Howdy folks, and welcome to HowWL! Once again a new set is upon us, and after looking deep at the set I think this may be the most balanced limited format so far, at least no element looks substantially better or worse than the others. Granted there are a couple with some mediocre cards, but even they have plenty of strong cards to balance it out. There are a couple of really cool archetypes this time around, and I look forward to really getting my hands on the cards and trying them out. Both cycles of monsters look like a ton of fun to play. One small hiccup this time around: the FFX Starter cards are not up on the browser, so the auto-card links won’t work for those. There aren’t many references to them outside of their section, so hopefully you can open FFDecks and look them up when you get to them. There are lots of small synergies here and there to sink your teeth into and explore. I’ve decided to change out my rating system from 0-5 to letter grades, the .5s always felt awkward to me, like I may as well just be doing 0-10. With that, let me present an explanation of the rating system.
Rating Scale
S: You are ecstatic to first pick this, and you will warp your entire deck to play it. Nearly wins the game on its own.
A: You are happy to first pick this. A strong reason to play its element. These cards are the bombs you build your deck to support. Should improve your position dramatically.
B: You are unexcited to first pick this. The cards that form the backbone of your deck. Will likely put you ahead a couple of CP when played.
C: You are upset to first pick this. The meat of the deck. These cards will rarely get you ahead immediately, but may accrue value over time.
D: If you’re first picking this then you have one of the worst packs ever printed. While these cards may have niche application or very specific circumstances where they excel, by and large they do not do much to advance your game plan.
F: If this card is in your deck at all, Godspeed
Fire
Hope you’re ready to read, because we already have a card I want to talk about at length (and I’m not exactly known for brevity at the best of times). Backups don’t get much better than Vaan, at least for limited. Typically one of the weaknesses of named Backups is that you can only run two, maybe three, before you really start running the risk of drawing multiple unplayable cards in the late game. With an extremely solid Special, Vaan turns that weakness into a strength, turning every extra copy you draw into a powerful burn. On the other hand, by running a bunch of Vaans, you make it much more likely you have to play him out early during your development, before you can really make use of his ETF. So, even though running a bunch of Vaans is strong, he’s still excellent if you only have one, though in a different way. He is R so there’ll typically be somewhere between 2-4 Vaans in the draft, but it’s nice that you can just go ahead and mindlessly draft them without worrying about overloading yourself. We’ve seen damage based Backups like this a bunch over the years, where you can attack a lower powered Forward into a high powered blocker, then drop the Vaan in Main Phase 2 to combo kill whatever was stonewalling you. These kinds of Backups have always been the backbone to aggressive Fire decks, and are a large part of why Fire is (almost) always one of the best elements in limited. Vaan, however, has an extra trick up his sleeve: the potential for 8000 damage. Being able to straight up kill something with a bit of setup will set him apart from most of the other Vivi/Irvine/Palom clones. And while this may not line up often, he can act as a strong counter to the hyper-aggressive play of dropping two Forwards on turn 1. By playing your following first turn with two Backups and then Vaan, you will be able to totally stymie this sort of all-in play.
A
As long as he’s not the last card in your hand, it shouldn’t be hard to get some good damage out of his ETF. He will very reliably be a 9k attacker which is great for 4cp. Not the greatest on defense, but you didn’t play Fire to block.
B
Elbis is lite Vaan for most decks, where you’re trading the possibility for 8k and the Special in exchange for EX, which will mostly only be useful for preventing another Forward from attacking. Getting your second Morze’s Soiree Member isn’t going to change how you play Elbis that much, there are a few strong 5ks you’re happy to kill, but for the most part you’ll still need to bundle another bit of burn to break the big boys. Once you have a full blown party going, Elbis turns into a real killer, both threatening to drop huge damage on play or burst while also helping support other members. When you’re looking to have as many Morze’s Sorry Mambas on the board as possible, a 2cp Backup is a reliable way to go.
B
Since he pays you back 2 cards when you drop him with an empty hand, Onion Knight has the potential to function like a 0cp/8k, which is a stellar rate. While 8ks are good, especially considering how many 7ks are in this set, you’ll still need plenty of support so they don’t just become obsolete the moment your opponent plays a 9k. Luckily, no element has more of that kind of support than Fire. Going down to an empty hand is a pretty aggressive strategy, but this is certainly a great payoff for it. There’s a lot of synergy to be had in the set, Yunalesca helps set up an empty hand, and the discard can trigger the three Black Waltzes. I feel like it’s less correct to say that he enables the Fire/Ice self-discard deck, and more correct to say that deck enables him. Even if all that wasn’t enough to sell you on this card, he enables some extremely oppressive openings. Imagine turn 1, pitch two to play a 4cp Forward, then pitch two to play OK, and pass with two 8ks and two cards in hand. Or going second, drop two 2cp Backups and pitch the rest for OK. Or the absolute dream going second, Suzaku into Byakko into OK. Since he draws two, this even leaves you outside of YKT-63 range, which on paper would normally be a great counter to this sort of all-in strategy. Oh, and even if you draw him late and can’t feasibly get down to 1 or 0 in hand, you can still use him to replace cards you don’t want while digging deep for your bombs or removal.
A
Cloud is a decently flexible Backup that has the potential to be good in the mid to late game. As we already covered with Vaan, damage dealing Backups are the backbone to many Fire decks looking to heap the pressure on their opponent. There are a handful of VII Forwards like Aerith and Zack so pleasantly his 2nd action will be functional on occasion. And while not being able to hit Standard Units is much more relevant in limited, his 3rd ability can be an excellent way to at worst get back some CP and at best to fuel a powerful Special like Ciaran. Now, there are some limitations here. Unless you’re rife with VII Forwards (unlikely), Mr. Strife won’t have much to do in the early game. The standard flow of Turn 1 2cp Backup Turn 2 3cp Backup just doesn’t work here, as Cloud won’t have any targets. This relegates him to later in the game, where even though his options are good, they’re not backbreaking. And it won’t be that uncommon that you just can’t find anything for Cloud to do once you get to that window of opportunity. Now, I’m not saying Cloud is bad. I’ve happily played Cid (FFL) and Cloud is absolutely a superior card. Just make sure you’re not overloading yourself on Clouds, and don’t depend on him for your early development. And be careful of your chosen Forward getting yeeted before he resolves.
C
Between this and Bahamut, Fire is finally redefining how much damage it gets for each CP breakpoint. 8k no questions asked for 3cp is great. Most of what Fire is doing this set is assembling two sources of damage to kill something, and Crimson Hound is capable of dealing with most Forwards on its own, setting it apart from the rest of the pack. As for his “look at the top 2,” this ability has a bunch of small uses here and there. You can filter your next draw, especially useful if you’re trying to avoid Backups or duplicate names in the late game. You can use it before taking damage to triple your chances of hitting EX Burst. It helps make effects like Kirin more reliable (shame you can’t pop it after Luso’s shuffle).
B
I’m going to leave discussion on synergy with Vivi and Black Waltz 3 for when we get to those cards. BW2 is marginally playable in Fire/X, you have Onion Knight and Morrow for discard trigger, and he can pitch extra copies of himself for huge damage. At first blush it looks like he’s a decent hedge against Ice’s discard, but there are issues with that. Very few Forwards in the set die to 4k, and most of Ice’s discard will happen on their turn, meaning pretty much any effect you could combine it with is so much damage that you don’t need an extra 4k. Sure, there will be times when it combines with an EX like Ace, or when you can combine it with the -2k from Ixion, but the discard will mostly only be relevant when you make it happen. Now when we apply BW2 to an Ice deck, suddenly his playability shoots through the roof. We gain access to Black Waltz 1 at C, an incredible boon both to BW2’s discard trigger and action ability. Keep in mind that Yunalesca doesn’t trigger the discard effect, as you’re pitching to pay for a cost and not “due to an ability.”
B
The difference between 3 and 5 isn’t going to matter 95% of the time, so don’t break your back trying to grab summons during the draft phase. Black Mage is exactly what you’re looking for in your filler, and he has multiplay, so feel free to load up. He’s not winning any awards, but he’s got enough synergy that you’re rarely disappointed to see him. Once you do get a summon in the bin, dropping two BMs for 10k total will feel like BM. While the ETF isn’t irrelevant in the Black Mage deck, keep in mind that the Waltzes (and Vivi) care about JOB Black Mage, and don’t consider our little wizard to be good enough to join the club, so again, don’t break your back drafting him.
C
Ace, Onion Knight, and ideally Squall are all excellent targets for Samurai, but really he hits everything except Delita, Rain, and Luso. To that end, unless you’re totally dedicated to All-In-Lasswell, Samurai should be a fine addition to any Fire deck. You don’t quite want to load up on these, as they’re awful as actual backups, but as reanimation spells you’re more than happy to have one or two.
C
Plenty of Fire’s Forwards do direct damage and pumping that by 1k can help them hit important breakpoints. Ace can hit for 7k in a two element deck. Black Mage going to 4k damage makes it easier to hit 8 or 9ks. Squall can clear 5ks. Djinn counts double for Luneth. Braska going to 8k is huge. Delita’s 4/6/8 scaling going to 5/7/9 puts him a tier above. And Djinn himself attacking at 8k damage worth of First Strike is huge, especially when Luneth and Suzaku can preemptively toss damage onto anything big enough to survive and strike back. Djinn makes nearly every single Fire Forward in your deck better, so unless you’re just splashing the element for Elbis or Suzaku, you probably want this card.
B
An even stronger payoff for the Fire/Ice discard deck than OK. Pack a Yunalesca or six along with a Byblos to force your way. It’s pretty trivial to get his Haste off, and by using any of Fire’s million different sources of burn you can clear just about anything that can both block him and survive the 4k+4k. Squall is hands down one of the best attackers we have ever seen for limited, and is in an element that supports the hell out of him. The nice thing about him being Legendary is that your opponent is less likely to play around him, and may just do you the courtesy of emptying their hand on their own. Forcing the double empty will take effort in Ice, and may be next to impossible for other elements, but Squall is terrifying even when missing three of his billion abilities. He doesn’t do anything on defense, so normally at this point I’d say something like “make sure you’re running an aggressive deck” but honestly I don’t know if it’s even possible to make a Fire deck that isn’t constantly pushing.
S
The Shijins are really cool. Elemental consistency is a tough nut to crack in any format (ok, maybe not Title) which means any way to cheat on costs is welcome. For some of the Shijins, I would say to make sure you have enough to search out another one, as 4cp 7ks aren’t anything to write home about, but Suzaku’s attack trigger is strong enough that I think most Fire decks will welcome one or two, even . This means if you are drafting Shijins, you need to prioritize Suzaku. You don’t want to risk him getting sniped by Fire/Ice. What I’m about to say goes for all the Shijins so I’m going to state it here and skip it for the rest: Going second, if you can afford to ditch a Shijin for Suzaku’s cost, you end up able to chain three of them. The more you have, the more reliable this opening is, and may be strong enough that you actually want your opponent to take the first turn. Between this, Onion Knight, Cecil, Madam Edel, and Marche, you need to be prepared for people to open by dumping a wide board, so keep in mind that the standard open of two Backups on turn 1 may be a trap this set, making the line of a 2cp on T1 and a 3cp on T2 a much safer bet.
B
Crystals are tough to come by this set, but Sol’s ETF is well worth going out of your way to enable. Since crystals are so hard to come by, Sol also is a welcome way to generate them. You’ll likely have to find another element that can make or use Crystals, since Delita and Ramza are the only Fire options. +2k on demand is pretty nutty, and since it’s repeatable Sol winds up being a great outlet for any amount of crystals you can amass.
B
As one of two crystal generators in Fire, Delita is already extremely desirable. On top of that, he’s also an incredible way to break open stalemates. As we covered in BW2, 4k isn’t enough to kill most things, and at 5cp it’ll be hard to amass the resources to combine it with other effects. Fire does have a bunch of 5ks, and if you end up with an assortment or cards like Sol, Ramza, Luneth, and Luso, Delita allows them to swing into basically any board. Alternatively, if you’ve got another 9k lying around, you can toss two Forwards into Delita’s furnace and end up clearing everything 8k or lower. While Djinn is great in any Fire based deck, Delita in particular benefits from him, as 5k and 7k are much more important damage breakpoints for Delita to hit. He also couples well with extremely cheap sources of damage like Luneth, and especially Black Waltz 2 who can now split his two effects onto two Forwards for lethal. While Delita looks strong, and the potential is huge, I think you’ll find that getting that huge payoff will be less feasible than you’d like. However, you’ll be able to get an acceptable amount of value without too much effort. Just don’t hold onto Delita waiting for some perfect board state that will never happen. And in a pinch, if you are in desperate straits, if you’ve got three other Forwards, you can use Delita as an extremely overpriced board wipe.
B
Haste is a welcome addition to any deck. Allowing your Forwards unrestricted partying makes your smaller Forwards much better. The discard/draw is a big bonus, making Morrow a decent centerpiece for decks looking to leverage smaller utility Forwards. It’s easy enough to combine them with small damage sources, but at some point you’ll run out of sources of burn and Morrow gives your Forwards not only a new lease on life but a way to profit off of that. You’ve also got Sol in element providing another bonus for party attacking, and both Rain and Bahamut providing a safety net in case a party attack goes wrong.
C
There are extremely few circumstances in the set where 9k damage isn’t enough, so this card shouldn’t pull you towards making a 3 element deck at all. 4 for 9 is crazy good, and is enough to kill basically anything in the set. There’s no downside, and you don’t really care about the potential upside. It’s super straightforward. It kills whatever you point it at. Take it and take it early.
A
Crystals ain’t easy to come by, but if you can get them you can do worse than Ramza. Each ability is extremely powerful, and if you can assemble two crystals (say with Delita) then Ramza threatens two Haste damage out of nowhere, super cheap. If you can’t get your hands on any Crystal support, however, then he’s just an unwieldy source of 5k damage.
D
This whole cycle is great. Good early, good late, and can even bounce themselves to give you access to their Damage 5 once you hit that threshold. They are of course better in decks that expect to take lots of damage, but they can serve as a sort of rattlesnake, warning your opponent not to deal that fifth point of damage to you until they can kill you, giving you a bit of breathing room. These really fit FFTCG’s aim to be more of a “cards on the table” game than one where hidden information in the hand is paramount, while still keeping some amount of hidden info. 10k should be enough to kill basically anything in the set, so if you can somehow stabilize at exactly 5, you’ll have a strong comeback potential.
C
Blessedly, Luneth isn’t restricted to WoL synergy and can cause some real damage when he triggers. There are plenty of other sources of damage to combine with both his trigger and his 5k body, meaning you’ll be able to make good use out of both of Luneth’s ends. He also boosts Warriors of Light too, of which there are four: Onion Knight, Sol, Warrior of Light, and Bartz. This has some usefulness for when your opponent doesn’t have any blockers, for breaking up a stalemated board, or for getting OK and WoL over tough blockers. Cards that give you recurring value turn after turn are excellent ways to snowball advantage over the course of a long game, and Luneth’s ability is extremely easy for Fire to take advantage of.
B
This kind of card makes for a cool Build-Around. Not a good Build-Around, but definitely a cool one. Let’s for a moment follow Luso down the rabbit hole. You want your deck to be overwhelmingly Fire, preferably with few summons, with many different unique names backed by Standard Units, preferably on the higher end of costs. At this point, Luso will have some amount of reliability, and the longer you can keep him out the more and more he will pay you back. It shouldn’t be too hard to identify a spot in the game where you can safely play him out and get his first trigger safely. Imagine, a Backup that makes 4-5cp per turn! And while Luso’s ceiling is really high, his floor is also really low. 6cp is a huge amount to spend gambling, especially on something as easy to kill as a 5k. An unacceptable amount of games will go something like this: you drop Luso and whiff, then your opponent plays Cloud and kills him for basically free. How are you going to recover from that? Also, Fire typically stands as one of the best elements in any given draft environment, so most drafts you’ll have to fight just to get enough Fire cards to make him reliable enough, and forget about getting enough in Sealed. Not to mention perhaps the worst part of the whole deal: because he’s Legendary, it will be extremely rare to have more than one Luso in your deck. Are you really willing to warp your entire deck around a single card that you have no way of searching for?
F
At 5/9 you’re probably willing to run him even without an ability. Dealing 9k to any Forward is a truckload of damage, but you may find that it’s harder to pull off than it may seem, especially in situations where you really want it. Where Rain excels is adding onto existing pressure. If you can force your opponent to make blocks, you can drop Rain in MP2 and keep shredding your opponent’s defense. One issue here is the wealth of effects like Vaan and Cloud, which already punish blocking. Many decks will be looking to find ways outside of combat to eliminate your Forwards, lowering the chances of getting his trigger. In situations where you’re on the back foot and scrambling to mount a defense, well you probably don’t have a Forward that you can afford to attack with, but even if you do have something that’s too small to reasonably block or has Brave, then the opponent may just take the damage, leaving you without your Rain trigger. Having EX is nice, but again you won’t fulfill the condition a large percentage of times that you flip him. Keep an eye out for cards that can meet his condition without having to rely on combat, like Chaos and Jecht. While Rain’s ability may not be the most reliable, he’s still a 5/9, so he’s still a couple of steps above filler.
C
Fire’s doing pretty well for itself this set. Its dedicated removal deals lots, and you’re practically drowning in incidental damage. Fire wants to press the advantage, to punch through and keep on punching. Half of Fire’s cards are begging to be paired with Ice, but any element should provide good support. The only card that’s actually bad is Luso, and while Ramza and Sol are weak without support, if you’ve got the right deck for them even they will be able to shine. Your Common Forwards are all solid, Onion Knight, Black Mage, and Rain, and also at C you have both Crimson Hound and Bahamut, some of the best removal in the set. As usual, Fire is a safe pick, and it will be hard to end up with a bad Fire deck.
Ice
Erwin works fine as a setup or a payoff Morze’s Luncheon Diner, though he’s not exceptional at either. Ice has plenty of cards that reward you for forcing discard, Shantotto, YKT-63, Mustadio, and Byblos, so you should be able to get some use out of Erwin even if you’re not planning Madam Edel’s box social. If you are able to meet his condition, the difference between “discard 1” and “discard that one” isn’t very much but at the same time is indeed very much. In terms of economy, you’re not getting ahead at all, and given the nature of limited there will be many times when all of the cards in your opponent’s hand are equally unimportant, but now and again you’ll be able to snipe their bomb or the sweet removal they’ve been sitting on and you’ll feel great.
C
You’ve got Delita, Ramza, and Mustadio to give her a power boost, naturally pulling you into Fire/Ice (like basically every other card in these elements). Pleasantly, this combination of cards should leave you with plenty of Crystals to shove into Ramza’s mouth, so you have more of a reason to play them together than just giving Agrias +3k. Also pleasantly, her discard trigger can cause Mustadio to become free, and since he has Back Attack it doesn’t matter whether it’s your turn or not. Also she’s a nice cheap trigger for Lasswell. All this means that an early Agrias in draft should make you seriously consider making a move on Fire. Now, if you don’t have any synergies, and no way to use the Crystals like Cloud of Darkness, Shantotto, or DG Sniper, she’s basically a blank 5k, so make sure you’re able to support her.
A
While a 7k isn’t particularly impressive, every turn you keep Vincent alive denies one more CP to your opponent. Some of the Backups in the set have strong potential. Samurai, Yunalesca, Dark Knight, Eiko, Assassin, and Chadley are all good to deny, and keeping the cycle of Damage 5 Backups from being able to bounce themselves can protect you while closing out the game. At H it isn’t impossible to pull his S off, an S that serves to turn him into a real monster, trumping nearly all removal and hopefully boosting him out of reach of anything in combat with him.
C
Bard is absolutely the worst of this cycle. This is because he’s extremely easy to play around should he already be on the table. Not only does the opponent have the normal option of avoiding Damage 5, but now they can go to Damage 5 freely, so long as they end their turn with one or zero cards in hand. Also, if they’re already in a clearly winning position, Bard doesn’t have any real effect on the board, and thus is extremely bad as a comeback mechanic. If it’s a tight race, sometimes a strong economy swing can change the outcome, but IT ISN’T EVEN CP POSITIVE! If you’re bouncing and replaying it to force the double discard, you’re spending FIVE CP to rip FOUR from their hand. Not exactly an impressive reward. To that end, should you actually manage to pull this off, try to make sure you’re getting some extra benefit, whether it’s a discard trigger or an ability that cares about the opponent’s hand size. At least it’s a 2cp Backup with multiplay.
C
Here I was thinking one Crystal was a steep cost. With only Devout, Mustadio, and Agrias to make Crystals for you, CoD will be pretty tough to pull off without relying on another element. Should you manage it, she’s got quite the payoff. In most situations, she’s a 3cp 9k, and the only Forward in Ice that can even get to 9k naturally.
B
For the most part, everything I said about Fire’s Black Waltz 2 continues to be true here, except now you don’t have in-element access to Onion Knight. BW1 deals 2k more damage, which probably doesn’t matter unless you’re specifically discarding Vivi. The difference between BW2’s 9k and BW1’s 11k isn’t that much, unless you’re able to kill one thing with the 7k and use the 4k to finish off something else that already took some damage, or has damage incoming (say from a BW1 or other Forward currently in combat). His action ability only targets dull Forwards, so it’s less effective against a defensive position, but you’ve got stuff like DG Sniper, YKT-63, Byblos, Mustadio, and Lasswell to force dulls. Keep in mind that since it is a two-part ability, you don’t actually declare targets until after you discard, so you can still get your discard triggers even without a dull Forward on the board. I wouldn’t say that he’s worse than BW2, but he’s definitely not better. Regardless, they’re both extremely medium on their own, and excellent when put together. Also, being at C means it’s much easier to get several BW1s, and that C may end up the strongest bit of text on the card.
B
Ice has a bunch of hard removal this time around. Being restricted to dull Forwards makes it less apt at breaking down a defense, but most decks should be able to find some strong use for this. The discard bonus is nice and all, but the card stands well enough on its own, so you’ll likely need another reason before you start playing more than 2 Elements. I don’t really have much else to say about this card. It performs a service that you need at a rate that isn’t awful.
B
There’s lots and lots of stuff that Shelke locks down. It stops boosts from cards like Aerith, HK Garland, and Tidus S. It protects against combat tricks like Chocobo Chick and Ixion. It keeps down Forwards like Reynn and Ciaran. Neuters Backups like Chocobo Sam and Dark Knight. Almost assuredly, you will get at least some value in every game, and she will be a huge swing in many games. Keep in mind that she doesn’t stop power defining abilities, so Hyoh and Lulu can still do their thing. Countertek is an extremely strong S, and will protect you and your team from all sorts of nasty effects. Being able to stop any amount helps against double triggers like Tidus L (once he bottoms himself, you can cancel both the removal as well as the “draw 3 cards”) and situations where two things trigger at the same time, like Luneth and Lann at the start of combat. She is missing a bit of synergy, for some reason she isn’t Cat VII so Cloud won’t be able to bring her back from the BZ and she won’t work with Zack at all, but all in all she’s packing a lot of control over the flow of the game.
B
While it shouldn’t be too hard to get the discount with a well placed discard or two, big Shanty is perfectly playable even if you can’t fix your opponent’s hand size for them. Cu Sith is a top notch card, tacking an 8k onto it for only 2cp more is incredible, and Totto has the capacity to knock off another 3cp off that. And the flexibility of being able to use it as a stalemate breaker is excellent, provided you have a source of Crystal. Shantotto lets you present a real threat while also recurring a previously dealt with threat, and unlike most bombs, the better the rest of your deck the better Shantotto becomes.
A
Scarlet is cripplingly slow, but if your opponent is somehow playing a deck that isn’t aggressive and also doesn’t have many ways to deal with a measly 5k, then she will end up completely dominating the board. The other 85% of decks out there will promptly escort either her or you straight to the Break Zone. If you’re going second (hence you know whether your opponent is going for early aggression and/or is on Fire), a turn 1 of Scarlet + Backup may be an extremely powerful early development against slower strategies. Scarlet’s discard enables a bunch of cards in Fire/Ice, and once you add the second counter you’re really generating a lot of value. Just make sure you have that kind of time.
D
For the most part, her draw is only going to trigger in Constructed, since only Chocobo, Noel, and Lightning can enable it, but the discard shouldn’t be too hard to set up. There are plenty of 7ks this set, so her statline is acceptable, on top of which she has good synergy with all of the cards that care about discard and your opponent’s hand size.
C
Looking at her strictly mathematically, Celes works out to be a 1cp Backup, which is pretty decent. Consider though, that your opponent has likely made plans with their Backups, plans that Celes throws a huge monkey wrench into. She can disable easy access to an Element, she can delay the Damage 5 cycle from bouncing themselves for a turn, or she can very simply slow the opponent down while you develop.
B
8ks are looking to be pretty relevant this set, so any bonus that you get is pretty nice, particularly one as strong as Dull/Freeze a Forward, especially when backed by Multiplay. And if you’ve got a source of Crystal, this lowly C becomes a seriously efficient piece of removal.
B
3cp for Dull/Freeze wasn’t really that impressive in Opus I, even at Summon speed, and it certainly isn’t impressive now. The break effect is what you should be planning around. While it may be extremely hard to get off against a player with a powerful early game economy who can reliably stay at 4 or 5 cards, many decks will end up going down to 1 at some point. With only a bit of discard effects to back YKT up, even going down to 2 cards may be enough for you to execute Order 63. Even just the threat of a YKT may cause some players to be much more conservative about how much they commit to the board. In the worst case, if you can’t get the break effect off, AKB48 is acceptable filler that has multiple uses, even if it is a bit more expensive than you’d like. Seeing as 3cp to break anything is an incredible rate, I’m more than willing to toss a few of these in my deck.
B
There’s a bunch of cards in Ice (and Fire) that want Crystals, and Devout is an excellent (and multiplayable) way to generate them. Add on to that the synergy with discard triggers and cards that care about hand size, and you have an innocuous little cat-eared fiend that forms a strong foundation for your whole deck.
B
As long as you’re careful not to play this while either your opponent has no Forwards, or your opponent has one or zero cards in hand, Babus will absolutely pay for himself. Since your opponent gets to select the options, they do get to decide on what will be least impactful for them, but all of the options are pretty damning, even if what you’re killing is just some 2cp Forward.
B
While Byblos is able to trigger himself after Damage 3, and while we would be more than happy to play him for that alone, Ice is rife with other ways to trigger him. Shiva, Scarlet, Serah, Yunalesca, Lasswell, Byblos upgrades all of these already playable sources of discard into serious threats. Like how Luneth works as an enabler for a bunch of cards in Fire, Byblos should be an immediate and powerful draw to Ice.
A
Every element has one Standard Unit, and Wind has two: Black Mage; DG Sniper; Chocobo; Ninja; Beastmaster; Puppetmaster; White Mage. Should you have the Standard Units to make his ETF reliable, 3cp for an 8k ain’t awful. It’s not great, either, and neither are these cards that he gets. I wouldn’t say that he’s filler, especially if you’ve got a bunch of Snipers who are well worth fetching out, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to enable him, even if I do love EX.
C
One thing that I like about this set is how natural the synergies feel. You want to play Mustadio with Agrias because she wants FFT Characters, and because her discard is one of the only ways to combine his Back Attack and his discount. You want to play him with Ramza (which also helps Agrias) because he makes a Crystal for Ramza to use. Just over half the cards in Ice (11 out of 21) can cause discard to make him free. He can dull a blocker, which Ice desperately wants because Cloud of Darkness is Ice’s only 9k. He just fits in so solidly with everything Ice wants to do that I can’t imagine passing him up for anything but the best.
A
OK, yes, if you boil it down to pure math, you give up a CP every time you use Yunalesca, and in turn you rip 2cp from each player’s hand. You’re paying a CP to… gain nothing. For a symmetrical effect. But if you’ve played card games long enough, you know that symmetrical effects never are. Yunalesca is a great way to convert a CP or a board advantage into a win. If you’re making more CP per turn than your opponent, then by forcing a discard every turn, you’re limiting their options dramatically. If you’ve got more Forwards already committed to the board, Yunalesca makes it significantly harder for the opponent to field a defense. Also consider how many turns in limited you end up with an unused Backup. Limited decks are much less tight that constructed decks, and Yunalesca helps you put those unused Backups to good use.
B
Delita, Ramza, Rain, Agrias, and HK Garland are all Knights for extra ETF triggers, and also for the most part provide better bodies than Lasswell’s measly 5k which allow you to safely get his EOT discard off. On his own, Lasswell is more than serviceable. D/F to a character can help push an advantage, slow down an aggressive opponent, or disrupt early game Backup economy. If you ever played during Celes’ heyday, you know how frustrating having your Backup frozen on turn 2 or 3 can be. Where Lasswell is strongest will be either in applying a ton of early pressure by coming down with another Forward early while also denying the opponent resources, or paired with another knight already on board, as you can drop Lasswell to sideline a potential blocker and then swing out safely with your other knight, enabling the discard. Delita, Ramza, and Agrias already have natural synergy, and Lasswell not only adds to that in dramatic fashion, but also brings Rain to the party.
A
Ice has so much discard. It has so much discard that I want to warn you right now to make sure you don’t end up with too much. YKT-63 and Mustadio are both great payoffs for lots of discard, but you don’t want to be in the situation where your opponent has zero cards and everything in your hand forces discard. Black Waltz 1, DG Sniper, and Heavy Armored Soldier at C will be your baseline. Ice and Wind are the only Elements who don’t have a 9k at C, and in fact Cloud of Darkness is the only 9k at all (no I will not be counting Vincent’s S) so make absolutely certain you have the means to deal with your opponent’s 9ks. Your default removal, Shiva and YKT-63, are both conditional, so also make sure you pick up support for them. Ice pairs most naturally with Fire for Crystal, FFT, and Knight synergy, but also with Lightning’s frequent dull effects which help to enable many of Ice’s cards. Soiree probably skips over Ice, taking only Erwin, and Shijin absolutely skips it, so you’re not facing any competition from those archetypes. While Ice’s top end may not be as strong as other elements, none of the cards are actually bad, making it a very safe element even if you’re being cut from one side.
Wind
Wind
A strong pseudo-Backup, so long as you’ve got lots of things to cast. Chocobo Sam, Rosa, and Lexa are all decent in-element ways to use the reactivation without actually needing another thing to cast. Dark Knight, Eiko, and Assassin can be difficult to leave open on the opponent’s turn without losing out on economy, and Atomos helps with that. It also allows you to get another activation from Chadley and Yunalesca. The only other cards in the set focused towards casting lots in one turn are Zidane, Chocobo Chick (VII), and Vaan, so there’s not really the cards to support a whole deck around it, but the pieces still work well together. Once you’re on Damage 3, the attack trigger lets you double your Backup CP each turn you can safely attack with it, so the more things you can assemble to back it up the better. Cards like the aforementioned Dark Knight and Eiko, and also Ninja, Lulu, and any removal. Don’t be afraid to make an attack that will end in a trade, Atomos only costs 2, and if you’ve got a way to use the reactivated Backups then you’ve almost assuredly coming out ahead on resources.
A
Getting a single CP off the cost of Wol, or a single cast trigger should make him absolutely worth it, especially since he’s the only natural 9k in Wind (though Ceodore, Cecil, and Chocobo can get there with support from their Backups). Should you be looking to maximize Wol’s outrageous potential, you’ve got Cecil, King Tycoon, and Yuri which are all extremely playable. Looking to C and R from other elements, Fire stands out with Delita and Rain, Ice has Babus and Heavy Armored Soldier, Earth features Benjamin and Leslie, Lightning brings Noel and Noctis, and Water boasts Firion and Marche. You can’t go wrong with any of them, though I’m more drawn to Fire Lightning and Water who have two Forwards instead of 1 Forward 1 Backup, to really get the most out of Wol’s abilities. Regardless, Wol has the capacity to be set-up, payoff, and protection all on one card, and slots into all decks except for those extremely dedicated to Shijins or Soiree.
S
On paper, effects like this look great. Spend 3 to break something that costs 5? Sign me up! In reality, most cards that this will hit have already accrued some sort of value. Now, you do need to be able to deal with big bodies, and this provides a no-questions-asked method that doesn’t rely on something being dull, or having had something die already this turn, or the amount of cards in your opponent’s hand. Few Forwards in the set are able to hit 9k without being Gargoyle targets, so he provides a good safety net for an element like Wind that often struggles to reach powers that high.
C
If you’re in three elements for some reason, you can use this as an extremely overpriced combat trick! It also helps support Atomos and Zidane, but even then the benefit isn’t that great, meaning its best case use is barely serviceable filler. Save this one for constructed.
F
If you’re in Ice or Fire and really want more Crystal generators, she can be a good way to get access to more fuel. For most decks though, she’s just a wildly substandard Forward.
D
Unless you flip Backup after Backup, Zidane will put you ahead on econ while also applying a ton of pressure. Make sure to pair him with a ton of removal, so you can keep on swinging and keep on stealing, as he’s too frail to perform the whole show by himself.
A
The unchooseability is nice, but honestly this is probably the worst of the cycle. You need to be deep in the Shijin deck, as a 4/7 should be the kind of filler you’re upset about playing. And even in the Shijin deck, Seiryu isn’t pulling the same weight as its cohorts.
D
You’ve got both Cecil and Rosa so it is possible (but extremely difficult) to get his ETF off. Don’t forget about Fusoya if you happen to be in Water. Reactivating all the Cat IV Forwards at the start of your combat pretty much only protects himself and on rare occasion his dear ol’ dad from being frozen, although if you do manage to get his ETF off it lets Cecil still attack that turn. Still, despite him essentially being a 4/8 with no text, Rosa turns him into a 9k. Don’t go out of your way for that, but at least it’s better than filler.
C
A lot of games are going to end with turn 1 Cecil + another body. Usually you have to pitch four cards to play a pair of 8ks, but Cecil can match that power while only discarding 3. There are a few decent ways this set to punish that kind of greedy opening, Vaan, YKT-63, Leslie, and Chaos come to mind, but Cecil will make most of those cost an extra 2cp, making the risk a lot more attractive. Once you’re out of the opening, playing Cecil continues to be absolutely insane value. Like, I keep reading and rereading the card looking for its drawback and there just… isn’t one. Either of his abilities are worth playing on their own, getting them together is wild. You don’t even need to go out of your way to enable him (looking at you, Luso) as every deck is going to have Characters of cost 4 or less, though should you be able to drop Ceodore or Rosa you’re coming out even more ahead. A quick note, Cecil is particularly attractive to Shijin decks, as they tend to be a bunch of Elements, and Cecil being able to play a Character of any element will be a boon to your consistency.
S
It’s a little more limited than Fire’s Lilty since it can’t hit cheap Forwards, any of the Monsters, and you’re not exactly chomping at the bit to break Ezel. There will be rare times when you hit a Samurai before your opponent can cash it in, but 95% of the time this is hitting a Forward. That said, it’s still good, and most of the time the Forward you want to hit will be in its range.
C
Imagine Bahamut ZERO cost one less and continued to generate resources for you on the rare off-chance it doesn’t outright win the game.
S
The only target in Wind that you’re excited to get back is Atomos, but Chocobo looks like it will play a real role in Wind decks despite that, even if you’re only using the card it returns for 2cp. It enables Chocobo Sam and Yuri, and provides a good chunk of cheap damage to combine with Ninja. It’s C and it’s multiplay, and the decks that want it will likely want it in multiples. Backed by Sam, Chocobo threatens 9k
C
His targets aren’t exactly exciting, but Chocobo and Fat Chocobo are decent enough that you’re happy to get it. His action ability is the real draw, leaving you able to threaten to pump at a moment’s notice. This is much better on offense than defense, because if you don’t end up using him during your attack phase, you get to spend his CP during Main 2. Contrast that to not needing him for blocks; now all you can spend him on are Summons. There’s a lot of 7ks this time around, and having a way to boost your 7ks over that threshold, repeatedly, for the rest of the game, is a great resource to have, and you’re really not spending much to access that. Now the caveat here is that this only really works in a regular paced, fair game. Sam doesn’t do much against extremely aggressive openings, or big bombs, or value engines that slowly grind you to dust. But for the games where your bombs and removal are able to take care of all that, and it comes down to two players slamming their filler into each other, Sam will pay dividends.
B
He’s expensive, and he asks you to play heavy Wind, but if you get a couple draws off him or manage to put just a single Backup out then you’re golden. Selkie, Lexa, and Rosa all meet his criteria. If you’re in Earth you can even use Demonolith on him. His S is good at keeping him alive in the face of removal, but I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to fatten my pockets with Fat Chocobos during the draft phase. One or two should do it, should this be an effect you’re in the market for. Don’t get aggro’d out.
D
Ninja is excellent at letting lower powered Forward be real threats. Atomos, Zidane, Sherlotta, Seiryu, Fina, Pecciotta, and Yuri are all happy to have Ninja support, as is the slew of direct damage options in Fire. Since he’s multiplay, you can pick up as many of him as you like to really ensure you have access to his damage. While removing 2 cards is free in terms of economy, it is a real cost, so make sure you’re not digging your own grave.
A
In all but the most unlikely of circumstances, you’re not getting 4 Wind Backups. This makes Fina into an unimpressive, uninteractable Forward. She’s a decent target for Demonolith, since she can’t be killed in response, a decent card to hit off Yuri, and she can be acceptable in the face of Ice who may struggle to get around her, but most of the time your opponent just isn’t going to care that they can’t choose a 7k.
D
Between Elbis, Lexa, Amber, and Shinju, you can wind up making Pecciotta pretty cheap. That said, his statline is pretty average, so try to support him with Lexa or Ninja. None of the Forwards in Morze’s Hootenanny Squad have action abilities that this lets you abuse, but Pecciotta can still provide one turn’s worth of “Brave” by dropping in MP2. He’s ok, but if you’re not in Soiree, you can definitely do better.
D
These kinds of cards provide for excellent consistency. So long as Wind is one of your primary Elements (40% of your deck or more) then she can help guarantee a smooth early game development, increase your card quality in the mid, and help dig for your Wind bombs in the mid to late. Normally you want to have two or three of these, to increase your odds of seeing her in your opening hands, so having EX helps to offset the risks of playing a named character in multiples.
B
It’s really nice that Yuri can’t whiff, you can always choose to just draw the best card from your top 5. This means you don’t have to build around him in order for him to be playable, however, you really aren’t making the most of him this way, not even close. The more 3cp Wind Characters you can get the better. Keep in mind they do have to be exactly 3cp, so your options are limited to Gargoyle, Chocobo, Fina, Pecciotta, and Lulu, but should you fetch a flock of chocobos and a Chocobo Sam to boost em, Yuri’ll manage the ranch real well.
B
Like Elbis, having a 2cp Morze’s Shindig Attendee is nice for hitting certain thresholds on cards like Merald and Vesvia. I just feel like the payoff should be more than 1k. Protecting Edel is welcome text, at least.
C
Ok like I know I just ragged on Lexa for only giving +1, but I think it’s more relevant on Rosa. Ceodore is an 8k base, and buffing that to 9k is big. Granted, Ceodore isn’t really efficient to begin with, and having access to Rosa doesn’t really improve his standing that much. If you also happen to have a Cecil then you definitely want at least one Rosa around.
C
Wind is in a somewhat interesting place this set, as it has the best and the most game-winning bombs, but also some of the least playable filler. Compare Wol, Cecil, and King Tycoon to the likes of Chocobo Chick (VII) and Sherlotta. With Chocobo, Fat Chocobo, Ninja, and Pecciotta, it technically has more Forwards at C than most elements, although we can’t really count ol’ Fatty as a traditional Forward. Wind is the other element besides Ice that doesn’t have a 9k at C. Unlike Ice, who relies on dull/freeze and hard removal, Wind has more ways to deal with 9s in combat. You have Wol, Chocobo and Chocobo Sam together can build your own 9k, and Ninja lets all of your 7ks trade up. As for the R Forwards, they are conditional at best, so I recommend making sure you have some good bombs, a Madam M or two to dig for those bombs, a good foundation of Sam and flock, and make your other Element the primary bulk of your deck if you’re not going all in on Yuri. And if you think you are being cut during the draft? Abandon ship.
Earth
Sometimes you’re gonna have to bite the bullet and just pay 3 for this. It’s gonna suck, but you don’t want to be behind on econ and damage. The effect is extremely strong, and only gets better the longer the game goes on. At +3k, a Dark Knight activation becomes a serious threat, allowing 7ks to attack fearlessly into 9ks without even having to trade. Since it isn’t restricted to attacking or blocking Forwards, like some of these effects have been in the past, it also helps to protect your board against much of the removal in the set, although if you’re just leaving this up every turn so that your opponent can’t burn you out with Crimson Hound, they’re just gonna cast something else and you’re gonna be bleeding that CP turn after turn. But hey, if you’re ahead on board it may actually be worth it to make your Forwards harder to interact with. At C, it will be really easy to accidentally fill your deck with these, and I recommend you avoid that unless you really plan on taking damage in the first two turns, every game.
C
Consistency is exactly what you’re looking for, especially in multi-element decks. A developmental Backup that fixes your elements, advances your primary gameplan of amassing Morze’s Festival Revellers, and has EX to boot will be nearly impossible to pass up for anyone planning to host a Soiree. Here’s the issue: she’s a Backup that searches Backups. Yeah, I know, that sounds like the opposite of an issue, that sounds fantastic, but hear me out. That means everyone in Earth wants both her and her pal Shinju. Especially considering they are two of Earth’s three “2cp” Forwards (Gladiator is the third). Earth/Wind and Earth/Fire decks also especially want Amber so they can search Lexa and Elbis. When you factor in the EX, everyone drafting Earth wants this card. So if you’re planning on drafting Soiree, you better have a damn good reason if you’re considering passing her, because she will not make it around the table.
A
I’d pay 4 for an 8k Brave without other abilities. HK provides for an exceptional blocker, and his power boost helps to either turn a small Forward into an actual contender, or turns a normal sized Forward into a genuine threat. By making two Brave bodies, HK enables you to go on the offensive while still retaining a powerful defensive presence. Some Forwards that I’m really interested in boosting include Zidane, making it much less risky to get his attack trigger off, and Tidus L, so he can provide strong defense while making unblockable attacks. If you can support HK with an Aerith, it becomes almost impossible for the opponent to attack you while you have enough CP to activate him, at least without some other way of removing him. HK Garland demands removal, which means it can be a strong option to run him out before committing to your real bombs, so that you’ve pulled some of the removal from your opponent.
A
+2k to the team is massive, and the fact that she comes back will make dealing with her a nightmare. Since she takes so long to reraise herself, she slots well into decks that are looking to go for the long game, although at such a cheap cost her +2k also makes her very attractive for very aggressive decks. At 2cp, she’s a nice target for stuff like Marche and Chocobo (on the off chance your opponent makes you discard her). She’s a strong support piece, so make sure you’ve got plenty of stuff worth supporting.
B
If you’re investing extra CP into a Backup, typically it’s with the promise of some sort of rebate, like Amber. It’s rare to see Backups like Tellah. 10k is a huge amount of damage to just have in your back pocket, though, and I expect that one or two copies of Eiko won’t be unwelcome in most decks.
C
A serious leg up on Opus 3 Knight (though Knight’s multiplay would be welcome). Ciaran will shine in decks that have the luxury of hitting four or five Backups, or paired with Fire where Soulshot will become an efficient source of damage to combine with Fire’s many sources of burn. Once you can get Ciaran up to a sizeable power, whether through Backup count, Aerith, or HK Garland, Soulshot is an incredible S. Low cost, doesn’t dull, repeatable, and at Common you can end up with plenty of Ciarans to pitch. Because of this, he has natural synergy with Cloud and Chocobo who can recur extra Ciarans for more Soulshot fodder.
B
Now Kirin only plays out Forwards of exactly cost 4, so there is a real cost to building around him. When you play a Shijin, it pulls another one out of the deck leaving you down another possible hit, so there’s at least a small amount of non-synergy within the archetype, leading you to really want to fill up your deck with 4cp Forwards for Kirin to hit. He’s not awful if you miss with him, 9k is a sizable body, protection against dull helps against Ice and Lightning, and giving +1k to Shijins helps them to be more relevant in combat. But if he does hit? You’ve just put a whole bunch of presence on the board. And if you hit a card like a Shijin or Onion Knight, not only do you get two bodies but also some amount of CP back. Every element has at least two 4cp Forwards at C/R, that is, every element except Earth. This does present something of a stumbling block, and naturally pulls us into a multi-element deck, as unless we get especially lucky with multiple Mont Leonises and HK Garlands, it will be very hard to get to an acceptable threshold of 4cps in a two-element deck.
A
I should be able to sell Gladiator with only the line “It’s Earth’s only unconditional 2cp Backup at C” but he’s also the only 2cp Backup that isn’t being insta-sniped by the Soiree player. The Damage 5 also overcomes board stalls in the late game in conclusive fashion. Unless you’re severely behind, +10k and Brave to all your Forwards should win you the game.
B
Every element has two Monsters and also Twintania exists, so you’ve got plenty that you can fill your deck out with. If you’re looking to make him actually reliable, you’re gonna need at least seven Monsters, which is probably too much for one deck even if you’re also running Mira, Lann, and Reynn. The better your Monsters, the better digging towards them becomes, but worst case scenario Beastmasters are still serviceable filler.
D
10k Brave at C feels great. Having your 5cp blown out by Gargoyle feels awful. Look, Benjamin is really strong, especially at Damage 5, but there are a bunch of ways to get rid of him that cost less. I’m not trying to say that invalidates him, it’s great to have access to a 10k in a format where 9ks are strong, just be careful out there. Most of those 9ks get some value before they eat a Shiva.
C
Pure break, with no restrictions, is a powerful thing. A point of damage is a hefty price to pay for that, especially coupled with the 4cp price tag, so don’t stock up unless you can reliably pay with three elements. Because of the Monsters like Demonolith, taking damage on command can be a good way to trigger an EX like Rain when the opportunity presents itself. A Shijin deck playing Earth for Kirin will be particularly suited to making use of Cactuar, as generating three elements should be relatively easy for it.
B
She’s 2cp and tutorable off Amber, so she’s already getting high marks. She also is the beating heart of any Soiree deck, though like Amber you’re gonna have to beat the other Earth players off with a stick. For those assembling Morze’s Masquerade Merrymakers, Shinju takes away having to match CP for your six goddamn elements, helping to bring the outliers in Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Water to the party while also helping them party together.
B
Whether dealing damage due to a 5 drop or Demonolith, Sophie kills basically anything she’s pointed at. You’ve got Kirin, Benjamin, Layle, and Leslie in element to trigger her, and plenty outside of Earth as well. She’s really not doing anything on her own, so make sure you’ve got the support she needs to shine.
B
While there are no Cat VI Backups to benefit from her field ability, any of her action abilities is good on its own. Terra will pair nicely with Fire, and especially with Ice or Water. Should you look to pair with more than one, Cactuar becomes much more enticing. Since there are Shijins in both Fire and Water, that seems like a natural place to slot Terra in.
B
Since it’s a one-sided fight, at least your Forward is safe if the target gets pumped. Demonolith is decent removal, even if it does fail in the face of opposing removal. Since it can only be played on an empty stack, you don’t get the luxury of using it response to something. You have to be the one to pull the trigger, so do what you can to make sure you’re not getting totally blown out. Good synergy with Sophie, and the ability to fix your deck can help make the damage from Cactuar less painful.
B
Earth has more Backups than any other element, so a way to cycle them out for new cards is welcome. As for his attack trigger, Ciaran, Mira, and potentially Demonolith deal small enough amounts of damage to capitalize, but it’s best paired with cards outside of Earth like Ninja or Vivi. You can also just choose their biggest goon and start swinging into it freely with smaller Forwards. As far as limited goes, Hades is probably the least impactful of the cycle, but it’s still a 2cp 7k that also enables Beastmaster and Mira.
C
Acting as both protector and enabler, Madam Edel serves as an excellent capstone for the Soiree deck. Importantly, she also serves as a way to circumvent element requirements should you be missing Shinju. By keeping the Soiree safe from most removal short of bounce and power reduction, Edel makes it difficult to keep you from reaching the thresholds you need to enable big payoffs from Elbis, Merald, and Vesvia. At this point I hope I don’t need to explain how strong getting more than one card out of a card is, but just in case, you can pitch a Soiree Member to pay for Edel, who then instantly brings it to the table with her. A turn one of Edel into Amber fetching literally anything should be an extremely difficult start for your opponent to refute.
A
Every Monster in the set costs two or three, so it’s not that hard to get to relevant amounts of damage so that you can pull back your removal monsters for a second go. Mira helps the H cycle threaten to deal up to 9k in combat, greatly improving already strong cards, but perhaps more importantly turns all of your C Monsters into on demand direct damage for cheap. This allows for cool lines like using Demonolith to deal whatever damage its chosen Forward will deal, then you can bin it for an extra 2k. Or, swing with Hades and choose their biggest contender, then crack a Crimson Hound to kill their Forward. At only 2cp, you’re not risking much, and the potential payoffs are powerful. Maybe powerful enough to run Beastmaster. Mira pretty much only starts being good about halfway into the game, so be wary of running too many.
B
A 4/9 that’s tough to deal with? Deal me in. Should you happen to get two, draw both of them, and keep him alive long enough to attack, his S is absolutely bonkers. Most of the time though he’s just a big body with a small discount.
B
If you love High Risk High Reward style cards, this is the one for you. Please please please make sure you’ve got a long term plan when you play him out, or you’re just spreading yourself wide open and hoping your opponent can’t find a way to penetrate. A big Brave boy that buffs himself for cheap sounds great, but the Brave means that there’s no easy way to protect him from his own ability. If you’re looking to race, Layle is a good choice, as your opponent has to keep dulling their potential blockers until Layle is dead. If you’re ahead on board or ahead on damage, Layle helps cement that into victory. Playing him MP1 lets you force your opponent to block something they may otherwise have let through, especially something like a party. Playing him MP2 lets you keep up a bunch of potential blockers and forces the opponent to attack into you on your terms. Just be extremely careful against Ice and Lightning. Typically your other Forwards aren’t at that much risk on defense, as you can always block with Layle until he’s dead, freeing your other Forwards from his mandate, but Ice and Lightning are able to dull him, then swing into any blockers you may have left.
B
Your opponent has almost no time to react to this, so as long as you’re pretty sure there’s nothing they can do about it, it’s a pretty safe way to totally swing the course of the game. If you’re just hitting a pair of 2cps, it really isn’t that impressive, but at least it’s still breaking even CP-wise. Please, please, don’t just drop this while your opponent has a full grip of cards. If they’re able to Shiva one of their own Forwards and pass Leslie back to you, you may end up blowing your own self out. Three things to keep Leslie safe: try to play him against an empty or mostly empty hand; try to play him against a field of 3 or more Forwards; try not to play him if your own board will trigger him. As long as one of those is true, it should mean Leslie won’t backfire, but no promises. Sometimes you’ll have to take a risk and run him out anyways, and I wish you the best of luck. Do not play this if your opponent controls Chaos unless you really want to throw the game.
B
Earth has some quality Forwards and some serious beef, but here’s the big issue: your Backup line is wack. Amber is conditional on deck construction, Dark Knight and Eiko are awkward for early development, Leslie absolutely can’t be used for early development, and Shinju will instantly be drafted by anyone thinking about Soiree. Combine this with Earth naturally being pulled into multiple elements (it has core support for both Soiree and Shijins, Cactuar and Terra both benefit from having three elements) and you have an element that struggles to stand on its own. Earth is absolutely looking to play the long game, as we can see both in the slowness of its Backups and from core cards like Ciaran, Heretical Knight Garland, and Demonolith which require prior investment in either Backups or Forwards to be good. With all that said, Earth has some good cards, and a lot of them. Quality removal, burly power, and strong synergy will build a good foundation for any deck. And having your worst card be Beastmaster is a pretty decent place to be.
Lightning
Assassin is a bit unwieldy, as for the most part you can only use it on your opponent’s turn. If you want to be able to use it, you can’t use it for CP on your turn. And if you want to use it efficiently, you need to leave another Lightning Backup active as well. An astute opponent is going to take notice whenever they start their turn with an Assassin staring them in the face, and may try to play out some bait Forward for you to hit. Or just play a 9k. Or something that can’t be chosen by abilities. Or a Backup. Now, there will definitely be turns where your best line of play leaves a Backup or two open, and Assassin shines in those situations. If you have something else that can use CP on the opponent’s turn, like Ixion, Palmer, Hyoh, or Larva, that also makes it less debilitating to risk leaving Assassin open. And if you have a dominating presence on the board, forcing your opponent to commit Forwards, Assassin can seriously limit your opponent’s ability to mount a defense.
C
Strong removal. Since it’s power loss, it’s even good against 9ks, as any Forward can now take them out in combat. The -2k can be pretty crushing paired with a major attacking turn. Just please promise me you won’t play this against a Shelke.
A
You get to exchange the worst card in your hand with the best card in your Break Zone. Seems strong to me. Especially when paired with anything particularly valuable to recur, like Job Black Mages for your Black Waltzes, or extra Ciarans to use his S, but even just getting something medium like a Larva can really help out.
B
Because of the discard effect, you don’t actually have to play three elements in order to use all three Black Waltzes. BW3 is so head and shoulders better than the others that should you have access to it, it is a huge draw towards Lightning, though worst case it pitches to BW1 and BW2 just as well. Lightning ends up being a strong element for the Black Mage deck as you also have Puppetmaster who acts as an extra discard outlet and a way to recur BMs. One issue he has is that his action ability is arguably worse than the other two’s, as there won’t always be a target. Keep in mind that since it is a two-part ability, you don’t actually declare targets until after you discard, so you can still get your discard triggers. If you weren’t already planning on packing as much Black Magey goodness as you can in your deck, his death trigger further supports the deck, making it undesirable to kill him if you’ve got fuel in your BZ.
A
There’s lots of random Cat VIIs around to get Zack’s discount, every single Element has at least two, with Ice having the most at four. Earth may be tough as those two are Aerith at L and Leslie who you probably aren’t planning on keeping. You’ve also got Chadley, Palmer, and Reeve within Element to add even more fuel for his second ability, and if you manage to draft more than one then he can even play himself out. This is looking like a format where 9ks are strong, and getting one this efficient is a pretty welcome addition to any deck.
B
This set’s Summons are all C, so it’s not unreasonable that you can enable him in the late game. Unconditional break is strong, getting a 7k on top of that is huge. And Ixion is already great, it’s not like you need more of a reason to stock up. Because of this, Seymour doesn’t really synergize with having a lot of Monsters, and by extension Lann and Reynn. That’s a lot of cards you suddenly don’t want to be drafting, and will limit your options a lot, so make sure you can get the Summons you need before committing to drafting around him. If you’re trying to get his action ability off, well, good luck.
B
It’s a bit of an upfront cost, but if you’ve got good bombs then Chadley pays for himself in spades. Particularly strong with Black Mages. Wind has a couple of really conditional ways to break him in Ceodore and Selkie, and Ice can lock him down with Vincent, but for the most part he’s totally safe.
B
Good ETF, good burst, good break effect, Noel helps guide any aggressive deck towards doing what it wants to do most: attack.
B
Weird that they printed a card without any text. At least it’s a 9k. Although we do already have Noel. And Zack. And Lann. And Reynn. And Hyoh can even be a 10k.
D
A good early Backup that you can crack for resources in the late game. Going down to zero cards in hand is a bit risky, and isn’t always easy to do while leaving two Backups open, so you’ll definitely run into scenarios where you can’t really break open this pinata (you can’t discard to activate him since that means you don’t currently have an empty hand). Still though, he’s a 2cp Backup. Hard to go wrong with those.
C
Vivi’s already strong on his own. I’d absolutely go out of my way for 4k with no other cost or requirement other than dulling. Once you start pairing him with actual Job Black Mages… I’m just going to point out that he and Black Waltz 3 can bring each other back indefinitely and move on.
A
Dull on swing is a strong ability for any attack-oriented deck, and dedicated Shijin decks may find themselves competing during the draft with regular Lightning decks over this card. Don’t really have anything else to say that I haven’t said previously.
B
Blessedly, “power becomes” circumnavigates Shelke. Assembling five Lightning CP isn’t the easiest task, but being able to pay in installments, as well as winding up with the biggest Forward on the field, both contribute to Hyoh being insanely threatening. 10k Haste Double Damage is absolutely worth 5CP, even if that CP is restrictive. You’re even able to hold off on boosting him until you need it, should you want. Just be careful of activating his final level and eating something like Vaan’s Red Spiral in response.
A
Yeet a blocker every turn. Once you hit Damage 3, yeet two. If you’re prepared to start racing, Spectral Keeper makes it extremely difficult for the opponent to do anything other than start racing you back. If you’re not prepared to race, well, I think you’re in the wrong element.
A
Most of the time, Merald is just going to be filler. Meeting the requirement of 4 Morze’s Banquet Carousers isn’t the easiest ask (I hope) but an 8k Haste is fine. And in the rare situations where you are able to assemble the whole crew, Merald is an insane payoff.
C
-4k on entry is pretty good. Lots of sources of damage here and there to combine it with, or you can even just play it MP1 and dare your opponent to block. She also can give herself First Strike, making her dangerous to attack into, especially if you can back her with a fully powered Ixion.
B
This kills everything short of Luso, Kirin, Marche, Sin, and Chaos, making it hands down the best of the cycle.
B
There’re monsters aplenty this set, many of which are easy to put into the BZ even if you play them. 3/9 is a great statline, and being able to remove your opponent’s best blocker every turn makes Lann an excellent addition to any deck looking to attack.
A
You’re really only trading even by breaking a 3cp, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Has natural synergy with Puppetmaster, Lann, and Reynn, all of whom are good cards. Oh, and Jecht likes Larva too.
B
Why is Hyoh the only target for this in Lightning? Yeah there’s a bunch of great targets elsewhere, notably Ciaran, and especially if you can snag a Warrior of Light, Bartz, or Twintania, but you’re really relying on your second element to enable him. Avoid playing him in Wind, who’s only target is Zidane. Also keep in mind that you’re paying more than the cost of the Forward, and won’t be able to start dulling Reeve for CP until that Forward is dead. Not that he’s bad, especially if you’re getting something strong, just unimpressive.
C
Like Lann, you’ve got a bunch of Monsters running around to spark Reynn’s fire. 3/9 Haste would already be worth going out of your way for, but getting to spread Haste every turn thereafter makes Reynn a great complement to any aggressive deck.
A
Lightning is damn solid. The Backups aren’t putting butterflies in your stomach, but they’re all serviceable. Puppetmaster, Noel, and Merald are your C Forwards, the first two being welcome in any Lightning deck. As for Rs, while Seymour requires a very specific deck and Noctis is filler, most Lightning builds will gladly run Byakko and Lann and Reynn. For removal, Larva is a little lackluster, but Ixion packs a lot of punch. Between Noel, Byakko, Spectral Keeper, and Lann, Lightning should have little trouble with blockers, so make sure you’re not dying to your opponent’s aggro. As far as what you should pair Lightning with, the Monster synergies work well with Beastmaster and Mira in Earth. Aside from that nothing is screaming for particular support, and Lightning should be able to find a home anywhere.
Water
There are a lot of Cat VII Characters around so it’s not oppressively difficult to gain access to ability removal. This lets you get around all kinds of nasty stuff, from unchooseability to death triggers to Tidus himself. If you’re also in Fire and you have a bunch of Clouds for some reason, Rhodea does become considerably more attractive. While a 1cp removal spell sounds awesome, playing more than one Cloud really doesn’t seem like the key to victory. Just be careful running out a 3k against any deck with Fire in it.
C
A pretty flexible tutor, you’ll want to keep a good idea of which cards you want and what their costs are so that you can snap up your bombs at a moment’s notice. You won’t always be able to assemble the exact cost you want, so make sure you’ve got a decent mix and some idea of what your best options are. You can’t take notes, so just spend a little bit at the end of Deck Construction going over your Forwards. It’ll feel awful going through your deck and realizing you don’t actually have anything that costs the chosen amount.
B
A great bit of protection to have access to for basically free. Sure most of the time you’re going to play out Kimahri before anything you really want to keep safe, but occasionally you get to put shields on your bomb and feel invincible.
B
Kyrie provides you with a lot of information for pretty cheap, and can really help ensuring you get the cards you need for your early game development. She’s even good in the mid and late where scouting the opponent’s hand is more and more valuable to get a feel for what their options are for dealing with your threats.
B
It’s better than Ice’s discard one, at least. You’re definitely in desperation mode if you’re using this Damage 5. Like Bard in Ice, it isn’t even CP positive, but at least your opponent can’t just disable it by playing cards. Sometimes you gotta dig for your answers, and worst case scenario it’s a 2cp Backup with multiplay.
C
Being able to block 9ks is pretty nice. Anything that boosts Genbu (especially HK Garland) can make your defense an extremely tough nut to crack. It’s also nice that he’s extremely hard to burn down. Not losing the game doesn’t mean you’re winning the game, though. It’s good to have a few defensive options, just make sure you’re not relying on them to carry you to victory.
C
I’ve always had an unhealthy love for Merlwyb so giving her multiplay and an extra ability goes a long way with me. Corsair helps you to put your affairs in order during the early game, and if you have some of the rarer Break Zone synergies like Lann/Reynn or Seymour, then Corsair can help to set them up as well. Draw/discard is naturally stronger in limited than constructed, as you typically have a much wider gap between the best and worst cards in your deck, and having a handy way to pitch less optimal cards is always welcome, especially in pursuit of your best cards. Not to mention this really helps out the consistency of any deck trying to run more than two elements.
B
A bounce just isn’t worth 3cp anymore, even if you get a draw/discard on top of it. There are a few 5cps that don’t have an ETF that Sahagin can at least break even against, but that will only line up so often. Since it only targets your opponent’s cards, it can’t even save your own Forwards from removal, which is half the draw for effects like this. Still, if you need interaction you need interaction.
C
This would make an excellent complement to the Black Waltz deck. If that deck were throwing its consistency in the toilet by playing Water for some reason. About the only real way you have to trigger it on purpose is to target an Agrias. That said, it does help protect you from honestly like half of Ice’s cards jfc why are there so many Ice cards that force discard? Most of the time though this lil dude’s just gonna be a blank 3/7.
D
Only Fire and Ice care about Crystals, so it’s nice that Sarah is self-contained. Not only can she use the Crystal she generates, but she gets a sweet trigger out of the deal. For most decks, she’ll let you fix your deck slightly and threaten to trade up in combat, which is welcome but not sought after. The more Crystal spenders you have, naturally the more her stock rises.
C
What an absolute clock. Guaranteed one damage per turn, and nearly any attempt to interact with it comes at an insane price. Nicely, whenever he’s chosen you have the option of putting him on the bottom, so they can’t use things like Terra’s dull to force him to the bottom when you really want to keep him around. There are a few answers here and there that don’t involve choosing, Delita, Leslie, Andrea Rhodea, Squall if you block him, Babus if you don’t have other Forwards, Layle if you just played Tidus, four Ixions in a row
S
There’s not that much bounce sitting around, in fact, the only other ways to do it in Water are Sahagin and Rikku. This means Tros is mostly dependent on his attack trigger, which is excellent. He does get stonewalled by 5cps, but hopefully you’ve got other ways to deal with those.
B
2/8 that’s mildly protected from effects is perfectly fine. You’re never excited to draft Fiona, but you’re almost never cutting her.
C
Oh look it’s Fiona again. Actually for most decks Fusoya is straight up worse than Fiona. If you happen to be in three elements, he can conditionally be Fiona for one cheaper which really does not impress me. If you’re in Shijins or Soiree he can theoretically be decent, but you’re probably only playing Water for Genbu or Vesvia so splashing another Water card is probably not where you want to be.
D
It’s not often Water just gets a 9k at C, in fact this is the fourth time ever. Firion is extremely hard to trade with or chump block, since he just draws so many cards. The opponent is going to be scrambling for some way to remove him outside of combat. He also is one of the best Demonolith targets in the set, giving you a great excuse to move into Earth.
B
Oh look, it’s Fiona again. Wait didn’t I just say that? Vesvia is definitely one of the less important Morze’s Bacchanalia Affiliates, but still a good one. The potential to be a 0/8 is very appealing, and adding a nice EX to an already EX filled deck helps safeguard you. Outside of Soiree, she’s just a vanilla 4/8 and Water has much better options than that.
C
Whether it’s a simple Backup, one of the H Monsters, or Zidane himself, there are lots of good options for Marche. Since he’s able to grab Backups of any element, Marche provides a strong bit of consistency in the early game, particularly when putting down Shinju for Soiree. It isn’t unthinkable that you get to draw off him, there are six FFTA characters: Black Mage, Babus, Gladiator, Assassin, Ezel, and White Mage. Like Fiona before him, once you work out the CP Marche is mathematically yet another 2cp Forward, this time only a 7k, but that access to other 2cp characters really puts him into a much higher tier of playability as you’re not just drawing a random card, you’re carefully putting into play a piece that will benefit you either now or in the long term. Consider that if you grab a Backup, Marche provides you with one CP every turn for the rest of the game, on top of his 7k body. Alternatively, grabbing even an unimpressive Forward like Ramza provides two attackers and can really force an undeveloped opponent to commit to the board instead of building resources.
A
Meia isn’t quite as risky as she may seem, as there’s no way for the opponent to interact before you can activate her, and her discount pays back the cost of the card. Every Summon in the set costs 4 (ok Starter Bahamut costs 6) so blessedly all of them can get the full discount, although she does invalidate their “three element” clauses. While she does let you cast Summons with any element, it’s a bad idea to Summons that can’t be cast if your one copy of a Legend isn’t on the field. If you can line up two Summons with her, you’re in great shape, and the more the better. Because she’s so hyperfocused on one thing (about the only other thing she can do at all is pick up a Demonolith or die for Delita) it’ll be tough for the opponent to justify committing removal to her. Still, all she does is discount Summons. If you don’t draft enough, or you just don’t draw enough, then she’s dead weight.
B
Oi oi oi who’s out here giving Water single target hard removal? It’s all but guaranteed that you’ll have at least some opportunity to resolve this in any given game, and it’s such an overwhelmingly strong effect that it’s worth going out of your way to set up. 3cp to kill anything is already strong, getting a 7k on top of that is incredible.
A
There are very few things too expensive for this to hit: Luso, Kirin, Marche, Chaos, and Sin. For everything else, Leviathan is super Cactuar. Not only does it get around the unbreakability granted by the abilities of HK Garland, Madam Edel, and Warrior of Light, not only does it avoid putting any potential fuel into the Break Zone, but it does so while avoiding death triggers. You can even use it on your bombs to keep them around after removal. Why this card is head and shoulders above the entire rest of this cycle I will never know.
A
I always want to say some snarky, dismissive line about cards like this and move on, but seriously, this is totally unplayable. He could outright win the game when cast and you still wouldn’t build around him. The only 1cp Characters in the set are Hyoh, Andrea Rhodea, Meia, and Bartz. An R, two Hs, and an L. And the only 6cps are Luso, Babus, Kirin, Leslie (who you’d have to play that same turn), and Marche. On top of that, if you’ve managed to amass six Characters of those specific costs, you’ve probably already got a strong board, one that ought to be winning already. Leo may have an eyepatch, but whoever designed him must have been wearing two.
F
Like Wind, Water has more Forwards at C than normal. Like Wind, one of them (Leo) really doesn’t count. White Mage and Fiona are fine if unimpressive, and Firion while powerful is expensive and unwieldy. The Backups are all pretty decent though Ezel is the only one really advancing you towards your win condition. Sahagin and Andrea Rhodea are probably not making a lot of final lists. You’re really relying on the power of cards like Marche, Leviathan, and your H/Ls like Lightning and Tidus. To that end, I would only go deep in Water if I started with a powerful early pick, and if I thought the element was going to be wide open. Water can be good with Earth, Firion wants Demonolith so badly, and the added powerful Forwards and removal can be welcome additions. Really though, Marche and Ezel make any element a good pairing, and even help to make triple element decks at least somewhat consistent.
Light/Dark/Starter/Legacy
There are a couple of cards that care about 2cps, Chocobo, Reeve, and Marche, that can provide good support for Warrior of Light. He really wants to be like 8k or higher, which isn’t the easiest task, but he can still be a solid addition to a deck with lots of small Forwards backed by lots of removal or a tidal wave of dull effects. His break effect is pretty neat. It will be tough to leverage it to protect more than one Forward since the only effects like Primal Titan or Hecatonchier 15H are Delita and Sin, but it still packs a lot of use. He makes it very hard for anything that doesn’t outclass your biggest Forward to attack, especially if you have something like Firion who is really out for blood. He helps protect your more expensive Forwards from being blown out by cheap removal, for instance a Gargoyle on your Benjamin. Certain lines can end with two of your Forwards dying, like a Mont Leonis S, or a removal spell on HK Garland or Aerith to remove a buff from your blocking Forward, and Warrior of Light helps safeguard you against these rare but overwhelming scenarios. A layer of protection like this is rare, and rises in value linearly with the quality of Forwards in your deck.
A
5 is a lot for unconditional removal, but not too much. Being able to pay 1 of that upfront is nice. Since he’s a Forward, he’s also able to swing when the shields are down, and can stop a damage by blocking before activation. His BZ ability really doesn’t have a high rate of success, as there are only four other Warriors of Light that he even can hit, and the only one you’re probably digging for is Luneth. Still, if you have spare CP laying around, may as well go for it.
B
This guy will regularly cost seven, and that is an absolute steal. Consider the math of taking your opponent’s Forward. You’re not just gaining that much invested CP, your opponent is also losing that much, essentially doubling the impact of just removing the Forward outright. What’s nice is that even if you end up with something you can’t do anything with like a Meia, Chaos can still make use of it by turning it into a kill spell. Chaos also provides clean protection from your opponent’s Leslie: so long as Chaos is on the field already, he can sacrifice Leslie in response to the MP1 trigger.
S
There’s plenty of Monster synergy around, and Twintania is one of the best Monsters we’ve seen in a while. Like Luneth, things that give you an effect every turn with no additional cost represent solid investments that will repay you over and over again, and 7k is a sizeable chunk of damage. It’ll be tough to get additional counters without attacking. Most effects that dull something only hit your opponent’s stuff, although in a pinch you can use Scarlet, Mustadio, Lasswell, Terra, or Byakko (although if Byakko can get his attack trigger then it’s probably safe for Twintania to attack too). Coming in dull will be something to keep an eye on though, and it may be safer to run Twintania out early, to avoid a situation where you desperately need more blockers and all you have is this.
A
The following Starter cards for some reason haven’t been put into the official browser, so unfortunately the links are broken for now. Check FFDecks if you want reference material.
There are lots of X Characters running around, YKT-63, Yunalesca, Demonolith, Seymour, Spectral Keeper, Larva, Kimahri, Tidus, Tros, and all of the Starters (except Bahamut naturally), and these can help get Jecht’s damage up. He does count himself, so he’s easily able to take down all the 5ks running around. Even if you’re not able to boost him at all, he’s a big boi and Fire shouldn’t have trouble finding a way to convert his ETF into a kill. If you’re lucky, you can even crack him for another card when your opponent tries to remove him.
A
10k damage is huge, but getting enough Fire/X cards in your BZ will be pretty difficult for most decks. I think I’ll stick with regular Bahamut.
D
There’s not that many summons in the set, but they are C. If you really want you can probably get enough to get a couple of uses out of his Summon Special. If you’re going down this road, consider picking up a Seymour or two as well, to make your Summons work double duty, or a Meia to double up on ways to make use of Summons in hand.
B
Yuna can only bring back two Starters and Kimahri, so you’re probably picking “gimme my Backups back.” Her Damage 3 is similarly unwieldy, as only Starters and one Legendary can pick it up. A cheap 7k isn’t the end of the world, but I think she’ll be one of the first cards being cut from the final build.
D
An absolute gem, Lulu not only gives you second access to your removal, but her trigger makes it very hard to win combat against you. Most of the Summons in the set are removal of some sort, so you can block, kill something with your Summon, then turn your opponent’s attacker into a piddling 5k. The more Summons you have access to the better she is. Unfortunately, the one Summon that’s actually in her element is also the only Summon that isn’t a removal spell: the much maligned Chocobo Chick (VII). As mediocre as I think that card is in limited, Lulu is strong enough to make one or two an acceptable addition to a deck.
A
While not quite on the level of Warrior of Light, the layer of protection Auron provides for your other cards is always welcome. Make sure you’re dropping him amongst Forwards that’re actually worth protecting; a field of Fiona clones doesn’t exactly cry out for protection. Unlike Yuna, there is actually a Job Summoner at a rarity that you can count on. Seymour is only an R, and shouldn’t be too hard to pick up one or two during the draft if you really want to enable Auron’s death trigger. He even jumps to 7k at Damage 3 which, while not impressive, is at least relevant.
B
Like just mentioned with Auron, you have somewhat easy access to Seymour during the draft phase.(though having one or two Summoners does not mean you’ll have them reliably). Her attack trigger still goes off, Summoner or no, so you’re still getting value with or without Seymour. There are very few tools to remove Rikku that are that much cheaper than she is, so she’s not too risky of a play. Compare that risk to the reward of being able to attack with her, and you’ve got a card that most Water decks should be chomping at the bit to have access to.
A
Let’s be realistic. Wakka is a 2/5 without any text.
D
The first two abilities probably don’t matter, but +2k on swing is hot. Tidus can really help an aggressive deck push its attackers to high enough power that few blockers can do much about them.
A
Ezel and Jecht are the only ways to trigger his first effect, so good luck on that front. That leaves Sin as an expensive but deadlier Primal Titan. Since he’s one of two cards in this set remotely close to this kind of effect, Sin is an extremely rare effect and should be valued as such. Reset buttons like this are great for all but the most aggressive of decks, and as such I can only imagine very few and very specific scenarios where I might pass him in draft.
S
There’s no Odins to fetch so Lightning is just an expensive 9k. Both her and Water Lightning have Specials, so if you end up with both then you kind of have a reason to run this one.
D
If you manage to get both a Legacy and one of two specific Starters, Lenna isn’t just a 5/7.
F
There’s no Laguna this time around, so you don’t have the near guaranteed access to Vayne that you did in Opus IX, but he’s still a powerhouse. Every turn he stays around you make more and more CP back, and he is one of the best counters to aggressive starts that skip playing Backups. The longer and grindier the game, the better Vayne is, so try to build your deck accordingly.
A
Whew, another review in the books. As ever, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my works. The support from the community has been heartwarming, and I hope to see many of you in Portland this August, and hopefully one or two more of the upcoming majors. If you like my content, I always accept gifts of beer! Enjoy the new set, and feel free to shoot me a pic of your sealed/draft decks on Twitter at @HFftcg. Have a great rest of your day, and we hope to see you again next time on The Crystarium.
