Back in March we were supposed to have the 2020 North America Fan Fair, and much like last year’s Fan Fair, there would have been a Q&A panel with FFTCG Producer, Tarou Kageyama. We asked the community for your questions on the FINAL FANTASY TCG North America Facebook page, and selected a number of them to put together the panel topics.
Rather than leave those questions unanswered, we thought it would be great to share a few at a time as blog posts here on the website! Each week we’ll pick questions among a similar topic and share Kageyama-san’s answers with everyone. This week is L3 Format, please enjoy!
RB: While I’m sure most everyone knows what L3 Format is by now, can you explain quickly what it is?
TK: The L3 format is a constructed deck battle system using the latest three Opus sets available. There are no changes to the general deck construction rules, such as your deck being constructed of 50 cards and only up to three of the same card being allowed in your deck. This will be an exciting format for which the playing field changes every four months.
RB: Changing every four months is quite a lot! So how will FFTCG strike a balance between L3 and Standard format?
TK: At least for the time being, there is no doubt that the Standard format will be at the core of our tournaments. That said, there are benefits to the L3 format, such as it being more accessible for new players compared to the Standard format, as well as it preventing players from getting bored due to its fast-paced change to the playing field. If L3 proves to be more popular than expected, we will need to think about striking the right balance in various ways.
RB: Is the design team having a different approach to working on a new set taking L3 into count?
TK: Of course, the team is taking L3 into account during the development process. They seem quite busy as their workload has pretty much doubled (laughs). But on a serious note, as the L3 cycle goes by very quickly, as a prerequisite, we make sure the game balance won’t be completely destroyed. Then we aim to be conscious about trying to change up the playing field as much as possible when a new set is rotated in.
That said, this will ultimately have a strong impact on the standard format, in which players can use all cards, so there are several cards that are not too strong and/or hard to utilize in the L3 format.
RB: What was the rationale behind having L3 rotate every single set instead of once or twice a year? Why not follow the established format from other games of rotating once a year and having cards go back 1-2 years in Standard?
TK: This isn’t about one format being more superior than the other, but I would like to share some of the rationale behind our decision.
If we arrange it so multiple sets are rotated out at once, the length of time you can use the last set will be shorter than that of the first set in that bunch. For example, let’s say there was a format in which players could use Opus 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, and once Opus 11 was released, players would not be able to use Opus 5, 6, and 7 anymore. In this case, Opus 5 would be available to use for 2 years but it would only be 1 year and 4 months for Opus 7, which is 8 months shorter. For the FFTCG cycle that we’ve adopted, players will be able to use each set for the same length of time.
Also, it will be easier for new players to collect cards if only one set rotates out as opposed to multiple at the same time. Additionally, L3 is a format in which we would like to actively change up the playing field, hence the approach we are taking.
Of course, there are various pros to the established formats that are different from ours. I have no intentions of saying anything negative about them. And more than anything, L3 is a format that’s just begun. Whether it be positive or negative, we’d like a little bit more time before people start making assessments in comparison to others.
RB: That’s all for this week. Thank you for your time, Kageyama-san, and we hope everyone checks out the blog next week for more Q&A!