Spoiled Onions - Resurgence of Power: Quistis

 

Greetings SeeD candidates in training, and welcome to Lv.1 Onion Knight: The Final Fantasy TCG blog that is participating in "No Burst November" in solidarity with all those brave souls who have ever lost a game they should have won to an EX Burst, and are totally handling it in a healthy and productive way. 

Boy howdy it sure has been awhile since last we met here. I even missed doing my usual review of the last set! What did I miss while I was away on Onion sabbatical? Has Glaciela Wezette finally earned the 20 dollar price tag she commands on TCGPlayer? Have they finally banned Bismarck? Is the Morze's Soiree deck still meta, or has everyone just made a gentleman's agreement not to use it anymore? 

In all seriousness, I really just needed to take a little bit of a mental health break, which I know must sound hilarious considering I'm talking about the very arduous task of writing about trading cards here. But after running this little dog-and-Chocobo show for the last 4 years, I kind of hit a wall when it came to thinking of stuff to write about. I was also honestly kind of tepid about Rebellion's Call and I couldn't really figure out how to write a good-faith review of the set that didn't boil down to a bunch of weirdly specific issues I personally took with the way certain cards were designed. Sure, I could write a whole article about how much of a missed opportunity it was to not have that one Ranger Backup be a Dancer to give consistency to an actual Tribal deck like Samurai, Dragoons and Monks got, but would anybody read it? 

Put him in the game you cowards. 

You might not guess it from just how much sarcasm I usually inject into this blog, but I do actually care about writing something that people will get some sort of use out of. And trust me, nothing quite saps the old creative juices quite like sitting down and forcing yourself to try and write something just for the sake of writing something. But hey, who knows? Maybe I can still write something that's both fun and educational without writing a friggin' dissertation every time. And that's why you guys keep coming back here right? To learn stuff? 

... 

So yeah, anyway, here's a new spoiler from Resurgence of Power.  

Quistis, AKA Miss Trepe if you're nasty, hits the scene to take your other Forwards to school. It's been a good while since we've gotten a new Quistis card - or solid category VIII support in general, a fact which I'm constantly reminded of by the curiously high number of the FF8 fans I seem to have in my life. But with two other solid Quistis cards, all you Trepies out there might find yourself hard-pressed to include her in your VIII decks. Of course, that all depends on what other support Category VIII gets this set (a new searcher not named "Rinoa" comes to mind...) but Quistis's entry effect is powerful enough that you may want to rethink how you build those old VIII decks you're dusting off in preparation for the new set.   

Removing your opponents choice on which card they have to pitch with a random discard is certainly stronger than regular discard, which might explain why we haven't seen it on too many cards before now (Fun fact: Only 4 other cards in the game before now have Random Discard effects). Since Quistis's effect triggers on attack, cards that can attack more than once are prime targets for her buff. And wouldn't you know it - the new Gilgamesh being introduced in this set also just so happens to be Category VIII! Dealing with two attacks from a 9K power Forward is already going to be difficult for your opponent to deal with, let alone randomly losing two cards from their hand. With more Category VIII cards being introduced in Lightning like Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin, Ice/Lightning might just be the way to go with VIII decks in Resurgence of Power. 

So if you REALLY want to go unga bunga on your opponent's hand, you also have Ravana, Savior of the Gnath as an option to use with Quistis's random discard since he can attack a whopping four times a turn. Since it's impossible for him to get Brave like Gilgamesh though, you have to rely on cards breaking to activate Ravana again and keep on swinging. Of course, it doesn't say that it has to be your opponent's cards that break, so an Ice/Lightning deck with cards that can put themselves into the Break Zone like Coeurl and Kazusa can help get more attacks out of him. It will take a few turns of setup beforehand, but once Quistis hits the field, your opponent will have to take 3 or more attacks, losing a random card for each one, and have one of their Forwards broken by Kazusa on top of that.

Using Quistis's effect in Ice/Wind can also quickly shred your opponent's hand size thanks to cards like Chelinka and Byblos. Turn Byblos into a Forward after Damage 3, then play Quistis to pump him to 9k and play Chelinka to give Byblos Brave and a second attack. With this combo your opponent will be forced to discard 4 cards from their hand, and can also Dull/Freeze 4 Forwards as well, all for only 5 CP. Other cards with on-attack discard effects like Serah or Lasswell are great options to target with Quistis too. 

All around, I view Quistis as a long overdue upgrade to Argath from Opus I, sacrificing the instant speed of his discard for more potent random hand disruption that has higher potential to abuse with combos. Topping it all off with the ability to buff up one of your Forwards by 2k, and you've got a versatile new option that fits nicely into discard-heavy Ice decks. Not too shabby for a Common eh? 

"Who are you calling common??"

So that's my spoiler for Resurgence of Power! Thanks as always to Square Enix for the opportunity to reveal new cards to the community! And thanks for giving me permission to soft spoil the card early in my latest Bingo! Is it cheating? Absolutely! But after losing the Bingo from Rebellions Call, don't I deserve it?

I swear, that's not the reason why I've been away for so long... haha... 

Looks like things are off to a much nicer start this time around though! I'll be eagerly awaiting more card reveals while I prep for our NY local two-deck Title tournament in a few weeks. I'm calling it the "Doom Series" because it's like... you know, a twisted version of the Reraise series? Do you get it? 

This rapier wit is why they pay me the big Gil here folks.

Until next time - keep on grinding,

 

 

 

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Spoiled Onions: A Crystal Dominion Card Reveal - The Emperor

Hey there all you beautiful rulers of Heaven and Hell, and welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight - the Final Fantasy TCG blog that couldn't quite make the cut for the Wild Rose Rebellion, so I joined the Star Onion Brigade instead. 

Merry Spoilermas everyone! Have you all been good boys and girls these past few months? No? Well luckily for you, this beardy fellow still gives out presents regardless of that whole pesky "morality" thing. When it comes to making content about new spoilers, a lot of it comes down to the luck of the draw. Sometimes the card is just so straightforward that it can be difficult to think of anything particularly interesting to write about it. This time however, I have quite a lot to say about the one I was given, so without further ado, take a look at my community spoiler for Crystal Dominion: The Emperor!

We've had a few versions of The Emperor since the Wild West days of Opus I, and several of them to have some kind of floating effect - or the ability replace themselves with another card when they leave the field so you don't lose any resources. In fact this version of the tyrannical ruler from Final Fantasy II is extremely similar to The Emperor (1-185H) from the original set. Both of them have the ability to search out and play another copy of a Card Name The Emperor directly from the deck when they hit the Break Zone, but there are some key differences with the new version that make this one considerably more playable. 

For one, not being Dark and the lower cost are considerably better for setting up a floating effect. While the old version of him didn't have a cost restriction on the Emperor that could be played, being limited to playing one of cost 5 or less really doesn't matter since none of the current crop of Emperors cost more than 5 in the first place. Realistically, you could "trade up" to the Dark Emperor with the new version and set up a continuous loop of Emperors, (and we'll get into that more in a little bit...) but the nice thing is that the new card's effect doesn't force the new Forward to come in dull like the old one did. 

The second effect is admittedly a bit slow and restrictive, since it has Ice's frustrating restriction of only being able to target dull Forwards. That being said, 8000 damage is usually enough to take out a majority of Forwards, and can be repeated every turn, so if anything it's not a bad piece of utility removal if you really find yourself needing it.

The most notable aspect to this card though is that it can also be used to float into Backups, though for the time being the only option you have is The Emperor (7-134S). The Opus I version could also do this of course - and just as a heads up to any new players out there, Backups will always enter the field dull regardless of if the text specifies it or not. But having this ability on a low-cost Ice Forward gives the element a new way to ramp up resources quicker while still maintaining board presence. Running both the new version and the Backup together as a two-card combo might not be a bad idea for any Ice deck that appreciates having a sticky, hard to remove Forward that can be converted into a Backup.

That being said, I think that we can get a little bit more... inventive with how we make use of this maniacal ruler here. So this time around, I thought it might be fun to go completely off the walls and come up with a deck profile using the new card and more Emperors than you could possibly hope to overthrow. It might not rock the foundations of the meta, but hey, I didn't come here to win. I came here to make friends. 

Obviously since the new cards aren't up yet on FFdecks, I used the Lightning Emperor as a placeholder - though if you can find some way to incorporate him into your own deck then hey, more power to you. But I thought it might be cool to use the floating effects of the various Emperor cards to create a Mono-Ice Emperor... tribal deck? What do you even call a deck that revolves around different versions of the same character? A cult deck? In any case, here we're going to be combining Ice's discard effects with a revolving door of Emperors to limit your opponent's options and eventually overwhelm them with a lot of low-cost Forwards. 

I always thought that The Emperor from Opus XII was actually a really cool attempt to create a new kind of discard deck, but it may have been too difficult to set up before. The new Emperor from Crystal Dominion actually does quite a bit to grease the wheels of an Emperor Engine though. Play him early and once he's sent to the Break Zone, float him into another copy of himself or the Dark one, then repeat into the Opus XII Emperor. You've already got enough Emperors in the Break Zone to trigger his Discard entry effect. You can keep forcing your opponent to pitch cards every time he's removed since the deck has more than enough Emperors to send to the Break Zone as Fuel to play him back on the field. 

You could also take advantage of the fact that these guys are difficult to get rid of. Force them to waste their removal on them only to play another one onto the field, and keep the cycle going until you're ready to play down the Opus XII one. 

Of course, you're not much of a Machiavellian tactician without a contingency plan, so the deck also has a few other options of Emperors you can grab. Floating into either of these cards does put an end to your loop, but they can still have their uses. The Opus V Emperor can punish decks that do a lot of searching and drawing by locking up their board, and playing him from the deck makes paying 1 CP for his discard effect much more efficient. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Opus XIV Emperor can give you some extra draw power of your own since the deck runs so few Summons that you'll almost always reveal a Character with his effect. 

To the surprise of nobody, Sterne Leonis might actually be the most important card in the deck. What, did you guys think that I was too much of a contrarian to include him in here? Oh no mon frère, even I couldn't resist his dark, princely allure. Sterne seriously provides way too much value to what this deck wants to do to not attempt to play him as early as possible. Getting a discard with cards like Aragth and Palom for only 1 CP is just too darn good. The fact that it makes your Crystal Dominion Emperors even more efficient is icing on the cake. 

Since the deck can quickly pump Forwards into the Break Zone using the Emperor Cycle, you won't have to wait very long to be able to use Sterne's effects, pushing your board of small Forwards to break past your opponent's defenses. If you don't draw into Sterne, then at least try to play him as quickly as you can from the deck with Spiritus. 

Playing Emet-Selch cheaper with Sterne Leonis helps you get even more value out of his ability to search and play a Backup from the deck. There are a lot of different utility Backups you can grab with him, like Don Cornero for a discard, Ysayle for a search, or Snow to get free dulls when you swing with your board of smaller Forwards. You can also go for Eduardo if you're ready to go in for the killing blow. 

Because this deck wants to pluck cards from your opponent's hands with cheap discards, Vayne can be useful for limiting their options further and forcing their Forwards to break. I may just be emotionally scarred though, since a player from our locals uses this guy all the time and it's actually really friggin' aggravating. I'm looking at you Rob Wu. Either way, since the deck has limited ways of outright removing troublesome Forwards, Vayne helps fill that gap. 

Other Tips: 

• You're running a lot of low-power Forwards, so you can catch your opponent off guard by using Shivalry to pump them and get another discard. 
  
  
• Since you need to have your Break Zone set up, this deck is super vulnerable to Mist Dragon. Edward's Silent Verse S-Ability is essential for cancelling it. 
  
  
• Be aware that the Emperor's effect specifies that he needs to hit the Break Zone - if he's bounced back to your hand or removed from the game, his effect won't trigger. 
  
  
• This deck was created by Lv.1 Onion Knight, which is an innate weakness on its own. You've been warned.
  
  

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So there you have it folks! Another spoiler down. Before you know it, Crystal Dominion will be out and we'll be instantaneously hungry for the next set to come out. Thanks as always to Square Enix for letting this humble little Onion Knight share spoilers with the community. 

Oh, and in case you missed it on social media, we're doing bingo as always. So far I've only managed to get one space on here, but honestly "Dancer Tribal" could be the only one of these I manage to get right and I would still be thrilled. Back in my Final Fantasy XI Online days, Dancer was my main job. As such I am fully prepared to turn it into my tribal deck of choice. If you want to win the next Bingo raffle, you can fully bribe me with a playset of full-art Mayakovs. It'll be our little secret, I promise. *Wink and double finger guns*

Until next time - keep on grinding, 

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