Cactuar Correspondence - Weekly FFTCG Chat 4/25/19

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 a few of our newest members of the RVA Returners: Curtis Kang, Stephen Ashworth, Trevor Charbonneau, and our old boy Chris Adams!

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’s the best tech options to use against Veritas of the Dark?

CURTIS: Veritas isn’t really hard to kill but it is annoying trying to get around his sack effect. Each color has good options against Veritas, but the best answer to Veritas is another Veritas. 6cp is kind of expensive and if you can force your opponent to play Veritas early, most of the time, they will end turn with only Veritas. So, if you can play your own afterwards, you can clear theirs and then sack yours to make them get rid of a character. Each color has their own answer though like Calbrena, Jinnai, Leila/Viking, 5cp Yuna and etc. I also want to try lightning Fusoya in Mono-Lightning as a tech.

TREVOR: The best tech option is simply smart play. No more can you just drop a big body on the table and expect it to win you the early game. Knowing when to drop your big boys, along side your cheap ETB’s. Balancing the fine line between being too cautious and overextending. Other than that, Fenrir / Yuna H are a close second.

STEPHEN: Yuna H has helped me a ton in dealing with Veritas. In mono water you optimally select a viking for his ETB then utilize Yuna's replacement effect to RFG Veritas and stop his breakzone trigger. Theres a couple good options such as playing weenie forwards to deal with his break zone trigger, such as Shara in mono wind, or using Yuri or Halicarnassus to blank Veritas before he hits the breakzone. Personally if I'm running 3 Miounne in a deck I would love to break it and bounce my 3cp Zidane

CHRIS: I think some of the better tech is already starting to get used, cards like Yuna H, Leila Viking and now in mono wind you're seeing Shara.

Do you think Death Machine would have become a horrible problem if the card was accurate as printed originally?

CURTIS: Death Machine would have become a problem in the game if left as printed. In the Tampa CC, all three players who took a deck where Death Machine was the main strategy made it to Day 2 (myself included). The deck is very hard to play around, even with monster removal because the deck opts to play mostly 4cp monsters which gets around generic monster removal. I don’t think that it would have become a HUGE problem however. I think for newer players it would become super frustrating due to all the rulings and limited interactions. But, it is a super technical deck so only people like Hunter would be playing it; I don’t think everyone would have been picking it up. Even if they did I wouldn’t have been worried, it is a hard deck to pilot.

TREVOR: I don’t necessarily believe it would have been a “horrible problem” per say, but I do think it could potentially lead to an “un-fun” meta, which we have seen being the reasoning behind our previous bans. I also don’t believe anyone had the best list for it yet as it was printed, so that could have changed.

STEPHEN: My attraction to monster decks has always been how evasive they are. Before we all knew how to interact with them using the stack, we just felt a sinking feeling knowing Cagnazzo, Shantotto, or big Valefor was coming to wipe our board. Then came Ramuh and some studying of the rules and it's gotten much better. However, Death Machine stacked almost everything in the favor of the monster deck because of how sticky Calbrena could be. I agree with the sentiment that if the card hadn't been mistranslated it would have needed a ban. It's tough to get people to play a game when a deck you can't interact with is far and away the best.

CHRIS: It's hard to say. I think there were answers for it and while I think the effect we all thought it had here in NA, I didn't see it as a dominant card. But now we will never know!

Which element do you think is strongest overall, and why?

CURTIS: I think Water is in the best place right now just because of the Veritas soaked meta. Water has a lot of cards they just don’t care about and can end up regaining cards from sacking. They also have access to Yuna which can just remove it and not worry about the after effect. Viking is obviously a good card to sack, cards like Larsa/Thordin could be good as well, and Gramps is starting to see play in Water/Wind. Water probably benefits the most from the “Gentleman’s Game” that Veritas promotes, so unless something changes I think Water is in the best place right now.

TREVOR: Dark or Wind. Wind has such a large toolbox and can X/Wind with any colour and find success.

STEPHEN: Right now I think water is in a great spot. It's easy getting to five backups, card draw is dumb simple as always, Yuna H is a good way to deal with the boogeyman Veritas, and the opus 8 power reduction cards Nichol, Freya, and Leviathan all feel really good to use. I see myself playing it for a bit.

CHRIS: Whew, talk about a loaded question. It's hard to say. I think right now it's hard to ignore the strength of water due to new cards like Nichol and Levithian, but wind got some wonderful new toys in the form of Aerith and the FFCC backups, Earth has the XV boys, Ice has Garland... Fire … is red, I guess. What I'm saying is that it's still pretty wide open.

Are there more deck surprises out there, or do you think Opus VIII meta is mostly set?

CURTIS: I think that there are definitely more surprises out there. In reality, the competitive season has pretty much just started and in this limited timeframe we have seen Death Machine Control (R.I.P), Fire/Water FF9, and Fire/Earth FF7. I am sure that there are some other great decks out there that people are brewing.

TREVOR: I don’t think the meta has been solved at all. I think these last few CC’s/Masters have shown where Veritas sits on a power level, and now new decks will emerge that can accentuate/counter that power. I’d be willing to bet the next CC’s/Masters will have some substantially different lists.

STEPHEN: It's way too early to call. I think Earth w monsters, ice earth, and mono water will do well for now.

CHRIS: I think there is still so much more to unpack in this opus. I think with the sheer amount of events that are lined up during this set we will should see a lot more new stuff!

Opus VIII brought starter decks, the first even-numbered set to do this. Do you think we’ll see starter decks or supplementary product with each Opus in the future?

CURTIS: I’m not really sure what to expect with Square to be honest. Sometimes they knock it out of the park and sometimes they do things that don’t make sense. Structure decks are always a good addition to the game and I hope that supplemental product in any form is introduced with each Opus. I want a Final Fantasy Tactics structure deck though. Make it happen.

TREVOR: I don’t think so. I feel like Square sees the value in staggering out the supplementary product, but as long as the product keeps being as competent as it is, I’m ok with whatever.

STEPHEN: The last 3 starter products have been fantastic but I don't want to be flooded with product personally

CHRIS: I hope so. You can never have too much of a good thing