Posted on Leave a comment

Hidden Hope – Electricity, Hopefully?

22-073L – Ultimecia

Lightning is starting off with a wonderful card.

Ultimecia protects all the cards in your Break Zone, not allowing your opponent to remove them from the game, which is good, because if you have at least 15 cards in your Break Zone, you will be able to choose 1 of your opponent’s Forwards and take control of it.

Any Forward that you like.

You might also want to stock up an a couple of different variations of Ultimecia as well for Maelstrom. Ultimecia’s ability is great as you don’t need to dull Ultimecia as part of the cost. That means you can keep casting Maelstrom as long as you have an extra Ultimecia on hand. That’s a Forward that loses 10k power everytime you cast Maelstrom.

Ultimecia will do plenty of damage.

22-074R – Alba EX

Here’s another card for that Warrior of Darkness deck.

Alba, coming in at 3CP with a 7K body. When Alba enters the field due to an ability, namely Nacht (22-067L) you get to choose one of your opponent’s Forwards with a cost of 4 or less, and send it to the Break Zone.

Also, when she enters the field, she gives one of your Warriors of Darkness, Haste.

Pretty decent if you ask me, and plays well with the other Warriors of Darkness.

 

 

22-075H – Edea

The Witch, the Sorceress, Edea.

Edea comes into the field, and let’s you search for a Final Fantasy VIII Forward. Searchers are always good, and when it comes from a Forward it makes it even better, because that card will still have some use even after you searched for the Forward.

Edea comes with an 8k body. Which is great.

And another ability that causes one of your opponent’s Forwards to lose 4000 power. 8000 if you have 10 cards in your Break Zone.

Only downside is that you have to discard the top 2 cards of your deck to use this ability, and you don’t know which cards those will be.

22-076R – Odin

3 cost Summon, that breaks a 3, or a 4 cost, Forward or Monster.

Well that is what Odin is known for. Coming down riding his horse from the sky, whipping out Excalibur, and slicing the enemy in half, for an instant K.O.

Plus, if you only paid the cost with Backups you draw a card, making Odin cost just 1CP.

It wouldn’t hurt to have 1 or 2 of these in your deck.

 

 

22-077H – Garuda (III)

Garuda comes in, and you get to pick a number. And after that you’ll get to deal 8000 damage to all of the Forwards that their CP cost is the same as the number you’ve chosen. So, don’t go picking a random number, make sure there are Forwards on the field that have that number as their CP cost.

This is actually a good way to get rid of a bunch of Forwards that came in due to an ability by let’s say Golbez (1-135L). You’ll be able to get rid of all the 2 cost Forwards that just came in. Plus the other 2 cost Forwards that were already on the field.

And the Crystal ability. For the cost of 2 Crystals, you can deal 8000 damage to a Forward of your choosing.

You can’t go wrong with Garuda.

22-078C – Sice

1CP or 3CP or 3CPO?

Either way Sice is a great card. Especially if you can get her in for 1CP. Which you probably will, because the Class Zero Cadets usually come out all together.

Sice enters the field, and depending on how many Class Zero Cadets you have on the field, Sice will sen that Forward to the Break Zone.

And after that, she’ll stick around as an extra body.

I’ll take 3. Simple and effective. Let’s just find a way to bounce Sice a couple of times per turn. I’m sure there must be a way.

22-079L – Seifer

The other Gunblade Wielder.

When Seifer comes in, you can put the top 2 cards of your deck in the Break Zone and, you’ll be able to grab a Final Fantasy VIII Forward from your Break Zone. It’s like paying 4CP to grab that card that you just lost, and you don’t even need to have the extra 4CP in your hand.

Seifer starts to shine when you have at least 10 cards in your Break Zone. Because when you do, every time Seifer attacks, you get to send one of your opponent’s Forwards to the Break Zone. Slowly thinning the enemies front lines, to make it easier for your attacks to go through.

This might be the best Seifer yet.

22-080C – Selkie

The card that let’s you look at the top card of your deck.

If you like it, you can keep it there.

If you don’t send it to the bottom of your deck.

Selkie is part of this set’s Common Card for all elements. Meaning that each Element has this card.

If you need more information. We’ll just Copy/Paste once again.

“Simple, basic and straight to the point.

Selkie comes in for 1CP and allows you to look at the top card of your deck. If you like it you can keep it there. If not send it to the bottom of your deck.

It does have plenty of benefits.

Depending on what you see there, your game plan will change for this turn.

Do you see an EX Burst that will cause plenty of damage to your opponent. Leave it there and take a point of Damage. Do you see the card you need to put your plan into motion, play that card that allows you to draw a card.

Worst case is that you don’t like the card, and you can just recycle it to the bottom.”

22-081R – Diana

“Dirty Dianaaaaa, Nah”

Is it just me or is Diana actually doing one of Michael Jacksons moves?

Woo!

3CP for a 7K body, but you won’t be paying 3CP, because if you do, Diana won’t do much.

Instead you shall play Nacht, look for Diana and another 2 Warriors of Darkness. And, once Nacht attacks, you will play Diana from your hand, and draw a card at the same time. Giving you +2CP when she enters the field due to Nacht’s ability.

After that, you can dull a Warrior of Darkness, and dull a Forward. Any Forward, including yours, which can be like a cancel effect, if your opponent plays a card that says something along the lines of Break an active Forward.

I must say, I like it.

“I know your every move
So won’t you just let me be”

22-082C – Drace

Did you ever find yourself looking for a searcher, the searches for a low cost Forward?

Well if you did, Drace is the right card for you.

Because Drace let’s you search for a Forward that costs 2CP or less.

It’s a great Backup to have.

Only thing that would make Drace better is his cost was 2CP, but then he wouldn’t be a Common.

I’ll take it.

22-083C – Ninja

A ninja with Haste.

For 2CP you can have yourself a great Forward.

Sure, Ninja only has 4000 power, but if you have a couple Standard Unit Backups on the field, Ninja also gains 4000 power, making her total power 8000.

2CP for an 8k body is great in my book.

Now all we have to do is find a couple of Backups that will compliment her.

22-084R – Fujin

If you’re playing Seifer, then Fujin is a must have.

Once you have 10 cards in your Break Zone,which is where you will want to be if you are playing Seifer. Fujin gives Seifer and Raijin, and herself +2000 power and First Strike. Which is great combined with Seifer’s ability to Break a Forward whenever he attacks.

And when Fujin is put from the deck into the Break Zone, you can play Fujin onto the field. So, those abilities that require you to put the top 2 cards of your deck into the Break Zone, have a little upside to them.

The only thing I don’t like with Fujin is the extra cost required when she enters the field, which is the top 2 cards of your deck.

22-085C – Moth Slasher

For 2CP this is a great card.

A Monster that turns into a Forward that searches for itself when it is sent to the Break Zone, and plays itself for free.

What’s not to like.

And, at 3 points of damage Moth Slasher has an 8k body.

Of course you’re putting this in your deck, why wouldn’t you.

22-086C – Yaag Rosch

Yaag Rosch is the protector of Backups, excluding himself.

And, that’s pretty much it. There aren’t even that many cards that can break a Backup.

So, we’ll just talk about the artwork. It’s gorgeous, simple yet it portrays Yaag Rosch perfectly.

We just have to ask him one question.

“Why So Serious?”

Yeah, I’m just trying to take up space here.

22-087R – Raijin

And, finally the last Disciplinary Committee Member.

Now that we have the trio out, we can see what these cards all do together as a team, the Disciplinary Committee.

Same as before you need 10 cards in the Break Zone for everything to work.

Raijin gives the other 2 and himself +2000 power and Haste.

That gives Seifer 11,000 power and Fujin and Raijin 9000 power. Making these 3 a force to be reckoned with. (No wonder Squall and Co. always had trouble with the Disciplinary Committee.)

And, same as before again, If Raijin is put from your deck into the Break Zone, you can play him straight onto the field. But, you’ll have to pay the cost of putting the top 2 cards of your deck into the Break Zone.

Now I do see why these cards are like this. If you’re lucky enough you can have all three members on the field, in one play. And then you’ll be taking everyone on a a little ride as you’ll be breaking Forwards when Seifer attacks, and Fujin and Raijin will just stand around as your blockers, while Seifer gets the job done.

22-088C -Rygdea

I always thought Rygdea was part of the Cavalry.

Rygdea comes in and you get to choose one of 2 abilities. Either break a Forward, 2CP or less, or grab a Lightning character from the Break Zone.

Both are pretty good abilities, I do prefer the second one, but there shall be times you will want to break that pesky Forward that is sitting on the front lines.

This might be a good addition to the FFXIII Custom Starter Set.

 

 

22-089C – Dragoon

Add another Dragoon to the Back line. This one isn’t half bad.

Dragoon enters the field and gives a Forward +3000 power and First Strike.

After that you can pay the cost, discard a Lightning card, put dragoon into the Break Zone, break a 5CP Forward, Play Rygdea, grab Dragoon from the Break Zone, and start all over again.

I mean it could work, but there are better ways than this to Break a Forward.

With Dragoons though, I’d say the second ability is just a bonus.

22-090H – Lulu

How many Summons do you need in your deck in order for Lulu to be effective?

Because if your take away that ability you really don’t have much going on here.

Just a 2 cost Forward with 5000 power.

Maybe I’m missing something, because the cards I don’t think are good, end up becoming great.

Shop for these Singles and more at our TCG Player store.

Posted on Leave a comment

Guardians of the Summoner

You already know we’re going to build a FFX Deck with Yuna & Tidus, and the rest of the gang. So, lets get to it.

Starting off with Wakka (16-138S), because that is the best one to try and build around. If it was any other FFX Character we might have gone with the Opus 18 Wakka. But, today it’s Emissaries of Light Wakka. We can probably just grab the Custom Starter Set and call it a day. But, where’s the fun in that?

Since we’re grabbing Lulu (16-135S) first, it looks like that is what we’re doing. But, I promise you we’re not. Lulu will grab a Yuna from the Break Zone, which brings us to our next card.

Yuna (20-117L), I went on a rant when this card was first shown, and nothing has changed. We’re going to use this Yuna. And, fill up on Summons. We’ll grab those Summons later.

Tidus (16-116L), you can’t go wrong with this Tidus, and if you have 3 of them they’ll usually just come right back in your hand. You’ll always attack, and you know it’ll go through because Tidus can’t be blocked.

Kimahri (7-108H), Sure he might be a 6 cost Forward but you can get that cost down to 2, and possibly even one. Just depends on if you want to play Jecht or not. And, we do just to play a cheap Kimahri.

Jecht (20-011R) just so we can break Jecht in order to play Braska’s Final Aeon (11-015L).

And, if we have Braska’s Final Aeon we need Braska (7-121C) as well. No point in having one and not the other.

We need to add our Backups now. Class Fourth Moogle (10-121C), to give us some Fire CP.

Maria (1-083H) to give all of our Forwards a +1000 buff.

Rikku(2-071R), we would have gone with the Emissaries of Light Starter, but we need Backups.

White Mage (8-117C) so we can Activate all of our Forwards if we need to.

Let’s add Yuna (12-105L), doesn’t matter which Yuna you grab, because she’s just fodder for Holy.

All we need next is to fill up on Summons, to give Holy a bite.

Valefor (1-198S), Leviathan (2-140C), Syldra (3-135H), Amaterasu (12-002H), and Sylph (9-047C). You can also choose whichever Summons you like as well, as they are just used to make Holy more Powerful.

Forwards

3x – Wakka (16-138S)
3x – Tidus (16-116L)
3x – Lulu (16-135S)
3x – Jecht (20-011R)
3x – Yuna (20-117L)
3x – Kimahri (7-108H)
3x – Braska’s Final Aeon (11-015L)

Backups

3x – Rikku (2-071R)
3x – White Mage (8-117C)
3x – Class Fourth Moogle (10-121C)
3x – Braska (7-121C)
3x – Maria (1-083H)

Summons

3x – Leviathan (2-140C)
2x – Sylph (9-047C)
3x – Valefor (1-198S)
3x – Amaterasu (12-002H)
3x – Syldra (3-135H)

What would you change?

Posted on Leave a comment

Wakka, Wakka, Wakka

“My fastball gone broke da mouth.”

“A good-humored young man who travels the world as one of Yuna’s guardians. While he always looks out for others, his dependence on the teachings of Yevon oftentimes causes him to lose sight of reality. Wakka’s biggest passion is playing for and coaching his blitzball team, the Besaid Aurochs.”

-Character Guide from Dissidia Final Fantasy : Opera Omnia

Having lost his parents from one of Sin’s attacks, Wakka raised his younger brother Chappu with help from the villagers of Besaid. Wakka grew up alongside Lulu, an orphan as well, and ended up marrying her, fathers a child. And worries about raising it.

Wakka is a skilled Blitzball player, Captain of the Besaid Aurochs. Wakka retires during the game, but you can bring him out of retirement later on in the game. The Aurochs aren’t the greatest team, far from it, and upon hearing that Tidus is a star player, he asks him to join the team.

His hate for the Al-Bhed is clearly shown throughout the game. As he is always talking down to Rikku, until he finds out that Yuna is 1/2 Al-Bhed. And after the attack on the Al-Bhed by the Guado, he changes his tune completely.

Posted on Leave a comment

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)

Posted on Leave a comment

Resurgence of Power : Fire Thoughts

18-001C – Achuka

Achuka almost sounds like the beginning to Kokomo.

First card in the set, Achuka might be a decent backup, but doesn’t look like something that I would use. Then again, I can’t always see how good cards are from the beginning. Sometimes I do, but not always.

Achuka here deals damage when he enters, and then you can dull him and deal some more damage. The damage increases if you have 3 points of Damage.

Achuka, Jamaica, yeah I wanna take ya to a Chocobo.

18-002C – False Stalwart

Simple, comes in with Brave. 2 cost with a 5K body, which can turn into a 7K body, with the help of another Manikin.

Not much to write about, but it’s cheap cost might make it worth it.

Wasn’t there a card that was good with Manikins? Exdeath? Opus 2? I believe it was.

 

 

18-003C – Machinist

Discard Machinist draw a card. And, that’s about it.

Cheap Backup to play.

 

 

 

18-004R – Cleome

A Symphonian Musician? That’s a first. She does have Bard skills and with those Melody Counters she does Buff your Forwards and deals damage to your opponents Forwards.

She is also a Forward herself.

Not a bad card for 2CP.

 

18-005C – Salamander

Simple Fire Summon that delivers 5000 damage to all of your opponents Forwards.

Remove 10 Fire cards from the Break Zone to make it 7000 points of damage.

Now if this card would have been an EX Burst, it would have been amazing.

 

 

18-006C – Zell

Coming in with Haste, Zell can attack right away and if you buff him up to over 10k Power, every time he attacks he deals 8000 damage to one of your opponents Forwards.

Don’t have anyway to buff up Zell?

He comes with an ability that if you discard 2 cards, Zell’s power goes up by 3k.

Self-sufficient.

 

18-007C – Selphie EX

Selphie actually costs 2CP as you’ll be getting back a Fire Forward when she is played onto the field. So, if that Fire Forward was just a card you chucked to help get her on the field then, you have just played like I would if you didn’t know what else to do.

Other than that she is a Backup, with the ability to give a Fire Forward you control +3K Power.

You can also get that Fire Forward of off an EX Burst.

 

18-008H – Two-Headed Dragon

Two heads are better then one.

Every time a Fire Forward attacks choose a Forward your opponent controls and deal it 400 Damage. Straight to the point. Especially of you are playing Mono-Fire. Everyone attacks and you slowly start to chip away at your Opponents front lines.

Attack to bring them down. I’m sure you’ll be able to turn things around if the Two-Headed Dragon is on the field.

18-009H – Tidus

Other than the Kingdom Hearts attire, I don’t see why this card is a Hero. For the cost of Tidus I’m pretty sure you can find a better card to play to deal 8000 damage to one Forward.

Not a big fan of this one.

 

 

18-010C – Berserker

Staying true to the Berserker Job. Berserker must attack. As that is the only thing Berserker can do. He goes Berserk.
He also comes with First Strike. Allowing him to deal damage to your opponents Forwards before they get a chance to.
Also when he comes in you can pay a Fire CP and choose a Forward that must block.

Who’s ready for a Berserker deck? I wonder if there’s enough Bereserkers to get this going?

18-011R – Paine EX

Do to the cost I would say that this card is to be solely used for it’s EX Burst. AM I right or Am I wrong?

I mean 6CP for a 9K body is a lot, but this is just a Rare card.

Unless you’re just counting on removing Forwards from the game instead of sending them to the Break Zone, But that’s what Yuna is for.

 

18-012L – Faris

This card is interesting to say the least. Your opponent will be thinking twice before they attack. As when Faris or a Warrior of Light is dealt damage, you get to choose a Forward your opponent controls and deal it 3000 damage.

Imagine what would happen if they use a Summon or ability that deals damage to all your Forwards. You might be getting rid of a couple of their Forwards to say the least.

I wonder what other Warrior of Light cards will be in this set.

 

18-013R – Fang

Fang looks like she is always just a Rare. I’m waiting for the day where they’ll give her her own Legend card. But today is not that day.

Fang will buff all your XIII Forwards by 2. Including herself. She is basically a 2CP/7K because you will probably be playing a XIII focused deck. Why, you ask? It’s simple really, every turn Fang -can reduce the cost of casting a XIII Forward by 2.

But, why is she a thief? My, guess is because of Lightning Returns. But, it still doesn’t make sense. She should be a Commando or a Dragoon. But, what do I know?

18-014R – Meeth

We already knew that we’ll have Multi-element cards this set, and Meeth here is a card that can make use of it.

He’s a 2 cost Backup that will allow you to search for any card other than a Backup if you discard a Multi element card.
I can see use of this one.

 

18-015R – Ramza

See, this is how good cards come along. Especially with the Warp mechanic. Ramza can be easily cast for 2CP, if you want to wait a couple of turns until he enters the field.

And, when he does, you get to bring in another Knight from the Break Zone and play it onto the field. Just like that you can play 2 Knights with the combined cost of up to 12CP for a measly 2CP. Even if they counter Ramza coming in it’s only 2CP that you lost. You can try again.

And we haven’t even gotten to his ability. Dull 4 active Knights and Break one of your opponents Forwards, and deal them 1 point of Damage. What else could you ask for? This should have been the Hero, and Tidus should’ve just been a Rare.

18-016C – Lulu

2 cost Backup. Most will skip this card. Including me. There are better Lulu’s out there although they aren’t Fire.

But, if you like this card you can dull and discard a card to deal 3000 Damage to a Forward. 5000 if it’s a Multi-Element.

 

 

18-017R -Rain

“Here comes the Rain again.”

He’s ready to come in on turn 2 for 3 CP.

And when he you have 3 points of Damage, Rain gets a 1k Buff, and he deals a Forward 5k damage.

Not bad for a card that you can play for 3CP. Even 5CP is worth it for this card.