Spoiled Onions: An Exclusive Opus IX Spoiler - Father's Day Edition

Hey everybody, and welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight - the Final Fantasy TCG blog that totally wouldn't be willing to commit a felony to get their hands on that new Prishe/Shantotto playmat that's only available at the 2019 Master's tournament in Japan. Nope. Not at all. 

Let me start things off by wishing everybody out there a Happy Father's Day! If you happen to be a dad, then hopefully you'll be a more active presence in your child's life than the character whose card I'll be revealing today: Opus IX Laguna! 

With the recent announcement of the remastered version of Final Fantasy VIII coming out in the near future, a lot more people will have the chance to experience the game; myself included, much to the chagrin of my boyfriend since it's his favorite title in the series. Even if VIII isn't quite your cup of tea, Laguna is still one of the most iconic characters from Final Fantasy and has what is probably the most kick-ass theme song in the series. Seriously, it should be mandatory to blast "The Man with the Machine Gun" whenever you play a Laguna card. 

Though he's made other appearances in the FFTCG, this Laguna is different from most of the other versions in that he doesn't interact with any Card Name Squall - at least not directly. The effect of this card is pretty straightforward in that he is a Forward who searches for another Ice Forward and adds it to your hand. Most other 5 cost Forwards with a search effect in the game have an EX burst attached to it, which Laguna does not. However, all of those other Forwards have a more narrow scope of the cards that they can tutor, such as only searching for one specific character or job, like Ignis or Hugh Yurg. 

Opus III Steiner is probably the broadest of the Forward searchers we've seen in the game, being able to search any of the Category IX Characters, rather than just Forwards, but he's not without drawbacks. He absolutely needs to be played specifically with other Category IX cards in order for him to be on curve for a pseudo-3 cost Forward, which limits the types of decks and engines you can run him in.

The new Laguna on the other hand trades his ability to EX Burst for having the broadest search conditions on a Forward we've seen so far - ANY Ice element Forward - while also having a pretty substantial 8k body to fall back on. Because of this, he could realistically find a place in just about any Ice deck that wants more consistency to search for their big play makers like Genesis, Sephiroth, or Dark Fina, while establishing a larger board presence. 

However, in Opus VIII we've seen title-centric decks like VI, VII, and IX get enough solid support to make them not just playable, but competitively viable. With the focus on Category VIII in Opus IX, I'm hopeful that the same can be done for Squall and Co. So lets take a look at some possible plays centered around a Category VIII deck with Laguna. 

I'd be pretty remiss if I didn't mention Ysayle, considering that both she and Laguna do exactly the same thing, just with her in the backup slot. However, combining the two actually makes for some pretty optimal plays, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to run both of these long haired beauties in the same deck. Four may be expensive for a backup, but many decks that have a 3-cost searcher Like Gestahlian Emperor Cid or Gramis don't mind overpaying for it turn one just to start establishing their boards and get their combo pieces in order. Cards that can "search for a searcher" tend to be a great way to make your deck more consistent, so a Category VIII deck where you play Ysayle turn one and search for Laguna would be a pretty efficient turn one play On turn two you can pitch two cards from hand and dull Ysayle to play Laguna and search for another Forward, which is where things start to get interesting as more options open up to you.

So lets say that you've also played a 2 drop backup onto the field on the turn that you played Laguna - now you can play 4 drop cards more efficiently the next turn. Some of the best cards in Category VIII that you could search for with Laguna are the new Opus IX Quistis or Opus VI Rinoa that will both do the same thing for you, which is let you grab yet another card, though if you needed to you could also search for a Genesis or Lasswell too depending on what your opponent is doing. 

If searching for a searcher is good, then what about searching for a searcher who searches for a searcher? Or uh... a reveal-er? Do we have an official name for the type of card that Quistis is? Anyway the point is that you can continue to build up your board of forwards while consistently chaining cards together. You could also search for Rinoa, play it, and then search for Quistis with Laguna's effect again. There are probably better offensive options to use this Rinoa on, but the general idea is to build up more Category VIII Forwards which can help set up some other plays. 

At this point after using Quistis's effect, one of the better cards you could hope to reveal would be the new Opus IX Squall AKA the best looking guy here. Assuming that none of the Forwards you've set up have been broken yet, you've not only made Squall cheap enough to play on the same turn you put him into your hand, but more powerful with Quistis's boost to SeeD Candidate cards. Congratulations, you've played a 9k that dulls a Forward on entry for 2 CP. You may kiss the bride. 

Another option to go for with Quistis would be Opus II Rinoa, assuming that you are choosing not to run the Opus VI one. Depending on how heavy you get into Category VIII support, it could make her into an absolute monster - with just Quistis and Laguna on the field she's a 9k Forward that your opponent is going to have trouble getting around without dulling their field and opening themselves up to attack. I'm actually surprised this card hasn't been seeing more play lately as it's not a bad counter to Veritas, but I guess it's become a frenzied Nuclear Arms Race to see who can set their own abuseable removal combos first, and Opus VI Rinoa is a more aggressive option in ice with all its on-entry effects. It would be interesting to see if a Category VIII deck specifically brings Opus II Rinoa into the spotlight again though. I'm secretly hoping for an Angelo Backup... 

"This card can only be played onto the field by physically throwing it at your opponent."

Of course these are just some ideas with what we have revealed to us so far, but as far as Laguna's is concerned he's a straightforward card that will only improve as more viable targets for him become announced. Who knows, maybe they'll introduce an VIII Standard Units rush type build with Galbadian Soldiers? Either way, with what we've seen so far, things are starting to look good for Category VIII decks.

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So there you have it everyone! I hope that you guys enjoyed this spoiler and are as hyped for Opus IX as I am. And speaking of Opus IX Spoilers... 

Opus Bingo is back! If you haven't seen it on Facebook or Reddit, here's our currently updated board. Some of these new cards look absolutely crazy, and I'm super excited to try out some crazy new deck builds we haven't seen before. We still have a little over a month until prerelease, so in the meantime I'll be here, waiting and absolutely not plotting on how I can get myself that XI playmat by means of an elaborate Machiavellian scheme.

Until next time - Keep on Grinding, 

      

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