A Noob's Opus IX Set Review & Bingo Raffle!

Hey there folks, and welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight - The FFTCG blog that hates losing but still won't lower themselves to playing Water/Wind.

Opus IX has been out for about a month now, and the lateness of this review has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I've been playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses nonstop and refusing to leave my room like a recluse so that I can get a sense of validation and camaraderie from a bunch of fictional anime teenagers.

Bernadetta is my spirit animal. 

But I played it so much that my Switch broke and needed to be sent in for repairs (I wish I was joking…) so now that I’ve been freed from my shackles, lets talk about some cards! 

Much like in my Opus VII review, this set as a whole was a little difficult for me to figure out exactly how I felt about it without getting the time to test the new cards out first. Because honestly Opus IX as a whole feels... reeaaaalllly weird.

When the set was first revealed in its entirety, the general consensus was that it was on a comparative power level to Opus III, the red-headed stepchild of the Final Fantasy TCG. I don't think that's a super fair assessment honestly (in fact I'd argue that of all the previous sets, it's Opus IV that's aged the poorest out of all of them), since Opus III has a lot of the really strong cards that are 3-of staples in some of the top decks in the meta scene right now like Lenna, Genesis, Cagnazzo, Zidane-H, and Famfrit. I think that many of the cards in Opus IX have similar potential to be extremely powerful, and might have strength that isn’t obvious at first glance. Overall I really do enjoy the fact that Opus IX is a set that's more about building new decks and experimenting with new combinations and types of abilities, rather than continuously ramping up the power of existing ones.

BUT that doesn't mean that there weren’t also some decisions made in Opus IX that I find to be utterly baffling.

Remember when everybody was like "Noooo, not Veritas! He's too strong!"? What fools we were...

Porom being a degenerate little monster aside, I think one of the things that contributes to the weirdness of this set is that it focuses on setting up a lot of smaller 2-3 card "mini engines" rather than consistent deck support. When cards started getting revealed and we had a new Cecil that specifically mentioned needing a specific amount of Category IV characters, I thought that it would be Final Fantasy IV's time to get fleshed out to create a solid category-centric deck like VI, VII, IX, and XV had been in Opus VIII. Seeing the new Quistis that scryed for Category VIII Forwards and was finally in Ice made me think that we'd see a heavy Fire/Ice VIII focus with perhaps a new Zell or Forward Selphie to take advantage of her SeeD Candidate boosting effect.

Instead, the IV Characters all remained split across the multiple elements they had been previously, with no "engine" being established between them. There were only 9 VIII cards in this set with no Legend support and only one new fire card who wasn't even a SeeD candidate Forward. Instead, the set has a heavy Type-0 focus but does nothing to address the issue of the cadets being split across three colors - in fact, of the color correcting Moogles that were chosen to be printed, any of the cadet-centric element combinations are conspicuously absent. Space was committed to adding new Job: Sky Pirates in this set, but they're still a mess that have no real synergy with each other and didn't add any really solid Forwards (Vaan's effect is particularly head scratching considering that there are only three other Sky Pirate Forwards and the new Fran who is actually pretty solid, is a Backup. So the implication is that you're running Reddas, Balthier, and... all jobs Bartz? Okay...) to incentivize running them outside of a XII title deck.

New Sky Pirate cards in a nutshell.

In general there are a lot of choices like this that really make Opus IX feel like it was part of a set that got cut in half and the rest of it will come out in Opus X.

That being said, this set has consistently surprised me the more that I've experimented with it. I think that there's a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to the overall power level of some of the cards in this set that was really easy to overlook when coming off the heels of Opus VIII, which was a bit less "techy".

But just because something is a tech doesn't mean it can't enable some really great stuff, or that these cards won’t find a deck that can truly take advantage of their value (Remember, there was a good chunk of time where Opus VII Sephiroth was worth less than ten dollars). Even though the IV cards I mentioned didn't set up an "engine", I was genuinely taken by surprise by a mono-water IV deck at locals - Remember how Cagnazzo and Porom are category IV? Having Cecil as a 10K brave that can "cover" cards that are already difficult to deal with makes for a surprisingly effective but different mono-water build. Cecil and the new Legendary Rosa also work well with making Earth’s bigger forwards tankier, in particular with Legendary Noctis by letting him trigger his “fight” mechanic much more safely. I think that in general, cards that are more defensive tend to be severely undervalued by the FFTCG community compared to more aggressive removal or control based cards, but if we’ve learned anything from the early days of the Opus IX meta, it’s how effective just denying your opponent the ability to win the game can be.

Opus IX also does a great job at showcasing just how much adding one or two really solid cards can completely change how you build decks, even if they aren’t Legends. There may not have been many new Category VIII cards in this set, but adding the new Rinoa as a linchpin card was a really smart move on the card designer’s part that bizarrely makes her significantly more valuable than Opus VI Rinoa in category VIII centric decks. The cards that they added in this set not only do a fantastic job of solidifying existing Fire/Ice VIII builds, but they also make running Ice/Lightning VIII an option that wasn’t really feasible before now.

Hell, the new Ace is apparently enough of a consistency boost for wind/fire cadets that they've been making appearances at LQ's, and this is only in the first month of the set's release. And Sky Pirates… well Sky Pirates are still kind of a mess. But hey, it’s been confirmed that Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings will be making its TCG debut in Opus X so there’s always hope that they’ll add some weird tertiary character from that game that finally makes it a solid archetype in constructed. It’ll probably be like… a big bird guy or something, I dunno.

I think that there are quite a few cards that have a lot of potential, and with a bit of experimentation there are some great new builds that can really change up the meta. Of course, that all hinges on how willing the playerbase is to experiment and try new things outside of the obvious which...

Yeah, I can already see somebody hysterically typing "UH, WHY WOULD I TRY NEW STUFF IF I'M TRYING TO WIN?" as though they're a talking head on a reality TV show and they're telling the audience about how they're not here to make friends or whatever. If that's the case, well, then I guess we'll see you in Opus X. Try not to take the loss of Rikku-H milling too hard okay? 

AW NO, SORRY TOO SOON??

In general I really like what Opus IX is setting up for future sets, and I’d highly recommend snatching up as many copies of the Legends you can while they’re still cheap. With the new Wraith Vs Knight 2 player deck coming out in a matter of weeks, it could end up changing what the chase cards are for the set.

While we’re on the subject of chase cards, one of the things that I love about the set is the introduction of full-art foil variants in packs. And with that smooth segue, why don’t we get to the part of this post most of you actually care about – the Opus IX Bingo Raffle!

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For the fourth set in a row, I’ve managed to avoid the shame of embarrassment and make enough correct predictions to make a complete row in Bingo! To both celebrate and to say thanks to the FFTCG community members who continue to humor me by reading my dinky little blog, I’ve gotten my hands on a few awesome prizes to raffle away. So what can you win this time?

Prize A: Gabranth Full Art Foil

Gabranth is probably my favorite card from Opus IX, and IMO is one of the strongest cards in the set considering how many relevant targets he can search for and how easily he can be fit into a wide variety of decks. I’m once again partnering with my bro Nicola at Envy Games (check his site out for great deals on singles!) for prize support.

I… actually really want to keep this for myself, but this is the sacrifice that I make in order to continue being the pillar of the FFTCG community that I am. Heavy is the crown.

I'm keeping the letter he sent with the card though. You can never take that away from me. 

Prize B: Final Fantasy XIV Charms (set of 2)

Also making a return for prize support is local NY artist and my favorite person to play FFTCG with, Rena Shen, who was cool enough to provide me with some adorable Final Fantasy XIV charms she made that feature her artwork. You’ll be able to select which set you’d like to receive if you’re picked as a winner: Hien & Estinien, Scholar Fairies Eos & Selene, and Ser Aymeric who is paired with a pin of Lord Haurchefant from the Heavensward expansion.

I'll pick one winner per set, so in total there will be 4 prize winners. So how do you enter the raffle? 

Raffle Rules: 

1) In order to be eligible for the raffles, you must complete the survey I'll be linking below. Your entry makes you eligible to win either prize from each category, but there will be a separate winner announced for each. Each winner will be chosen at random. 

2) The contest is open to both local and international fans of the TCG, so if you don't happen to be from the US, don't sweat it! I will be in contact with the winners to discuss shipping arrangements. 

3) The Raffle submission period will go for 11 days from the post date of this blog (August 21st - September 1st), and I will announce the winners via Facebook on Sunday the 1st at 8PM EST. 

4) I will contact the winners via the email they submit in the survey. If I do not hear back from a winner in 48 hours, I will choose another winner at random, so be sure to submit an email that you check often! 

5) You will be able to select which XIV Charm Set you want from the survey if you win that prize. You won't be able to change which Job pin you'll receive after you submit the survey, so choose wisely! 

Okay then, now that everybody is up to speed, if you want to enter the raffle then click the link below! 

Enter the Raffles Here!!

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So there you have it everyone! Good luck to everyone who enters the raffle and thanks so much again to everyone who helps make Opus Bingo a success. I always love reading everybody's comments about the categories they're hoping get picked in future sets. Who knows, maybe next time Aranea might actually be in it? I don't actually care for her personally but it's becoming a matter of personal pride that she hasn't made an appearance for a lot of people it seems. 

For my next post, I'm going to be trying some content that's a bit of a departure from what I usually do, but I need a bit of time to figure out how I want to do it. I'm really excited to show it off though, so keep your eyes peeled! 

Until next time - Keep on Grinding, 

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