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Tears of the Ice Planet

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25-018C – Gimme Cat

I’m trying to figure out if Gimme Cat is worth playing.

You discard a card so your opponent is forced to discard a card.

Right? Yes.

So, why wouldn’t you just play a Forward or a Backup that will force your opponent to discard a card?

Maybe I’m just not seeing it.

But, you can also just pay 1 Ice CP and put Gimme Cat in the Break Zone, and your opponent will discard a card at random.
I think there’s better options.

25-019C – Necron

This is a little trick play, and you only need Necron to do it.

For 4CP, you can play Necron on to the field, and as long as he is on the field, you will grab one of your opponent’s Forwards. 5CP or less, and remove it from the game.

Now, your plan would be to try and keep Necron on the field, until your next turn. Or you can just find a way to give him Haste.

Next turn, If Necron is still on the board, you will use his ability and send the Removed Forward to the Break Zone. Thus breaking the Forward.

After all is said and done, Necron sticks around as an 8K body.

25-020R – Gippal

We’re getting ready for a Final Fantasy X comeback.

Gippal is reporting for duty.

YRP is coming back, along with Opus XVI Tidus, and that is pretty much all you’ll need.
Gippal gives all of your FFX Characters +2000 power and they cannot be chosen by your opponent’s abilities. That’s half the battle right there.

Gippal will also dull and freeze one of your opponent’s Forwards.

Yes, that last part is just a little bit extra.

I’ll take 3. Full Arts if possible.

25-021R – Chimera Brain

This ain’t a Monster, it’s a Forward that acts like a Monster to get out of sticky situations.
Once per turn if your opponent has any dull Forwards, you can turn Chimera Brain into a Forward and have it attack with 9000 power.

Once Chimera Brain attacks, you will choose one of your opponent’s Forwards and Freeze it.

Which Forward will you choose to Freeze?

The one that’s already dull, that way it won’t activate on the next turn and Chimera Brain can turn into a Forward once again.

You get all this for 3CP. It costs 1CP for each head.

25-022C – Edward

You got 2 ways to get Edward’s abilities to activate. And they both depend on how many cards your opponent has in their hand.

If they have 1 or less, you choose 2 of your opponent’s Forwards and hit them with a Dull/Freeze.

If they have 3 or more, your opponent discards a card from their hand.

One thing is for certain. You won’t be playing Edward if your opponent has 2 cards in their hand.

For a Common this is pretty decent.

25-023C – Kurasame EX

The Instructor turned Forward with his pet Tonberry.

Kurasame comes in and you will flip the top 4 cards of your deck and add a Forward to your hand. The rest will go to the bottom of your deck.

You might say that 6CP is a bit high, but you do get a 9K Meat Shield after that.

And, we already know you won’t be paying 6CP for Kurasame, you’ll be Warping him in for 2CP. You’ll have to wait a turn, but it’s well worth it.

Let’s not forget this ability also comes off of an EX Burst.

25-024H – Zeid

They’ll have a hard time trying to get rid of Zeid.

Whenever Zeid is dealt damage by a Character, be it Backup, Forward or Monster, your opponent will choose one of their dull Characters and place them in the Break Zone.

At 5CP, for an 8K body, Zeid will be able to hold his own against any attacker. And, if you need extra firepower, you can remove 3 ice cards from your Break Zone and give Zeid +3000 power.

Zeid looks like he’ll always be one step ahead, and always breaking dull Characters.
Zeid can also come in with Back Attack.

25-025L – Sephiroth

Now this is a card that will make SOLDIER thrive this set.

Young Sephiroth comes in at 4CP, and gives all the SOLDIERs, besides himself, First Strike.

Why doesn’t he give himself First Strike, you ask?

Well, he already has First Strike, no need to double up on it.

And whenever another Forward with First Strike attacks, your opponent will discard a card. They’ll have an empty hand in no time.

We also have Astral Gate, which will deal a Forward 5000 damage.

This is simple, straight to the point, and something we can all get behind.

25-026C – SOLDIER Candidate

All these SOLDIER Candidates are all Commons, and they are all good cards. Especially since they all work together.

This SOLDIER Candidate is no different.

SOLDIER Candidate comes in and dulls one of your opponent’s Characters, and if you already have a SOLDIER Candidate in your Break Zone you can go ahead and Freeze that Character as well.

And, if you have received 3 points of damage, SOLDIER Candidate gains +3000 power.
That will give you an 8k body for 2CP.

These candidates, are on their way to becoming SOLDIER, and they are just one card away from becoming a great deck.

25-027H – Chadley

Chadley doing scientific research.

Chadley comes in for 2CP, and even though he doesn’t do anything when he enters the field, he will start doing research behind the scenes.

He’ll see what happens to your Forwards during your opponent’s turn, and every time one of your Forwards is sent to the Break Zone, Chadley will gain 1 Research Counter.

When you have 3 Research Counters, Chadley will grab a Forward from your Break Zone and play it onto the field. Yes, the cost of that Forward must be 4CP or less, but we’re pretty sure you’ll have some of those Forwards in your Break Zone.

This is an easy way to bring in a Forward of a different element as you don’t have to worry about paying the cost for that Forward.

I’m sure we’ll have some interesting plays with Chadley.

25-028C – Paladin

You have 2 options, either Dull a Forward, or draw a card.

And that’s what you get for 3CP.

Depending on your situation both options are decent.

If you’re playing this early draw a card.

If your opponent has a Forward on the field that can cause block one of your attackers, dull it.

Good thing is that you can play more than 1 copy.

25-029R – Nooj EX

I remember Nooj, a lot more than I do Gippal or Baralai.

And, that’s all right because Nooj will search for one or the other.

And, if that’s not enough for you, Nooj can also deal 5K damage to all of your opponent’s dull Forwards.

This is where Paladin comes in. You play 3 of them back to back, and Nooj will deal all three of them 5000 damage.

Hopefully you’ll break some.

And, since we know that things don’t always go as planned, Nooj’s first ability also comes off of an EX Burst.

25-030H – Mateus, the Corrupt

Weren’t we just talking about this? Finding ways to get rid of Backups?

If we didn’t earlier, I know we did in past sets.

And, this is what Mateus, the Corrupt does.

You can remove one of your Backups from the game to reduce Mateus, the Corrupt’s cost by 2CP.

Once, you cast Mateus, she’ll Break a dull Forward, and Dull/Freeze another one.

Then you can cast another Mateus, and repeat the cycle, until you run out of Mateus.

Plus, the artwork by Ryoma Ito is amazing as well.

25-031C – Borghen

Borghen’s looking at you like, do you really want to play this card?

You might.

Borghen does one thing and he can do it twice.

Deal a dull Forward 8000 damage.

Once when he comes in, and once when you decide to put him in the Break Zone.

If you can Break a card on the way in, and another on the way out, I’d say this is a good play.

25-032C – Maenad

Did you ever want a way to recycle your Monsters?

Maenad is here to do just that.

Most of the time, your Monsters will be sent to the Break Zone, in order to activate their abilities. Maenad will be able to bring a Monster back at the end of every turn. As long as that Monster was put in the Break Zone on the same turn.

For 5CP this is a bargain, even at 5CP, you’ll be bringing back a Monster left and right.

Now, how to incorporate Maenad into my Bomb deck?

25-033R – Yuna

Half Black Mage, Half Gullwings, All Yuna!

Yuna comes right in and let’s you search for one of the Gullwings.

Now, I was on the fence of her second ability, thinking why would someone use this ability to play a Gullwing from their hand when you can just play the Gullwing from your hand without using the ability?

Then I realized, that you can play this card whenever you’d like. And, you don’t need the element of said Gullwing to play it. Meaning you can splash any color Gullwing and not worry about paying the cost.

Last but not least, we have Blizzara. Choose a Forward Dull/Freeze it, and then your opponent discards a card from their hand.

Effective.

25-034L – Lenne

We haven’t seen Lenne in quite some time. Well the Songstress is back, and she is interesting.

Once you go into your Attack Phase, you’ll be able to remove the top card of your deck from the game, and then you’ll be able to cast it. If you don’t cast it, well, then you’ll lose the card.

You can also remove Lenne from the game, and then remove a Summon from the game, then you can cast that Summon whenever you would like.

I’m kind of mixed on this card.

Let’s just wait to see it in action.

Cool Singles!

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Edward Chris von Muir

The Sensitive prince gaining courage on his journey.

The Damcyan prince who prefers music to conflict. In the guise of a minstrel, Edward wanders from land to land. After meeting Tellah’s daughter Anna, he falls in love with her. Edward brings the girl back to his homeland, but loses her during the Baron army’s attack on Damcyan Castle. Lost in grief, Edward is unable to take action. Cecil reproaches him, inspiring Edward to join the Dark night on his quest. Edward finds courage on the journey, gradually shedding hi weaknesses and becoming a man unafraid to save his comrades

-Taken from the Ultimania

I remember I would just have Edward sing for every battle. Other than that he would just hide and let Cecil take care of everything. Let’s take a look at the cards throughout every Opus.

Looking for Edward?

2-030H – Edward

Well, I can see why no one uses this card anymore.

At 4CP Edward is a Backup that does nothing when he enters the field. His only saving grace is that you can dull a Forward for 2CP, and you can’t even use this ability when he enters the field.

Sure, you can constantly use his ability every turn to try and keep one of your opponent’s Forwards dull throughout the game, but there are much better options and hopefully much better Edwards.

This card is also a Hero.

“Anna, my love I … I will try. But, what would you have me do?”

2-031C – Edward

See, after reading the previous Edward, and now this one, I have to say that this one, the Common card of the two is a whole lot better than the Hero.

Why?

Because this Edward actually does something.

All the Forwards lose Haste for as long as Edward is on the field. No Forwards can gain Haste either.

Which stops all of the Haste Forwards from attacking as soon as they enter the field.

Now if Edward had a little bit more power, this card would have been fantastic.

But, Edward is still a blocker that can block any attack.

“I am the only one… the only one that can save them!”

3-029R – Edward

This is a little better.

The King of Damcyan. This is the only card that has that as his Job. There’s one more that just says King, and all the other’s say Bard.

At 3CP, Edward doesn’t do much, but he does have a couple of decent abilities.

The first ability makes your opponent discard a card from their hand. Which is good. Are you playing a discard deck? Edward will fit right in.

The second ability, won’t have much use, but it’s still there. Escape. It should have been called Hide.

Hide … I mean Escape just makes Edward invincible to your opponent’s Summon or abilities that choose him. But, there aren’t that many abilities that choose Backups, so this might not be as good as we originally thought it would be.

“Tell me you will not let your land suffer the same fate as ours.”

5-031H – Edward

Another 3 cost Backup.

This time Edward comes in and your opponent discards a card from their hand.

That is your instant gratification.

After that Edward is just itching to play his Harp, with his new hit single “Silent Verse”.

Silent Verse will cancel one of your opponent’s Summons.

This is still a good card to have on hand.

“Please! Listen!”

11-028R – Edward

Imagine your opponent having to discard a card every time he breaks one of your Forwards.

This is exactly what Edward’s ability will do.

Your opponent will discard a card, if they Break one of your Forwards during their Attack Phase.

One way around this is if they have no cards in hand during their Attack Phase, but that will leave them vulnerable during your turn, as they won’t have anyway to cast a Summon or pay for abilities.

Leaving you free to do whatever you want, with little to no defense on your opponent’s part.

This is one of the better Edwards if you ask me.

“You’re right. I’m nothing but a coward, just as you say. That’s why I’m just going to stay at Anna’s side. It doesn’t matter anymore … Nothing does!”

17-025C – Edward

If you always wanted to remove a card from your opponent’s Break Zone Edward here can help you.

For the cost of 2CP, you will receive a Backup that once per turn can Remove a card from the Break Zone. And that’s the best part. It’s once per turn. Not put Edwards into the Break Zone. Meaning you can use and reuse Edward’s ability as much as you’d like.

And, if you don’t need use it, you can always just dull Edward for CP.

Either way it’s a win win.

“I see… Sadly, I’m afraid I can’t let you have my Crystal.”

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.

“There’s nothing to fear. Antlions are quite docile. They won’t attack humans.”

 

Where’s Edward?

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Dawn of Heroes : Straight Out the Freezer

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.