Spoiled Onions: From Nightmares - Buffasaur

 

Salutations all you creatures of the deep, and welcome to Lv.1 Onion Knight: The Final Fantasy TCG blog that has been around long enough to remember when "Cloud of Darkness Monster Decks" were a thing. 

Monsters certainly are an interesting class of cards in the FFTCG aren't they? Ever since they were introduced as the hot new mechanic waaaaay back in the pioneer days of Opus IV, Monster cards have always felt a bit like the card designers experimenting with new mechanics to see what sticks. Doing a little bit of everything from becoming Forwards, to using counters, to working as hand traps, it was often a bit difficult to figure out how you can make space in your decks for Monsters in the past. Lately though, Monsters have really been hitting their stride and have seen a pretty big resurgence, with powerhouses like Typhon, Tros, Byblos, and Melusine wreaking havock in all kinds of decks.

Of course, all of the cards I just mentioned have the benefit of being of the "Hero" rarity, so it's hardly surprising that they'd have a power level to match. So can a "Rare" monster rise through the ranks of the denizens of darkness and upgrade from lowly minion to midboss? Let's find out with this new spoiler fresh out of From Nightmares: Buffasaur!     

Buffasaur is a unique Category: FFCC Monster with a simple but powerful effect. When your opponent plays a monster while Buffasaur is on the field, you can put him into the Break Zone to deal it 8000 damage at the cost of one point of damage to yourself. This kind of aggressive board control can essentially invalidate the CP cost your opponent paid to play a Forward, especially when you consider just how prevalent cheating out Forwards for free is in the current state of the FFTCG. Because of the way Buffasaur's effect is worded, you're responding to the Forward entering the field, rather than choosing the Forward you're dealing damage to. That means that cards that can't be chosen by abilities can still be hit by Buffasaur's damage, and you would also be able to bypass Cecil's protection effect as well. Not too shabby for a 2CP monster! 

Folks who have been playing the FFTCG since the early days will notice that Buffasaur's effect is incredibly similar to that of Grenade from Opus V. However, there's an important distinction between the two cards' effects that I think makes Buffasaur much more useful: Grenade triggers as soon as a qualifying forward enters the field, whereas with Buffasaur, you can choose whether or not you want to activate the effect. Having control over when you choose to trigger Buffasaur means that your opponent also can't play around it by sacrificing a small, cheap Forward to waste the trap you just set.

Buffasaur also improves on Grenade by not limiting its effect to Forwards of 8k power and under. This means that you can combo Buffasaur's effect with other sources of ping damage like Mutsuki or Iroha to finish something off. (It was called to my attention that because Buffasaur is placed into the Break Zone, you can't buff his damage with Iroha's effect, since he's no longer a Fire Character you control at that point. Thanks to Stephen Thomas Sause and Andrew Needham for pointing that out!). 

The only real "downside" to Buffasaur by comparison is that it deals you a point of damage upon using its effect. But honestly, are there still people out there who are like, "A point of damage? From my own card?? Why I never!!" or whatever? Don't get me wrong, you definitely want to be careful about when you use Buffasaur's effect and all, but nowadays there are so many cards with damage-specific effects that pushing yourself towards a specific damage number can actually be quite helpful, especially for non-targeting removal like Buffasaur provides.

Mira is an excellent example of how you can use Buffasaur's self-damage to your advantage. Most decks that use Mira generally run her alongside Luminous Puma so you can play it for free with her effect and recover two cards from your Break Zone. But getting to Damage 5 can sometimes be a bit tricky, especially if your opponent is determined to keep you at Damage 4 so they can attempt to set up and take you out in one turn. Buffasaur not only helps Mira play larger targets, but also guarantees you'll be hitting your target for a total of 10k damage with his effect when he leaves the field. It could even be worth it to just use Mira's effect to recover your Buffasaur, making it all the more difficult for your opponent to play Forwards while enabling cards with damage effects like Basch or Bahamut. 

Being a 2-cost monster also makes him a good target to use with 5CP Relm's effect too. Playing both Buffasaur and Goblin with Relm's effect makes it extremely dangerous for your opponent to play even very large Forwards, since you can knock out a Forward even up to 11k power with their combined damage. Using Buffasaur's self-damage in Water/Fire decks that have a lot of powerful EX Burst cards like Leviathan and Remora is also a good option, especially if you can keep re-triggering them with Akstar. 

Okay so this is a bit of a weird one, but I can't resist coming up with at least one crackpot combo. Despite her amazing artwork, this version of Mira definitely hasn't seen a whole lot of play. But since Buffasaur is a Category FFCC character, he synergizes pretty nicely with her. When Buffasaur triggers and is sent to the Break Zone, you can use Mira to search for another copy of it, setting up another trap for your opponent. Of course, you could also just do this with the original Mira from Opus IV, and Buffasaur would only cost 1 with that version of her. 

But you can get really wacky with Opus XI Mira's effect since as an FFCC character, you can also turn him into a Forward and punch your opponent with it while you wait to blow him up. Just make sure you don't go overboard being a fierce divalicious hunty with him though, since it would be neither fierce nor divalicious to lose Buffasaur to a blocker before you get to use his effect. Remember you can only trigger Buffasaur on your opponent's turn when a Forward is played to the field.

And there you have it folks! Thanks again to the fine, upstanding folks of Square Enix for letting me reveal another new card for From Nightmares. I was told that I was given this spoiler specifically because its name "suited my interests", and I have absolutely NO idea why...

Would I trade a Signature Cloud card for a playset of Full-Art Sabin? No, because I would already HAVE a playset of them, thank you very much!  

From Nightmares is certainly shaping up to be an interesting set, and I really do appreciate the wider variety of Monster effects we're seeing, rather than slightly altered versions of the same effect across each element like we've had in the past. I suppose it makes sense though, since with the reveal of the Weapons from Final Fantasy VII, it would seem that the set is placing a pretty heavy thematic emphasis on some of the most daunting horrors to be found throughout the games. And had I been smart enough to figure out the theme behind the title of this set beforehand, I may have made some more informed choices with my Bingo this time around, though there's still plenty of time to get lucky with it! 

I actually had a bit of a rough time figuring out what might be coming in this set, and I admit that I was actually really thrown off by the fact that there were three different artists credited as doing art for Final Fantasy II this time around. Hence my madman's wish for more Rebel support. Maybe instead, I should have dedicated a square here to one of the iconic monstrosities found in FFII like... uh... the Emperor of Hell? Yeah that's all I got, so both of you Final Fantasy II fans reading this can school me in the comments. 

As an XI fan, I am both fully aware that I live in a glass house, and yet I still come fully armed with stones to sling. 

In any case, what do you guys think of the new cards shown so far? Do you think the old dreams of a fully Monster-centric deck will finally be realized this set? Or will it be the stuff of nightmares instead? In the meantime I'll be here, single-handedly inflating the market price for those full art Sabins. 

Until next time - keep on grinding, 

     

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A Noob's Review of Resurgence of Power

Hey there folks, and welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight - the Final Fantasy TCG blog with a New Year's resolution to play more card games in lieu of working on any of its other numerous flaws. 

Happy 2023 everyone! I sure hope everybody isn’t so full from the Holidays that they don’t have room for a nice heaping helping of hot takes about Resurgence of Power! Don’t worry, I made sure that these takes were middlingly spicy at best, so as not to cause indigestion after all that roast Behemoth.

I said last time that I skipped out on my review for Rebellion’s Call because I didn’t really find it a super interesting set to talk about outside of my personal frustrations with how card design was handled in that set. But I’m sure you’ll all be happy to know that I actually found Resurgence of Power a much more interesting set to talk about, in spite of Dancer Galuf still not making his debut this time around.

I’m slowly revealing an uncomfortable amount about my preferences to you all in these posts, aren’t I? 

For a while when I was doing these reviews, I tended to talk more about the changes the new set brought to each element, and how I thought it impacted their overall power. This time around, I’m going to step away from that for two reasons: 

1) The return of multi-element cards makes the power of an individual element more difficult to gauge. 

2) I’m generally not running the stuff most other people are or playing in a competitive environment, so my opinions on whether I think an element is good or not tends to skew more to elements I’ve personally enjoyed playing. 

So for this set review, I thought I would go back to how I did things waaaaaay back in my first review for Opus VI and go with more of a pros and cons style review for Resurgence of Power. A “compliment sandwich” if you will, except that I have an equal amount of things that I liked and disliked from this set, so it’s one of those weird sandwiches that has bread in the middle of it. A compliment Big Mac, then. 

So without any further ado, let’s review Resurgence of Power! 

Liked: Multi-Element cards make deck building feel a lot more exciting. 

The last taste that we had of Multi-Element cards was back in Opus XIV, and considering that we all got our tongues properly scorched off by the sheer spiciness of that set, it was probably a good idea to take a break from them for a bit. But I don't think any previous mechanic introduced to the game opens up deck building quite like Multi-Elements do. They're just plain fun, and while I can't speak for anybody else in the FFTCG community, nothing gets me more of a "Oh that looks cool, I want to try that!" reaction than when I'm looking over the new Multi-Element cards. 

While Multi-Elements have the potential to breathe new life into specific element combinations, they're not without their problems. Because there tends to only be one of each rarity type (Excluding Starter Deck cards) printed for each combination, there's a lot more pressure for them to hit it out of the park. If a Multi-Element is underwhelming, it can end up leaving that element in the lurch. Thankfully this time around, it seems like the card designers learned from their introduction and steered clear of making them too specific so that they can't be included in a variety of different decks.

Fire/Water was an element combination that really suffered from this when they were introduced in Opus XII for this exact reason. Three of the four cards introduced were specific to the Knight tribe that didn't have enough cohesion with Fire at the time, and the Legendary was for a completely different tribe with Warriors of Light. But the new Fire/Water cards introduced in Resurgence of Power are simultaneously much more broad, and build upon what was already introduced in previous sets. Along with the introduction of the fantastic new Ramza, Fire/Water Knights got the power boost it needed to be more than just a super niche deck. With cards like Arciela and Firion, you can use your Fire and Water cards in your hand as a way to generate passive value, getting even more of a bonus for Multi-Element cards. 

Even Fran, who is the most specific of the Multi-Element Legends, has a super broad pool of targets to prevent her from being too niche. Only time will tell if this same level of care will be given to the other element combinations in following sets, or if we'll wind up with another Nine, taking up a Legend slot for an tribal deck that the card designers clearly had no real vision for. And with that, I have a handy segue into my first gripe for Resurgence of Power. 

Disliked: Card design feels inconsistent for certain titles and jobs

One of my favorite things about the FFTCG is how many layers you can take into consideration when building a deck. You have Element of course, but you can also base a deck around a specific Job or Category. I don't think anybody got into the FFTCG without being a fan of the games, so being able to make a powerful deck based around your favorite Final Fantasy title feels really good. But sometimes it feels like for certain jobs and titles, a lot more…  well, let’s say foresight has been put into making certain decks more consistent than others.

Now let me make myself clear: I’m not under the impression that every single card printed specifically needs to have tribal synergy. As much as I enjoy building around a tribe, that would limit the amount of decks they could be played in, as well as make having generic staples for element focused decks a lot more difficult. But what becomes frustrating is when the card designers begin to flesh out synergy for a job or title, and then either completely drop them or don't give them the level of care they've shown themselves capable of with other cards. 

Ahem... 

I joked around about how mad I was about the Ranger/White Mage from Rebellion's Call not being a Dancer, but I really did find it aggravating how they would introduce new Dancer support and then not give a deck based around having as many of a specific job on the field as possible some much needed Backup synergy, then turn around and do exactly that for Monk, Samurai, and Dragoon. I was really looking forward to beefing up my Rebel's deck, but for a set named Rebellion's Call, there was no real Rebel support to be found aside from some kind of *eh* protection with Ricard. It just felt like there were some major opportunities in that set that got completely missed. 

I'm well aware that expectations are just premeditated resentments, and that often times, this perception of things being imbalanced is just a consequence of the art assets from the games that are required to be featured in a particular set. Like it wouldn’t make much sense complaining that Avalanche got more support in Resurgence of Power, since Final Fantasy VII Intergrade just so happens to have a lot of Job: Avalanche members as characters in it. But I assume that the card designers do have some degree of control over the kinds of effects they give to each card. So when Morze's Soiree gets a fully fleshed out archetype with super clear lines of play and win conditions in one set while Type-0 Cadets haven't so much as seen a new usable Backup since they were introduced in Opus III, it does make me question why some decks get really solid support and why some are left to languish set after set, even when they do get focus. 

Final Fantasy VIII has traditionally gotten very little love from the FFTCG in the way of Category synergy. That's not to say that there are no good VIII cards - the Squalls printed in the past have traditionally been quite good, and the one printed this set is quite a nice bit of support that can lock down your opponent's Backups when played early, or get pesky Forwards out of the way while buffing up your board mid-to-late game. But VIII fans have long been teased by the promise of Category support over the years with cards like Opus IX Rinoa and uh... Opus XIII Rinoa (it's usually Rinoa that ends up being the tease I suppose...) giving a glimmer of hope that it might someday be fleshed out into a more solid deck. So when VIII appeared to finally be getting focus this set, seeing it have bits and pieces of different strategies without a cohesive vision yet again is somewhat frustrating. 

Cid Kramer is one of the best pieces of title support that VIII could have hoped for - I know Type-0 Cadets would kill to have a cheap Backup that helps playing more than two colors easier! Seifer is also an amazing card that can help VIII play really aggressively with self-damage effects - that Opus XIII Rinoa is a lot more threatening when she can get Haste and dull all of your opponents cards in one swing! But the other cards released in this set don't really create super great synergy with either Cid or Seifer, which seems like a bit of a missed opportunity. Fujin and Raijin feel like they could have done a little bit more than just been a slightly better Logos and Ormi from Opus II, especially considering how little synergy VIII cards have with each other. 

When combined with Cid Kramer's effect, the new Gilgamesh is clearly intended to be the big payoff card of this deck using multiple elements to be able to break higher-cost targets with his effect. It's just frustrating that cards like the new Zell, Selphie, and Laguna don't really work towards this goal, or with Seifer, or even with each other for that matter. They just kind of feel like a bunch of unrelated cards that happen to share a category, once again feeling like we're setting up pieces of something for VIII that ultimately don't end up coming together cohesively. 

Look, I get it. This is a highly specific and largely personal complaint to make about this set. You'll notice that I'm not complaining that like... the new Gullwing's don't all work in one deck or something (though technically you could play Paine  or Rikku for free with the old Opus VI Yuna leading to some interesting deck building ideas...) But cards like the new Squall and Seifer almost seem like a promise for Category VIII synergy that we'll have to wait a little (or quite possibly a lot) longer to see properly fleshed out, and I really would like to see the card designers do a better job fleshing out a tribal deck's identity, rather than picking things up and dropping them while other decks continue to get built up more.

And before you ask, no, I wouldn't consider myself a die hard fan of Final Fantasy VIII. But a lot of people I'm close to are, and because of them, I am now the Lorax who speaks for underdeveloped card game archetypes. 

Liked: The Warp mechanic adds a new layer of strategy to the game 

Resurgence of Power also has the distinction of introducing a new game mechanic in this set, and boy does it introduce a doozy with Warp. The card game equivalent of buying something on layaway at Walmart, the ability to pay a lower cost for a card in order to have it enter the field in a set number of turns is one of the most interesting abilities that the FFTCG has introduced in a while. Don't get me wrong, I like Crystals just fine and all. But they don't allow for the amount of strategy and Criss Angel-style Mindfreakery that Warp does.

Setting a ticking time bomb that threatens to go off in a few turns can quickly change the pacing of a match and imparts a sense of urgency that can completely change the way your opponent plays. Of course, they'll know what's coming for them, giving them a way to either prepare a counter for it or try and play around it, but I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. There's often a reluctance to give your opponent any insight into what you plan to do, but I can't help but agree with ol' Alfred Hitchcock when he said that you can only create a suspense element by giving someone information about what's coming. And considering that cost of the Warp is usually significantly lower than that of cards with similar effects, the mechanic can make for some interesting plays.  

Let's take the new Garuda for example. I recently got into a debate about the new Garuda card with a friend of mine, who insisted that it was never worth it to use the Warp effect and instead should always be hard-cast for the full 10 CP. His logic was that five turns is just too much time for your opponent to prepare for Garuda, and they won't play Forwards knowing that this thing is coming to blow them up, or they'll just save their cancellation effects for it. And to that I say, that's the point! 

Five turns is a long time for your opponent to not want to play any Forwards, so using the information that Garuda is coming to blow up the board, you can apply pressure and attack aggressively with your own Forwards, or utilize a strategy with Monsters that can become Forwards like Tros or Spectral Keeper. In turn, they're forced to choose between taking more damage or playing Forwards to protect themselves only to lose them in a few turns. They can always cancel it with stuff like Amaterasu and Leviathan, but how many other valuable auto effects are they going to let slide through in order to hold their negate for later?

There are some truly powerful effects attached to these Warp cards the likes of which we've never seen before. The ability to draw three cards off one cast for an initial investment of only two CP with Lunafreya or play a 5-cost Knight from the Break Zone with Ramza is absolutely wild, so maybe that's why they've been a bit conservative with how many cards have the Warp ability in Resurgence of Power. Right now there's not a lot to choose from at the moment, and some elements definitely make out better than others in terms of how powerful their Warp effects are. But hey, who's to say that the ability to search out any card from your deck is stronger than summoning a big tree?

I still love him though. 

Either way, I think that Warp adds a new layer when it comes to planning out turns for both yourself and your opponent, and I'm hoping that we see some creative applications for it in the future.

Disliked: The more things change, the more they stay the same

After Rebellion's call, the new set certainly felt like a breath of fresh air, and got me excited to start brewing decks again. And yet, for as many exciting things that Resurgence of Power introduces, I can't help but feel like it doesn't actually do much to shift the status quo of the game as a whole when it comes to which decks and strategies are the most consistently powerful. 

I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to say that Amaterasu has been one of the most impactful cards ever printed in the FFTCG. The amount of value you get from turning off any auto-ability and destroying the Forward it triggered off of is absolutely bonkers, and the threat that you may be up against a deck that can use it is always something you need to consider when making your plays. As of right now, you can easily make several complete 60-card decks for cheaper than the cost of what getting a playset of three Amaterasu will run you. It is without a doubt, one of the biggest threats that exist in the game right now. 

And they printed a second one with the new Leviathan. 

Well okay, they printed a much more fair one in any case since this one doesn't work on autos triggered by Backups and the added kicker cost to bounce it back isn't something you'll be able to pull off whenever you like. But now we have a new negate Summon to worry about, and this one is in an element where you can reduce the cost to only two CP. Summon-based control is already very difficult to deal with, with only several niche cards like General Leo really doing much to turn them off. The point is, that Amaterasu is already a pain, so essentially printing a second one only creates even more of an environment where any Forward with an auto-ability over the cost of three feels like a massive risk. In a game where managing your resources and hand size are so important, cards like Kirin and Fusoya should feel like they're a massive, powerful play. But depending on if you're up against a deck running one of these two elements or the ever-dominant Mono-Wind which will likely be running Fina, the high price for casting them may not be worth gambling on. 

As a matter of fact, the cost-power curve for Forwards has steadily been going further and further down for the past few sets, and the introduction of the Warp mechanic almost feels like a way to make cards with a high printed cost cards feel less risky. 2 CP Forwards have begun to feel a bit imbalanced, since their not only considerably more speedy to brint out, the risk playing them is massively lower than Forwards that cost 4 or more. Oftentimes they have effects that feel just as impactful as their higher-cost counterparts. It doesn't matter if Noel only has 5000 power considering that by Damage 3, he can instantly break any 4+ cost Character, search for a Forward, or deal a free point of damage. Lightning from the new set ups the ante here by not only being well above curve at 7000 power, but her draw means she's completely free, has built in removal, and has Haste. And all that is even before you consider her ability to replay herself from the Break Zone! 

Traditionally the FFTCG doesn't really like to print answers to threats in new sets - it just prints bigger threats to be dealt with. That and the reluctance to create a more flexible and adaptive ban/limit list may contribute to much of the feelings of "sameiness" in the competitive scene set after set. That may also be why so many people I've spoken to are so burnt out by Wind's continued strength, but we don't need to spend any more time ranting about that. We all know that having a 1 CP boardwipe that is easily achievable in Storm decks and that can be repeated every turn through the likes of Althea/Bismark is stupid. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it would be cool if more answers to powerful techs that have remained powerful every set would be printed, rather than praying that more cards get banned. 

But hey, looks like Mono Water is making a comeback. That's only like, half of Sky Pirates, right?

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See? That review wasn't all that spicy now was it? Despite some issues, I definitely think Resurgence of Power is a really fun set to build around, and I really hope that the reintroduction of Multi-Element cards sees some little-used element combinations make a comeback. Personally I'm looking forward to see what Ice/Water will bring in the coming sets, since I had a lot of fun with a lockdown-style deck back in Opus XIII. 

So with my midly picante takes sbout the set aside, lets see how things went with Bingo this time around, shall we?  

Look, I really didn't skip my last set review and Bingo raffle just because I flopped in my guesses to get a Bingo. I really did just need a break for a bit, but maybe it was just Rebellion's Call not passing the vibe check that made me not get a Bingo last round. But lookie now! We got two rows complete this time! 

As much as I would love to give away something like a full-art Yuffie to celebrate this momentous occasion, uh... yeah, that aint happening. I like you guys and all, but being an Onion Knight doesn't quite make enough Gil to pay for something like that, and you all know by now I'm not lucky enough to pull one myself. But in order to ensure the arrival of the spring harvest, the Final Fantasy VII fans must be appeased. So this time around I'm raffling away a 25th Anniversary playmat and Tifa Promo.

Woah, a prize that isn't linked to my own personal misfortune this time? I know, I'm surprised too. Maybe whoever wins this one won't end up afflicted by the Tonberry's curse, but 2023 is just starting after all, so only time will tell.

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 anniversary playmat and promo. 

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.

3) The Raffle submission period will go for three weeks from the post date of this blog (January 9th), until Monday, January 30th 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!!

  

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There you have it! I hope that everyone has a great 2023 full of good pulls, sweet jank builds, and EX Bursts that win you the game. And for anybody who is lucky enough to pull the signed Yuffie, know that I'm coming for you to steal your luck... 

Until next time - keep on grinding, 

 

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Spoiled Onions - Resurgence of Power: Quistis

 

Greetings SeeD candidates in training, and welcome to Lv.1 Onion Knight: The Final Fantasy TCG blog that is participating in "No Burst November" in solidarity with all those brave souls who have ever lost a game they should have won to an EX Burst, and are totally handling it in a healthy and productive way. 

Boy howdy it sure has been awhile since last we met here. I even missed doing my usual review of the last set! What did I miss while I was away on Onion sabbatical? Has Glaciela Wezette finally earned the 20 dollar price tag she commands on TCGPlayer? Have they finally banned Bismarck? Is the Morze's Soiree deck still meta, or has everyone just made a gentleman's agreement not to use it anymore? 

In all seriousness, I really just needed to take a little bit of a mental health break, which I know must sound hilarious considering I'm talking about the very arduous task of writing about trading cards here. But after running this little dog-and-Chocobo show for the last 4 years, I kind of hit a wall when it came to thinking of stuff to write about. I was also honestly kind of tepid about Rebellion's Call and I couldn't really figure out how to write a good-faith review of the set that didn't boil down to a bunch of weirdly specific issues I personally took with the way certain cards were designed. Sure, I could write a whole article about how much of a missed opportunity it was to not have that one Ranger Backup be a Dancer to give consistency to an actual Tribal deck like Samurai, Dragoons and Monks got, but would anybody read it? 

Put him in the game you cowards. 

You might not guess it from just how much sarcasm I usually inject into this blog, but I do actually care about writing something that people will get some sort of use out of. And trust me, nothing quite saps the old creative juices quite like sitting down and forcing yourself to try and write something just for the sake of writing something. But hey, who knows? Maybe I can still write something that's both fun and educational without writing a friggin' dissertation every time. And that's why you guys keep coming back here right? To learn stuff? 

... 

So yeah, anyway, here's a new spoiler from Resurgence of Power.  

Quistis, AKA Miss Trepe if you're nasty, hits the scene to take your other Forwards to school. It's been a good while since we've gotten a new Quistis card - or solid category VIII support in general, a fact which I'm constantly reminded of by the curiously high number of the FF8 fans I seem to have in my life. But with two other solid Quistis cards, all you Trepies out there might find yourself hard-pressed to include her in your VIII decks. Of course, that all depends on what other support Category VIII gets this set (a new searcher not named "Rinoa" comes to mind...) but Quistis's entry effect is powerful enough that you may want to rethink how you build those old VIII decks you're dusting off in preparation for the new set.   

Removing your opponents choice on which card they have to pitch with a random discard is certainly stronger than regular discard, which might explain why we haven't seen it on too many cards before now (Fun fact: Only 4 other cards in the game before now have Random Discard effects). Since Quistis's effect triggers on attack, cards that can attack more than once are prime targets for her buff. And wouldn't you know it - the new Gilgamesh being introduced in this set also just so happens to be Category VIII! Dealing with two attacks from a 9K power Forward is already going to be difficult for your opponent to deal with, let alone randomly losing two cards from their hand. With more Category VIII cards being introduced in Lightning like Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin, Ice/Lightning might just be the way to go with VIII decks in Resurgence of Power. 

So if you REALLY want to go unga bunga on your opponent's hand, you also have Ravana, Savior of the Gnath as an option to use with Quistis's random discard since he can attack a whopping four times a turn. Since it's impossible for him to get Brave like Gilgamesh though, you have to rely on cards breaking to activate Ravana again and keep on swinging. Of course, it doesn't say that it has to be your opponent's cards that break, so an Ice/Lightning deck with cards that can put themselves into the Break Zone like Coeurl and Kazusa can help get more attacks out of him. It will take a few turns of setup beforehand, but once Quistis hits the field, your opponent will have to take 3 or more attacks, losing a random card for each one, and have one of their Forwards broken by Kazusa on top of that.

Using Quistis's effect in Ice/Wind can also quickly shred your opponent's hand size thanks to cards like Chelinka and Byblos. Turn Byblos into a Forward after Damage 3, then play Quistis to pump him to 9k and play Chelinka to give Byblos Brave and a second attack. With this combo your opponent will be forced to discard 4 cards from their hand, and can also Dull/Freeze 4 Forwards as well, all for only 5 CP. Other cards with on-attack discard effects like Serah or Lasswell are great options to target with Quistis too. 

All around, I view Quistis as a long overdue upgrade to Argath from Opus I, sacrificing the instant speed of his discard for more potent random hand disruption that has higher potential to abuse with combos. Topping it all off with the ability to buff up one of your Forwards by 2k, and you've got a versatile new option that fits nicely into discard-heavy Ice decks. Not too shabby for a Common eh? 

"Who are you calling common??"

So that's my spoiler for Resurgence of Power! Thanks as always to Square Enix for the opportunity to reveal new cards to the community! And thanks for giving me permission to soft spoil the card early in my latest Bingo! Is it cheating? Absolutely! But after losing the Bingo from Rebellions Call, don't I deserve it?

I swear, that's not the reason why I've been away for so long... haha... 

Looks like things are off to a much nicer start this time around though! I'll be eagerly awaiting more card reveals while I prep for our NY local two-deck Title tournament in a few weeks. I'm calling it the "Doom Series" because it's like... you know, a twisted version of the Reraise series? Do you get it? 

This rapier wit is why they pay me the big Gil here folks.

Until next time - keep on grinding,

 

 

 

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Spoiled Onions: A Rebellion's Call Card Reveal - Onion Knight

 

Hello again Adventurers, and welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight: The Final Fantasy TCG blog that actually studied at the University of Argus with the Onion Knight from Final Fantasy III. One of us went on to save the worlds of Light and Darkness from the forces of evil, and the other writes blog articles about card games, so you tell me which one of us really got our money's worth there. 

Well well, would you look at that? Our good friends at Square Enix have let me reveal an Onion Knight card for the second set in a row! With no other Onion Knight themed FFTCG bloggers out there, I suppose I was the logical choice for this - though I'm starting to think they might actually be trying to imply something about my choices by having me spoil Onion Knights who have achieved the ultimate jobs of Sage and Ninja. "This is what you could be if you actually applied yourself"! Yeah yeah, hint taken guys.

So while I'm here trying not to stab myself with shuriken and practicing my best Naruto run to achieve maximum speed, let's take a look at my spoiler for Rebellion's Call - Onion Knight (17-044R), aka "the new Ninja one".

While the Sage Onion Knight from the last set was about bringing draw power to an element that doesn't normally get much of it, the Ninja Onion Knight combines combat tricks with value generation. At first glance, his Dull ability to bounce himself back to the hand to play a Forward of cost 3 or 4 (and remember, that's EXACTLY 3 or 4, rather than 3 or less.) seems like the most notable effect of this card. And don't get me wrong, it IS quite good! But like all good Ninjas, this one has a few tricks up his sleeves that make him a flexible piece of utility for a variety of different decks.

Right off the bat, this card bears an obvious resemblance to Esha'ntarl from Opus XII since they both have the ability bounce themselves back to the hand in order to "trade up" for a more valuable Forward. Unlike Esha'ntarl though, Onion Knight doesn't have any restriction on when you can use his effect, so you can use his effect to flash something in on your opponent's turn. Onion Knight also has the advantage of having an entry effect, letting you make a Forward unable to attack or block until the end of the turn.

This effect is actually surprisingly versatile. Effectively, it means that so long as you have Onion Knight in your hand, you'll always have the ability to completely ignore one of your opponent's Forwards for 2 CP. The former part of the effect seems like it would be useless, since why would you care if a Forward can attack on YOUR turn? However, it's actually the perfect target for Phoenix (3-020H). Not only does casting Phoenix during your opponent's turn let you use Onion Knight as a combat trick to stop a potential attack, the fact that it plays Onion Knight straight onto the field from the Break Zone means that you also skip the waiting period to use his Action Ability once it becomes your turn again.   

He's also an excellent option to use with the card everybody loves to hate, Bismarck, Lord of the Mists. Onion Knight's ability to bounce himself will trigger Bismarck's draw effect, and lets you play something like Zidane for free, with Onion Knight replacing the card you just lost from your hand. Then you can use Bismarck to bounce Zidane back to your hand at the end of the turn, so you can set up the whole shebang again next turn. To add more salt to the wound, every time you play the Onion Knight to the field, something can't block. If you choose to do this though, do your best not to feel too smug about it or anything. Try and look extra guilty about it, saying things like "oh I'm so sorry! this must be a super unfun interaction for you!" Maybe that way, you won't actually be responsible for Bismarck getting banned next. 

Much like his Sage counterpart, Onion Knight's job being both Ninja and Warrior of Light presents some interesting opportunities when it comes to the decks he can be used in. I already spoke about Warriors of Light in my last spoiler reveal so I won't be going over them today. Just know that there are plenty of good ways to use the new Onion Knight in that archetype - being able to play Faris for free from your hand without having to worry about color fixing being one of the most notable uses. The job also lets the Luneth Backup give him Haste to skip the turn you'd need to wait otherwise. But I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't the most excited to talk about Ninjas today.

With Edge reducing his cost, Onion Knight can play a 4 cost Forward from your hand for only 1 CP, and I don't think I need to explain why that's incredibly efficient. In the Ninja deck, having Onion Knight on the field becomes something your opponent will need to deal with in one turn, or else risk having something like Zangetsu being cheated out onto the field and dulling their entire board. Once Onion Knight's Action Ability can be used, he also functions somewhat similarly as Kytes does for Sky Pirates, being a cheap card that can effectively dodge single target removal and replace himself with a much bigger threat.    

A card that has rarely seen play in past Ninja decks but may be worth considering running alongside Onion Knight is Izayoi. Onion Knight's efficiency goes through the roof when you can play Izayoi for free, and then play another Ninja of 3 or less from your hand. Izayoi's effect doesn't specify that the Ninja she plays has to be a Forward, so you can build your Backup line with cards like Maina and search for the next Ninja you need to continue your combos.

The new Yugiri that was revealed for Rebellion's Call is also an excellent card to play using Onion Knight's effect (or to play with Izayoi's effect for that matter - she's just an excellent new addition to the Ninja deck in general). Yugiri's search can grab any Card Name or Job Ninja rather than just Forwards, so you have a pretty wide range of options you can go for depending on what you need. Using Onion Knight's effect to cheat out Yugiri and then going for her search also ensures that you have two Ninja cards in your hand, so you can use her discard effect to break a Forward as soon as she hits the field.

It should come as no great surprise to hear that the new Onion Knight is also a great new addition to Onion Knight decks. Wild right? But ugh, look at that smug little jerk, flaunting all his cool jobs and stuff. I bet it must be real hard to not constantly get your ass handed to you by low-level Goblins and Bats when you've been given the divine blessing of the crystal. I guess I just wasn't in the right place at the right time like SOME people... 

Ahem... In any case, the Ninja Onion Knight is a no-brainer for OK decks - especially ones revolving around the Multi Element Fire/Wind version. Much like my earlier example with Faris in Warriors of Light, the Ninja Onion Knight also fixes the need to play him with the required colors. It's also one of the few other cards that can properly take advantage of the versatility of new Ninja's entry ability. If the Multi-Element Onion Knight is sent to the Break Zone on your opponent's turn, you'll be able to play the Ninja Onion Knight straight from your hand and prevent an attack. Much like with Phoenix, this will also have him ready to use his Action Ability when it becomes your turn.  

Even without combat tricks, Ninja Onion Knight's exchange effect has the potential to give you big value - but without Haste, you may find him sent to the Break Zone before he can do his thing. Thankfully, Onion Knight-centric decks being Fire/Wind gives the Ninja Onion Knight access to Goblin to help ensure he can get his ability off as soon as you play him. I should also point out that many Onion Knight decks you can find online are also Ninja decks. So if you prefer to use the OK package over a more Category IV heavy Ninja build, this new card certainly helps grease the wheels with that too. 

All in all, I'm really hoping that Rebellion's Call will finally see Ninjas get some much needed Job support. It's been my favorite tribal archetype ever since I stumbled my way to top two in my first ever serious tournament with them, so cards like Onion Knight and Yugiri give me hope that we'll see them get the same kind of love that archetypes like Samurai have gotten. 

Oh who am I kidding? No tribal archetype will ever get as much love as Samurai. But a man can dream, can't he? 

---

Thanks once again to the lovely Richelle Brady at Square Enix for letting me spoil a card with my blog's namesake again - and for all of you lovely folks for reading this! Before I head out, let's take a look at this set's Bingo for those of you who didn't catch it on Facebook. 

So it looks like so far we've gotten... *check's notes* uh, none of these so far. To be fair, I was a bit later making this Bingo up than I usually am. I actually had Yugiri and Ninja Support as two spaces on this board, but the day I went to post it, Yugiri was already spoiled. Considering that she checked both squares already, I hastily replaced them with some other options, which may prove to be my downfall. But I'm confident we'll start to check some of these off as we get closer to the release. After all, what are the odds that this is the first Bingo where I end up getting NONE of these predictions right? Hahaha... 

In any case, thanks again for coming around to listen to this bearded Onion Knight ramble on about cards. While I wait for Rebellion's Call to release, I'll be here nursing a tensely polite and ultimately one sided rivalry with the other Onion Knight. What really makes it awkward is that he's actually a super nice, supportive guy, but being stuck at Level 1 for so long has a way of making a guy bitter. 

Until next time - keep on grinding, 

   

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