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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.

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Hidden Legends of Fire

24-001L – Ifrit (XVI)

Coming in with Haste, Ifrit is ready to deal plenty of damage. You can play Ifrit straight to the field for 7CP or you can Prime Clive into Ifrit for 2CP. But, you’d have to have Clive on the field to do that.

And, we’re not talking about Clive, we’re talking about Ifrit.

And when he does come in, you’re dealing 10K to one of your opponent’s Forwards. If Ifrit deals damage to your opponent, Ifrit will deal another 10K to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

Spitflare?

Deals 10K damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

Whatever happens Ifrit will be dealing 10K damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

24-002C – Warrior of Light EX

At 3CP Warrior of Light comes in with an EX Burst. And, when it goes off Warrior of Light deals a Forward 5000 damage.

But, where are you at in the game?

Have you seen Bahamut?

Did you find the Rat Tail?

Do you have the power of the Crystals?

If you do, then Warrior of Light deals a Forward 8000 damage.

And, that’s about it. Simple and gives you a reason to produce Crystals.

Well, not really.

24-003H – Cyan

Am I reading this correct?

Cyan enters the field, and you can play a Final Fantasy VI character from your hand onto the field?

Sure it has to be 3CP or less, but you’re getting 2 cards on the field for 4CP. and if you play Gestahlian Empire Cid, you’ll also grab a FFVI Character from your deck, making Cyan’s total cost a whopping +1CP. That’s what it comes out to if you do the math.

Not only that, but Cyan also acts as protection from your opponent’s abilities. Yes, it only works for FFVI Characters, but if you’re playing Cyan you’re playing a VI deck. If you’re not, then you’re not playing Cyan.

Bushido Tempest?

How many cards can you fir into your Break Zone? That’s how much damage Cyan will deal to a Forward.

We also get a beautiful Full Art here.

24-004R – Deadly Nightshade

Looks more like a tomato.

1CP and you got your finger on the trigger. Ready to shoot, whenever one of your Forwards attack.

If you decide to pull that trigger, you’ll put Deadly nightshade into the Break Zone, and deal one of your opponent’s Forwards 7000 damage.

Might be a good way to get rid of a blocker that has more power than your attacking Forward. If not, you can always deal damage to one of your opponent’s other Forwards. 2 birds with 1 tomato.

And, now I’m hungry.

24-005L – Clive

Coming in with Haste, Clive is set to Prime.

As, we don’t know exactly what Priming is yet, we will wait until we write about it. But, I might forget to change this when the set comes out.

Clive gives all the Eikons and Dominants +1000 power, this includes himself.

And, when he deals damage to your opponent, you’ll discard your hand and draw 2 cards.

This is great for when you don’t have any cards in your hand.

24-006C – Clive

Coming in at 2CP with 5000 power, Clive becomes a powerhouse, if another Dominant or an Eikon is removed from the game. Making Clive a 9K Forward with Brave.

You can also use Clive’s ability to deal 5000 damage to a Forward.

That’s about it.

You can do far worse for 2CP.

 

24-007C – Black Mage

2CP and the ability isn’t that bad.

Black Mage can deal 5K damage to one a Forward but, you can only use his ability when a Fire Forward enters the field.
Not the best ability, but low cost and being able to remove Black Mage from the field, all while dealing damage to your opponent, making way for a better Backup to enter your field.

Might be worth playing if you can get Black Mage in early.

 

 

24-008C – Salamander (XII RW) EX

This Salamander looks more like a flying pig. That’s on Fire! Why are all these cards looking like food today. Add some Bacon to that tomato from earlier and now all we need is Lettuce.

But, that’s a conversation for a different time.

Salamander is Summoned and it deals 7000 damage to one Forward, and if you have 5 Backups on the field, 5000 damage to another Forward.

Not bad for 3CP, and an EX Burst on top of that.

Now where are we going to find that Lettuce?

24-009R – Joshua

Now that we’ve seen Joshua, it does not matter if you prime into Phoenix or just play Phoenix outright, if we’re just talking about cost.

(Yes, we wrote about Phoenix first, and we’re not going to edit it, because these are all first impressions.)

With that being said, Joshua is still a good card to play, as you can grab an Eikon or a Dominant from the Break Zone and put it back into your deck.

For 1CP this is a good play. Only downside would be the 3000 power that Joshua has, but, you’ll be Priming into Phoenix as soon as you can, because the only reason you’d be playing Joshua would be to grab that Eikon or Dominant from your Break Zone.

24-010C – Cetia

New Job? I can’t remember Cetia from War of the Visions, but then again, I haven’t played it in over a year. Did the story get better?

Cetia is your 4CP/8K body that is in every set.

If the cost is too high for you, you can always pay 2CP of any element and a Crystal.

You already know that there are going to be more Warriors of the Crystal, by Cetia’s ability to deal a Forward 4000 damage for each Warrior of the Crystal that you have on the field.

What I like is that if you’re paying using a Crystal, you can splash Cetia into any color deck that you’d like.

24-011H – Takatsugu

9CP?

He even looks mad, because his cost is so high.

Well, when Takatsugu enters the field you can search for 2, 2 cost Fire Forwards and you can play them straight to the field.
This might be a decent way to get bodies on the field.

Let’s take a look at his second ability. Which reads when another Forward enters your field, deal 2K damage to a Forward.
And those 2 Forwards come in to play, when Takatsugu enters the field.

So, you get 2 Fire Forwards and deal 2000 damage to 2 Forwards when Takatsugu comes in.

That might be worth 9CP.

It might not be worth 9CP.

It all depends on if you think it’s worth 9CP.

24-012C – Human

Do you have a way to get rid of Backups?

Do you have 4 Fire Backups on the field?

If so, then Human is the right card for you.

Human comes in and allows you to draw a card. And, if you have 4 Fire Backups on the field, Human deals a Forward 7000 damage.

And, that’s about it.

Standard Human Soldier.

Not even a Universal Soldier.

24-013R – Neon

Neon comes in and deals 5K damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

5CP is a little bit high, but you get a Crystal.

And, you can use that Crystal right away and deal a Forward 5Kdamage as well.

If you choose the same Forward you’re more than likely to break it.

If not, you can choose another Forward and maybe, you’ll break 2 Forwards in one turn.

Is that the best way to spend 6CP and a Crystal?

Probably not, but it has it’s uses.

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

24-014H – Bahamut

2 options.

One is more powerful than the other, but that power comes in at a high cost. And, we’re not just talking about the 5CP you’ll pay to cast Bahamut.

Option A, choose a Forward deal it 20,000 damage. I’m pretty sure nothing will survive that. Unless you’re able to buff one of your Forwards pass the 20K mark, you will have a broken Forward on your hands.

And, Option B, deal 10,000 damage to all of your opponent’s Forwards. This will more than likely break all of your opponent’s Forwards. And it better, because you will be left with just 3 cards in your deck.

Bahamut would be a great end game play.

24-015C – Bahamut EX

A Bahamut Forward?

Of course it’s going to have a high cost. You think they would have let you play Bahamut for cheap. Nope and never.

Bahamut comes in and basically casts Mega Flare on one of your opponent’s Forwards. And, when that Forward is sent to the Break Zone, you will deal your opponent 1 point of damage.

And that is how you you will gain an easy advantage.

Why easy?

Bahamut will be able to attack freely, without worrying about a Forward blocking him, because when they do block and are sent to the Break Zone, you will still deal a point of damage to your opponent.

How can we give Bahamut Brave?

24-016R – Phoenix (XVI)

How is this a Rare?

Every time Phoenix attacks you can grab a Fire Forward of 2CP or less from the Break Zone, and play it onto the field
You don’t even need Joshua to say that you’ll be playing this card. I haven’t seen the Joshua card yet, but I can say you don’t need it. Sure, you can play it, and Prime into Phoenix, but Phoenix is playable all by itself.

I’m already thinking Fire Warriors, and a whole bunch of 2 cost Standard Units alongside Maria (17-128L).

We’ll call it Mono-Fire Standard Unit Warrior and Co.

24-017C – Firion

Firion the Tambourine man is here.

I’m liking these new Theatrhythm cards, each Character is carrying an instrument … Maybe we can get a band going. We’ll start off with covers … I’m getting ahead of myself.

3CP, Firion can gain either First Strike or Brave during every Attack Phase.

Either way, Firion will have 8000 power to attack and block.

Maybe, just maybe we’ll get a Theatrhythm deck going.

24-018R – Josef

Search and Play.

Perfect way to get a 2 cost Rebel on the field. And, I’m thinking of Maria 17-128L, which is a very under rated card if you ask me. But, you’re not and we’re talking about Josef.

Josef is a Backup, costs 5CP, and when you have no more use for him or you need to free up space, you can use his ability and send him to the Break Zone, while you’re also giving a Rebel Forward +2000 power.

Not too shabby.

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Leveling Up By Priming

Looks like we were right!

Priming is essentially leveling up a Character. As with the release of the Card of the Week Spoilers for Hidden Legends, Clive levels up to Ifrit.

I’m sorry, I meant Primes into Ifrit.

And, that also means that we are on a Countdown to Hidden Legends. 8 weeks away. Wait no, it’s only 6 Weeks away. That also means that Midnight Pre-release is 5 weeks away.

It’s coming a lot faster than expected.

Any ways back to Priming.

Will this be only for Final Fantasy XVI Characters, or will Characters from the other Final Fantasy games be able to Prime?

I’m guessing only FFXVI Characters. Because it wouldn’t seem right for Warrior of Light to Prime into Bahamut, or Cloud into Choco/Mog. Yeah, I’m just playing here.

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Prime, New Flavor of Play

Well, I think I figured it out what Prime is.

Now this is just an assumption, and we won’t know until Square-Enix actually tells us what Prime is.

From what I’m seeing with Clive, and Ifrit It seems that Prime is used to level up your Characters. Kind of like Pokemon. Clive can Prime into Ifrit for the cost of 2CP one of which has to be Fire.

Thus turning Clive into Ifrit.

Will Clive be sent to the Break Zone after this? Will Ifrit have the abilities of both cards? There’s still are a lot of questions, but I think this can be a new and interesting way to play.

What are your thoughts on this? Am I hitting the nail on the head, or do you think that Prime will be something completely different?

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Hidden Legends

And, out of nowhere, the new set is announced!

Here we have it. Hidden Legends, with Final Fantasy XVI art on the box featuring Clive!

126 cards.

126 cards? That’s it? This might be the smallest set yet. Let’s see. 18 cards per element and 4 Light/dark cards will leave us with 14 Limit Break cards to finish off the set. That would be my guess, because I don’t see them printing anything less than 10 Limit Break cards.

We’re also getting a new Gold Stamped Signature, featuring .. you guessed it Clive. It is a good looking card. 4CP, 8000 power and the new Priming Mechanic, which we do not know what it is yet. But, it costs 2CP. One Fire CP and 1CP of any Element.

Clive also gives +1000 power to all the Eikon Forwards and Dominant Forwards. Which will probably be an FFXVI exclusive job of sorts. I don’t know, I still need to play FFXVI.

And when Clive deals damage to your opponent, you can draw 2 cards, but you’ll discard your hand first.

The other sample cards shown are Basch, Gilgamesh LB, Bahamut, Relm, Nono, Velis and Zidane LB. But, the card I’m most excited about is Tonberry & Cactuar. We don’t know what it does yet, but they better have a Full Art version of it, because it looks amazing.

Let’s not forget the Legacy cards that are making their way back. Minfilia (6-079L), Akstar (18-107L) and Unei (19-119L).

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