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Breaking the Limit?

Final Fantasy TCG – Anniversary Collection Set 2024 (that’s a mouthful) is just around the Korner. If you haven’t gotten your Pre-Orders in yet, we have some still available.

Pre-Order Here.

What’s on the Soap Box today?

Limit Breaks.

If you can remember they first showed up back in Final Fantasy VII when Cloud took enough damage and unleashed Braver for the first time. Running towards the enemy and then jumping up like a Dragoon, and bringing his sword down as he’s falling to strike at the enemy causing damage.

I had you there for a second.

We’re actually going to talk about the new mechanic that will be introduced in Hidden Hope.

Limit Break cards will actually be set in a side deck that consists of up to 8 cards. These Limit Break cards are only for your side deck. And, can be played at anytime you would normally be able to play them. You’ll be almost like a Black Mage, with spells ready to go. As long as you have enough MP that is. That MP is your side deck as well. Once you pay the cost to cast a Limit Break, you’ll also need to pay for the Limit Break cost as well. You can just take a look at how Toriyama has explained it.

Let’s take a quick look at these cards now.

Zack – 22-112R

Zack enters the field and deals 3000 damage to a Forward. After that he just sticks around the board, hacking a slashing, blocking and attacking. Until he breaks, and gets sent back to the Limit Break deck, but not before stopping by the Break Zone to confirm that he is actually broken.

Ace – 22-116L

Ace is looking like he will be a powerful card. Once Ace enters the field, Ace deals 1000 damage to all of your opponents Forwards. Just think for a second of what Ace can do if you’re playing Chocobos.

And, that’s not all cause when Ace attacks, you can reveal the top card of your deck, and if it’s a Wind card, which it will be if you’re playing Chocobos, you’ll add it to your hand.

Sure, Ace costs 8CP, but you’ll probably get that CP back, with the extra cards you’ll be drawing.

Viktora – 22-114H

With Viktora, you’ll want to keep your opponents hand at zero. Make them spend every last CP that they have. And, since Viktora is already a Dragoon, and most Dragoons are Lightning. Ice/Lightning is already good at this, Simply adding Viktora to your side deck will make your main deck that much better.

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Hidden Trials

We have just received word of a new set coming out.

Opus XXIII, Opus 23 or Hidden Trials. Call it whatever you’d like.
And we are excited!

Lightning graces the Booster Box with original artwork. And it sure is looking good. We can already guess on which card will have the Golden Signat … wait, … I don’t believe there is a Golden Signature. It just mentions a Special Card with an original illustration. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

We do get to see some of the cards, and I can tell you Lightning and Queen just look amazing.

We’re getting a new Tyro as well. This time Tyro is representing Wind, we’ll see how well he does in his new element. It also mentions that Final Fantasy Record Keeper will be a “Featured Title” so, I’m expecting at the very least a bunch of Record Keeper Standard Units, and Maybe just maybe, we’ll get the pixel art cards I’ve been wanting for a long, long time. You heard it here first. January, 11th 2024.

Legacy cards are back. Lightning (15-041L), Rydia (15-083L) and Refia (19-102L). I don’t get why they are just grabbing cards from newer sets, I believe that since they are named Legacy cards they should have come from older sets. At least 10 sets.

But, what do I know.

And with that I’ll just leave the press release here.

Hidden Trials will elevate the ‘Limit Break’ mechanic to new heights thanks to custom-themed cards that can turn the tide of battle, revolutionising the deck-building experience for players.

For the collectors, this Opus will include a very rare, Special Card [23-037R] showcasing an original illustration of FINAL FANTASY XIII Lightning by Miki Yamashita. Additionally, three beloved Legacy cards, Lightning [15-041L], Rydia [15-083L], and Refia [19-102L], are included.

As per tradition, renowned artists have contributed stunning new art pieces to bring the characters to life:

New Art

Rubi Asami, FINAL FANTASY VI / FINAL FANTASY XIII-2

Mihoko Ishii, FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE

Yuya Ishihata, FINAL FANTASY IX

Ryoma Ito, FINAL FANTASY TACTICS A2: Grimoire of the Rift

Yukihiro Kajimoto, FINAL FANTASY

Gen Kobayashi, DIRGE OF CERBERUS –FINAL FANTASY VII–

Sara Shimokobe, FINAL FANTASY IV

Toshitaka Matsuda, FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0

Fumio Minagawa, FINAL FANTASY XI

Miki Yamashita, FINAL FANTASY XIII

Oreki Genya, FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0

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Beyond Destiny : Finishing Starters

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21-125S – Onion Knight

Coming in with Haste this Onion Knight will bring a tear to your eye.

Meh, I tried.

Onion Knight comes in and if you decide to pay 2 Crystals, you can search for another Dissidia Forward and play them onto the field. Sure, they have to cost 3CP or less, but there are plenty of Dissidia Forwards to choose from.

No need to worry about Elements either.

Sword & Sorcery, is a decent ability that deals 10,000 damage to any Forward that decides to go up against Onion Knight and block him when he attacks.

Did we mention Haste?

21-126S – Cloud

Kingdom Hearts Cloud.

Was wondering when he would make another appearance.

Cloud is pretty straight forward. He enters the field, and deals 3000 damage for each Dissidia Forward that you control to a Forward of your choosing. This also comes off of an EX Burst.

Other than that Cloud is a 5 cost Forward with 9000 power. But, you can get around that. Instead of paying 5CP, you can just pay with 2 Crystals.

21-127S – Firion

Here’s Firion, the Rebel Warrior that will help you stock up on Crystals. That way you can pay for all of the Crystal abilities that the rest of your Deck likes to use. Weather it is paying for Cloud, or having Onion Knight search for a Dissidia Forward, or whatever else the rest of the Starters can do with the help of the Crystals.

Let’s get back to Firion.

Firion enters the field and deals a Forward 3000 damage. And if you have 2 Dissidia Forwards on the field, he’ll deal 7000 damage instead.

And that’s about it.

Sure, you won’t really care about his Entering ability, not when he has a way to acquire Crystals.

21-128S – Shantotto

Here’s another use for all the Crystals Firion will be able to get you.

When Shantotto enters the field, you can pay the additional cost of 2 Crystals, and grab a Dissidia Forward from your Break Zone and play it onto the field. Sure this Forward needs to cost 5CP or less, but it’s a free Forward so who cares.

You will be able to play 2 5CP Forwards for the price of one.

It’s Buy One Get One Free. Or B.O.G.O.

Salvation Scythe, is Dissidia’s answer to Opus I Jihl Nabaat.

Dull and Freeze 3 Characters.

I like it. You don’t even need to play Shantotto in a Dissidia deck. Just throw here in any Dull/Freeze situation to make thinks cooler.

21-129S – Terra

From the looks of it, it’s all about the Crystals.

A Crystal here, a Crystal there, here a Crystal, there a Crystal, everywhere a Crystal.

Terra shall come into the field, and your opponent discards a card. And if you’re playing this starter deck, you’ll probably be gaining a Crystal as well.

And then you can use that Crystal to Dull/Freeze, a Forward and draw a card as well.

Pair Terra with Shantotto and you can Dull/Freeze 4 Forwards.

It’s getting colder by the minute.

21-130S – Noctis

You see what they did there?

They gave you a somewhat cheap Forward with 9000 power, but you have to have a Dissidia Forward on the field in order to play Noctis.

But, you probably already got that covered. You’re playing this Starter Deck.

Well let’s see, Noctis comes in and Breaks a Dull Forward.

And, that’s about it.

It’s all because of the suit Noctis is wearing. And, then he’s pointing to himself, showing off his portrait on the wall.

Yes, we comment on the art when we have nothing else to say. We got to fill up space somehow.

21-131S – Warrior of Light

Here is another Crystal Generator

Warrior of Light comes in and gives you a Crystal, and after that, whenever a Dissidia Forward enters the field Warrior of Light gives you another Crystal. And, then you can use those Crystals and use them to pay for different abilities.

Such as the one right here on the card, that gives Warrior of Light +1000 power, and the ability to not be chosen by your opponent’s abilities. Now, that’s an ability.

Warrior of Light sure reminds me of Cecil. I actually thought it was Cecil until I started reading the card.

21-132S – Cecil

What’s not to like about this card?

Built in protection. Cecil is a Paladin like no other. Or so they say.

4CP/8000 power. Can’t be chosen by abilities, can’t take damage from abilities. A meat Shield at it’s finest.

Cecil also buffs all of the other Dissidia Forwards with +2000 power.

And, if that’s not enough, Paladin Force breaks those pesky high cost Forwards that like to stick around the field more than they should.

Now if Cecil had some FFIV synergy, this card would have been awesome.

21-133S – Tidus

Here’s a card in this deck that pretty much stands by itself, with no need for other Dissidia Characters. Tidus comes in and you return one of your opponent’s Forwards to their hand. And when you return a Forward to their owner’s hand, regardless of it being your or your opponent’s you draw a card and gain a Crystal.

And since there is no need for Dissidia Characters on the field for this ability to go off, you can pretty much play Tidus in any deck.

Sure, he costs 5CP, but you’ll get 2CP back when you return a Forward to your opponent’s hand. Plus, you could be drawing an extra card once per turn, making Tidus cheaper in the long run.

21-134S – Bartz

Bartz is ready to make this Dissidia deck work out. Bartz comes in and allows you to search for a Dissidia Character, add it to your hand. Bartz also gives you a Crystal

4CP, which comes down to 2CP after you draw a card. And if you already have another Crystal in your hand, play Shantotto, and then grab Cloud from the Break Zone.

Or something along those lines.

And, when Bartz is done attacking , and blocking and is sent to the Break Zone, you can remove Bartz from the game and gain an additional Crystal.

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Beyond Destiny – Ice Sculptures

21-021C – Red Mage

For 2CP and a Common, I’d like to say that this is a pretty good card.

Red Mage comes in and dull/freezes a Character. Same thing whenever Red Mage forms a party and attacks.

Now you can also play 3 Red Mages, have them all form a party and attack, and then you’ll be Dull/Freezing 3 Characters every turn.

Red Mage might not have a lot of Power, clocking in at 5000, but her ability to Dull/Freeze sure makes up for it.

21-022H – Astos EX

The Dark Elf. I haven’t seen how Astos looks in Strangers of Paradise, and after looking at this card, I have got to say they did a great job. That is very close to what I pictured Astos looking like. I don’t know why, but the art for the Character is spot on.
Anyway, on to the card.

Astos comes in with Brave, and whenever he enters the field of leaves the field you gain a Crystal.

And, if you have 3 Crystals, you can Dull all of your opponent’s Forwards and then deal 9000 damage to all of your opponent’s Forwards.

Astos is a ticking time-bomb.

Play Astos, Play Rinoa (6-041L), Bounce Astos, and you have 3 Crystals. Next turn you use his ability and hopefully you get a board wipe.

21-023L – Ultimecia

There’s a lot of text here. And there isn’t really a way to summarize it, but we’ll try.

Ultimecia comes in, you remove up to 5 Characters from your Break Zone with a cost of 5CP or more. Once they are removed you can Dull/Freeze up to 5 Characters. Your opponent also discards one card.

If you’re playing a deck with a lot of high cost Characters, Ultimecia can do some damage, if not then she isn’t really worth the price of admission.

 

21-024C – Scholar

The 3CP Backup that gives you a Crystal when she enters the field.

Also, if you have 3 Backups or less you’ll also draw a card.

Not Bad. Not Great either, just something to play when you don’t know what else to play.

 

 

21-025R – Kiros

If Ward is here, you know that Kiros is just around the Korner. And Laguna shouldn’t be too far behind.

But, we’re here to talk about Kiros.

All you want to do is warp. Over and over and over.

Not only is the cost cheaper, but when Kiros Warps in you can Dull and Freeze one of your opponents Characters. And, that’s not all. When any Forward Warps in you can Dull and Freeze a Character.

So, keep Kiros safe, and Warp.

21-026C – Bard

I mean, who doesn’t like that ability.

Best part it doesn’t cost anything, so I don’t see a reason not to have Bard on the field. Or at least in your deck.

Bard is a 4 cost Forward with 8000 power. And, once per turn you can use his ability for a total of 0CP. And have a Forward lose all of it’s abilities until the end of the turn.

That Forward that has protection from Summons, or abilities, or damage, well Bard is here to take care of that Forward, and allow your attacks to go through.

21-027L – Griever

That’s one way to search for a Witch. Plus side to this one is that you”ll play the Witch straight to the field.

Considering the cost, you’d probably want to search for a high cost Witch to play straight to the field. Like Edea (2-099L) or Ultimecia (7-133S), or like the one that is probably in this set that I just haven’t seen yet.

If you decide to keep Griever on the field, his ability let’s you break a dull Forward, or have your opponent discard a card.
There’s a tag team here. Griever and Amon (2-098L) Amon dulls and Griever Breaks.

Ice and Lightning do work well together.

21-028H – Shiva

This Shiva is like a reusable Ice Cube.

Once Shiva has been cast, You can remove 4 Ice Cards from your Break Zone, and put Shiva back in the Freezer … I mean your hand.

After that you can just cast Shiva over and over again, until you run out of Ice cards in your Break Zone. But by then you should have Dull/Freezed? all of your opponents Characters. If not proceed to a triple party attack from the 3 Red Mages.

 

21-029R – Squall

Mini-Squall.

Did I mention I have yet to play World of Fina Fantasy?

At first I thought this was a decent card. Then I took a closer look and actually read the card from top to bottom. And for a rare, it’s a great card.

First of all, Clo … I mean Squall comes in and has First Strike. And when he attacks, if you have at least 2 WoFF Characters, your opponent discards a card.

See like I said decent.

But, here’s where it gets good.

Squall attacks, and he gets blocked. You can use his ability to deal 3000 damage to the Forward that is blocking. And with First Strike already on hand, you’re 95% going to come out on top.

21-030C – Snow

Since when is Snow a Martial Artist?

To me he’s always been a Meat Shield that can punch.

Any ho, Snow will turn into a Meat Shield after you get 3 points of damage.

Up until then every time Snow attacks you can, you guessed it, Dull/Freeze a Character. You can just go ahead and party attack with Red Mage.

Plus Snow gets Haste, if you have another WoFF Character on the field.

21-031H – Setzer

“Are you a gambling man, Sandy Claws?”

I like this card, I actually played Ice just to play Setzer. Well not all Ice, it was Fire-Lightning while I splashed 6 Ice cards. I think.

Setzer comes in and you remove 2 Forwards from your Break Zone, from the game. After that you can play those 2 Forwards whenever you’d like.

Sure, if Setzer gets sent to the Break Zone you lose those 2 Forwards but they were already broken to begin with.
I’ll take it, and I’ll figure out how to make it work.

21-032R – Terra

Trying to figure out if this Terra is better than that Terra or the other Terra.

At 5CP, Terra comes in and allows you to search for 2 Ice Summons. And, that brings her cost down to 1CP.

For 1CP this is a great card. 8000 power and Magitek Laser.

What’s Magitek Laser?

Terra’s S Ability, where the cost is another Terra card and a Summon. Any Summon. You can play those 2 cards and deal 9000 damage to a Forward. Which has a decent chance of Breaking that Forward.

Or you can just cast the Summons you searched for.

21-033R – The Girl Who Forgot Her Name

The Searcher you didn’t know you needed. Well now you got it.

The Girl Who Forgot Her Name will search for Squall, and that will give Squall the 2 WoFF Characters he needs to have your opponent discard a card whenever he attacks.

Or if you want to go another route. I still haven’t seen Reynn or Lann so, we’ll have to wait on that.

 

21-034C – Fomor

Don’t F.O.M.O. on Fomor.

???

Never mind.

Fomor is a pretty decent Monster.

Fomor comes in and deals damage. Fomor leaves and deals Damage.

4k here, 4k there. You’d think we’re talking about televisions.

21-035C – Minwu

Minwu looks mad.

I always thought that Minwu was an older White Mage. this card clearly depicts him as a teenager. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just that I always thought that he was older.

Anyway, let’s get to the card.

Minwu comes in and Freezes a Character.

And then you can pay a CP and dull Minwu and send him to the Break Zone to Dull/Freeze a Character.

For a Common this isn’t bad at all, but unless you’re playing a Rebel deck, I don’t see you playing this Minwu, not when you have the Opus I Minwu which suits my play style a little bit more. And, I don’t even have that Minwu in the deck right now.
At least I don’t think so.

21-036H – Y’shtola

We got a new element for Y’shtola. Not only does this card look good, but I believe the Ice Blue suits her well.

Y’shtola here, is perfect for discard decks. The fewer cards your opponent has in their hand the more powerful Y’shtola becomes. 0 being the perfect number of cards that you want in your opponents hand. because each time Y’shtola attacks she’ll deal damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards, for a max of 9000. The damage will decrease by 1000 for each card that your opponent has in their hand.

I’d like to see how this will fit in the Scions deck.

21-037C – Reaper

Here’s a card you can play, right before you have Y’shtola attack.

Reaper comes in and forces your opponent to discard a card. Or you can go ahead and send a dull Forward to the Break Zone. Sure, it’s cost needs to be 3CP or less, but you’re still breaking a card, or forcing your opponent to spend CP in order to counter it.

 

 

21-038R – Rinoa

A decent Backup if you’re plan on using Summons, or if you plan on saving your Summons in the Break Zone, from the chance of your opponent removing your whole Break Zone from the game.

Rinoa comes in removes a Summon from your Break Zone, and then you can use that Summon whenever you’d like.
It’s like an Ace up your sleeve.

 

21-039C – Lufenian

With a Job Title of Lufenian, Lufenian, is a the perfect card to play to start your game.

For 2CP, you play Lufenian, and if Lufenian is the only Backup you control, you’re opponent will discard a card, from their hand. Leaving them with one less card than the number of cards they had in their hand before you decided to play Lufenian.
Thank you, Captain Obvious.

I’m just surprised this isn’t a Standard Unit.

Decent card, Y’shtola will love working with Lufenian.

But, then again, Lufenian only has one job. And, if she doesn’t get it done right away, she’s worthless.

21-040R – Rursan Arbiter

All Ice cards look like they’re working well together.

Lots of discard, and abilities that go off when your opponent has no cards in their hand.

Y’shtola deals a Forward damage, and Cid here, I mean Rursan Arbitar, Breaks one of your opponent’s Forwards.

Now I”m looking at all these cards, and I’m wondering why I didn’t use more Ice at Prerelease.

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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)