Sidequest: Lightning / Earth Category VII

2020: The year of Final Fantasy VII

With the remake being played on PS4's across the globe, many fans of the TCG have been exploring the all of the possible ways to enjoy these new category VII cards that arrived with Opus XI. In this week’s sidequest, I will be talking about a list that really resonated with me, and I would be silly not to shout out Nicholas Schnell for the inspiration for this said list! With all the ways to play Category VII in the FFTCG, Earth and Lightning is the combination stood out more than the others, mainly because I get to use my favorite characters from the category, Rufus and the Turks! 

Before we look at the Big Winners, the under performers, and any changes I would make, I want to say how crazy good the New Light Legend Cloud is. I think if you are playing a list that has a heavy emphasis on Category VII, it is an absolute mistake to not play 3 copies of this card. Every time i play this card I am floored by how much of an impact it has. Being able to search up any Category VII character on entry is great for the obvious reasons, being able to search backups that can in turn search other cards creates these really efficient search chains or you can just get the forward you need to put you over. His second ability, while costly at 3cp and removing 7 cards from your deck, is a strong and reliable piece of removal that can really just win you a game on the spot. I found that every game that i have played with this card i use that ability at least 2 times. Do not underestimate it. If you want to watch a few matches of this list in action, here’s the link.

THE BIG WINNERS

The real work horses of the deck here are Rufus and the new Turk Forwards, Reno and Elena. Reno being a hasty threat that only requires you have a Turk on the field(which is usually done by having the Rude backup) can create a ton of early pressure and that pressure becomes exacerbated when he is followed up by Rufus or Elena. These cards do almost all the heavy lifting while being supported by cards that help them make combat favorable or just get bodies out of your way. 

The anchor of this list, as well as most category VII lists, is another Opus XI Legend, and of course I'm talking about Tifa. This card just hits the board in the mid to late game and just immediately pays dividends. Not only does she protect herself and your other category VII forwards from any straight break effects, she makes it so your opponent has to use multiple ping or damage based effects just to get them off the board.  

The last big addition is the new Lightning Legend Kuja. This card blows me away every time I play it. He is the total package, a super efficient piece of removal that hits a lot of problem forwards, and in a deck that is packed with EX Bursts, one that can provide more advantage than he is already giving. Straight and simple, if you're playing purple cards you need at least 2 Kuja.