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Kain Highwind

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The prideful Dragoon, unable to show his true feelings.

Commander of Baron’s Dragoons, he is Cecil’s childhood friend and occasional rival. Kain’s secret feelings for his childhood friend Rosa allow Golbez to seize control of his mind and force him to become Cecil’s enemy. Once released from the brainwashing, Kain feels remorse and seeks to atone for his actions by joining the fight against the true mastermind, Zemus.

-Taken from the Ultimania

Commander of the Dragoons, Kain is no stranger to mind tricks, especially when they work against him.

Let’s take a look at all of Kain’s cards.

1-127H – Kain EX

At 6CP, this card is expensive for today’s decks. There are plenty of cards that will do what Kain does, and they will do it better.

But, this is still Kain.

Kain comes in and you choose a Forward and they lose 5000 power. That can be enough to break most Forwards. Especially the low cost ones.

We also have Dragoon’s Pride, which looks more like a Reverse Jump.

Kain will break a Forward, but Kain will not activate during the next Active Phase. Meaning that Kain attacks and then he jumps out of harm’s way.

2-103H – Kain

How did I never really read this card?

This is actually pretty good.

Kain comes in with Haste. You can then use his ability and your opponent will not be able to choose him with their Summons and abilities.

After that, during your next turn, Kain’s power will double. Which turns Kain into a 10K body. 12K if you have Lulu on the field. I’m sure there are also plenty of other ways to increase Kain’s power as well.

2-104R – Kain

How is this Rare, better than the Hero card of the same set?

If Rosa is on the field Kain gains Haste, First Strike and +2000 power. But, that is not the reason you’ll be playing Kain.

As Commander of the Dragoons, all Dragoons gain +2000 power.

You probably don’t even need Rosa to play Kain.

This makes a huge difference in how I see Dragoons.

I might even build a Dragoon deck for myself now.

Just to try it out.

6-090H – Kain

Golbez? There’s no Dark Golbez.

No wait actually there is. But, I doubt your opponent will be playing it. They’ll more than likely be playing Chaos.

For 3CP, you get a 9K body, which is good if your opponent isn’t playing any Dark cards. Cause if they are as soon as that Dark Forward enters the field, Kain gets his brain washed and your opponent takes control of him.

The only way to get him back is to send your opponent’s Dark Forward to the Break Zone.

I like it that it plays into the story, but I’ll pass on this one.

9-084H – Kain

It was something about Kain and Ranperre.

Discard Ranperre before paying the cost to cast Kain to make him 3CP, and then Ranperre plays a Final Fantasy XI Forward from your hand onto the field. Which would turn the tides a bit in your favor.

Other than that, for 3CP you get an 8k body, and when Kain enters the field, one of your opponent’s Forward loses 8000 damage until the end of the turn.

We already know that you will not be paying 8CP to cast Kain. So, is there any other Lightning Backup to toss and get a better effect?

10-134S – Kain

Coming in with Haste, this Kain does not receive damage unless he blocks an attack, or his attack gets blocked.

That means that in order to keep Kain safe, he should not attack or block.

And, we know that’s not going to happen.

Gungnir? Yes, Kain gains +5K power and First Strike until the end of the turn. This gives you another way to keep Kain alive.
Here’s an idea. Fill you deck with 50 Kains. and just keep using Gungnir over and over again.

Hey, it might work.

11-054R – Hooded Man EX

There’s a reason why you can’t play Hooded Man and Kain at the same time. I won’t tell you but, you probably already know.
When Hooded Man comes into play you can grab a Final Fantasy IV Forward from your Break Zone. Which by itself is a great reason to play Hooded Man. Let’s not forget that this comes off as an EX Burst as well.

And, that’s not all. Hooded Man has one more ability that will make him a mainstay in any Final Fantasy IV deck. At the end of every turn, yours and your opponent’s Hooded Man wil activate all of your Final Fantasy IV Forwards.

What’s not to like?

13-073H – Kain

Kain is a great card if you can play him straight from the Break Zone. Cause once he gets broken, he’ll be under your opponents control.

Thancred (12-124L) and Y’shtola (13-134S) can play him straight out of the Break Zone.

15-048L – Kain EX

Attack and choose. Draw a card or Activate all the Characters other than Kain?

All the Characters? Characters?

Every time Kain attacks you can Activate your whole board?

Screw the extra card. Get me some blockers, and Edge, Opus I Maria, and anyone else that can help protect Kain.

Oh. And, some characters that will give me Crystals. Don’t want to lose Kain at the end of my turn.

17-102L – Hooded Man

This time Hooded Man comes in with Haste, and when he enters the field you can remove either a Kain or a Hooded Man from your Break Zone, if you do so, you can activate all of your Backups, and you can draw a card as well. Bringing Hooded Man’s cost down to 2CP.

How is this a Legend?

What am I missing?

You’re just paying to activate your Backups and have a Meat shield on the field.

17-131S – Kain

Haste? Check

Way to reduce the CP cost? Check

Buffs self when attacking? Check

All in all Kain here is a decent card. You might end up only paying 1CP for Kain, and if you do he’s an attacking Forward with 9K power.

 

17-136S – Kain

Kain allows you to grab a FFIV Water Character from the Break Zone.Plenty of Characters that you can choose from.

Other than that he can come in with Haste depending on the field situation.

3CP, 7000 power.

How badly do you need that Water Character in your Break Zone?

 

 

19-073C – Kain

Have we had a Kain as a Backup before?

Either way, this one isn’t half bad. Actually pretty useful with Back Attack.

If you have a Forward that is blocking another Forward, and your opponent buffs it to match the your Forwards power, you can play Kain and give your Forward First Strike. That way your attack will go through first. Breaking your opponents Forward.

Other than that, there really isn’t much use for it.

22-041C – Kain

Haste, and First Strike for a Common?

Activate 2 Characters when Kain Attacks?

+1000 power at 3 points of Damage?

How is this a common?

Whatever Rarity Kain has, this card is great. Actually it’s GRRRRREAT!

And, don’t get me started on the artwork, because we’re not here to talk about the artwork.

Just throw Kain into any Wind deck and you’ll do fine.

23-003C – Kain

Haste, and First Strike?

Kain is ready to strike!

Remember when we were talking about an all Haste deck? Well, Kain here is the perfect fir for it. Cause, every time he attacks, all of the Forwards with Haste or First Strike gain +2000 power.

Your opponent won’t know what to block, when to block, who to block, where to block, and most importantly, how to block.

Double Jump, is just a regular Jump attack, if it was double, Kain would be dealing damage to 2 Forwards.

Looking for Kain?

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Senior Chief Engineer

Cid Pollendina (2-057C)

“(D): Your opponent shows his/her hand.”

Need to take a look at what your opponent has in store?

Cid here will let you take a look, Best part is you can use it once per turn.

You’ll never be in the dark again.

 

 

Cid Pollendina (5-056H)

“When Cid Pollendina enters the field, your opponent reveals his/her hand.

If Cid Pollendina deals damage to a Forward of cost 5 or more, increase the damage by 4000 instead.

If Cid Pollendina is dealt damage by a Forward of cost 5 or more, reduce the damage by 4000 instead.”

Almost like the Opus II Cid, but this Cid let’s you take a look at your opponent’s hand when he enters the field.

Other than that, Cid is great against high cost Forwards. His attacks do more damage and the damage he takes is less.
Add that to the 8000 power he already has. I’d say it’s not a bad card.

Not great either.

Cid Pollendina (13-039C)

“EX BURST When Cid Pollendina enters the field, you may search for 1 Job Engineer Forward and add it to your hand.”

Let’s take a look at what we wrote when Opus XIII came out.

“I didn’t realize how many Cid’s there are. Or Engineers. At first glance, I thought this card would be so-so. There are 17 Engineers including Cid Haze. And, 11 Cids. 12 if you count Cindy.

You can probably put together an Engineer deck. And have Cid Haze attack to Activate all of your cards. It might work. Or a Cid Deck. Who wants to build a Cid deck.”

Well, yes. We’ll keep it like that.

We’ll finally try our hand at an Engineer deck.

Maybe.

Cid Pollendina (17-049C)

“When Cid Pollendina enters the field, you may search for 1 Category IV Forward and add it to your hand.”

This is probably the most Common Cid you’ll see on the field. (See what I did there?)

Mr. Pollendina comes in and searches for a FFIV Forward. And, we all like searching for cards, cause you get to grab what you need.

Grab that Wind Legend Cecil, and call it a day.

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Lumina – Card Analysis

First off, let’s check what I wrote when Opus XIII : Crystal Radiance came out.

“13-085R – Lumina

3CP to search for a XIII forward. Nothing exciting, but you would think that they would have done something better for Lumina.”

Have no fear, we will go into a deeper analysis today.

3CP – Lightning
Backup
Mysterious Woman
Rare

“When Lumina enters the field, you may search for 1 Category XIII Forward and add it to your hand.”

Now, when I said nothing exciting, I meant just that. Lumina is considered a Trickster in the game, so, you would think that she would do something devious to your opponent. Don’t get me wrong, you can never have enough searchers in your deck.

At the time of this writing, there are 93 Forwards that Lumina can choose from. There are FFXIII Forwards in every Element except for Dark. There shouldn’t be too much of a problem finding a Forward to grab from your deck.

Most of the cards in the FFXIII Custom Starter Set are great candidates for Lumina to search for. Especially that Light Lightning. You cant go wrong with that card.

I’ve looked long and far, and can’t remember if there is a card that searches for a Lightning Character, Backup, or any Character for that matter. I might be wrong, and find it later. And, If I do, I shall update this post.

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Lumina

“I have a name. It’s Lumina. And, I know a lot about you.”

SPOILER ALERT

If you haven’t played Lightning Returns and don’t want anything ruined, move along.

If you have, continue on.

Datalog Entry

-Lumina

This mysterious young girl appears to be able to control the power of Chaos, and likes to get in Lightning’s way at every turn.

It seems that she has met Snow before, and the two have more than just a passing acquaintance. but Lightning has spent the last five centuries in crystal, and she has no way of knowing what could have happened between the two.

Still, she cannot deny that the girl bears a striking similarity to Serah. But Serah is dead, and this Lumina seems to have her own goals.

 

So, just who is Lumina?

Lumina, is a vessel that was created when Lightning went into Crystal Stasis, in order to protect Serah’s heart to protect her from Chaos.. And, while Lightning was in Crystal Stasis, Lumina kept in contact with everyone that was a part of Lightning’s story.

From being there when Fang and Vanille woke up from their Crystal Stasis, to keeping Vanille company when she was lonely as the High Priestess. Showing Noel the oracle drive where he defeats Lightning, Giving Sazh a coffer of souls to collect Dajh’s Soul Fragments in order for him to wake up. Lumina also came in contact with Caius and Snow, but not Hope. Nothing to do with Hope, because Hope is dead. He’s just a puppet now. Bhunivelze’s puppet.

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Malfunction V1.069 : Resolved

I finally figured it out. As you can see the Card of the Week has changed. And what took me a month or so to figure out, was a process that took a total of 1 minute to fix. I didn’t even think it would work, but I tried it anyway. After a month or so of researching, resetting, deleting uploading and all the other good stuff, it was a simple plugin that I needed to install. End of story.

Now we can get back to focusing on what really matters.

Cracking Packs.

I should, make another video for YouTube. Maybe tonight. Speaking of which, I’ve been thinking of starting Box Breaks. If anyone is interested drop me a line. KardboardKorner@gmail.com Or, just hit the Contact Us page up on the top and you’ll be able to get a hold of me.

I also finally found time to build that Type-0 deck I’ve been trying to build since Opus XIII came out. It’s going to need some refining, but I think it’ll be fun to play. Nine, and Cinque. Both from Opus XIII was the reason I built this deck. Just to see if these two can take anything down. I’ll probably need to add more than 1 Fire backup as well. But, it’s very Forward heavy rounded out by Behemoth K, and Kunshira.

Now, it’s time to try this deck out and see what changes need to be made.

Until next time.