Cactuar Correspondence - Weekly FFTCG Chat 6/27/19

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.

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!

This week, we are joined by the Top 4 players at the Crystal Cup Wind: Matt Okimoto, Sergio Garcia, Brian Burckley, and the winner Sam Tuell!

If you compared the Wind CC to another Final Fantasy video game, which game would it be and why?

OKIMOTO: I would compare the Wind CC to FFXI because FFXI is best FF Game, sorrEY not sorrEY!

SERGIO: I don't really have a good comparison personally. The Wind CC was really insane for me because my record was 1-2 before the lunch break. During the break I pretty much just took the time to relax and stopped myself from tilting. After the break, I had some pretty good games and made day two. On day two, I proceeded to go 4-0 in draft which led to me being the fourth seed in Top 8. It was pretty much a roller coaster of a tournament for me.

BRIAN: Any Pokemon Title -Day 1 was basically you running around town meeting everyone and at some point battling for a badge or higher seed. Draft is comparable to the grind of training your Pokemon or constructing a deck to get to the the elite four/top cut. It's not your favorite part but it's memorable.

SAM: Final fantasy II since you train one skill as much as you can (constructed) then you get so far and have to restart back at 0 in a new skill (limited). My friend (Oki) turned into the enemy, dangit Leon.

Why did you choose your deck to play?

OKIMOTO: I chose to play mono wind because it was one of the most consistent decks I had in testing and I really enjoyed the matchups it had for the current meta. I also was challenged to not be a coward and run 15 backups... and well... your mans ain't no coward!

SERGIO: I chose to play Wind/Earth because I thought it would give me the best chance against Ice and Viking decks. I expected to see a good bit of Ice and Water, but I didn't see any until my last match of swiss and then my Top 8 opponent. The deck also just does some degenerate things. Star Sibyl’s activated ability seems unfair when you can play Cloud, Fina, or Veritas off of it for free. It was the deck that I felt most comfortable with throughout my testing

BRIAN: I played Wind / Water because I wanted a deck that I felt had enough consistency to get me through Day 1 Swiss. I bubbled the last few events and did not plan on it happening again. I practiced the deck for 2 weeks leading up to the event. Then before leaving a fortune cookie told me that my hard work would pay off so it was a clear choice at that point. I also talked a bit with Jordan about the deck and a few card choices during/after the Ice CC. I felt like the ceiling of this deck was higher than the Mono Wind deck my teammates were on. Ironically that is what beat me in top 4. #damnitmatt

SAM: I did the exceptionally galactic brain play of rolling a die to decide between my decks again. Haha, e/w or wa/wi.

How was draft?

OKIMOTO: Draft was a blast, I really enjoyed it. I do think that it is going to be something will have to get used to over time and most might not like it at the beginning. But if we keep at it people will mold to it and probably enjoy it more. I do dislike cross pod but it is what it is. The Power level of the decks from pods is pretty crazy and having to play outside pod against some insane decks is pretty rough.

SERGIO: I have to preface this by saying that I love drafting in MTG. Drafting in FFTCG is no different for me, so it was a welcome addition to the CC. I could tell very early on what colors were open and from what sides, so the signals were pretty clear. A lot of people knew that Fire/Ice were the strongest colors. Those were probably the highest picks on everyone's list and it showed during the draft. Earth and Wind were fairly open for me from my left side. While I hardly ever saw Wind and Ice from my right side. I had a lot of fun with draft and saw some crazy decks come out of it. I do hope people start becoming more interested in draft because I think it would help players in future Crystal Cups. I have to give a quick shout out to the practice draft at Hunter's and Harrison's hotel.

BRIAN: Draft was very good to me as I went 4-0 and was the only one from the lower pods to make top 8. I picked up early that lightning cards were not prioritized in either direction. Ultimately it led to me being able to draft a mono deck. I figured I figured fire and ice would be contested heavily so I steered clear of those colors. Most of the rounds were pretty close. Dragoons bailed me out on more than 1 occasion. I never got to cast Rufus but it seemed like a strong card to help me curve out and slam bodies quickly. MVP was definitely shango and ramuh. Most games Shango was 9-10k which is amazing value for a 3 cp forward that can be replayed thanks to Diana. Ramuh was just great removal.

SAM: Draft was amazing. I ran into some small issues where they were saying the same thing to pick up packs and to pick a card from the packs; so that was confusing. My draft pod was exceptionally strong and everyone seemed keen on giving/picking up on signals. Therefore we all ended up with great decks. Kyle and I were next to each other and took practically 0 cards from each other.

If Dadaluma was already banned, what impact do you think that would have had on this weekend's play?

OKIMOTO: I don't think a Dadaluma ban would have impacted this weekend's play too much. Sure the card was in the winning deck but the deck could be played easily without it.

SERGIO: I think we would have seen a lot more Viking based decks in the top. I remember looking at the top 32 decks the night of day one, and just seeing a ton of Earth/Wind decks. I felt like there were almost zero decks with Vikings. I still think Wind/Earth would be good without Dadaluma, There's a lot of neat combos that you can pull off. Cactuar is still sick with Noctis' EX burst and Barbariccia.

BRIAN: I don't think I would have played wind water because a lot of it's combos are interrupted by discard. Ice would certainly have been more present. As a result I likely would have defaulted to mono wind. It curves out quickly and still has strong answers to the rest of the field. Most of picking out a deck is what you feel most comfortable with and how it fairs vs what you expect to play against.

SAM: Obviously a good bit since he was prominent in my deck, but he isnt exceptionally relevant in too many of the match ups. The ice match ups would have been much harder but the mirror and wind matches might've been easier.

What are you expecting from Opus IX?

OKIMOTO: Good cards hopefully because what we have seen so far outside of my my SICK Lightning Dragoon spoiler have not been to interesting. Hopefully we get a full art Vanille that is good.

SERGIO: I'm not entirely sure on how to gauge Opus IX at the moment. I don't know if it will have the same impact that Opus V and VIII had, but it looks like a cool set that uses some unique design space. I like a lot of the cards coming out of it, like the Nero that was just spoiled, as well as the Chaos (Mobius) card. I also like the new FF8 cards and want to try to make the new Quistis card work somehow.

BRIAN: I would like to see monsters become more relevant. Most the monster cards that get printed are pretty underwhelming. Back when monsters were first introduced I really enjoyed the tricolor monster deck and would like to see something similar take off again. I'm not sure if it sticks to the flavor of the games but a L Bahamut monster sounds pretty cool to me. Then again I'm a sucker for a good fire card. I will admit there are some new monsters spoiled with interesting mechanics that do offer some inspiration.

SAM: Honestly so far I'm not expecting that much. I am not too blown away by opus IX. I really hope 1-2 new decks will come out built around some of the new cards though.