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Breaking the Limit?

Final Fantasy TCG – Anniversary Collection Set 2024 (that’s a mouthful) is just around the Korner. If you haven’t gotten your Pre-Orders in yet, we have some still available.

Pre-Order Here.

What’s on the Soap Box today?

Limit Breaks.

If you can remember they first showed up back in Final Fantasy VII when Cloud took enough damage and unleashed Braver for the first time. Running towards the enemy and then jumping up like a Dragoon, and bringing his sword down as he’s falling to strike at the enemy causing damage.

I had you there for a second.

We’re actually going to talk about the new mechanic that will be introduced in Hidden Hope.

Limit Break cards will actually be set in a side deck that consists of up to 8 cards. These Limit Break cards are only for your side deck. And, can be played at anytime you would normally be able to play them. You’ll be almost like a Black Mage, with spells ready to go. As long as you have enough MP that is. That MP is your side deck as well. Once you pay the cost to cast a Limit Break, you’ll also need to pay for the Limit Break cost as well. You can just take a look at how Toriyama has explained it.

Let’s take a quick look at these cards now.

Zack – 22-112R

Zack enters the field and deals 3000 damage to a Forward. After that he just sticks around the board, hacking a slashing, blocking and attacking. Until he breaks, and gets sent back to the Limit Break deck, but not before stopping by the Break Zone to confirm that he is actually broken.

Ace – 22-116L

Ace is looking like he will be a powerful card. Once Ace enters the field, Ace deals 1000 damage to all of your opponents Forwards. Just think for a second of what Ace can do if you’re playing Chocobos.

And, that’s not all cause when Ace attacks, you can reveal the top card of your deck, and if it’s a Wind card, which it will be if you’re playing Chocobos, you’ll add it to your hand.

Sure, Ace costs 8CP, but you’ll probably get that CP back, with the extra cards you’ll be drawing.

Viktora – 22-114H

With Viktora, you’ll want to keep your opponents hand at zero. Make them spend every last CP that they have. And, since Viktora is already a Dragoon, and most Dragoons are Lightning. Ice/Lightning is already good at this, Simply adding Viktora to your side deck will make your main deck that much better.

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Hidden Trials

We have just received word of a new set coming out.

Opus XXIII, Opus 23 or Hidden Trials. Call it whatever you’d like.
And we are excited!

Lightning graces the Booster Box with original artwork. And it sure is looking good. We can already guess on which card will have the Golden Signat … wait, … I don’t believe there is a Golden Signature. It just mentions a Special Card with an original illustration. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

We do get to see some of the cards, and I can tell you Lightning and Queen just look amazing.

We’re getting a new Tyro as well. This time Tyro is representing Wind, we’ll see how well he does in his new element. It also mentions that Final Fantasy Record Keeper will be a “Featured Title” so, I’m expecting at the very least a bunch of Record Keeper Standard Units, and Maybe just maybe, we’ll get the pixel art cards I’ve been wanting for a long, long time. You heard it here first. January, 11th 2024.

Legacy cards are back. Lightning (15-041L), Rydia (15-083L) and Refia (19-102L). I don’t get why they are just grabbing cards from newer sets, I believe that since they are named Legacy cards they should have come from older sets. At least 10 sets.

But, what do I know.

And with that I’ll just leave the press release here.

Hidden Trials will elevate the ‘Limit Break’ mechanic to new heights thanks to custom-themed cards that can turn the tide of battle, revolutionising the deck-building experience for players.

For the collectors, this Opus will include a very rare, Special Card [23-037R] showcasing an original illustration of FINAL FANTASY XIII Lightning by Miki Yamashita. Additionally, three beloved Legacy cards, Lightning [15-041L], Rydia [15-083L], and Refia [19-102L], are included.

As per tradition, renowned artists have contributed stunning new art pieces to bring the characters to life:

New Art

Rubi Asami, FINAL FANTASY VI / FINAL FANTASY XIII-2

Mihoko Ishii, FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE

Yuya Ishihata, FINAL FANTASY IX

Ryoma Ito, FINAL FANTASY TACTICS A2: Grimoire of the Rift

Yukihiro Kajimoto, FINAL FANTASY

Gen Kobayashi, DIRGE OF CERBERUS –FINAL FANTASY VII–

Sara Shimokobe, FINAL FANTASY IV

Toshitaka Matsuda, FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0

Fumio Minagawa, FINAL FANTASY XI

Miki Yamashita, FINAL FANTASY XIII

Oreki Genya, FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0

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Beyond Destiny : Finishing Starters

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21-125S – Onion Knight

Coming in with Haste this Onion Knight will bring a tear to your eye.

Meh, I tried.

Onion Knight comes in and if you decide to pay 2 Crystals, you can search for another Dissidia Forward and play them onto the field. Sure, they have to cost 3CP or less, but there are plenty of Dissidia Forwards to choose from.

No need to worry about Elements either.

Sword & Sorcery, is a decent ability that deals 10,000 damage to any Forward that decides to go up against Onion Knight and block him when he attacks.

Did we mention Haste?

21-126S – Cloud

Kingdom Hearts Cloud.

Was wondering when he would make another appearance.

Cloud is pretty straight forward. He enters the field, and deals 3000 damage for each Dissidia Forward that you control to a Forward of your choosing. This also comes off of an EX Burst.

Other than that Cloud is a 5 cost Forward with 9000 power. But, you can get around that. Instead of paying 5CP, you can just pay with 2 Crystals.

21-127S – Firion

Here’s Firion, the Rebel Warrior that will help you stock up on Crystals. That way you can pay for all of the Crystal abilities that the rest of your Deck likes to use. Weather it is paying for Cloud, or having Onion Knight search for a Dissidia Forward, or whatever else the rest of the Starters can do with the help of the Crystals.

Let’s get back to Firion.

Firion enters the field and deals a Forward 3000 damage. And if you have 2 Dissidia Forwards on the field, he’ll deal 7000 damage instead.

And that’s about it.

Sure, you won’t really care about his Entering ability, not when he has a way to acquire Crystals.

21-128S – Shantotto

Here’s another use for all the Crystals Firion will be able to get you.

When Shantotto enters the field, you can pay the additional cost of 2 Crystals, and grab a Dissidia Forward from your Break Zone and play it onto the field. Sure this Forward needs to cost 5CP or less, but it’s a free Forward so who cares.

You will be able to play 2 5CP Forwards for the price of one.

It’s Buy One Get One Free. Or B.O.G.O.

Salvation Scythe, is Dissidia’s answer to Opus I Jihl Nabaat.

Dull and Freeze 3 Characters.

I like it. You don’t even need to play Shantotto in a Dissidia deck. Just throw here in any Dull/Freeze situation to make thinks cooler.

21-129S – Terra

From the looks of it, it’s all about the Crystals.

A Crystal here, a Crystal there, here a Crystal, there a Crystal, everywhere a Crystal.

Terra shall come into the field, and your opponent discards a card. And if you’re playing this starter deck, you’ll probably be gaining a Crystal as well.

And then you can use that Crystal to Dull/Freeze, a Forward and draw a card as well.

Pair Terra with Shantotto and you can Dull/Freeze 4 Forwards.

It’s getting colder by the minute.

21-130S – Noctis

You see what they did there?

They gave you a somewhat cheap Forward with 9000 power, but you have to have a Dissidia Forward on the field in order to play Noctis.

But, you probably already got that covered. You’re playing this Starter Deck.

Well let’s see, Noctis comes in and Breaks a Dull Forward.

And, that’s about it.

It’s all because of the suit Noctis is wearing. And, then he’s pointing to himself, showing off his portrait on the wall.

Yes, we comment on the art when we have nothing else to say. We got to fill up space somehow.

21-131S – Warrior of Light

Here is another Crystal Generator

Warrior of Light comes in and gives you a Crystal, and after that, whenever a Dissidia Forward enters the field Warrior of Light gives you another Crystal. And, then you can use those Crystals and use them to pay for different abilities.

Such as the one right here on the card, that gives Warrior of Light +1000 power, and the ability to not be chosen by your opponent’s abilities. Now, that’s an ability.

Warrior of Light sure reminds me of Cecil. I actually thought it was Cecil until I started reading the card.

21-132S – Cecil

What’s not to like about this card?

Built in protection. Cecil is a Paladin like no other. Or so they say.

4CP/8000 power. Can’t be chosen by abilities, can’t take damage from abilities. A meat Shield at it’s finest.

Cecil also buffs all of the other Dissidia Forwards with +2000 power.

And, if that’s not enough, Paladin Force breaks those pesky high cost Forwards that like to stick around the field more than they should.

Now if Cecil had some FFIV synergy, this card would have been awesome.

21-133S – Tidus

Here’s a card in this deck that pretty much stands by itself, with no need for other Dissidia Characters. Tidus comes in and you return one of your opponent’s Forwards to their hand. And when you return a Forward to their owner’s hand, regardless of it being your or your opponent’s you draw a card and gain a Crystal.

And since there is no need for Dissidia Characters on the field for this ability to go off, you can pretty much play Tidus in any deck.

Sure, he costs 5CP, but you’ll get 2CP back when you return a Forward to your opponent’s hand. Plus, you could be drawing an extra card once per turn, making Tidus cheaper in the long run.

21-134S – Bartz

Bartz is ready to make this Dissidia deck work out. Bartz comes in and allows you to search for a Dissidia Character, add it to your hand. Bartz also gives you a Crystal

4CP, which comes down to 2CP after you draw a card. And if you already have another Crystal in your hand, play Shantotto, and then grab Cloud from the Break Zone.

Or something along those lines.

And, when Bartz is done attacking , and blocking and is sent to the Break Zone, you can remove Bartz from the game and gain an additional Crystal.

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Beyond Destiny – Twistin’ Turbulence

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21-041C – Evil Weapon

Doesn’t look that evil. Evil Weapon looks like he belongs in the hit movie “Ghoulies”.

If you haven’t watched it, you should. If you like 80’s horror movies that aren’t actually that scary.

Let’s see now. Evil Weapon cost a a whole whopping 1CP. And, for what it does is pretty cheap. I know some people just play certain cards just to gain a Crystal. And Evil Weapon here, will give you a Crystal, and also deal 4000 damage to one of your opponent’s Forwards.

Evil Weapon, is more like a side weapon, a pistol to your shotgun. If your Forward doesn’t Break your opponent’s Forward, just use this Evil Weapon to finish it off.

21-042H – Vaan

If you’re playing Mono-Wind, Vaan could be of some use. As he’ll be a free Forward, if you already have 7 Wind Characters on the field.

If not he costs a whopping 7CP to play a Forward with 9000 power.

Not much to say about this one. I’ll probably just leave it on the side to gather dust.

But, not all is bad.

If you already cast 3 cards, you draw a card. So, you might come up with +2CP.

But, is it really worth it?

21-043C – Viera

Now this is a decent card as well.

Play Viera onto the field and grab one of the top 2 cards of your deck. The other one goes to the bottom of your deck.
And when Viera is active on the field, you can dull Viera and do it once again.

3CP for a Backup with a great ability.

You can’t go wrong with Viera.

 

21-044C – Dancer

Technically, this is a free card.

A 4CP Forward, that gets reduced to 2CP if you already have a Dancer on the field. And if you paid the cost with a couple of Backups, you can choose to activate those Backups, by Dancer’s ability. Which goes off once she enters the field.

That brings us to a total of 0CP.

Not bad for an 8000 power Forward.

 

21-045C – Princess Goblin

This is the kind of Backup that everyone likes. A searcher.

Princess Goblin enters the field and allows you to search for a Warrior of Light, or a Princess Sarah.

She comes in does her job, and hopefully gets your board to where you need it to be.

If not, well, at least she’ll provide a Crystal Point once per turn.

 

21-046C – Cid (II)

Cid is here staring at you to make sure that you’re going to play this card.

And, as long as you have cards that can warp in, there’s a 94.38762% chance that you will. Yes, this conclusion came off of extended research and as of December, 5th 2023, this is accurate. It might not be in the next hour or so, but we’re sticking to our research. And stuff.

Cid (II) comes in and you’re searching for a card that Warps.

You Warp that card right away.

Next turn, you’ll be sending Cid to the Break Zone, in order to speed up the Warp process.

Simple, and effective.

I like it.

21-047C – Summoner

Summoner summons a Summon.

Well, that’s what Summoners are supposed to do.

Once Summoner comes in, you get to grab a Wind Summon from your deck.

And, Every time that you cast a Summon, Summoner gains +2000 power. From how I’m reading it, you can cast a couple of Summons and keep stacking that +2000 power on top of the other. Plus. it’s a Standard Unit so you can have 3 of these on the board at any time.

Combine this with Meia (16-123L) and you have a reduced Summon cost. Add in plenty of low cost Summons and you’ll have 3 Summoners who serve as Meat Shields, or attackers.

Meat Shield just sounds better.

21-048L – Princess Sarah

Look no further. If you needed a way to keep Feolthanos on the board, so he can see EX Bursts, Princess Sarah can help you out.

Once per turn you can choose a Forward and that Forward cannot be chosen by EX Bursts.

After that, just dull and discard a Princess to make the next damage dealt to it 0.

Now, you don’t need to have Feolthanos, but I’d say you play these cards together.

 

21-049R – Sarah (Mobius)

Yes, she gives a +1K buff to all of your Forwards.

Yes, she is a 2 cost Backup.

Yes, she is probably good for draft.

No, I will not be playing this card, actually maybe I will.

I would have said to just go ahead and play Opus I Maria, for 3CP and the same buff to all of your Forwards, but what’s stopping you from playing both at the same time.

I started thinking this card wasn’t that great, it’s decent, but I started changing my mind the more I started writing about it.

I might give it a shot.

21-050H – Sophia (SOPFFO)

For a second there I read that Biker Mage.

You can throw Sophia and Summoner in the same deck. Both grab Summons, and when a Summon is cast they both have abilities that can go off.

Sophia here will deal 5000 damage to a Forward when you cast a Summon. Sure, you can only use this once, as you’ll have to dull Sophia, but that 5k can help out. Especially if the Summon you cast has dealt some damage to a Forward but not enough to Break it.

I wouldn’t call this a Hero, more like a Rare.

21-051R – Tiamat

Chocobos are going to make a comeback, just you watch.

I’m just saying that cause I can’t think of another Mono-Wind deck at the moment.

If you are playing Mono-Wind, you will be playing Tiamat. 4CP/8K body, throw in Opus 1 Maria and a bunch of Chocobos, and you have an unstoppable beast.

Hey, that’s pretty much what Tiamat is.

 

21-052R – Niini

This isn’t bad, especially for the cost.

1CP allows you to look at the top card of your deck. If you like what you see, you can keep it there. If not send that card to the bottom of your deck.

If you cast at least 3 cards this turn, you can grab that card, or grab the next one if you already sent it to the bottom of your deck.

Good thing about this is if you can check to see if you have an EX Burst coming up. If you do you can leave it there and when you take Damage you’ll know that you’ll have a surprise for your opponent.

21-053L – Balthier

Even though I’ll probably never play a Sky Pirates deck. This is a great card.

You can probably just throw it in any Mono-Wind deck, and you’ll do great.

Because every time a Wind Character comes in, you’ll be dealing 3000 damage to one of your opponents Forwards. And 3000 is enough to Break some Forwards, and then I’m sure you’ll have a way or two to finish them off.

Now if you’re playing Sky Pirates, Balthier will be able to Activate all of your Characters once per turn. Right at that moment when you get into your Main Phase 2, you can discard a Sky Pirate and have Balthier’s ability go off, and you’re left with a bunch of active Characters, ready to block, and what not.

21-054H – Pandemonium

And, here I thought this was a Backup.

For 2CP this is great card. Summon comes in and if you played a couple of cards this turn Pandemonium will deal 5000 damage to one of your opponent’s high cost Forwards, and Pandemonium searches for a high cost Forward for you.
If Pandemonium is the first card you played, you can pick one or the other.

Still great for 2CP.

 

21-055H – Penelo

These Sky Pirates just keep getting better and better.

Kind of wants me to make a Sky Pirate deck.

Penelo, a 2CP/5000 power Forward. that activates 2 Characters when she enters the field, as long as you have at least 2 Sky Pirates already on the field.

The best part is that when Penelo is sent to the Break Zone you can grab a 3 cost Sky Pirate from your Break Zone and add it to your hand. I think Balthier would be the perfect card to pick.

21-056R – Galeserpent General Najelith

Here we have the pixelated 3d graphics of FFXI. Even though this was on the PS2, the graphics look like they came from the FFVII era. Enough of the art.

It’s actually not that bad of a card.

Galeserpent General Najelith’s cost can be reduced by 2 if you already have a couple of Wind Characters on the field. Thus making her, a 2 cost Forward with 8000 power.

She cannot be chosen by your opponent’s abilities, giving her protection from that, and you can dull her and deal a Forward 4000 damage. This is where Penelo and Balthier come in.

Dull, 4000 damage, activate, Dull, 4000 damage, activate, dull, 4000 damage.

That’s 12,000 damage right there.

21-057R – Fran

Can’t go wrong with 1CP.

Especially since Fran grants protection to Balthier.

And, if Fran is in the Break Zone, you can play Balthier and grab Fran from the Break Zone and play her onto the field. At the small cost of 1 Wind Crystal Point.

Now I kinda, want to see what Balthier does.

 

21-058C – Machina

Finally a Machina that has synergy with your Type-0 Cadets.

And at only 2CP this is a great card.

If you have at least 2 Cadets on the field, Machina has 8000 power, Haste and Machina cannot be chosen by your opponent’s Summons.

Let’s not forget Armor Break, if you need to you can break a high cost Forward.

I do like it. It’s probably time to dust off that old Cadets deck and see what happens when we add Machina.

21-059C – Dragoon

Play Dragoon early, as your second or third Backup. As, that’s when you’ll get the most value from Dragoon.

Once he comes in you’ll gain a Crystal, and if you have 3 or less Backups on the field you get to draw a card. Which makes Dragoon cost a total of 1CP.

And, that is all. Simple, effective and straight to the point.

Not much else going on here.

 

21-060R – Rikku EX

Most of these Wind cards work well together.

Rikku here is another example of why you should be playing Mono-Wind.

When she enters the field, you’ll reveal the top card of your deck, and since it’s a Wind card, and you’re playing Mono-Wind you’ll just go ahead and add that card to your hand.

This also activates as an EX Burst when you get that point of damage, and Rikku pops her head.

And at 3 points of damage, Rikku gains +2000 power making her a 7000 power Forward.

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Senior Chief Engineer

Cid Pollendina (2-057C)

“(D): Your opponent shows his/her hand.”

Need to take a look at what your opponent has in store?

Cid here will let you take a look, Best part is you can use it once per turn.

You’ll never be in the dark again.

 

 

Cid Pollendina (5-056H)

“When Cid Pollendina enters the field, your opponent reveals his/her hand.

If Cid Pollendina deals damage to a Forward of cost 5 or more, increase the damage by 4000 instead.

If Cid Pollendina is dealt damage by a Forward of cost 5 or more, reduce the damage by 4000 instead.”

Almost like the Opus II Cid, but this Cid let’s you take a look at your opponent’s hand when he enters the field.

Other than that, Cid is great against high cost Forwards. His attacks do more damage and the damage he takes is less.
Add that to the 8000 power he already has. I’d say it’s not a bad card.

Not great either.

Cid Pollendina (13-039C)

“EX BURST When Cid Pollendina enters the field, you may search for 1 Job Engineer Forward and add it to your hand.”

Let’s take a look at what we wrote when Opus XIII came out.

“I didn’t realize how many Cid’s there are. Or Engineers. At first glance, I thought this card would be so-so. There are 17 Engineers including Cid Haze. And, 11 Cids. 12 if you count Cindy.

You can probably put together an Engineer deck. And have Cid Haze attack to Activate all of your cards. It might work. Or a Cid Deck. Who wants to build a Cid deck.”

Well, yes. We’ll keep it like that.

We’ll finally try our hand at an Engineer deck.

Maybe.

Cid Pollendina (17-049C)

“When Cid Pollendina enters the field, you may search for 1 Category IV Forward and add it to your hand.”

This is probably the most Common Cid you’ll see on the field. (See what I did there?)

Mr. Pollendina comes in and searches for a FFIV Forward. And, we all like searching for cards, cause you get to grab what you need.

Grab that Wind Legend Cecil, and call it a day.