Hey there everybody and welcome to Lv.1 Onion Knight: The Final Fantasy Trading Card Game blog that’s needlessly confrontational about the bad takes people had about new cards in their dumb set reviews.
To say that we live in chaotic times would be a huge
understatement. There’s a lot going on in the world that I can’t control, and a
lot of the things that I used to be able to do regularly are no longer on the
table. Time seems to have melded together into one huge amorphous blob. The
most exciting my days get is donning my finest robes and bleakly looking out my
apartment window, muttering “Much
that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it…” like I’m Galadriel
from Lord of the Rings.
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| To be fair, I didn't need a pandemic to do that though. |
But despite the fact that the world can be one hell of a dismal place recently, there’s one thing that makes everything better. The one shining bright light that pierces through the darkness: Opening packs of new cards.
Does that sound incredibly hyperbolic? Absolutely. Am I
sorely in need of the endorphin boost you get when you dive into a fresh batch
of packs after waiting nearly eight months since Opus XI? Hell yes. But in all
seriousness, there really is something incredibly cathartic about getting to
dig into a whole new set after such a long break between releases. Locals may
not be back in action for me (though I did somehow manage to stumble
ass-backwards into a second-place win at my first tournament in eons using a
Ninja deck of all things), but I can’t deny that coming up with new deck builds is definitely
a welcome distraction from the looming specter of depression threatening to
pummel me into oblivion on a daily basis.
And hoo boy, if there was any set that seems tailor made for
some insane deck builds, it’s Opus XII. I feel like I say some variant of “Wao,
these new cards are like, sooooo good you guys.”, or something every time I
write one of these reviews, but the introduction of the new dual-element
mechanic feels way more impactful on the game as a whole than stuff like the
Damage keyword, counters, or whatever the monster-of-the-week effect is. Also
a few of these cards may be a little too insane.
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| "Maybe this should be a once-per-turn effect?" "Nah, what are people going to suddenly run Ghido to take advantage of this or something?" |
If Opus XI was the “power creep set” (or perhaps more accurately the “Marche-Ritz-BFA” set), then Opus XII is the set that tenderly tucks your prior notions of just how powerful cards could get before promptly slapping them in the face with every card of your old decks.
The dual-element cards are the logical next step to those
old Standard Unit cards from Opus VII that required their cost be paid with a
specific element in order to get their effects off, but these are way better in
every conceivable way. The versatility of being able to pitch the cards for any
element combined with their overall sheer strength pretty much makes them
staples for decks that run those elements - sometimes even in decks that
only run one if you can find a way of generating CP of the other required
element, or a way of getting them onto the field for free which is actually surprisingly easy.
Either way, the power level that was formerly reserved for
Light or Dark cards seems to now be available to these new multi-element cards,
which gives certain combinations a sizable leg up. Ranperre Lightning/Earth
decks took a slight dip in popularity last set only to rocket right back on top
again thanks to Regis’s absurd recovery effect allowing you to recycle self-breaking cards like Nyx and the new Gilgamesh for
virtually no cost. Water/Lightning featuring the Scions of the Seventh Dawn took
an early tournament win in Japan, with Thancred’s ability to cheat out the new Y’shtola
or Lenna from the Break Zone giving an element combination that never really
saw too much play in past sets some serious legs. Personally I’m excited to
see just what kind of shenanigans can be pulled off with the new Faris, which
is making me want to seriously revamp my old Warriors of Light deck from the
ground up.
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| AKA the "How many Light cards are too many?" deck |
Speaking of which, another thing I love about this set is that it continues with the trend of giving much-needed support to tribal decks. Samurai in Opus XI became one of my favorite decks, but it was one that would either result in a spectacular wipe of your opponent’s Forwards or a hard brick if you couldn’t get your combo pieces in hand, but now it appears to be shaping up into a top tier threat. I think that a lot of people evaluating the new cards tend to underestimate just how valuable something like a new 2 CP Backup with the correct job/name can be in amping up decks dependent on them. I personally was guilty of dismissing the new Dragoon backup as insignificant until I played against a new build and saw just how much quicker they can set up a massive board thanks to it. Either way, it’s really nice to see more “Edge-like” support cards for tribal decks in this set – especially for Knights who haven’t had any real direct support since like… Opus VI? I guess I can finally live the dream of making that Fire Garland Legend work.
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| When I finally fulfill the ancient pact of a successful Fire/Water knight deck, I can finally depart this mortal coil at peace. |
One other big thing about this set that can’t be overlooked is that it finally fixes what was, in my opinion, one of the worst mechanics in the game: Party attacks. Party attacks always kind of felt like a bit of flavor tacked on from the games that were never really “worth” the investment for any card not named Yuri/Chelinka. They were always more of an absolute last resort that could backfire on you since they would usually leave your side of the field more vulnerable.
But in Opus XII there’s so much new support for party attacks, and it’s all really good support too. The box
topper cards usually see a ton of play, and it really can’t be underestimated
how much sheer value Yuna gives to party attacks, especially when combined with
cards like Bartz/Boko and Mid/Cid Previa. It finally feels like you can build a
legitimate strategy revolving around party attacks in a way that nets you a pretty sizable advantage. 1CP Forwards also feel more impactful than ever thanks to these guys.
In spite of this, as far as overall game balance goes it looks like Opus XII wasn’t really intended to be the “solutions set” to any of the imbalance issues that arose in Opus XI, at least at first glance. Many of the big issues that plagued the meta in the last set still appear to be alive and well. In fact it might have actually… uh... exacerbated some of them a little bit.
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| Ahem... |
Cards that cost more than 5 CP and had no on-entry effect needed to have a bit of protection added to make them worth running – otherwise they’d still be sitting ducks for Diabolos regardless of how high their power was. But on the flip side now you have cards like Neo-Exdeath that are both extremely destructive and difficult to get rid of, and can also be played as early as turn one to totally stymie your opponent unless they happen to open with an answer in their hand. And trust me, there are plenty of answers that exist that can punish an early play of Neo-Exdeath, but it puts an almost unfair amount of pressure on the opponent just to be able to play the game at all. Ah well, I guess for the time being I’ll start including the 2CP backup Cloud in my decks or something.
In a game so heavily dependent on resource management, reactivation as a form of value generation that is often highly difficult if not next to impossible to interact with. In Opus XII, this largely goes unanswered, with a certain trio of cards printed this set taking that to an almost hilarious new extreme. At this point I’m not really sure how you would go about fixing that since even if you printed a backup like Chapters Shamonde that said “All Characters can only become active during the Active Phase”, it’s not like Wind hasn’t had access to easy Backup breaking in Archer since Opus I or anything.
Even then, printing
one card that stops reactivation would only slightly shift the balance of power
to whichever element happens to get it, unless we see some sort of easily
splashable Light or Dark card that also has a few other effects to make it
worth running. Actually now that I think about it, making a big beefy Light
Forward with some powerful negation on a modal effect sounds like a good way to make Light cards more aggressive. A Light Emperor card perhaps?
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| The Shikaree may be emblematic of everything wrong with Wind right now, but that won't stop me from using them for that Boneyard Gully Delta Attack. |
HOWEVER, there is one card that may actually make a lot of my gripes about Wind a bit of a moot point. It does quite a bit to answer a huge amount of meta threats in the game, so much so that people were utterly terrified that it would completely break the game as soon as it was revealed. Most of you probably know by now that I'm talking about Amaterasu.
This card just kind of... does everything it needs to do. Not only does it give Fire a much-needed and highly aggressive form of protection, but it also does something that most removal cards don't: Completely stopping cards from generating value. Cards with fast auto abilities have always been prioritized in the FFTCG for good reason, since you don't want to spend the cost of something that needs a turn to set up only to have it get blown up before it can do anything. With strong auto-abilities, even if the card gets destroyed it's already done its job, so it's not really a big deal.
But now with Amaterasu, rushing out fast cards with strong auto abilities like Opus VII Sephiroth can quickly blow up in that player's face. Plus there are tons of ways to search for, boost, and recover Amaterasu in Fire with Sazh (7-008C), Terra (10-132S) and Vermilion Bird l'Cie Caetuna (6-010H). It can even deal with Backup effects or function as cheap removal if you don't need to negate anything. All around a really solid card that really cements Fire's place as a Summon-heavy control deck.
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| I'm fairly certain I'll come to hate this card the more it's used against me, but for now we have a mutual respect. |
If I had to pick one element that possibly got the shorter end of the stick this set, it would possibly be Water maybe? Don't get me wrong, they got some great cards this set, including the aforementioned Yuna, Syldra, and Dusk. But compared to the other elements, Water didn't really get any new and exciting mechanics to really shake up its playstyle. I do have some thoughts about the use of bounce as Water's form of removal that I'll get into another day, but aside from that I think the elements are in a way better place balance-wise than they were a few sets ago.
Mono decks (aside from maybe Mono Fire, who needed some time in the sun after waiting so long to be good) generally seem to have fallen out of favor in recent sets, but that may have more to do with the fact that as more cards have become available, the utility that you gain from splashing different elements outweighs the efficiency of playing just one color. And now with the dual-element cards, it may be quite some time before we go back to the glory days where decks like Mono-Water or Mono Earth make a comeback, if ever.
But I don't think that's a bad thing either, much as I do enjoy a good Mono deck and totally understand people who want to see Mono Lightning rise to it's former glory again. Like all card games, things have just evolved from the state they were in a few years ago, and I can only hope that big, dynamic changes like Opus XII offers continue as the FFTCG moves forward. Hopefully when we can all get back to playing at locals in 2021, the decks we go up against will be a lot different from what we were used to.
That, or we'll all keep getting smacked around by Ranperre decks, but the more things change the more they stay the same I suppose...
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| That's one mustache that just won't quit. |
Oh, and one weird final sidenote: I’m also just now noticing how curiously similar Opus VII and XII in terms of the characters featured in them, with a major focus on V, X, and FFL. Now I’m going to be spiraling out of control trying to figure out it there’s some sort of pattern between sets so I can have more successful bingo runs.
And hey speaking of bingo...
After the disaster that happened last set of not getting a complete bingo for the first time since Opus VI, I'm happy to report that Stella got her groove back when it comes to making highly generalized predictions about what will be coming out in upcoming sets. Much as I am disappointed that we're not seeing a new Leblanc or Sir Fratley, the fact that we got not just one, but FOUR rows correct this set was the glimmer of hope I needed at the end of this dumpster fire of a year. So to celebrate, I'm going to be giving away the biggest prize I've ever done here on Lv.1 Onion Knight: An entire sealed box of Opus XII.
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| If you pull a full art Tenzen or Selh'teus though, I fully reserve the right to cry about it. |
While I probably won't be able to give away a whole box for every new set release, (none of the things I've ever raffled off have been sponsored and the cost comes straight out of my own pocket), I really wanted to do something nice for the community who has been holding strong throughout long set delays and the lack of any in-person competitive events. I'm particularly excited about this set, so hopefully this will help give a nice boost to someone's collection!
Raffle Rules:
Enter the Raffle Here!!
So what do you guys think about Opus XII? Have you had any opportunities to play in person with anyone or are you sticking to online-only games for the time being? From what I've been hearing, there have been quite a few new players buying cards for the first time this set, so it'll be exciting to see what happens in the future. In the meantime I'll be here, frantically opening packs because I still haven't gotten my Legacy Shantotto yet.
