Fire

Ifrit

I’d be content to pay full price for this. The option to cast it for free has me salivating.

A

 

Ace

Getting to 5 Fire cards in the Break Zone shouldn’t be that hard for most Fire decks. Once you get there, Ace is an absolute monster. I’d jump through more hoops just to get a 1CP/9k, once we tack on the attack trigger I’m in Heaven. 10k damage is enough to kill anything (except that pesky Ruby Weapon) so on top of the ludicrous cost-to-power ratio, we’re also getting some of the best removal in the set, and it’s repeatable. Since he’s Legendary, you’re gonna literally need to have an Ace up your sleeve to use his Special. The best thing here is that most of the options our opponent has to deal with Ace cost more than he costs, so the risk for playing him is incredibly low. Chocobo Eater still gonna getcha, tho.

S

 

Edgar

Excellent synergy with Sabin, as Edgar bringing him back will count towards Sabin’s “dead VI” count. On his own, Edgar is still a great pick. Normally, taking several copies of the same named card is dangerous, as drawing your second, third, fourth copies feel progressively worse. Having a useful Special like Auto Crossbow turns that weakness into a strength. 5k to three targets is serious firepower. It’s enough to ace some of the weaker Forwards in the set like Norschtalen and Waltrill, and its low cost makes it easy to combine with other effects like Kukki-Chebukki, Luneth, or Matoya. A decent floor and a high ceiling makes Edgar a card to keep an eye out for.

B

 

Kukki-Chebukki

At first I just thought this was a worse Iroha (which is still playable) but the more I think about the Remove From Game effect the better I think Kabuki-Tanuki is. You can disable any death trigger, and also seriously limit options for cards that get Forwards back from the Break Zone. Cards like Sapphire Weapon and Kefka have seriously strong death triggers that Dooky-Capuchin lets you completely ignore. 3CP/6k isn’t impressive, but the action ability absolutely saves this little guy. 2k is a solid chunk to throw around for no additional cost. Most obviously, it lets Cheeki-Breeki block for 8k, but it also gives extra reach to all your other Forwards. Cookies-and-Creamukki lets your 7ks attack into 9ks without fear, helping you to surmount power imbalances. Kolkka-Chelinkka is less effective if you’re the one on the upper end of the power imbalance. He does outright kill Undead Princess, Tonberry, and Mog (XIII-2), so it helps to find other ways to make use of his 2k. As just mentioned, Edgar is a solid go-to, but he helps Bomb and Vaan reach a decent amount of damage, helps Ifrit and Zack deal with 9ks, all while potentially supporting every Forward you throw into battle. And on top of all that, he completely turns off death triggers. While he may seem unintimidating at first, I think you’ll find yourself surprised at just how relevant Kooky-Bukkake can be.

A

 

Sazh

Ways to search for Backups have always been in high demand, and getting a card back takes a lot of the sting out of playing a 5k. Once you have the Dahj boost, Sazh becomes a genuine threat. Kukki-Chebukki, Monk, Edgar S, and Ifrit all combine with his First Strike to take out anything that dares deign to damage his ‘do, and that’s without looking at Wind and Lightning’s offerings. Moving to 6k is great, as there are a fair amount of ways to kill a 5k that he’s now beyond the grasp of.

B

 

Tifa

Warp 3 is a long time, and I’m not sure it’s worth the 3CP you save. At any rate, there are so many 9ks around this set that you need to have some of your own. Fire has always been stuffed to the gills with removal, so a Forward that can attack twice is well situated here. You can burn down anything that could give Tifa grief, then slam in twice.

B

 

Dajh

Dahj helps your early game consistency by digging deeper towards whatever you need, whether that be more Backups, fewer Backups, or a source of an element for something you can’t cast without. The average Limited deck has a huge gulf of power between its worst cards and its best cards, and Dahj also lets you pitch one of those bad cards for another spin at the wheel. Then on top of that he boosts Sazh. You love to see a happy family like this.

B

 

Buffasaur

While this lil guy may be a lil unwieldy, he provides powerful proactive protection for Fire based decks. Aggressive decks will appreciate being able to use this to control what blockers their opponent can put down. Defensive decks will consider 1 damage a fair trade to get an above average damage to CP ratio, especially if they were planning on not blocking the offending Forward to begin with. This has a couple of edges over the easy comparison, Grenade. Notably, your opponent can’t juke Buffasaur out by playing a trash Forward, or a Forward only good for its ETF. You get to decide if you want to pull the trigger or not. Also, since Buffasaur can be triggered on any of your opponent’s Forwards, you can use it in conjunction with Kukki-Chebukki to clear 9 and 10ks.

B

 

Bomb

Bomb requires several caveats. You need to be heavy Fire, as it’s useless until you hit three Fire Backups. You need multiple Bombs, as only getting one is potentially not worth the CP. When Bomb is a Forward, it’s always a Forward, losing the protection that most Monster Forwards enjoy by being untargetable by many effects much of the time. And you need some cards like Kukki-Chebukki to make sure you don’t have your whole momentum stopped in its tracks by literally any 8k. And because Bomb doesn’t do anything until you have three Fire Backups, you can’t make use of it at all until about the middle of the game. So, with all that out of the way, let’s look at what Bomb is good at. If you’re playing a bunch of removal to clear away blockers, Bomb provides multiple attackers per turn. If your opponent is loaded up with 7ks, Bomb provides a cheap Forward that will leave you CP positive in the event of trades. If you’re goated on Kukkis then Bomb provides a way to cheaply extend Kukki’s damage. If you ask me, the positives do not outweigh the negatives. Bomb is extremely situational. High risk, low reward is the total opposite of what I want. Especially in a set where Aster Protoflorian can negate all your Bombs with ease. You can crack Monk to boost it to a reasonable power in combat so that whoops just kidding now it’s not a Forward. At least it deals with Zidane cleanly.

D

 

Sabin

In the elements you’re most likely to pair Fire with, Wind and Lightning, Sabin has very little for synergy, only Edgar, Curlax, and Moebius. Ice brings Umaro (who can off himself at a moment’s notice to enable Sabin’s ETF), Laragorn, and Terra, while Water features Gau and Strago, and taking both also affords us Relm and Mog (VI). To give Sabin much synergy more than just Edgar, you’ll need to be in some 3 Element deck picking from among these four elements. Even once that is done, that synergy will be hard to bring to bear. My advice is to stay within the family.

C

 

Miyu

Fire/Ice isn’t really a well supported archetype here, so I’m not sure how good being able to search Tohno is. She does search herself so in a pinch she’s ultimately equivalent to a 2cp Backup if you’re not getting Tohno. Running multiple Miyus to get herself means you’re running multiple copies of a card just to get it to the point where it’s a worse version of every other Backup in the Element. If you do end up in Fire/Ice for some reason, whether aiming for the Cat VI synergy or going for Dream Stooges, or if you’re just splashing a couple Ice cards, she does provide a nice bit of consistency.

D

 

Monk

I love this cycle. Playable in multiples, breakable for a relevant effect in the late game, and with an ETF that kicks in during the middle game. Every card in this cycle provides a sturdy foundation for your deck, doubly so when you consider they’re the only Backups with multiplay, and you should absolutely prioritize them. Monk’s +4k is a great way to make smaller Forwards into actual threats, and 7k is so much damage that it should easy to find some way to make use of it.

B

 

Clavat

All right, Clavat’s the first card that really cares about 3 Elements so now’s a good time to talk about it. This set’s Multi-Element cards are split among seven elemental pairings. We’ll ignore Wind/Water for the purposes of this discussion. Fire/Wind, Wind/Lightning, and Lightning/Fire make a circle, and if you’re in those three elements you will find your elemental consistency to be relatively strong, assuming you grab enough Multi-Elements. MEs form a second circle, Ice/Earth, Earth/Water, Water/Ice, and that will form another strong chain you can build towards. Of course your consistency will be worse than the 2 Element drafters, but cards like this cycle provide an excellent reward. 4/8 deal 8 oh and you get Brave too is absolutely worth tweaking your deck to accommodate, especially considering both Wind and Lightning have a card like this too.

B

 

Luneth

What do you mean Luneth isn’t Edgar’s brother? They work so well together! Luneth smashes in for a ton of damage boardwide, and there’s no end of ways to take advantage of it. From sources of direct damage like Kukki-Chebukki, Vaan, Edge, and Y’shtola, to boardwide damage like Matoya and Emerald Weapon. You can even just suicide a small Forward into a big blocker, then play this in Main 2 to finish it off. Luneth does require set-up to be good, and you will find him to be unwieldy a fair amount of the time. But while his floor is low, his ceiling is high. Do remember that Luneth hits all Forwards, so if you have anything it will kill, attack first.

C

 

Ruby Weapon

A little more expensive than I like to pay for my 9ks, but Ruby Weapon is pretty tough to deal with. It doesn’t trade in combat, and can’t be burnt down. Alexander and Aster Protoflorian still deal with it with ease, so be alert about what options your opponent may have. The real draw here is Whirlsand. For no additional cost and without having to wait for a turn, this S banishes anything it can target. Like I talked about with Kukki-Chebukki above, removing Forwards from the game both invalidates death triggers and weakens your opponent’s recursion. Without a second copy, Ruby Weapon will feel somewhat lackluster. Being reliant on not only having multiple but drawing two of them at the same time makes Ruby Weapon a bit of a risky investment, but the payoff is serious.

C

 

Laragorn

You know how I was just talking about how drafting Fire/Wind/Lightning is to some degree encouraged this set? Well it’d be real nice if the Three Stooges got the memo. But no, Curly got lost and wound up in Ice, an element that has very little synergy with Larry and Moe’s elements. They’re all Hs, so unless you’re pretty unlucky you should be able to get one of each in a Draft, though you basically have to take them on sight which doesn’t leave much wiggle room, and honestly? Not sure they’re worth it. The three elements have Miyu into Tohno, and that’s basically all the support you have to bring Ice into Fire/Lightning proper. It does make Ice a bit tolerable as a splash, and Laragorn can play the others from the Deck or Break, so you can pitch Curlax to play Tohno, cast Laragorn and grab Moebius from the deck, then use Tohno to pay for Laragorn’s ability next turn. Luckily the Ice one, Curlax, is the one you want to play last anyways, and if you’re really looking to skimp on Ice you can hope he’s still in the deck when you cast Laragorn. As we’ll see with Cherukiki later, being able to get more than one body off of one cast is pretty strong (one reason I think they were too cautious with Bomb’s drawbacks) and getting two 6ks for 3 isn’t the worst. Because Laragorn sports the ability to return the others from the BZ, Laragorn is the one your opponent will try to eliminate first, so if you are going to keep any extra copies in your hand this should be the one you hold in reserve.

C

Leon

As one of two Rebels in the set, and lacking a Maria to search for, Leon is a 3/5 with no text.

F

Ice

Waltrill

2/5 is an abysmal rate for a card without any text.

F

 

Vincent

Freezing three Backups is huge. Vincent will represent a strong tempo swing, either throwing a wrench into your opponent’s early development, or  severely limiting their options in the mid to late game, all while presenting a decent body. Once on the field, Vincent finds himself pulled into a defensive role, doing his best to prevent anything 7k or lower from attacking, and continuing to throw around Freeze effects after your opponent’s Attack Phase. Like Edgar above, Vincent sports a great S. 8k for extremely cheap, and unlike much of Ice’s effects it is not conditional on the target being dull. Since Vincent is useful at nearly any phase of the game, you can draft several without fear.

B

 

Umaro

Sometimes you really want to force a trade, and Umaro lets you do that. He can block something big and then throw himself at a different Forward, saving you a point of damage while he does his thing. Discarding two to get him back is pretty decent value, and if you have multiple copies of cards like Gau and Terra then Umaro provides a very strong outlet for your extras. Umaro and Gau are best friends here, as Gau can drop mid-combat to boost Umaro high enough to take out whatever he’s battling, then kill another big body Forward afterwards. To really get the most out of Umaro, you’ll want to be in Water/Ice VI, but he should be more than serviceable in any Ice based deck.

A

 

Cloud of Darkness

There’s a bunch of Monsters around, so having a strong way to deal with them is good. You need some amount of ways to deal with your opponent’s 9ks, and the most straightforward is just playing your own. Since Ice is in a defensive position this set, the Brave is handy, allowing you to push for lethal damage without leaving yourself open to counterattacks.

B

 

Shiva

Shiva may be abysmal without the discount, but there’s no chance you’re playing it without Ice Forwards in your deck. Dull/Freeze for actual free is solid. Tacking this on to the end of half the Forwards in your deck (provisionally) adds a lot of power for little investment. You’ll want to make sure you’re swimming in Ice Forwards, as you don’t want this clogging up your hand.

A

 

Snow

Kinda nice that your opponent needs to have at least three cards in hand to avoid attacking into a 10k. If you’re looking to play defensively, (which Ice is geared for this set) then Snow provides an excellent deterrent for your opponent to attack you.

B

 

Sarah (MOBIUS)

They’re all good abilities, and 8k is resilient enough against a lot of the removal in the set like Ifrit that she’s likely to get value before she dies. There are enough Ice Forwards with low Power this set that the +2k from Sarah (MOBIUS) is valuable to make them relevant in combat. Also, she helps Snow become a terrifying defender no matter how many cards are in the opponent’s hand. While she’s likely to be worth testing as a Turn 1 play in Standard, there are much fewer Backups that draw or search for cards for Sarah (MOBIUS) to tax in draft, so probably avoid trying to get her tax online ASAP. But the best bit here is that your opponent can just never ever block you again if you want. Dulling two every turn is so much, and will put a stop to even the most resilient defenses.

B

 

Sephiroth

Let’s be real, we’d play this without the discount and be happy. Definitely leans towards a slower deck, as this card is best at stabilizing vs aggression. Make sure not to load up on too many Backups that can’t be used as early development, you realistically only have room for one or two mid-game Backups. One way to squeeze maximum value from him is to block, baiting out a combat trick like a Monk activation, and then Sephirothing the attacker in response. This way you’re up the cost of the trick as well.

A

 

Curlax

Snorlax is perhaps the best of his cycle on his own, as a 3/6 who forces a discard when he dies. That’s still really bad, so again you’re really looking to assemble all the rugrats. Ice has Lean who can facilitate that, but not much else to get you closer to a full daycare. Once you’ve got the trio, Curlax ends up being the star of the show with his incredible action ability, sending your opponent’s Forwards to time-out for multiple turns, and being able to do it twice per turn cycle. Should you manage to pull them together in draft, that’s quite the payoff, and if you’re brave enough to make your dream a reality then I salute you.

C

 

Chocobo Eater

There are some pretty scary Forwards that this takes care of, notably Ace and Zidane, but even if you’re clearing something more medium like Edge or Wol, or even something substandard, Chocobo Eater is clean removal for it. There are a few good ways to break Monsters this set, so against Wind who may have Alexander and Sophie it may be better to just pitch this for CP rather than let them get their Forward back at an inopportune moment.

C

 

Terra

This is one of those cards that looks so good on its face, and I think a large part of that is that in Standard you can easily make it reliable by just playing a bunch of Summons. With only nine Summons in the set, six Rares two Heroes and a Starter, you will almost never be able to draft enough to make “return a Summon” something you can count on before the midgame. And while 8k to a dull Forward is great, there won’t always be a target. Both of these issues are issues we can work towards, however, by prioritizing Summons and a bunch of ways to dull Forwards during the draft. Also, given Ice’s slow pace this set, it should be relatively common that your opponent is the aggressor, leading them to naturally turn their Forwards sideways. I think Terra has legs once you start getting into the midgame, but shouldn’t be relied upon to serve as your early game development. Try not to get more than one or two of her, and make sure you’re not loading up on Backups like this that aren’t reliable in the opening turns.

B

 

Tohno

I wrote a fair bit about Tohno already here, but to summarize: She has two applicable but not incredible abilities. She’s a decent workhorse but won’t win any awards. You need 2CP Backups, so definitely worth picking one or two up.

C

 

Norschtalen

Waltrill may be (expletives redacted) on his own, but Norschtalen manages to do the impossible by making him appealing. 2cp to get two 5ks has some real applicability. You will need effects Like Sarah (MOBIUS) to either pump them up to relevant power levels or to clear away blockers, but it’s a good start. Norsch also can bring back Yuke and Larkeicus, as well as a handful of other Forwards scattered around. None of them are bombs, but they’re all solid enough cards that a cheap way to get them a second time is welcome.

B

 

Flan

Flan does one thing: attack. So, it’s up to us to make sure that’s useful. We are in Ice, so stacking up on ways to dull blockers is the first thought. Sarah (MOBIUS) in particular powerfully paves a path for Flan to jiggle its way on in. Another clear use is Party Attacking. If you’ve ended up flooded with low power Ice Forwards, and also a steady stream of Flans, then Flan allows you to avoid getting walled out by 7 and 8ks. Since Waltrill and Norschtalen are both 5ks, you still can’t swing into 9s, which is a huge problem. Because Flan only costs 1 and replaces itself on death, it may at first look like this is very low risk, but let’s look deeper. Like Bomb in Fire, Flan requires a lot of dedication to make it useful. You need to be able to clear blockers reliably, or have cheap sources of damage to make a Flan attack dangerous to block. Ice’s natural pairings in Opus XIX are Earth and Water, neither of which is really skilled at being able to capitalize on small sources of damage like Flan, unlike how both Wind and Lightning are able to make something out of Bomb’s damage. This means that unlike how Bomb can at least attempt to perform multiple roles within a deck, all Flan does is pressure, and pressure isn’t really what Ice is interested in this time around. And since it can only be enforwarded during your own turn, Flan can’t even protect you from Yuna.

F

 

Yuke

First Strike on a blocker is pretty good. There are a bunch of 9ks this set, so it’s maybe not quite as good as it would be usually, but it will still pull its weight. Definitely a playable card on that merit alone, if you’re able to pay for the Break then it puts this card a tier above.

B

 

Lean

There isn’t much discard about, so you’ll have a hard time forcing this. When it’s good it’s great, but there’s not really a good way to make him reliable. He doesn’t really slot well into your early development, so you’ll end up casting this in mid a fair bit of the time. Sometimes your opponent goes all in and you really need access to your silver bullet, and Lean does a great job of loading it into the chamber for you.

C

 

Nu Mou

Probably the least exciting of the Damage 3s in this cycle (and shame it comes too late in the game to enable Lean). Not to diss on it, it’s still a great bonus. The activation is excellent, sidelining a Forward for some time. And again, he’s the only multiplay Backup Ice has, so take him early and take him often.

B

Wind

Alexander

Every element has some good Forwards this breaks, and every element has two Monsters. You won’t always have a target, but if you wait a little bit one should present itself. Breaking something like Ruby Weapon for free with this is a huge CP swing, and I plan to keep an Alexander on me every time I draft Wind.

B

 

Vayne

You do need to have some amount of decent Warp cards to make Vayne more than a Black Belt, but if you manage to stick him while both you and you opponent are mid Warp then you’ll be raking it in. The more Warp you have access to, the more reliable Vayne will be, naturally, so make sure to keep an eye out for good Warpers once you draft one of these. Between Wind and the three elements most likely to pair it with, you have the following Warpers: Tifa; Sophie; and Gilgamesh (no, Golbez doesn’t count). Since The Emperor uses generic CP for Warp, you can play him too. That’s not a big list, but Tifa and Gilgy are both C so you should be able to snap up a few of them.

B

 

Wol

Another great payoff for going 3 Elements. The cards that Wol searches for tend to be the better ones in your deck, so you’re happy to have such a cheap way to gain access to them without having to draw them naturally.

B

 

Evrae

This is sort of a hard ability to use in Limited, but it’s pretty cheap. You need three activations before Evrae pays for itself (the 1CP it cost, and the 2 you lost by not discarding it for CP). You can use Evrae to double up on a Backup’s Dull ability, but most of them break the Backup too. Vanille is probably not going to interfere with Summons on your turn, and Edgar’s S is also limited by needing another Edgar. This means Evrae is only useful in the event that you’re paying for two things in a single turn, and only advances you by 1CP in those instances. And you need that to line up 3 times just to break even. Honestly the most useful things he does are probably trigger Zu and get you closer to Paine and Yuna thresholds.

F

 

Emerald Weapon

There really isn’t very much discard in OXIX, which means you’re playing Emerald Weapon for the Special. Limited tends to have a lower average number of Backups played per game than other formats, so Emerald Big Bang will in some games find itself unable to hit for more than 6k, but when it’s strong it’s strong. Emerald Weapon’s is unique in Wind as it’s the only 9k you have access to. Wind/Lightning has Veriaulde and Cloud, and other elements have plenty, so you will still be able to pick others up, but keep in mind that you have fewer options than all the non-Wind drafters. You’ve got Alexander to help, so things aren’t dire, just make sure you’re thinking about being able to deal with your opponents big Forwards.

B

 

Thief

Nice that she’s protected from some of the more threatening Specials in the set. Lets talk about her trigger. Between her, Makki-Chebukki, and Zidane, you’ve got the makings of a decent mill deck. I need to stress here: resolving one of these and a single Zidane will not win you the game unless you have a truly impressive defensive gameplan. The more cards you rip from their deck, the fewer turns you need to survive. Is this

C

 

Cid Highwind

The most notable part here is that returning the Character is a cost. This means you can lift Cloud for a second go and there’s nothing your opponent can do about it. You can protect your other Cat VIIs from removal (well, not bounce) while also generating resources and fighting Freeze. There’s a few VIIs around, some of the best ones to bounce for this will be Sephiroth, Vincent C, Jenova, Cloud, and Zack. That’s not really a big list though, and Cid is pretty bad on his own. Cutely, if your opponent forces a discard, you can lift Emerald Weapon and discard it straight back to the field. If there were more good ways to abuse this, I’d give it a higher rating, but as it stands I worry about how applicable it is.

C

 

White Mage

A 2CP Backup with two excellent abilities. White Mage will prove itself to be the premiere baseline Backup for Wind, extending its use long into the late game with its ability to cash itself in for more board presence. The closer you are to the end of the game, the less and less important keeping your Backups around is, and Backups like this that can convert themselves into different resources will give you a leg up when trying to close things out.

B

 

Zu

Let’s look at how to trigger Zu in Wind: Evrae (bad), Cid Highwind (situational), White Mage (once and only after Damage 3), Sophie (once). If you’re also in Lightning you get Jinnai (expensive), and if you’re in Water you get Ashe (once) and the best enabler, Sanctuary Keeper. A 2/8 is not worth being that hard to awaken, and I’m probably just gonna let Zu get some Zs.

F

 

Sarah (MOBIUS)

There’s a handful of MOBIUS cards in the set, Ruby Emerald and Sapphire Weapon, Jenova, Sophie, Wind Wol and Water Wol, Graff, and Meia (I’m not counting Ice Sarah (MOBIUS) since this isn’t Title Format). Even if you’re only able to apply this to a couple of Forwards throughout a game, static +1k is a solid buff well worth a single extra CP.

B

 

Sophie

A little weird that her Warp and her “activate all the Backups you control” kinda fill the same role, but at least if you’re unable to build a backline you’ve still got a good way to make her cheap. Warp 1 is such a small amount, a single turn is not really that much of a cost here, what is a cost is telegraphing Sophie. Because her strength is so dependent on your other Forwards, giving your opponent forewarning lets them know that you really value the Forwards you have right now. This means they’re hugely incentivized to break as many of your Forwards as possible, and also lets them know that you’re probably not looking to make trades if they attack you, since they’re the ones who come out ahead. There are some really good Monsters in the set so you’re happy for good ways to break them, especially like here where you’re really not paying anything extra to make it happen. While Sophie can be enhanced by pairing her with cheap Forwards and Forwards that get more Forwards like Cherukiki, really the only deck building restriction she has is that you play a lot of Forwards, which is hopefully your goal anyways.

A

 

Buddy

A Backup that gets a Backup is always an incredibly helpful bit of consistency. You have Rikku in Wind so no matter what kind of Wind deck you end up playing you’ll always have a good target, and if you happen to also be in Water then you get Yuna C too, whether you want to cast her or just use her for CP while you build towards a Yuna L.

A

 

Gramps

Just treat this as though it doesn’t have any text, as it’s incredibly unlikely he actually delivers on his promise.

C

 

Bartz

You can, uh… block. And then get back the CP you paid for him. Wow, one free block, sign me up…

F

 

Makki-Chebukki

Mill strategies work by combining a powerful defense with low cost ways to shrink your opponent’s deck size. Mankey-Cherubi does neither of these. If you’ve got a Zidane, Mako-Energy can act as his understudy, but will be largely unable to steal the show. Compared to Thief, Mega-Chespooky is just too small and too slow. Milling a single card isn’t beneficial on its own. You need to get rid of a bunch in order to start affecting your opponent’s decisions, and the only actual tangible benefit it has before ending the game is to power up any recursion they may have. If all you’re doing is giving Lenna more targets, you’re not making any headway. If Makan-Kosappo were a decent blocker, than it would at least be interesting. You’d have more of a reason to leave Wacky-Tobaccy on defense so that you can activate him during their second Main Phase. Unless you’re running Cherukiki, I’d leave Make-a-Chevrolet in the scrapyard.

D

 

Matoya

Matoya is a multipurpose Common that will synergize well with all sorts of strategies. She allows you to shrink a scary blocker, creating an advantage for you to press. She allows you to make an otherwise ill advised attack, then comes down after combat to weaken whichever Forward your attack wounded, giving your smaller and outclassed Forwards additional usefulness. She brings unassailable Forwards to a level more manageable for your sources of direct damage to deal with, and in a pinch she can even be that source of damage. And that’s all just using her ETF. Her Action Ability (which very notably does not require a dull) lets you combo her again, this time with even broader results. Her ideal pairing is with Edgar’s S, doing 9k to three Forwards, or Jenova SYNTHESIS’s boardwide burst if you have the CP, but she can even extend Emerald Big Bang should your opponent skimp on Backups. She is a combo piece, so should you end up with two or more Matoyas, make sure you’re also grabbing plenty of dance partners.

B

 

Rikku

Probably not going to get much use out of her ability, but she does help count towards Paine and Yuna, and gives Buddy a search target even if you’re not in Water.

C

Earth

Undead Princess

+4k is a huge boon, and will make combat much more difficult for your opponent to deal with. Undead Princess is extremely fragile, dying to several effects throughout the set, so depending on the opponent’s elements they may be able to snipe her before she can be used. Luckily she comes with a backup plan, providing a one-time boost to a single attack. What’s doubly nice about this is that you don’t even need to cast her to get this benefit, just pitching her for CP is enough. All in all she’s pretty ok. If she ends up eating a Vincent or Vaan ETF, you’re not really feeling bad.

C

 

Vanille

Neither of these is really that great. There’s some recursion in the set that you can stymie, but not that much, although removing a Tidus is relieving. Sure there are some things here and there, Larkeicus, Edgar, Deathlord, Barret, but note that most of those are cards you’re going to be taking, leaving fewer for the rest of the draft pod. It’s not like the ability is useless, just mostly useless. And taxing Summons? Your opponent’s Summons are begging to be played during their turn, for the discount, so holding off on using Vanille for CP on the off chance they cast one? Again, not going to come up very often.

C

 

Vincent

This feels wildly outside of Earth’s wheelhouse. Neither of these abilities are things Earth typically has access to, and they’re both extremely good. There are lots of things around that 5k can smoke, and many more things that 7k can smoke. I’m so used to Earth not having very much or very good removal, so even though there’s lot of it this set I’m going to gorge myself with as much as I can draft.

A

 

Eiko

There are exactly three Summoners in the set, and should you assemble Rydia and Garnet, Eiko can take your Summons that already become free and… make them free… One nice thing is that she can do it on your opponent’s turn, when it’s extremely hard to get the Summons discounted. Honestly most of the time Eiko is just going to be CP you can get with Rydia if you’ve already got Garnet.

C

 

Graff

Probably avoid this in a 3 Element deck, but if you’ve got a lot of access to Earth CP then 5/9 kill a dude is excellent.

B

 

Kefka

He’s big, he’s got Brave, he potentially is free, and he recasts one of your Summons when he dies. Every word of this card is solid gold.

A

 

Jenova SYNTHESIS

Whereas Matoya is so interesting because she pairs so easily with Fire and Lightning, Jenova finds herself stuck with Ice and Water who are… less adept at dealing direct damage. Earth Vincent is a great enabler, assuming you didn’t cast him already. Sophia can help take down 6ks I guess. You can use this to make some of your smaller Forwards more threatening in combat, but many decks will falter in finding any way to apply Jenova’s geostigma.

C

 

Aster Protoflorian

It’s a huge CP sink, but Earth doesn’t usually get unconditional removal. 5 to break any Forward is a pretty good option to have. Being able to kick an extra two into it to take a Backup along is great. The Standard Unit Backups all have powerful abilities, taking one of them out ahead of time can be a great proactive way to protect your board. And in a set with so many Multi-Elements and reasons to draft 3 Elements, the impact of taking out a Backup will be felt much more strongly, especially if it’s the only one they have of that element.

A

 

Animist

Summon speed access to Chocobo Eater is great, but what’s even better is cracking Animist after your opponent attacks, grabbing Tonberry, and killing their attacker. You can snap up an Earth Behemoth to sideline a Forward for a turn cycle and get another body. All great options. And on Damage 3 he can even search up a Sanctuary Keeper or an Aster Protoflorian. Top marks.

A

 

Doga

I want to hate this card. The only source of Crystals in this set is either to lose a Summon, all of which are great, or to play Waltrill. And then on top of that, you need to somehow get Fire or Lightning CP while you’re playing Earth, which doesn’t really want to pair with either of those. And then on top of that, should you discard a Summon, you’ve basically paid 4cp for a 5k with no protection that needs to survive a turn. And then you look at the effects, and they’re so good. 7k the board? Break anything? And you get two activations? Paired with a Kukki-Chebukki, this is pretty scary in Fire/Earth, and though that pairing isn’t supported by the MEs in the set, I think if you manage to get two Dogas that it’s a totally fine deck. I’m imagining this in a deck with with three Edgars and a Luneth and it’s sending shivers down my spine. Again, the Elements he wants to pair with aren’t supported by the MEs which is a big deal. That’s a lot of power you’re denying yourself, so make sure you know what you’re doing before you deviate from those archetypes.

B

 

Nacht

9k kill a dude, that’s good enough for me. I mean I’ll keep my eyes open for some Warp to really get the most out of this, but that as a baseline is enough for me to snap a couple of these up easy. You can even have someone else do the fighting, as sometimes getting a death trigger from something like Kefka can put you vastly ahead. Undead Princess helps Nacht kill their biggest Forward and live, even if she’s in the Break Zone.

A

 

Barret

Like Jenova, this is somewhat awkward damage to make use of. This is much better in Earth/Water than it is in Earth/Ice, because both The Emperor and Prishe really want to be warped and not cast. His 4k is reliable in only one archetype, and that archetype just doesn’t have that many ways to make use of 4k damage. That said, he’s got a decent power, and he has powerful recursion when he dies, so you’re probably playing him anyways.

B

 

Fenrir

Pretty much every deck you play against will have a few good targets for this, except for the one guy in the country trying to make Doga work. Like Alexander, it won’t always have a target right when you draw it, but with patience you should find an opportunity.

B

 

The Deathlord

Given so many powerful ETFs like Graff and Monk, getting two Characters back is well worth the price.

B

 

Behemoth

Being a Forward on demand helps protect Behemoth from non-Summon speed removal. Earth doesn’t usually get Forwards on the cheap, not of any size, so even if you just trade this as a 2/7 you’re feeling decent. Not great, but decent. Behemoth can also stun a Forward, taking it out of combat for a full turn cycle. This helps you stabilize if you’re being pressured, press for damage when you’ve got an advantage, or otherwise negate a powerful attack or damage trigger for a short while. Sometimes all you need is a little tempo to convert your position into a winning one, and Behemoth offers that for little investment, though I think the returns diminish the more of them you run.

B

 

Monk

Just make sure you stack it so the +2k resolves first.

B

 

Rydia

The Summons are all great, and Garnet is an incredible target. You can even grab Eiko in a pinch. Rydia is one of the few “1CP” Backups in the set, giving Earth the chance to have a real curve instead of jamming nothing but even costed Backups like everyone else.

B

Lightning

Emperor (FFL)

Like other boss Forwards like Ruby Weapon and Emerald Weapon, Emperor is largely carried by his Special. Also like those two Weapons, that Special is incredible. While normally I would warn against the random nature of the effect, every option is in-goddamn-credible. 8k cleave, dull freeze everything, or turn two CP into eight. We need Emperor to survive for a turn in order to make use of it, and we need to have a second Emperor to actually pay for it, so there will be a non-zero amount of games where your only real options are to play a textless 5/9 or pitch him for CP. His ability is so genuinely strong though that resolving it once should go a long way towards winning the game.

B

 

Edge

4k is pretty easy for some elements to handle, but if you manage to keep your Edge then he’ll do everything Kukki-Chebukki does but better.

B

 

Elgo

If you’re not flush with MEs, Elgo may be less reliable than you hope, but for most decks he should be a quality addition to your Backline. One nice thing about this is it makes it so much less painful to throw your best MEs away for CP when you have a clear way to get them back.

B

 

Eald’Narche

5CP + extra card in hand is a lot to have to assemble, but as we saw with Graff getting a 9k while breaking your opponent’s best Forward is well worth a high price, whether that be in terms of resource cost or deck construction.

A

 

Kain

This and Gau are the only combat tricks in the set that comes from a hidden zone. These kinds of effects are relatively rare in FFTCG, so they’re somewhat more impactful here. Oftentimes your opponent will attack, thinking at worst you’ll trade a Forward with them, then Kain comes down and eats their attacker. You do need to develop, so don’t go out of your way to avoid playing him early. Getting set up is more important than doing a cool trick five turns from now. Since he has Back Attack, that also opens up the potential for an exciting opening. Should your opponent go first, you can drop Kain on their turn, then move into your first turn with a Backup already on the board. This is really only helpful if you have a card like Ricard to follow up that needs an odd number of CP, so if all your Backups are even costed it’s better to just wait for your turn so that you have more cards in hand and can better decide what to discard to cast Kain.

B

 

Scholar

Scholar has maybe the most awkward of the dull effects. Edge and Vivi are great ways to enable him. Fire, one of Lightning’s natural pairings, also has many cards that turn Scholar on, from the oft cited Kukki-Chebukki to Y’shtola herself. Just because he can deal 8k though doesn’t mean you should always try to get the most out of it. Sometimes you’ll need to cash this in to deal the last 2k or even 1k to something important, so don’t hesitate, hoping a better opportunity will come along. Strike. And then he makes up for this slightly awkward ability with probably the best Damage 3 of the bunch.

B

 

Chimera

The best thing within Lightning that you’re going to sacrifice to the mighty Chimera is Vivi, who is extremely cheap and doesn’t have much relevance after his ETF. If you’re unfortunate enough to be saddled with multiple Flans, that’s also a good sacrificial lamb, though I do not recommend putting Flan in your deck on purpose. Once Cherukiki pulls her cohorts out, she can be tossed to whet the Chimera’s appetite. And once you start getting towards the endgame, and all those Backups only have one or two more turns of CP left before the game is over, Chimera can help them find new relevance. Oftentimes, though, turning a 5k or 6k into an 8k just won’t be worth the cost of playing Chimera.

C

 

Kuja

Honestly, when I’m playing Limited, I just expect my 2CP Backups to be basically blank. If there’s a decent ability, then I’m thrilled, but I expect that if I’m getting something on Kuja’s level that I’m going to have to pay extra. Not only do we get an amazing ETF, not only does that ETF have EX Burst, but we also get an incredible Break In Case Of Emergency for the late game. Similar to the power of Reno’s S in Opus VII, Kuja’s ability to erase a blocker must be respected once you start threatening lethal. Dulling on command is even more flexible than just removing blockers though. Having played Montblanc & Hurdy a lot since the XIII Starter dropped, Hurdy’s dull/freeze has saved me from dying more than once. Kuja is so useful in so many ways, and should be a serious draw to playing Lightning. Do be careful: his ETF is not optional. If your opponent doesn’t have targets and you do, then Kuja will turn his ire on you.

A

 

Golbez

No archfiends = no thank you

D

 

Jinnai

Jinnai operates as a sort of Opus V Unei, a much more flexible one who can abandon that plan and attack when the need arises. You can use Jinnai to lock down their beefiest threat, and once you have the CP and the Forwards to close out the game you can use him to dull out their board and go for the throat. Jinnai may not be spectacular (so don’t go drafting three of him) but he’s versatile and carries a strong long-term threat.

C

 

Moebius

It’s nice that Moebius and Laragorn both pick up other Stooges, whether it be from the deck or the Break. Contrary to how you really want a second Ruby Weapon in hand when you cast one, you don’t really need to assemble Exodia in order to make good use of the Dreamies. +2k to the trio helps ensure safety so the scattered sources of 7k are no longer able to break them without assistance.

C

 

Vivi

It will be a bit harder to drop 10k bolts of lightning in Limited than in Standard, but Vivi is so cheap that even if he’s only bringing 4 or 6 you’re happy for the support. Vivi also serves as the cheapest Ramuh enabler this side of Standard. At only 3k power, he will be tricky to make use of. He gets stonewalled even by Forwards distracted by Matoya’s dancing. This means you’ll be looking for ways to clear a path for him, whether that be dulls like Kuja and Behemoth, or breaks like Ramuh and Behemoth. Or just chuck him in front of an attacker and save yourself a point of damage.

B

 

Behemoth

5CP kill anything. I’ll take it. Oh there’s more text too? Stop, you’re too kind. Not that you’re likely to pair Lightning with Earth, but do keep in mind that this lacks the multiplay icon, and cannot coexist with the other Behemoth.

B

 

Lightning

In case you lost count, this is the THIRD TIME we’ve had a Lightning that wants cardname Odin with no Odin in sight. Lightning is still decent on her own, even without Odin support. 5/9 Haste is worth picking up, and should you end up with a couple of the Starter cards or the other assorted XIII cards like Anima then you can even make use of her death trigger. Not exactly worth taking up the H slot in a pack, but at least she’s better than the 6CP 8k with no abilities that we got in Opus X.

B

 

Ramuh

Ramuh is a little limited in what it can hit (ok it’s a lot limited in what it can hit) but 8k is enough to smoke basically anything you point it at. Well, anything you can point it at. One issue with this is that if you’re not getting the discount then Ramuh is only ever CP neutral at best. This is of course intentional, it rewards you for jumping through Ramuh’s low hanging hoop, and pushes the devs vision of a character based game, where only characters and not summons should put you ahead on CP. Once you do jump the hoop and play characters like Kageyama intended, discounted Ramuh becomes pretty CP efficient. Sure it’s not outright winning you the game, but it is helping you to solve some of the smaller problems you’re facing. In an element with both Kuja and Behemoth hitting costs above and below, I feel like Ramuh struggles to find its own identity. But even if it’s not a shining example of its archetype, you won’t be sad to pick up one or two. It’s not like you can ever really have too much removal.

B

 

Ricard

Yes this will miss every once in a while. Yes this is less reliable in 3 Element decks. But most of the time it’s gonna be great. Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and pay a little extra for a Backup. Like Rydia, it’s one of the few odd-costed Backups in the set, and should be taken highly for it’s ability to smooth out your Backline development. The First Strike is also a powerful threat.

B

 

Dragoon

Opus 1 Lightning on crack. Adds an attacker while also removing a blocker. It may not get rid of the most relevant Forward around, and you do need to be in 3 Elements to enable it, but in the same way that you’re happy to run Lightning just for the Haste, the same applies here.

B

Water

Ashe

Ashe can help get an attack in without skimping on defense, which can be nice for attack triggers. She lets cards like Sarah (MOBIUS) pull double duty, and helps protect you from Freeze. You’re probably playing her in the first couple of turns, though, so this use will largely be unused. As an EX, she can help protect you from further attacks. I really like the inclusion of low–impact Bursts like this, things that slightly alter the moment-to-moment strategy of a turn rather than provide huge CP swings. Is it great? No. But Bursts that get a player out of a hole without really providing a way to snowball advantage are I think closest to the original intent of Bursts as a comeback mechanic that also puts a small damper on aggression. Her most interesting piece of text is the ability to return herself to hand. In the endgame, this gives you access to two extra CP while you’re trying to close things out. Since she can be used early as a developmental Backup, mid-game to protect yourself and enable your Forwards, and repays you in the endgame, Ashe should be a clear inclusion in any Water deck. Nothing she does is incredible, but she’s always got some relevance, providing a strong foundation for the rest of your deck to play off of.

B

 

Wol

Even moreso than the other Rs with an S, Wol is defined by his Special since he can’t attack. He does provide a powerful blocker for only 2CP so he feels more playable as a singleton than say Emperor (FFL). Chef’s Knife deals an absurd amount of damage for how cheap it is to access, letting Wol double as defense and removal, all for a very affordable rate. And if you’re really drowning in Wols then Ashe’s activation lets you dual wield Chef’s Knives. Make sure you’ve got some cards that will actually win the game, and Wol will happily give them more support than they could have asked for.

B

 

Aerith

Tidus and Starter Lightning are the only targets for this. Both are good cards you’re happy to get again, so if you have either one, you’ll definitely want to pick up a couple Aeriths, and if you don’t, well, you’ll still want to pick up a couple Aeriths.

C

 

Gau

Since surprise combat tricks are so rare, it’s usually worth going out of your way to take some. Gau is a bit limited in what it can boost, Strago is the only pure Water target. Water/Ice has a healthy amount of targets, and even Earth has Kefka. Dropping him as a 5k surprise blocker will be relevant occasionally, but he’s much much better given literally any support. Once he’s jumped into battle, he gets ready to jump back out too, able to block an attack and then vanish, drawing you a card in the process. Remember that there’s no “if you do so,” meaning if you put Gau’s ability on the stack, you will draw a card whether he escapes or dies. Would be nice if there were a way to activate him in response, but both Ashe and Sanctuary Keeper are too slow.

 

Clavat

The rest of these all have a relevant ability like Brave or First Strike, meanwhile Clavat just cycles a card. The rest of these all pick and break, meanwhile Clavat gives the choice to the opponent. And yet, despite being far and away the worst of the 3 Element Standard Units, Clavat is still a powerful payoff.

B

 

Sapphire Weapon

Ok so the “do you have five Weapons in your Break Zone” is clearly made for Limited, since no one is playing these in any Constructed format, but realistically how is anyone going to manage to draft this and five other Weapons? Don’t fall into the trap of trying to get a Sapphire out for free, it comes at a huge cost in the draft phase and again during deck construction, and then you need to survive to the late game and draw Sapphire last on top of all of that. Just treat this card as a haymaker 9k that pays you back when it dies.

B

 

White Mage

Strong late game removal, costs significantly less on Damage 3, White Mage isn’t so much different than the others in the cycle that there’s really anything to say about her. Every card in this cycle is great, and since there are so few Backups in the set you need to be taking these early.

B

 

Strago

Probably only reliable enough in Water/Ice, as he gets Terra on top of the whole list we looked at with Gau. VI is a largely synergy driven deck, so you really need to be rolling deep to get value out of them. If you’re not ready to dive in headfirst, better to avoid. The water’s fine, though, and Strago will be a great way to make the deck come together. Even if he misses he’s still getting you closer to the other VI cards you’re looking for. And since he has both EX and a powerful special, you’re more than happy if you’re able to pick up two.

C

 

Sanctuary Keeper

A powerful, repeatable buff that works on both players turns. It lets you attack without losing a blocker, making it safer to pressure your opponent in combat. Limited games often come down to which side can overcome the other in battle, so constant power buffs will give you a serious edge. What I secretly want to use Sanctuary Keeper for is dull abilities. Dealing 4k with Kukki-Chebukki. Milling 3 cards per turn cycle with Makki-Chebukki. Dealing 10k with Edge or Warrior of Light. Dulling two with Jinnai. It won’t always be possible to put Sanctuary Keeper in the same deck as these, but should it happen remember that you can use it this way.

B

 

Sophia

Since Sophia is only on your own turn, her whole focus is on attacking. Water (and Ice too) have a fair few lower power Forwards, and Sophia helps make sure they can make their way in. She is fragile at only 5k though. She gets to start lowering power immediately, so do try to make the most out of that first turn, especially if you’re up against Fire or Lightning who can deal with a 5k with relative ease.

B

 

Tidus

The 2CP rebate lets Tidus do a convincing impression of a 4/8, and it’s nice that Tidus has a fallback for when his bounce isn’t desirable, but most of the time it’s his first ability that will be used. Bouncing things tends to be less dangerous in Limited where fewer Forwards have powerful Enters the Field abilities. This set is pretty rife with great targets to be bounced, like the Weapons, Emperor (FFL), even resetting Summoning Sickness on Kukki-Chebukki and Sarah (MOBIUS) can give you a window of peace. But even if you’re not getting crazy value off of the bounce, it can be used tactically to stop a powerful attacker for a turn, or to remove a blocker. And he’s not even limited to your opponent’s frontline. you can use Tidus on your own Forwards in order to reuse Enters the Field effects, or as an extremely expensive way to reactivate a Forward. And once you’re done with that, you’re left with a pretty relevant body.

B

 

Tonberry

Incredibly cheap, and incredibly intimidating. When serving as an attacker, Tonberry demands the opponent present a cheap Forward that can be sacrificed to his knife. And on defense he disallows expensive Forwards from swinging in. He is incredibly fragile, though, and notably is hard countered by Kukki-Chebukki. Tonberry does what he does extremely well, and should be easy to slot into any Water deck.

A

 

Yuna

Tacking Atomos onto a Backup seems pretty good to me. Searchable off Buddy and helps enable Paine.

B

 

Josef

There’s no Firion to juice Josef, and both the cards he can play out (Leon and Hilda) aren’t great either. If you’re playing Hilda anyways to fix your elements, you could do worse than adding a Josef or two.

C

 

Larsa

Larsa gives you access to two cards: Vaan and Vayne (why they gave the protagonist and the final boss such similar sounding names I’ll never know). If you’re in Wind/Water, or Fire/Wind/Water, that means Larsa can help fix your elements or get a card that honestly will only be decent at best in a Water deck. The part that any deck can use is the Porom style damage reduction. 2k is a healthy amount to prevent, safeguarding your Forwards from damage based removal, and denying any trades your opponent may be looking for. Larsa is an excellent way to limit some of your opponent’s options without any real deckbuilding cost.

B

 

Leviathan

As we talked about with Tidus, returning a Forward has many applications. Since Leviathan is a Summon, it has even more applications. It can turn a Party Attack into a catastrophe, it can invalidate a combat trick, and it can put a stop to fight effects like Nacht. One issue cards like this typically run afoul of is that if you cast in on your opponent’s turn, they can just replay the Forward. Leviathan features a new rider solving that problem, and extending it for a full turn as well making this incredible at removing blockers. Levi only chooses your opponent’s Forwards, so no ability to protect your frontline from removal or reuse your own ETFs, but the power level on what it does do is extremely high and this will be a Summon to be feared.

A

 

Refia

You can use this with the quad element Warrior of Light to get an extra activation I guess. Oh, and she can’t really be frozen, though I don’t think your opponent is champing at the bit to lock down a 7k. Just play Sanctuary Keeper.

D

Light/Dark/Starter/Legacy

Tidus

Great removal that bypasses death triggers. Slightly counterproductive in a mill-focused deck, but not so much that we’d ever consider not running it. Absurd that this card has EX. Coming back for a second go should be pretty reliable. BZ hate does exist in this set so some games you won’t be able to play him back out, but he’s still great just the one time.

A

 

Madeen

Even with three Light Forwards in the set (Tidus, the extremely rare Starter Lightning, and the even extremelier rare Legacy Lenna) this card is genuinely uncastable. This is so much worse than cards like Emperor (FFL) that you’re only playing for their S, because those at least can be discarded for CP. They don’t just rot in your hand for the entire game. I used to think crystal tokens were the worst cards to end up with in Limited, but at least you can use them. Is there a rating worse than F?

G

 

Ark

Assuming you don’t have Sin out, Ark is pretty expensive, but it’s also serious power. Some elements just don’t get unconditional removal like this, and even those that do are always in the market for more. Ark is somewhat more limited against players or situations that end with an empty hand, as the double discard goes a long way towards justifying the 9CP price tag. Ark is of course crazy good with a Sin out, but lining up two Hs like that should certainly not be counted on. You should be running each on their own merits rather than the off chance you get them both at once.

B

 

Sin

Once you’re on Damage 2, this becomes pretty nice. Damage 4 is excellent. Not quite a blowout, but definitely a huge CP swing. Kinda sucks that your opponent can bring The Calm with even just a bounce effect, but still a solid card.

A

 

Vaan

Good abilities with flexibility but a very safe bottom end on a strong body for a reasonable cost. And it can be discarded for two kinds of CP. Count me in.

B

 

Zidane

Be careful with this. The correct move in many situations will be to take nothing. Remember that every time you do this, you get them one card closer to their next bomb, so unless you’re taking something impactful or you’re going for TKO by deck out, I recommend not selecting a card. If you are going for deck out, then this card takes huge chunks out of the opponent’s deck, able to get three on the first turn (two draws and one damage) and two every turn afterwards. Pair Zidane with a Makki-Chebukki and you’ll grind away their cards in a jiffy. But even if you’re trying for a traditional tack, Haste and evasion will push for serious damage. Few 2CPs in this set are able to block Zidane without dying on the spot, making him one of the best attackers available.

A

 

Cherukiki

Even if Makki-Chebukki isn’t that impressive, getting 17k across three bodies for only 5CP is one of the best rates we’ve ever gotten. This is worth it even if you’re only getting Kukki-Chebukki, especially since she grants haste so you can use the 2k immediately. Cherukiki can speed the game up by giving you three attackers, or she can slow the game down by giving you three chump blockers. She may even slow it enough for Makki-Chebukki’s and friends to actually deck your opponent out.

S

 

The Emperor

Unlucky that if you’re the only Earth/Ice player at the table, you’re still not guaranteed The Emperor, since anyone can Warp him. Doubly so because he’s way better Warped than as a vanilla 4/9.

B

 

Prishe

I love that you get the 8k when you Warp her out. This effect is a great way to push the boundaries of the ability. This element combination is a bit lacking in effects like 8k damage, making Prishe a welcome addition to the archetype. The Dull/Freeze 2 is incredible, Prishe is already extremely efficient so being able to disrupt your opponent like this really pushes her over the top.

S

 

Larkeicus

Behemoth, Aster Protoflorian, and Chocobo Eater are all decent options in Lark’s elements. Aster and Eater are both unique and have no way to unalive themselves, but you can always discard them to pay for Lark and get them for free. Both of Water’s offerings, Tonberry and Sanctuary Keeper, are both excellent targets. Earth/Water and Ice/Water are each supported by the MEs in the set, so Water works well as a complement to Ice/Earth should you go down that route.

A

 

Gilgamesh

If you played with or against Jecht last set, this is basically the same card. The Warp is nice as it lets you guarantee an activation on only three Backups without pitching a ton of cards from hand. Since he’s a Common, it’s possible to get like six of these in a draft, making his S a serious threat.

B

 

Cloud

Perfect. No notes.

S+

 

Veriaulde

Unless your opponent is trying to mill you out, removing five cards from your deck is not a real cost. This makes Veriaulde a 2/9 with upside. So long as Veriaulde survives, your opponent completely loses the ability to block. Do be prepared for your opponent’s response to this, which is likely to get as aggressive as possible. Gaining Haste on Damage 3 means you get to do this as a surprise, making Veriaulde one of the best ways in the set to close out a game.

S

 

Paine

There are so many X characters in Wind/Water that it shouldn’t be an issue getting Paine to both interfere with your opponent’s recursion and refund its CP cost.

B

 

Hilda

There’s no Scott to be found anywhere in Opus XIX, but there are a handful of IIs around, Leon, The Emperor, Ricard, and Josef. The problem here: only Josef is in Hilda’s elements.

C

 

Yuna

At the risk of repeating myself, there are so many X characters in Wind/Water that it shouldn’t be an issue getting Yuna to a relevant number. She may not be tearing through 5CPs, but 4 should be reasonable and 3 should be reliable. Be careful that your Paine doesn’t get Ifritted in response, putting you under the threshold and saving whatever you targeted. Her Damage 5 has some great options and should seriously seal the deal if you ever manage to pull it off.

A

 

Unei

If you have zero Summons in your deck, Unei is still an incredible tempo swing. Once you do, you can either get a discount or generate value over and over and over. Or both, if you’re seriously stacked. Unei is an insane econ machine, and barring BZ hate (or y’know removal) you’ll grind the opponent down.

A

 

Garnet

3/8 is serviceable on its own, but once you’re well stocked on Summons this becomes a serious powerhouse. Warp 2 isn’t that long to wait, and the option to save a CP and get an extra card is tempting.

A

 

Meia

In Earth/Water, you have Graff, Jenova, Wol, and Sapphire Weapon to take advantage of her boost. This format will be largely dominated by 9ks, so turning all of those into 10ks is pretty intimidating. She even helps dig deeper towards them, and while you’re unlikely to ever get two with her ability, she should get one a decent amount of the time.

B

 

Zack

7k is a great number on its own, and Fire/Lightning is well situated to boost it to even greater heights. The Warp boost is attractive, as Zack hits like a truck that turn, but the strength of it is seriously diminished by how telegraphed it is. I feel like this card could have cost 4 and been perfectly fine, and they just wanted to incentivize the Warp by making it cost more to cast.

B

 

Anima

I was going to make a joke about this card not having any text, but removing cards from your deck is actively bad, so Anima actually comes with downside. Well, 4/9 is still pretty ok. In all seriousness, if your opponent can’t kill a 9k within 3 turns, you’re already winning the game.

C

 

Y’shtola

Y’sh does so much. She can surprise close out the game with Haste Unblockable. She functions as removal by throwing out 8k damage the turn she comes out. And she provides artillery support for the rest of the game, making it much scarier to not block in case of a follow up burn. When backed by Ifrit, it makes attacking into you very risky.

S

 

Mog (VI)

Even without any discount, Mog (VI) is a solid card. First Strike to your whole board on offense forces your opponent to exceed your power as they can no longer trade evenly matched Forwards. His Damage 3 makes him wildly efficient, and should you be able to assemble a couple of VIs to cheapen him, then you’re getting a hell of a deal.

B

 

Shadow Lord

A one card enabler for Cloud of Darkness 14H! Jokes aside, Shadow Lord is big and immediately creates a 4CP swing to help offset his high cost, ultimately equating to a 2CP 9k. Being able to contend with the other 9ks in the set for such a low final cost puts a premium on Shadow Lord. Forcing discard doesn’t show up much in this set, and Shlord can help enable both Snow and Lean.

B

 

Relm

For the price you’re paying, both ends of this are strong. There are lots of Monsters in the format so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a use for that, but the most reliable way to take advantage of this is to load up on Summons.

B

 

Warrior of Light

Getting the Backups for this is a huge hurdle, but holy mackerel what a payoff. Fire/Wind, Wind/Water, and Earth/Water are all supported by the MEs in this set, so if you aggressively go after those MEs then your elemental coverage shouldn’t even be that bad for a four element deck. Or you can just take him as the best element fixing discard fodder the game has ever seen.

A

 

Vanille

With Lightning H, Fang S, Hope S, and Lightning S as her only targets, it’s hard to make good use of her, but if you do have a Lightning H or two then she’s not a bad pickup. There’s an Earth Vanille that can be used as fodder for her Imperilga,

C

 

Bahamut

Probably not gonna hit the threshold so: is this worth is at full price? For sure. If you’re in Fire/Lightning, it’s not actually impossible to get this discounted, but don’t go counting on it.

B

 

Fang

While she’s probably not discounting any Bahamuts, she still works extremely well with Ifrit. Haste is great to have on a body of this size, and if you have enough Ifrits then she’s a serious threat, allowing the Ifrit to kill something then hit face for 2.

B

 

Snow

There’s not really that many Summons in the set that can affect Snow or Lightning H, and you’re probably not getting both Snow and Lightning S, so I’m not really gonna rate the protection. Same goes for the Serah ability. That leaves a 4/8 that forces a discard. I’d play that.

C

 

Serah

Unlikely both her and Mog (XIII-2) are in the same draft pool, but she can actually be triggered by Mog (VI). Is that enough to justify playing a 2/5? Probably not.

D

 

Mog (XIII-2)

The non-Starters that this can boost aren’t in elements that you’re really looking to pair Ice with, so maybe skip the 1CP 2k.

F

 

Cid Raines

He’s big and he kills stuff. First Strike on a body this big that can block can invalidate a lot of what your opponent is trying to do. Should you get to attack on Damage 5, the game is just over.

A

 

Noel

There are some amount of XIIIs in the set, and it’s not hard to pair Noel with Sazh and Dajh, letting him swing in for 8k Haste. His last ability is excellent, making it much harder to put blockers in your path. It’s strong enough that Noel doesn’t even need XIII support to be a quality addition to your Lightning deck.

B

 

Hope

He gets Sazh, which lets you get Dajh, making him solid in Fire/Lightning decks for ensuring you hit your Backups. He can pick up Lightning H as well. Alternatively, he can shrink something by 1k which may allow an attack or two you couldn’t make otherwise, or can even be that last little bit you need to eliminate something. None of this is spectacular, but it is somewhat better than pack filler.

C

 

Lightning

2/7 Haste that any deck can play. Build towards getting her other triggers off if you want, but that alone makes her decent. Some slower decks may not want that, but plenty of decks are happy to take as much Haste as they can get.

B

 

Yuna

Yuna can search for/play out Paine, so she does have a use, but there are already two other solid Yunas in the set. I’m never slotting this in over Legend Yuna, though there’s an argument to play this over Backup Yuna. With only nine Summons in the set, it will be tough to get even one activation out of her action ability, so even having a great combat trick doesn’t save her.

C

 

Lenna

Lenna offers you some extreme recursion, giving you not only an above average Forward at 3/8, but also giving you access to the best Forward you’ve drawn so far. Ashe even gives you a (very expensive) way to keep adding more counters, though I don’t really recommend trying to get more than one counter that way.

A

 

Locke

Locke is missing a lot of the support he enjoyed in Opus 12. He also is so goddamn good that it doesn’t matter. Ice/Wind isn’t really supported this set. That also doesn’t matter. Locke is a genuinely insane card, and both Ice and Wind have enough two drops that you should very reliably be able to cast him for 4. What’s extra nice is that there are a ton of Monsters running around, unlockeing even more of Locke’s power.

S