A Noob's Opus IX Set Review & Bingo Raffle!

Hey there folks, and welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight - The FFTCG blog that hates losing but still won't lower themselves to playing Water/Wind.

Opus IX has been out for about a month now, and the lateness of this review has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I've been playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses nonstop and refusing to leave my room like a recluse so that I can get a sense of validation and camaraderie from a bunch of fictional anime teenagers.

Bernadetta is my spirit animal. 

But I played it so much that my Switch broke and needed to be sent in for repairs (I wish I was joking…) so now that I’ve been freed from my shackles, lets talk about some cards! 

Much like in my Opus VII review, this set as a whole was a little difficult for me to figure out exactly how I felt about it without getting the time to test the new cards out first. Because honestly Opus IX as a whole feels... reeaaaalllly weird.

When the set was first revealed in its entirety, the general consensus was that it was on a comparative power level to Opus III, the red-headed stepchild of the Final Fantasy TCG. I don't think that's a super fair assessment honestly (in fact I'd argue that of all the previous sets, it's Opus IV that's aged the poorest out of all of them), since Opus III has a lot of the really strong cards that are 3-of staples in some of the top decks in the meta scene right now like Lenna, Genesis, Cagnazzo, Zidane-H, and Famfrit. I think that many of the cards in Opus IX have similar potential to be extremely powerful, and might have strength that isn’t obvious at first glance. Overall I really do enjoy the fact that Opus IX is a set that's more about building new decks and experimenting with new combinations and types of abilities, rather than continuously ramping up the power of existing ones.

BUT that doesn't mean that there weren’t also some decisions made in Opus IX that I find to be utterly baffling.

Remember when everybody was like "Noooo, not Veritas! He's too strong!"? What fools we were...

Porom being a degenerate little monster aside, I think one of the things that contributes to the weirdness of this set is that it focuses on setting up a lot of smaller 2-3 card "mini engines" rather than consistent deck support. When cards started getting revealed and we had a new Cecil that specifically mentioned needing a specific amount of Category IV characters, I thought that it would be Final Fantasy IV's time to get fleshed out to create a solid category-centric deck like VI, VII, IX, and XV had been in Opus VIII. Seeing the new Quistis that scryed for Category VIII Forwards and was finally in Ice made me think that we'd see a heavy Fire/Ice VIII focus with perhaps a new Zell or Forward Selphie to take advantage of her SeeD Candidate boosting effect.

Instead, the IV Characters all remained split across the multiple elements they had been previously, with no "engine" being established between them. There were only 9 VIII cards in this set with no Legend support and only one new fire card who wasn't even a SeeD candidate Forward. Instead, the set has a heavy Type-0 focus but does nothing to address the issue of the cadets being split across three colors - in fact, of the color correcting Moogles that were chosen to be printed, any of the cadet-centric element combinations are conspicuously absent. Space was committed to adding new Job: Sky Pirates in this set, but they're still a mess that have no real synergy with each other and didn't add any really solid Forwards (Vaan's effect is particularly head scratching considering that there are only three other Sky Pirate Forwards and the new Fran who is actually pretty solid, is a Backup. So the implication is that you're running Reddas, Balthier, and... all jobs Bartz? Okay...) to incentivize running them outside of a XII title deck.

New Sky Pirate cards in a nutshell.

In general there are a lot of choices like this that really make Opus IX feel like it was part of a set that got cut in half and the rest of it will come out in Opus X.

That being said, this set has consistently surprised me the more that I've experimented with it. I think that there's a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to the overall power level of some of the cards in this set that was really easy to overlook when coming off the heels of Opus VIII, which was a bit less "techy".

But just because something is a tech doesn't mean it can't enable some really great stuff, or that these cards won’t find a deck that can truly take advantage of their value (Remember, there was a good chunk of time where Opus VII Sephiroth was worth less than ten dollars). Even though the IV cards I mentioned didn't set up an "engine", I was genuinely taken by surprise by a mono-water IV deck at locals - Remember how Cagnazzo and Porom are category IV? Having Cecil as a 10K brave that can "cover" cards that are already difficult to deal with makes for a surprisingly effective but different mono-water build. Cecil and the new Legendary Rosa also work well with making Earth’s bigger forwards tankier, in particular with Legendary Noctis by letting him trigger his “fight” mechanic much more safely. I think that in general, cards that are more defensive tend to be severely undervalued by the FFTCG community compared to more aggressive removal or control based cards, but if we’ve learned anything from the early days of the Opus IX meta, it’s how effective just denying your opponent the ability to win the game can be.

Opus IX also does a great job at showcasing just how much adding one or two really solid cards can completely change how you build decks, even if they aren’t Legends. There may not have been many new Category VIII cards in this set, but adding the new Rinoa as a linchpin card was a really smart move on the card designer’s part that bizarrely makes her significantly more valuable than Opus VI Rinoa in category VIII centric decks. The cards that they added in this set not only do a fantastic job of solidifying existing Fire/Ice VIII builds, but they also make running Ice/Lightning VIII an option that wasn’t really feasible before now.

Hell, the new Ace is apparently enough of a consistency boost for wind/fire cadets that they've been making appearances at LQ's, and this is only in the first month of the set's release. And Sky Pirates… well Sky Pirates are still kind of a mess. But hey, it’s been confirmed that Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings will be making its TCG debut in Opus X so there’s always hope that they’ll add some weird tertiary character from that game that finally makes it a solid archetype in constructed. It’ll probably be like… a big bird guy or something, I dunno.

I think that there are quite a few cards that have a lot of potential, and with a bit of experimentation there are some great new builds that can really change up the meta. Of course, that all hinges on how willing the playerbase is to experiment and try new things outside of the obvious which...

Yeah, I can already see somebody hysterically typing "UH, WHY WOULD I TRY NEW STUFF IF I'M TRYING TO WIN?" as though they're a talking head on a reality TV show and they're telling the audience about how they're not here to make friends or whatever. If that's the case, well, then I guess we'll see you in Opus X. Try not to take the loss of Rikku-H milling too hard okay? 

AW NO, SORRY TOO SOON??

In general I really like what Opus IX is setting up for future sets, and I’d highly recommend snatching up as many copies of the Legends you can while they’re still cheap. With the new Wraith Vs Knight 2 player deck coming out in a matter of weeks, it could end up changing what the chase cards are for the set.

While we’re on the subject of chase cards, one of the things that I love about the set is the introduction of full-art foil variants in packs. And with that smooth segue, why don’t we get to the part of this post most of you actually care about – the Opus IX Bingo Raffle!

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For the fourth set in a row, I’ve managed to avoid the shame of embarrassment and make enough correct predictions to make a complete row in Bingo! To both celebrate and to say thanks to the FFTCG community members who continue to humor me by reading my dinky little blog, I’ve gotten my hands on a few awesome prizes to raffle away. So what can you win this time?

Prize A: Gabranth Full Art Foil

Gabranth is probably my favorite card from Opus IX, and IMO is one of the strongest cards in the set considering how many relevant targets he can search for and how easily he can be fit into a wide variety of decks. I’m once again partnering with my bro Nicola at Envy Games (check his site out for great deals on singles!) for prize support.

I… actually really want to keep this for myself, but this is the sacrifice that I make in order to continue being the pillar of the FFTCG community that I am. Heavy is the crown.

I'm keeping the letter he sent with the card though. You can never take that away from me. 

Prize B: Final Fantasy XIV Charms (set of 2)

Also making a return for prize support is local NY artist and my favorite person to play FFTCG with, Rena Shen, who was cool enough to provide me with some adorable Final Fantasy XIV charms she made that feature her artwork. You’ll be able to select which set you’d like to receive if you’re picked as a winner: Hien & Estinien, Scholar Fairies Eos & Selene, and Ser Aymeric who is paired with a pin of Lord Haurchefant from the Heavensward expansion.

I'll pick one winner per set, so in total there will be 4 prize winners. So how do you enter the raffle? 

Raffle Rules: 

1) In order to be eligible for the raffles, you must complete the survey I'll be linking below. Your entry makes you eligible to win either prize from each category, but there will be a separate winner announced for each. Each winner will be chosen at random. 

2) The contest is open to both local and international fans of the TCG, so if you don't happen to be from the US, don't sweat it! I will be in contact with the winners to discuss shipping arrangements. 

3) The Raffle submission period will go for 11 days from the post date of this blog (August 21st - September 1st), and I will announce the winners via Facebook on Sunday the 1st at 8PM EST. 

4) I will contact the winners 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! 

5) You will be able to select which XIV Charm Set you want from the survey if you win that prize. You won't be able to change which Job pin you'll receive after you submit the survey, so choose wisely! 

Okay then, now that everybody is up to speed, if you want to enter the raffle then click the link below! 

Enter the Raffles Here!!

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So there you have it everyone! Good luck to everyone who enters the raffle and thanks so much again to everyone who helps make Opus Bingo a success. I always love reading everybody's comments about the categories they're hoping get picked in future sets. Who knows, maybe next time Aranea might actually be in it? I don't actually care for her personally but it's becoming a matter of personal pride that she hasn't made an appearance for a lot of people it seems. 

For my next post, I'm going to be trying some content that's a bit of a departure from what I usually do, but I need a bit of time to figure out how I want to do it. I'm really excited to show it off though, so keep your eyes peeled! 

Until next time - Keep on Grinding, 

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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. 

...

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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Spoiled Onions: An Exclusive Opus IX Spoiler - Father's Day Edition

Hey everybody, and welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight - the Final Fantasy TCG blog that totally wouldn't be willing to commit a felony to get their hands on that new Prishe/Shantotto playmat that's only available at the 2019 Master's tournament in Japan. Nope. Not at all. 

Let me start things off by wishing everybody out there a Happy Father's Day! If you happen to be a dad, then hopefully you'll be a more active presence in your child's life than the character whose card I'll be revealing today: Opus IX Laguna! 

With the recent announcement of the remastered version of Final Fantasy VIII coming out in the near future, a lot more people will have the chance to experience the game; myself included, much to the chagrin of my boyfriend since it's his favorite title in the series. Even if VIII isn't quite your cup of tea, Laguna is still one of the most iconic characters from Final Fantasy and has what is probably the most kick-ass theme song in the series. Seriously, it should be mandatory to blast "The Man with the Machine Gun" whenever you play a Laguna card. 

Though he's made other appearances in the FFTCG, this Laguna is different from most of the other versions in that he doesn't interact with any Card Name Squall - at least not directly. The effect of this card is pretty straightforward in that he is a Forward who searches for another Ice Forward and adds it to your hand. Most other 5 cost Forwards with a search effect in the game have an EX burst attached to it, which Laguna does not. However, all of those other Forwards have a more narrow scope of the cards that they can tutor, such as only searching for one specific character or job, like Ignis or Hugh Yurg. 

Opus III Steiner is probably the broadest of the Forward searchers we've seen in the game, being able to search any of the Category IX Characters, rather than just Forwards, but he's not without drawbacks. He absolutely needs to be played specifically with other Category IX cards in order for him to be on curve for a pseudo-3 cost Forward, which limits the types of decks and engines you can run him in.

The new Laguna on the other hand trades his ability to EX Burst for having the broadest search conditions on a Forward we've seen so far - ANY Ice element Forward - while also having a pretty substantial 8k body to fall back on. Because of this, he could realistically find a place in just about any Ice deck that wants more consistency to search for their big play makers like Genesis, Sephiroth, or Dark Fina, while establishing a larger board presence. 

However, in Opus VIII we've seen title-centric decks like VI, VII, and IX get enough solid support to make them not just playable, but competitively viable. With the focus on Category VIII in Opus IX, I'm hopeful that the same can be done for Squall and Co. So lets take a look at some possible plays centered around a Category VIII deck with Laguna. 

I'd be pretty remiss if I didn't mention Ysayle, considering that both she and Laguna do exactly the same thing, just with her in the backup slot. However, combining the two actually makes for some pretty optimal plays, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to run both of these long haired beauties in the same deck. Four may be expensive for a backup, but many decks that have a 3-cost searcher Like Gestahlian Emperor Cid or Gramis don't mind overpaying for it turn one just to start establishing their boards and get their combo pieces in order. Cards that can "search for a searcher" tend to be a great way to make your deck more consistent, so a Category VIII deck where you play Ysayle turn one and search for Laguna would be a pretty efficient turn one play On turn two you can pitch two cards from hand and dull Ysayle to play Laguna and search for another Forward, which is where things start to get interesting as more options open up to you.

So lets say that you've also played a 2 drop backup onto the field on the turn that you played Laguna - now you can play 4 drop cards more efficiently the next turn. Some of the best cards in Category VIII that you could search for with Laguna are the new Opus IX Quistis or Opus VI Rinoa that will both do the same thing for you, which is let you grab yet another card, though if you needed to you could also search for a Genesis or Lasswell too depending on what your opponent is doing. 

If searching for a searcher is good, then what about searching for a searcher who searches for a searcher? Or uh... a reveal-er? Do we have an official name for the type of card that Quistis is? Anyway the point is that you can continue to build up your board of forwards while consistently chaining cards together. You could also search for Rinoa, play it, and then search for Quistis with Laguna's effect again. There are probably better offensive options to use this Rinoa on, but the general idea is to build up more Category VIII Forwards which can help set up some other plays. 

At this point after using Quistis's effect, one of the better cards you could hope to reveal would be the new Opus IX Squall AKA the best looking guy here. Assuming that none of the Forwards you've set up have been broken yet, you've not only made Squall cheap enough to play on the same turn you put him into your hand, but more powerful with Quistis's boost to SeeD Candidate cards. Congratulations, you've played a 9k that dulls a Forward on entry for 2 CP. You may kiss the bride. 

Another option to go for with Quistis would be Opus II Rinoa, assuming that you are choosing not to run the Opus VI one. Depending on how heavy you get into Category VIII support, it could make her into an absolute monster - with just Quistis and Laguna on the field she's a 9k Forward that your opponent is going to have trouble getting around without dulling their field and opening themselves up to attack. I'm actually surprised this card hasn't been seeing more play lately as it's not a bad counter to Veritas, but I guess it's become a frenzied Nuclear Arms Race to see who can set their own abuseable removal combos first, and Opus VI Rinoa is a more aggressive option in ice with all its on-entry effects. It would be interesting to see if a Category VIII deck specifically brings Opus II Rinoa into the spotlight again though. I'm secretly hoping for an Angelo Backup... 

"This card can only be played onto the field by physically throwing it at your opponent."

Of course these are just some ideas with what we have revealed to us so far, but as far as Laguna's is concerned he's a straightforward card that will only improve as more viable targets for him become announced. Who knows, maybe they'll introduce an VIII Standard Units rush type build with Galbadian Soldiers? Either way, with what we've seen so far, things are starting to look good for Category VIII decks.

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So there you have it everyone! I hope that you guys enjoyed this spoiler and are as hyped for Opus IX as I am. And speaking of Opus IX Spoilers... 

Opus Bingo is back! If you haven't seen it on Facebook or Reddit, here's our currently updated board. Some of these new cards look absolutely crazy, and I'm super excited to try out some crazy new deck builds we haven't seen before. We still have a little over a month until prerelease, so in the meantime I'll be here, waiting and absolutely not plotting on how I can get myself that XI playmat by means of an elaborate Machiavellian scheme.

Until next time - Keep on Grinding, 

      

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Fire Fantasy: A Noob's Hopes for Opus IX

Hey there folks! Welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight - the Final Fantasy TCG blog that wasn't quite good enough to qualify for a Pro badge for New York Comicon! 

Guys, I have to be real with you all: I'm not emotionally ready for Opus IX spoiler season to start. I feel like I'm still trying to wrap my head around new deck ideas for Opus VIII, and what's one of the first cards to be revealed? A Fire Legend. I can't. 

Personally, I think Nael is a really nice addition to Fire, allowing for potentially high value plays, and gives the element an Opus VI Kuja-like effect of being able to cycle through single use backups/searchers while diminishing your opponent's board. Fire Legends like the new Cloud seem to be going into the "if it wins you the game, who cares what it costs you" direction, which I think a lot of people tend to balk at because it can be a high-risk, high-reward playstyle. Hell, when Cloud was revealed, most people wrote him off as a bad card because of the self mill, and now he's a key card in most Fire decks, so I think that Nael is a bit less overtly contentious at first glance. 

Oh, and also I think that claiming a card is bad when we barely know anything about the new set is kind of silly and counter intuitive, but who are you gunna believe? Somebody who has actual experience playing tournaments in the Veritas meta, or the guy who until very recently, didn't realize that Opus V Ingus doesn't buff Fire Warrior of Light job cards twice?

You guys know what the right answer is.

Maybe the reason that new Fire Legends tend to be polarizing and elicit a stronger knee-jerk response in people is because Fire as an element still isn't perceived as where people want it to be in terms of overall power compared to the other colors. On the one hand, we've been seeing more decks that use Fire in it becoming popular in higher level events, but that might also be because Opus VIII brought more to specific title decks that have Fire as a support element, rather than a huge boost to Fire element decks in general. As I said in my set review, that isn't necessarily a bad thing - I've personally been loving the Fire/Ice VI and Fire/Water IX decks, and Mono Fire Samurais is quickly becoming one of my favorites. While I do think that Fire is in a significantly better place then it was before, the question still remains: What needs to be added to Fire to give it the boost it seems to need? 

The short answer is "Utility". 

There's a reason why the most popular Summons in Fire are Phoenix and Belias - they're both versatile cards that do more than just damage. I understand that Fire is meant to be the "aggro" element, but when other elements like Water, Earth, and Wind have access to a full suite of aggressive and defensive options, it puts Fire in a bit of an awkward underdog position. If Fire is going to continue to get better competitively, it needs to be able to respond better to what the other elements can throw at it in a variety of different ways. 

A lot of people tend to suggest that the reason Fire feels under powered right now is because "in the original Chapters series, Fire was OP, so they're trying to avoid that" which, I mean I guess you could make that claim, but it's a little bit like saying that in an alternate reality, the sky is green: that's just not the reality we're currently living in with the FFTCG. But also I would dare to say that I think many of the problems Fire has are the result of sticking a little too closely to what Fire did well in Chapters, as a majority of those cards - even in later releases - tend to stick to the burn damage formula and generally aren't super versatile. That or Burn cards were just more effective in Chapters. I dunno. 

When looking through them, there were a few that I think would be great additions to Fire in Opus IX, but there's only so far you can go looking at older cards from a different game with different formats. So with that being said, I've compiled a list of my personal top picks for Fire to port over from Chapters to the FFTCG, as well as diving into the exciting realm of coming up with a few "fantasy" cards that I think would do a lot to help the element. 

Of course, these are all just my opinions but if any of these cards or ones like them come out in Opus IX, I'm claiming total responsibility for it and there's nothing that anybody can say to convince me that I'm not secretly the FFTCG card whisperer. Unlike the last time I did an article like this, I'm not going in any particular order of how badly I would like these cards, so with that said, lets look at some weird Japanese cards. 

Oh, and by the way, Gaius the Black Wolf isn't actually on this list, even though I have a feeling he'll be in the next set with Nael. You were all lied to by the header. Sorry.  

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Bahamut Sin

Summon: Choose 2 of the following 4 effects: 

- Choose 1 Forward. Deal it 7000 Damage 

- Choose 1 Forward. It gains Haste and First Strike until the end of the turn. 

- Deal 5000 Damage to all Forwards 

- All Forwards can't block Forwards with Power Greater than their own. 

In my Opus VIII review, I made a joke about how there seems to be a trend with Bahamut cards being clunky and restrictive, and how Bahamut Sin would be the epitome of "Absurd ping but punch yourself in the face" cards, but the Bahamut Sin from Chapters is actually really good! For one, it's a Modal Summon which Fire still doesn't have access to. Second, there's a lot of different scenarios you can use the effects with that make this an effective Summon, and I'd say that he reminds me of a more offensive Diabolos-L. 

The only thing I would change here would be the EX burst, which might be just a little bit too strong. Fire needs a bigger variety of more impactful Summons, and I think this guy would really fit the bill. 

Tifa 

Opponent must Block Tifa if able.

When Tifa is Blocked, she gains 2000 Power until end of turn.

◆: Tifa gains Haste until end of turn.

◆◆: Choose 1 Forward opponent controls. It becomes Active.

Now I know what you're thinking: "But we literally just got a Tifa card last set!" and I understand that, but its more of the effect that I like, rather than the character itself. Hell, you could change it to Benjamin from Final Fantasy Mystic Quest or something for all I care. Either way, forced blocking is something that we don't have too much of in the FFTCG, the exception being Cinque. The ability to force a block from your opponent's Yshtola or any valuable Forward they don't want to get rid of is nice enough as it is, but the fact that you can activate a dull Forward so that it absolutely has to block is great for ensuring that something is going to get broken that turn. 

If the card were to stay as Tifa, then I would change the Haste effect to First Strike instead, so she would become extra threatening with the Zangan Backup.   

Amon

Amon:

When Amon enters the Field, you may search for 1 Fire element character card and add it to your hand.

When Amon is put in the Break Zone from the Field, search for 1 [Card Name (First Emperor Xande)] and put it on the Field or add it to your hand.

Firaga-Forte (S)(◆): Deal 5000 damage to all Forwards opponent controls

One of Fire's most noteworthy issues (though I guess it's true for all elements in the game right now...) is that paying for a big, expensive 5 cost-and-up Forward is hard to justify, since there's so many ways to remove them easily that if they don't do something really impactful on entry or detrimental on exit, you can expect to have it blown up by Diabolos or other forms of removal, and Fire has a looooot of 5 drops. 

What I like about Amon here is that it does something on entry and something on exit, which as we've seen with cards like Veritas, is good. I like cards that make your opponent have to think about how they use their removal, and not only does this guy fetch a Fire Character on entry, making him a soft 3 cost, but on exit he can play a Xande from the deck onto the field, who -also- is a 5 cost big boy with an on-exit effect, and I think that sort of chain of effects would really force an opponent to have to play smarter around a Fire deck with stuff like this and Opus VIII Cloud. 

You could argue that cards that do stuff when they exit the field only prevent you from losing as opposed to winning, but I like to think of it in a more spiteful light - You're preventing your opponent from winning.

You could realistically get rid of the S ability and have it not lose much in my opinion, though more non-wind board wipes would be great too.

Gutsco

When Gutsco enters the Field, choose 1 Forward. Half its Power until end of turn. (Rounded up to the nearest 1000)

◆◆: Return Gutsco to your hand. This ability can only be used during your turn.

This one is pretty simple but it should be obvious why I want this card: Power reduction is (as of the state of the game right now) much stronger than dealing Damage to a Forward. Being able to Halve a Forward's power on entry not only makes it easier to run them over with your attackers, but it also puts them in range of smaller, cheaper ping effects and Summons. Plus the fact that you can return it to your hand during your turn means that you could potentially target multiple Forwards in one turn, or save it for when you really need it, all while still having a 7k blocker on the field afterwards. General good combat trick for Fire, and it would be pretty cool to see some more "off element" effects. Also the game could use more Category III support, so Buff Bara snake dudes are A-Okay in my book. 

Tenzen

Brave

When Tenzen is put in the Break Zone from the Field, you may put a Forward of cost 2 or less from your hand onto the Field.

Hooray obligatory XI Card! Tenzin isn't even one of my favorite characters from that game honestly, but I think that adding a new Samurai that is also a Category XI Fire card would work really well in the Mono-Bushido deck alongside Hien and Goestsu, as well as with his (spoiler) daughter Iroha, Ayame, Volker, and Ark Angel HM. Again, I think that cards that do stuff when they leave the field are pretty good, and Fire has a lot of great 2 drop options that you could play, like Firion or Warrior of Light from the Heroes vs Villains set. If you wanted to be really cheeky you could play Opus I Gadot and then play a second 2 drop Fire Forward. 

Tenzin's ability also doesn't specify that the card you play from your hand has to be a Fire card either, so if you wanted you could use Tenzin as a blocker, then play Ark Angel TT to put a dulled forward on a timer. Other non-Fire 2 drops like Argath and the WoFF monsters would be good targets that help keep your opponent on their toes.  

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So there you have it folks - yet another rant about Fire by some unqualified rando with only the vaguest hint of what he's doing. Now that Spoiler season is live, it looks like I'd better get to work on my next Bingo, so I should be posting that within the next week or so. Keep your eyes open for it!

In the mean time, what are your hopes for Fire in Opus IX? If you could make your own card, what would its effect be? Let me know what you guys think!

Until next time - Keep on Grinding, 

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