This ain’t your grandpappy’s set review!

I was not born “The Professor”, I evolved into it…after my group constantly rolled their eyes during each bickering session over the true English meaning of “enters the field due to your cast”.

These articles will pop up as each new Opus gets released – I’m not here to talk about how Ace is obviously a good choice for a Mono Fire, or how the Job Chaos peeps work together. That stuff is already printed on the card, and you can read just fine!

This is about getting into the nitty gritty, the strange/flashy combos, the interactions between what is coming out and:

• cards from the same set that may not be directly related
• some old, forgotten cards from ancient Opera that are being given a new lease on life
• Magic Pot because I LOVE MAGIC POT and I always think about him all the time

Plus a handful of actually viable, might-win-you-a-game-instead-of-just-being-flashy plays because some of you might play this game to win. Weirdos.

Let’s jump right in, in card number order. This set has a ton of neat effects and good cards to help you net a win (or at least tell your friends to come over to the table and watch the crazy combo you’re about to pull off that does nothing for your game state).

Fire

Ruby Weapon 19-015R

This bad boy only takes 1K damage ANY time it receives damage. That makes it optimal for things that sweep the board including your own, like Susano 14-011H and Philia 13-129S. Along with that, you can also use it to fight other Forwards via Hecatoncheir 4-093R or Sarah (MOBIUS) 13-118C and the like. Can even be played for free if you lay out Wol 14-059R first!

Laragorn 19-016H

Not super exciting, but if you can manage to pop off the action ability while Gogo 15-028H is on the field, you can copy it and grab both the other Stooges from the Break Zone and play them outright.

Ice

Sephiroth 19-025R

He’s already cheap at 5 Damage, but at 6 he is free AND can be played anytime via Back Attack. Flop him back to hand with Cid Highwind 19-041H, Shemhazai 9-046H, or Althea 12-038H just to name a few, and slam him back down as much as you like. Go ahead and swing, opponent! (ahem, just don’t have Brave please)

Waltrill 19-108R/Norschtalan 19-030R

2CP bodies that can play themselves for a clean 4CP realized cost. SIGN.ME.UP. These little guys are unassuming but there is an inherent strength in their cost and ability to constantly be on the field to cause your opponents nightmares. Play in a weenie rush or spam type of strategy and you can really frustrate your opponent with little to no investment up front by deck slots. Waltrill gaining you consistent crystals can help enable cards like Cloud of Darkness 16-026L without investing in more deck slots in those awful crystal backups. Norschtalen’s ability to recur other FFCC forwards has its advantages in getting back Larkeicus 19-112C and Chime 13-127H. Both decent cards in Ice/X builds. I think these cards are definitely worth looking at testing and you can bet ya boi will be sleeving them up.

Wind

Vayne 19-036L

Vayne is already good played normally, but you can maximize his quick profit by using Tama 1-111C to play him at the end of your opponent’s turn. Let’s say you already have a sweet Warp target sitting out in Neverland just raring to go. If you play Vayne on your opponent’s turn with Tama:

• Pop a Warp counter off which draws you a card
• Switch to your turn, draw a card during Draw Phase
• Main Phase 1 begins, pop another Warp counter off and draw

You’ve sped up your Warp by 2 Counters and drawn 3 cards, all with the change of a turn and a Backup lost. To sweeten the pot, if you have Fran 18-121L and Vayne in hand, you can Tama in Fran instead which will free-play Vayne. Then you start your turn with all the above bulleted effects, plus two Forwards that can swing.

Sophie 19-045H

Going along with our best buddy above, with a full Backup line you can pay 1 to Warp out Sophie, pay the remaining 4 for Vayne and take off Sophie’s counter, drawing you a card. She enters, and if you like, you can activate all your Backups you just used. Two free Forwards and a card draw!

Bartz 19-048C

Might go without saying, but Bartz is just a nice little dood to have on the field. As long as he survives a turn, he can serve as fodder for any block or being targeted to kill, just use his dull ability to go poof and draw you 2 cards instead.

Earth

Kefka 19-057L

Kefka can potentially be a free cast if your opponent has a stacked field. If you’ve already got Magic Pot 4-094R on the field, you can Pot the free version away into the 8CP version – proccing the O19 Summon cast (maybe an Alexander or an Odin to get rid of somebody?) as well as the O4 entry ability to break a Forward or Monster. Sure, you lose 1K power with the new guy, but it’s a combo nonetheless. For extra spanking, have the old Doga 10-078H on the field to get a Backup break off the first Kefka’s Summon cast.

Doga 19-061H

It gets a little color-wild, but there are plenty of options in Earth to facilitate color-fixing. Just worth mentioning that copying Doga’s abilities with Gogo 15-028H can facilitate some easy breaks and boardwipes.

Barret 19-063H

Not viable just yet since the only Multi-Element “damage-all-Forwards” card right now is Baralai 12-114R (both off-color and difficult to facilitate activation if you’re already in Earth for Barret), but he is one to keep an eye on. Specifically for sometime in the future when a Multi-Element card comes out that damages all Forwards on entry (or maybe even a Multi Summon down the road).

Lightning

Emperor (FFL) 19-069R

With Emperor out and another copy in your hand (the only other same-named card is Ice Emperor (FFL) 7-022H, unfortunately), you can lay out Seymour 7-094R to force a Summon to the top of your deck. Use Emperor’s special and draw 4 cards, including the Summon you just placed. Or, if you feel like leaving it a bit more up to luck, play Kyrie 16-109C instead to scry your top 2 and place what you see fit. Just proceed with caution on this one, don’t be a dingus and try this if your opponent can mill you with a Thief! (search for 2 Captains).

Golbez 19-077L

I’ve been a sucker for Golbez ever since I started playing in Opus 4, and from then we’ve had a ton of different versions plus a fartload of different Archfiends. Stranger still is that up to now each Fiend has 3 versions, but Scarmiglione has 4? Why would they print this new Archfiend Golbez and not fill out the set with more versions of the others?

But I digress, this Golbez I don’t think is TOO extremely great…yet. Primary downside is that you can only take full advantage if you manage to search out your Archfiends or otherwise already have them in hand. God forbid we ever get any Archfiend Backups, you could play them for free off his Warp counters and get Backups on top of it. Keep an eye on that for the future.

As it currently stands though, this Golbez is a nice pick for the more recent, stronger Archfiends I suppose. Can always pair him with Vayne to speed his Warp things up as well. Once he is on the field, if a Scarmiglione isn’t already out, you can plop down Scarmiglione 13-059H to block when your opponent swings. He’ll have +3K from Golbez and First Strike inherently, dealing double damage to a chosen Forward. Boom, 12K blocked, and he survives.

Lightning 19-082H

Lets get this out of the way……No Odins in this set is an absolute crime. SE/HJ, printing cards that reference card names and NOT including a version of that name in the set is a crap move. Do Better. Now, with that out of the way, Lightning has quite a bit of potential as a card. Using Lightning as a Cost sink to shoot off a bunch of removal is a good way to maximize a slow/spot removal heavy hand. It has no cost restriction on the card itself so the removal is great. The downside of breaking Lightning is covered by her second ability of playing a 6CP XIII forward to the field for free. This will allow you to keep up the tempo in your game plan while setting back your opponent with breaks. The best part of the ability is that Lightning’s removal requirement is the result of the effect, meaning you can stack as many discard’s of Odins you have BEFORE you start the resolution of the breaks allow you to “machine gun” down a full board. You only get one free play of a forward since lightning can only break once but it is a good way to clear a board. This also is a strong reduction in our Realized CP cost as well. For more info, take a look at one of our previous articles: Let’s talk CP: Part 2 – Now that seemed expensive – The Bear Cave (fftcg.online).

Water

Wol 19-087R

He might not be able to attack, but boy howdy can he still block. 2CP for a way over-curve 9K ain’t too shabby, with a nifty Special on top. If you’re just dying to swing with him, hit him with a Cuchulainn 9-114C or Porom 15-119L.

Tonberry 19-097C

Whaaaat they finally released a true-to-form Tonberry more aligned to what they do in the games? My little lad is all grown up =’)

A quick Deathtouch block for discarding a card to become a Forward is nice, albeit very telegraphed. Super easy to ping him for 2K before the block occurs as well, and you just discarded for nothing. That said, if you can manage to give your opponent puppy-dog eyes and say “yeah well you have to get him off the field SOMETIME” so they agree to trade their Forward for your ‘berry, you loudly proclaim YOU’VE ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD and play Kain 19-073C or Belias 2-019R to give him First Strike, Oops, your Forward died, and my Tonberry is now tea-bagging it, alive as ever.

You can also slap huge Forwards upside the head with a Forward Tonberry and fight cards, like Raubahn or Hecatoncheir. Along with that (or in lieu of the First Strike trick above), you can prevent damage to him with something like Cockatrice 5-081C (after the block has already been declared, of course).

Light

Madeen 19-104H

Shoo-wee now that is some cheap removal. With Black Mage 11-032C on the field, you can cast Madeen twice. If you lack a Light Forward in order to even start casting Madeen, change your one Forward (or all of them, if you have multiple AND a Light field-er like Cosmos or Materia, otherwise you’d be creating an illegal game state) to Light with Hashmal 2-087R.

Dark

Ark 19-105H

Sure, he can be free played with Ajido-Marujido 6-064H, but where’s the fun in that? Where’s the SPARKLE? THESE are jazz hands!

Warp in Teodor 18-026L for only 2 Ice CP, or get him (or Shantotto 10-136S) out immediately by breaking Ranperre 10-104R, With Teodor on field already spanking the opponent with discards, lay down Necron 12-021R and choose Teodor (or Shantotto) to become Dark. Boom, you now have a 9CP Dark Forward and Ark can be cast for free to break a Forward AND force 2 more discards. Lets not forget our old boy Nidhogg 6-130L. Break 2 forwards, remove 3 cards from their hand is stanky and great way to force a response from your opponent or they risk losing 3 cards.

Multi-Element

Zidane 19-108L (Meta Impact High)

No. Just, no. Card is insane. Good Golbez 1-135L target (lol). Hell, go ahead and risk getting beat up in the parking lot if you, on turn 1:

• Play Gadot 1-007R to play Zidane for free, remove a card on entry (credit to Reckan on this one)
• Play Chelinka 11-049R to give Zidane Brave and double swing
• Use Zidane’s inherent Haste to swing twice, removing two more cards

Cherukiki 19-109H

Not a whole lot of “cool” Category XI options with dull abilities outside of the two Chebukkis, One to keep an eye on though for future XIs to come. That said, only “older” card I could see gaining benefit is maybe Esha’ntarl 12-022H? With Cherukiki out you can play Esha’ntarl for 4 just to immediately bounce her back to hand and play a 7CP instead, like maybe a double discard Sephiroth 7-034L?

Larkeicus 19-112C

Worth mentioning he can revive a dead Typhon 14-049H, though they don’t match color.

Anima 19-123H

This one is going to be terribly difficult to stick, but if you can pull it off you are flying high. The removed card counter will not persist after the card leaves the field which means we have to stick the card for a couple of turns to get the payoff. Too bad, would have been a great Rinoa 6-041L target otherwise.

Garnet (19-120C) | FF Decks

A sneaky good card and really good warp payoffs. Getting back not 1 but 2 summons is crazy and trigger BOTH Earth and Water’s free summon from this cycle is wild. A huge value play that will be everywhere. She also has an absurdly strong job that has strong connections in this set with Rydia (19-068R) and Eiko (19-055R).

Relm 19-127L

Revisiting my mention of Madeen itself above in the Light section, you can further that play a bit with this new Relm. Again, have my favorite boy Black Mage 11-032C already active in your back line. Cast Madeen (assuming you have a Light Forward, maybe a Citra 10-127H that fetched a previously used Madeen), and on Relm’s entry ability, stack Black Mage first to cast Madeen, then pay another 1CP to cast Madeen like normal. When it hits the Break Zone, it will cast again and get removed via Relm’s second ability. Three removed Forwards for 4CP and a lost Backup.

Warrior of Light 19-128L

Already is a bomb of a card by itself, casted legitimately. Just keep in mind – even though you won’t get his activation since it doesn’t count as a “cast” and the setup is a bit slow, you can still revive him with stuff like White Mage 12-063C or Devout 1-048C. And the only thing worse than a Haste/First Strike/Brave 10K is a persistent one.

Wrap-up

Come one, come all! Take your pick of these janky plays, and if you can manage any of the billion-card combos listed above without your opponent Amaterasu-ing anything, I will personally give you a big wet sloppy kiss. Hope you had fun, stay tuned for the next set!

Editor Update – Updated Anima’s paragraph to be more clear that instances of removed cards do NOT persist if the card leaves the field

Editor Update #2 – Tonberry doesn’t work with First Strike due to how First Damage is resolved. See explicitly rule below

15.2.3.3. After resolving First Strike damage but before resolving non-First Strike damage, the turn player gains priority. However, players cannot cast Summons or play action or special abilities at this stage. Any abilities triggered by First Strike damage are not put onto the stack until all other damage is resolved.