Tag: ix

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Emissaries of Light – Thoughts on Fire

16-001R – Vaan

I have been seeing a lot of cards recently that say “if you have cast 3 or more cards this turn”, Which is something that is very possible given the low cost Forwards and Backups that we already have for Sky Pirates.

I just realized that Vaan is a Backup as well, I’ve been looking for how much Power he had and was wondering why it was missing from the card.

Vaan is the Backup that will keep on giving. He comes in and deals Damage to one of your opponents Forwards. 3K or 8K depending on the cards you’ve cast. And after that, he’ll either give you a Crystal Point each turn, cause that’s what Backups do, or he’ll deal 7K Damage to 1 Forward.

16-002H – Ace EX

Another Ace up our sleeve?

Ace here can work good in an Fire/Wind/Lightning Cadet deck. Like the one I’ve been trying to build since Opus XIII.

Deal Damage to a Forward, at least 3K if you have one Element and up to 9000 if you’re playing the aforementioned deck.
And his Power can get up to 10K in the same deck.

Doesn’t mean that you should play the deck that I’m mentioning, simply because it doesn’t exist yet.

16-003C – Elbis EX

Elbis is useless unless you have Morze’s Soiree Member on the field.

Speaking of which, I’ll need to see these other cards before I comment further.

But, I only write down my first impressions of each card, as I read them for the first time.

 

 

16-004C – Onion Knight

Switch out a couple of cards for 2 new ones.

Onion Knight also becomes an attacker because he is a Forward. A 4CP/8K Forward with a pretty decent ability. And, it’s only a Common.

I’m sure we’ll see a couple of Onion Knights in a couple of Decks.

 

 

16-005C – Cloud

Another Backup Cloud.

I mean what’s the point? No one, in their right mind will play a backup Cloud. Even if that reason is that you don’t think Cloud should be a Backup. He’s a Forward, and so, I’ll only play Cloud as a Forward. Then I can use Omni-Slash and defeat Sephiro …

Sorry, got carried away.

For a Common, it’s a decent card. It’s only drawback is that this card is named Cloud.

16-006C – Crimson Hound

3CP to deal 8000 Damage.

After that just chuck Crimson Hound into the Break Zone and look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Then you can play Onion Knight and grab those cards if you’d like.

 

 

 

16-007R – Black Waltz 2

There’s more to this card than just the Beautiful (yes, a capitol B) artwork.

Black Waltz 2 can work wonders all by himself.

Black Waltz 2 discards Black Waltz 2 from your hand. And you deal 4000 Damage for discarding Black Waltz 2 from your hand, and 5000 Damage when you discard a Job Black Mage from your hand.

You’re either Breaking 1 or 2 Forwards with this ability.

16-008C – Black Mage

Black Mage here is pretending to be a Summon. For 3CP you can deal up to 5000 Damage to 1 Forward.

After that Black Mage sticks around to block, or even attack.. The choice is yours.

 

 

 

16-009C – Samurai

Easy way to get back that one Samurai Forward that you just lost.

Especially if that 1 Forward was Cyan (11-003R). Play him onto the field, deal 2000 Damage to all Forwards. Search for another Samurai to add to your hand, and when a couple more Samurais attack, deal 1000 Damage to all the Forwards opponent controls for each Samurai that attacks.

 

 

16-010H – Djinn

How would you make Djinn a Monster?

I guess it’s ok since you can turn him into a Forward when you receive 3 points of Damage. Maybe it’s one of your 3 wishes.
Djinn here will also gives your Fire Forwards +1000 Damage done to the Forwards they attack. Djinn, Warrior (5-014C), Lebreau (1-030R) and Lava Spider (8-022R) will all work together very well.

 

16-011L – Squall

The one card that deserves the Full Art Treatment did not get one.

Anyways, this card is a beast onto itself.

Once Squall attacks he deals 4000 Damage to all of your opponents Forwards, and if that’s not enough, if your opponent chooses to block, Squall will deal an additional 4000 damage to all of your opponents Forwards.

Should I block or take the Damage?

16-012R – Suzaku EX

Part of the Shijin 4.

Every time Suzaku attacks deal 5000 damage to one Forward.

Cost can be paid by and Element if there is a Shijin in the Break Zone.

 

 

16-013H – Sol

Crystals are back once again. And this one is a good one. Play Sol and and pay a Crystal, and you can play a 4CP Forward or less from your hand onto the field.

Sol also gives you a way to gain Crystals every time a party attacks.

And you can use that Crystal you just gained to pay for Sol’s abiity to give 2000 Power to all the Forwards you control.

I’d like to see what kind of Decks people will come up with that will utilize this card.

16-014R – Delita

At 5CP/9K Delita is finally Fire(d) up, after being Earth for so long.

Delita comes in and deals 4000 damage to all the Forwards, even your own. And if any of those Characters gets sent to the Break Zone, you’ll gain a Crystal for each Character.

You can also raise his Power by 2000 if you remove a Forward from the game. A little saving grace, just in case you need it.

 

 

16-015H – Morrow

I had to stop for a second and just look at the art.

Morrow comes in with Haste forms a party and attacks. You discard a card from your hand and you draw 2 Cards. And if it’s late in the game your opponents receives 1 point of Damage as well.

I like this card, and not just for the artwork either. I’ll add it to the AVALANCHE deck from Crystal Dominion and call it a day.

 

16-016C – Bahamut

For a Common, this card is not bad at all.

Deal a Forward up to 12000 Damage. Other than that not much to write about.

 

 

 

16-017R – Ramza

Sol and Delita will bring Ramza in and get him Fired up as well.

And, for the cost of 2 Crystals Ramza becomes “T.G. Cid” 9000 Power with Haste, First Strike and Brave, and he can attack twice in the same turn!

Looks like a Legend to me.

 

 

16-018C – Lilty

Keep Lilty on call, on the field producing CP until you’re ready to use Lilty’s ability.

Once you reach 5 points of Damage, return Lilty to your hand, play Lilty on to the field and put him in the Break Zone to deal 10K Damage to one Forward.

 

 

 

16-019R – Luneth

Not a bad card at all, but how many Warrior of Light decks are actually played?

But, Luneth here will compliment any Warrior of Light card. At the beginning of each Attack Phase, you can either choose a Warrior of Light and boost it with Haste, First Strike and +1K. Or you can strike down one of your opponents Forwards by dealing it 1000 Damage for each Warrior of Light card you control.

 

 

16-020L – Luso

A card to play, when you’re playing with your back against the wall. Luso is not a great card to play during the beginning of your match, Unless you plan on taking Damage left and right just to receive those 6 points of Damage.

Because at 6 points of Damage, in a Mono-Fire Deck, you’ll probably be playing 2 cards onto the field at the beginning of each of your Attack Phases.

 

 

16-021C – Rain

This is not one of the better Rain cards.

Costs too much, for the ability that you are getting.

Probably why this is only a Common as well.

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Stellar Circle 5

“You don’t need a reason to take the top card of your opponents deck.” Or something like that.

Zidane
2CP – Wind
Forward
Category : DFF – IX
Job – Tantalus Member/Thief
Hero
5000 Power

“When Zidane enters the field or attacks, your opponent removes the top card of their deck from the game. You can cast it as though you owned it at any time you could normally cast it. The cost for casting it can be paid using CP of any Element.

When Zidane enters the field, if you have cast 3 or more cards this turn, Zidane gains Haste until the end of the turn.”

Lani here… I mean Zidane, is a beefed up version of Lani from several Opuses? (Opi?) ago. Which gives you the chance to play your opponents cards. You don’t even need to worry about what element it is, because Zidane allows you to play it with any element.

Lani and Zidane should make an interesting Tag Team here, now that you have 2 ways to use your opponents cards against him.

This would be a perfect card for Bismarck, Lord of the Mists, as you will be bouncing Zidane back to your hand, Just to play him again and again.

And, again.

It seams like I keep mentioning Bismarck. Maybe it’s time I made a deck with the Lord of the Mists.

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Crystal Dominion – Opinion on Water

15-106C – Atomos

Easy way to get rid of a Forward. Doesn’t matter which one, you’ll still get rid of one.

Add a Crystal and only pay 1CP for Atomos.

Not bad, not bad at all.

 

 

15-107H – Umaro

1CP/9K Power

That is one hell of a trade. But, you’ll also pay 1 Crystal. At least you’ll get it back when Umaro is put into the Break Zone.

That is, if he ever makes it to the Break Zone.

 

 

15-108C – Dancer

I would have never thought that they would make a card like this.

All of a sudden that 1 Forward loses all it’s abilities and Categories and wait … does Job count as a Category? What about Element? I’ll have to check on that. … But even if it’s only Category it will still put a dent in some decks.

Now, Imagine if they had a card that would do this to the whole board.

 

 

15-109R – Ultros

The card with the best art this set. I don’t care what anyone says. This is the Chase Card.

Ultros being Ultros.

As of this moment you can have up to 12 Ultros in your deck. That means you’ll most likely hit an Ultros if you reveal the top 5 cards of your deck.

Each Ultros has the ability to find you another Ultros if it gets chosen or broken.

This will be the card I am making a deck out of this set.

Thank you, I’ll take 3.

Shiny Holo Full Art.

15-110C – Gau EX

“Gau’s a Wild Child,
come and love him,
He wants yoooouuuuuuu, ooooo”

I wonder if Gau is a WASP fan. He and Blackie Lawless can form a band and gain a Chris “tal” Holmes when he enters the field. Get it? XD No?

At least I didn’t quit my day job. Yet.

Any who, for 2CP you’ll gain a Crystal and at 3 points of Damage, Gau gains 3K power.

15-111C – Keiss

See, Gau and Blackie Lawless would have been perfect for this card.

Keiss is just a Free card that can generate double the CP for you. If you got a party going that is.

Simple as that.

 

 

15-112R – Shinryu Celestia

Expensive card, if you want to se her on entry ability. It’s almost like paying 6CP for it.

But, if you’re playing Cadets, it might be worth it. For, every time one is sent to the Break Zone, one of your opponents Forwards will lose 3000 Power.

 

 

 

15-113C – Strago

Pay a Crystal, get rid of a pesky Forward that’s been bothering you for a bit, and draw a card.

I hope that Forward doesn’t have an on entry ability cause he only went as far as his owner’s hand.

But, you still get a card.

 

 

15-114C – Dracoknight

Self-reviving Forward.

3CP/7K will recycle for you and then you can play Dracoknight again the next turn. Or even the same turn if you have the CP.

 

 

 

15-115H – Penelo

If you’re playing Sky Pirates, you’re playing this Penelo.

You will be paying 0CP for her ability.

Protect a Forward, Weaken a Forward, or Draw a card.

The option is up to you.

 

 

15-116C – Hilda EX

Technically you’re paying 2CP for Hilda, and if you play her late game, it might even be free. because at 5 points of Damage you can play a 3 cost Forward or less from the Break Zone onto the field. And if that card is a Viking, You are drawing 1 more card.

 

 

 

 

15-117R/9-113H – Famfrit

Reprint from opus IX.

Nothing to see here, move along.

Well, Famfrit used to be a Hero, now he’s just a Rare.

Put 2 Forwards or Monsters in the Break Zone.

 

 

15-118C – Blue Wyrm

Draw a card, and cash out when you need a Forward with 6000 Power.

Do or Die, or Do and Break.

 

 

 

 

15-119L – Porom

Porom here, getting an EXP Counter Every turn. And Every turn you can choose 1 Forward of 5CP or less and it loses all abilities. And at 3 EXP Counters it’s power becomes 1000.

After that you just use Palom (15-011L) and finish that Forward off. Just Like that.

It’s called Twincast.

 

 

15-120H – Mind Flayer

Mind Flayer is Lani’s (12-018H) Water Summon form.

Grab one of the top 2 cards of your opponents deck and cast it without paying the cost. But, only this turn. Lani would allow you to keep the card and cast it whenever you would like. But, you would pay the cost.

I’ll take it.

Let me grab that Sophie of the top of your deck. Opus 1 Shantotto? I think I’m ready for a board wipe.

15-121R – Mayakov

A forward that dances the effects of your opponents abilities away. Mayakov has the 4CP/8K Power we all have come to know, but it’s his ability that makes him stand out. Plus playing a Dancer from your hand onto the field, also lowers his cost to 1CP.

How many Dancers do we have?

 

 

 

15-122L – Mog (VI)

Hmm, this is interesting.

Pay a Crystal, draw some cards, and hopefully Break one of your opponents Forwards, or your own, if that’s what you’d like. Or just return them to their owner’s hand.

Either way Mog, has the ability to draw even more cards, with Water Harmony, only this time you don’t need to discard any cards.

 

 

15-123C – Oracle

I had a plan with Oracle. And then I realized that it wouldn’t work.

So, scratch that.

Oracle will give you a crystal every time she enters the field. You can dull, and put her in the Break Zone to reduce damage to one of your Forwards and grab her back with Robel-Akbel.

Oracle’s use will be determined by the abilities that revolve around Crystal use.

 

15-124H – Relm

Like Relm here. Oracle will give you the Crystals for Relm to search for Monsters to play onto the field.

And there are plenty of 5 cost Monsters that will do some damage. Some Monsters will even let you grab Characters from the Break Zone.

Build your own Army of Monsters, all you need to do is protect Relm.

 

 

15-125R – Lunafreya

At 1CP/7K Power, Lunafreya is only here to protect a XV Forward.

Which one you chose is up to you. But, you will need Noctis if you plan on attacking with Lunafreya. Or block for that matter.
Other than that, you can just cast Lunafreya and keep her like a Monster. Just standing in her own Zone. Not blocking, not attacking. Just a constant 2K buff to your XV Forward along with a veil of Protection against Summons and abilities.

 

 

15-126R – Lenna

Here’s another use for Oracle.

Lenna will allow you to grab a Forward from the Break Zone and play it onto the field. 2CP or 3CP, depending on how many Crystals you use to pay.

There are plenty of 2 cost and 3 cost Forwards that you can play. They don’t even need to be Water Forwards. Any element will do. Like that sneaky Zidane from Opus III.

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Opus XIV – Multi-Element Review

14-119C – Ardyn

How is this just a common? At 2CP? Is it because it’s Fire/Earth?

Anyway. Ardyn here is a 7K body which comes in with 2 great abilities. You get to choose 1. Either is good. He’ll fit in good with the VII Forwards in this set.

 

 

 

14-120H – Tifa

If you remember from the video when they first revealed this card, we spoke about how Cloud is going to be a great card without knowing what the text was on Cloud’s card. Now that we know. Tifa and Cloud go hand in hand together. So, all you Cloud/Aerith shippers know that you are wrong. It’s Cloud/Tifa.

But, yeah. 3 of these and 3 Clouds, add a Barret and you got yourself a deck. Just throw in the rest of Avalanche and you’re good.

 

14-121L – Barret

It is highly unlikely that Barret will succumb to Damage, since any Damage dealt to him below 9K becomes 0. And if he is buffed up +X power, I can’t find any Forward that would be able to defeat him, save for a couple.

Now, all the AVALANCHE Operative Forwards gain Haste, and you can discard 1 card and grab an AVALANCHE Operative card from your Break Zone.

You can probably grab Tifa, which in turn will let you grab Cloud.

 

14-122L – Al-Cid

Al-Cid is up to his usual self here. And, buy that I mean, it’s a great card once again.

You’ll actually play 2 cards when you play Al-Cid on the field, so it’s pretty much a Buy 1 Get 1 Free. #BOGO

Other than that, depending on who enters the field you can Freeze or Dull your opponents Forwards.

 

14-123C – Sephiroth

Simple Sephiroth.

Simple Power.

Great ability. Second one is better than the first. Should play well with Physalis.

 

 

14-124H – Zeromus

Huh? It’s like all these new cards are great and powerful, and then you think, what do I do against this card. How am I going to block if all my cards are dull? How do I get rid of Zeromus? I’d like to see how this plays out.

Ice/Lightning FTW!

 

 

14-125L – Vaan

Activate. Activate. And play a Sky Pirate.

And then, activate some more.

 

 

 

14-126C – Aerith

Pick 1

A) Bounce a Forward

B) Protect a Forward

Either way, I still think Opus 1 Aerith is better. But, with all the Wind Activating going on, there might be some room for a different Aerith.

 

14-127H – Zidane

At 2CP this card should be a Legend.

It’s like this Zidane is Opus I and Opus III combined. And it’s only a Hero. Only a Hero

Think of the Shenanigans you can pull off with this.

Can’t be blocked. Return a Forward to their owner’s hand. Reveal your opponents hand, choose 1 card remove it, and then play it yourself.

I’ll take 3. Foils. Please let us get a Full Art.

14-128H – Prishe

From far away it looks like she’s sticking her tongue out at you.

For an extra 3CP you can play an Wind or an Earth card onto the field.

At 3 points of Damage, Prishe gains Brave and +1K. I like the other Prishe better. Which one? Not this one.

 

 

14-129H – Gessho

Another card that reveals your opponents hand, only this time you just remove 1 card from the game.

 

 

 

 

14-130H – Cloud of Darkness

Do it right, and you’ll have an 8K body played for free.Other than that just Dull and Freeze a Character when she enters the field.

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Opus XIV – Water Review

14-096C – Blue Mage

Would have been better if it read, “For each Monster you control … ” But, then it wouldn’t have been a common card.
And if there are no Monsters on the field you can always look for one in your Break Zone when you play this card.

 

 

 

14-097C – Ananta

Don’t like the cards you just drew? Just play Ananta with those 2 cards and hopefully get something better. And if that doesn’t work, Dull and Break and hopefully you’ll get something better once again.

 

 

 

14-098R – Ultimecia

Put a Forward into the Break Zone to grab one of your opponents Forwards of the same cost.

“Hey there, Cloud you look pretty glum over there. Why don’t you just come over here and sit down next to Ultimecia. She needs a Guardian. The other guy didn’t cut it.”

 

 

14-099C – Eiko

Technically, you’re just paying 5CP to search for a Summon.

 

 

 

 

14-100H – Octomammoth

The Monsters are becoming stronger. Why else would this Octomammoth have 8 arms? Well, it has 8 arms to grab to of your opponents Forwards and throw them back at him.

Plus, turning into a Forward isn’t bad either.

 

 

 

14-101R – Ultros

Ultros just won’t go away.

Actually, he does run away, and then comes back stronger. But, are 5 cards worth grabbing Ultros back from the Break Zone. I guess we’ll find out in Opus XV … I mean Crystal Dominion.

 

 

14-102L – Leviathan, Lord of the Whorl

These Primals are Crazy! Yes, with a capitol C.

For 9 CP you can return a Forward, a Backup and a Monster to your opponents hand. And when a Character is returnd to it’s owner’s hand you can choose 1 Forward and it loses 9000 Power.

That’s 3 Forwards if you return all 3.

And, a 9K body. I can’t wait to try these Primals out.

14-103R – Quina

Is it just me, or is this the first card where the head blocks out the line where the name is?

I like how they’re playing into the characters’ themes. Discard a Monster card. Pretty much Quina eats the Monster and gains abilities. Might not be a powerful card, but can draw cards and remove cards for you.

 

 

14-104C – Kraken (IX)

Kraken plays well into Water.

Draw 2 cards if you’ve got another Job Chaos to discard.

 

 

 

14-105C – Corsair

“Do you feel lucky, Punk?

Well. Do you?”

If you do, try your luck here and get a better card than the one that you started off with.

Is it just me, or can you see Clint Eastwood posing for this card?

 

14-106H – Golbez

They’re starting to pump out Golbez cards. But, it’ll never surpass the amount of Cloud or Lightning cards there are.
This card might eventually pay for itself. The longer this card stays on the field the more chances you have of being able to play a Forward on to the field for free.

And Kain, will be having nightmares with Golbez’s ability.

 

 

14-107C – Sahagin (XIV)

Simple Backup, that let’s you see what cards are coming up. That way you can either set up your opponent for an EX Burst, or play the cards you need.

 

 

 

 

14-108H – Jecht

Pair Jecht with Minwu.

Jecht Block will stop your opponent in their tracks.

And when he enters the field during your Main Phase 2, depending on how many Forwards were attacking you can either Break or return a Forward.

 

 

14-109C – Steiner

I don’t see anyone playing this card. Not when all the other Steiner’s are better plays at any given moment.

 

 

 

 

14-110C – Tonberry

Hmm, this one should have been like Mom-Bomb if you ask me. But, instead Tonberry acts like a searcher, where each Monster Counter is counted as 1 card that you can look at.

Because why would Tonberry have anything to do with dealing massive damage? /Sarcasm

 

 

14-111R – Lakshmi, Lady of Bliss

Draw a card at the end of each of your turns. Period

That and if you have 5 or more cards in your hand damage dealt to Lakshmi is reduced by 2K.

Your strategy, if you choose to accept it, is to play your cards down after your attack phase.

 

14-112L – Larsa EX

This is interesting. You can actually grab a card from the Damage Zone and trade it with a card from your hand.
There are now ways to grab any card, from anywhere.

No, need to make sure that the card you’ll need later on is safe.

Larsa’s second ability is like icing on the cake, you should be able to get 3 EX Bursts into your Damage Zone, easily.

 

14-113R – Leviathan EX

Get rid of 2 cards, or get rid of 1 and grab 1 from your Break Zone.

Simple. It’ll be great if Leviathan comes off an EX Burst.

6CP isn’t that high of a cost to remove 2 Forwards from the field, might see limited play if you ask me.

 

 

14-114 – Luzaf

Easy way to get out of a sticky situation. Is one of your Forwards being Targeted by a Summon, or ability? Just have Luzaf enter with his Back Attack and return that Forward to your hand. Your opponent also Breaks one of their Forwards.
I like it.