Editor’s Note: Sometimes unusual things can happen in the Japanese meta that need a little more explanation than what a deck list can provide. Fortunately, Hobby Japan published this article where Taruho interviews Hirehire about his win with a somewhat unconventional Mono Lightning Build. We are also lucky enough to have Jared Wallace translate it for us. We take no credit for this content but would like to share the translation to English for the community as it offers some interesting insights.
Introduction
Hello everyone!
I’m Taruho, probably the player participating in the most Meijinsen events this season.
This time around it was the last Meijinsen Qualifier of the season in Tokyo.
Because it was the last event of the season I went in with the mentality that I had to get my invitation to playoffs, but ended with an unfortunate record of 2 wins and 4 losses, ending the season with the feeling that I just wasn’t quite strong enough.
This article will cover an interview of the Meijinsen Tokyo Qualifier winner, Hirehire.
Hirehire
A Tokyo-based player who currently works as a store manager at Grand Panda Canyon in Akihabara. He’s been a fan of Final Fantasy since playing FFIII in his childhood. He currently prefers to play online games, mainly FFXIV after falling in love with FFXI.
He plays a diverse range of decks, relying on his sharp metagame perception.
◆Turn the tables on a matured meta, attack from outside expectations
――Congratulations on winning the Season 2 Meijinsen Tokyo Qualifier.
Hirehire：Thank you very much.
―― Tell me a little about why you chose Mono Lightning for this event.
Hirehire：To put it simply, I chose it because it wasn’t performing that well at events.
Hirehire
A Tokyo-based player who currently works as a store manager at Grand Panda Canyon in Akihabara. He’s been a fan of Final Fantasy since playing FFIII in his childhood. He currently prefers to play online games, mainly FFXIV after falling in love with FFXI.
He plays a diverse range of decks, relying on his sharp metagame perception.
◆Turn the tables on a matured meta, attack from outside expectations
――Congratulations on winning the Season 2 Meijinsen Tokyo Qualifier.
Hirehire：Thank you very much.
―― Tell me a little about why you chose Mono Lightning for this event.
Hirehire：To put it simply, I chose it because it wasn’t performing that well at events.
――I’m gonna need a little more.
Hirehire：To be totally honest, I don’t think that there is a lot of potential in the current iteration of Mono Lightning. There are a lot of powerful decks in the meta including Earth/Wind, Mono Water, Wind/Water, and Mono Ice; I believe that when compared to these decks Mono Lightning is on a lower power level. Despite this it has (apparently) been performing well overseas, and my curiosity as to why is what drove me to give the deck a try in the first place.
――Mono Lightning has been a major archetype in FF-TCG traditionally, but it’s true that it hasn’t put up a performance during this season of Meijinsen.
Hirehire：By playing a deck that isn’t often thought about in the current metagame it’s more likely that your opponents will have less experience playing against the deck, and be playing styles and tech choices that aren’t as well suited to dealing with it. These are the primary reasons I decided to bring Mono Lightning to the Tokyo Qualifier.
――So it was a little bit like an ambush or surprise attack, then.
Hirehire：Yes. Still, despite having the element of surprise with the deck you can just be crushed by the raw power of the meta choices, and so I thought about what I needed to do in order to avoid that. As I touched on previously, the current meta is mostly comprised of Earth/Wind, Mono Water, Wind/Water, and Mono Ice, all of which are quite powerful. The common element between all of these decks is they are all decks which “are strong at pushing for advantage (resources)”. They all follow the trend of attempting to max out on backups before playing out high-quality cards. Thinking about this the other way around, it can be said that all of these cards have relatively weak early-board control tools and tend to take a few points of damage early. The Mono Lightning I brought aimed to exploit this by playing mostly low-cost forwards and pushing for damage races.
Mono Lightning（Season 2 Meijinsen Tokyo Qualifier：First Place）
| Card No. | Card Name | Copies |
| Forwards（23） | ||
| 【7-104H】 | 《Ramza》 | 2 |
| 【1-211S】 | 《Rygdea》 | 2 |
| 【7-093C】 | 《Zapt》 | 2 |
| 【5-099H】 | 《Illua》 | 3 |
| 【1-125R】 | 《Onion Knight》 | 2 |
| 【6-095R】 | 《Seifer》 | 1 |
| 【6-100C】 | 《Ewen》 | 1 |
| 【2-097H】 | 《Al-Cid》 | 3 |
| 【5-108L】 | 《Zemus》 | 2 |
| 【6-088L】 | 《Estinien》 | 2 |
| 【2-099L】 | 《Edea》 | 3 |
| Backups（17） | ||
| 【7-095H】 | 《Cid Previa》 | 3 |
| 【1-150R】 | 《Lulu》 | 3 |
| 【5-120C】 | 《Louisoix》 | 2 |
| 【1-134R】 | 《Duke Goltanna》 | 1 |
| 【2-106R】 | 《Gramis》 | 1 |
| 【4-110R】 | 《King of Burmecia》 | 1 |
| 【5-103R】 | 《Cid of Clan Gully》 | 1 |
| 【2-108C】 | 《Black Mage》 | 3 |
| 【5-162S】 | 《Alphinaud》 | 2 |
| Summons（7） | ||
| 【7-103C】 | 《 Ramuh》 | 3 |
| 【6-102R】 | 《 Ramuh》 | 3 |
| 【5-117C】 | 《Ramuh》 | 1 |
| Monsters（3） | ||
| 【7-098R】 | 《Flanborg》 | 3 |
――Indeed, looking over the list it’s easy to see the abundancy of low-cost Forwards. Mono Lightning has a lot of good small Forwards; how did you decide on these ones?
Hirehire： The primary reason I went with these is that it’s hard for your opponent to trade removal well with them. The hallmark of this is definitely Illua; she is a 3CP 6000 Power Haste, meaning that she can not only put pressure on the opponent, but also has built in resistance by negating the first Summon or ability of your opponent’s that targets her each turn, meaning she is difficult to kill outside of EX Bursts. She also helps cover one of Mono Lightning’s biggest weaknesses in power deficiency, serves as ammo for Al-Cid, and can give Haste to your small Forwards. She is essentially the basis of the deck’s game plan.
―― I too have experienced games in which you can’t stem the bleeding of an early Illua and lose a game to Sheol before you can get your footing. It’s very hard for decks that are not specifically thinking about Illua to stop her.
Hirehire： Illua’s worst enemies are effects that can remove here without choosing her such as Famfrit, the Darkening Cloud. Additionally, Fusoya can wipe just about every Forward in this deck without support. To help combat this I decided to slot Zapt and Flanborg, Forwards that don’t set you back very far when they get wiped.
Flanborg in particular isn’t just strong against removal, but is also enabled by your opponent’s Famfrit when they sacrifice their own Viking or Ephemeral Summoner, putting pressure on your opponent. After becoming a Forward at 7000 Power they are able to pressure a Lenna and with a Lulu up they resist a single Fusoya. It was definitely a strong anti-Mono Water Fusoya card.
――The new Opus VII Ramza is also a card that draws attention.
Hirehire： The Opus 7 Ramza is a nimble card mainly used as a Haste attacker, but can also be used from the midgame onwards and can keep a bit of pressure of with Brave and notably First Strike from 8000 Power and up. Additionally, as a 1 CP Forward he’s very light and doesn’t feel bad to give up to a Famfrit, and can be revived with Zemus at very little cost even after being lost, leaving him as a very versatile card.
――Just glancing over the decklist I get the impression that there are a lot of cards with just 1 or 2 copies. Did you mainly choose to slot this way to avoid drawing multiple of the same Forward and being unable to put on pressure?
Hirehire：Mono Lightning’s Forwards generally have relatively lower Power, and because of that it’s fairly common to have to make Party Attacks. Because of that I thought the deck would be better served by a wider range of Forwards and tried to build around the problem of multiple Forwards with the same name. Besides Illua and Edea which are very powerful even (and sometimes especially) in multiples, I tried to mostly slot up to 2 Forwards so that I would always be able to play them out.
――Indeed, looking over the list it’s easy to see the abundancy of low-cost Forwards. Mono Lightning has a lot of good small Forwards; how did you decide on these ones?
Hirehire： The primary reason I went with these is that it’s hard for your opponent to trade removal well with them. The hallmark of this is definitely Illua; she is a 3CP 6000 Power Haste, meaning that she can not only put pressure on the opponent, but also has built in resistance by negating the first Summon or ability of your opponent’s that targets her each turn, meaning she is difficult to kill outside of EX Bursts. She also helps cover one of Mono Lightning’s biggest weaknesses in power deficiency, serves as ammo for Al-Cid, and can give Haste to your small Forwards. She is essentially the basis of the deck’s game plan.
―― I too have experienced games in which you can’t stem the bleeding of an early Illua and lose a game to Sheol before you can get your footing. It’s very hard for decks that are not specifically thinking about Illua to stop her.
Hirehire： Illua’s worst enemies are effects that can remove here without choosing her such as Famfrit, the Darkening Cloud. Additionally, Fusoya can wipe just about every Forward in this deck without support. To help combat this I decided to slot Zapt and Flanborg, Forwards that don’t set you back very far when they get wiped.
Flanborg in particular isn’t just strong against removal, but is also enabled by your opponent’s Famfrit when they sacrifice their own Viking or Ephemeral Summoner, putting pressure on your opponent. After becoming a Forward at 7000 Power they are able to pressure a Lenna and with a Lulu up they resist a single Fusoya. It was definitely a strong anti-Mono Water Fusoya card.
――The new Opus VII Ramza is also a card that draws attention.
Hirehire： The Opus 7 Ramza is a nimble card mainly used as a Haste attacker, but can also be used from the midgame onwards and can keep a bit of pressure of with Brave and notably First Strike from 8000 Power and up. Additionally, as a 1 CP Forward he’s very light and doesn’t feel bad to give up to a Famfrit, and can be revived with Zemus at very little cost even after being lost, leaving him as a very versatile card.
――Just glancing over the decklist I get the impression that there are a lot of cards with just 1 or 2 copies. Did you mainly choose to slot this way to avoid drawing multiple of the same Forward and being unable to put on pressure?
Hirehire：Mono Lightning’s Forwards generally have relatively lower Power, and because of that it’s fairly common to have to make Party Attacks. Because of that I thought the deck would be better served by a wider range of Forwards and tried to build around the problem of multiple Forwards with the same name. Besides Illua and Edea which are very powerful even (and sometimes especially) in multiples, I tried to mostly slot up to 2 Forwards so that I would always be able to play them out.
――Without counting Flanborg (who has a condition to become a Forward), this deck only has 23 Forwards, which isn’t a very high count. Was it fairly difficult for you to decide which cards to pitch for CP as a result?
Hirehire： Because the cost of most Forwards is fairly low, this deck doesn’t need to rush to play Backups. Because of that, there aren’t so many cases in which I have to pitch Forwards for CP, and keeping Forwards in hand isn’t incredibly difficult.
――Regarding your Backup lineup: there are only 5 2 Cost Backups in the entire deck, with the rest being 3 or above. Tell me a little bit about your thought process on that.
Hirehire： One of the clear standouts for cards Mono Lightning gained in Opus VII is Cid Previa. This card allows you to return a 3 CP or less Lightning Backup from your Break Zone to the Field. If you play a search Backup with this effect you’re able to put out a Backup for essentially 0 Cost.
For this particular build of Mono Lightning I slotted a good amount of 3 CP search Backups to try and abuse this card’s ability. Louisoix is a great target for this card in particular, searching Alphinaud and is definitely the best possible start for the deck, and it is for this combo specifically that I opted to include two copies of Louisoix.
――Regarding your Backup lineup: there are only 5 2 Cost Backups in the entire deck, with the rest being 3 or above. Tell me a little bit about your thought process on that.
Hirehire： One of the clear standouts for cards Mono Lightning gained in Opus VII is Cid Previa. This card allows you to return a 3 CP or less Lightning Backup from your Break Zone to the Field. If you play a search Backup with this effect you’re able to put out a Backup for essentially 0 Cost.
For this particular build of Mono Lightning I slotted a good amount of 3 CP search Backups to try and abuse this card’s ability. Louisoix is a great target for this card in particular, searching Alphinaud and is definitely the best possible start for the deck, and it is for this combo specifically that I opted to include two copies of Louisoix.
―― In terms of Summons, did you opt for Ramuh namely to optimize the synergy with Zapt?
Hirehire：Of course there is that, but Opus VII Ramuh allows you to minus opponent’s Power, which helps immensely with Mono Lightning’s weak forwards. This allows you to use and keep Forwards on the Field as opposed to normal removal, which is quite convenient. Opus VI Ramuh is often used in the end game for sequences such as dealing 7000 damage and Dulling to deal with 2 opposing Forwards at once, or to give haste to Zemus and grab Ewen back from the Break Zone to secure the last point of damage or similar lines, and became a more and more valuable card as games progressed.
In terms of Summons overall, I actually wanted to make use of EX Odin to open up more opportunities for comebacks, but I wasn’t able to for various reasons.
――Was there not enough deck space?
Hirehire：No, if I was going to make slots for it I’m not sure exactly what I would cut to make room, but the reason I didn’t in the end is that I couldn’t find any foil versions of the card. I always make my decks with foil cards, and I wasn’t able to break out of that obsession. Does anyone have any extras?
――That obsession might have contributed to your victory here. We’ve talked quite a bit about the deck’s construction and general plan; is there anything that you put a lot of thought into on the playing side?
Hirehire： I made my standards for the mulligan very clear to myself. Going first, I prioritized Cid Previa:
・Cid Previa and a search Backup
・Cid Previa and Lulu alongside Illua or Zapt
These are the opens I mulliganed for. Going 2nd I didn’t opt to prioritize Cid Previa as heavily because you have an extra card:
・2CP Backup and Louisoix
・2CP Backup and a search Backup and Illua
I used this criteria to judge my opening hand. This deck doesn’t have an end goal like assembling YRP or playing Yuri with 5 backups, and instead has strict, decided goals for the start of the game.
―― I think a lot of players can relate to hesitating during the mulligan. I see it’s important to set a goal for your opening hand beforehand and not let your standards waver. Of course, you ended up winning this event, but did your actual matchups mostly line up with your expectations?
Hirehire：There was more Mono Wind than I expected. I thought I might not even end up playing against it once, but ended up playing it, so the meta might have progressed past what I had predicted. It was also the last qualifier event, and I got the impression that many people took decks that have performed well previously. It’s because a lot of people took safe decks that an unexpected deck like Mono Lightning performed as well as it did, and is probably the reason that I won today.
――Everyone else’s “normally this is just the right choice” way of choosing decks fell perfectly into line with your plan, then.
Hirehire：Of course, I didn’t just win with a meta prediction, there was some good fortune as well. For example, I didn’t play a single Mono Ice today, which was incredibly lucky.
――So, this Mono Lightning is weak to Mono Ice?
Hirehire：Mono Lightning doesn’t have very many good cards to deal with Forwards like Orphan and Opus VII Sephiroth. Additionally, both of these cards have Auto Abilities that activate on attack, allowing them to pop Illua’s resistance easily. Aside from that, because Mono Lightning loses in terms of most Forward Power even recycling cards with Zemus’ gimmick doesn’t change the fact that most of your Forwards don’t threaten your opponent. Because of that, it’s very easy for the Ice player to pinpoint the cards that are threats and target them with Dull and Freeze effects.
I actually played a game with EDAMAME Arcade Channel’s Kabukin on Earth/Ice after the qualifier event finished; by capitalizing on Ice’s strengths he completely destroyed me.
――The deck was aimed at the matured meta, but that doesn’t mean it was good against everything in it.
Hirehire：Taking on FF-TCG as a store manager、the appeal of being absorbed in deckbulding
――As the store manager of Grand Panda Canyon in Akihabara I imagine you play many different card games, but how do you practice and build for FF-TCG in particular?
Hirehire： I play quite a few different card games as part of work, and I have more than one hobby, so I don’t actually get a lot of time dedicated just to FF-TCG deckbuilding and testing. However, I’m very thankful that many players, from fresh new players to those who have gone all the way to Worlds come and play at my shop. By watching those players around me I’m able to learn about the popular decks and strong combos as well as receive feedback from those players when I’m playing myself, and I am sure that having that environment is connected to my results today.
――In the interview that I had with Tamagoman the other day he talked about sharing a mutual philosophy towards your deckbuilding methodology of “build a deck, break it down, repeat, and the decks that remain are the strong ones”. Is your Mono Lightning the end result of that kind of trial and error-style.
Hirehire： I wanted to participate in Meijinsen playoffs, and before the Tokyo Qualifier I was building one new deck every day. Obviously the Mono Lightning I chose for the event was a strong choice at the end, but I also built the more standard field of Earth/Wind, Mono Water, and Wind/Water as well. At one point I realized that the style of “play 5 backups and play the game out steady” didn’t really fit me well. Deckbuilding based on your own thorough testing doesn’t always result in a win, but like this time, sometimes it does; it also makes me happy when I was able to find out things about my playstyle during testing. I find deckbuilding interesting because it has those kind of experiences and discoveries, and you can get really wrapped up in it.
――Just opening a shop up alone shows how deep your love for card games is. Finishing up, do you have anything that you would like to say as the Season 2 Meijinsen Tokyo Qualifier champion?
Hirehire：To be honest I can’t really say that I have a lot of confidence in building for title format (for playoffs), but I’ll try to have fun and go about it the way I always do. If you get the chance please head over to Grand Panda Canyon for our weekly official tournaments starting at 9PM on Fridays!
――Thank you very much.
Wrap-up
This concludes the interview with our Season 2 Meijinsen Tokyo Qualifier champion Hirehire.
I truly commend him for molding his deck to work at its maximum potential with a sharp perception of the meta all while recognizing the limits of his deck. I look forward to seeing what kind of approach he’ll take at the playoff event as well as his matches with the other champions participating.
The conclusion of this event means we have gathered up all our participants in the Season 2 Meijinsen Playoffs. Strong players from throughout the nation will gather looking to become the 2nd Meijin and proceed to challenge the final stage on February 23rd. While I am disappointed that I could not make it myself, I will be attending the event to watch it unfold. I wish the best of luck to all of the players who allowed me to interview them, as well as all of the other participants.
Looking forward March will bring us Opus VIII, April bringing us Masters 2019, and after that Japan Cup, Crystal Cups and other large events will be held, and I’m looking forward to participating when they come around, and use my frustration from the Meijinsen Season to propel myself to the next national tournament.
Until next time!
