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Hidden Legends of Ice

24-019R – Umaro

I don’t see why anyone would play Umaro on to the field, when his ability goes into play when Umaro is in your hand.
For 3CP you can discard Umaro from your hand a break a dull Forward.

That’s it. Plain and Simple.

I mean you can play Umaro on to the field for 2CP, but that’s about it. He’ll just stay on the field producing 1CP per turn.

I’d say Umaro is more like a 3 cost Summon, and he should be treated as such.

24-020C – Ulmia

Can you here the Harps playing your song?

Ulmia is ready to Freeze one of your opponent’s Characters.

And if you got another Final Fantasy XI Forward on the field, Ulmia will make your opponent discard a card.

Ulmia will make Anselmo proud.

“Walk on home, boy!”

Maybe she can take Dime’s spot. Put some Distortion on that Harp.

24-021H – Kurasame

Deja vu?

I think we’ve seen this one before.

This time Kurasame is a Hero though, instead of a Legend.

Kurasame comes in and Freezes your opponent’s Characters. How Many? Depends on how many Backups you have on the field.

And depending on if your opponent has at least 4 dull Characters on the field, Kurasame will draw you a card every time he attacks.

You can run this one and the Hidden Hope Kurasame, and you’ll have 6 Kurasames that will Freeze your opponent’s Characters.

24-022H – Gogo

Gogo is back!

And s/he is better than ever.

Whatever FFVI Deck you’re playing, just throw Gogo into your deck. 3 copies will be perfect.

First line of attack, play Gogo, and protect Gogo at all costs.

Why?

Gogo casts Reraise on one FFVI Forward once per turn.

If a Final Fantasy VI Forward is put into the Break Zone, once per turn Gogo will bring them back!

If that’s not a great card, I don’t know what is.

24-023C – G Deleter

A backup that causes a splash.

Why a splash?

Because G Deleter is Ice splashing in Water.

G Deleter comes in and you draw a card, and if you have 4 Ice Backups, you can dull and Freeze one of your opponent’s Characters.

Not bad for 3CP, and you get 2CP back once he enters the field.

24-024R – Shiva (XVI)

Shiva comes in and you can Break 2 dull Forwards.

And at the end of each of your turns if 2 or more of your opponent’s Forwards are sent to the Break Zone, your opponent discards a card.

You get all of this and a Forward with 9000 power.

You’ll probably just want to Prime into Shiva instead of paying the 7CP.

 

24-025L – Genesis

First off the card is awesome. The art, the abilities and that we’ll finally have a great card to start off a SOLDIER deck.

Genesis comes right in for 5CP. Yeah, it’s your standard 5CP for a 9k body, but you get to choose from 1 of 3 abilities.

Have your opponent discard a card, choose 2 Characters to Dull and Freeze, or have your next SOLDIER’s cost be 3CP less.

The best part is that, you can choose more than once. Every time a SOLDIER enters the field one of Genesis’s abilities will
trigger, allowing you to choose which one you would like to do.

You should keep a playset of Genesis until Tears of the Planet comes out, that way you can use it in a Ice/Lightning deck with that Zack card that was spoiled for the next set.

24-026H – Zalera, the Death Seraph

4CP to break a Forward.

Not bad, when you consider that Summons that break Forwards come in at a high cost.

Zalera does hit a little different. You just choose the cost of the Forward. 4 or less, or 5 or more. After that your opponent will choose which Forward to break.

I wouldn’t say that this is a great card, it is good card, it’s just the chance of using it and getting what you want out of this Summon is slim.

Unless they only have 1 Forward that is 5CP or more, then you’ll know that you’ll hit your target.

24-027C – Shantotto

Shantotto coming in with a trombone, and I’m ready to crack a joke about rust. But, I’ll keep my mouth shut this time.

Shantotto reduces the cost of casting your Summons by 1, add Opus I Yuna to the mix, and all of your Summons cost will be reduced by 2.

And, that’s not all. Shantotto has the ability to Dull/Freeze a Forward if you have already cast a Summon this turn.

If I was a heavy Summon player, I would be playing a Yuna/Shantotto Combo.

24-028R – Jill

Lots of cost reducing in this set.

Jill is no different.

Jill’s cost is reduced by 2 if Clive or Torgal is on the field.

That means for 1CP you can Dull/Freeze one of your opponent’s Forwards, and you’re still left with a 7K body.

After that, you can Prime into Shiva (XVI) and break 2 dull Forwards.

I think we’ll have to see Priming in action before I get excited about it.

24-029C – Squall

Squall acting like he’s Opus IV Viking.

Getting things done when he enters the field and when he leaves the field.

Squall won’t draw you a card, but he will deal a dull Forward 5000 damage. Which can be more than enough to Break it.

And, let’s not forget Rough Divide, which gives Squall +1000 power and First Strike.

And it’s only 3CP!

Given Squall’s 8000 power, it would normally have been 4CP.

This is a decent Common to have.

24-030C – Terra

Theatrhythm is going strong in this set.

Terra comes in and grabs a Summon from the Break Zone.

This also comes off of an EX Burst.

You can then cast that Summon for one less Crystal Point with Shantotto.

After that Terra sticks around as a 5K body, ready to block. Or, attack.

 

24-031R – Torgal

Well here is the main card of your Final Fantasy XVI engine.

Torgal, the Wolf.

I don’t know much about Torgal, except for the fact that most of your FFXVI Forwards can be paid with CP from any element. This includes Priming costs as well.

Being a Backup, it is a little harder to have Torgal sent to the Break Zone, but, there are a couple of cards that can break Backups, but I think Torgal will be just fine.

This will be played.

And, it’s only 2CP.

24-032R – Piscodaemon

Why do I always go to write Psycho Demon when I’m trying to write Piscodaemon?

2 cost Monster that can be sent to the Break Zone when one of your Forwards attack.

And when Piscodaemon is put in the Break Zone, you can choose 2 Characters and Dull/Freeze them.

After that in your Main Phase 2, you can bring in Shiva (XVI) and break those 2 dull Characters. If they’re Forwards. Not Backups.

“Psycho Demon, Qu’est-ce que c’est?”

24-033L – Bhunivelze

Bhunivelze is back. It’s been a long wait since Crystal Radiance to get a new Bhunivelze card.

I can see this card being played in a Monster deck, especially if all those Monsters have effects that go off when the Monsters are sent into the Break Zone.

And, for every Monster or Forward that you’ll put in the Break Zone, your opponent will choose 1 Forward they control and send it to the Break Zone.

Mass Extinction going on here.

This could be Game Over for your opponent.

After all is said and done, you’ll still have a body with 10,000 power.

Just in case your opponent survives the onslaught.

24-034C – Velis EX

Well, this confirms it.

Warriors of the Crystal will be a thing here.

At least for a month or 2, just so everybody can try it out.

All you need is some Crystals to be able to bring in all the Warriors of the Crystal into play without worrying about color fixing.

Let’s talk about Velis now.

Whenever Velis or a WotC (imagine that) comes indull and Freeze one of your opponent’s Forwards.

It will be a bunch of abilities going off at the same time.

I believe it’ll be fun.

24-035C – Mateus (XII RW) EX

2 cost Summon.

2 choices.

Which one will you pick.

Break a dull Forward that costs 3CP or less.

Or.

Dull a Forward, Draw a Card.

Choice is yours.

Ex Burst as well.

24-036C – Nu Mou

Nu Mou, just chilling in your back line until an Ice Forward enters your field.

After that you can put Nu Mou into the Break Zone, and you can Dull and Freeze one of your opponent’s Forwards.

It seems like all the Ice cards were Dull and Freeze and dull and Freeze some more.

But that’s what Ice does.

Now you have more cards to choose from.

Shop for these Singles and more at our TCG Player Store.

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Busters R’ Us

This could have been a real easy article to write. I could have just said let’s throw Zack into your AVALANCHE deck and call it a day. But, where’s the fun in that?

Although there might be a bunch of cards that are the same, we”re going to try and do this a bit different. A lot different that is.

We’re going to go with 2 different Zacks.

Zack (10-007H), just for the ability to ping damage here and there and at least a couple of time per turn. Pair that with a Summon that Breaks all the Forwards that have damage on them and you got yourself a wipe.

Zack (20-009L) Because it is just a great card, if you’re running anything SOLDIER related. And, we’ll be running at least a couple of Soldiers other than Zack.

We’ll start off with Zack’s mentor Angeal (3-0989R), not only is he a 7K body, but he also searches for Zack when he is sent to the Break Zone. That way you can just keep attacking with Zack and Angeal until they break, just so you can replay them once again.

Next we’ll be handing off the Buster Sword to Cloud (1-187S), and you’ll be saying that there are better Clouds than that, and we’ll say you’re right. But, this is Zack’s deck and Cloud is just helping out. Plus the good Cloud’s are Earth, and we don’t really feel like color fixing.

Time to find Zack’s girlfriend, Aerith (11-139S) this way we’ll be able to grab a couple of FFVII Forwards from the Break Zone.

And as I’m looking for Backups, there aren’t really any, that have anything to do with Zack. So, we’re going to change it. It shall be all Forwards. We might change this again later.

Cue the music.

Bum-Bum Bum-Bum Bum-Bum Bum-Bum

Sephiroth (11-138S), Dulls all the low powered Forwards every time Sephiroth attacks. You have to pay taxes to keep Sephiroth on the field, 3 cards from the Break Zone. You should have these in there, unless you’re opponent finds a way to remove all the cards from your Break Zone.

Roche (14-095H), we’re just grabbing any SOLDIER right now. Roche has always been a great card. You’ll always want to go first with Roche and just play him right away for no CP and swing for a point of damage.

We’re actually going to add a couple of Backups right now.

Class Second Moogle (10-016C) to help us with Ice CP.

Genesis (3-033L), I still love this card, even though I probably haven’t used it in years. Dull and Freeze a Character, and when Genesis deals damage, your opponent discards a card.

Next we’ll add in our generic SOLDIERs. SOLDIER : 3rd Class (10-009C) and SOLDIER : 3rd Class (20-02C). These 2 will search for each other when one enters the field, and when the other exits the field. SOLDIER : 3rd Class (20-032C) also gains a +1K buff for each SOLDIER : 3rd class that you have in the Break Zone.

We’ll add Johnny (20-096C), another Backup to help us grab a Character from the Break Zone, and we can use his ability to grab a FFVII Character from the Break Zone.

Hedgehog Pie (20-019C), just to get all 3 of the Hedgehog Pies out at the same time. After that they are ticking time bombs, that go off when you decide you want them to go off.

Duke Larg (1-057R), Lebreau (1-030R) and Lulu (1-150R). All three for the 1K buff they give to their respective element’s Forwards.

All we need is to throw in some Summons. Knights of the Round isn’t an option, so we’ll just go with Ramuh (15-101R), Shiva (8-032R), Phoenix (3-020H) and Bahamut (16-016C).

That’s pretty much what we have for Zack. Not the greatest.

Forwards

3x – Roche (14-095H)
3x – Angeal (3-098R)
3x – SOLDIER : 3rd Class (10-009C)
3x – Sephiroth (11-138S)
3x – Genesis (3-033L)
3x – Zack (10-007H)
3x – Aerith (11-139S)
3x – SOLDIER : 3rd Class (20-032C)
3x – Zack (20-009L)
3x – Cloud (1-187S)

Backups

3x – Class Second Moogle (10-016C)
3x – Lebreau (1-030R)
2x – Duke Larg (1-057R)
2x – Lulu (1-150R)
3x – Johnny (20-096C)

Summons

1x – Ramuh (15-101R)
1x – Phoenix (3-020H)
1x – Shiva (8-032R)
1x – Bahamut (16-016C)

Monsters

3x – Hedgehog Pie (20-019C)

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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.