Introducing a New 4-Player Format: The Twin Party System!

Hey there everyone! Welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight: The FFTCG Blog that got 75% of its remaining DLC cancelled. 

Let me start things off by wishing everyone a Happy New Year! This past year of getting to be a part of the FFTCG community has been a blast. I started the year off unemployed, getting ranched hardcore on all of my matches, and generally not having a clue how to improve my overall skills with the game. Now... well really the only thing that's changed is that I'm employed. But it's been a pretty great year - I've met a ton of awesome players and fellow FFTCG content creators, and I'm looking forward to getting to play with and explore the wonderful enigma that is the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game Community, but most importantly losing a lot of matches in the future. 

LOSERS CUP 2019 AT THE JAVITS CENTER HELL YEAAHHH!

2019 is shaping up to be a big year for the game already. The first ever FFTCG Fan Festival is right around the corner, and we've gotten confirmation that a brand new official game mode will be making its debut there: Boss Fight! 

With this in mind, I figured now would be the perfect time to introduce something that the FFTCG NYC crew has been workshopping for awhile now. So ladies, Gents, and Otherwise - I'm happy to premier a brand new four player game mode for the new year - the Twin Party System! 

The Twin Party System, or TPS for short, is a team based format where two players join forces in a four-way match. While experimental four player variants are nothing new to the card game scene, the FFTCG NYC Crew has been testing, tweaking, and brainstorming to create what we believe is the best, most solid format possible, with an adjusted ruleset from a typical constructed match to really make playing in teams both strategic and fun. In short, the goal of the TPS is to make players feel like they've formed a party just like in the games, as well as to give local tournaments different format options to utilize. 

The TPS was the brainchild of Andrew Cheah of the FFTCG NYC Crew, who besides being a chill-as-hell human being, was one of the people who helped me get marginally less sucky at this game, and also helped grab me my first official playmat from a tournament, which has now become damp and sodden with my tears. 

Some fast facts about Andrew:

• Is one of the founders of the NYC group and is now our number one Asian player by default after the previous one moved to the Philippines.
• His favorite Final Fantasy character is Bartz from Final Fantasy V.
• He'll break your heart then Break your Forwards.
• He's actually a World's Qualifyer... for CardFight!! Vanguard, though he did place 17th at the Boston Crystal Cup last year.

• Because he's played a variety of card games at a competitive level, Andrew has gained a unique perspective on the FFTCG's Mechanics and Formats, which led to the creation of the Twin Player System. 

You can learn more about Andrew's process for creating this new Format at the end of this posting, along with some of his tips and suggestions for playing it. But for now, lets get to what everybody came here for: How to play the Twin Party System.

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The Twin Party System: A Four Player Format

Before we get started there are two things I want to point out: 

• The Twin Party System is an unofficial Fan-Created Format, and is not currently supported by either Hobby Japan or Square-Enix.
• Despite being a member of the team who tested it, I do not claim any personal ownership over its creation, and merely wanted to share it with the FFTCG Community on behalf of Andrew and the FFTCG NYC Team.  

Now that we have that out of the way, lets go over how to play the Twin Party System!

Download PDF Version  

New: Cosmos/Chaos Mode Rulings

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About the Format

As I've said in the past, I really enjoy opportunities to use my blog to showcase other members of the FFTCG community, so here's a brief Q&A with Andrew, the creator of the TPS Format. I hope that you come to fear love and respect him as I have over this past year. 


🔰 What is your experience with TCG's and how did you get into the FFTCG?
 
AC: Ok, so the Sparknotes version of that is: I played card games all my life starting with Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic the Gathering. In 2011 I discovered Cardfight!! Vanguard, and that was what got me more seriously into card games. Starting in 2013 myself and a group of friends banned together to form a 4 player Vanguard format to support lack of organized play. 

In 2017 though, my interest in the game waned due to company decisions, so I was ready to get into a new game. Last summer one of our local card game shops Silk Road was chosen for the FFTCG Petit Cup. Since I was close with the owner of Silk Road, I reached out to Jonathan Amar from another local game shop, The Uncommons to help support the event. After playing so many other games, This one just felt right -I went from collecting to building and then working to grow our local community.

🔰 How did you come up with the Twin Party System Format?
 
AC: I like experimenting with different game Formats and was surprised that the FFTCG didn't have anything like that yet. A Four Player mode is kind of a natural "next step" for a TCG like this since people like to team up with their friends and win - by crushing other friends. 

The idea behind the TPS Format started back in April of 2018. I figured if the FFTCG was good as a one player game, since it allows for so much freedom and experimentation in deckbuilding, a 4 player variant would be a great idea. The build being showcased here is final version of the beta build that's been tested out with fellow NYC players.

🔰 What do you think the best way to play the TPS Format is - having a teammate randomly assigned to you, or signing up as a team?
 
AC: For casual it's more fun to play with a random person but for a tournament format it would be best to have emphasis on building pre-registered teams rather than blind 2v2 matches, just because it allows you to synergize with your partner much better that way.


🔰 What are some of your recommendations for deckbuilding for this format?

AC: I think if you're starting out, each partner having a Mono Element deck would be a good idea to test the waters and see how each element plays off of each other in a team setting.
Once you've gotten acclimated, i think Dual color decks are going to be a bit crazier, but it can also allow certain deck types to fully experience the best of every color available without one deck having to carry four elements. For example, Warriors of Light can split 4 elements into 2 per person, or allowing off-color Knights like Garland 6-002L or Delita to benefit from having a partner running Water/Lightning Knights. 

🔰 Any suggestions for team synergy strategies?
 
AC: Because the FFTCG is so flexible in term of playstyles, it really depends on the theme of what each team wants to do. 

One player can play more defensively with an element like Water by ramping up and playing more forwards to block for the team with. You can pair that with a partner running a more offensive build like Mono Lightning, who can mess with the opponents field while also building up their own side of attackers. 


🔰 What are your hopes for the TPS Format?
 
AC: I'm really interested to see how people react to a different format. It would be great to get feedback from the community and see if people would be interested in testing it out at their local stores. If people like it and used it as a supplement to standard constructed, that would be cool, but it's up to the will of the players to drive an external Format like that. It would be great to have more options for people, stores, tournaments, ect.

But really, I just want somebody to pull off the dream of a Bartz/Gilgamesh team... 

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So there you have it folks! A brand new format for the New Year! What do you guys think of the Twin Party System? Would you be interested in trying this out at locals or casuals? If you do, let me know what you think! The FFTCG NYC Crew is looking to make this a fun experience for everybody!


Until next time - Keep on Grinding,

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Cast Curaga on Envy Games for a chance to win a Creature Bring Arts Bahamut!

Hey there everyone, and welcome back to Lv. 1 Onion Knight: The After School Special Edition.

So let's get right to the point - about a week ago, my good bro Nicola Militello and owner of the Final Fantasy TCG shop Envy Games had his car broken into after attending an event, with - among other things - over 5 thousand dollars worth of cards and FFTCG merchandise stolen. Having your personal collection of cards stolen would be bad enough, but considering that the merchandise stolen was all of the Foils and Legends going to be sold on his shop, the theft has put the continued operation of Envy Games in jeopardy. To help the store recover, one of Nicola's friends has set up a GoFundMe drive, and I've also decided to use this blog as a platform to help Envy Games recover with a special raffle, the details I'm going to go into at the end of this post.

But before I do that, I wanted to talk about why Envy Games is important to me and to the Community as a whole. On a more personal level, Nicola has been one of the biggest supporters of my silly little blog, always giving me advice and ideas, prize support for my last raffle, and promoting it whenever I make a new post. It's not a far reach to say that without Nicola's support, I would never have gotten the viewership that let me do the spoiler reveal for Opus VI. A good deal of the outreach I've been able to have with the community through Lv.1 Onion Knight has been a direct result of his help, so it goes without saying that when given the opportunity to pay it forward, I'm going to do what I can. 

Nicola has also done so much more for the community than just selling cards. For those of you who don't know, He's also the winner of the first official North American FFTCG community contest. He was officially recognized by the company for hosting, in his own words, a "sick 3 day event at the second largest anime convention in the US." 

That little Goatee thing that he's rocking is decidedly -not- sick but I've learned to look past it.

During the event, not only did he host several win-a-box tournaments and taught new players about the FFTCG, but also made it a point to promote the game at the A New World Final Fantasy Concert held at the convention. Here he passed out special flyers he made detailing the game, online resources, and instructions on how to connect with local FFTCG communities with an additional gift attached: Premade booster packs he put together with cards from the most recent sets - two of each element, a foil, and a Hero included in each. That kind of effort towards building the community has always been apparent in what Nicola does. Whether it's the hand-written notes giving deck building advice he includes with every order placed through his shop, or driving to stores 3 times a week to host local events, Nicola has always sought out to support and grow the FFTCG Community.

As of right now, the Final Fantasy Trading Card game is - in my opinion - at a critical point in its growth, though still very much in its infancy. Hell think of all the times that you've had people say, "Oh, I didn't even know there was a Final Fantasy Card Game" when you tell them about it. When I first started getting into the game last October, it was hard to know where to start getting information, or even find places where I could buy the cards, and I would have loved to have met someone like Nicola at a convention to get me on the right track. I personally only got into playing the game seriously due to the dumb luck of being at the right store at the right time to have met Richard Brady. Right now, what the community needs is people like Nicola who are willing to put in the work it takes to make the game approachable to new players and casual fans, as well as support the competitive scene. So that's why I decided in the end, I wanted to lend what aide I could to Envy Games in its time of need.

So that's where the raffle on my blog comes in. Below I'm going to be attaching a link to Nicola's GoFundMe recovery page - For every 10 dollars that a person donates, they'll get an entry into a raffle for a special prize that I've purchased - a Final Fantasy Creatures Bring Arts Bahamut Action Figure.

It's the next best option to summoning the real thing.

With an 18-inch wingspan, incredibly detailed and fully articulated, this figure is not only flipping huge, but it's a great collectible for any Final Fantasy fan. With an MSRP of $150, it's a great chance to support somebody who has played a large role in growing the community as well as as potentially win a pretty lavish prize. So if you donate 30 dollars to the GoFundMe page, you'll get 3 entries for the Bahamut Raffle, and so on. Also, several other content creators have donated prizes to be used for the GoFundMe efforts, so even if you don't win the Bahamut, there are lots of other things being added to the prize pool, including the new Opus VI card sleeves and playmats, Custom FFTCG Dice and more. All together, you have lots of incentive to be a philanthropist and potentially walk away with some great swag!!

Click here to Donate to Envy Games and enter the Bahamut Raffle!   

The winner will be selected at random at a time and method TBD at Nicola's discretion, so be sure to stay tuned to Envy Game's Facebook page, as well as Lv.1 Onion Knight for more details. All together, I want to say thank you to everyone who has already donated (who will also be eligible for the Bahamut raffle as well!) and anybody who decides to lend their help to the cause in the future. If the community can work together, we can cast Pheonix Down on Envy Games! Thanks for reading everyone!

Until next time - Keep on Grinding, 

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Bingo Completion and 2k Views Community Raffle!

Hey there everyone! With last week's reveal of Pieuje, I'm happy to announce that we've finally completed a row in Opus VI Bingo! 

When I came up with the idea for the Bingo, it was really more meant for humorous purposes, and with categories like "Your Waifu" and "Fire Gets Screwed" I figured most people would take it as such. That being said, I also wanted to try and make it so a row could actually be completed, and combining my research into the Chapters cards, as well as observing general trends between set releases is how we ended up with the finished Bingo card. I figured most people would get a chuckle out of it, and forget about it. 

Boy, was I wrong. 

Every time I updated the Bingo sheet with a new stamp and posted it on community groups, people responded so well that it was almost like they were in a bigger hurry to complete a row than I was. I had to make it a rule that I only marked off one space at a time because people would suggest that certain cards triggered two or three spaces. It was really fun seeing how people would react with each new card revealed. 

Once we get closer to Opus VII's release in the Fall, I'd like to do this again, though it might be harder going forward since it looks like they're relying a lot less on the Chapters cards than in previous sets. Hell, maybe I can get some suggestions from you guys on what goes on it! Not that it'll stop me entirely from putting ridiculous categories on it, but hey, my Bingo, my rules. 

If I ever put this on a Bingo and we get it, I'm not sure if I would be oddly satisfied or horrified.

Also, my spoiler post for the Cactuar card got over 2,000 views! The amount of support I've gotten from the FFTCG community as a whole has been pretty mind-blowing, and I really look forward to providing you guys with more of my weird, pseudo-casual style content in the future. 

So with that, I wanted to do something fun for you guys, both to say thanks for reading my blog and to celebrate the release of Opus VI. So I've teamed up with some members of the community to bring you two different raffles!

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Raffle #1: Opus VI Bingo 

So as you can see, the center row was the first one to get a Bingo. Once the full set releases, I'll make a final version showing all of the categories that I managed to predict correctly. But for now, what will the raffle be for? 

Well Nicola Militello, winner of the first official FFTCG NA Community Contest and owner of Envy Games offered to provide a Foil set of the cards from Opus VI that we got the Bingo with - so what are those cards? 

Obviously, all 5 cards will be the English Foil versions - Including the Legendary Firion! Hell, I'll even sign them Kageyama-style to commemorate the occasion! 

A big thanks to Nicola and Envy Games to agreeing to provide this prize! If you haven't checked out the store yet, give him some love! He genuinely tries to make each order a custom experience, complete with hand-written notes!

Raffle #2: 2k Views 

One of the things I wanted to do with this raffle was to provide some sort of custom FFTCG accessory, while also putting the spotlight on the work of people in the community. Enter RenaPi, a local NY artist and FFTCG player. 

RenaPi is a member of my local casuals group who, like myself, is a newer player who usually gets their ass handed to them by the more experienced members of the NY scene. What gave me the idea to ask for her contribution for the raffle was her hand drawn custom TCG playmat, featuring one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters, Kuja. 

I took a ton of pictures to try and show how beautiful this piece is. I failed spectacularly to do it justice.

So for the 2k views raffle, RenaPi has agreed to create a custom full color digital piece of artwork for the winner. I will then order a 24 x 15 playmat from Inked Gaming with the artwork on it, and send it to the winner! What character will be on the playmat? Well, in order to enter the raffle, you have to list who your favorite Final Fantasy character is. Make sure you choose wisely - that will be the character she does the artwork of! 

Once again, a huge thanks to RenaPi for lending her talents to this raffle. I really wanted to take the opportunity to show off people in the FFTCG Community for something other than winning tournaments or being great at the game. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I just wanted to explore other aspects of players and fans of the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game.    

Now before we get started, here are the rules for the Raffles: 

- The Raffle submission period will begin as soon as this blog is posted (June 25th) up until 12:00PM EST on July 13th. In short, on the official release of Opus VI is when I will announce the winners. The method of announcement is TBD.

- Your entry makes you eligible for both the card set and the playmat. A winner will be selected at random for each. If you were hoping for one prize and happen to win the other... well don't be that guy/gal who complains about it!

- In order to enter, you must complete the survey that will be linked right under this list. It's really quick - only 3 questions!

- 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.

- If for some reason a prize is not claimed within one week of the winner announcement, I reserve the right to pick a new winner!

Alright, I think that takes care of everything - If you want to enter the Community Raffle then click the link below!!

Click Here to Enter Both Raffles!  

Welp, that just about covers it! I hope everyone enjoyed the Bingo, and look forward to announcing the winners!

Until next time - Keep on Grinding,   

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