Saturday, April 30, 2022

A Noob's Set Review of Emissaries of Light


Hello there all you Summoners and Guardians! Why not take a break from your pilgrimage to Zanarkand to listen to a tale from Lv.1 Onion Knight: The Final Fantasy TCG blog that had to make sure that they spelled "Emissaries" correctly like three times when making this banner, so I'm calling the set "Opus XVI" from now on, and you all just kind of have to be cool with that.

Goodness! Fashionably late to the review scene as always here aren't I? I always feel a bit guilty for waiting to put these articles out until I've had time to experiment with the new cards. I sometimes worry that I'm missing out on getting in on the ground floor of the FFTCG algorithm or something while everybody else is reaping that sweet sweet card game influencer clout. Then I remember that in actuality, I'm competing with them to see who makes it onto the front page of FFdecks for the most consecutive days, so slow and steady it is!

I think it's safe to say that Opus XVI was a lot less contentious than the previous set. Having some very easily identifiable and generically good new staples in this set probably did a lot to putting some of the louder detractors at ease. That's not to say that there aren't people who take issue with some of the new cards - and I'm definitely going to talk about that later in this review because I'm sure you can already guess what I'm talking about. But Opus XVI also didn't have to shoulder the burden of being the base set for a whole new resource mechanic, so it probably felt a lot less experimental and more like a return to form compared to Opus XV.

In fact, Crystals were SO not emphasized in this set during spoiler season that most people wondered if this set just dropped the new mechanic like a hot popoto. Turns out they were mostly just hiding in Ice and Fire, which makes sense considering that those elements got the least mileage out of crystals last time. I'm actually a bit curious as to how much each element's synergy with crystals is locked behind the characters planned for a specific set. But that's a question for another time. Specifically in four months when the next set comes out.

I really enjoyed the whole "Story" format for the review that I did last set, so I think I'll be sticking to that this time around. So get in your pajamas and tuck yourself in all snuggly under the covers because it's time for some sensual late-night Onion Knight Emissaries of Light ASMR.


I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that the most notable feature of Opus XVI is how it plays with Character elements and how it helps address an issue that a lot of players have had with the Final Fantasy TCG in the past - name clash. 

I’m not that experienced with other card games, but I believe name clash (The ability to only have one of a non-generic named character on the field at any time) is an issue that is fairly unique to the FFTCG. For example in let's say, I dunno, Duel Masters, if you want to play more than one “Ballom Emperor, the Emperor of Ballom” or whatever to the field, you can just do that. Wanna have multiple Black Chaos Magician MAX - The Envoy of Dusky Twilight in Yu-Gi-Oh? Go on ahead and live your best life there, champ. I've never played Magic. Can somebody tell me if name clash is an issue in Magic? But because named Characters in the FFTCG have traditionally been printed in one or two specific elements, it leads to a very specific problem: whenever a new card of a Character is printed in the same Element, it results in having to weigh if it is enough of an improvement to justify running it over the original. Unless the new one is so functionally unique that it would be run in very different deck, "This card would be better if it wasn't CHARACTER NAME" becomes a common player complaint. 

For example, the decision to print two Wind Sky Pirate-specific Vaans back-to-back In Opus XIV and XV was quite a strange choice. Sure you could just run both in your deck since they both served different roles for Sky Pirates at different stages of a game. However one was very clearly a key card that was crucial for the deck's engine, while the other one was more of an interesting option you could choose to include if you were feeling spicy. But Opus XVI solves this issue while simultaneously expanding your deck building options with a subtle but brilliant solution - assigning dramatically new elements to many popular characters. 


Even though this is the third Vaan we've gotten in the last three sets, printing him as a Fire Backup allows an already solid Backup package to be used in a whole new range of decks. Combining Filo's ability to make Sky Pirate Backups also generate Wind or Water CP with the new Final Fantasy X starter deck cards makes getting the three colors required to use Braska’s Grand Summon ability much easier than it would have been otherwise. Vaan's ability to generate three elements lets multi-element Warrior of Light decks set up easier without being so dependent on Cosmos. All in all, from Water Marche to Ice Shantotto, there are a lot of new combinations of Titles and Elements for decks that are possible thanks to a few strategic element swaps, and I hope we see more of this in the future. 


Elemental flexibility is a key feature of a lot of the new cards from Opus XVI, and the Black Waltzes are an excellent example of what a diverse array of decks can be created from a package spread across several colors. The new Black Mage archetype can be adapted to fit your preferred playstyle pretty easily. Want to turn 1 CP Zack's forced discard into a 10k burn every turn in Fire/Lightning? You can do that. How about a more control oriented deck using Black Waltz 1's increased damage to dull forwards and combine it with something like Gentiana and Opus 1 Ultimecia to disable auto-abilities? Knock yourself out. Want to get insane value off of discarding your Black Waltzes to get a free draw (or 3) using a wall of White Mages? Weirdly effective. Hell, you can even run Earth/Lightning and use Black Waltz 3 and Vivi's recursion to keep recovering your Robel Akbels in a Monster focused deck

Tribal decks usually lock you into a specific element combination, but Opus XVI does a really great job of keeping your options open, thanks to its focus on using multiple colors in one deck. 


And speaking of running multiple colors, we've gotten our first rainbow decks since Manikins with the Morze's Soiree archetype and Kirin and the four Shijin. 
There's something immensely satisfying about running a deck with 4+ colors, and Soiree makes for a powerful deck that gets more powerful the more members you manage to get on the field. With a pretty sharp line of Backups, it's not very difficult to get the requisite 4 members for some absolutely bonkers effects like Vesvia's 2 card draw, or Merald's unrestricted break. But I gotta say, it's the year of our lord 2022 and Cadets still can't get a Backup that color corrects, but combat butlers get it right out of the gate? Okay...  Justice for Type-0 aside, Madam Edel and her brothel gang have been making waves in the tournament scene lately, proving that even a relatively budget deck like Soiree can be successful with enough synergy.

Kirin and the Shijin are a set of cards that attracted my eye when they were revealed, and not just because it's more XI cards. Okay, that was a big big, absolutely primary reason why I was excited to use these cards. The days of Optical Hats and Kirin's Osode. If you know, you know. 

Anyway, Kirin's ability to play specifically cost 4 Forwards off the top 5 cards of your deck makes him fit in perfectly with Soiree - and that is unsurprisingly where he's found the most use. But I can't help but feel like most people don't get the Shijin because they don't have effects that scale in power with the more of them you have on the field like Soiree does. 
While I would absolutely have loved if each Shijin had that kind of synergy (For example, if Genbu gave ALL of the Shijin and Kirin a 3k damage reduction, Suzaku gave them the ability to do 5k on attack, etc), I think their true power lies in their EX Bursts and ability to efficiently chain into each other rather than their individual effects. 

A hyper-aggressive turn one where you play Kirin into a Shijin, search for another one, play it, and end your turn with 3 Forwards and a card in the element of your choosing makes for a really brutal wall for your opponent to overcome. Yes, it's an extremely risky play that could leave you open to punishment - IF your opponent happens to have an answer in their hand that turn. More than likely they'll only be able to take out one of them that early, and you'll be forcing your opponent to waste resources to make a dent in your board rather than developing their own, unless they really want to slam down that turn 2 Shantotto or something. 


If that's a little too swingy for your tastes, using Kirin and the Shijin with Star Sibyl cranks their efficiency up to 11, especially if you're running Earth/Wind with Semih Lafihna reducing SS's cost to 3. And especially if you're also running the new Wol that draws you a card once per turn when a 5 cost character is played. Play SS for 3 CP, which gets you 2 cards in your hand from the search and the draw. Break SS to play Kirin for free next turn, which draws you another card off Wol, then use Kirin's effect to play a Shijin off the top of your deck, getting you yet another card into your hand. Now Kirin can't be chosen by Summons and Abilities, and you've gotten a board full of big boys to contend with for some weird negative CP cost that I wish I was smart enough to actually calculate. Slap Robel-Akbel in there to keep recurring your Star Sibyls every turn for even more shenanigans. 

But yes, I would really like to make a deck that properly utilizes Kirin and the Shijin without combining them with Soiree. And by that I mean I want somebody else to make it and send it to me, because the best I could do was in fact, just Shijin Soiree aka Shijin Spiral aka Rainbow Royal Rumpusroom PartytownSeriously, help an Onion Knight with a serious lack of imagination out here.

In any case, Opus XVI's focus on multi-element decks makes for some cool and unexpected new deck ideas. But how does the set measure up to previous ones in terms of power? Well for my Opus XV review, I wrote about the difference between cards that function as a Sledgehammer vs a Surgical Knife, and I think I made some pretty good points about the importance of both when it comes to the overall pace of a match. 

... But what about the difference between a Surgical Knife and a Nuclear Bomb? 


In my last set review, I discussed how the Primals represented a huge power creep for the game in terms of just how aggressive a single card could be. In fact, a few of them are likely to become even bigger threats than they already were with the introduction of cards from Opus XVI. However there are some new cards introduced this set that are so wildly broken in terms of the sheer advantage they net you (and their elements as a whole), that I wouldn't be surprised if some card bans will eventually become necessary to help mitigate their power a little bit. 


Let's start with Tidus shall we? Hoo boy where to begin with this card... So usually cards that have extremely powerful effects have some sort of built-in balancing mechanic, such as a higher cost, a Damage restriction, or having to pay more resources beyond the cost of the card. But Tidus comes in and slams card balance with a Blitzball kick to the face. Tidus's power is mostly irrelevant since he straight up can’t be blocked, so he'll continue to net the player an advantage while nullifying your opponents efforts to build up a board. But if you attempt to get rid of him with any single target removal, you give your opponent an absurd 3 card draw AND get one of your Forwards yeeted to the bottom of your deck for good measure. So like... what can you even do about it? 

That being said, you do have some options. One of my favorite FFTCG Youtubers Choco Billy mentioned in one of his videos that cards like Tidus and Cecil that discourage single-target removal will simply lead to increased usage of non-targeting removal, like board-wipes and "select" style removal like Atomos (15-106C) and Luzaf. Good old Amaterasu (a card that is seeing more and more responsibility put on its shoulders these days) can also respond to his auto-trigger. 

However, you could also argue that having to nuke the entire field with high-cost board wipes like Shantotto or Susano specifically to handle one 3CP Forward is pretty unbalanced. And of course, your opponent could always respond to your Shinryu by doing something like casting the new Leviathan for 1 CP off the new Meia, sending him to the deck and triggering his draw effect anyway. Or you know, put him in the deck with their own Typhon. Or save him by bouncing him back to their hand with Chocobo. But c'mon, who's REALLY playing Wind/Water these days? 


And don't get me wrong - Just because Tidus is busted AF doesn't mean that I'm not going to attempt to use him with the exact combo I just described. We've already established that integrity is not something that I aspire to here. I am saying that there are a few cards in Opus XVI where the card designers could have showed just a little bit more restraint though. Maybe remove one line of text there or something. And on that note... 


Lets... just get this over with. 

So complaining about Wind being overpowered is passé now right? I've said it, you've said it, and anybody who isn't a hardcore Wind apologist has said it by now. But it's very difficult to deny that Opus XVI is a set that heavily favors Wind, an Element that people already think is too strong to begin with. That thing I just mentioned about the card designers maybe leaving off one line of text certainly seems to apply to a lot of the Wind cards in this set. 

Cecil, a card that already lets you play any Character costing 4 or less and getting a 2 CP refund if it happens to be a Category IV card now introduces targeting Tax to Wind - an element that already has some of the best protection in the game. Zidane isn't just a cheap, fast threat that can mill 2 cards from the top your opponents deck every turn when combined with Bismark, who will also refund Zidane's cost with the extra draw from his bounce effect. He can also cast anything he removes from your opponent's deck, and hey, lets make the cost payable with any color because why not, right? Atomos doesn't just refund you 2 CP every turn when you meet the very hard requirement of playing two cards in an element that specializes in reactivation. He also activates all of your Backups on attack. Frequently used Backups like Chocolatte and Fiona can be used multiple times every turn, giving Wind more draw and search power with just one Monster. 

So yeah... it's kind of a lot. And it's a lot because Wind already has so many powerful cards that they can combo with to make these new ones even more bonkers.

I understand that this whole spiel does kind of make it seem like I'm suggesting that the other elements got nothing that will help them be competitive, which again, is not the case at all. You could even argue that new additions like Fina and Fat Chocobo only really work in Mono Wind, rather than being practical additions to any deck running Wind in it. But I'd like to take a more in-depth look as to why people - myself included - have complained that Wind is too strong, but this time in a way that's more constructive than "Look at these OP cards! Wind is ruining the game!" if that's even possible.

Really trying my best here guys. 

A lot of people's complaints about Wind lately is that it "Isn't fun" and "doesn't feel good to interact with" which is already a bit of a weird statement to me, because there are lots of interactions in this game that don't feel good if you're on the receiving end of it ("Haha, you just Amaterasu'd my Shantotto! What fun!!"). But I think this links to a larger issue of how much effort one element needs to accomplish the same thing as another, which Wind has a massive advantage in . 

In a game that's all about managing resources, the ability to continuously re-use your Backups to generate seemingly unlimited value for little-to-no cost is a pretty big deal. Reactivation currently has no direct counter outside of cards that outright negate Summons and Auto-Abilities, the pool of which is notoriously small. This makes dealing with Wind's constant resource generation and ability to self-bounce high-impact targets to replay them onto the field difficult. Wind forces your opponent to work harder to interact with their board in a way that seems unfair, especially since it can easily render those attempts useless. You can clear out your opponent's Y'shtola and Unsaganashi, pay the extra 2 CP from Cecil to finally be able to target something, only to have them bounce it back to their hand and draw a card with Chocobo, which yes, feels quite bad.  

So I don't think that Wind is unbeatable or anything, but a lack of answers to its primary mechanics combined its continued prominence in the meta have given people Wind-related trauma. I do think it would be nice to have more direct answers printed in general, so we have more than just Mist Dragon and Amaterasu to rely on. If I have to keep shuffling the Amaterasus I own between multiple decks because it's a three-of staple in any deck running Fire that costs 25 dollars each for some reason, I'm going to lose it. 

But what does an answer to Wind even look like? Is it a Summon that people begrudgingly run in their decks, then complain that running it feels bad because it sits in their hand instead of advancing their plays? We've had Cid Randell for several sets now, but he's not used as universally as you would expect. Shelke can cancel autos with her S-ability and protect your Forwards from power reduction effects while restricting power boosting for your opponent, but I haven't really seen too many people rushing to put her in their Ice decks either. 

A practical solution to Wind's dominance would probably be something like printing a Cu-Chaspel style Backup in Ice that says something along the lines of "Characters that are Frozen can not be activated by Card Effects." with "Forwards that are Frozen can not attack" or something added to make Freeze feel a little more impactful. Beyond that, the only other solution I can think of is more card restrictions in standard play, my suggestion being to ban the Chocobo Summon and restrict Bismark to 1 per deck. That way Wind doesn't have as much access to as many replays and cheap outs, without turning Ice into the only Element that counters Wind.    

Of course, until something like that happens, people are still hoping to find a solution to Wind's dominance. However, Opus XVI may actually have introduced one. 



Whenever people say they want Ice to be good again, I can never quite tell if they're talking about Ice decks in general or Mono-Ice specifically, because people tend to get really dogmatic about that sort of thing. So like, if Wind-Ice takes the top slot this meta, I don't know if that actually counts. But while Ice was once the dominant element in early sets, lately its been having a much harder time seeing use in competitive play. Wind admittedly makes Ice's primary mechanic of Dulling and Freezing useless, but I don't think that's the issue - not completely anyway. 

I think that in recent sets, Ice cards have just been designed with a level of conservatism that hasn't been applied to the other elements. Considering that it was so toxic in early sets that it required the first ever bans to be implemented, I can't really blame the card designers for being a bit more cautious these days. That being said, even players who aren't die hard Ice fans generally agree that the element is long overdue for a comeback.

The cards that have come out in the last few sets are pretty emblematic of the card designers more cautious attitude towards Ice. The speed of the game has increased as the other elements have gotten significantly more aggressive and efficient, and temporarily getting a Forward out of the way with Dull/Freeze is generally worse than just destroying it outright. The ability to Dull/Freeze Characters instead of just Forwards gave them some new options for Backup manipulation. But if Ice was going to get a boost, it really needed something more than just doing 1k more damage to a Dull Forward than a Fire card would to any target. So what was a strategy that Ice could use to help even the odds? 


You see, Wind may be good at protecting their board, but their hand on the other... uh hand, is a different story. Discard has slowly started making a comeback in recent sets, with cards like Werei, Orphan, and Kazusa focusing on giving you more value when your opponent discards. In Opus XVI, cheap, efficient cards like Byblos, Yunalesca, and Lasswell have made it so that your opponent can potentially lose 3 or more cards from their hand in the span of a turn. 

The solution the card designers seem to have found to make Discard a little more fair, is an increased focus on the discard happening during the attack phase. But since the other elements have access to much more draw power than they did in the earlier stages of the game, Discard needs to do more than just limit your opponent's hand size in order to keep up with efficiency. Much like Leviathan, Lord of the Whorl buffs bounce, Ice needs something similar to buff their mechanics. As a result, many of the discard cards this set have an extra effect included with them, such as Devout generating a Crystal, Serah drawing you a card, and Byblos locking down your opponent's board for every card they pitch.


As an element, Ice has traditionally had the least amount of tribal support, and I think that has largely been to its detriment. There's just a lot of consistency that you get with a solid tribal archetype, if the success of Sky Pirates, Monks, and Samurai in the meta are any indication. However, what Ice lacks in job support is usually made up for with strong category synergy, such as with FFVI and VII. So combining Final Fantasy Tactics category support with Ice Knights and having their strategy focus on discard value and crystal generation helps fill multiple gaps that the element had all at once. 

Lasswell is kind of the perfect example of how a tribal support card should be designed. It's weird to say this, but the one downside of tribal decks is that you actually have to run a lot of tribal cards in them (crazy right??). So if your deck needs to fill valuable slots with cards of that tribe, they really need to make an impact to account for the loss of generic good stuff you're replacing them with. With Lasswell, every Knight that enters the field and attacks gives you a substantial benefit, and with cards like Charlotte, you can protect your value machine of Agrias to keep her swinging. Combined with the Fire side of the package using cards like the new Delita, I'd say that Knights are one of the most efficient crystal generating decks in the game right now, which is a nice boost for both elements.  


Of course, you can generate all the crystals in the world, but they're meaningless unless you have something to spend them on. Luckily, both of the Ice Legends this set use the mechanic, probably to compensate for the fact that neither of the Legends of Opus XV did. The new Shantotto gives Ice decks some much needed versatility. In Discard decks, playing her on the field functions as a big payoff. Ice has been sorely lacking in speed compared to some of the other elements, so a big 1 CP Forward that can recover an important card from the Break Zone gives it some much needed efficiency. 

Her secondary effect is probably her biggest selling point though. There aren't too many "hand traps" - cards with effects that can be activated from the hand rather than on the field - in the game so far. So being able to pay 2 CP and a crystal to dull your opponent's entire field straight from the hand gives Ice an out to an aggressive board state that can be used both offensively and defensively. Plus also, dat art right? 

Cloud of Darkness is... interesting. And I know that sounds like a back-handed statement, but it's mostly because I'm a bit torn on her. On the one hand, paying 3 CP for a potential 9k that Removes something from the game is already some very efficient removal. The ability to completely lock your opponent from playing a card to the field at all is something we've never seen before either, and this could completely screw over decks that need a lynch pin Forward to function, like Samurais or Palom/Porom decks. On the other hand, I feel like this card has the opposite issue of Tidus and Cecil where maybe it needed one more line of text onto it to make it the big bomb in Ice that people have been waiting for. The added power is nice and all, but if you had the option of doing this every turn when your opponent discards, it would have really put it over the top. I don't think she's bad at all though. 


Ice cards being more balanced isn't always a bad thing if they can find a way to still sneak powerful effects onto them. I've heard some people say that they don't like Babus because for such a high cost, your opponent shouldn't be the one who chooses the effects. But it would be broken if you could play this on your second or third turn and pick the discard 2 and skip Main Phase effects so your opponent is essentially behind a turn. That would just lead to Turbo Discard again, and only the most wretched of us wants a return to that era. 

Having to be more strategic as to when you play a card isn't a point against it in my opinion. Why would you play Babus on a turn when one of the options would do nothing for you? If you give your opponent 4 options when all of them are bad, it can lead to some interesting mind games that change depending on what stage of the game you're in. 

Discarding 2 cards from one card effect is always going to be painful, so I'm surprised to see an effect that was once exclusive to a 7-Cost Legend now is on multiple cards - including a 2 CP Backup than can be played in multiples like Bard. Sure it does nothing but generate resources for you until Damage 5, so there's a risk that you won't be able to do anything with it. But the payoff that this card offers can potentially be massive, setting up your Lightnings and Squalls for their "both players must have no cards in their hand" effects.

I can certainly understand the desire for more "unfair" Ice cards to be printed, especially since it seems like every other element has had their turn getting some busted cards in the last few sets. But I think any situation that creates a state for your opponent where they just *cant* do anything because of one strategy isn't going to be good for the health of the game. I'm glad to see that they're taking a steady approach to rebalacing discard in a way that feels less toxic than Turbo did. I hope that we start to see Ice popping up in the meta again, if only because there's nothing more satisfying  than watching a serious tournament-minded player spend 10 minutes figuring out the optimal play to make, only to watch them dissolve into a pile of ash when you force them to discard. 

Oh, and as a closing note - this set has Benjamin from Final Fantasy Mystic Quest in it, so I rate this set 11/10.


This set's bingo raffle comes with yet another hilarious tale of woe straight from the Onion patch. I hope you're all properly strapped in for this. 

Have you ever gotten pulls so bad that you think that the devil himself must have packaged these cards just for you? How about having to watch everybody in your group unwrap golden tickets around you like there was a factory error over at Willy Wonka's while you unwrap a cat turd that's been lovingly pressed into the shape of a chocolate bar? Do you have an incredibly fragile ego, a penchant for hyperbole, and a blog to work out these very complex feelings with an audience of confused strangers? Good. Let's begin. 

I think that I end up inadvertently consuming all of my luck predicting cards that are going to be the new set, because I've never been particularly lucky when it comes to card pulls. It's not that I've always gotten garbage per say. I've pulled some of the full arts I wanted from time to time, but I've never got to experience pulling the valuable "money" card from the set. So whenever I go to do prerelease events, I always joke that I'm going to get horrible pulls, partially in the hopes that I'll ironically redirect that bad luck, and partially as a way to not set my expectations too high for what I do end up getting. This time around I joked that the best cards in my set would be a foil Aerith, because pulling a foil version of the box topper always feels like a letdown, and like... a nonfoil Y'shtola or something just because she's not very good in this sealed format with no other Scions to use. 


Well guess what? That's exactly what happened. I spoke it into existence.

This would have been less of a bitter pill to swallow though, if not one, not two, but THREE other people in our group pulled full art Tiduses and Cecils from their kits. Everybody else at least pulled one full art, except for me and the one other guy who just got a foil Chaos in his kit that I could commiserate with. 

Well that certainly sucked, but I was ready to move on. Get a few boxes, do a few pulls, you know, all the usual stuff a person who totally doesn't have a gambling addiction does. You should know right now that my desire to get a valuable card from a pack has nothing to do with owning the card itself though. If I really wanted, I could just buy the card instead of a box and call it a day. I want the experience of opening it myself and knowing what it feels like to experience the love of a deity shining back at you from inside that foil pack. In short, I really wasn't kidding about the whole fragile ego thing.  

Anyway, I had done my pulls - got a full art Kirin and Luneth, and a few other things I had been hoping to grab from this set. But the dark allure that there was still the potential to pull a valuable full art, like so many others around me had already done still tugged at my weary soul like a siren's call. So I bought one more prerelease kit online, since the odds for that are usually better than the boxes are. I joked that it would probably have a full art Vaan Backup in it since I had already pulled two of them, and there was absolutely no way that I would ever be so unlucky that- 


I am the prophet of my own doom. 

"You're complaining about getting the wrong full art?" I know right? I'm sure some of you are going to tell me that you've gotten way worse pulls, and your kit didn't even have cards in it. But we're on almost at the end of this emotional roller coaster of a journey here so just stay with me for a bit. 

So I told myself that was it. I wasn't meant to be one of the lucky few to pull a Cecil or a Tidus or a Lightning Legacy Card, and that I should just buy the rest of the cards I was missing and call it a day. 

Next week at locals... 

I briefly wondered if I should get packs. Not too many. Just like 3 or something. You know, to support the store, give back to the economy and all that. But in the end I decided against it. I had already spent enough money on cards this paycheck, and I should focus on just enjoying the game. We had a pretty good turnout, and a guy in our group who had been away for a year was going to be there. Since he hadn't gotten to use any of the new cards, he bought a few packs of Emissaries of Light and cracked them open. 

And he pulled a full art Cecil. 


Because of this, I am now Lv.1 Tonberry. My undying grudge will live on forever on this blog. May all who read it be poisoned by the rancor that I have cursed your screens with. 

So yeah, all things considered, I think I'm handling myself pretty well, actually. 

Now you're probably wondering why I made you all read through a long and meandering ego trip about me not being luckier with my pulls. That's because this is actually a weird therapy exercise for me, and I will find healing from my ordeals by giving to others the very thing I was denied. 

That's why the raffle prize this time is a full art Cecil! Not one that I pulled from a pack of course. I bought it. With money. Just for you. 


So while I may not have amazing luck, maybe YOU can, dear reader! And it's from a raffle too. Hell, that's even luckier, right? So if you win this, know that you have officially been marked as my better by the gods, and bask in the glory that can only be achieved by winning a rare thing for free. 

In all seriousness, a big thank you to everyone who continues to read Lv.1 Onion Knight and who puts up with posts that are way way too long and have a healthy dose of uh... theatrics included. I always enjoy getting to interact with the community, and doing the Bingo charts is always a lot of fun. Some of you guys seem to want to get a row completed more than I do! 

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 the Full Art Cecil. 

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 three weeks from the post date of this blog (May 1st), until Monday, May 23rd at 8PM EST, so you have three weeks to enter. I'll announce the winner on Facebook.  

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

Enter the Raffle Here!!




Another set down! What do you guys think of the new cards? Do you think Wind will be unstoppable this set, or does Ice or any of the other elements have a chance to knock it off its pedestal? In the meantime, I'll be here with my lantern and my cloak, sharpening my Tonberry knife. What for? Don't worry about it. 

Until next time - keep on grinding,