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Gunslinger in the Water

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26-101C – Aila

It’s like buying a lottery ticket. Only this time you get to see your winnings.

You put Aila into the Break Zone, draw 2 cards, and then discard a card.

It comes out to an even trade. 2 cards for 2 cards.

You just get to keep the cards that you want.

That doesn’t mean you’ll always get what you want, sometimes you’ll find worse cards than what you already have.

And, that’s about it.

26-102C – Blue Mage

This is a great card.

Are you playing Monsters? Then Blue Mage is a great play for you.

Blue Mage comes in and you can play a Monster from your hand on to the field. That’s 4CP for 2 cards.

And whenever a Monster is put into the Break Zone from the field, you get to draw a card.
And you know that Monsters like to send themselves to the Break Zone.

I’m just thinking of how much help Blue Mage will be to my Bomb Squad.

26-103L – Azdaja

Here is your game winner.

Azdaja has built in protection against your opponent’s Summons, and until the end of your opponent’s turn, Azdaja also has protection against your opponent’s abilities.

Which is good because, you opponent will want to get rid of Azdaja A.S.A.P. Period.

Why is this you might ask?

Well, Azdaja has the ability that every time one of your Water Forwards attacks, you will be able to choose one of your opponent’s Forwards and return it to their hand.

All I’m saying is throw Azdaja in a deck with Pirates and Vikings, and you’re set.

26-104H – Iedolas

You see what’s happening?

Iedolas is telling your opponent to hold on. Cause we haven’t even started yet.

And, then another Final Fantasy XV Forward will rise from the grave. Err. .. Break Zone. And come straight to the field to take care of your opponent. You can grab any Forward up to 5CP.

We’re thinking Ardyn, cause why not.

Dawn of Heroes Ardyn to be exact. You’ll put 2 Backups into the Break Zone, and then you’ll reveal the top cards of your deck until you find 2 Characters. You may now play those 2 Characters on to the field.

Is there anything not to like?

You get 4 cards on the field for the price of Iedolas.

And, if that’s not enough, you can always put Iedolas in the Break Zone, and have your opponent return a card to their hand.

Now you can replay Iedolas.

26-105C – Garnet

Garnet comes in and does nothing, unless you pay the extra cost of dulling 4 active Characters. They can be Backups, Monsters or Forwards.

When you do dull 4 of your Characters, Garnet will send a Forward to the bottom of it’s owner’s deck. Which is a way of getting rid of a Forward when you can’t send it to the Break Zone. And, it’s not returning to their owner’s hand, where they can play it again on their next turn.

Yes, you can send your own Forward at the bottom of your own deck. You can do this if you need to save a Forward.

I would place Garnet in one of the many Monster decks that we have floating around.

26-106C – Old Snapper

Hmm, what’s there to think about? Other than the fact, that you need to use up all of Old Snapper’s Flyer Counters in order for him to be useful.

For 2CP, you can grab 2 cards from your Break Zone and add them to your hand. But, not before you put 3 cards from your deck into the Break Zone. And, this will take at least 3 turns, because you have to remove all 3 Flyer Counters from Old Snapper in order for this to be of use.

Now, if there was anyway of removing these Counters without using Old Snapper’s ability, this would have been a great card.

26-107C – Chemist

The elemental backups, and this one is decent.

Why?

Because Chemist shall be your defense against cards like Vrtra and Azdaja. And, we know that they both will be a threat to your front lines. Basically, Chemist will stand up against all the giants. Think Yuna, The new Lightning, and even Dadaluma. Yes, we had to mention him because he was just unbanned, expect him to make a return to your locals, and LQs and Materia Cups and so on.

All you need to do is have a bunch of Wind cards to feed the ability, and you can put a stop to your opponent’s nonsense.

Chemist should be put in every Wi/Wa deck as a measure of protection.

And, here I thought this card would be useless.

26-108C – Thaliak

Thaliak will come in once “The Twelve” start making moves. And those should be 4 moves, 4 moves that bring 4 of The Twelve onto the field.

Once they’re on the field, you can play Thaliak, and your opponent will choose one of their Forwards and send it to the Break Zone. After that, you’ll draw a card.

There is also a little ability called Rheognosis, when used, Thaliak will return a Forward that casts 3CP or less back to your opponent’s hand. And, since this ability doesn’t dull Thaliak, you can use it twice in one turn.

3CP? Yes, please and thank you.

26-109R – Johnny

I forgot that Johnny moved to Costa del Sol, but now that I see it, it reminded me of it.
Apparently Johnny, still has a crush on Tifa, and whenever she enters the field, Johnny activates. And you draw a card.

Simply put, you can play Johnny right before you play Tifa. Or better yet, right before you play Zangan, who will then play Tifa. Who will then activate Johnny, who will draw a card for you.

I’m sure there’s a much better combo here, but I’m not going to look for it right now.

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26-110R – Sylvestre

Stalone. Yeah, Nope.

This isn’t Rocky, nor Rambo, but Sylvestre will search for a Light Forward. And, once that Light Forward is added to your hand, you can play a Forward onto the field. Up to 3CP. If you think about it, Sylvestre’s final cost can be 1CP.

Sylvestre will also cancel one of your opponent’s abilities that is choosing 1 Forward. And, that is most abilities.

How is this a Rare? I don’t know, but you can probably put this card into any Water deck, and you will do fine with it.

26-111C – Titov

What else would Titov do? He’s a Ferry Captain.

Titov will Ferry the top 3 cards of your deck to your hand and back.

How the get off the ferry is up to you. Cause they need to walk in a straight line to get off the ferry boat.

Titov will make sure that neither of them cuts in line, and get off exactly as you want them to.

And, that’s about it.

26-112H – Tidus

Finally a Guardian that actually protects Yuna.

Every time Yuna is dealt damage, that damage is transferred to Tidus. And if you have received 3 points of damage that damage is reduced by 2000.

I can’t wait to see these new FFX decks that are going to come out. YRP is back in business, all thanks to Tidus. This Tidus.

Oh, and let’s not forget that Tidus will search for Yuna.

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26-113R – Nymeia EX

The Twelve keeps on coming. I lost track of the cards we’ve seen so far.

Nymeia here will provide you with more ammo. When she enters the field, you draw a card. EX Burst? Draw a card.

And, if that’s not enough, you can use Nymeia’s ability to draw a card. But, you’ll need at least 4 of “The Twelve” on the field to use her ability.

All in all, Nymeia is worth playing, even if you aren’t playing “The Twelve”.

.

26-114H – Asura, Manusya of War

Is this a board wipe?

It sure looks like it.

Yes, they are all gone. You can save one of your Forwards by returning it to your hand, and the rest will disintegrate into the Break Zone. One way around it is to have a card that boosts your power. Like Wakka (1-180R) since we’re talking about Water cards.

Then all you need to do is find a way to give Asura, Haste and she will attack and reduce the power of 6 of your opponent’s Forwards (if they have any left) by another 4000. Thus your opponent will have no front line, allowing you to attack and conquer.

It’s pretty straight Forward.

26-115H – Mid Previa

Grandson of Cid.

Mid is an engineer just like Grampa. And, Mid will engineer your deck like there is no tomorrow.

Mid will come in for a whopping 9CP. And. once he comes in you’ll reveal the top 5 cards of your deck and you will play up to 3 cards, (1 Forward, 1 Backup and 1 Monster) with a total cost of 8CP on to the field.

This is a way of getting bodies on the field, but it it worth it? It’s a high cost just to play Mid, add in the cards that you’re sending to the Break Zone, and what if all you reveal are Monsters. Low cost ones, and you don’t even get half way to 8CP.

Just something to think about.

26-116C – Malboro

I just realized that all these Monsters are the same. In that they all become Forwards and whenever they attack they have an ability that goes off. Also when they deal damage to your opponent, you can put said Monster into the Break Zone, and have another ability that will go off.

When Malboro attacks, one of your opponent’s Forwards lose 2000 power.

And if Malboro deals damage to your opponent, you can put Malboro into the Break Zone and all of your opponent’s Forwards lose 4000 power.

Once that is done, you can go to town on your opponent Swinging left and right. Hopefully you’ll deplete their resources.

26-117H – Yuna

Earth/Water Dark Knight Yuna! Remember that.

Whenever Yuna attacks, you can put the top 2 cards of your deck into the Break Zone and deal 5000 damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards. That’s not bad, considering that you will probably Break that Forward, but this is not the reason you’ll play Yuna.

Nope, the reason is that once you get to 6 points of damage, Yuna will deal 5000 damage to all of your opponent’s Forwards for every 10 cards that you have in your Break Zone. If you have 20 cards that’s 10,000 damage to all of your opponent’s Forwards. That is more than enough to send them all to the Break Zone. If there are some lingering around, you can always Play Tidus (1-163L) And he will take care of them.

This is a great card, but you won’t want to play this at Prerelease, cause well, at 6 points of damage you lose the game.

26-118C/15-123C – Oracle

Here’s a reprint, of a reprint, of a reprint.

So, we’re just going to, you guessed it, Copy/Paste from Opus XV Crystal Dominion.

“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.”

26-119R – Leviathan

Dull 2 Forwards or Pay 3CP. The choice is yours to make.

What do you get in exchange?

You can return one of your opponent’s Forwards or Monsters to their hand.

And, that is it.

Is it worth it? I mean you’re not breaking the card and they can always replay the card and get all of the enter the field abilities that come with it.

On the other hand, you’re returning the Forward that is in the way of you winning the game.

26-120L – Lenna

I don’t know where to start, so I’ll start with the abilities.

Lenna comes in and you can either have your opponent choose a Forward to send to the Break Zone, or you can search for a Warrior of Light and add it to your hand.

Now if you have Faris on the field, you can use both abilities.

Lenna costs 4CP and has 8000 power.

You can say this isn’t a lot for a Legend, but you are sending a Forward to the Break Zone and that is always good, even if you’re not the one picking which Forward is being sent.

More Singles!

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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 – Spark in the Dark

20-085C – Assassin

1CP/3K body

Perfect if you want to swarm the board. Pay the additional cost and deal a Forward 3000 damage.

After that you can put Assassin into the Break Zone to break that same Forward.

But, then again, put into the Break Zone still confuses me, so I might be wrong on this.

 

20-086H – Alisaie

This card looks good so far, at least in my head. We still need to see it in action.

Alisaie comes in and you can play a 3 cost Scion from the Break Zone onto the field. Right away you get some value from her. Especially if you play her, and grab Alphinaud 20-106R from the Break Zone. You’ll technically only be paying 1CP for Alisaie, and Alphinaud.

And Alisaie’s second ability triggers when a Water Forward (Alphinaud) enters the field. That second ability says that when a Water Forward enters the field you can dull one of your opponents Forwards.

And when that Forward is Alphinaud, your opponents will select one of their dull Forwards and Break it.

Now if that Forward that you dulled is the only dull Forward, then you have chosen the Forward that will be Broken.

20-087R – Angeal

I always have trouble remembering what “Put into the Break Zone” means. And, during every Prerelease, I find myself asking the same question.

Must be old age.

Anyways, Angeal is a 3 cost Forward that likes to Break your opponents Forwards along with a couple of his SOLDIER buddies.

I’d think of Angeal more like a Summon that sticks around. Move over Odin, you ain’t got that strike like Angeal. Or something like that. Cause Angeal will stick around and block an attack or two before he gets sent t the Break Zone.
Angeal can also be put into the Break Zone and give one of your Forwards +3000 power.

20-088L – Estinien

Just looking at this card, you know it’s going to be good.

Warp Estinien in for 1CP. Then he comes in with Haste. And, until the end of the turn he has Brave, and can attack twice in the same turn. And, when he attacks he gains +10,000 power and First Strike.

That’s just … WOW!!!

You’ll want to play Estinien from the get go. Almost like Roche. If you don’t find Estinien in your opening hand, you should just Mulligan and hope to get him on your next draw.

This card will be heading straight to my Haste deck, with Haste.

20-089C – Kadaj

Kadaj is back.

4CP with an 8K body, and an ability that triggers when he enters the field, and enters the Break Zone. (That could be a song title “Enter the Break Zone” or album title.) Kadaj will make a Forward lose power, in other words Kadaj will cast Sap on a Forward.

Once he’s done with that he’ll stay on the field until he gets broken and cast Sap on another Forward. Well, technically it’s not Sap, but it’s close enough.

It’s decent.

20-090H – G’raha Tia

G’raha Tia is a great way to play a Scion onto the field, of an element that you are splashing.

Or any Scion that is not in your hand. As you’ll pay the cost of let’s say Alisaie, and if Alphinaud is already in the Break Zone, you’ll be able to play him as well.

G’raha Tia also gains 3000 power when there is a FFXIV Standard Unit Character on the field.

This is a card I’d like to see in action. And I’ll decide on if I like it or not afterwards. But, it’ll be too late for this article, as I only write my first impressions on each card, and at time of writing release is still a month away.

20-091C – Illusionist

2 cost Backup, that just buffs one of your Forwards attacks by 2000 power for one turn.

Can be used if your in a little pickle, attacking and being blocked by a Forward with a little more power than what you attacked with.

Would I use this card?

Probably not.

 

20-092R – The Emperor

The Emperor has new clothes.

And he’ll change them every time he is put into the Break Zone. He might even change into the same clothes, as you can search for The Emperor and play him onto the field dull. As long as The Emperor has 3CP or less.

With this one there are a total of 6 Emperors to choose from. One which allows you to search for an Emperor of cost 5 or less. Which is the highest CP for any Emperor.

I wonder if we can play The Emperor, the same way that we play Ultros. As the Emperor always seems like he has a way to come back to the field. I’m going to look into this some more at a later date.

We haven’t even mentioned The Emperor’s ability, That requires your opponent to pay 2CP more for their Character’s action abilities. Looks like an easy way to drain your opponent of CP.

I like.

20-093H – Shadow Dragon

You can either pay 3CP to cast Shadow Dragon, or you can use Shadow Dragon as part of the cost to play Golbez. After that you can pay just 1CP of any element and play Shadow Dragon onto the field, straight from the Break Zone.

And, when Shadow Dragon enters the field, you can pick a Forward of 3CP or less and Break it.

Once all is said and done, you can turn Shadow Dragon into a Forward by paying a whopping 0CP.

Sure, it only has 3000 power, but you’re not playing this card so you can have an extra Forward.

Just bring Shadow Dragon out to block, just so you can recast it later.

20-094R – Cor

Cor was a Captain? How come I don’t remember that?

4 cost Lightning Forward with 8000 power.

Nothing to write home about so far.

But, if a King is on the field, Cor gains +2000 power. making him a 10K body.

When Cor is finally sent to the Break Zone, you can remove the top 10 cards of your deck and play Cor back onto the field dull.

Is it worth it? Probably not. Maybe if Cor was a better card, we’d think about it.

20-095C – Weaver

I’m beginning to think that these Backups were solely made to be played in draft.

I don’t think anyone would use these.

But, we have one for every element.

So, I’m writing a bunch of sentences to make it seem like they’re worth writing about.

 

20-096C – Johnny

It was only a matter of time until Johnny showed up. And as you know it Tifa is in this set as well.

Johnny is a decent Backup that can grab a couple of cards from your Break Zone. Easy way to get a couple of Forwards back, or a Backup that was previously sent to the Break Zone.

After that, whenever you need another FFVII Character that was in the Break Zone, Johnny will happily head into the Break Zone to grab them.

Even though he doesn’t specifically search for Tifa, you know that that, that’s what’s really on his mind.

20-097C – Sephiroth

For 7CP you can cast Sephiroth.

Or you can just Warp Sephiroth in for 1CP.

Spoiler alert.

And he’ll Warp down from the sky, thrusting Masamune down one of your opponents Forwards just like he did to …

I stopped myself there, cause sometimes people don’t pay attention to Spoiler warnings.

If you know, you know.

And that’s not all, Zanshin, Special Ability that can be cast without dulling Sephiroth.

depending on how many Sephiroths you have in you hand, you can be breaking low cost Forwards left and right like there’s no tomorrow.

How is this a Common?

20-098R – Chadley

A simple 2 cost ability that will allow you to grab a Forward from the Break Zone.

But, you have to jump through so many hoops just to get to it. But you can eliminate half the process if you already have a Lightning Summon in your hand.

Lets see now.

1 – Play Chadley
2 – Discard a card
3 – Search for a Lightning Summon and add it to your hand.
4 – Next turn/ Dull Chadley
5 – Discard a Summon/
6 – Put Chadley into the Break Zone
7 – Choose a Forward in your Break Zone, add it to your hand.

Is it worth it? Aren’t there better ways of grabbing something from the Break Zone. Sure you can set it up before hand, and Chadley can be used for CP until you need him.

I guess it all depends on whatever you think.

20-099C/15-095C – Ninja

You’d think they’d at least try and get the serial numbers to match.

Would’ve looked a lot better reading 20-099C/15-099C.

Not that big of a deal but, at least you gain a Crystal when Ninja comes in.

After that you can send Ninja to the Break Zone, and deal a Forward 1000 damage.

*yawn

Maybe if it wasn’t a reprint I’d be more excited.

20-100R – Fusoya

Well one thing is for sure.

If you’re playing this card, you’ll have a whole bunch of 1CP and 2CP Summons in your deck. Just so you can spam them whenever you have Fusoya attack.

Isn’t there an Emissaries of Light Braska with an S ability that you can use a Summon instead of Braska?

*hint hint

I think these 2 will go well together.

20-101C – Behemoth

Common Monsters, that can do some damage. Behemoth here is a prime example.

Behemoth enters the field, and deals 7000 damage to one Forward.

Next turn, Behemoth can Break a damaged Forward.

Simple, effective, and probably won’t see much play, even though it is a decent card.

Prove me wrong.

20-102L – Mira

Well Maybe Behemoth will see some play, if it’s only to feed Mira’s ability.

1CP, 1 Monster, 1Miiiir-a

And say good-bye to that Forward that just entered the field. It’s even better if your opponent just spent a fortune on that Forward.

Mira is also able to bring herself back from the Break Zone, all you got to do is sacrifice a Monster, and she returns from the dead.

If you ever needed a reason to make a Monster deck, Mira is it.

20-103H – Ramuh

A 2 cost Summon that will give you 3 choices.

Best part, you can pick up to 2 of the 3 choices.

Which ones should you pick?

The choice is yours.

Dull a Forward, Deal 5000 damage to a Forward, or give Haste to a Forward.

It can also be any Forward that you can choose from.

Dull a Forward attacking, while dealing 5000 damage to another Forward, or even the same Forward.

Or maybe even, dull a Forward blocking and giving Haste to one of your Forwards to attack next.

The possibilities are there.

20-104R – Ramza

All you need is a Crystal in your possession. You don’t even nee to use it. If you don’t have a Crystal then you shouldn’t be playing Ramza. Play another Ramza

Ramza comes in with a Crystal (Maybe that Crystal is a Zodiac Stone.) Ramza gains Haste, and when he is sent to the Break Zone, you can break one of your opponent’s Forwards. Not limited to a certain CP either.

Bring Ramza in and attack right away. Don’t worry if he gets sent to the Break Zone, there’s more Ramzas where that came from.

You can probably find a way to grab him back from the Break Zone.

Ramza Army of One is a go.

As long as he can Shout.

20-105C – Reeve EX

It’s a 3 card trick.

Reeve comes in sets up his little table and shows you the 3 cards. One of which you can add to your deck, the others get sent to the bottom of your deck. Not seeing the light of day again, unless you shuffle your deck.

Ok, I know that’s not how it works.

4CP to grab a card from the top 3 of your deck At least you’ll know what you’ll be missing.

And, why did I always thought it was Reeves?