Cactuar Correspondence - Weekly FFTCG Chat 4/18/19

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 we are joined by the Top 4 from the Fire Crystal Cup: Collin Rupert, Alan Sheu, Hunter Nance, and Greg Cole!

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!

Why did you choose the deck you brought to the Fire Crystal Cup?

COLLIN: I was actually on two deck choices for the weekend! Mono Water or Urianger wind earth control. I ended up going with mono water Veritas because I felt the most comfortable with the choice overall. My experiences with mono water have been very positive and have earned me the best results across the span of many tournaments I have attended. I also love the deck. Go with what your going to play the best and it will take you far!

ALAN: A lot of the time I lean towards mono colored decks because I feel like they have the most consistency and more potential options since you don't have to force yourself to discard certain cards. I've played mono water in past opuses as well so I felt more comfortable playing it instead of learning a new deck for the event. Of course mono water also got a lot stronger this set with the addition of Nichol and Leviathan, so I felt like I had a lot of good matchups.

HUNTER: Not only did I think Death Machine Control was the best deck but I also thought it attacks the game at such a weird angle that no one was going to be prepared for it. I intentionally didn't tell people about it or play it in the OCTGN Open for this reason. I thought I could just let it carry me to Worlds but Collin had other ideas.

GREG: I started playing the deck when the opus 6 support from Krile XIV and Y’shtola earth came out. I was working at Anime Expo at the time which had thousands of attendants demoing the game to new players in Los Angeles during the first Opus VI pre release and it was the most popular starter deck that weekend. I tested it a lot, even with 4 drop all jobs Bartz to make Yda an 18k and get Y’shtola’s 8k trigger off faster. I believe Scions has the ability to be tinkered with similar to earth wind Dadaluma teching dark, ice, and fire. It was great to be able to do this with the scions arch type. I played at a lot of crystal cups, Meta Potion circuits, and local qualifiers with the arch type variants. I said to Adam Lane and Chris Adams on the RVA podcast months ago that the deck could beat anything if it draws well, and I really hoped it would work out for scion players at the fire crystal cup.

What was your hardest matchup of the weekend?

COLLIN: Hmm the hardest archetype to play against this weekend? I would say probably either Greg Coles Scions or Hunter Nance's Death Machine Lightning Earth Deck. Both are great players piloting great decks, and its hard to choose. I think both match-ups are extremely hard for Mono Water to win and when Greg swept me in swiss with scions, I couldn't help but have much respect for the deck. I wish I could prepare better for the future of playing these archetypes but time was not on my side for a new meta! It was still exciting to learn however, and I was pleased to learn my weaknesses!

ALAN: My hardest matchup was definitely against Oki's wind/earth deck. Galdes was difficult for me to deal with, and he could keep cycling it with Luminous Puma. Also, including Rikku in his backup line put me on a shorter clock for milling myself.

HUNTER: It's easy to say either Water/Wind or Mono Water since those were my two losses but honestly I don't feel like any matchups felt bad. I think my losses were largely due to a combination of small mistakes by me or unfortunate circumstances (milling Ark to damage when I was going to use Arecia to tutor for it, not drawing enough Monster-Forwards, not realizing Deathgaze is not generic meaning I shouldn't have played around a second one by not activating a Calbrena one turn, not drawing a Lightning card off Ark to be able to play my Death Machine in my final game against Collin, etc). Theoretically Leila/Viking is kind of annoying for the deck but it also means you no longer have to try to win on damage which is a huge relief, and with everyone playing Veritas which is like 90% dead against my deck I really don't think there were any "bad" matchups, really. I was scared at the prospect of playing against Greg Cole though since he had 3 Dragons and 3 Uriangers as well as the fact that Scions is just decent against control inherently due to its creatures being big and hasty (although I did have 2 Hecatoncheirs for the haste backup in theory)

GREG: Mono water, Alan 2-0 me in top 4. Even going first did nothing for me.

Was there any deck you did not see present, that you expected to see?

COLLIN: I believe that I played across a wide spectrum of decks this weekend, and I saw all kinds of crazy things. The deck I saw the least of was mono wind! I was very surprised that it wasn't more present at the tournament as I have played against mono wind very often online. Maybe mono wind isn't ready for this Opus however I would need to see more results data to confirm this!

ALAN: There was a ton of variety at the crystal cup this weekend! I believe I saw every color combination that I expected, however I thought someone might've come up with a good way to use Scale Toad. So I was a little worried about seeing that card.

HUNTER: I thought for sure more people would be on Death Machine. I was shocked Sam Prime was on the old Water/Earth Monster Control deck and not something like this. I also was surprised at how little Mono Wind and Fire/Ice I saw.

GREG: Fire water Zidane, Fire Ice VI

What one card won the weekend, in your opinion?

COLLIN: Veritas hands down! Wish I could expand on this, but its pretty obvious how impactful this card has been in many archetypes.

ALAN: If I had to pick one card, it'd definitely have to be Sin. It won me several games that were basically unwinnable because the board was too big and wide to bring it down with Nichol/Cag.

HUNTER: Probably Veritas since everyone was playing it and many people were even playing a full 3 copies.

GREG: Zeromus, The Condemner

Who would win in a fight: Jecht, or The American Muscle?

COLLIN: AMERICAN MUSCLE DOES NOT LOSE TO ANYONE. HE REPRESENTS ALL THAT IS 'MERICA AND HAS DONE THE RICEPS TO PROVE THIS! JECHT IS A TERRIBLE FATHER AND JUST AVERAGE GUARDIAN, HE STANDS NO CHANCE! DO YOUR RICEPS JECHT, MAYBE YOU GET THERE ONE DAY!! YEAH, 'MERICA!!!

ALAN: Si- I mean Jecht of course :)

HUNTER: Well one of them made a card game about bunnies and the other pulls a sword out of his own chest to fight so it's kinda hard to say but I think Irving narrowly wins.

GREG: The American Muscle Irving Diaz, I expect to see this match and to be able to bet on Irving at the first crystal cup / worlds tournament in Las Vegas. Irving I am expecting you to hire me as your manager and Johnathan Gordon aka JG fitness as your trainer/muscle sculptor. Chris Adams as the lets get ready to rumble announcer.