Cactuar Correspondence - Weekly FFTCG Chat 1/31/19

let's talk fftcg!

Every week, there is something new to discuss and analyze in this game. In this feature, we answer your questions and respond to recent developments, new meta decks, specific cards we like or don't like -- you call it, we'll answer.

This week Brian Camacho, best known as Lv. 1 Onion Knight, is back again. Make sure to check out his blog!

If you want to join the conversation, send us your thoughts! We would also love to hear the questions you have next week, so please shoot us a message at Facebook or on Twitter. Thanks for reading!

What are you playing in competitive Opus VII tournaments, and why?

LV. 1 ONION KNIGHT: I've actually been really enjoying Wind/Water with Light Yuna. It's an extremely flexible and sassy deck that lets you pull off all kinds of big plays, and nothing feels better than turning over a Diabolos and casting it from the top of your deck, or yanking a backup with Astrologian. I've also been experimenting with a Mono-Earth Sin Survival build with cards like Galuf, Vanille, and my bestgirl Prishe. Might need to add some Water or wind to it though because it can get a bit expensive, and I've still yet to pull off the Giga-Graviton dream scenario.

JOSH: I am playing a variation of wind/earth utilizing the new Prishe. I enjoy having a potentially cheap big body that also removes forwards when she enters the field. A lot of people are playing wind/earth currently but I think I've put my own spin on it and it continues to be adjusted after each practice session. I have always played the dadaluma/cactuar package in a lot of my decks to include the one I took to GENCON last year and will probably continue to find ways to fit that package into my deck designs. I also love making Noctis and Galuf a giant body on board and very hard to deal with.

AUSTIN: I will be playing either the Ice / Earth XIII brew or Fire/Lightning. The ice earth brew can stabilize pretty much with two forwards so you don't have to invest a ton in your attackers and can save resources for pertinent removal. The fire/lightning deck is what I had the most success with last year in LQ's and I think it may be able to just outrace the main decks before they can set up.

ADAM L: I'm all over the place currently. I don't have much fun playing the meta decks right now honestly so I've been trying to build things that can hang with them. The top 2 meta decks are pretty strong right now in my opinion so anyone playing right now should be prepared for those. Just to fire off a few I'm testing/playing Rebels, Ice/Water, Mono Fire and Monsters.

CHRIS: I've been mostly playing wind water Yuri/YRP. The deck is just super consistent and does so much for so little resource wise.

How did you feel about the full-art cards confirmed for Opus VIII packs and future sets?

LV. 1 ONION KNIGHT: It depends on how they're implemented - if they have a similar rarity to a foil-S card I might actually see one but if they're like a "super chaser" or something then I expect to have my usual garbage luck with pulls. Would love to have more of the exclusive art cards as full-art variants though! Dat Ark...

JOSH: I really love full art cards and it will make me spend more money on the game. I loved full art cards in MTG and I'm happy FFTCG is making full arts now.

AUSTIN: I think it's fantastic. As a collector it makes me want to open packs which I love doing anyway. It also provides a great way for newer players to gain "value" to trade for the singles that they need to build their decks. I'm really excited to see how they manage this (ie masterpieces from mtg) and how they select the cards. I might as well just give SE my bank account PIN and forget about my savings.

ADAM L: I think it's great. It will force ppl like myself to grab more packs of the current set after we have gotten all the cards. Since the cards are only for aesthetic purposes it also shouldn't effect prices for people who want to just get into the game and play. Win-Win-Win

CHRIS: Love em! Keep printing them. We can't have enough full art cards with killer artwork.

How would you build around the Opus VIII Cloud, and do you think the card is worth it, competitively?

LV. 1 ONION KNIGHT: On the one hand, I really like the idea behind Cloud because I really want fire to become the "punishment" element. Wind and Water in particular have so many easy ways of getting rid of Fire's bigger cards, so forcing your opponent to play around it is a good idea. On the other hand I'm not a fan of these masochistic fire cards we've been seeing since Opus V. You simultaneously need to be so far head of your opponent that you don't mind milling 10 off your deck while also being at 4-5 points of damage to get the most bang for your buck with him... so I don't really know. My feelings are... complex about Cloud, and I wish you could activate his effect from the break zone at any time rather than just when he's broken. That being said I think if I were going to put him into a deck right now, I would run him in a Fire/Earth Fusoya build, or maybe an Ice/Fire build to use him with Rinoa? I dunno I'm really bad at this.

JOSH: I don't know how playable that new Cloud will be but it can be a decent late game removal tool. Maybe fire earth makes a come back or some kind of Fusoya deck can make use of him. Too early for me to really grasp how I would try to make his ability effective. Having the same effect as dank lord when it comes to milling out your own deck can be viewed as good or bad depending on how you set your deck up.

AUSTIN: I wouldn't. Every set they show an interesting fire card, and it never works out and that's that. Maybe I'm wrong but I just don't see this being a good card.

ADAM L: There are quite a few builds I can think of that can be competitive with this card. First off I think he's going to be great in title format but as for standard builds the first thing that comes to mind is mono fire. They are obviously pushing this damage yourself to 5 in fire decks and Cloud will perform well in there I think. Fire/Ice FF7 could also be a very real deck that could see play and Cloud will add to that as well. The last one I could see him in is a Fire/Earth deck with a focus on taking damage and slight FF7. I think Cloud is very good and I look forward to getting my full art playset.

CHRIS: That's hard to say. I think cloud is a very solid card. It does a lot and can really be a house. I think you and up building around him like you would with Opus 5 Cecil, but I would like to see more from the set before i can really say.

Do you think we'll see a judge program in 2019?

LV. 1 ONION KNIGHT: I really don't get super involved in the competitive scene so I wouldn't really know. Call me when they implement a snarky commentator program though and I'll be all over it.

JOSH: I really hope we see a concrete judge program rolled out in 2019. I know it's been talked to death and for the larger scale competitive tournaments we really need something concrete. I think at the big events rules are too loose and left up to judges discretion which leads to almost no hard punishment when rules are broken.

AUSTIN: I hope that we would see it before the next Nats. I think we can get through the CC season and this would be a great way to build up hype prior to Nats.

ADAM L: I really hope so. I think if we want to move forward this needs to happen and along with it some sort of warning system that actually matters. I know I for one would love to be a certified judge as soon as it's released.

CHRIS: Boy howdy I sure hope so!

How much of the Kingdom Hearts franchise have you played?

LV. 1 ONION KNIGHT: Okay so I'm apparently a huge philistine for not having played much of the series - only KH II and Birth By Sleep. That being said now that KH III is out I plan to play that, then play the compilation game in reverse release order for like... maximum confusion.

JOSH: I've only played 2 of the early KH games while my wife Sara has played all of them and she hasn't stopped playing KH3 since it was downloaded. Who knows when I'll see her again?!

AUSTIN: I played about 30 mins of the first one and that was it. I have no nostalgia attached to it and frankly wish the crossover wasn't happening. I'm a curmudgeon I know, but it just wasn't fun to me and if I wanted to play a game from Disney I would just play the Lion King.

ADAM L: I have played all the games released on consoles and handhelds. The only ones I haven't played are mobile exclusive ones. I'm probably one of the few people who can explain the full story of what's happened. I finally got to play Kingdom Hearts 3 this week and look forward to spending many hours on it.

CHRIS: I've played most of the games back in the early to mid 2000s (KH1 is a masterpiece in my most humble opinion). I regret to say that I have 0 Interest in playing KH3, the series just isn’t for me anymore. And that's mostly on the Disney side of things. For a company that has changed so much in the last decade they keep giving us the same Disney worlds over and over again. I mean I love Hercules and Winnie the Pooh as much as the next person but, c'mon.