A Noob's Opus XI Review and Bingo Raffle!

Hey there folks, and welcome to Lv.1 Onion Knight: The Final Fantasy TCG blog that really needs somebody to teach them how to use OCTGN or Untap or whatever so they can play this game online. 

Well, it certainly has been a few months since I've posted anything here. I'm starting to feel a bit like YouTuber from the early 2010's that keeps promising to upload more only to never follow through with any of it. Of course, things have only gotten more difficult lately now that it really does feel like a psychopathic clown moved some magical statues around and caused the world to plummet into ruin.

"Or perhaps you HOPED!"

Constant state of anxiety and depression aside, there was quite a bit going on behind the scenes this past release season. For starters, I got to write about some of the awesome new Ninja cards from Opus XI as part of the community spoilers posted on the main Final Fantasy TCG website! Clearly I'm a man who is known for his love of Ninjas, so even if it meant even less posts here between set reviews, the fact that people let me rant about them in an official capacity was pretty amazing. I feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. 

Big mistake. Big. HUGE.

I also hosted my first ever tournament with the decks that people came up with for the first Blooming Onions Challenge! As awful as I am at deckbuilding, it was insanely fun getting to test out the decks that people submitted with the NYC crew, so a big thanks to everyone who participated in the last one. I'm going to use my next post as a way of getting back on schedule with the Blooming Onions challenges, both because I'm excited to write about the winning deck (which I can honestly say had some of the most exciting and dramatic matches I've ever seen) and to reveal the card that was selected by the community vote for the next challenge. I've also been peddling Opus Bingo around on Facebook and Reddit as usual, the results of which we'll dive into a little bit later. 

If I can take a moment to get "real" for a second though, with everything that's been going on in the world, it's been a little tough for me to have the emotional energy to be creative about TCG stuff. I know that things like cancelled prerelease events and not being able to hang out at locals are extremely small in the grand scheme of things, but you'd be surprised at how not being able to do something as simple as go to the store and crack packs of cards every week with friends can impact your mood. Everybody is dealing with things the best way they know how, and I'm notoriously bad at dealing with stress. 

Jumping off a cliff never felt so relatable.

With that being said, the FFTCG community has been doing a great job at keeping things as normal as possible, and just getting to talk online about cards has been a good way to get me out of my slump, even if just for a little bit every day. I seriously wasn't joking about needing somebody to teach me how to use Untap so I can play online. Sean and I have had a lot more time to play together now, but I haven't gotten a chance to play against what people have been cooking up. Is the new Sephiroth the game-breaking, meta defining card that everybody predicted it would be when it was spoiled? I have no idea! 

Oh c'mon who ever heard of a Dark card defining the meta?

But seriously, a big thanks to everyone in the community who has been working hard to keep things going. As a filthy casual, I may give the tournament scene a lot of flack, but anybody who has worked to arrange one online is my personal hero. In particular I want to give shout outs to:

• Nick from EnvyGames for his amazing box breaks on Discord/Twitch. It's been a great way to simulate the thrill of popping packs with other people. If you can get into one, I highly recommend it - they fill up fast! And even if you don't, he does tons of giveaways during the stream too. He also provided me with some of the prizes I'll be giving away this time too!
• Mogpod Gaming for cranking out so much content every week. I'm especially a fan of their deck summary articles which have been coming out nonstop since the set released and they really gets me pumped to try some new builds.
• Richie Brady for holding things together on the US side of things and for talking me off this ledge every day. Also for effectively holding a one-woman marketing campaign convincing me to buy a PS4 so I can play the Final Fantasy VII remake. Spoiler alert: It'll be coming in this week.
• Tonberry Prince from Trading Card Game Pit for helping me get my hands on prerelease kits, boxes, tins, and generally keeping me rolling in product on a weekly basis, some of which is I'm going to be raffling off in this post! I haven't actually rolled around in the raffle items, but I could if you're into that sort of thing.

Funnily enough, this blog started out two years ago as an outlet for me to deal with my anxiety and depression as I learned how to play this game after losing my job, and I'm finding the FFTCG once again acting as my emotional shield. Getting to talk to all the friends I've made online about cards can often be the little spark that I need to distract me when getting through the next 15 minutes can seem like a challenge. If there's anybody out there who isn't having a good time right now and can have this blog do the same thing for them - even if it's just for a laugh - then consider this to be a thank you to the community that continues to get me through some tough times. 

Phew, that got dark. Enough of all this earnest emotional frippery. Lets talk about cards! 

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So Opus XI has been called the "Power Creep Set", mostly as a reaction to seeing Sephiroth-L and the sheer amount of text on the new Exodus Summon. It's pretty hard to argue with that seeing some of the new things that we got, many of which are straight upgrades to older Opus I cards, but I don't think that this set is quite as much as a game changer as Opus V was in terms of the sheer amount of staple cards that can and should be plugged into every deck that was running that element. That's not to say that that the cards from Opus XI are bad. On the contrary, this is probably the tightest set with the highest number of consistently good cards in it. I'd argue that the reason it feels like less of an absurd power creep is because the card designers have come a long way in designing cards that are both powerful and balanced. 

Okay I know I might be a bit biased towards Fire cards, but they also perfectly illustrate what I'm talking about. 

Both BFA and Shadow are powerful cards that can realistically be put into any Fire deck for good results, but get the most benefit by being played in more specific builds. BFA (aka Bachelor of Fine Arts AKA hands down my favorite Legend in the set) is the direction that high-costed Forwards really should have gone in for awhile now: Big and difficult to deal with easily. Sure he's still a Diabolos target, but his built in "protection" means that playing this against an opponent with a developed board means they're going to have a hard time dealing with it, since even targeting it will let you blow something up. If you don't deal with it though, you can kiss that board goodbye. His discard effect is absurd value, but one that you'll only see in a highly specific Multi-element Summoner deck. 

Shadow likewise is a new key card for VI specific builds, and gets the highest benefit out of being played alongside new bestboi Interceptor so you can get Locke's effect online blisteringly fast. But the speed that he ramps up backups while also giving you a body on the field means that you could realistically run him in any deck that uses Fire as a support element.  Honestly I don't even think that Fire needed cards this strong anymore now that it's finally found efficiency in the form of low-cost burn-based control and board swarming, but I'm not about to complain. 

In general this set has done a lot to fix some of the imbalances between elements of the last few sets. For so long Mono Fire had been described as a "bad Lightning" but in recent sets the tables were turned, mostly because a lot of the speed that made Mono Lightning powerful in the past - such as being able to spam multiple Forwards onto the field while removing your opponents board with combo damage - had been transferred over to Fire. Mono Lightning still maintained it's ability to ramp-up Backups quickly, and the element still had a pretty noticeable presence with cards like Fusoya, Kain, and Ranperre totally dominating the meta in Lightning/Earth decks. But now it felt more like a support element, falling back on a lot of the same old staples they had been using for the past few sets like Illua and Diana/Alba, with the Legends printed not being quite enough to restore it to its former glory as king of aggressive control.

However, Mono Lightning got a breath of fresh air in Opus XI with stuff like the Kingsglaive package (Glauca in particular being a pretty big game-breaker for the element) combining the best aspects of what made the element infuriating to play against in the past: Combining fast Fowards with dulling and instant break effects, giving it more of a "hit and run" feel. 

Cards like Gadgeteer, Man in Black, Puck, and Aranea using the Break Zone as a resource for added value also do a lot to bring back the "Oh you thought you were safe huh?" aspect of the element. And anybody who says that Kuja is a worse Seymour because he deals you one point of damage can feel great that they get to sit on the same bench as anybody who claimed that Cloud and Nael were bad cards when they were revealed. I'm not sure if it's enough to make Mono Lightning the terror it once was, but judging from some recent tournament results, things are looking a lot better for it. 

There are of course still some issues with balance though. 

Remember back in the day, I made a joke about how the design for Fire cards seemed to be like this? 

Well for awhile, the design of Wind cards feels like it's been this: 

You get what I'm saying though. Just absurdly efficient cards that can pretty much do everything. Protection, free plays, easy AOE board wipes, and basically making most Forwards over the cost of 5 nigh-unplayable for the past 5 sets or so. In every set there seems to be at least one card that fits in nice and snuggly in Wind/Water listings to make the deck increasingly more disgusting, without adding in any sort of counter cards that can deal with Wind's repeated activation shenanigans. 

The Wind Legends in this set are mercifully ones that need very specific decks to be run in, but that doesn't mean they didn't find a way to add more bizzarely degenerate cards to the element...  

There's a lot to take in here, especially with something like Pandemonium, which appears to have been printed in the event that Valefor-S was banned. I feel like Wi/Wa didn't really need a card like Fiona to help get any character from the deck either. Sure it costs 4 and a dull but without a "once per-turn" or "only on your turn restriction" it nets you cards incredibly fast in an element that really couldn't care less about activation costs. Chelinka... well, she may actually wind up being better in Fire/Wind, but with stuff like Opus VI Zidane, Opus V Cloud of Darkness, and now Opus XI Celes, there's a lot of opportunity for some pretty gross plays to surface.

So what am I recommending? That they only print bad Wind and Water cards? No, of course not. There's a lot about Wi/Wa in its current form that I think will keep in on top top until pieces like Opus III Zidane and Valefor-S get banned, or until an easily splashable counter card that stops reactivation is printed. Most of the Wind and Water cards in this set are actually better suited for category or job specific decks rather than just solid element support.

I am saying that I'm bitter from losing one too many time to Wind/Water decks over the past year and I've given up on any sort of subtlety about it at this point. 

Ahem... back to the topic at hand. 

One of the things I love the most about Opus XI is it's major focus on several job archetypes that have not had a whole lot of support in the past, and not only that but giving them a really solid identity and win condition too! I originally thought that Ursula was really underwhelming for the Legend slot in Earth, but with the amount of support she gets from other cards in the deck she quickly becomes a monster. There's something incredibly satisfying about how quickly the Monk deck can build a board of cards that Ursula can quickly machine-gun into the break zone to wipe out your opponents Forwards like Nael on steroids. 

And then there's Edge. AKA my new lord and savior.

I've been hoping for a set to be the "Ninja Opus" since way back in Opus VI. And this card... this friggin CARD! Color corrects a job that's split across multiple elements? Check. Makes them all 1 CP cheaper with no "Can not become 0" restriction? Check. A thematically appropriate ability that can provide insane value? Check. All of this on a 2 CP body. His only real flaw is that his low power level makes him easy to remove but being in Wind makes this less of an issue thanks to cards like Yshtola and Usaganashii providing the protection needed to create an insane board of Ninjas while clearing the opponent's board. This is hands down the card that I've been most excited to play with in this entire set. 

Hell, even Samurai's got a killer support card this set. I've been hearing a lot of rumblings online about how adding this new Cyan to the Samurai package and combining it with Ifrita's AOE burn effect makes it absolutely terrifying. Combining Hien's 1k pump with Ayame's 1k damage boost means that every time one of your Samurai Forwards attacks, there's going to be a LOT of math to take into account and I am here for every second of it.

Even Summoners, who had no support outside of Braska in Opus VII is now basically the "Oh, you thought we were playing the same game here? Oh honey, no." deck. There are so many new tribal deck options to test out in this set with their own unique flavor that it's amazing that in 11 sets, Sky Pirates don't have one other than trying and keep a specific number of small Forwards with underwhelming effects on the board to power up Fran or something. And with that I've fulfilled my quota for complaining about Sky Pirates this set. 

The next set is XII themed though so there's a glimmer of hope I can finally shut up about it.

The only cards that I would really say were a disappointment for me in Opus XI would be the Chaos cards based off of the Four Fiends from Final Fantasy I, who I've been hoping to see for awhile now. These guys are the FFTCG equivalent of "Why buy one when you can have two for twice the price" with how expensive it is to trigger their on entry effects - so much so that it makes me feel like there's something I must be missing about them, so if you've discovered a use for them by all means let me know. 

Always wear a lab coat when talking about cards and it's impossible to be wrong.

The fact that they pseudo-replace themselves with another Job Chaos character when being sent to the break zone is an interesting concept, but most of their additional effects are too expensive to justify the cost - except maybe Lich -  leaving you with nothing but a big vanilla 9k beater otherwise. You can also search for the new 1 CP Chaos Backup, but I would rather just play Kamlanaut for that cost and to get an overall better Forward in the end. 

I'm really baffled why Chaos just didn't say "If the card you played from the Break Zone is 'Job: Chaos', you can activate their effect without paying the cost." or something. I was almost positive that there would be a new artwork Garland to go along with all the new Category I cards printed in this set that would do something along those lines for the Four Fiends. Of course, just like Summoners, there's always the chance for more Chaos cards to be printed in the future (Opus XIV is villain themed after all...) which might make these cards significantly better, it just may take a few sets to happen. 

That or I'm just overreacting about a bunch of Common cards which is entirely within the realm of possibility. 

But all in all, I think we're going to see a big shakeup with the types of decks we see in the meta with this set, just because there are so many fresh archetypes we haven't seen fully executed in the past come to life. And the cancellation of major tournaments for the next few months means that people have more time to breathe in a less competitive environment, which has been leading to a lot of more experimentation than usual.

And we're not just talking about Cloud's wardrobe here either, but both are equally encouraged. 

All together this is probably the first set in awhile where 3 boxes still isn't enough for me to get all of the cards I want to run, and usually that's enough even split between two players. I still haven't managed to get my hand on any Kujas! Once things get back to normal I'm really eager to start drafting with this set and hopefully pull a full art Monk to go along with my full art Ursula, who is my new BFF and #1 best girl. 

And that's it for my set review! So now lets get on to the thing everybody actually cares about: Bingo results and free stuff!  
 

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Well, it's been a pretty good run, but for the first time since I started doing this in Opus VI, we did NOT get a Bingo this set, proving that 2020 is an irredeemable dumpster fire. 

I'm sure that some of you will say that we did in fact get the center row, because we got Azul. Unfortunately that was revealed before I made the Bingo so I knew about him beforehand which means he can't count for that space. I was specifically expecting that we would see a few new Tsviets this set, but nope! Nary a Rosso or Weiss in sight. 

In the past I've done raffles to celebrate a successful Bingo, but the reality is that even if we never got a single square I would still do a raffle regardless! But don't let you think I'm going to quit putting my powers of card prognostication to good use for more Bingos in the following sets! Just TRY and stop me! 

This time I've decided to put together a little care package for one lucky winner, with some great stuff purchased from both Envy Games and Trading Card Game Pit. 

That's right - I finally managed to get my hands on a promo signed by Kageyama to raffle away! Thanks again to my main TCG bro Nick for being kind enough to provide me with this one, since he is important enough to get things like this on a regular basis. 

So all together one lucky winner will receive: 

• One sealed Tifa Tin Gift Set. (Yes, everything is still inside)
• One pack of Shinra Electric Power Company card sleeves. (60 Count)
• One pack of KMC Character Guard Sleeves (60 Count)
• One Ultimate Guard Deck n' Tray Case (Black) 
• One Foil JP promo Yuri PR-055 signed by Tarou Kageyama.  

So how can you enter to win these fabulous prizes?  

Raffle Rules: 

1) In order to be eligible for the raffle, you must complete the survey I'll be linking below. Your entry makes you eligible to win everything pictured above.

2) The contest is open to both local and international fans, 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. (Note: Due to obvious global issues there may be some delays in getting this to you depending on where you live, but I'll be sure to mail it out as soon as possible.)

3) The Raffle submission period will go for two weeks from the post date of this blog (April 20th - May 4th), and I will announce the winners via Facebook on Monday, May 4th at 8PM EST. 

4) I will contact the winner 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! 

Everybody got that? So if you want to enter the raffle, just click the link below!

Enter the Raffle Here!!   

 

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And there you have it folks - another totally unqualified set review brought to you by everybody's favorite ornery Onion Knight! The way things have been going this year, I think I may have actually gone down a level, if that's even possible. But rest assured I'll still be here, trying to figure out new and exciting ways to create the fresh FFTCG content you guys have all learned to tolerate from me over the past two years. Now if you'll excuse me, somebody else got a full art, foil, and nonfoil Sephiroth from one box in my last box break and I need to go cry about that for a bit.

Until next time - Keep on Grinding,