Fire

Ardyn

Standard Units are your best friend if you’re looking to abuse Ardyn. He frees up two Backup slots so you know you won’t be locked at 5, so flipping matching names should be the only concern you have. Try to diversify card names as much as possible, which means avoiding stocking up on cards like Tifa to make use of their S. Backups with strong Enters the Field effects like Montblanc are also good to pick up. I like to touch on this at some point in these reviews, so now is as good a time as any: towards the end of the game, your Backups lose a lot of their luster, as they’ve paid off their investment already, and are only giving one CP per turn for the few turns you have left. Any way you can get to convert your Backups into a tangible advantage will help you close out the game, and no way is as direct as Ardyn, who straight up just converts them into new cards. Honestly, even if I get two extremely medium cards, I feel like I’m still coming out ahead. He skips himself, avoiding the trap of “gets worse the more you draft” like Ultimecia before him, so feel free to pick up as many as you like. Just keep in mind he’s probably not really a good play until the latter half of the game.

B

Auron

What a powerhouse. The discount isn’t easy to get, but it isn’t exactly hard either. Auron plays both offense and defense well. He can’t be chump-blocked by anything 4k-8k without giving you a card, so you’ll often be able to attack with impunity. On top of that, he doesn’t really stop playing defense even if he attacks, as his action ability will “block” an attack even better than if he actually stepped in the way. It’s extremely hard to deal damage to yourself on purpose, Earth Cecil requires you to be in two other Elements, and most of the cards that can target and damage your own Forwards aren’t worth wasting just to draw a card, but it’s nice to have cards like Ifrit, Montblanc, and The Demon who can get Auron off when no better options are around.

A

Ifrit

Hitting 5 Fire Characters is a bit of a bar to clear, but a couple of Hedgehog Pies and you should have a strong shot. And if you can’t hit that threshold, it’s not like the card is dead. 1 for 5 is absolutely playable.

A

Warrior of Light

Usually when you cast a card, that means it’s no longer in your hand, which means you can’t discard it for 2cp anymore. Casting a card from your deck avoids this, functionally saving you 2cp by keeping your hand size the same. Let’s do a fun thought experiment and flip the equation. If the card we’re casting is full price, that means the Warrior of Light is a 0cp 5k. The more uses you can find for a 5k, the better you will find this card. And this is all ignoring the best part about Warrior of Light: increasing your options. When you draw Warrior of Light you’re not just drawing one card, you’re also “drawing” one additional card of your choice from the top 4 cards of your deck. Are you in search of Backups after a sour mulligan? Do you desperately need interaction to stop a big threat? Do you need a bunch of bodies to swarm the board? Warrior of Light helps by increasing your options and letting you take the right one for your situation. Warrior of Light will not be the shining star of your deck, but rather the person who inspired that star to reach for greatness.

B

Garland

In Standard, this is clearly a pale imitation of Ashe. In Limited, however, it’s still perfectly serviceable. Garland really only shines once you hit four Backups, but even before that all it takes is a nudge from a Zack attack, a Montblanc, or even a valiant sacrifice from a Warrior of Light to be good. While it will take a little effort to get the most of Garland, he still promises a very good payoff.

B

Blacksmith

7k is a huge amount of damage, and having it come from your Forward means you can even get damage triggers from Tifa. This lets you party attack for 14k, which is enough to kill anything in the set. 4cp for a Backup is just short of a billion, and you don’t want this clogging up your early turns while you’re trying to build, so keep it to one, maybe two copies in your deck.

B

The Demon

No matter what your opponent’s got going on, The Demon is here to mess their day up. Big body, splashy effect, continues to generate value the longer it lives, this card is juiced.

S

Kefka

While Kefka has the promise of power, the The Job Warring Triads are all L. If you have one (or more) and have the opportunity to pick up a Kefka, then great, fantastic, but don’t draft Kefka assuming that if you build it, they will come.

C

Zack

If you resolve his attack trigger with either of the other Crisis Core SOLDIERs, Genesis or Angeal, then Zack is insane. Still, 5k on swing is hot, especially in an element with Tifa, Blacksmith, and Montblanc. There are so many Cat VII Forwards in the set, at least one in every Element, that getting value off his death trigger should be trivial.

A

Samurai

There’s a fair few cards in the set that want crystal producers. The only Fire card is Palom, but that’s a great outlet. Her damage boost is nice, there are lots of abilities that can be boosted, and it lets you trade up in combat in a pinch.

B

Jecht

Well. There is indeed a target. If you have a The Demon, then great, bump Jecht up to an A. If not, well, 5/9 is still ok. And your opponent will still worry whether or not you have a The Demon.

C

Goldsmith

+3k and Brave are both excellent, letting you apply pressure without skimping on defense. Being able to do it a second time turns this from a gimmick into a reliable workhorse.

B

Culinarian

My actual real life job. This whole cycle may as well be blank. Outside of extreme circumstances, you’re never gonna be sitting there in Limited thinking “You know what I really want? A fourth Fire Backup.” Sometimes you’ll play it just because the option is there, and hey it pays itself back in two turns instead of four, but it absolutely is not worth planning for or warping your deck around. In the end though, you’re not gonna turn your nose up at a 2cp Backup so get used to drafting these anyways.

C

Tifa

There are so many Cat VII cards lying around, you’ve got Zack, Barret, and Red XIII just in Fire, and every other Element has at least one. Zack and Barret both have damage triggers, synergizing very nicely with Tifa. Also, since she’s Rare, it should be possible to pick up between 2-4 of her to make use of her great S, Somersault, which also triggers her Can’t Block clause. Blacksmith is another great synergy piece. And honestly if you strip all of that away, a 2/5 Haste is still good enough to play on its own. Don’t try to trigger this with Hedgehog Pie. Even though it may be Category VII, you do not control it when it deals damage, which means it doesn’t work with Tifa.

A

Morrow

I’m more than happy to play a 3/7 Haste. Warp and Haste is a bit of a strange combination. It’s of course nice that the Forward can attack the turn it Warps in, but you also lose out on the surprise factor of Haste. Not a big deal, but this serves as good a place as any to mention that Warp, while efficient, does give your opponent advance notice of your gameplan. This is not to say that’s bad, just something to keep in mind. Should you have the time to warp this out, you’re getting it for a serious discount that will also help sift through your deck.

B

Barret

Getting his ETF to solo kill 7ks or higher will be a feat. Not a herculean feat, but it will take some effort. Plan towards finding uses for 3k or 6k, or using it as a Tifa trigger, and he’ll do you proud. His S is a great out to some of the cards that can give Fire a tough time like Fake or Damage 5 The Fiend.

B

Palom

Big ol’ damage for cheap, if you’ve got the crystal. I wouldn’t use this as an excuse to go into Water, but if you happen to be there then Porom is an incredible companion.

B

Phoinix

Great ETF, relatively cheap big body, definitely better later in the game as you can afford more activations but honestly even just the damage effect makes it great.

A

Hedgehog Pie

Get a bunch and go to town. Get one and have an extremely mid Ifrit.

B

Montblanc

Vivi is so good that even without EX we’re happy to play it. Montblanc is great at taking any source of damage you have and turning it up to lethal, from suiciding a small attacker into a larger blocker to taking a small direct damage and giving it extra reach. And since he only costs 2, you’re never in a situation with a more powerful Backup where you need to overpay for it on Turn 1 or 2. On top of all that, there are a few relevant 5ks or less around that Montblanc can kill. If you’re in Fire, make sure to pick one of these up.

B

Red XIII

If you can meet his condition reliably, 2/9 is hard to beat. If you can’t, well, he pitches for CP real well. Since he says “play” and not “cast” you can’t bypass his condition by cheating him out. Also make sure your opponent can’t interact with you finding a way to play him to the field, as if they can respond my breaking all your VII Forwards, he’ll fail to enter the field as well. His second ability cares about Characters not Forwards, so Hedgehog Pie can be a strong enabler.

B

Ice

Alhanalem

He’s cheap and he’s vulnerable, but for very little investment he promises a lot of disruption.

C

Armourer

C

Calbrena

Surprise 3/7 is good enough just as a blocker, but Calbrena can also save one of your more important Forwards, or straight up invalidate the combination of two smaller damage effects by redirecting one of them. Calbrena hitting back means she’s capable of surprise blocking and trading with anything up to 14k, which will let her deal with pretty much anything short of Estinien. Another cute edge case is just playing her out at the end of their turn so you have a surprise attacker, an imitation of haste that you get to reactivate your Backups after. Surprise effects like this are extremely rare in Limited, especially in this set with so few Summons, so having access to a piece of interaction in your hand that your opponent doesn’t know about will give you very unique options.

A

Juggler

Neat effect, Back Attacking a Backup allows for some interesting developmental curves if you’re going second, since you can drop Juggler on their Turn 1 and start your Turn 1 with a Backup already in play. Dulling helps stave off early aggression, lets you set up for cards like Cerulean Drake and Alphinaud, and can even stop a blocker if you need to close out a game.

B

Edward

There’s a bunch of ways here in Ice to dull stuff, like a bunch of ways, so it should be relatively easy to make Edward lethal. It seems absurd to me that this is Common, easy to enable, costs as much as a normal Backup, and has EX Burst, which incidentally makes it safer to draft three or more.

A

Genesis

Functionally, freezing two Backups and discarding a card both put you up 2cp, but it’s nice to have the option to choose between them. Sometimes ripping the last card out of their hand is better, sometimes locking all their Backups of a given Element is better. If you have the time to kill, getting both off of Warp will be a huge CP swing, as you’re essentially recouping Genesis’ full cost that way. But don’t get greedy, sometimes you’ll need to drop him for full price.

B

Cissnei

Dull/Freeze anything at Summon speed is strong, even if you only get to use it once. If your opponent goes to Combat without using their Backups, you can lock down one of their Backups for two turns, and denying them two cp for the price of one is a decent trade especially in early developmental turns. It’s rare that we get Dull/Freeze with the flexibility to just use it at any time, particularly for the equivalent of one cp. Timings like Opponent’s Main Phase 1 stops a Forward from attacking or blocking for two turns. To get even more use out of Cissnei, draft a couple of Yuffies for extra Shuriken counters.

B

Jihl Nabaat

Acceptable statline, good death trigger, not an incredible card but I don’t think you’ll be cutting it too often.

C

Setzer

Great on-curve Backup that increases your options and rewards you for using those options.

B

Celes

2/5 dull a blocker is perfectly playable filler. Definitely lends itself to a more aggressive deck, combining both a small cheap Forward and temporary “removal.” Terra, Locke, Setzer, and 24 all are here to help Dull more Forwards, so it’s pretty easy to get a double Dull or better.

C

SOLDIER: 3rd Class

It takes a little to get these rolling, as 4/6 is pretty abysmal on its own, but if you can get three, four, five of these then they’re going to be an actual nightmare to get through. Since the replacements don’t enter Dull, a single SOLDIER means as many blocked attacks as you have left in the deck. This can give you some real breathing room to set up other stuff. As they get better the more go to your BZ, 3rd Class naturally lends itself to a slower grindier deck.

B

Cerulean Drake

The cost here to just Dull/Freeze one thing is significantly more expensive than Cissnei, luckily it’s not that hard to get extra value out of this. By spreading out the Freeze and the dull, to two different Forwards or two different turns, we can squeeze out more impact. The real charm here is getting value off the Freeze, and then using the break effect as a rattlesnake, threatening to strike at a moment’s notice. In Magic: the Gathering, there’s a common dynamic between aggression and sweepers. The longer you wait to cast your Hecatonchier/Shantotto style card, the more powerful it is, but only if your opponent knows you have access to it. This knowledge forces them to slow down and balance how much damage they can get through before forcing you to cast your sweeper, rather than mindlessly jam out as many Forwards as possible. Similarly, by showing your opponent you have access to this ability at a moment’s notice, it forces them to play around it, and the longer you wait to spring the trap the more you can impact your opponent’s play patterns. Don’t take this to mean you should always wait, if they walk face first into your clearly labeled trap then close the jaws on ’em, but consider how long you can leverage the threat this card poses.

B

Terra

This would be great if there were more summons in the set. Mateus exiles itself when it resolves so you can’t even really combine it and Terra to abuse casting it more than once. She’s still a reasonable body, and if she manages to do something then you’re happy, just don’t put your hopes on her.

D

Knight

There’re no Ice cards that want Crystals, so his first ability will be in service of your second Element. His Dull is nice, especially with so many effects like Edward, Cerulean Drake, and Alphinaud who want your opponent to have Dull Forwards.

C

Number 24

I feel like I’m missing something with this card. It’s an undercosted fatty, protects itself, and the only downside is that if your opponent doesn’t interact with it for three turns then it can’t block anymore? What a tragedy.

S

Mateus (FFTA)

Mateus is good at pressing an advantage you already have. If you’re already ahead on economy, it’s beneficial to tighten the screws, and Mateus breaks even if you can freeze four Backups. Of course, if you’re ahead already, breaking even just makes that econ lead that much more imposing. Consider, if I have access to 10cp and you have access to 8, I’m not up that much. But if I have access to 6cp and you only have 4, that’s a much higher percentage. Locking the Forwards down is a much more situational choice, best for either surviving early or making it extremely difficult to race you out at the end. Either way, I don’t think any of Mateus’ modes are crushing, so while I wouldn’t mind having access to one I don’t think I’m gonna pick it that highly.

B

Wicked Mask

This can redirect an unboosted Ifrit, an unboosted Unicorn, or a Ramuh that is only using one option for some reason. End of list. 3/6 Back Attack that’s hard to interact with is decent, so you’re playing it solely on the basis of it being a weak Calbrena.

B

Rude

Restricting him to Backup cp only is still a hoop to jump through, as he’ll make for some awkward turns more often than you’d like. Still, for the effects you’re getting, the hoop may as well be on the ground. And then on top of his above-curve power and his strong ETF, he’s also got a great S and synergy with Rufus and Reno.

B

Rufus

You’re probably paying full price for this, even if you’ve got two Rudes and two Renos, so just treat the discount as a nice extra that might show up once in a while. Rufus’ real power is in his auto. He’s a little on the smaller side so you’ll want to invest in a few ways like Cerulean Drake and Rude himself to keep him safe in combat. Should you be able to pave the way for a few attacks, Rufus will pay for himself in short order, locking down problem Forwards, ripping cards out of your opponent’s hands, or keeping you afloat in Special fodder for your jive Turks.

A

Reno

Why is this card so good? 4cp for both a 7k haste and 8k Dull/Freeze a dude? Getting passed one of these is a huge signal that you should be in Ice, even if you are reliant on drafting a couple of Rudes to make him work. His S, Bright Spark, may not look impressive but it means your opponent has to be afraid for the rest of the game that they may suddenly be out of blockers at any moment.

A

Locke

Really really wants as much dedication to VI as you can get, as a 3/7 hasn’t really cut the mustard for a while now. You’ve got Setzer, Celes, Terra, and 24 in Ice, but then your options kinda peter out, and Terra’s pretty disappointing anyways. Sure there are more VIs elsewhere, but they’re all H or L. Still, if you can get a card back, or manage to pull off a Party Attack, you’re gonna be in good shape.

B

Wind

Brother

There’s no Rikku, so we’re focused on the activation clause here. Fire has Jecht and Auron, Water has O’aka XXIII, Yuna, and Wakka, and Earth has Kimahri. So best case scenario we’re getting an extra CP off O’aka and pretending Yuna and Wakka have Brave for one turn? That certainly doesn’t seem worth setting up.

D

Edge

These are all cool abilities, and as long as you’re flush in crystals you get to keep replaying him and getting more triggers. There’s very little recursion in this set that Edge can stop on your turn, but you can still do things like remove two SOLDIER: 3rd Class during combat. 2cp + crystal is a very small cost to get a whole Forward, making Edge one of the better crystal spenders in the set.

A

Botanist

Why does this card exist?

F

Ghost (VII)

3k is just enough to really feel like a relevant amount of damage to add to other effects. Wind is likely going to have some trouble dealing with 9ks, so access to effects like this and Ritz will let you trade your 7ks up into them. As far as replaying a Monster, the dream is Phoinix or to a lesser extent Shadow Dragon or Behemoth, but even another Ghost or a Blugu will let you get some use out of it.

C

Jenova Dreamweaver

This card is absolutely sick if you can get two, and definitely a worthwhile speculative early pick. Pairs well with proactive damage effects like Ghost and Ritz to make an extremely cheap way to deal a boatload of damage. Even if you can’t get a second, she’s still a step above filler. Protection from Summons barely matters this set, but a body that’s almost impossible to interact with outside of battle is a useful threat.

A

Stiltzkin

Seeing how Yuri and Chelinka search for each other, this is way more reliable than it may seem at first blush. Getting this much power for this little investment is great, even if it is narrow.

B

Chelinka

If you’ve got a lot of cheap bodies, Chelinka provides an excellent way to use them in combat. This is a field ability and not a trigger, so remember that if she is removed the remaining Forwards are no longer protected, and if the other party members are removed, well, one attacking Forward isn’t a party so Chelinka isn’t protected anymore. This does mean there’s no window to respond to it though, so your opponent has to pull the trigger on damage effects before you declare the attack. Also a great enabler for Yuri. Very nice that the two are great to build around, but are each decent enough in a party focused deck that you’re happy with each on its own.

B

Chocobo

The best Forwards to choose are the ones that are toughest to deal with, Number 24, Kimahri, and The Fiend jump to mind. Chocobo provides a truly impressive statline for its cost, and once they do manage to take down its handler Wind still has several ways to make use of a 5k.

B

Fat Chocobo

I’ll gladly pay full price for this all day.

A

Gnash

The only card Gnash’s ETF hits is Leo, and the price to break a Backup is so high that you need to be hitting something impactful like Leo or Stiltzkin. In most cases, he’s just going to be a Carpenter without multiplay, which is good enough to be included.

D

Number 128

Unlike Auron, where it usually costs more to deal 4k to him than you get back by drawing a card, this is a great way to turn cards like Ifrit, Barret, and Hedgehog Pie into massive damage. While Number 128 is definitely absolutely best in Fire/Wind, he’s still acceptable without Fire. With Prompto, you can block a 9k and reduce the damage to 4k, just enough to enable #128. An Edge in your BZ will let 128 attack into 7ks and 8ks, giving #128 enough power to survive and crack back. It will also let you use Yuffie on it. It may require more hoops to jump through, but the payoff is well worth it.

B

Nono

Once you’re in the midgame, once you’ve got a couple Wind Backups that this activates, this gets significantly cheaper. Nono helps nullify a lot of Ice’s Freeze effects, not only the turn he hits the field but continuing on. He also takes a lot of pressure off of having to think about your defense, as you get a “free” attack each turn. Alhanalem is super cute, as Nono lets you active him on both your turn and your opponent’s.

B

Prompto

Prompto has a lot of text I love. He’s a Backup that can be converted to board impact in the late game, he protects your Forwards, he can clear himself so you’re never locked on five Backups, and he draws a card while he does all that. He’s not game-winning, and he’s not multi-play, so don’t go drafting four of him, but one or two should make your deck just that little bit more inviting.

B

Bel Dat

You’ve gotta pay the right Element, so you’re kinda rolling the dice whether or not she can actually steal anything. There’s no other real way to mill out your opponent, so removing 4 cards from their deck isn’t terribly effective. Removing a bomb from their Break Zone can be nice for disrupting effects like Kefka, Ignis, or Zenos, but if that’s all you’re getting then it’s not really worth an entire card.

C

The Goddess

Goddess is a one-card answer to almost any situation, assuming you’re not dead to attacks next turn. Clears your opponent’s board no matter whether she lives or dies, and puts a hard shut down to BZ strategies. Her massive 9k body doesn’t hurt either

S

Melphie

Decent card even without Sonon. The Forwards of 5cp+ tend to be harder to deal with, so having a body that just happens to trade with one on demand is a pretty nice option to have in your back pocket. The Sonon/Melphie synergy is great, and Wind also wants to combine Yuri/Chelinka with Leo, so Earth is a very natural pairing.

B

Carpenter

C

Yuri

While Chelinka provides you with risk-free attacks, Yuri instead repays you in terms of direct cp impact. By either breaking a Forward or reactivating your entire board, you can use Yuri’s party attack trigger to generate a strong cp swing. Also worth mentioning is that this provides “Brave” to anything that has attacked so far this turn, including him and his cohort. While both are certainly good, and it will be often you have both, making this point moot, Yuri does have a much higher ceiling than Chelinka.

A

Yuffie

Great combat trigger. Yuffie applies a high amount of pressure. Depending on the scenario, she can attack fearlessly into a 9k, threatening to trade up her 2cp cost for whatever cost they paid for theirs. If they have multiple blockers, she’s an incredible enabler for both Chelinka and Yuri and their party attack shenanigans. Or you can just 8k something, accept that she’s gonna get blocked and die, and be happy. Bonus if you can use something like a Montblanc to finish off whatever blocked her.

B

Ritz

Like Ghost, this effect is one Wind is very happy to have. It’s significantly better this time around, as you not only get to draw a card but you get a body afterwards. Yuri and Chelinka are both happy to have a cheap Forward to enable their party attack triggers, so Ritz is a great understudy should the siblings be separated.

B

Dragoon

Edge is so good you’re immediately very interested in any way to get a crystal, and Dragoon is an excellent source. The threat of First Strike is one of the best abilities on any of these crystal Backups, so whether you do or don’t have a use for crystals you’re gonna be competing with the other Wind players.

B

Earth

Arkasodara

While you don’t want to load up on these, since they’re terrible at being developmental Backups, this is a pretty strong effect. You do need your opponent to have Dull Forwards, which pulls this card strongly towards Ice, but if you’ve got a slower gameplan then your opponent is 100% going to dull some amount of their Forwards for you. There will be a lot of times when they don’t have a Backup open to pay with, and they’ll have to pitch two cards, so a lot of the time this will end up getting 4cp instead of the printed 3.

B

Antlion

Geomancer, Ifalna, Noctis, and Miner can both be broken on demand, with Noctis and Miner able to activate Antlion on the opponent’s turn. Ignis is another powerful way to force a trigger. Antlion is powerful, for sure, but it will be extremely difficult in a normal game to get three or more activations unless you seriously draft with Antlion in mind. You really really want to be able to block with Antlion, that’s where you’ll get the most value, so keep an eye out for Juggler, Gnash, Prompto, Illusionist, Johnny, Chadley, Fisher, and Loporrit, all of whom can spring the trap.

B

Ignis

These are both extremely powerful abilities, and Ignis is clearly an extremely powerful card, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that losing a Backup is a real cost. Make sure whatever you’re breaking is worth losing out on 1cp per turn for the rest of the game. Getting a Forward back helps alleviate that cost, depending on how good that Forward is. If you can pick up plenty of Backups that can be broken for a benefit (see Antlion’s list minus Juggler), you can continue to make use of his trigger and keep rebuying your best Forwards. Don’t go overboard, few things are worse than throwing two Backups away trying to get that last point of damage, only to have the opponent stabilize and be up 2cp every turn for the rest of the game. Keep an eye out for Ignis’ surprise best friend, Wakka.

A

Ifalna

Aerith naturally is the premium target here, but there’s plenty of other tricky uses. The standard will be giving you access to your best Earth Forward, but there are other cool tricks. During combat, bringing in a Kimahri can let you save your attacker (this works in response to direct damage too), Noctis can act as a combat trick giving your attacker +2k, Mira can stop your opponent from killing your Antlion in battle, and if you’ve got something giving a buff, you can for instance grab Ignis to break Yuri or Chelinka and negate the +2k from Stiltzkin. Also extremely good with Tifa assuming you can empty your hand again.

B

Aerith

No cast. Only Warp.

B

Chaos

With only Zenos in the set, you’re probably looking at a 6/9 with no abilities, which is a step above filler at least. If you do draft a Zenos? Then Chaos is the second best card in your deck.

D

Leatherworker

C

Ciaran

Ciaran is a great, simple producer for and user of crystals with an extremely good S. Pleasantly, this means you don’t need other crystal cards to make him good, but he absolutely kills it with proper support.

A

Gigas (FFCC)

Good entry ability that gives you some breathing room or helps you push damage, and 8k damage makes for a solid finishing move. Gives Earth a way to use Wind’s small damage abilities to take down 9ks, as well as Earth’s very own Mira. Not much else to say here.

B

Kimahri

Kimahri provides a good way to protect your other Forwards for cheap. For free, he negates one source of 7k or less every turn, and for only one card that number goes up to 11k. This puts serious restrictions on opponents relying on Forwards with less than 8k power. Don’t forget that while you can only use his redirect once per turn, you can pitch as many Earth cards as you please.

B

Miner

Great card if you’re looking for consistent early resource development. It’s pretty expensive to crack, so probably only do it if you need space in your backline, you desperately need one more card, or you’re getting good value by triggering your Antlion. Notably, Miner is one of only four  “1cp” Backups in the set, the others being Loporrit and the two Hs Materia and Spiritus (O’aka can’t do his thing until later so I’m not counting him). This makes Earth and Water the only Elements that can play a 2cp into a 3cp. Miner is the only card to let you do it in Earth, giving him a utility unique to him, the ability to slide smoothly into your backline development.

B

Cecil

Sonon

If you’re in Wind and have Melphies, then he’s great. If not, well, so long Sonon.

B

Tifa

As long as you’re comfortable going down to zero cards, 1/9 Brave is an incredible rate. Throw in resistance to dull effects and the opportunity to attack multiple times and this card will be the centerpiece for many Earth based decks. Make sure to pick up an Ifalna.

A

Noctis

Noctis gives you a nice attack when he hits, and then comes back big and tall over and over again. It’ll be good to have some amount of cheap Characters around, Gigas comes to mind, Mira can be good to throw under the bus once she’s peeked at the top 5, and in other Elements cards like Ghost and Ritz who have outlived their usefulness can be used to give Noctis a literal new lease on life. There are not too many ways to permanently deal with this, so while he’s not crushingly powerful or anything, he will manage to generate advantage every time it costs more to deal with him than the cost of whatever you pitch to keep him around. Very strong synergy with Ignis, letting you trigger him every time you burn a Backup to bring back Noct.

A

Geomancer

Ciaran is the only Earth card around that wants crystals, but with both Geomancer and Ciaran at C it should be easy to get them together, especially since Ciaran has such a good S so you’re not worried so much about drawing three of him. Cracking Geomancer for Brave will not be useful very often, but it gives you Ignis and Antlion triggers so it’s still nice to have.

B

Fake

If you have the spare CP to drop him early, he’s a decent investment. For slower decks, he works to actively disincentivize attacking you. If you’re not playing a glacially slow deck, it’s very likely he’ll never end up being able to do anything. In Water/Earth, you can use Earth Cecil to trigger a counter, but outside of that you’re really leaving it up to your opponent when Fake can finally start impacting the board. One issue I have with this card is that it’s just a really shitty warp. You pay a reduced cost and have to wait some amount of turns until you can actually use it. Unlike Warp, you can’t just “pay full price” if you need the Forward now, and even worse, he’s on the field and interactable until he activates. If we had some good fight effects like Hecatonchier then I’d be a lot higher on this card, but as it stands Fake has an extremely small window of time where he’s actually playable.

C

Fenrir

There’s almost no Summons that choose, which means there’s almost no opportunities for this card to do literally anything. You can’t even choose your opponent’s Forward to stop your opponent’s Fenrir. This is a cheaper but weaker version of an unplayable Opus I card, Carbuncle (unlike Carbuncle, Fenrir doesn’t actually cancel, so Summons that choose more than one thing like Ifrit and Ramuh will still resolve their other effects). Getting a few CP off doesn’t fix it, since it wasn’t the cost that was the problem in the first place.

F-

There are a bunch of monsters around, with a cycle at both C and H, but still you’re not drafting so many that her Reveal 5 will be close to reliable. There’s not one single way to break a Monster or Character in this set, so Mira will only be able to protect the H cycle which can turn into Forwards. Antlion is already troublesome to animate so you’re probably ok if he trades with some effect, but it’s nice with Jenova Dreamweaver as it lets her get her attack trigger off safely. All in all, some pretty niche effects, but she’s only 1cp and she’s got EX Burst, so if you can make any use of a 3k and also have at least five Monsters then maybe she starts to be a solid add.

D

The Magus Sisters (XIV)

Being safeguarded against haste is pleasant but conditional. Being safeguarded against summons is pleasant but abilities are much more of a threat, especially in this set. But being able to turn a summon into 8k? Now that’s got potential. At least it would if you were likely to be able to draft more than two Summons. As it stands, The Magus Sisters boast an incredible four abilities that are all only slightly more than nothing.

D

Leo

The only things you really want to be getting with this are Ciaran, Chelinka, and Yuri. On the other hand, you really really want to be getting all of those.

A

Lightning

Assassin

Boy there’s a lot of “deal 3k” around. Assassin is pretty handy as a 4cp kill anything. Requiring three Lightning cp makes it a bit tougher to assemble, but it shouldn’t be that tough. On occasion you’ll be able to split her abilities, using her 3k to top off a blocker, then throw her into the bin to top off someone else later, notably someone that blocked and enabled a Ramza. Or you can ignore her ETF and use her as a Main Phase Only Ramuh 5C, breathing life into any small source of damage you have lying around.

B

Alisaie

Alisaie is able to return three cards, G’raha Tia, Alphinaud, and Urianger. Alphy is R so it shouldn’t be too hard to get, and the other two are H so you can at least guarantee they’ll be opened somewhere in 40 packs. Her natural pairing with Water unlocks her second and likely more impactful ability. Being able to set aside a blocker of your choice once per turn lets you really turn up the pressure. Alphinaud lets you combine both abilities, as Alisaie can play him out, then stack his trigger first with her trigger on top. This lets her dull whatever you like, forcing it to be a legal choice for Alphinaud. If your opponent already has something dull you want to die, you can stack the triggers in the other order, letting Alphinaud break a dull Forward and only then letting Alisaie dull something. But even if you don’t have a Scion to bring back, being able to dull stuff on command turn after turn is great for decks looking to press damage.

A

Angeal

I adore combat tricks, and because of that Tredd is up there among my favorite cards. But a lot of what makes Tredd good is that he’s cheap. Angeal is not cheap. Your options for the second SOLDIER are Zack (L) and Genesis (C) so if you’re not in Ice/Lightning, maybe skip this one. If you are in Ice/Lightning, then Angeal sounds great. Casting Genesis and Angeal in the same turn is a lot of cp, but if you want to play them both out the same turn so there’s no window to interact with Genesis, he very handily has Warp. It’s a fair bit of time to wait, three full turns, but it sets up for a two card combo that does so much more than the cp you put into it. But outside of that one interaction in one very specific archetype, Angeal is a non-starter.

D

Estinien

An incredibly powerful attacker. It’s rare you’ll want to actually cast Estinien. You lose out on one attack step by Warping him, but then he gets to attack twice the next turn so it evens out, leaving you 3cp the richer. Other than that, I don’t know what else to say about him. 18k First Strike can’t be blocked profitably, so unless you’re 100% on the “deck your opponent out” train, Estinien is a slam dunk draft pick.

S

Kadaj

Getting this on entry and exit gives Kadaj a lot of flexibility, as he can hit the field as a combo killer (especially relevant if paired with Water’s small Forwards) can hit the field to bring an imposing blocker to a manageable size, and also threatens to trade up to 12k in combat. Negative power is a bit stronger than actual damage, as it affects the target’s ability to deal damage, but the trade-off here is he loses out on some amount of synergy with Assassin.

B

G’raha Tia

There are an actual million XIV Standard Unit Backups in this set. Only one is in Lightning, but every other element has at least one, with most having two or even three. As a result, G’raha Tia will be 10k more often than he isn’t. Giving you access to your other Scions is exceptionally strong, especially with cards like Alphinaud, Alisaie, and Estinien in the set. G’raha Tia will be a beautiful centerpiece in a deck with plenty of Scions, and will still be a 3cp 10k for everyone else.

A

Illusionist

Boosting damage by 2k is well worth losing a Backup. The dream is hitting Number 128 with this, although Lightning’s only way to enable 128 is the H Summon, Ramuh, so probably not a realistic dream. Still, this helps out in combat, making it much easier to attack medium sized Forwards into intimidating blockers. It may have niche applications, but it’s a cheap Backup with multiplay so you’re not exactly going out of your way for it.

C

The Emperor

If you can pick up a few of these, you can get a pretty decent chain going. They come in Dull so you’ll need some time to make use of them, but a single The Emperor can functionally block several times over the course of the game. As far as taxing action abilities goes, The crystal Backups and both Monster cycles at C and H all have one, so amongst those 18 cards it’s almost guaranteed to hit every deck at least a little. Other powerful or ubiquitous cards it messes with include Auron, Palom, Alhanalem, Cissnei, Number 128, Prompto, Melphie, Ifalna, Ciaran, Kimahri, Tifa, Johnny, Cecil, Fisher, Loporrit, Materia, and Spiritus. That sure is a good sized list of cards. It only stops Characters they control so cards that activate from the BZ like Edge and Sonon will still be regular price.

B

Shadow Dragon

Break a little guy and get some fuel for Assassin. Seems decent.

C

Cor

The only King in the set is Leo, and Leo only wants to be paired with Wind. If you’ve got a lot of crystals and Ciarans in your Earth/Lightning deck, then you may as well pick up a Leo or two, but that’s about the only edge case I’d be happy, not excited to play Cor.

D

Weaver

Since G’raha Tia wants XIV Standard Units, Weaver is slightly better than its counterparts. Slightly.

C

Johnny

I’m so used to these having a more limited range of targets that “Character other than Card Name Johnny” took me by surprise. Johnny is good in any deck, and making the most of him isn’t hard either. Pick up a single strong VII Character, and he’s already nearly doubled his usefulness.

B

Sephiroth

He’s expensive but if you need something dead he does it without any of this messing around with Assassin business. Nice S that lets you somewhat safely just mindlessly draft as many as you want. The break when he Warps in can’t really be played around that much. Sure they can hold off their bomb until he Warps in, but that’s great for you anyways.

B

Chadley

If you’ve managed to draft a Ramuh, then Chadley gives you a good way to convert the worst card in your hand into a solid Summon, and a way to convert that Summon into the best Forward in your BZ.

C

Ninja

Blessedly, 1k is all you need for Assassin. Ramza is your crystal synergy, and he’s great at that, so you should have plenty of access to cards that make the most of Ninja.

B

Fusoya

Two Summons? In this economy?

F

Behemoth

7k for 2 is a solid deal, and there are plenty of Forwards around that this outright breaks. Breaking damaged Forwards is a great outlet for small sources of damage or small Forwards that may be lying around, and lets even the meekest cards like Mist contribute meaningfully.

B

Mira

If you’ve got the Monsters, then Mira is a real monster. Your opponent may try to convince you to pull the trigger on something innocuous, so  unless you’re flooded with enablers don’t go pitching and paying 1 for any ol’ Forward they throw down. She gives a pleasant out to Monsters like Behemoth who may sometimes struggle to find an opportunity to use its own sacrifice effect, lending a dash of consistency to your gameplan. It shouldn’t be too tough to assemble a truly heinous amount of Monsters, with a cycle at each C and H. Mira is small, big enough to survive the multitude of 3k effects, but there are a few other efficient outs out there like Hedgehog Pie, Montblanc, and Shadow Dragon that will clear her long enough for your opponent to drop their bomb. At least you’ll have plenty of ways to get her back.

A

Ramuh

The modes are all relevant, so it’ll be rare indeed you cannot get a fair amount of value against this. If you’re playing against Ice, don’t ever only choose 1 mode if you can help it. Even if you only want to Dull something, make sure to also deal something 5k or give something haste, because you don’t want to risk Wicked Mask interfering. Chadley is worth keeping an eye out for once you pick a Ramuh up.

A

Ramza

If you’ve got the crystal generators, then Ramza is legitimately scary. He threatens to either deal damage every turn or trade up for the opponent’s best Forward. Look for ways to further extract value from him, like party attacking with Shadow Dragon so that the attack breaks a blocker too, or using Assassin to finish off anything that blocks him.

A

Reeve

Great on-curve Backup that helps sift through your deck for what you want while you’re setting up.

B

Water

Alphinaud

You don’t even need that many ways to force a dull to make good use of this. Alphinaud is a great and cheap way to punish your opponent for attacking you, something they pretty much have to do. He naturally lends himself to a slower deck, as he strongly polices the speed at which your opponent can pressure you by both deleting anything that dares damage you and also getting bigger once you’ve been damaged enough. Picking up a few effects that force a dull will let you use Alphy offensively, giving him even greater reach, most naturally his sister Alisaie. Without her, he’ll still be a strong supporter for any deck looking to play a more control oriented match.

A

Urianger

Warp enables this, and not much else. You could drop a Warrior of Light and then Urianger before you play the card WoL removed, but that’s a ton of CP. You could just leave whatever WoL removes forever, though that’s not really a great use of him. Phoinix, Mateus, Edge, and Zenos are reliable, but that’s about it, meaning your best friends will be Mist and Lunafreya. Your search options are limited to Water and Lightning, unless you somehow have a burning need for Magus Sisters. Normally at this point I’d be all like “you gotta jump through hoops and then he’s only good in one narrow archetype” but that archetype is so good that it’s absolutely worth forcing.

A

O’aka

I don’t understand why this card is so much worse than a Standard Unit from the same set and Element.

D

Cecil

Even on his own, even with just the one Crystal, Cecil is a fine card. There aren’t very many other IV Forwards around, so just assume you’re using his ability on himself. After all, if you already have Cecil on the field, you kind of don’t mind if your Porom or Rosa die. It doesn’t take many crystals to effectively make him untouchable, not many people are going to try to burn through two crystals worth of protection. It will be a balancing act to know when you should use a crystal to press an advantage in combat, versus keeping enough crystals back to protect him from enemy interaction. Naturally, Earth Cecil is great if you can pick one up, but Edge is also every bit as good.

A

Hippokampos

Water has some tiny Forwards you’re gonna be stuck with, Mist, Leslie, Rosa, Lunafreya, and Hippokampos offers you three great ways to make use of them once they’ve served their purpose. They contribute to jacking up his board swing, they can be dulled to activate him, and they can be a small source of damage that can combine with Hippo’s board swing to take down larger foes. Since you want lots of Characters on the field, Hippo works well in a slower deck looking to hit many Backups and build as big a board as possible, so steer clear if you somehow manage to make an aggressive Water deck in this set.

B

Blugu

The ETF is flexible enough to have lots of uses, and the action ability provides for a great security blanket for your team against all sorts of nasty abilities.

B

Frimelda

Water really needed a way at C to swing through big Forwards, and Frimelda offers that and more. Not only does she go up to 10k, making it extremely difficult to block her, but she also lowers a problem blocker into a more manageable range. She also helps churn through your deck, bringing you closer to the goodies. In general, Water’s not exactly looking to apply pressure, so treat her as a way to break through once you’ve established an advantage.

B

Porom

It’s nice to sift through your deck like this, but there are plenty of better ways to do it. Porom pairs nicely with Palom, and also with the Cecil/Rosa package, which this rating will reflect, but if you’re not able to synergize Porom in either of those directions, you should skip poor Porom.

B

The Fiend

Before Damage 5, The Fiend is annoying but not oppressive. Once you are on Damage 5, The Fiend becomes a difficult wall to surmount. Party attacks and 9ks will still need another way to deal with, but The Fiend will stand firm against a wide range of effects.

B

Mist

It’s a good effect, but it’s not exactly free. Warp 4 is an eternity, and since you can no longer discard her for cp, you’re down 2cp until you draw when she enters. If you’re comfortable with that investment, then she can both help fill your Break Zone for effects like Fusoya, fix your draws, and dig towards your best cards. Just make sure you have some way to make use of a 2k.

B

Meliadoul

This will help deal with lots of nasty bombs. Auron, The Demon, Tifa, Number 24 or 128, the other Tifa, Noctis, Estinien, Alisaie, The Emperor, Wakka, just to name the most impactful. Meliadoul is a card that’s worth hanging onto until something you otherwise can’t deal with shows up. Waiting also helps unlock her Damage 3, which I think will be more relevant than it may look on paper. Wish she could hit your own Forwards, I’d love to strip my Fake’s abilities.

B

Yuna

Why are all the summons H?

F

Unicorn

Good without Cat IVs, great with. This and the Back Attackers are the only real tricks you can surprise your opponent with in combat, so try to convince them to swing when you’ve got a big blocker just waiting to be undulled. The bounce is of course also great, especially if you’re hitting a 4cp without an ETF.

B

Oracle

Cecil is your Water crystal spender, and what a spender he is. Helping to keep your attacks safe is also a good ability to have access to. Neither of these abilities is that important, Cecil does make a crystal himself, and -1k isn’t that much, but honestly anything more than “2cp Backup” is solid gold in this set.

B

Fisher

Whereas Miner is incredibly expensive to draw a card, all Fisher has to do is die. You’ll probably have to go through about half your deck before you can get a single card, and it’ll be hard indeed to get two.

C

Lunafreya

Forcing a sacrifice tends to be less good in Limited, as it’s more common that their biggest Forward is the real problem, but at the very least it’s a start. And even straight casting her and skipping the Warp trigger, there will be plenty of times where this genuinely does hit something strong. The Warp takes a long time, but Garuda (III) taught us that when you Warp something like this out, it really messes with what your opponent can do. While this doesn’t have the raw brutality of Garuda’s kill ’em all attitude, knowing two of their Forwards are going to hit the bricks will make ’em hit the breaks on their gameplan. While Lunafreya’s Warped out, it’s worth building a board to fully take advantage of her powerful appearance. Just make absolutely sure you stack the bounce effect on top of the sacrifice to resolve first, so that they can’t sacrifice your bounce target.

B

Leslie

This may be hard to believe, but over 20% of the set is Category VII. 29 cards out of 130. Blugu is the only other Water one, but every other Element has no joke at least five. Sure there are plenty of Forwards that you do not want to bounce back to hand, but there should still be plenty of targets for you.

C

Loporrit

Nice way to develop and sift through your deck at the same time, then does it again when it’s outlived its usefulness. Pleasantly (or unpleasantly if you have a lot of recursion) the extra card goes back to the bottom so you’re not inching closer to deckout. Like I said with Miner, Loporrit is one of very few ways to play a “1cp” Backup early in your development, which alone makes it extremely desireable.

B

Alchemist

C

Rosa

If you’ve got the Cecils, Rosa’s great. Especially if you have both of them. You can play the Earth Cecil, wait a turn, crack it for Water Cecil, boom two cards. The off-Element Forwards she can play are (mostly) great: Palom, Calbrena, Earth Cecil of course, Edge, and let’s mention Fusoya so he feels included. Rosa helps bring a Cecil deck together, Palom Porom and Edge all also work well with crystals, and Calbrena is just a nice surprise that no one will see coming. Is it risky to play a bunch of off-Element cards? Absolutely. So either just use a couple that are suitable for your deck, or if you’ve managed to go hard on Cecils you can also go hard on Rosas. If you don’t have Cecils? Let Rosa wilt with the chaff.

B

Wakka

Water’s premiere Common. Wakka will very often be a 4/9 with upside, and not just any upside. Wakka threatens to blow a Forward out of the water every single time he turns sideways, so long as you can keep him fed with Backups. Ignis is an incredible pairing, but Wakka stands on his own two feet well enough.

A

Light/Dark/Starter/Legacy

Shinryu

Pretty sweet deal, you get a big Brave boy and the best bomb you brought. And sometimes you get an insane discount too.

S

Materia

Materia offers a cheap Backup and the ability to dig into your deck when you need Forwards and you need them now. As I’ve already gone over with Miner and Loporrit, Materia is one of the few ways to play a Backup on turn 2 off of a single Backup from turn 1, and decks with that option are intrinsically more flexible than decks without. All of the crystal spenders are excellent, so having a renewable source of crystals will be extremely valuable.

A

Spiritus

Same basic gist from Materia about 1cp Backups being good, and crystals being excellent, but now instead of digging for more Forwards, you’re powering up the Forwards you already have. Which is better? Well it really depends on your deck. If you’ve got some really aggressive crystal spenders like Ciaran and Cecil, Spiritus might have the edge for his refund, but if you only want a couple strategically here and there for cards like Palom and Ramza, them Materia might just do it. Comparing the two feels like measuring buildings for a difference of sixteenths of inches; the difference is inconsequential to most.

A

Zenos

Undercosted 9k that kills a thing and gives you an advantage, and then does it all over again. Zenos lends himself strongly to Earth for Chaos. His ability is not optional, so if you’re the only one with Forwards 3 or less then you’re kinda stuck. He’s exceptionally good to recast if your opponent is on Damage 5, as usually if you play him from the BZ and haste him, they’re just gonna take the damage and bid farewell at the end of turn. At Damage 5, they don’t have that luxury, making him a Must Block. You can sidestep his timer by removing him from the field somehow before the end of the turn, but he’s so extremely good on his own that I don’t think you really want to go out of your way for some obscure combo. At that point you’re just squeezing blood from stone.

S

Kuja

I never actually reviewed this card on account of the set coming out in the thick of lockdown. Nice simple effect, gets rid of an annoyance while presenting a threat.

B

The Emperor

The first time this was printed, it was Legendary and it was all but impossible to get even two of the four you would need to make him playable. This time around, there’s also Lightning The Emperor at R, meaning it’s unlikely but possible to get both his ETF and his death trigger assuming that you draw two Lightning Emperors then Legacy Emperor then it dies with one still in the deck. If you manage to even draft them all. Yeah, I’d rather just play the lotto.

F

Neo Exdeath

I’m just gonna repost my original review of this card, as my thoughts have not changed at all:
If you ever pass this in draft, you are wrong.

S+