Tag: commanding officer

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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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Hidden Hope : Frozen Hope

22-019C – Ice Bomb

I Need More Bombs!

And, this one is pretty good on my opinion.

During your turn, Ice Bomb becomes a Forward, and whenever it attacks, you can Freeze one of your opponents Forwards.
And, if you already have received 3 points of damage, Ice Bomb will also Dull that Forward, thus making said Forward unavailable for your opponent’s next turn.

I’ll take 3, and put them in the Bomb deck.

22-020R – Vallaide

Who would have thought that Green Mages have these kind of abilities. And, what is a Green Mage anyway? I thought they were Red Mages.

Whatever it is Vallaide has a pass, because he’ll kick some …

It’s true. Just use his ability on a Forward, and whenever that forward is dealt damage, it breaks. Just like that.

Sure, you’ll need another way to deal a little bit of damage to said Forward, but that should be easy enough to figure out.

22-021R – Emina

This is what everyone likes. A Backup that searches for a card.

Sure, the card needs to be an Ice Character that costs 2CP or less, and I’m sure there are plenty of good cards to grab.

This technically makes Emina a 2 cost Backup as well.

Search and Play.

 

22-022R – Quistis

Do you remember Opus I Jihl Nabaat?

Well Quistis here, does a much better job than what Jihl Nabaat did.

Of course you’ll have to be playing a FFVIII themed deck, but with a card like this, and plenty of other great FFVIII cards that won’t be hard to do.

Now, what does Quistis do?

Depending on how many FFVIII Forwards you have on the field, you can dull that many of your opponent’s Characters. And if you have 3 or more, you’ll also Freeze them.

And, the artwork? It looks great. Can’t go wrong with a good looking card with a great ability.

22-023C – Bard

Bard, a low cost Backup that will dull a low cast Forward.

And, if you have another Bard (22-023C) on the field, you can use Bard’s other ability and Break that Forward.

Is it worth the price?

Depends on what you’re Breaking.

You can’t go wrong with a 2 cost Backup, that has a couple of decent abilities. Unless your opponent isn’t playing low cost Forwards. Then you might be out of luck.

22-024L – Kurasame

At 7CP, Kurasame is a quite expensive, but he can be worth it depending on how many Ice Backups you have on the field when Kurasame enters.

Go ahead count your Backups.

I’ll wait.

5 Ice Backups, well that is perfect. You shall either Dull and Freeze, 5 of your opponents Characters. Backups? Forwards? Monsters? Yep. Yep and yep.

Or, you can have your opponent discard a card for each Ice Backup that you have.

We said 5, right?

Well your opponent is discarding 5 cards from their hand. And, what was that card that was just released in the Anniversary Collection Set 2024? I don’t have the card in front of me, but I think it said, deal 5000 damage to a Forward every time your opponent discards a card, due to your Summons or abilities.

Now, at that point I’d say it’s very well worth playing Kurasame, as it will put you in a winning position. If you can’t beat your opponent when you made them discard their hand and laid waste to their front line, I think it’s time for you to pick up another game.

I like it.

22-025C – Cloud of Darkness

This is a decent card, for a Common.

Cloud of Darkness comes in, and since you’ll already be playing Discard because you’re already playing Ice, your job will be to have your opponent have as little cards as possible in their hand before you play Cloud of Darkness. Cause when Cloud of Darkness comes in and your opponent has only 2 cards, or less, in their hand, they will send one of their Forwards into the Break Zone.

And, that is pretty much it.

 

22-026C – Seymour EX

Almost like a Summon. Seymour comes in and breaks a dull Character.

After that Seymour will just hang out on the field producing a single Ice CP once per turn.

Good thing is that this ability can come off of an EX Burst as well.

Now, where did I put that card that gets rid of my Backups.

 

 

22-027R – Shiva

Let’s talk about Ice.

It’s so cold, that it will make all of your abilities stop working. Nothing moves, and your opponent’s Characters reset to 0.

No Haste, No First Strike, No Brave, no buffs no nothing.

Plus you get to draw a card if you only paid the cost with your Backups.

The twins are your best bet at starting a frozen empire.

22-028H – Cissnei

The Turks just got a little bit better with Cissnei.

She might not look like much, but in a Turk heavy deck, she’ll be lying in the shadows waiting to attack. And she can attack twice.

Sure, Cissnei comes in dull, but she also comes in with Haste. All you need to do is activate her and she’s ready to go. Luckily, The Turks are here to give a helping hand. (And you thought that they were the bad guys.) Every time a Member of the Turks attacks, you will activate Cissnei.

Here is the battle plan, Cissnei comes in, Reno attacks, Cissnei activates, Cissnei attacks, Rude Attacks, Cissnei activate and attacks again.

For 2CP, you get a 6K body that dual wields Shurikens.

I’ll take it.

22-029R – Jihl Nabaat EX

It’s Jihl, but which Jihl will you like to play?

Is PSICOM going to become a great deck to play? Who will be in it? How many PSICOM cards are there? Why are there so many questions?

After looking up all of PSICOM there are a total of 3 Characters with that Job, One which is Jihl Nabaat. The other 2 are Rygdea and Yaag Rosch.

“Who you gonna call?”

Not the Ghostbusters, that’s for sure. You can flip a coin and see which one you’ll get.

But, at 3CP you get a Forward with 7000 Power, and you get to search for a member of PSICOM.

I’m guessing they’ll be adding more PSICOM members in the next set, Especially since Lightning is on the box.

22-030C – Shinryu Celestia

This is nice, a decent 2 cost Backup that will give one of your Forwards +4000 power.

Sure, you can only use this ability if you have 5 Backups on the field, but you should be trying to get to 5 Backups as soon as you can. Because Backups equals more CP.

Now, if you can find a way to activate Shinryu Celestia after she used her ability, then you can use it again, giving another Forward, or the same Forward, another +4000 power.

 

 

22-031H – Squall

How is Squall just a Hero?

Because he is a Hero. Just play Final Fantasy VIII to see why.

At 4CP/8000 Power, Squall becomes even more powerful, if you have 4 FFVIII Characters on the field. Not only that, but he is protected from your opponent’s abilities that deal damage.

And if you need to get more Final Fantasy VIII Characters on the field, Squall will help you with that as well. During the beginning of each of your Attack Phases, you will be able to play a Final Fantasy VIII Forward from your hand onto the field. Just as long as that Forward costs 4CP or less.

You can get the four Final Fantasy VIII Forward on the field, by the beginning of your next turn, If you play Squall right away. After that, it’ll be easy sailing.

22-032L – Sephiroth

The card that everyone is looking for. Not the one you see, but the one with the Gold Stamped Signature. It is a good looking card.

Now, lets talk about the card itself.

At 3CP with 7000 power, you would think that this card is undeserving of the Legend status. Well, we’re here to tell you that it is. And, that we can see why Squall is just a Hero.

Whenever Sephiroth is in your hand, you can pay 3CP and break one of your opponent’s dull Forwards. Which in itself is a great ability to have. Although you’ll have to remove Sephiroth from the game.

But, that doesn’t mean that Sephiroth is lost, he just went into the Lifestream like he usually does. Once he is in the Lifestream, and only during the turn that he entered the Lifestream, you may play Sephiroth onto the field for his cost. And, once Sephiroth enters the field, your opponent will discard a card from their hand.

Sephiroth will cost you a total of 6CP to play this way. There are a couple of Summons that will Break a dull Forward. One is Titan (21-071H) who will break a dull Forward for 3CP, and Hades (6-038R) who will break it, and have your opponent discard a card from their hand for 5CP. The difference is that Sephiroth stays on the field as a body.

22-033C – Time Mage

Time Mage is a simple 2 cost Standard Unit Backup that is actually pretty good.

Time Mage enters the field, and will Dull/Freeze a Forward, and if you have one more Standard Unit Backup on the field, Time Mage will Dull/Freeze a Character as well.

If you have 3 of these in your hand you can Dull/Freeze up to 6 Characters, and at 2CP each, it will only cost you 6CP or 1P per Character.

That sounds like a steal to me.

22-034H – Medusa

We finally have a new spell. Stone has arrived to Final Fantasy TCG. They’re just calling them Petrification Counters.

Medusa comes in and casts Stone on a Forward. Once that Forward has turned to stone, they cannot attack or block. And they will not be able to turn back to normal once Medusa is gone.

Nope, they will have to use a Gold Needle, and the price for that Gold Needle is 5CP.

This will put a cog in your opponents plans.

22-035C – Yuke

Simple, basic and straight to the point.

Yuke comes in for 1CP and allows you to look at the top card of your deck. If you like it you can keep it there. If not send it to the bottom of your deck.

It does have plenty of benefits.

Depending on what you see there, your game plan will change for this turn.

Do you see an EX Burst that will cause plenty of damage to your opponent. Leave it there and take a point of Damage. Do you see the card you need to put your plan into motion, play that card that allows you to draw a card.

Worst case is that you don’t like the card, and you can just recycle it to the bottom.

22-036C – Rinoa

Final Fantasy VIII, has had some great cards showing up. And, we still haven’t had a Starter Set made for 8.

Good thing is that, we already have plenty of cards to make a great deck. Is Rinoa a good card to add?

Probably not. There are far better Rinoas in other sets, so, I don’t really see you playing this one, unless you’re playing a Discard deck. Or, you just like the art and you’ll just throw it in your FFVIII deck, just to show off with the Full Art. I know I’ve done that before.

If Squall is already on the field when you play Rinoa, her cost goes down to 2CP from 3CP, which makes this card more affordable, and her ability forces your opponent to discard 2 cards.