Happy Prerelease Weekend! A Noob's Deck Build Ideas for Opus IX Legends

Hey Folks, and welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight - The Final Fantasy TCG blog whose biggest source of controversy with this game is how the hell I'm going to get the rest of those damn elemental dice. 

With only a few more days until the official prerelease, the transitional period between new set metas is always an exciting time, but it can also be a fairly frustrating one too. You see, whenever new cards are spoiled there's always this bizarre phenomenon that occurs where there's a frenzied rush to declare whether or not cards will see end up seeing play in pre-existing decks rather than what new decks could be built around them. 

Now to be clear, I'm not saying that I take issue with people having open discussion about what they think about new cards and whether or not they think they'll be impactful based on the information we have available to us - That's a natural part of any major TCG set release, because it's how we as players engage with both old and new cards to define the upcoming meta. 

What I'm talking about here though is when cards are reviewed in a vacuum based off of theoretical card 1 v 1 situations (x card is bad because y card exists and will always be in your opponents deck and usable immediately with no counter measures available to you) or knee jerk reactions based off what the player base at that moment in time considers to be good value (such as people dismissing cards like Nidhogg and Veritas in prerelease set reviews because of their high printed cost) and branded as good or bad with the absolute and solemn severity of a jury on a murder trial. 

Reading some of the sassy comments about cards and it's like I'm back on the Drag Race Reddit.

Now of course, no card is immune from criticism, and sometimes just aren't very good in the end and that's absolutely fine. It's impossible for every card in a set to be a new 3-of staple in every deck of their respective element. You won't find any arguments that Palom-L is a wrongly maligned gem here. But I guess it's extra frustrating during prerelease season since we don't actually have all of the information about what will be released in the set, so a card that looks bad on paper might gain a piece of support from a source that hasn't been revealed or had the opportunity to test out yet. As much as Nidhogg was the linchpin card of VIceKings, it's the combination of Opus VI Rinoa (who wasn't spoiled until the entire set was shown if I recall correctly) and an unassuming Rare card in the form of Leila that supports that deck. 

Also judging cards in a vaccum can be pretty difficult since you're always going to have 49 other cards in any deck that can help cover the shortcomings of a card or help set up an engine for the deck. So today I figured I would take a look at some combo and deck building ideas for some of the new Legends in Opus IX! 

Being that this article is coming out so close to the release of the set, its entirely probably that this whole thing will be made obsolete very quickly, but I wanted to take a little time to get the ball rolling with some constructive speculation that might be a good starting point for deck ideas. It's also likely that I'm totally off about how effective these cards will end up being. In that case, if you the reader take it as a personal point of pride that you were correct that a card was trash before you even played it, you can always print out this certificate and hang it up on your fridge to let everybody know you were right all along. 

Of course, doing that still won't get you the pleasure of hearing me admit that I was wrong about any of this. You see kids, the way to guarantee that you're never wrong about anything is to never have an opinion any stronger than "I dunno, maybe this could work." You're welcome.

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Vayne

 

Vayne is one of the Opus IX spoilers that was probably the most hotly contested, with half of the playerbase thinking that he was an insanely powerful card with crazy board wipe potential, and the other half thinking he was unplayable garbage because he costs 5 and has too many opportunities to break him and waste the CP spent on him before the effect goes off. 

Wossy Plays actually did a really great job of breaking down both sides of this argument in a video way more informative than anything I could ever muster, so I'll try not to repeat too much of what he discussed there. The fact that Diabolos is one of the most popular Summons in the game right now is definitely problematic... or at least it would be if Ice didn't have an unusual amount of ways to deal with Summons. 

Edward and Celes in particular are cards that have seen a lot of play in Ice decks, and just their presence on the board is enough to make your opponent think twice about paying for an expensive Summon to dispose of Vayne, regardless of if you actually have another copy of them in your hand to pay for their S abilities. Summoner on the other hand, is a bit more awkward to use than similar negation backups like Layle or Cait Sith, but has the benefit of cancelling any Summon regardless of the cost. By the way, speaking of Earth cards... 

 

I get that this combo is a meme at this point but baby, when it's right, it's right. 

Because Tama doesn't have an "only on your turn" restriction like Star Sibyl, you can wait until your opponent isn't in a position to respond to Vayne's effect, such as just before the end of their turn when they've dulled all of their backups. Because Vayne's effect triggers at the end of the turn, played with Tama it skips the waiting period that leaves him vulnerable to removal and reduces the likelihood that your opponent will have the CP to pay to prevent their forwards from breaking. 

Tama aside, I think Vayne could be a key piece in a new kind of Ice/Earth build that focuses around "tax" effects, with cards like Undead Princess, the Flan Suite, and perhaps even finally bring the FFTA cards like Cid Randell, Remedi, and Babus into the limelight. Combined with Ice's natural access to discard, you can manipulate your opponent's resources easily and keep them on their toes with their CP management. 

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OH AND ALSO MIST DRAGON!  

Other Options with Vayne:

• Ice Version of Porom for cheap Backup manipulation. 
• Ice/Wind builds with cards like Zidane-H, Miounne, and Y'shtola to limit your opponents removal options. 

Wol 

 

So if Vayne was the most debated Legend of Opus IX, Wol was the most outright loathed upon its reveal. At first I was a little confused by this card too, since it has an odd color restriction and does nothing until it's sent to the Break Zone where it does 9k to an opponent's Forward of your choice. The immediate comparisons to Xande and Veritas were made, a point which was yet again covered by another FFTCG content producer, Alex Scott in their great article about Wol for The Mysidia Post.

I think that one of the traps that people fall into when they evaluate new cards prior to release is that they compare it to pre-existing cards with similar effects without taking into consideration the support that it might have thanks to its Job, Category, or Element. I think that's what separates this Wol from Veritas or Xande, in that Warrior of Light currently has a lot of support for it, with stuff like Aigis and the FFIII power boosters, Sarah (Mobius) for recursion, and Opus II Legend Warrior of Light to make him harder to kill. Unlike cards like Yuri and Veritas that can be splashed into a wider variety of decks, Wol would need to be played in a Warrior of Light specific deck.

The biggest problem is that there are already 2 other cards named Wol that already do a very good job in Warrior of Light decks, and one of those is one of the most powerful cards in the game right now... 

I'm going to go out on a limb and be a crazy person for a second and say that both of the Light Wols might be a little bit more useful in a dedicated Fire/Earth or multi-color Warrior of Light Tribal Deck than the Earth one is, funnily enough. With Aigis giving a blanket Brave effect and the opportunity to have multiple anthem cards like Ingus, Luneth, and Lyse that affect all of your Forwards, the two most used of Wol's 4 effects become a bit of a moot point unless your opponent has a board full of 12k Forwards, which tends to be unlikely - the No EX bursts and dull ping effects are still very useful though. 

Of course, you could also run the new Wol in any other combination of decks, like Wind/Water or Fire/Wind so there's less of a conflict, but not running Opus IX Wol in Earth cuts off a lot of his access to things like Sarah (Mobius) and Hecatonchier, but also the card that probably works best with it - Magic Pot. 

Oh Magic Pot... everybody thought you were going to break the game when you came out in Opus IV and you landed with an unimaginably loud thud instead. And before you ask, yes you can use Magic Pot to get around Wol's color restriction requirement, since it still functions the same way as cards like Opus VIII Bahamut or 3 CP Estinien which can be cheated in by cards that bypass the "Can only be played" requirement, unlike Livia whose requirement is checked by her Enter the Field effect, but we'll get back to her a bit later. 

Setting up a Magic Pot and playing either of the two Light Wols puts your opponent into a rough spot, since both of them have effects that trigger and give you a decently large advantage - for example you can sacrifice Opus V Light Wol with Magic Pot to block an attack or effectively fizzle an ability/summon and bring in an aggressive attacker that is harder to remove and play a 3 CP or less Warrior of Light from the break zone onto the field, and vice versa. 

That being said the reason I actually kind of like the new Light Wol is because he's similar in function to 5 CP Fire Cloud in that it slows down aggressive removal and forces your opponent to have to think twice about breaking it. Veritas does this as well, though I think because of all the Warrior of Light support we have and will most likely continue to get in future sets combined with a lower cost and over curve body, in the right deck Opus IX Wol might be a better choice than Veritas. Maybe. Don't quote me on that. 

Other Options with Wol: 

• "Mono Light" used to be a thing back in the day apparently, so playing him with with Cosmos, Warrior of Light-L, Rain, and/or Yuri with Ultima the High Seraph as a board wipe that leaves you with Forwards. Playing with Earth support lets you run Tilika to pitch excess Light cards for CP too.
• The aforementioned Cloud in Fire based builds since it builds a board of large bodies that are tough to deal with if your opponent has nothing to remove them from the game. The new Backup Shadow can make those removals -really- hurt too.

 

Yiazmat 

 

I don't know if Yiazmat was a particularly contentious card other than the fact that instead of the Mobius artwork, people see a big gigantic number nine taking up most of the space on the card there. Either way he's got a sick EX burst, and decently relevant modal effects, but I think this guy currently suffers from "What do I take out to play this" syndrome since Mono Wind currently has a pretty decent Boss Monster in the form of Fina-L. He can certainly give you back huge returns if he manages to stay alive, which is always the tricky part. I think that because of this, Yiazmat might be served best in Wind/Water builds instead, using water's natural drawing ability to help pay his large cost similar to VIcekings. What would you call this sort of deck then? WIkings? Whatever.

Using Lunafreya is a way to protect your Yiazmat from opposing Diaboloses or other removal (at least on your opponent's turn), while also having the nasty effect of replaying him on to the field and retriggering his entry effect and lets you use another effect as soon as it becomes your next turn. Plus in Water/Wind you have a lot of other options you can use this on, like Cloud of Darkness or Y'shtola, the latter of which is also great protection for your big boy and reduces your opponent's options for removing Yiazmat. 

While Aerith doesn't necessarily combo with Yiazmat to do anything in particular, unless there's a sudden upsurge in people playing Opus VIII Bahamut, it makes it very hard to deal with using anything other than insta-break cards. I like using Aerith over Minwu in this case because she lets you reactivate your backups on death, making her a good target for Veritas/Famfrit selection removals. And as we all know, Wind loves having the ability to reactivate forever. 

Oh hi Yuri, you heard me say "reactivate forever" and showed up right? I don't really think I need to explain the appeal of using Yuri with Yiazmat, since you can stack the order that you use his abilities with when Yiazmat's Main Phase effect triggers to effectively use Yuri four times if your backups are stacked right in Wind/Water. 

Other Options with Yiazmat: 

• I used to run a Water/Wind YRP deck that used Garnet-S, Light Yuna, Opus VI Astrologian, and a bunch of draw summons like Pupu and Moogle. It was really fun and you ended up drawing a lot, but I felt like it needed a "Big Finisher" to take advantage of it personally. Maybe adding Yiazmat would be a solution to that?  
• I wanna say that maybe using this with the new Backup Water Ultimecia could also be pretty spicy if you can stack the deck in your favor using cards like the new XII Standard Unit Moogle Forward. 

 Nael

Nael seems to be another card people are split about, though I personally like her (Yes, it's a her. Do your research!) for Fire as a game-ender with the potential to be a super efficient threat that lets you play multiple Meeths or other non-standard unit  backups with one-time effects. Luckily she's not dependent on needing to have the other Garlean Generals, or a particular element of backups for her effect, so she can be put into a lot of different decks. 

That being said I do want to try using her in Fire/Lightning because there's a lot of other Category XIV Forwards that could make for a really aggressive, Forward heavy deck, particularly combining the Generals with XIV/XI Samurai builds. 

   

I'm kind of curious about how well this combo will play out, since the Generals don't really seem to have a whole lot in common with eachother, unlike the Earth/Lightning Scions that all seamlessly play together. I do like the idea of Gauis's ping effect getting boosted to 4k with Iroha, and the fact that he can search and play Rhitahtyn to potentially take out an 8k while building up a board is interesting, and with Hien and other Samurai, it makes having a wide board with a few Brave attackers harder to deal with. You could even throw in Yugiri to finish off another Forward with Gaius' ping and potentially clear the board to give her haste. The only thing that throws me for a loop is Livia... 

I don't know what it is about this card that makes me think that there might be something more to the Generals build other than the fact that her enter the field ability not being bypassable by stuff like Al-Cid combined with a weirdly clunky restriction and Nero's "other element than Lightning" effect... I don't know, it makes me feel like something is missing from this archetype that we haven't seen in the set yet, but that may be me being overly hopeful. She's really big for a 3 cost, so it may just be that was their way to "balance" the card... that you can effectively only play with 3 different color backups... I dunno. Maybe we'll get some kind of backup that does some kind of color fixing for the Garlean Generals and makes Livia playable or something like that. 

Golbez is another strange card that implies a few things about the type of deck that you're running. Namely that you're running a deck that is very Forward heavy and that is simultaneously running several different versions of Golbez to get the biggest bang for your buck with Double Meteor. Maybe this is meant to be another addition to a Golbez deck or something, but I'm kind of toying with the idea of running him in a deck that stacks more Forwards, and could potentially get Nael and Gaius out for very cheap. The only problem is that he also suffers from "a 5 cost that does nothing the turn that he enters and without haste support your opponent has ample opportunities to break him" combined with the fact that even with the investment you can get screwed if you reveal anything but a Forward. I dunno, was just something I was thinking about with either a Forward Heavy or All Forwards deck... Probably better to stick to XIV support tho. 

Other Options with Nael: 

• Because Gaius and Nael have high costs, a Garlean General deck could potentially benefit from running the new 7CP Fusoya with them to get a bigger ping with his draw effect, while also allowing you to run a few off color summons in the deck. 

Azure Dragon l'Cie Soryu 

 

It's kind of funny that both of the Ice Legends in Opus IX can be critiqued in the same ways, in that they're both 5 drop 9k Forwards that are vulnerable to removal before they can start building value. Well, maybe less so for L'cie here, who you can still discard cards as soon as it's played to get its effects, but you're probably going to want to start attacking to draw cards, assuming you're running this in a mono ice build to guaruntee a card every turn, and that you'll always get a draw off of this EX Burst.

Of course, all of the things that were said about Vayne with other Ice cards that can protect it from Summons apply to this guy to. What's kind of interesting though is that Type-0 Ice speficially has an unusual amount of characters that you can use with this. 

While White Tiger Qun'mi doesn't actually negate summons, it makes protecting your big slow 5 costs a little easier. Your opponent might not be so eager to slam down a Diabolos if it now suddenly costs 8 CP to cast. Also it's within the same title if we should happen to get more non-cadet type zero support. With how many cards there are in Ice Type-0, getting a backup searcher for them would do a lot for the consistency of a potential Mono Ice Type-0 build, but that's all speculative at this point.

Even though none of these guys specifically reference Type-0, they actually make an efficient little package together. Emina makes Kurasame into a soft 2 cost 7k Ice anthem Forward, and makes Kazusa into a 1 CP Backup that can function as a miniature Gesper of sorts. Again, if a Type-0 character searcher were to appear in ice, this would be even better, so get on it Hobby Japan.

Oh crap, wait, I don't think I actually want that afterall...

I actually kind of like that the Ice Legends have been getting a bit slower in this set, since in my opinion they've been one of the top elements the past few sets because they have way too much fast, easy control, and having to be a bit more thoughtful about how you use it seems well balanced, but I doubt that things will change that dramatically without some set rotations or bans happening in the near future.

Other Options with Azure Dragon L'Cie Soryu  

• What even is Type-0 as a category at this point? At this point the Ice cards have way more synergy than the actual Cadets themselves do. Like does anybody remember how in Opus V they printed an Agito Cadet searcher? I dunno, it's just super weird.
• Black Tortoise L'Cie Gilgamesh or whatever.    

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So those are just some of the thoughts about Opus IX Legends that have been rattling around in my frenzied mind for awhile. Regardless on wether or not any of these cards turn out to be good in the long run, I hope that everybody has great pulls and enjoys coming up with new deck ideas as we move into the Opus IX season! Join me next time for my overall set review as well as the results of our Opus Bingo! (Spoilers, we got it like always). 

Until Next Time - Keep on Grinding, 

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A New Chapter: A Noob's Hopes for Opus VI

Hey there guys! Welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight - the Final Fantasy TCG blog that won't shut up about Mono Fire!

Well, it feels like hardly any time has passed at all since the Opus V release, but as of last week, official English spoilers for Opus VI cards are live! Now I dunno about you guys, but I live for spoilers of any kind. Maybe I'm just impatient, but I'm the type of person who wants to have everything revealed right off the bat - the worst thing you can do to me is not update a new movie's Wikipedia plot summary because damnit, I can't take the anticipation! 

But at this point there's nothing to do but wait for new Card of the Week posts and random Facebook spoilers, hoping that these scraps of information will tide me over until July. So what does an Onion Knight do to pass the time without losing what little sanity he has left? 

Well for starters, I slipped into my Oracle robes and put a little something together to help scratch that itch: Opus VI Bingo! 

So how did I come up with the categories for this? Well, through a combination of digging through existing information, looking at trends from previous Opus's, researching cards from the Final Fantasy Chapters Series, and other sources I'm... not at liberty to talk about, we ended up with this.

As more info gets revealed, I'm going to mark off any matches I predicted correctly. Who knows, maybe by the end of this we'll be able to get a Bingo? Maybe absolutely none of my predictions will be correct. My, wouldn't that be embarrassing? But only time will tell! 

But while we wait to see how sharp my prognostication abilities are, why don't we take a moment to talk about the Final Fantasy Chapters Series? 

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So for those of you who are new like me, or have never heard of Chapters, that was the first iteration of the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game which was only released in Japan. After 15 "Chapters" of cards, the game was discontinued, and eventually rebooted and localized for additional North American and European releases. A lot of the cards from Chapters were ported over to the Opus series. Even with recent set releases, we're still not even close to being caught up to all the Chapters Cards. But trying to predict what's going to be in Opus VI based solely on Chapters can be a bit of a crap shoot. 

For one, many of the new FFTCG cards have had their effects, elements, or stats changed from the original release. Sometimes they keep the card exactly the same. Sometimes it's just a minor tweak that was made to balance the card better. For example, the original Buccaboo card had your opponent discarding three frigging cards from their hand, which yeah, two is hard enough to deal with. 

Other times the cards are changed completely - The original version of the Opus II Rinoa-L was a Wind Forward which, when sent to the Break Zone, activated all of your cards rather than dulling your opponents Forwards, with a completely different S-Ability and only got her power boost from Sorceress cards rather than any VIII Forward. The only thing that stayed the same was her cost and power! So just because a card was in Chapters doesn't mean it will remotely resemble what lands in the Opus series. Add in a bunch of mechanics that are not currently in the TCG like Leveling Up, Blue Magic, Equipment, ect, and there are some cards that are going to change no matter what.  

Additionally, the FFTCG team has been doing a great job of adding in a bunch of new cards that were never in the Chapters series to begin with. Hell, of the spoilers that we've seen so far for Opus VI, all of them are brand new cards with unique effects, which is awesome! Getting new content will keep the game fresh for both English and Japanese audiences. That being said, there are still quite a few cards from Chapters that I would love to see released in Opus VI. So after poring through lists of the original cards, I thought it would be fun to make a list of the top ten cards my poor, fragile little heart is hoping to see in Opus VI.

Before we go forward please keep the following things in mind: 

A) I have absolutely no idea if these cards will see the light of day in the Opus VI release. It's just my wishlist of Chapters cards I want to see released. So there are no concrete spoilers here!  

B) The rationale for why I want to see these cards ported to Opus VI and the value I see in them is written from the perspective of somebody who has very little idea what they are talking about! Sometimes I'll offer changes for how to improve the card, but it's based on the experience I have in the game so far. 

With that little disclaimer out of the way, lets look at some cards! 
 

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#10 - Pulsework Soldier (8-052C)

 Effect: [↷], Put Pulsework Soldier in the Break Zone: Choose 1 Character you control. Until the end of the turn, it can't Break due to effects other than damage. 

If I had made this list a week ago, I highly doubt this card would be on here. It's a 1-drop monster with a fairly unexciting and situational effect. But here's the thing: Lightning is one of the top Meta elements because it has a lot of very cheap on-entry board control effects. Insta-break cards like Seymour, Orlandeau, Exodus, Odin, Black Knight, and Dragon are all extremely aggravating to deal with. This, in my opinion, makes Lightning the feel like the"Easy Mode" of decks, an opinion that I was magnanimous enough to share with the poor innocent soul who beat me with it at my first constructed tournament. 

It may sound like I'm just bitter - and trust me, I totally am - but what I like about Pulsework Soldier is that it provides a cheap, easy solution to insta-break cards. Yes, there's already Doga who has the same effect for Earth decks, but IMO Pulsework is much better at stopping your opponent from gaining an early advantage with Lightning decks. Sure, you can play Doga on turn one, but you have to break him to protect a Forward. Your opponent still succeeds in costing you a resource - as well as a card from your hand if you don't have an active Earth Backup as a cost for his effect. 

Pulsework is a better option for early-game, because you don't have to sacrifice resources to protect your field. Just pop the bot and you're good. Oh and since it specifies a Character rather than a Forward, it protects your Backups and monsters, and you can play more than one of it for a bigger barrier against insta-break cards. It may not be a big game-changer, but any card that helps slow down Lightning decks even a little bit is welcome in my book. 

#9 - Yojimbo (8-055U)

Effect: Choose 1 Forward. Discard as many cards as you want from your hand. If you discarded exactly 1 card, it gains 5000 power and Brave. If you Discarded 3 cards or more, Break it. If you didn't discard any cards, it gains 2000 Power. 

So after just ranting about how much I hate insta-break cards, I can understand it's a bit confusing to see a card with this effect on this list. That being said, there's a few reasons why I would want this card to be ported from Chapters to the FFTCG. For one, Yojimbo is probably the coolest (fight me) Summon from Final Fantasy X, so it would be nice to finally have a Fayth Summon other than Valefor in the game. Discarding cards for a greater effect is also perfectly in line with how you would pay Yojimbo and Daigoro (his dog, if you didn't know) for a more powerful attack.

The thing that I find forgivable about Yojimbo's effect of discarding cards though is that it's a reflexive ability with several options that you can use in a variety of stages in the game, both defensively and offensively. Sure, he's a 1 drop Summon, but if you want to get an insta-break off, he becomes a 7 drop just like Odin, even with an EX burst. If you're going to have the ability to instantly Break an opponent's Forward, I think it should come with a steeper cost. His 3-drop effect is probably the better option of the three actually, giving a Forward a beefy 5k and Brave to push through your opponent's front lines and have a blocker ready to defend. Hell even a 2k boost for a 1 drop Summon isn't all that bad - you could even combo it with Grav'iton to make it 4k. 

Earth also has the means to recover the cost of the effects in a way that not only seems less cheap, but can potentially set up the Break Zone for later plays, with stuff like Miner and Tama-H. Overall, Yojimbo seems like a really solid card that would be a lot of fun to play with. 

That being said if I were to change anything about it, I would want to give it an extra effect for if you were to discard 2 cards instead. Before Opus V, I would consider that too much text for one card, but well... Wol is a thing, so why not?

#8 - Edge (6-031S)

Effect: First Strike. Wind Element Forwards you control gain this ability: When this Forward has been chosen as the target of an ability, if this is the first time this Forward has been chosen as the target of an ability this turn, the ability becomes ineffective. 

Man, poor Edge seems to get significantly less love in the FFTCG than any of the other Final Fantasy IV party members. In Opus V, everyone but him, Rydia, and Kain (and I guess Fusoya if you consider him a full party member) got new cards, with the latter two already having 3 cards. Both of Edge's TCG cards are sort of lackluster in my opinion. One is a booster for an archetype with curiously little Meta support that is kind of inferior to the Water Warrior of Light, since most Ninja cards are also Standard Units (though you can always play both for a 3k boost I guess...). The 2 drop Edge is... okay I guess for what he's supposed to do, but he just doesn't have the same amount of impact as other FFIV cards do, especially since the Ninja archetype doesn't really have too many strong Heroes like Knights and Dragoons do.

Making your Wind Forwards immune to ability targeting is pretty nice, especially since cards like Illua have been seeing more play and are generally a pain to deal with. Edge would make Wind decks extremely resilient to troublesome abilities, still having a line of defense against Summons with Yshtola's effect-cancelling ability. Suddenly that frail little Adelle becomes harder to get rid of. Cards like Zidane-L and Nana Mihgo require more Forward management from your opponent to prevent free hits. I have no idea if this soft of ability would help make Wind stronger in the Meta, but it certainly makes it more "evasive".

I would honestly kiiiiind of prefer that if this card were ported from Chapters, it would give the effect to Ninjas of any element rather than just Wind, but I may be the only person who's riding the Ninja support train at this point. Considering that we didn't get a new Edge card in Opus V, I'm hoping that the other half of the characters from FFIV who didn't get new cards will see some light in Opus VI. Speaking of which...

#7 - Golbez (7-092L)

Effect: The cost of Golbez in your hand is reduced by 1 for every Dark element character you control. 

When Golbez attacks, choose 1 Forward. If you control a Dark element character, you gain control of it and it gains Haste until end of turn. It also becomes Active.

Unlike Edge, both of the Golbez cards in the TCG have been much more impactful, being able to build a variety of decks revolving around his effects. Both of his cards are also pretty damn fun to play, being my introduction to 3+ element decks. I like the synergy the Opus II version has with the Four Fiends, both from a flavor and a gameplay perspective. He's just an all around cool dude, so I wouldn't mind getting this version of him in Opus VI... with a few slight changes. 

Rather than have his effects triggered by having a Dark Forward on the field, it would make more sense to have it attached the number of Archfiends in play, keeping it in line with the previous Golbez cards' themes. The second effect is where the real fun begins though. Whenever he attacks, be basically gets to do your opponent dirty by stealing their Forward and slapping them in the face with it. Did they just play that Forward before passing to you? Well now it has Haste, so get ready baby. Oh you swung with it last turn, so now it's dulled? That's cute, but now it's rolling with Golbez, active as the day is long.

There aren't any cards in the game right now with effects that steal your opponents Forwards for your own use, and with practically no cost it might be a little over powered. Being able to do that every turn forces a response to Golbez really quick or else it's game over. Also if you're feeling really sassy you could just ram their stolen Forward into another one to clear out their field. If I were going to balance the cost for the effect, I would make it so that you have to discard/break an Archfiend card as a cost for the steal, or at least need to have Zemus specifically on the field. That way it takes a bit longer to set up, but you still get that sweet Golbez mind control effect. Are you seeing why I want this card in Opus VI? It's the ultimate card for petty, spiteful players such as myself. 

#6 - Jecht (7-010R) 

Effect: Blitz King [S] ◆ ◆ : Make all Forwards you control Active. They can attack once more this turn. This Ability can only be used on your turn. 

As a poor, lonely Mono Fire player, I can't help but wish for cards that do more than just "does damage to a Forward." It's still my favorite element, and stuff like Pheonix and Vermillion Bird L'cie Zhuyu definitely gave Fire a push in the right direction. The Firion and Guy spoilers we've seen so far seem promising too. It just seems like other elements have way more tricks up their sleeves. One of the most successful tactics Fire has right now is Attack Phase manipulation. Red Mage, Ninja, and Tifa-L for bypassing troublesome blockers, or Cinque to force your opponent to block with a valuable Forward. Forcing your opponent to take an action during battle has a lot of potential, but a member of my local group said it best in that right now, Fire is just kind of a worse Lightning. That's where Jecht comes in. 

On the one hand, the fact that outside his S ability, he's just a 5-drop 9k beater is nothing to write home about. I would probably tack on an additional effect just to get a bit more value out of it, or at least give him First Strike or something. Unlike Opus I Jecht, who goddamnit I really really wish was a better Fire Legend, you don't have to dull him to use his ability, so you can still attack with him and the rest of your Forwards, then activate his S-ability. This would really push the aggressive play style that Fire is trying to support, and works well with cards like Sabin, Opus I Golbez, and Emperor Xande in Mono Fire. 

Being able to attack twice per turn is pretty great, and you can combo with cards like Nono and Zemus to slip through your opponent's defenses. But honestly, I would love to use this guy's effect with Eald'Narche - a card that I finally have two of!! YES!! MY SPIRIT IS FREE!! I CAN MOVE ON FROM OPUS V!! 

Ahem... but yeah, imagine activating Paradise and then Blitz King to effectively give yourself a third turn and win the game. Tidus won't be the only one with daddy issues after that. 

#5 - Quina (8-075R)

Effect: When a Monster is removed from the game, Quina gains the abilities of that Monster until end of turn.

◇ : Choose 1 Monster in the Break Zone. Remove it from the game. Quina gains 1000 Power until end of turn. This ability can only be used once a turn. 

Okay, so first of all, this artwork of Quina is an absolute trip and that's one of the main reasons why I prefer Amano's style over Tetsuya Nomura's as the standard for the Final Fantasy series. FFIX is one of my favorite games, and even though Amano didn't do the character designs for it, I love the art he did of the characters. I miss when Final Fantasy games were more high fantasy - where the worlds and characters were more colorful and inventive and weird. What even is Quina? S/he looks like a terrifying Muppet in colonial garb. Weirdly enough, I prefer that to the slew of beautiful Armani Exchange models we've been getting as leads in later installments. 

But let's talk about this card shall we? Opus III saw a heavy focus on Category IX cards, with a small handful of them in Opus IV. It would be cool if we could get some new versions of those characters. There's actually a whole series of cards from IX in Chapters that use the Amano artwork and have some pretty fun effects. It was a close tie between Quina and Garnet, who's Chapters card has the ability to cast two Summons from the Break Zone, but I think Quina could have a lot of fun synergy with Monster decks. 

S/he is a Water element which already has a good deal of Monster support with stuff like Gao, Mira, and Relm, so that's a plus right off the bat. Second, you can use Monster cards to generate CP while also using the Break Zone as a secondary resource for Quina to use their abilities from later. Choosing a card like Behemoth or Malboro not only gives Quina great defensive abilities, but an extra 1k to boot. 

The only issue is that a lot of Monsters in the FFTCG gain their effects by putting them into the Break Zone either as a cost or in response to an opponents play. The effect would probably need to be reworded to be something like, "When a Monster is removed from the game, Quina gains the effect of that Monster without paying its cost." and change the second effect to: "This ability can only be used once per turn and ignores abilities that turn a monster into a Forward of X power." It might still be a little broken to use cards with effects like Buccaboo and Ozma for only 1 CP, so maybe amp up the ability cost just a bit. Either way, it would be cool to see a mechanic that utilizes a Blue Magic-like effect in the FFTCG. 

#4 - Ajido-Marujido (5-001S) 

Effect: When Ajido-Marujido enters the field, Choose 1 Forward. Deal it 10,000 Damage. 

◆ [↷]: Choose one Forward and one Summon on the Stack. Deal 1000 Damage to the Forward for each 1 cost of the Summon. 

Okay, so if you're going to be a Fire card with an effect that does damage, THIS is how you do it. He's kind of costly for a Backup, but I'd compare him to the Heroic Yuna in terms of a Backup offering immediate removal on entry. There's not a whole lot that's going to survive a 10k blast unless your opponent wants to invest more resources into bulking up their Forwards. For a damage card to be on par with an insta-break card, it needs to hit that 8k sweet spot. We've been seeing more cards in Opus V that hit that number with Pheonix and Grenade, but it's the burn combined with his second effect that really makes me hope we see this little guy in Opus VI. 

Lets go over the pros and cons of the second effect shall we? For starters this card not only gives you an extra burn when you play a Summon, but it can also be triggered in response to an opponent playing a Summon on the stack as well. Giving fire a few more control options would be a great boost to the element. Is this card the one to do it? Well it really depends on the Summons that are being played. At first glance Ajido's effect would be great alongside Phoenix-L. You could potentially deal 8k and an additional 7k to another Forward while getting a 3 cost back from the Break Zone. The only thing really preventing this is the abilities cost. Having to tap AND pay an extra 1 fire CP makes playing alongside big, costly Summons a bit clunky. Most commonly played Summons have an average cost of 2 to 4, with a few popular cards like Diabolos being outliers. 

To get the best value out of him, you'd need to save his ability for Summons of at least 4CP. It's not necessarily a bad effect, it's just kind of situational for a 5 cost. My solution for this? The more balanced option would be make it so you just need to dull Ajido-Marujido to even out the cost a bit. The insane Fire fanboy in me would have it become a Once Per Turn auto ability though to give Fire an extremely chaotic form of board control. You could slam down Pheonix-L's for big burns, and make your opponent think twice about playing Summons onto the stack. I dunno, maybe this is an ability that seems better on paper (or in my mind - where fools fear to tread) than in execution, but with a few tweaks he could have some real potential.  

#3 - Sin (7-126S) 

Effect: The cost of Summons in your Opponent's hand increase by 1. 

During your Main Phase 1, choose one monster in either Break Zone. You may play it onto the Field. 

Ok, so here's where I stop trying to make things balanced and go into the realm of absolutely ridiculous cards. Of course, this version of Sin from Chapters isn't quite as ridiculous as the other one, but considering that a new Yuna card was just announced, I think it would be cool to see this big baddie in the TCG. There are only 3 Forwards in the game that have a cost of 8 - two of which have ways of getting them out for a cheaper cost. So that just leaves Opus I Sephiroth, who is one of the few ways in the game to break a Backup, but is too expensive to justify dropping 8 CP on an 8k Forward with First Strike. Sin however feels like it's worth such a big cost.  

Besides the fact that its a gigantic 10k Forward, Sin gets you continuous value every turn. The fact that he makes Summons cost 1 more is nice, but not really a huge game changer. He's still easily dealt with by cheap Summons like Leviathan, Opus V Ifrit and Mateus. Maybe it would be better to have him just immune to being targeted by Summons, or make the Summons cost an extra 2CP to play, forcing your opponent to manage their resources better to get rid of Sin. The thing about this card I really like is the fact that every turn, you can take a Monster from EITHER player's Break Zone and play it onto your field. 

Imagine using Sin's ability with Monsters that force your opponent to play around them like Black Knight, Clione, or Leyak. Okay now imagine that you can do that with your opponent's Monsters. I can practically taste the salt already. Being able to continuously recycle either player's Monsters may seem a bit overpowered, but considering the fact that it requires such an investment, I think in this case it's justified.

 #2 - Leo (9-159R) 

Effect: [X] [↷] Search for 1 [Job (Standard Unit)] of cost (X) or less and add it to your hand. 

At the start of your Main Phase 1, if you control 10 or more [Job (Standard Unit)], you win the game. 

I'm actually kind of surprised that I put Leo so high up on this list, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for alternative win conditions. 

While Leo is still waiting for his day in the sun, Mira was ported from Chapters to Opus IV in order to tie in with the new Monster mechanic that was introduced in that set. Originally she was a Dark Forward, and one thing I noticed from researching Chapters is that there were quite a few cards that were originally Light/Dark that were changed in the FFTCG. Considering how they can clog up your hand, its definitely for the better to just give them synergy with other elements. 

With that in mind, It would be cool if Leo would become a Wind or Water element card, considering that those elements have a lot of methods to meet that win condition. You have Chocobo Knight and Fat Chocobo in Wind, and Brahne and Merlwyb in Water to help fill up the field. Then of course you have Leo's effect to search for Standard Units of any cost. While it may seem daunting to get 10 cards on the field, keep in mind that it doesn't say they have to be Forwards, so you really just need 6 Forwards and 4 Backups total. 

Of course, this strategy is easily countered by Shantotto and other removal cards, but it would make for an exciting new playstyle where it becomes a mad dash to swarm the field with as many cheap units as possible before your opponent can respond. And besides, nothing would be sweeter than forcing your opponent to use their removal cards on your little 1 drop Knights.

#1 - The 5 Ark Angels

Guys... I tried my best not to make this list just a bunch of Final Fantasy XI cards that I wanted ported from Chapters. I really did. I exercised an incredible amount of restraint in only putting one XI character in there up until now. But that's all going out the window and my number one slot is going to five different cards under the same umbrella. Is that cheating? It's my blog, so I'm going to go ahead and say no. 

Now that both of the Zilart Princes were introduced in Opus V, it would only be natural for the Ark Angels to make their appearance in Opus VI. The only one that we've gotten so far, Ark Angel EV from Opus IV, wasn't even a port of the original Chapters card, but a new card made from the Lord of Vermilion artwork. If we're going in some sort of dubious "release order" based on Chapters, these cards were from sets that would correspond to ones found in Opus V, so it's time for them to hit the stage. All five of these cards are incredibly cool, with unique effects we haven't really seen in the game yet, and the fact that they're more XI cards is icing on the cake. 

So really quickly, I'm going to go through each one, and give some brief thoughts on them. -Cracks Knuckles- C'mon guys, you've made it this far right? We're in the home stretch here. 

Ark Angel GK (6-043U) 

Effect: Earth Element Forwards you control gain Brave. 

Meikyo Shisui [S] ◆◆◆ [↷]: Choose up to 3 Dulled Forwards. Break Them

The big guy of the group and also my personal favorite since I played a Galka in XI. Lets see... Searchable and playable by Star Sibyl, able to punish an aggressive opponent or wipe the field with Ice support. What's not to love? 

Ark Angel MR (6-029U)

Effect: Ark Angel MR can not be blocked by Forwards of cost 3 or more. 

Charm [S] ◆◆ [↷]: Choose two Forwards your opponent controls. They each deal damage to each other equal to their power. 

So I think this AA is giving Golbez a run for his money for sassiest card on this list, because making your opponent's Forwards Hecatonchier each other is just too damn sassy. The ability to swing past 3+ is only shared by Koboldroid. Good for getting that last hit to finish a match. 

Ark Angel EV (6-071U) 

Effect: Opponent's Abilities must choose Ark Angel EV if able.

Invincible [S]: During this turn, Ark Angel EV doesn't receive the effect or effects that have chosen it as a target.

This AA might be the least exciting member of the group, but the ability to not only protect a more valuable Forward from targeting, but also completely negate the effect could help maintain your field advantage, or play mind games with your opponent who may not want to waste an effect if it's just going to be cancelled.

Ark Angel TT (6-015U) 

Effect: When Ark Angel TT enters the field, choose 1 Dulled Forward. Deal it 5,000 Damage. 

Amon Drive [S] ◆ ◆ [↷] : Dull all Characters your opponent controls. They don't become Active during your opponent's next Active Phase. 

Okay so... this guy here... Wow. I can't in good conscience suggest that this keep the same ability at this cost. Not just Forwards but ALL Characters, AND they don't activate next turn? That's a lot of power packed into a 2-drop. Maybe pick two Forwards to dull and freeze or a combination of Forwards and Backups? I dunno, but can you believe this guy was equivalent to a Rare in Chapters? Geez... 

Ark Angel HM (6-057U) 

Effect: ◆ ◆, Ark Angel HM becomes Active and can attack once more this turn. You can only use this effect during your turn. 

Cross Reaver [S] ◆ [↷]: Deal 5,000 Damage to all Forwards your opponent controls. 

Finishing up the quartet we have the Hume. The S-ability is kind of uneventful, but could potentially board wipe when combo'd with Cyclops. That being said, with the action ability, please... I'm begging you. If you port this from Chapters to Opus VI, for the love of the RNG gods... Change it's element to Fire. Please... if you've ever loved me or my money... just give me this one thing... -sobs- 

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So we've finally made it to the end. What did you guys think? Is there anything you're really hoping for in Opus VI? Would you like to see these, or any other cards from Chapters in future sets? Am I officially the BuzzFeed of Final Fantasy TCG blogs? I'd love to get your opinions! 

Until next time - Keep on Grinding, 

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