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Tears of the Lightning Planet

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25-069C – Varghidpolis

I don’t know about you, but Varghidpolis looks like an “armed” turnip.

Yeah, I’m not quitting my day job anytime soon.

Varghidpolis has 2 abilities, just like the other Monsters of the Planet.

1 will deal 1000 damage to a Forward and also dull it. The other deals 1000 damage to a Forward and dulls it.

That’s the same thing. One ability, but 2 ways to pay for it.

At least Varghidpolis is consistent. Plus you then can play Black Belt (25-058C) to break that dull Forward.

25-070C – Eight

3CP for a 7K body. 7? This is Eight, we need to give him 8000 power.

And, you can.

At 3 points of damage Eight gains +1000 power, making his power 8000.

Eight also comes in with Haste, so he can start attacking from the get go.

One more thing. Whenever Eight deals damage to your opponent, Eight will grab a Class Zero Cadet from your Break Zone.

It’s time to start recycling.

25-071R – Scorpion Sentinel

Ever needed a defensive play?

Scorpion Sentinel is here to do just that.

When one of your opponent Forwards attacks, Scorpion Sentinel will come into play, dulling one of their Forwards. Sentinel Scorpion will also become a Forward until the end of the turn, and will be able to block your opponent’s next attack.

You get this for 1CP, which I would say is worth it.

Only thing that would have been better, is if you could have had multiple copies on the field.

25-072R – Kuja

For 2CP you can break one of your opponent’s Forwards.

Yes, you do need to place a Forward in the Break Zone in order to pay for this ability. But it’s worth it..

Imagine, Using Viking (2-132C) or Viking (4-133C) as part of the cost. You’re really only playing these cards so they can block an attack and be sent to the Break Zone just so you can draw a card.

Or, what if your opponent is casting a Summon or ability on one of your Forwards. That Forward is pretty much toast depending on what it’s being hit with, so, why not use Kuja’s ability and use that Forward as part of the cost, and break one of your opponent’s Forwards in the process.

Turn the tides, before they are turned on you!

Or something like that.

25-073L – Zack

Final Fantasy VII will be getting plenty of support. With plenty of Lightning support, even if you throw Zack in a Shinra themed deck, he will become a threat.

Every time Zach attacks, you can bring a Final Fantasy VII Character back from the Break Zone, only requirement is that, that Character costs 2CP or less. Shouldn’t be that hard to find one, even if you keep bringing the same Character in after they attack or block.

Rush Assault? When Zack Attacks, you can use his Signature ability and break one of your opponent’s Forwards! No cost Requirements, no nothing. Just stock up on all Zacks from every Opus.

Yes, please. May I have another?

25-074C – Amarant

For 5CP you get the ability of a Summon and a 9K body.

And, this might just be the best Amarant to date.

Amarant comes in and deals 5000 damage to all of your opponent’s active Forwards. You’ll probably break some of them, and the rest will be weakened enough that when your Forwards attack, they will either Break the Forward or your opponent will decide to let the attack go through just so they can save their Forwards for later.

We need more Final Fantasy IX cards, so we can finally make a decent FFIX deck.

25-075C – Jack

Jack of all trades?

I’m not so sure about that, but Jack can Break some Forwards. One when he comes in, as long as you have 5 Cadets on the field. If not, then Jack will only dull that Forward.

And, once per turn you can use Jack’s Special ability to break a Forward.

Jack’s Special ability is good because you don’t have to send Jack to the Break Zone for it to activate.

Meaning you can use it over and over, as long as you have enough Jacks in your deck.

25-076C – Elite Riot Trooper

Once again our elemental Backups make a return.

This time it is Lightning with Elite Riot Trooper.

At 3CP, Elite Riot Trooper comes on in and you can either draw a card, or deal a 2 cost Forward 7000 damage, which will most likely break that Forward.

As mentioned before, the ability you choose will depend on what part of the game you are at.

And, that’s about it.

25-077C – Cinque

The more Cadets that you have on the field, the better this card becomes.

Cinque enters the field and grabs a Class Zero Cadet and plays them straight to the field. Let’s say you grab Ace (3-153S). You just paid 4CP to get 2 Characters on the field, and Ace’s cost is 6CP. Now when Ace enters the field, You get to play another Class Zero Cadet Forward from your hand. And, if you happen to have Nine (13-123L) in your hand, you’re off to a great start.

And, if you ever need to get rid of Cinque, just so you can play her again, she had an ability that sends her to the Break Zone, and deals a Forward 9000 damage.

Might have to dust off that old Cadets deck.

25-078H – Seven

A 2 cost Backup that can do a couple of things each turn.

For one, she can give Haste to any Class Zero Cadet. All you have to do is dull 2 Active Cadets, It might be worth it, depending on the situation.

And secondly, this one is the better ability of the two, Sadistic Spikes. Every time you use Sadistic SPikes, you will be able to break one of your opponent’s Forwards, as long as their cost is less than the Class Zero Cadets that you control.

Over all, Sadistic Spikes is a good enough reason to use this Seven in your Cadets deck.

25-079C – SOLDIER Candidate

Do you recycle?

This SOLDIER Candidate does. He actually recycles himself to get you another SOLDIER Candidate.

Whenever SOLDIER Candidate gets sent to the Break Zone, you can search for another SOLDIER Candidate and play it onto the field. That way your front line has Backups. No, not those Backups. Backup Forwards.

I already said SOLDIER Candidates are a card away from being great.

And someone is going to find that card, and we’ll have Shinra’s version of Chocobos.

25-080H – Paine

Paine brings the Pain!

Yep, bad puns as usual.

Paine comes right in and deals a 3 cost Forward or less 7000 damage. Which would break most Forwards that cost 3CP or less.

Hold on let me check.

Yep, there are more Forwards than I thought that cost 3CP or less and have more than 7000 power.

Ok, where was I?

Ah yes, when that Forward is put into the Break Zone, Paine gives a Final Fantasy X Forward Haste.

Which can be herself as well, allowing her to attack and hopefully deal some damage, or break another one of your opponent’s Forwards.

It’s a decent Hero, but better Paine’s exist.

25-081R – Baralai

Baralai comes in and grabs a Forward from your Break Zone.

For 3CP that is not bad at all.

Baralai can also break a Forward as well. The cost might be high for this ability, but you can use it any time you’d like as Baralai will already be on the field for it.

I would probably play this card for Baralai’s first ability alone. The second one is just the cherry on top.

 

25-082C – Vivi

Here we are, Vivi comes in with a one-two punch.

For 2CP, Vivi will come into the field and dull one of your opponent’s Forwards.

After that Vivi will just produce 1CP per turn, until you’re ready to use his ability to break a damaged Forward.

It’s 2CP, this is worth it. You can probably find a way or two to activate Vivi as soon as he enters the field.

Get rid of that pesky Forward that’s been bothering you.

25-083H – Adrammelech, the Wroth

Once again you can remove a Lightning Backup from the game and reduce the cost for Adrammelech, the Wroth by 2 CP. Making Adrammelech a 3 cost Summon. Plus you get to remove that Backup that does not serve a purpose anymore.

And what does Adrammelech, the Wroth do?

Well, he .. it.. deals 7000 damage to all of your opponent’s Forwards, possibly braking most of them.

You’ll also receive 1 point of damage as part of the cost of using this Summon.

25-084R Rude

Rude comes in and you can grab a Member of the Turks from your Break Zone and add it to your hand. Bringing Rude’s cost down to 1CP. If that’s not reason enough to play Rude, we got more for you.

At the begining of the Attack Phase, both yours and your opponent’s, Rude will dull one of your opponent’s Forwards.

This means that, you’ll be able to successfully keep one of your opponent’s Forwards incapable of getting anything done.

You should see, what happens if Reno is on the field as well.

25-085L – Reno

Back to Back Turks.

With Reno, anytime a Forward becomes dull due to Summons or abilities, Reno will give a Member of the Turks Haste, and deal one of your opponent’s Forwards 4000 damage.
This is where things get interesting.

If you read Rude, Rude will dull a Forward at the beginning of every Attack Phase, meaning that Reno will give Haste to a Turk, and deal one of your opponent’s Forwards 4000 damage.

You also have EM Flail, which will dull a Forward and deal 5000 damage to another Forward, which in turn will activate Reno’s first ability will go into play once again.

You know your opponent will be trying everything in their power to get rid of Reno. Let’s go back some cards and take a look at Zack once again. “When Zack attacks, choose 1 Category VII Character of cost 2 or less in your Break Zone. Play it onto the field.”

Guess who costs 2CP.

Electrifying Singles!

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Dawn of Heroes : Straight Out the Freezer

20-022C – Alhanalem

I feel like I just wrote about this card.

Alhanalem is a cheap Forward to play. Very cheap. At 1CP and a 3000 body, he can block any attack that you throw at him. Surviving the attack is another story.

Alhanalem also comes with 2 abilities. All you have to do is dull Alhanalem, and you can either Dull or Freeze a Forward.

I don’t see any reason not to have a couple of these laying around.

20-023C – Armourer

The Common card between all the elements.

Let’s just Copy and Paste here.

If you got 3 Backups already on the field, this Backup is free.

Other than draft, I really don’t see much use for this card, but I’ve been wrong before. Watch a Forward show up where you discard a Backup for a great ability.

20-024H – Calbrena

Rerouting damage to the nearest Forward.

Calbrena comes in whenever it wants to come in. Your turn, your opponents turn, or whenever one of your Forwards is being targeted by one of your opponents abilities.

You can now reroute that damage to Calbrena.

And when Calbrena is dealt damage by one of your opponents Forwards, you can deal damage to your opponent equal to Calbrena’s power, which will usually be 7000.

A nice little counter to have in your hand.

20-025C – Juggler

Backup.

Back Attack.

Juggler enters and dulls a Forward.

‘Nuff said.

You can actually play Juggler, when your opponent attacks and dull the Forward that is attacking.

20-026C – Edward EX

The Spoony Bard is back again, as a Backup.

And with his trusty harp, he will take a dull Forward, and break it.

As long as your opponent has 2 Dull Forwards on the field, that is.

For 2CP, I’d say this is a good deal.

 

20-027C – Genesis

We Finally got another Genesis card. We’ve been waiting since Opus III. Let’s see if it’s been worth the wait.

5CP for a 9K body.

Common.

Either Freeze 2 Characters, or have your opponent discard a card.

If Genesis comes in with Warp, you can use both abilities. Warp cost is 2 Ice CP.

It’s worth a try. At least in draft.

20-028R – Cissnei

This is interesting.

Cissnei uses Shuriken Counters, just like Edge.

Cissnei can use Shuriken Counters from other Characters to use her ability.

Edge (11-045H) gains a Shuriken Counter every time a Ninja enters the field.

Are there any Ice Ninja’s. Besides Vanilla Ice in TMNT 2.

We’re either throwing Edge (19-070C) in a Turks deck, or finding a way to put Cissnei in a Ninja deck.

20-029C – Jihl Nabaat

Am I the only one that still likes to play Opus I Jihl Nabaat? If I am, I might not after this set is out, as this Jihl has the same Enter the Field ability, but better.

Jihl comes in and if you pay the extra 2CP you can not only Freeze 2 of your opponents Characters, but dull them as well. That way you won’t need to pick from the dull Characters, cause you will dull the Characters you want to Freeze.

Jihl Nabaat is also a Forward, and if you’re playing Mono-Ice, well she’ll gain +2000 power.

I don’t know how well she’ll do in the XIII Custom Starter Set.

I guess we’re about to find out.

20-030R – Setzer

Setzer deck incoming.

First off, all the FFVI Ice cards look amazing this set.

Setzer comes in and allows all of your VI Forwards to form a party together regardless of element. Combine this with Locke, and get that table of four, to combine their attacks into one big party and get Locke’s ability to go off.

And with a party of 2 you get to dull and freeze a Forward.

Yes, please, I’ll take 3.

Is this a Full Art as well?

20-031R – Celes

If you’re playing Celes, you’re playing Locke, and whole bunch of FFVI Characters. Might be time to dust off my Setzer deck and update it.

Celes gains Haste if Locke is on the field, and Locke gains Haste if Celes is on the field. A win-win for these two.

Other than that, when Celes enters the field, you can dull all of your opponents Forwards, if you have enough FFVI Characters on the field.

And you get that for only 2CP. After that Celes is a 5k body, able to block an attack, get sent to the Break Zone, and then you can just play her again.

20-032C – Soldier : 3rd Class

Cloud’s old SOLDIER buddies are here.

These one’s gain 1000 power for each SOLDIER : 3rd Class in your Break Zone. They also search for each other when they enter the Break Zone, + you get to play them straight to the field.

Pair these SOLDIERs with the Opus III Soldiers and you can have up to 5 SOLDIER : 3rd Class in your Break Zone, to make this Soldier an 11k power house.

 

20-033C – Cerulean Drake

I was going to say, How come I don’t remember Cerulean Drake from FFVII? Then I realized it’s from the Remake.

Cerulean Drake is a 1 cost Monster that will Freeze a Forward when he enters the field.

Not much to write home about, but it does have some abilities that will allow you to dull a Forward, or break a dull Forward.
If you got 2 of these on the field, you can use the abilities back to back and Break an active Forward.

20-034R – Terra

There is a nice combo right here. Along with Lock and a couple more FFVI Characters. And, I probably won’t even scratch the surface here.

Terra comes in and you can grab a Summon from the Break Zone. This makes Terra’s CP go from 4 to 2. And once Terra forms a party and attacks, you’ll be able to cast that Summon for Free.

And along with the Free Summons from the last set. You can cause a lot of damage.

Considering this Terra is only a rare, it’ll be easy to get a playset.

20-035C – Knight

Ice Reprint Standard Unit.

Just find what I wrote for Samurai and change the word Samurai to Knight.

 

 

 

20-036H – Number 24

Number 24? This card is Number 36. They should get their facts straight.

All jokes aside Number 24 in the Royal Rumble is pretty good.

No?

Ok, Number 24 is a great blocker. Just keep a Barrier Counter on him and block any attack that comes your way. Add a Barrier Counter at the beginning of the Main Phase, and you’ll always have a constant supply of Barrier Counters.

Just make sure you keep blocking, because once those Barrier Counters are 3 or more, Number 24 will become dull at the end of each of your turns. But, he should activate during the beginning of your Main Phase, so you should be good.

20-037H – Mateus (FFTA)

2 cost Summon that will either Freeze all of your opponents Forwards, or all of your opponents Backups.

Pick and choose, but the end result will always be the same.

Mateus will be removed from the game.

No way to save this one.

20-038H – Wicked Mask

Chris Isaak would have had a field day with this card.

“Such a Wicked Mask to play”

3 cost Monster that reroutes a Summon from one Character to another Character of your choice. I’m seeing plenty of Counters this set, even if they aren’t called counters.

After Wicked Masks enter the field ability is used, Wicked Mask stays on the field until you decide to turn it into a Forward.

And, let’s not forget – Back Attack.

20-039R – Rude

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you can play an ability if it doesn’t have the dull icon.

I’m 99% sure of that, so that means, Rude enters the field, Dulls and Freezes a Forward. After that you can use Haymaker to Break it.

Only drawback I can find with this card is that, you can only use Backups to pay for this card. Other than that, Shinra should be getting stronger this set.

 

20-040L – Rufus

Rufus, President of Shinra, doing Presidential things.

You can lower the cost to cast Rufus by 2 if both Reno and Rude are in the Break Zone. Making Rufus a 2 cost Forward with a 7K body.

Once Rufus enters the field, you can grab one of the Turks from the Break Zone, making Rufus a Free Card. And, we all like Free cards.

After that whenever Rufus attacks, you can choose from 3 different abilites. Dull and Freeze a Forward, grab a Turk from the Break Zone, or you can make your opponent discard a card.

Rufus is the President that keeps on giving, even after he has been elected.

Doesn’t Weiss (18-019R) have an ability that activates when your opponent discards a card. (hint hint)

20-041R – Reno

Just goes to show you that the Turks are here to stay.

You play Reno for 3 and pay the extra cost to give Reno Haste. After that you can attack with Reno, search for Rude and play Rude onto the field.

It’s almost Buy 1 get 1 Free.

This even works better if you play Rufus first.

Let’s take a look.

Reno and Rude are in the Break Zone. You play Rufus for 2CP and grab Reno from the Break Zone. You play Reno, pay 1CP and give Reno Haste. Reno Attacks and searches for Rude and Rude gets played straight to the field. That’s pretty much comes out to 4CP for 3 Forwards.

Bright Spark? Dulls 2 Forwards.

20-042L – Locke EX

Really?

Now I’m definitely dusting off that Setzer deck.

Locke comes in and you get to grab a FFVI Character from the top 4 cards of your deck. Which should be pretty easy to get since most of your deck should consist of FFVI Characters.

Once Locke is on the field, get as many FFVI Forwards on the field, and form a a party of 4 FFVI Characters. Do that once per turn and your opponent won’t ever have any Forwards to attack or block. Which should work in your favor. Cause, even if you form a party with only 2 FFVI Characters, you’ll still be dealing your opponent a point of damage.

Yes, I’ll take 3. Hopefully we get a Full Art here.