That just means that Fenrir’s cost is 4CP.

That’s about it.

While looking at the artwork, you notice that Eiko is on the card. I was hoping for some synergy between the 2.

It is a beautiful card, and that’s about it for me.

Prove me wrong.

24-066C – White Monk

Just like a ticking time bomb.

White Monk comes in and hangs out on the field, producing 1CP per turn.

And, when the time comes you can send White Monk into the Break Zone and Break a Monster that costs 3CP or less. An Earth Forward needs to have come into your field this turn, in order for you to be able to use this ability.

If you’re playing Earth, I’m pretty sure you’ll be playing Forwards each turn.

Not too shabby.

24-067R – Moogle (SOPFFO)

I can see activation and re-activation.

When a Forward enters the field, you activate Moogle.

Right before that, I hope you used his ability to give another Forward +2000 power until the end of the turn.

Then the aforementioned Forward will come in, where Moogle will activate again, and you will use Moogle’s ability to give +2000 power to one of your Forwards.

Rinse and Repeat.

24-068H – Morse

“– — .-. … .”

3CP, for an 8K body with Brave.

You could stop right there and it would have been a great Common, but Morse isn’t a Common, he’s a Hero. That means there’s more than just that.

When Morse enters or attacks, you can pay an extra Earth Crystal Point and choose one of your opponent’s Forwards, Morse and said Forward will attack each other dealing damage that equals their power.

Let’s not forget that Morse also gains +1000 power at 3 points of damage, and another +1000 power at 5 points.

Add in Basch and Moogle, and Bangaa, and you have a Sharpshooter ready to take down your opponent’s Forwards.

24-069C – Y’shtola EX

The more I see these Theatrhythm cards the more I thin that something is brewing.

I don’t think we’ve had Theatrhythm cards this good. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe I’m right.

Y’shtola comes in and grabs a Forward from your Break Zone, and if that was all she did, Y’shtola would still be a great card.
And, if you have at least 3 Elements on your front lines Y’shtola gains +3000 power making her an 8K body

 

24-070L – Lightning

Another Lightning, I believe we tied the record of consecutive Opuses? Opi? with Lightning. I’m not complaining. I was just expecting a Fang Full Art this set.

This is a great card, if I do say so myself.

And just like plenty of Earth Forwards, you don’t need to play them in their respective Category.

Lightning is a 2 cost Legend that can remove Attacking Forwards or Blocking Forwards from the game. And, once that happens, you will bring Lightning back to your hand, where you can replay her for the next block or her next attack.

You can also end up paying only 1CP of any color to bring Lightning out. As long as you have another card named Lightning in your Break Zone. This means you can splash this Earth Lightning into any deck that you’d like. No need for color fixing.

I’ll take 3.

24-071C – Rulgia

Another Warrior of the Crystal! Are we going to have 6 or is this the last one to make them 4?

Rulgia would have been great if he was a Backup.

Hanging out on the field, giving all of the Warriors of the Crystals +1000 power and Brave.

But, Rulgia is a Forward wth 7000 power, plus the 1000 power that he gives to himself.

The more I see the Crystal Warriors, the more I like them.

Kind of excited to try them out.

24-072C- Leo

Why not just make this card cost 5 Crystal Points instead of you needing to dull 4 active Characters?

Why?

Because, it would be too easy to break Forwards. And, since Leo is just a Common it would have been too easy.

You’ll most likely want to build up your Backups quickly, that way you won’t have to worry about whether or not to use this card.

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