24-073H – Valigarmanda
Lightning is kicking off things with a Summon, and a beautiful Full Art as well.
Valigarmanda is a 4 cost Summon that comes in dulls a Forward, and Freezes it as well.
That Forward loses 9000 power until the end of the turn, and then Valigarmanda also deals it 9000 damage.
99.99% of the time it will break the Forward that Valigarmanda is targeting.
At the very least, Valigarmanda will disable that Forward for this turn.
24-074C – Odin EX
Odin is ready to break a Forward.
Any Forward?
Yes, any Forward, but the cost might be a bit high for some Forwards.
It’s 5CP to cast Odin, plus the top card of your deck times the CP required to play the Forward that you’re looking to break.
Odin is useful in certain situations, but why not just play the Opus I Odin that will break any Forward for 7CP flat.
No extra charge.
I’ll pass.
24-075C – Guardian
I just realized we have similar Backups in every element.
Guardian comes in and you draw a card.
After that, depending on if you have at least 4 Lightning Backups on the field, Guardian will allow you to choose 2 Forward, and dull them.
Other than that, Guardian is just a simple Backup that will give you a Crystal Point each turn.
But, you already know that.
24-076C – Juggler
Wicked Clowns?
Juggler, the Backup you knew that you might need.
Juggler will come in and hang out until you need to get rid of a 2 cost Forward.
Juggler only costs 2CP, the only draw back if you call it that, is that a Lightning Forward needs to enter your field, in order for Juggler’s ability to go off.
I see some use for this.
Probably, more than some.
24-077H – The Emperor
Who would have thought, that the only reason the Emperor is here is to gain Crystals.
Look at it. The Emperor comes in you gain a Crystal. If your opponent has a Crystal, gain a Crystal. That’s two from the get go.
Add in one more Crystal from another Backup, and you’ll be able to use The Emperor’s second ability.
But, first let’s take a look at the first one. Or, the top one.
Break a Forward that costs 4CP or less.
Yeah, that’s pretty straight forward. Nothing groundbreaking, but very useful.
Now let’s take a look at the second ability.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Do you see that? Break all the Forwards and the Monsters opponent controls. That would wipe your opponent’s whole board, leaving it wide open.
If you don’t win the game after that ability goes off, then I don’t know what to tell you.
Plus, we get a Full Art version of this card in the Prerelease Kits.
24-078R – Cidolfus (XVI)
3 cost Forward that allows you to search for a Lightning Summon.
And, that is pretty much it with Cidolfus.
You’ll get a 5K body that sticks around on the field.
Other than that what else is there?
Oh yeah, Priming.
Cidolfus Primes into Ramuh.
What does Ramuh do?
Guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
24-079L – Jack Garland
Jack is ready to turn your opponent’s front line upside down.
All of your opponent’s Forward must attack, and they must block.
This will either leave their front line open for your attacks, or all of your opponent’s Forwards will be broken.
Just make sure you at least have bodies on your field to block the attacks your opponent will be throwing at you.
And, every time one of your opponent’s Characters is put into the Break Zone you will gain a Crystal.
Sooner or later, you’ll have enough Crystals to use the Emperor’s ability to wipe out your opponent.
I’ll take 3.
Full arts preferably.
24-080R – Chime
Here we go, the King’s Minister is here to give you a great deal.
Buy one Get on Free.
Chime comes in and you reveal the top 4 cards of your deck, and play a Character of 2 or less onto the field.
I’d say it’s worth taking a chance on this.
Either way Chime is only 2CP, and you can get some decent value if you find a 2CP Character in the top four cards.
After that, Chime is a 5K body, ready to be taken out, just so you can play Chime once again, and hopefully find another 2CP Character.
24-081R – Noel
This Shadow Hunter is attacking from the shadows.
Noel comes in and he starts going to town. Striking with precision and going back to the shadows from which he came.
Yes, Noel only has 3000 power, but you won’t need to worry about that unless you decide to block with him.
Noel’s attacks will go through, just because he cannot be blocked.
I’ll take 3.
Throw them into your FFXIII deck, and once this Noel is gone, you can play another Noel.
Take your pick. Rebellion’s Call, From Nightmares or Hidden Trials.
All of them will do well.
24-082C – Vivi
Vivi is ready to come in and deal some damage to your opponent’s Forwards.
2000 across the board isn’t much, but let’s not forget about Summons that break damaged Forwards.
Or abilities that dull damaged Forwards, and what not.
Plus, if there is already a damaged Forward on the field, you can use Vivi’s ability and deal it an additional 4000 damage.
After everything is said and done, Vivi sticks around with a 5K body.
24-083H – Firion
Let me start by saying, if you’re playing Lightning you’re playing Firion.
Why? First off, you can only pay with CP produced by Lightning Backups.
Now, once Firion comes in you can pay 2CP more, and give him Haste and First Strike.
Then you can go ahead and attack with Firion.
Now, it’s time to cast Drain. Break a Forward, Activate Firion, and attack one more time.
Firion is going all out here. Time to start building that Rebel deck.
24-084R – Behemoth
Let’s up the stakes.
Behemoth is just that a Behemoth.
No power, unless you make it a Forward, but when a Forward of yours attacks, you can put Behemoth into the Break Zone and give a Forward the ability to deal 2 points of damage to your opponent.
Now, you can give that buff to Noel, who can’t be blocked. Or what about Firion, who can attack twice this turn.
And, that’s just 2 Forwards from this set, think about all of the other cards that can make use of Behemoth here.
24-085C – Mid (XVI)
I like this.
And, it’s only 2CP to bring Mid in.
She’ll stay on the board, and whenever you’d like you can put her in the Break Zone and grab a Forward. 4CP or less and add it to your hand.
That right there would have made this card playable.
But, Mid isn’t done. No. Not at all.
If you grab Cidolfus from the Break Zone, you’ll have a chain of Events that will start to go off one by one.
Let’s see how that will go.
You put Mid into the Break Zone, grab Cidolfus and play him straight to the field. Cidolfus searches for a Lightning Summon. Cidolfus Primes into Ramuh. Ramuh casts a Summon from your hand without paying the cost, and deals one of your opponent’s Forwards 8000 damage.
All that for 2CP plus the cost to Prime into Ramuh.
24-086C – Lightning
Coming in with a 9K body, Lightning is the prefect Meat Shield for your front lines.
You’ll also be able to discard a card and give Lightning Haste and a +1K buff giving her a 10K body, that’ll be tough to break.
And that pretty much covers everything.
You’ll pay a total of 6CP, which includes the discarded card, for a Forward that’s ready to go, from the get go.
24-087C – Ranan
Another Warrior of the Crystal.
When Ranan comes in, he grants another Warrior of the Crystal, Haste.
And, that’s about it.
I’ll have to check with the other Warriors of the Crystal to actually see how this deck runs.
24-088R – Ramuh
Coming in at 5CP, but thankfully you won’t be paying 5CP, you’ll be Priming into Ramuh.
Ramuh comes in and you can cast a Summon from your hand, any element will do, and you won’t have to pay the cost to cast it.
If the Summon you cast is a Lightning Summon, you will deal 8000 damage to a Forward of your choosing, as long as it’s active.
I’d say it’s still worth paying the 5CP to cast Ramuh.
24-089C – Ramza
Ramza stands alone. While leaning up on a tree.
Decent artwork, taken from the game, but what about the card?
If Ramza is sent to the Break Zone, you gain a Crystal. Ok, not bad. You can probably just throw Ramza in just to block and gain a Crystal with him.
And if you need to give Ramza a quick buff, you can remove 2 cards in your Break Zone from the game.
Not bad, for 3CP.
24-090L – Leon
Leon being Leon, almost like Kain going back and forth between the Rebels and the Empire.
Leon comes right in for 1CP, and deals a damaged Forward 4000 damage. Possibly breaking it.
Your opponent has the choice of taking control over Leon, by targeting him with an ability. Once Leon is targeted he will switch sides. You can get Leon back by targeting him with your own abilities.
But, why would you?
You actually want your opponent to have control over Leon, because if they don’t have any other Rebels on their field, Leon will deal them 1 point of damage at the end of their turn.
And, at the end of yours as well.
This is a card that will eat up your opponent from the inside.