Test Your Luck With The FFTCG Battle Factory

 

Hello everyone, and welcome to Lv.1 Onion Knight: The Final Fantasy TCG blog that still can't catch a break even with randomly assigned decks. 

We interrupt your regularly scheduled content to discuss something I almost never talk about on this blog: a tournament. 

But not just any tournament mind you - one that me and my crack team of shallots here at Onion Knight headquarters have been working on setting up for awhile now. As you may or may not know, the fine folks of the FFTCG NYC crew really love coming up with alternative casual game modes like we did with the Twin Party System back in 2019. Well this time around, we came up with a wacky new style of tournament that combines out-of-the-box deck building, testing your adaptability piloting decks, and a little bit of chaos to boot: The Battle Factory!   

I'll have my usual set review and raffle up by the end of the month (TWO articles in one month?? Shocking I know!), but I'm actually really proud of the work that these lovable knuckleheads did to create this game mode, and thought other people might be interested in trying it out for themselves. It's quite fun, even though I got utterly destroyed in our run of it. 

So with out further ado, let's talk about the FFTCG Battle Factory! 

What is the FFTCG Battle Factory? 

Have you ever looked at a card and thought, "man, I would love to try building around this card, but I don't think it would ever work in the current meta"? Are you sick of seeing the same decks run at tournaments? Looking for a way to spice up your locals? Then the Battle Factory format may be just what you're looking for! The goal of a Battle Factory tournament is simple: Build the zaniest, spiciest decks you can, then randomly assign them to players and watch the sparks fly. Win and have the choice of stealing your opponent's deck for your own. Lose and get another spin at the roulette of random decks and see what fate has in store for you next round. 

It's like this, but actually fun. 

The main idea for the Battle Factory actually came from the Pokemon games rather than anything from Final Fantasy. Specifically, its a reference to the facility sharing the same name in the Battle Frontier found in the third and fourth generation Pokemon games. For the unfamiliar, in this facility players are given teams of random Pokemon to use, with the ability to select a new one from their opponent's team upon victory. 

I wanted to do something similar to this in the FFTCG because we have some truly mad-genius level deck builders in our group who really enjoy experimenting with different cards and discovering combos that might get overlooked in standard constructed play. Plus, playing with random decks is a fun way to test your skills and see how well you can figure out how to master a completely unfamiliar deck. 

I also have no idea if there's an equivalent to this in another card game at the moment, so if somebody in the comments is like "Uh actually that's just the Commander Hoedown format from Magic" or whatever, just know that I was blissfully unaware of that when we were workshopping this idea. I'm also pretty sure I could have named this format something more appropriate to the Final Fantasy series, like "Crystal Conundrum" or something, but hey, I'm an overworked Onion Knight here, so Battle Factory. There you go.   

There are two different ways you can run a Battle Factory tournament depending on how you want the decks to be distributed upon the conclusion of a match: 

Format A: The winner of the match can choose to swap decks with the opponent, or stay with their own. Regardless of what the winner of the match chooses, the loser can choose to randomly swap their deck with one of the remaining decks from the pool. This format prevents losing players from getting stuck with a deck that really doesn't work for them for the whole tournament. 

Format B: The winner of the match is forced to randomly swap their deck with one of the remaining decks from the pool. This prevents one deck from sweeping the tournament and really puts a player's ability to pivot to different deck styles to the test. You can only win this format by consistently winning with new decks.  

Regardless of the format, you're welcome to use either Swiss or Round Robin for round pairings.  

Set Up 

So how can you go about setting up your own Battle Factory tournament? Well the first thing you're going to need is decks, and lots of them! Try and have at least 4 extra decks than there are players - we ran an 8-person tournament and had 13 decks in the pool. 

We also chose to avoid including popular meta decks for a number of reasons. First and foremost is our group's personal preference to building wacky jank, and because we wanted to really see how well our players could handle totally unfamiliar decks with interesting win conditions. We wanted our focus for this tournament to be cards that really don't see a lot of play in recent sets, either due to power creep, or ones that never quite caught on with players, so stuff like Blitz Ace Tidus, Rapid Fire Bartz, and Job: Girl Chelinka were all fair game.    

But another reason is that the meta naturally gravitates towards maybe a maximum of three or four high performing decks. We wanted to avoid including anything that was a bit too overpowered for deck diversity and balance purposes, as well as to prevent one player from getting lucky pulling an S-Tier deck and steamrolling the whole tournament. 

We did do a bit of playtesting beforehand to ensure that all the decks we built felt like they were on an even playing field. I also want to state that the goal of this game mode is not to purposely try and screw your opponents over by making purposely bad decks, so don't be that guy! The goal of this is to make something fun and interesting, and besides - you never know if you'll wind up getting the deck you built. Otherwise, you're welcome to use whatever kinds of decks you want in this chaotic, competitive potluck!

Once you've got your deck pool settled, have some way of marking the decks with a number/symbol/etc. We just so happened to have enough decks where we could put a playing card the top of each deck box. Then we took another set of cards with matching number from the playing card deck, shuffled them together, and had each player randomly select one. Once these were given out, the players took the deck that matched the number on our cards. I'm sure that there's a more technical way of doing this - especially if you have an extremely large group - but it was also gave me an excuse to bust out my deck of Final Fantasy playing cards for MAXIMUM BRAND SYNERGY! 

In case you're wondering, there's no special reason the 7 is missing from here. I just can't count. 

Allow everyone some time to look through their decks and get a proper feel for it. If you see another player has gotten a deck you built, you're welcome to explain any strategies or combos you intended for the deck to pull off. For example, the person who built the deck I got during the tournament is a Machiavellian psychopath who built a Rube Goldberg machine style deck revolving around cheating out powerful cards with Red XIII and Hojo. Since I don't have that level of big brain energy, I uh... did quite poorly with it. By the end of my first match though, I had effectively figured out optimal opening hands for the deck, techs I could pull off with it, and most importantly, what to do with the Feral Chaos that was in there, which was a bizarrely rewarding experience.

Once a match is over, any player who is receiving a new deck from the pool must  use the same method you used to distribute decks at the start of the tournament. After a player receives a new deck, place the one they're giving up back into the pool. Otherwise, matches are conducted as they would be in any other tournament. 

Is this type of tournament silly and convoluted? Absolutely. Is it also incredibly fun and dynamic? Hell yes. With a bit of creativity and imagination, you can build decks that might not perform well in a standard tournament, but can pull off some explosive, stylish wins here. Let's take a look at the top cut for our tournament so you'll get a better idea of what I'm talking about. 

1st place: What Ever Happened to Duelhorns?

Created by Sean, AKA, "The Blue Mage" 

"Allowing Night Dancer to stay on the field for as long as possible while you set up is devastating for very aggressive decks. As your opponent starts to get frustrated that they can only attack once or twice a turn, you set up Alys the Ensorceled and Sanctuary Keeper. The rest of the Tactics A2 characters like Maquis the Phantasm, Duke Snakeheart, and Ewen, are meant to slow down the opponent by keeping their Forwards dull, breaking them, and then picking them off one by one with Alys and Frimelda. 

Rydia and Auron are there to support Alys by searching and protecting her. The lightning part of the deck is to set up quicker with cards like Luso, and allow for even faster usage of Alys. Finally, Kefka is another great deterrent for aggressive decks, playing for free against large boards and then punishing them with a Raiden or Leviathan played with his effect."

🔰 Just like Sean said, this deck was incredibly annoying to go up against - especially as somebody who played a turn one Nael in a Forward-heavy deck and then couldn't attack with her since I had no Backups with Night Dancer on the field. The way that the Duelhorn package shuts off early aggression and slows down decks, I would be curious to see if there were any way of using them as a counterplay to the Final Fantasy XIII deck that's currently rampaging the meta. Can't get those three attacks off if everything comes in dull after all. 

2nd Place: LÉ CROIX SUPRÊME

Created by Daniel, AKA "The Producer" 

"You mainly wanna try and stall out with Ovjang & Mnejing while you set up your Manikin backups for Opus 3 Exdeath to get Grand Cross off. Don't be afraid to take damage as it can help you get to that Grand Cross by enabling Cait Sith, and it also gives Cid Sophiar the ability to recur. After your 1st grand cross (which you can use as a response to something) your main focus shifts to setting back up your Backups and the main star - Opus 17 Exdeath. 

Hecatonchier can help stall out in the beginning of a duel and Ramuh can be a boon in some situations. Syldra can only really be played with Shantotto or Cait Sith but if you have them set up early you can grab 2 different Exdeaths!!! All in all, the deck is fun and meant to be so its super easy to set up and Grand Cross. Don't be afraid of losing your board as you're playing a more defensive deck with a lot of recursion and ways to grab Exdeath. 7 CP Lightning is kinda sick with Grand Cross."

🔰 Okay so I know Grand Cross Exdeath from Opus III is a meme at this point but I was shocked at just how easy it was to pull off with modern support. Making Exdeath cheaper with the Manikin Backups and Glauca meant he was usually coming in for 2-3 CP, and the guy who was playing Daniel's deck was able to reliably Grand Cross just about every match, which was equal parts insane and hilarious to watch.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Opus III Exdeath in the deck Daniel made was in  French, hence the title.  

3rd Place: Are We the Baddies?

Created by Rob, AKA "Daddy Warbucks" 

"First and foremost in building this deck I wanted to accomplish a few things:

1. I wanted to build an intuitive deck that anyone can pick up and play.

2. In the theme of our Battle Factory I wanted to build a deck that highlighted cards that see little to no tournament play.

3. I really wanted to build a deck around the Opus 14 Earth Cloud.

In that regard I want to talk about 2 cards that I knew for sure I wanted to be in this deck.

I think since this Cloud was spoiled in the lead up to Opus 14, the community's overall impressions of him have swing drastically like a pendulum. I've seen takes where he could be considered "meta defining" and much like in the same vein of Neo Exdeath where every deck must have some sort of answer to Cloud or else he decimates both your board and/or your hand size. And I have also seen takes where the opportunity cost of building a deck around Cloud is too high, too costly, the game has too many answers for him, and the best decks can deal with him naturally. I think both of these takes are accurate but I also figured in the right scenarios and in the right format this Cloud can truly become a nightmare to deal with.

The other card I knew I wanted to add was Carbuncle from Opus 14 as well. It's cheap, it applies to your entire board, it can potentially replace itself, it's category 7 so it can be used to pay for Cloud's action ability, AND its on a burst.

With that out of the way, the deck just naturally built itself. I wanted my Backup line to be entirely Earth and I wanted to put as many playable category 7 cards I could find into the deck with some obvious restrictions. Because the condition of Cloud's ability specifies that it can be payed for with category 7 cards, I was also comfortable with playing a higher volume of light and dark cards. The lightning splash felt natural, especially after I remembered that Class Tenth Moogle could also color fix for lightning. I didn't want to play Cu Sith simply because it was such a ubiquitous Earth card so I had to find some other ways of recursion for my key cards. Billy Bob was an easy add in that regard as well as Marlene with both being category 7. Mont Leonis I thought could be a spicy one of as he will usually be fairly costed and could perhaps be a sweet top deck in those situations where you need to rebuild your board. I also consider Matoya a strong add as she has multiple modes for multiple situations. The ability to recur, RFG your opponent's break zone, or pressing the emergency red button when the board gets too hot made her feel very relevant. So much so that if I had another opportunity to make changes to this deck, she would be a cut simply to lower this deck's power level. 

On that note I wanted to talk about the changes I would actually like to make to this deck if given an opportunity. The Opus 16 Aerith paired with Opus 11 Tifa created some borderline unfair and oppressive board states that other decks in our format weren't equipped to deal with.

Aerith would either go down to 1 or be cut entirely and replaced with light Aerith as well as perhaps bumping up our dark Sephiroth to 3. I would've also liked to have cut Cactuar entirely and bump Kujata up to 2 simply because Cactuar synergized too well with the deck. Taking a point of damage was very relevant at times as it could potentially make Tifa's damage 3 field ability live and could also potentially allow for Sephiroth to be cast if you were off by 1 on the damage threshold. And we've already talked about why Matoya would be cut here.

All in all I'm very happy about how this deck performed, especially because it was piloted by a newer player by the name of Ty and she was able to take 3rd place with the deck. Ty did need a game to get a feel for how the deck runs but she performed admirably and well above expectations. Congrats to all!"

🔰 Damn, and I thought I could write a lot of words about cards, but since Rob supplied some super generous prizing out of his own pocket for this tournament - Pre-release kits from Opus XI through XIV, one of which had a full-art Amaterasu in its packs - I didn't want to cut down any of his essay here. Rob really is amazing, kind, and hustles harder than anyone I know to bring new players into our fold, and despite being the most competition savvy and technically minded member of our group, is always down to experiment with some fun decks. I'm incredibly grateful for everything he does for the NYC FFTCG scene and would be lost without him. But also he created a deck called "the Anti-Brian deck" for this tournament that was specifically meant to antagonize me, so also screw him.  

4th Place: Lightning/Fire WOFF

Created by Daniel, AKA "The Head of Research & Development" 

"This deck is very straightforward. Ideally you want Lann and Spectral Keeper out while you poke away at your opponent. I would have loved to have played the new King behemoth card here, as it would have helped the Lann combo but I had made this list before the new set came out. 

Maria is a nice card to give your smaller units power and also letting Rorrik becoming a Forward so he can be played again later after he dies. Hes a great burst as well. All the other cards in the deck are very basic and easy to use, like Noel can come in and either dull to units or give one of yours Haste. Aldore Emperor can also be pretty powerful to use if you get it at the right time."

🔰 Dan really is our resident madman when it comes to deck building, but the one he built here was easy enough to play that one of our newer players with limited experience managed to place fourth with it. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed this tournament so much, aside from the absolute bonkers decks everyone came up with, that is. 

All in all, the tournament was incredibly fun and I'd love to set up another one of these again. Congrats to all our winners!

---

 

So that's the Battle Factory folks! What do you all think? What decks would you bring if you were holding a tournament like this? Are there any cards that you would want to build a deck around? Personally next time around I want to make an earnest attempt at building around Sin's Giga Graviton Special.

I'll have my set review and raffle up real soon! For now, I'll be here, shouting "LÉ CROIX SUPRÊME!!!" to myself while folding laundry and washing dishes. 

Until next time - Keep on grinding, 

Read More

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, 

     

Read More

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?

---

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!!

  

---

 

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, 

 

Read More

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,

 

 

 

Read More