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Hidden Trials – By Lightning

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23-077H – Azul

The Tsivets are coming strong, and Azul is about to kick some butts.

Azul has Counter, he will Counter any damage dealt to him to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

For the cost of 1 Crystal, Azul can also cast Berserk on a Forward. And, when he does, Azul gains +2000 power.

I’d say that’s a Crystal well spent.

 

23-078C – Alisae

Alisae is like a bloodhound. She’ll help you find the card you need, but only if you can show her what you’re looking for. And, the only way to do that is to already have a card with the same name in your Break Zone.

The only thing Alisae can’t search for will be Standard Units and Summons, everything else is fair game.

I’m sure she has some use, but there are plenty of other cards that’ll search better then she does.

 

23-079R – Estinien

I mean he’s no Opus VI Estinien, or Dawn of Heroes either, but Estinien is still a decent card to play.

Coming in with Haste, Estinien has the ability to attack from the get go, but you already knew that. So, why would we mention that?

It’s simple. Every time Estinien attacks, you get to grab a Scion Forward from your Break Zone. Making Estinien a great play, right away.

And, that’s not all!

At 3 points of Damage Estinien gains +1000 power. Add in Opus I Lulu and Hidden Trials Krile, and you’ll have a Forward that attacks for 11,000.

And this is just a Rare card.

23-080R – Odin EX

If this comes off of an EX Burst it’s great.

If it doesn’t it’s too expensive, and the Opus I Odin, along with the Opus I reprint from Opus VIII. is a couple of CP less.

Why would you play this one? Because you can cast it for 3CP if you remove 6 Lightning cards from your Break Zone. If you have no way of getting them back, then go right ahead.

Breaking a Forward still is a broken Forward your opponent can’t use.

23-081C – Puppetmaster

2 Cost Elemental Lightning Backup.

Puppetmaster is ready for action with his Puppet right behind him ready for orders.

Puppetmaster comes in and dulls a Forward. As with some of the other Backups of this set, he has greater power when you have a full line of Backups on the field. And, when that happens, Puppetmaster dulls all of your opponent’s Forwards.

I’m noticing a lot of great plays being brought in towards the mid-end game.

 

 

23-082H – King

Is this a new thing, where we remove cards to reduce the cost of casting a card?

Because King turns into a 1 cost Hero, if you remove 4 cards from your Break Zone.

And, whenever King attacks, you can discard 2 cards and Break a Forward of your choosing.

King’s cost evens out as the 4CP you save from removing the 4 Characters from your Break Zone.

There’s plenty of ways to get rid of cards, Lightning might become even more fast paced.

23-083H – Queen

Your Savior, Your Queen.

This is a great card. Cadets will be one the rise solely based off of this card.

At the small cost of removing 3 cards from your Break Zone. Queen will give a Class Zero Cadet a 2000 power buff, plus damage dealt to that Forward by your opponent’s abilities will become 0.

This card kinda makes me want to remake that Cadets deck I had made back during Opus XIII.

23-084C – G’raha Tia

At 5CP and 9000 power, G’raha Tia is just a regular Common card.

When he enters the field, and you have another G’raha Tia in the Break Zone, you can remove it from the game and deal 4000 damage to 2 of your opponent’s Forwards. You will also dull them as well.

If this card cost a little bit less, I would say that it’s better.

 

 

23-085R – Krile (XIV)

Look at the new card you’ll be putting in your Scions deck.

Nothing beats a 1K buff across your board. Especially when it comes to the Scions and they already work well together.

And if you still need a little bit of extra power, Krile can give a Scion another 1000 power when it deals damage to a Forward.

Can’t go wrong with that.

 

 

23-086H – Thancred

Thancred, reporting for duty!

Thancred is ready to go from the get go. (If you already have some Scions on the field.) He’ll break one of your opponent’s Forwards as he enters, and he’ll bring back a Forward from the dead as he enters the Break Zone.

Almost like a Viking, but different.

Scions being Scions.

 

 

23-087C – Jack

Yeah, you’re not going to play this card.

Unless there is another card that stated “this and this” if there are so many cards in your Break Zone.

I’m also pretty sure that the other Jacks are much better, I can say that without even looking for them.

Even at 2CP, I wouldn’t play this card.

At least the art is nice.

23-088L – Serah

Mono-Lightning XIII deck Incoming.

Your opponent will be using all their resources to get rid of Serah here.

Once she comes in all of your opponents Forwards will lose 2000 power, and if you have at least another 2 FFXIII Forwards their power will go down by 5000. And, this does not end at the end of the turn. As of my understanding, they lose that power until Serah is removed from the field.

That means that most of your opponent’s Forwards will be unusable. Sure, there will be ways that your opponent can raise the power of their Forwards, but Serah also has Dispel. Dispel removes any power gains that your opponent has given their Forwards until the end of the turn.

I’ll take 3 with all the bells and whistles.

23-089C – SOLDIER Candidate

Now, this is a Candidate I have a use for.

2CP/5K body, with Haste.

If you remember, I have built an all Haste deck, and this one fits perfectly into it.

2CP is perfect for it because you’ll only need to discard 1 card, since I don’t play any Backups. 5000 power isn’t bad, because you’re hoping to win in 2 rounds. And, half the time your opponent will not have any Forwards on the field.

And, most of the low cost Haste cards are Standard Units, SOLDIER Candidate will gain +3000 power, giving her an 8K body, the perfect “Candidate” for a Meat Shield.

23-090C/15-095C – Ninja

You know the drill.

“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.”

23-091C – Fencer (XIII)

There’s a lot of good Monsters in this set.

Fencer is ready to Break a Forward on command, as long as you have an extra Monster on the field, because that extra Monster will be part of the cost you pay for Fencer’s ability to go off.

It’s a cheap play, and as long as the Monster you send to the Break Zone has done it’s job, you’ll be good to go.

 

23-092R – Black Widow

This Monster is interesting.

You’ll need 2 or more Monsters for Black Widow to become a Forward. And when Black Widow does become a Forward, when it attacks, you may put another Monster into the Break Zone, and that will allow Black Widow to deal 9000 damage to a Forward of your choosing.

You can splash Black Widow into your Monster deck with Relm, and after that Black Widow will slowly get rid of your Monsters to play more Monsters.

 

 

23-093C – Mog (XIII-2)

This Moogle makes that XIII Mono-Lightning deck easier to make.

Always good to have a couple of searchers, and this one is better, because you can get rid of Mog once he finds what you’re looking for.

Mog comes in for 2CP, and just hangs out until it’s time for you to use his ability.

After that, you can play Mog once more, and he’ll do the same thing once more.

Yes, this card is needed.

23-094C – Y’shtola

How is this a Common?

If you’re playing a Scions deck, you will be dulling your opponent’s whole front line.

And, this only costs 3CP.

All I see is, you play Y’shtola, and block with her as soon as possible, in order to play her again.

Find a way to grab her from the Break Zone as well, and you’ll be golden. Just like the S(ci)un of the Seventh Dawn … Ok, maybe that wasn’t that great.

23-095R – Rosso

Rosso, the Crimson.

Vincent is in trouble here.

The Tsivets are coming for him and all of his allies, and Rosso is coming hard. For every time she attacks, she deals 4000 damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

And, if you have a stash of Crystals, you can use them to give one of your Tsivets Haste, allowing them to go from the get go.
Tsivets might finally have some decent cards to get a fun deck going.

Singles?

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Beyond Destiny – Quake Shake

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21-061H – Ursula

Crystals and more Crystals.

Bring us your Crystals.

At least Ursula will give you one when she enters the field. And you can go ahead and use a Crystal to give her +3000 power. And, then you can use another Crystal and give her another +3000 power. And so on and so forth.

Or you can use that Crystal to grant your Forwards some protection from EX Bursts.

I wonder if this counts as EX Bursts that result from damage taken.

Either way, it’s still a good ability to spend a Crystal on.

21-062H – Ash

There’s a Strangers of Paradise Hero in every element. I just realized this.

Ash here, is a great supporting card. As long as you have Forwards with Brave on the field, Ash will give them a +3000 buff. I don’t think I ever thought about having a deck with only Forwards that have Brave. It might actually be a little interesting.
Anyways, Ash can grab a Character from the Break Zone when he enters the field, but only if you have a couple of SOPFFO Forwards already on the field.

And last, but not least, Ash can give another Forward Brave. And, once he gives that Forward Brave, that Forward gets the +3K buff as well.

I like this card. I might have to try it out.

21-063C – Dark Knight

This reminds me of an old card, Dark Knight (1-092C) to be exact.

Dark Knight gains +1000 power for each point of damage you have received. Which along with Enna Kros, and Ash, if you have 6 points of damage, Dark Knight will have a total of 16,000 power. But, only if you use Ash’s ability to give Dark Knight Brave.

Dark Knight also has an ability that will allow you to break a Forward. Sure, he’ll also deal you a point of damage, but, if you’re playing Dark Knight, that’s pretty much what you want. Get to 6 points of damage as fast as you can.

21-064L – Ingus EX

If you have 5 Earth Backups on the field, Ingus costs a total of 1CP.

And, after that, Ingus will search for an Earth Forward.

If you’re playing Mono-Earth you will be playing Ingus.

I mean where else can you hopefully pay 1CP for a 9k body.

And, that’s all I got.

 

21-065R – Onion Knight

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a card with no text.




3CP

9000 Power

Meat Shield at it’s finest.

21-066C – Guy

Guy and Ash should make a Tag Team.

Guy is a simple card, one that talk to animals. And, those animals tell Guy that he should always attack as long as Ash is on the field.

For whenever Guy attacks, he’ll gain +3000 from his ability, and another +3000 from Ash. making Guy hit hard. 11,000 power in one attack.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

21-067R – Galuf

This is awesome, and it’s just a Rare.

Imagine that.

Galuf gives all of your low cost Forwards +2000 power. And when he enters the field, you can most likely grab a 2 cost Forward from the top 5 cards of your deck, and play it straight to the field.

Galuf costs 4CP, but you’ll probably get the 2CP back if you find a Forward.

Blade of Dawn deals one of your opponents Forwards 8000 damage.

Stick Galuf in a deck with Maria (17-128L) and you’ll be all set ready to go.

Let’s put this idea for a deck on the back burner. Along with the countless other decks I want to try and build.

21-068C – Qiqirn

Roll of the dice?

Qiqirn comes in, checks the top 5 cards of your deck and grabs a Forward from there, while the other cards go to the bottom of your deck.

After that Qiqirn is just a Backup, that had the ability to Break a dull Forward, before heading into the Break Zone.

Don’t tell me you don’t think you’ll find at least one Forward out of the top 5 cards of your deck. Worse case scenario, is that you don’t find a Forward, and you see the card you needed head back to the bottom of the deck.

21-069C – Krile

For 2CP you can discard a Summon, and deal a Forward 8000 damage.

And, after that, you can pay 2CP and grab that same Summon from the Break Zone and add it to your hand.

Recycling at it’s finest.

Krile may not help with your empty soda cans, but, she’ll love to grab some slightly used Summons.

Even Krile can’t believe how bad that one was.

21-070C – White Mage

This is a great card.

At least I think so.

And, is I think so, well then I’m going to persuade you that it is.

You play White Mage for 4CP, and then you a play a 3 cost Forward straight from the Break Zone.

It’s a POGO on a Forward. What’s POGO. Play One, Get One.

Yes, I’ll keep a foil play-set on hand.

21-071H – Titan

When are we going to get some 8bit cards.

If you’re doing a Titan from FFIII at least give us sprites.

Please?

Imagine a Mosaic with 8bit art.

Anyways, Titan simple summon. Either deal a Forward 9000 damage, or break a dull Forward.

21-072H – Tulien

Need a way to make a Forward attack or block? Tulien is here to help you with that.

During your turn you can use his ability and have a Forward attack or block.

Get rid of those pesky Forwards that have low HP and a irritating ability that you want to get rid of.

Plus, when Tulien attacks or blocks, the damage he deals goes up by 2000.

Thus, making Tulien a 3 cost Forward with 9000 power and 7000 HP.

I wonder if that’s how it works?

21-073R – Stoneserpent General Zazarg

You can throw this Serpent General in any Earth deck, and it will make that earth deck, just a little bit better. Throw in Ash as well and you’ll have a body on the field that will be tough to get rid of.

General Zazarg comes in for 2CP, if you already have 2 Earth Characters on the field.

What I like is Stoneserpent General Zazarg’s ability that triggers whenever he is dealt damage by your opponent’s Summons or abilities. What is this ability? You simply get to deal 8000 damage to any Forward.

Maybe you’ll break the Forward dealing damage, before they deal damage.

21-074L – Neo Exdeath

Standing in at 8CP and 10,000 Power.

I don’t know what’s better.

The Amano art or the ability?

Neo Exdeath is a one-sided board wipe. Neo Exdeath will come in, sacrifice to of your Backups, and remove all of your opponents Forwards and Monsters from the game.

‘Nuff said.

21-075R – Haveh

“Haveh your way!”

How is this just a Rare?

Haveh comes in and puts a cog in your opponent’s gears. By canceling power increase from your opponent’s Summons and abilities.

Plus, Haveh gives a nice buff to your Warriors, and he gains, +1000 power and Brave at 3 points of damage. Add in Ash, and your set.

You can actually just throw Haveh into that Warrior tribal deck we made a while ago.

21-076C – White Tiger l’Cie Qun’mi

First time I saw this card I thought it was Lightning, and then I realized it wasn’t. But, since Type-0 and FFXIII are somehow connected through the Fabula Nova Crystallis myth, I believe that White Tiger Qun’mi and Lightning are connected. Sure, I base this off the artwork of this card, and I’ll stop here.

4 cost Forward, with 8000 power. Just a regular Common, but it does have an ability that whenever White Tiger l’Cie Qun’mi is chosen by a Summon or ability she gains +2000 power.

And, this is where Ash comes in. I think Ash might be the best card in Earth this set.

Ash will give White Tiger l’Cie Qun’mi Brave, thus giving her +2000 power and +3000 power. Making her a Forward with 13,000 power.

That’s a big body.

21-077C – Monk

I just realized each element has the same Standard Unit Backup again.

And they all do the same thing.

Monk comes in and gives you a Crystal, and if you have less than 3 Backups on the field, you also draw a card.

And, that pretty much sums it up.

Again.

21-078C – Ram

You can actually use this Monster to buff White Tiger l’Cie Qun’mi, to grant her +5000 power.

Ram doesn’t really do much, he just come in dull, activates during your next turn, where you can use it’s ability, and after that Ram will take a nap, as it does not activate during your next active phase. You’ll have to wait an additional turn in order to use it’s ability once more.

I’d say this one is a Sleeper.

 

12-079R – Lich

7CP for Lich?

Yes, and you’ll be happy to pay for it. Especially if you’re running Mono-Earth. Simply because you can pay the 7CP upfront, and every time Lich is put into the Break Zone, you can discard a card and play Lich back onto the field. Yes, you can only use this ability if you have at least 7 Earth Characters on the field.

Then you’ll ask, Why would I want to pay 7CP for a 9K Forward?

That’s because every time Lich enters the field, his Enter the Field ability goes off, and you can choose one of your opponents Forwards and Break it at the end of the turn. In other words, Lich casts Doom with a tiny bit of time on the counter.

After that find a way to break Lich, discard a card and Voila, you can reuse Doom.

This is a card that will become a problem.

12-080R – Runda

Simple 2 cost Backup, that can cast some Protect, or Shell on one of your Forwards.

If one of them is being targeted by a Summon or ability that causes damage, you can dull Runda, and reduce that damage by 3000.

And, that pretty much sums Runda up.

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Krile’s Splinter

Krile, your Backup Warrior of Light. Taking Galuf’s spot on the team and she does a good job at it. We’re actually going to use 2 Kriles in this deck. Krile (7-068H) and Krile (18-055R). Both of these Kriles work around Summons, and the Resurgence of Power Krile also allows you to grab a FFV Forward from your Break Zone. Thus bringing us to the next Character, Galuf.

You know we had to bring in her Grandfather. And, we are going with Galuf (12-056H), any Forward that has the ability to attack twice in one turn, especially with +10K power, is a go. And when he is sent into the Break Zone, you can search for a 2 cost Earth Forward and play it onto the field.

Next we’ll add Kolka (7-069C) and Tyro (11-072R). Both are Backups and both allow us to search for Krile, or Galuf if Krile is already on the field. And since Tyro allows us to produce CP of a different Element, we will add in the rest of the Warriors of Light.

Bartz (7-059L), cause this is a great card that can attack up to 3 times. You’ll just need some extra Bartzes on hand in order to do so. 3 to be exact. So we’ll just go ahead and add Bartz (19-048C) Because he is easy to recycle back into your deck. And any other Bartz you like, we’ll go with Bartz (12-052H).

Lenna (12-109L), just help us grab a Forward from the Break Zone and play it onto the field. And, Faris to help us grab a FFV Character from the top of your deck when she enters the field. If Lenna is on the field, Faris gains +2000 power.

Ghido (3-131H)? What? Who plays Ghido? Well, Ghido can contact Krile telepathically and that is why he is in here. Ghido is a little bit of a Backup plan that can return high cost Forwards to their owner’s deck.

If we take a look back at Galuf’s ability of searching for an Earth Forward, we are grabbing Ewen (17-080R) and Aerith (16-067L).
We need some more Backups. Let’s get some protection here. Cait Sith (XIV) (6-072C) and Layle (8-088C), both of these cards will protect us from Summons.

Summons are next. We’re bringing in Syldra (3-035H) as it is the only FFV Summon that we have, and it does a pretty decent job so, we’ll keep it.

Fenrir (19-064R), because everyone likes free cards. And Titan (17-070R) to give everyone a 5K boost.

And we’ll grab Objet d’Art (12-064C) which can turn into a Forward, or give all your Forwards +2K and Brave.

Forwards

3x – Ewen (17-080R)
3x – Aerith (16-067L)
3x – Bartz (7-059L)
3x – Galuf (12-056H)
3x – Lenna (12-109L)
3x – Krile (7-068H)
3x – Faris (7-120H)
3x – Bartz (12-052H)

Backups

1x – Cait Sith (XIV (6-072C)
2x – Layle (8-088C)
3x – Ghido (3-131H)
3x – Kolka (7-069C)
3x – Krile (18-055R)
3x – Tyro (11-072R)

Summons

3x – Titan (17-070R)
3x – Fenrir (19-064R)
3x – Syldra (3-135H)

Monsters

2x – Objet d’Art (12-064C)

What would you do differently?

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Krile – Card Analysis

Plenty of Kriles to choose from. Well not that many, but we do have 4 different ones.

Krile (3-078H)

2CP/6000
Earth
Forward
Mystic Knight
Hero

“Spellblade: Fira (S)(F): Deal 6000 damage to all the Forwards opponent controls.

Spellblade: Thundara (S)(L): Choose up to 2 damaged Forwards. Break them.”

With 6000 power and 2 abilities, this Krile wouldn’t be more than a Rare these days. Sure you can use both abilities in one turn, if you have the extra Kriles on hand to break a couple of your opponents Forwards.

If you have a hand full of Kriles, you can wipe out all of your opponents Forwards.

I mean, it could work.

Krile (7-068H)

4CP/8000
Earth
Forward
Warrior of Light
Hero

“The cost required to cast your Summons can be paid with CP of any Element.

When you cast a Summon, choose 1 Forward. It gains +1000 power until the end of the turn.

Discard 1 Summon: Until the end of the turn, Krile cannot be chosen by your opponent’s abilities.”

This Krile is great for a Summon based Earth deck. Allowing you to pay for all of your Summons with CP of any element. And, when you do cast a Summon, Krile gives a Forward +1000 power.

Krile also gains protection from your opponents abilities, when you discard a Summon.

Krile (12-061L)

2CP/5000
Earth
Forward
Warrior of Light
Legend

“When Krile enters the field, choose 1 Summon from either player’s Break Zone. You can cast it as though you owned it this turn. If you cast it, remove that Summon from the game after use instead of putting it in the Break Zone.

(1)(D): Choose 1 Summon from either player’s Break Zone. You can cast it as though you owned it this turn. If you cast it, remove that Summon from the game after use instead of putting it in the Break Zone.”

“Does your opponent have that Summon that you forgot to put in your deck, today? Well you can now cast it at will, if your opponent has placed said Summon n the Break Zone! Simply, Play Krile onto the field and grab that Summon to play it right away.

If Krile is already on the field, no worries, just pay the small cost of 1CP if Krile is active, and cast away that Summon like no tomorrow.”

That’s pretty much it. Summon Heavy, on both sides.

Krile EX (18-055R)

4CP
Earth
Backup
Warrior of Light
Rare

EX BURST When Krile enters the field, select 1 of the 2 following actions.

“Choose 1 Summon in your Break Zone. Add it to your hand.”

“Choose 1 Category V Forward in your Break Zone. Add it to your hand.”

I just wrote about this a couple of sets back, let’s see what it was.

“Just lost a card you need to the Break Zone?

Have no fear, Krile here will grab that card back. But, only if it’s a Summon or a Category V Forward.

If you’re playing Krile you’re probably already playing a FFV themed deck for the most part.

I had her in my Pre-Release event and did use her quite a bit.”

Well there you have it. I shall stand behind what I said when Resurgence of Power was first released.

Out of the 4 cards, there are 2 that I like. And, I must say the Legend isn’t one of them. I’m sure plenty of people will disagree with that.

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Krile Mayer Baldesion

“Ow! Take this!”

From the Ultimania –

“Galuf’s granddaughter, born with the mysterious power to talk to moogles and wind drakes. Krile lost her parents at an early age, and was raised by her loving grandfather. She worries for the safety of her only remaining blood relative, and follows her grandfather all the way to another world. Krile inherits Galuf’s abilities after he perishes by Exdeath’s hand, and she takes his place on Bartz’s team.”

As you can see Krile, doesn’t actually show up as a playable character, until later in the game, when she takes Galuf’s spot in the lineup, gaining all of his abilities as well.

I’m guessing that since she can talk to animals, we can make a deck focusing around Monsters … but none of her abilities involve Monsters so Summons will have to do, add in the Warriors of Light, not all of them, maybe just some that will compliment her, as she will be the main focus of our deck.

Let’s see what we can come up with.