Tag: noel

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Hidden Legends of Lightning

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.

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Hidden Trials – By Wind

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23-039R – Asura

1CP and a Full Art, cant go wrong with that.

When you cast Asura, you activate all of your Forwards. Plus all of your Forwards can’t be returned to your hand and their power can not be decreased until the end of the turn.

You can either play this at the end of your turn, after you attacked with all of your Forwards. This way if you go all out thinking that you’ll win the game, you can still cast Asura and you will be able to block during your next turn.

I’m sure there’s better ways to play Asura, but that’s how I would play it.

23-040L – Adelle

This is wonderful.

Mono-Wind + Adelle = Hard to beat!

With Adelle, you can go all out with all of your Forwards, and if your plan doesn’t work out, you can attack with Adelle and use her ability to Activate all of your Wind Characters.

That way you’ll have your front line ready to block when your opponent decides to attack.

But, maybe they won’t , once they see all of your Forwards activated.

Only drawback is that Adelle won’t activate during your next turn, but since you’re running Wind, I’m sure you’ll find a way to activate Adelle.

23-041C – Jornee

A 2 cost Backup that that shall buff a Forward, and give it some protection as well.

Sure, that Forward needs to cost 3CP or less. But, once per turn, Jornee will give that Forward +1000 power and all damage dealt to that Forward by your opponent’s abilities will become 0.

I mean 2CP, for some damage control is worth it if you ask me.

And, if you don’t, then try it for yourself.

 

23-042C – Vaan

Well, this looks like a decent Vaan.

Vaan comes in, gain a Crystal

Vaan attacks, gain a Crystal.

Life of Crime, double the damage dealt to a Forward by Vaan.

Use the two Crystals Vaan gained from earlier and deal 8000 damage to all of your opponent’s Forwards.

And, they say a Life of Crime doesn’t pay.

23-043R – Venat

A 2 cost Backup, that can search for herself and play herself straight to the field.

Of course, that ability means that you’ll be searching for Venat (23-115L) and you;ll get 2 Crystals for it.

For me, that is worthless as, I will probably never play the other Venat.

Or you can just keep Venat on the field, and use her first ability to cancel a Summon whenever needed.

Now that, I can use.

23-044R – Silver Dragon

I see a pattern here. Monsters that need a Monster to become a Forward.

Silver Dragon becomes a Forward with 9000 power. Which is pretty decent, considering you only paid 2CP for it, but Silver Monster also has the ability, to protect your Monsters from your opponent’s Summons and abilities.

Meaning that you should throw Silver Dragon into any deck running Monsters and Opus XI Relm, as she searches and plays Monsters on to the field, without having to worry about CP.

Yes, Add it to your Monster deck.

23-045C – Samovira

Another Monster.

Samovira is a Winged Demon, waiting on the sidelines until it’s time to unleash his fury on a Forward, or a Monster.

It’s not much to get him on the field, but you’ll have to send Samovira and one other Monster into the Break Zone. Which in return will allow you to Break on of your opponent’s Forwards 5CP and up, or a Monster.

It’s almost like an even trade.

23-046C – SOLDIER Candidate

Another SOLDIER in training.

Just like the other Candidates, this SOLDIER Candidate gains +3000 power if you have a couple of Standard Unit Forwards in your Break Zone.

Now the question I have, is do SOLDIER Candidate’s abilities apply only to each individual card, or do they all get the effects?

 

 

23-047H – Tyro

The Record Keeper returns, and this time he’s grabbing a card from the Break Zone. You’ll need 3 elements in your back line for this to work. If you do, (which you will, because you won’t be playing Tyro if you don’t) Tyro becomes a Free play.

Tyro will also protect one of your Forwards that is being targeted by a Summon, ability or an attack, by reducing the damage dealt to it, all the way down to 0.

I can see it being used, but I don’t see me using it.

 

23-048C – Dr. Mog

“Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard, Dr. Mog!”

Search for a Moogle, does that mean Moogles are a thing now?

Are we going to get Killer Moogles from Outer Space?

So, many questions, we need more Moogles.

Dr. Mog also activates a Moogle with his ability.

Good King Moggle Mog might be making a comeback as well.

23-049C – Ninja

We’ve seen plenty of Ninjas already.

This one is a Backup that costs 2CP, and depending on when you play him, you can a decent card, or a really good card.
Ninja will make a Forward unblockable by a Forward that costs 3CP or more.

Ok, not bad.

But, if you have 5 Backups on the field, all of the Forwards that you control gain that ability.

Allowing you to have a semi-open path to your enemy.

23-050H – Noel

It’s not Warp, it’s Ludicrous Speed!

Noel might cost 5CP to play him, but he can come in easily with Warp. You might not even need to wait a whole turn. If you have 3 Final Fantasy XIII Characters on the field, as soon as you get into your Attack Phase, you will remove 1 Warp Counter for each XIII Character on the field.

You can end up playing Noel for 1CP.

After that Noel comes in with Haste and First Strike, and he’s ready to attack with 9000 power.

He’s gone plaid!

23-051L – Hope

Coming in at 3CP with 7000 power.

Hope is a great card, and you probably will never attack with Hope.

All Hope is going to do, is come in to play, pay (x), search for a Final Fantasy XIII Forward and play it onto the field. This is a great way to splash some more elements into that XIII deck that you know you will be building.

Once the new Forward comes in to play, all you’ll need to do is dull Hope, remove him from the game, and bring him back during your next Main Phase 1. You will then pay XCP once more and search for a XIII Forward and play it on to the field, and repeat.

Don’t forget to add Nora EX (1-079R) and Bartholomew (7-060R) to your deck.

23-052R – Maina EX

Finally, Ninjas have a way to search for Ninjas.

4CP to search, making Mainas cost 2CP.

And then Maina also brings protection, for one of your Ninjas, against your Opponent’s Summons and abilities. Simply by dulling 2 active Ninjas.

Let’s make a Ninja deck that will make Vanilla Ice proud.

“Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!”

23-053R – Meteion

A rare Backup, that will activate all of your Backups.

And give you a card as well.

Sure, you’ll have to put Meteion into the Break Zone, but she will have served her cause, and then you can play another Meteion, because this one is gone.

All this for 2CP, not bad at all.

 

23-054C – Yuffie

There are Ninjas everywhere, and Yuffie is ready to go.

2CP, 5K body, and the ability to draw a card every time a Ninja deals damage to your opponent.

Plus if you have a couple of Wind CP ready to go, you can just attack with Yuffie, and if anyone tries to block her, just use those 2 Crystal Points to make Yuffie unblockable.

Almost like Opus IV Locke but, instead of paying with a card of the same name, just use two generic Wind Crystal Points.
I can see this being used.

23-055C/15-058C – Dragoon

Reprint of a Reprint.

Dawn of Heroes, Crystal Dominion.

“Crystals and more Crystals.

Use this reprint Dragoon to generate one Crystal and then use his ability to get him off the field.

See, I actually wrote something this time.

No Copy/Paste.

Nope.

I might Copy/Paste this for the next one though.”

23-056C – Luso

Need a way to bring back a Character from the Break Zone?

Luso here might be able to help.

Luso comes in and let’s you grab a Character of 2CP or less from the Break Zone and play it straight to the field.

And Luso’s abilities don’t end there. You can turn Luso into a Monster Hunter, where he will Break a Monster, but Luso will also end up in the Break Zone.

It’s a decent card, has good abilities when Luso enters and exits the field.

Deserves a shot.

23-057H – General Leo

A General needs his army, and so does General Leo.

Only difference is that General Leo’s army is a lot smaller than your average army. General Leo can handle the battle with only 3 soldiers.

When General Leo’s army is on the battlefield, they will give the General +2000 power and protection from your opponent’s Summons.

Other than that, General Leo will also allow you to play a card of 2CP or less from your hand onto the field, when he enters the field.

A leader among low cost Characters!

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Lumina – Deck

As we take a look at Lumina’s ability it reads, “When Lumina enters the field, you may search for 1 Category XIII Forward and add it to your hand.”

That simply means, we need to fill up this deck with as many FFXIII Forwards that we can. And we do have a lot to choose from. But, we’re going to keep this as Characteristic as possible. We’ll Start off with Lightning and Serah. In the beginning I was trying not to use Lightning (19-138S), but for a deck filled with FFXIII Forwards, you need to use this card. Buffs and draws, and damage.

Serah? We went with Serah (16-032H). Ice Forward, that if played after you have 2 Ice Characters on the field, your opponent discards a card. If you have a XIII Forward you draw a card.

Moving on forward. Noel (19-136S) is our next Forward. Coming in with Haste and a buff for every FFXIII Character you control. Cid Raines (19-135S) is also here. You can tell we’re pretty much using the FFXIII Custom Starter Set for most of it. (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.) So, we’ll just add Vanille (19-129S), Fang (19-131S), and Snow (19-132S) to round it out.

And, that’s still not enough. Especially cause there’s hardly any Lightning Forwards and Lumina is Lightning. We’ll just roll the dice and grab Lightning (19-082H), Anima (11-099H) and Cid Raines (19-135S), Yes they are all FFXIII Forwards. This way Lightning’s abilities will go off, and so will Serah’s when she enters the field, and also Noel’s. These 3 will be your main attackers.

For Backups, we’ll add Lebreau (5-151S). I usually go for the Opus I Lebreau, but we don’t have enough Fire Forwards to warrant that card. Class Second Moogle (10-016C), to help us with Ice CP. Mog (XIII-2) (1-196S), because he acts just like Lumina and searches for a FFXIII Forward. and Jihl Nabaat (1-193S) cause that still is a great card.

As For Summon, we’re just grabbing Bahamut, because with Fang on the field he becomes a Free Summon. And both Odins for Lightning’s (19-082H) ability.

All in all, this deck is made to get as many Forwards out on the field as fast as possible. After that just keep attacking and attacking, with at least 3 Forwards per turn.

Or something like that.

Deck List

Forwards

Noel (19-136S) x3
Lightning (19-138S) x3
Serah (16-032H) x3
Vanille (19-129S) x3
Anima (11-099H) x3
Fang (19-131S) x3
Snow (19-132S) x3
Lightning (19-082H) x3
Cid Raines (19-135S) x3

Backups

Jihl Nabaat (1-193S) x3
Lebreau (5-151S) x3
Class Second Moogle (10-016C) x3
Mog (XIII-2) (1-196S) x3
Lumina (13-085R) x3

Summons

Odin (15-090H) x3
Odin (13-072R) x3
Bahamut (19-130S) x2

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Lumina

“I have a name. It’s Lumina. And, I know a lot about you.”

SPOILER ALERT

If you haven’t played Lightning Returns and don’t want anything ruined, move along.

If you have, continue on.

Datalog Entry

-Lumina

This mysterious young girl appears to be able to control the power of Chaos, and likes to get in Lightning’s way at every turn.

It seems that she has met Snow before, and the two have more than just a passing acquaintance. but Lightning has spent the last five centuries in crystal, and she has no way of knowing what could have happened between the two.

Still, she cannot deny that the girl bears a striking similarity to Serah. But Serah is dead, and this Lumina seems to have her own goals.

 

So, just who is Lumina?

Lumina, is a vessel that was created when Lightning went into Crystal Stasis, in order to protect Serah’s heart to protect her from Chaos.. And, while Lightning was in Crystal Stasis, Lumina kept in contact with everyone that was a part of Lightning’s story.

From being there when Fang and Vanille woke up from their Crystal Stasis, to keeping Vanille company when she was lonely as the High Priestess. Showing Noel the oracle drive where he defeats Lightning, Giving Sazh a coffer of souls to collect Dajh’s Soul Fragments in order for him to wake up. Lumina also came in contact with Caius and Snow, but not Hope. Nothing to do with Hope, because Hope is dead. He’s just a puppet now. Bhunivelze’s puppet.

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From Nightmares – Starter Opinions

19-129S – Vanille EX

Search for Lightning. Or Fang. Or Hope, But who wants to search for Hope. Yes, I am still biased on Hope from his character in the first game. He was a child, but he was a spoiled brat. I won’t get in to it here.

3 cost 7K body, with Imperilga which will double the damage dealt to a Forward your opponent controls. And 2000 damage to all of your opponents Forwards, which is technically 4K.

I’m losing track of this card.

19-130S – Bahamut

There are ways to cast Bahamut for Free, and everyone loves free Summons. I know I do. All you need is 3 XIII characters and one of them being Fang.

When Bahamut is cast, deal a Forward 10,000 damage, and if it is broken, remove it from the game instead.

Nuff’ said.

19-131S – Fang

Plenty of things to go through to have Fang deal 2 points of Damage.

Is it worth to go through all of this for that? I believe so.

Fang comes in with Haste, and although you won’t be able to attack twice in a turn. Meaning that Fang won’t attack after she casts Bahamut for free.

But, if your opponent blocks Fang, then you cast Bahamut on that Forward, which in turn will most likely break it, Fang’s attack will go through for 2 point of Damage.

I’ll take 3.

19-132S – Snow

Snow comes in and if Lightning is on the field, Snow grants protection from Summons. to himself and to Lightning.

Now, when Snow enters the field you can either have your opponent discard a card, or if you have his fiance on the field you can dull and Freeze 3 of your opponents Characters.

Freeze those Backups, so they can’t reproduce.

 

19-133S – Serah EX

Let’s search for Mog (XIII-2).

Just the new one that costs 1CP.

And, if you play that Mog, or any moogle, you get to activate or dull 2 Characters.

And with Froststrike, you get to deal a Forward 8000 damage. And, if you play a Moogle after that, and have an extra Serah in your hand. You get to recast Froststrike.

 

19-134S – Mog (XIII-2)

Look at the grin on his face. And, those teeth. Razor Sharp.

But, he’s just a Moogle, and he does grant Serah protection from Summons and abilities. For the low cost of 1CP you have a terrible blocker, but that’s OK. You don’t need much power to block an attack.

Plus, Mog also gives a XIII Forward +2K power.

 

 

19-135S – Cid Raines

High cost Forward, but has same bite to it.

Considering Cid Raines is a L’Cie, that isn’t much of a surprise.

Cid Raines shall come in and break one of your opponents Forwards.

And the more points of damage you receive, Cid becomes even more powerful. At 3 points Cid gains +1000 power and First Strike.

His true power comes out, when you have your back against the wall. Every time Cid Raines attacks, you get to choose a Forward your opponent controls, and send it broken down to the Break Zone.

19-136S – Noel

This is a nice card. 2CP comes in with Haste, and depending on how many XIII Characters you have on the field, Noel gains that much power, X 1000.

Just a simple Forward, but every time one of your opponents Forward’s leaves the field, you get to dull another one of their Forwards. Which is good, in that you will either slow down their attacks, or leave them open for yours.

 

19-137S – Hope

Well, this Hope is pretty decent. Especially if you’re playing a XIII themed deck, and if you aren’t, you wouldn’t be playing this.

Hope comes in and either searches for a XIII Forward or deals damage to one of your opponents Forwards. How much damage? Depends on how many XIII Characters you control.

I do see this XIII deck coming out strong. And, this might be the first Hope card I like.

 

19-138S – Lightning

Such a great card. comes in with Haste, and all these abilities that come into play when Category XIII Forwards attack.
If 1 attacks, all your Forwards gain +1000 power.

If 2 attack, you draw 1 card.

And, if 3 attack, you deal your opponent 1 point of damage.

Plus Lightning comes in with Haste, so you can use these abilities right away.

It’s a good addition to any deck, if you ask me. And, if you don’t, it still is.