How to Win a Game of FFTCG! Part 1: Introduction to Value Engine Forwards

Welcome to the Bear Den’s newest series – “How to Win a Game of FFTCG!” I’m excited to share my experience with you all, but first, let me introduce myself. I’m just a regular guy from a small town in the US who loves playing FFTCG and building decks that can hold their own against the competition. I may not live in a big city, but that hasn’t stopped me from participating in online tournaments like the Cure Series and even making it out to regionals from time to time. I’ve been playing FFTCG since Opus 1, and my passion for card games started when I was part of the Magic the Gathering youth scholarship program (now known as the Junior Super Series) back in the day. I’ve also played other card games, like the old VS system and Legends of Runeterra. In fact, I even qualified and participated in the first official Legends of Runeterra online tournament! I’m excited to share my knowledge with you all and help you up your FFTCG game. Let’s do this!

In FFTCG, the primary objective is to deal your opponent seven points of damage before they deal seven damage to you. This innate tension incentivizes players to develop forwards because they can attack and block. The problem with just developing any forward, however, is that you risk running out of resources to play cards before your opponent runs out resources which may lead to a game state where you dealt 4 to 6 damage to your opponent, but were unable to end the game. This is why many decks have one or more value engine forwards that comprise a major part of their game plan. The more resources that a player has to work with the faster they can develop game threatening pressure.

What is a value engine forward? A value engine forward is a forward that generates ongoing advantage turn after turn. This is to distinguish the forward from a forward that only provides immediate value on entering the field or leaving the field. This ongoing advantage can take a lot of different forms. Some examples of ongoing advantage include drawing cards, causing your opponent to discard cards, returning cards from your break zone to your hand, dealing large amounts of damage (7000+), breaking forwards, and returning forwards to their owner’s hands. 

In general, the earlier a player is able to get a value engine forward onto the field, the less likely it will be for the opponent to have a way to remove it and the more turns it will have to generate value. When the value engine is not dealt with quickly, the card advantage can be difficult or impossible for the opponent to recover from, leading to an easy victory for the value generating player. Let us now consider several examples of value engine forwards in increasing complexity.

Lakshmi, Lady of Bliss is the simplest example of a value engine forward. She draws a card during each of your end steps. Note that the opponent cannot use summons like Amaterasu to stop her auto ability because the draw happens during the end step. When playing Lakshmi be careful to enter your end step with 4 or fewer cards in your hand to avoid discarding down to the hand size limit of 5 at the end of the end step. Lakshmi’s damage reduction ability can be nice early in the game, but it is rarely correct to hold 5 cards simply to keep the ability turned on.

Dorando is an interesting value engine forward that has to deal damage to your opponent in order to generate advantage, but in return for the harder requirement allows you to return 2 cards from your break zone to your hand. Although Dorando costs 3CP, it is often correct to pay for it by discarding 2 cards on turn 1, since it increases the likelihood of surviving to attack, thus increasing the likelihood that it will start recurring cards. While not related to the value generating aspect of Dorando, when playing Dorando, your opponents are often hesitant to try and remove it with damage, by blocking, or with abilities since the special can be used in response to cancel the removal or to win combat. Because of this protection ability, it is advisable to return additional copies of Dorando to your hand with its recursion ability and other recursion effects that may be in your deck like Cu Sith.

Unlike our previous examples, Fat Chocobo cannot attack or block (kweh!), but makes up for the lack of offensive or defensive capabilities by both providing a card at the end of each turn and playing 2cp backups for free by dulling. Fat Chocobo requires strict deck building requirements. Typically, Fat Chocobo players will play 0-2 summons, and 14+ 2cp wind backups in a mono wind deck. Setting up Fat Chocobo quickly is even more important than setting up other value engine forwards quickly due to the dull ability requiring Fat Chocobo to be in play for an entire turn cycle before it can even play backups. Since Fat Chocobo can use the dull ability on each player’s turn, Fat Chocobo synergizes particularly well with backups that activate it like Geomancer and Rikku allowing you to put down 2 backups per turn cycle. Like with Dorando, while not related to the value engine component, Fat Chocobo’s special can protect it from damage, allowing it to survive up to 16,000 damage.

Let’s wrap things up – value engine forwards are the backbone of many deck strategies. But card advantage doesn’t just come in one flavor. Depending on your deck, lightning-fast development of backups could be more important than developing forwards. Take the Morze Soiree Member decks, for example – these guys need a precise number of Morzes on the field to get the ball rolling. So when it comes to building your deck, value engine forwards are a solid choice, but keep your strategy in mind and weigh up all your options.

Get ready for part 2. We’re about to crank up the complexity and dive into forwards that pack a punch – ones that not only offer ongoing value but also provide immediate impact. Your homework? Get experimental! Play around with different value engine forwards, and see what happens in your games. Drop us a comment below and let’s get this value train rolling!

StrategicGamer