Posted on Leave a comment

Hidden Trials – By Lightning

Get these Singles and More at our TCG Player Store

23-077H – Azul

The Tsivets are coming strong, and Azul is about to kick some butts.

Azul has Counter, he will Counter any damage dealt to him to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

For the cost of 1 Crystal, Azul can also cast Berserk on a Forward. And, when he does, Azul gains +2000 power.

I’d say that’s a Crystal well spent.

 

23-078C – Alisae

Alisae is like a bloodhound. She’ll help you find the card you need, but only if you can show her what you’re looking for. And, the only way to do that is to already have a card with the same name in your Break Zone.

The only thing Alisae can’t search for will be Standard Units and Summons, everything else is fair game.

I’m sure she has some use, but there are plenty of other cards that’ll search better then she does.

 

23-079R – Estinien

I mean he’s no Opus VI Estinien, or Dawn of Heroes either, but Estinien is still a decent card to play.

Coming in with Haste, Estinien has the ability to attack from the get go, but you already knew that. So, why would we mention that?

It’s simple. Every time Estinien attacks, you get to grab a Scion Forward from your Break Zone. Making Estinien a great play, right away.

And, that’s not all!

At 3 points of Damage Estinien gains +1000 power. Add in Opus I Lulu and Hidden Trials Krile, and you’ll have a Forward that attacks for 11,000.

And this is just a Rare card.

23-080R – Odin EX

If this comes off of an EX Burst it’s great.

If it doesn’t it’s too expensive, and the Opus I Odin, along with the Opus I reprint from Opus VIII. is a couple of CP less.

Why would you play this one? Because you can cast it for 3CP if you remove 6 Lightning cards from your Break Zone. If you have no way of getting them back, then go right ahead.

Breaking a Forward still is a broken Forward your opponent can’t use.

23-081C – Puppetmaster

2 Cost Elemental Lightning Backup.

Puppetmaster is ready for action with his Puppet right behind him ready for orders.

Puppetmaster comes in and dulls a Forward. As with some of the other Backups of this set, he has greater power when you have a full line of Backups on the field. And, when that happens, Puppetmaster dulls all of your opponent’s Forwards.

I’m noticing a lot of great plays being brought in towards the mid-end game.

 

 

23-082H – King

Is this a new thing, where we remove cards to reduce the cost of casting a card?

Because King turns into a 1 cost Hero, if you remove 4 cards from your Break Zone.

And, whenever King attacks, you can discard 2 cards and Break a Forward of your choosing.

King’s cost evens out as the 4CP you save from removing the 4 Characters from your Break Zone.

There’s plenty of ways to get rid of cards, Lightning might become even more fast paced.

23-083H – Queen

Your Savior, Your Queen.

This is a great card. Cadets will be one the rise solely based off of this card.

At the small cost of removing 3 cards from your Break Zone. Queen will give a Class Zero Cadet a 2000 power buff, plus damage dealt to that Forward by your opponent’s abilities will become 0.

This card kinda makes me want to remake that Cadets deck I had made back during Opus XIII.

23-084C – G’raha Tia

At 5CP and 9000 power, G’raha Tia is just a regular Common card.

When he enters the field, and you have another G’raha Tia in the Break Zone, you can remove it from the game and deal 4000 damage to 2 of your opponent’s Forwards. You will also dull them as well.

If this card cost a little bit less, I would say that it’s better.

 

 

23-085R – Krile (XIV)

Look at the new card you’ll be putting in your Scions deck.

Nothing beats a 1K buff across your board. Especially when it comes to the Scions and they already work well together.

And if you still need a little bit of extra power, Krile can give a Scion another 1000 power when it deals damage to a Forward.

Can’t go wrong with that.

 

 

23-086H – Thancred

Thancred, reporting for duty!

Thancred is ready to go from the get go. (If you already have some Scions on the field.) He’ll break one of your opponent’s Forwards as he enters, and he’ll bring back a Forward from the dead as he enters the Break Zone.

Almost like a Viking, but different.

Scions being Scions.

 

 

23-087C – Jack

Yeah, you’re not going to play this card.

Unless there is another card that stated “this and this” if there are so many cards in your Break Zone.

I’m also pretty sure that the other Jacks are much better, I can say that without even looking for them.

Even at 2CP, I wouldn’t play this card.

At least the art is nice.

23-088L – Serah

Mono-Lightning XIII deck Incoming.

Your opponent will be using all their resources to get rid of Serah here.

Once she comes in all of your opponents Forwards will lose 2000 power, and if you have at least another 2 FFXIII Forwards their power will go down by 5000. And, this does not end at the end of the turn. As of my understanding, they lose that power until Serah is removed from the field.

That means that most of your opponent’s Forwards will be unusable. Sure, there will be ways that your opponent can raise the power of their Forwards, but Serah also has Dispel. Dispel removes any power gains that your opponent has given their Forwards until the end of the turn.

I’ll take 3 with all the bells and whistles.

23-089C – SOLDIER Candidate

Now, this is a Candidate I have a use for.

2CP/5K body, with Haste.

If you remember, I have built an all Haste deck, and this one fits perfectly into it.

2CP is perfect for it because you’ll only need to discard 1 card, since I don’t play any Backups. 5000 power isn’t bad, because you’re hoping to win in 2 rounds. And, half the time your opponent will not have any Forwards on the field.

And, most of the low cost Haste cards are Standard Units, SOLDIER Candidate will gain +3000 power, giving her an 8K body, the perfect “Candidate” for a Meat Shield.

23-090C/15-095C – Ninja

You know the drill.

“You’d think they’d at least try and get the serial numbers to match.

Would’ve looked a lot better reading 20-099C/15-099C.

Not that big of a deal but, at least you gain a Crystal when Ninja comes in.

After that you can send Ninja to the Break Zone, and deal a Forward 1000 damage.

*yawn

Maybe if it wasn’t a reprint I’d be more excited.”

23-091C – Fencer (XIII)

There’s a lot of good Monsters in this set.

Fencer is ready to Break a Forward on command, as long as you have an extra Monster on the field, because that extra Monster will be part of the cost you pay for Fencer’s ability to go off.

It’s a cheap play, and as long as the Monster you send to the Break Zone has done it’s job, you’ll be good to go.

 

23-092R – Black Widow

This Monster is interesting.

You’ll need 2 or more Monsters for Black Widow to become a Forward. And when Black Widow does become a Forward, when it attacks, you may put another Monster into the Break Zone, and that will allow Black Widow to deal 9000 damage to a Forward of your choosing.

You can splash Black Widow into your Monster deck with Relm, and after that Black Widow will slowly get rid of your Monsters to play more Monsters.

 

 

23-093C – Mog (XIII-2)

This Moogle makes that XIII Mono-Lightning deck easier to make.

Always good to have a couple of searchers, and this one is better, because you can get rid of Mog once he finds what you’re looking for.

Mog comes in for 2CP, and just hangs out until it’s time for you to use his ability.

After that, you can play Mog once more, and he’ll do the same thing once more.

Yes, this card is needed.

23-094C – Y’shtola

How is this a Common?

If you’re playing a Scions deck, you will be dulling your opponent’s whole front line.

And, this only costs 3CP.

All I see is, you play Y’shtola, and block with her as soon as possible, in order to play her again.

Find a way to grab her from the Break Zone as well, and you’ll be golden. Just like the S(ci)un of the Seventh Dawn … Ok, maybe that wasn’t that great.

23-095R – Rosso

Rosso, the Crimson.

Vincent is in trouble here.

The Tsivets are coming for him and all of his allies, and Rosso is coming hard. For every time she attacks, she deals 4000 damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

And, if you have a stash of Crystals, you can use them to give one of your Tsivets Haste, allowing them to go from the get go.
Tsivets might finally have some decent cards to get a fun deck going.

Singles?

Posted on Leave a comment

Opus XIII – Starter Review

13-129S – Philia

Philia is a Monster. But, plays a Forward. There’s a good chance that when Philia enters the field, you’ll most likely have a board wipe. But with Philia’s ability that cancels the Damage dealt by abilities, Philia will be left all alone on the field. But, you will receive 1 point of Damage for your effort.

Now if you have a backup that can give Philia Haste, you will have a free shot at your opponent.

 

 

13-130S – Ran’jit

Unless you’re playing with at least 4 backups, I think Ran’jit is a bit too expensive.

 

 

 

 

 

13-131S – Emet-Selch

4CP to find and play a Forward. Not bad. Now let’s see. What backups did this deck have? Not any good ones. But, I’m sure there’s plenty of 4CP Backups that Emet-Selch can look for.

I think the other Emet-Selch (12-024H) is a better play.

 

 

 

13-132S – Titania

Now this is a card I like. 2CP/8K. Cheap to play with a great on entry ability. Only stipulation is that you have a Forward, a Backup, a Summon, and a Monster in your Break Zone before you can play Titania.

 

 

 

 

13-133S – The Crystal Exarch

The Crystal Exarch is a Forward that keeps on giving. And, the more the match goes on, the more she’ll give. If that makes any sense. And at 5 points of Damage you’ll most likely be breaking a Forward, every time The Crystal Exarch attacks. Which should be all the time. And the Full Art. Beautiful card.

 

 

 

13-134S – Y’shtola

If you’re playing Scions, you’ll get to grab a Forward from your Break Zone and play it straight to the field, depending on how many Scions you have, will determine the card.
I don’t see much play with this card, as there are plenty of options to choose from. I do like Y’shtola (12-119L) better. Perhaps that’s just my style of play. And, I am not good. I just love the cards.

 

 

 

13-135S – Urianger EX

2CP to possibly grab another XIV Character. Not bad, and you can always just use him as a blocker just to replay him.

 

 

 

 

13-136S – Thancred

I like this Thancred. Every time another Scion enters the field, Thancred gains +2K and Brave. Haste, too, if it’s on the same turn Thancred comes in. You’ll usually have a 10K body with Brave to throw around.

And Blasting Zone, will let you Break a Forward without even trying too hard.

 

 

 

13-137S – Innocence

9K with Brave, these Forwards get beefier with every set. And the two abilities Innocence has will send your opponent in a downward spiral. Especially of they’re discarding 2 cards each turn.

 

 

 

 

13-138S – The Oracle of Light

Do you have a Scions deck that needs more power? Well, have I got a card for you. The Oracle of Light here, will give all your Scions +2K. An Upgrade from the mere +1K most Backups give. Not only that The Oracle of Light is also a Forward, but does not count as a Scion.

When The Oracle of Light is broken, you can Remove her from the game and play a Scion from the Break Zone on to the field Dull.

I’ll take 3, Please.