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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 : From Dusk ‘Till Dawn

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21-121L – Warrior of Light

If this works as planned, you get to play Warrior of Light for 1CP, if not well, then you paid 7CP. Even if you find just one 3 cost Forward in the top 5 cards of your deck, then Warrior of Light is a decent play.

Other than that, Ultimate Shield is a great ability to counter your opponent’s Summons and abilities. Meaning that Warrior of Light and the 3 cost Forwards you control cannot be targeted by your opponent’s Summons or abilities.

You’ll want to have plenty of Warrior of Light cards in your deck to make use of this ability whenever the need rises.

PS. Really love the art. But, that goes without saying.

21-122H – Skyserpent General Rughadjeen

We’ve seen all the other Serpent Generals, and now it’s time for the final Serpent General. Skyserpent General Rughadjeen, who does not need to be played with any Serpent Generals.

For 4CP you get a 9000 powered Forward with Haste, First Strike and Brave.

And, if that’s not enough, every time the Skyserpent General attacks, you can choose a Forward, give them +1K and Haste, choose one Forward give them +1K and First Strike, and choose one Forward give them +1K and Brave.

It does not say that you have to choose 3 different Forward, you can grant all of these ?upgrades? to one Forward if you’d like.

I’ll take 3 of these, and put General Rughadjeen into my all Haste deck.

21-123H – Darkness Manifest

This card looks good, even without paying with a reduced cost. Sure you can remove a Fire, Wind, Earth and Water Character and pay only 2CP, but that would mean you’re playing a 4 colored deck. Which might be hard to navigate. Although I have seen it done right.

All Darkness Manifest needs to do is stay on the field, and he will slowly chip away at your opponent. Once per turn during the beginning of Main Phase 1, Darkness Manifest will deal your opponent 1 point of Damage.

And, if he ends up leaving the field, you choose one Character, and you can send it to the Break Zone.

Now, all we need to figure out, is how to send Darkness Manifest in and out of the field, without losing him.

21-124L – Jack Garland

Jack Garland is Garland.

Period.

Well that is his last name isn’t it?

3CP/9k body with Brave.

You can just stop there, and you’d have a decent card.

But, this is a Legend.

Jack enters the field and allows you to search for a Strangers of Paradise card, add it to your hand. After that Jack has an action ability that allows you to Break a Dark Character of your choice, at the cost of 1 point of damage.

This is one of those abilities that can be very useful, when playing against an opponent that has multiple Dark cards on the field. The rules state that you can only have 1 Dark Character on the field at any time, but there are a couple of cards that allow you to have more. Break that Dark Character. It’ll either be Chaos or Spiritus. But either way, you get rid of them, and your opponent will have to chuck all the Dark Characters from the field except for 1.

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Banon’s Returners

Where do we start?

Well we need to start off with Banon, it’s a deck built around him after all. Now, let’s see what FFVI Characters do we have in Water. None, that actually have anything to do with Banon, actually yes, Gau. Gau does help Banon with the battle at Narshe.

Gau (19-089H), even though Gau isn’t the best place to start building a Banon deck with, he is Water, comes in with Back Attack, and gives a FFVI Forward 1000 power x the FFVI Characters on the board. He’ll most likely help your Forward survive an attack, Summon or ability.

Next we’ll take a look at Edgar and Locke. And, no we’re not going with the Dawn of Heroes setup, that would be too easy. We’ll grab Locke (9-122H), that way we can grab more FFVI Characters, plus the +2000 power he gives to all the FFVI Forwards every time he attacks, is a plus.

Edgar (19-003R), cause we need Backups, and this Edgar can grab Sabin from the Break Zone, which leads us to Sabin (17-017H). Since you’ll probably already have a bunch of FFVI Characters on the field, you’ll probably be only paying 1CP to cast Sabin, or you’ll be grabbing him from the Break Zone with Edgar. We’re taking Sabin for his Chakra ability. And, since both of his abilities don’t require Sabin to dull as part of the payment, well add in another Sabin, anyone as it’ll be mostly used for paying the cost for Chakra, and Aura Cannon. We’ll go with Sabin (15-018C). And if you do decide to play it, during each of your turns you can choose one of your opponent’s Forwards and deal it 9000 damage.

Banon believed Terra would be the catalyst to destroying the Empire, because she is the light in his story. Or so he thinks. We’ll say she’s the fire and add Terra (10-132S). That way you can recycle a Summon, and deal 2000 damage to one of your opponents Forwards every time you cast a Summon.

Let’s not forget that Locke saved Celes and brought her to the Returners as well, and luckily we do have a Water Celes. Celes (11-118L), with 3 abilities to choose from every time she attacks. And, if you have received 3 points of damage, you can choose 2. Celes gains 2000 power, if Celes deals damage to your opponent draw 1 card, or return a Backup to your hand, and a Forward to your opponents hand.

Which leads us to Owzer (11-106H), (I can’t believe I forgot about this card, for my Ultros deck), You can return Owzer to your hand to play him again, and gain control one of your opponents 2 cost Forwards.

We’ll add Class Fourth Moogle (10-121C), to help us pay for Fire CP.

And, since we’re already buffing our Forwards power’s, well buff it some more with Aria (III) (10-108R). And, let’s add Minwu (1-171H) for a little bit of protection.

We’re going to add Ifrit (19-001R) and Leviathan (19-101R) because they are Free Summons. And in case you haven’t noticed, we like Free Summons.

Amaterasu (12-002H), because you need that protection Amaterasu grants.

Unicorn (20-118H), solely because it’s a FFVI Summon. Well, not solely, mostly. Activate a Forward, and Return a a Forward to your opponent’s hand.

Mog (VI) (4-140H), just so you can draw a card, if you have nothing worth playing.

Plan of attack would be to, buff up your FFVI Forwards and attack. Simple as that.

Forwards

3x – Gau (19-089H)
2x – Mog (VI) (4-140H)
3x – Banon (9-111H)
3x – Celes (11-118L)
3x – Locke (9-122H)
3x – Terra (10-132S)
3x – Sabin (17-017H)
3x – Sabin (15-018C)

Backups

3x – Aria (III) (10-108R)
3x – Class Fourth Moogle (10-121C)
3x – Edgar (19-003R)
3x – Minwu (1-171H)
3x – Owzer (11-106H)

Summons

3x – Unicorn (20-118H)
3x – Amaterasu (12-002H)
3x – Ifrit (19-001R)
3x – Leviathan (19-101R)

What would you play different?

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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?