Opus VII - Feed my Hunger

It’s that time already...

With spoils starting to pop up in your Facebook feed, let’s briefly discuss some wants for the upcoming set. I will attempt to throw out a few main thoughts of cards/styles I am hoping to see from Opus VII, so let me know what your thoughts are and what you're most looking for.

fire needs some love

I get it, Kageyama himself is playing Dark Lord 6-016, and the enlightened brain memes are flowing. However, we are far from the days of Emperor Xande 2-007 being the real boss hog he is, and Fire has really fallen to the wayside.

I want there to be a new Jecht, everyone does. We need that broad chested, tattooed, belittling yet self-sacrificing father in our lives in a better form. I had toyed around with the thought of a Jecht that was something like this:

4CP Fire - Jecht

Forward, 7000

If you control [Card name Tidus] or [Card name Auron], Jecht gets +2000 Power and Brave.

Special: 2 Fire CP, Dull, Remove all copies of target card from opponent's hand, Break Zone, Field, and Deck. You may only use this ability if Jecht dealt damage this turn.

I get that we will never see this card, but hey it’s fun to theory-craft and I think this could be a fantastic build around card and fits into the shells you are seeing Jecht in already. He plays well with any Tidus, and you then have access to Yuna 1-176, and your deck would have a very happy Far Plane style.

In all honesty, I think what Fire really needs is a modal spell. Every other Element has one right now (Earth doesn’t, but I’ll count Cactuar 6-074C as a modal), and the Fire Summons that do see play aren’t really super functional without larger downsides (except Belias 2-019). I’d love to see a 3-mode card that does damage to a one target, cleave damage to multiple targets, or a Belias-like effect to a Forward you control. Something along the lines of:

4 CP Fire

*Card name*

Choose up to 2 of the following actions: 

- Choose 1 Forward you control give it +2000 Power, Haste and Brave this turn

- Deal all Forwards opponent controls 3000 this turn.

- Deal 1 Forward opponent controls 7000 this turn.

So that might be too broken, and too much of smashing cards together, but we need more reactionary Fire cards, and not at 7-9 CP.

Discard Hate

During Opus V, we needed a way to answer Monster decks. It got to a point where you just lost because they out valued you, and then let their Monsters swing through. In the Opus VI meta, the biggest sticking point I’ve seen has been Turbo Discard. While I used to play before people realized how good Thaumaturge 5-040 is, I think we should have some sort of discard hate.

Maybe we see a Wind card that forces your opponent to discard a card anytime its controller discards a card. I believe there was a card in Chapters that any time you discard, you draw a card. We need something to not get steamrolled on the nut-draw hand of 3 discard on Ice’s first turn. I’m not sure really how to go about it, but maybe we have a Light or Dark card that limits the number of Forwards of any name on the field to 1. That would be an interesting concept.

I Choose Dada ... or, nah, I'm gunna take that back

Everyone knows who the Big Daddy is in this game, and ironically he does the same thing in the card game as the actual game; he just punches you again and again and again. While Dadaluma 4-085 was basically a pushover in FFVI, his card version has become a deck all on its own, with the help of his prickly friends.

One of the biggest advantages of this card is that just about everything targets, so he is going to be able to at least deal 4000 to something, no matter what. And, if any damage is being dealt after targeting, kiss your Forwards goodbye. I don’t think it is super oppressive to the game, but I do think we need some more blanket effects that get around targeting, and that aren’t Cagnazzo 3-130 because that card is busted.

I know we have some answers like Odin 1-123 in Lightning and Glaysa Labolas 5-032 in Ice, but aside from that, Fire literally has no way to not get two-for-one'd by Daddy, and wind has no real hope of getting rid of him. Water can bounce, but again the residual 4000 is still there.

Maybe we see an influx in non-conditional board wipes in all Elements that aren’t massively expensive. Valefor 1-062 is great, but it does bounce your guys to hand. Fire only has Bahamut 1-018. Ice and Lighting have board wipes, but they are very conditional. Aside from Shanttoto 1-107 and Cagz, there aren’t any favorable trades there. Maybe it makes it too one-sided to have a series of 7 CP board wipes in all the Elements, like a reset button for the game.

Maybe it’s not really Dadaluma, but the Cactuars that are the problem.

We have a ton of answers in this game, and I’m not trying to make it too vanilla, but I think Water should have a mass-bounce card (a la Cyclonic Rift for all you MtGers) where it can bounce a Forward, but if you cast if for 2 CP more, you can bounce another Forward (this would be repeatable).

I think Fire needs a way, in one card, to clear the board. Wind has Valefor and I think that is fine. Or, maybe just a Light or Dark card that makes an opponent sacrifice a creature at random, kind of like Nidhogg 6-130 but no choosing.

magical christmasland

Last but not least, I would love to start seeing some dual Element cards. We’ve seen that some unique named cards are starting to have some crossover between the elements (Lulu in Lightning and now Fire). We’ve been seeing the creation of very solid and consistent dual Element decks, and the approach in 3+ Element decks. But with that, we haven’t really gotten into true multi-Element control because things are so tight on Element management.

It would be quite interesting to see dual Element cards that push people into combos that haven’t been viable yet or allow testing of new control types in those colors. Fire/Water Control? Earth/Lightning not knights? Ice/Wind with no discard? Maybe it seems silly but I think it allows creative minds to flourish. Perhaps even a Dark/ Light and X card?

I would hope, at some point, we can see some other type of Backup fixing cards like Gilgamesh 3-103, but as a Backup. Maybe a card that produces X Element, but if you control Y it produces Y's Element as well, or can produce three elements in some concept. We probably won’t see this for a long time, but with the Cid (II) 6-045 decks popping up, I think we should start seeing more CP fixing outside of Light and Dark (such as the Earth fixers in Shantoto or Leo 6-084) that gives other decks the chance to really play more outlandish combos.

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