Hello everyone! This is Tarou Kageyama, producer of FFTCG. Sadly, this is the last Card of the Week for “Hidden Legends”. Happily, this means you will all have a bunch of exciting new cards to collect and play with very soon! In addition to going over the new “Priming” keyword ability, I will also introduce another FINAL FANTASY XVI character who, like Clive [24-005L] and Ifrit (XVI) [24-001L] introduced in the first installment, has the Priming ability. Without any further ado, let me introduce you to Barnabas (XVI) [24-113R] and his primed state, Odin (XVI) [24-112L]!
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First, let’s look at Barnabas (XVI) [24-113R], the source of priming. He’s a 3 CP, 8000 power, Dark Forward. Like Clive [24-005L], Barnabas (XVI) [24-113R] has Job Dominant. His abilities are First Strike and Priming “Odin (XVI)” -- 《2》, and an auto-ability that reduces the power of a Forward by 8000 when Barnabas (XVI) or a Character you control is priming. Just by priming Barnabas into Odin (XVI) [24-112L], an opponent’s Forward can be defeated, which is a very useful ability. It should also be noted that that this ability triggers when other characters prime. Since both Barnabas (XVI) [24-113R] and Odin (XVI) [24-112L] are Dark element cards, they can be incorporated into any deck regardless of the element, and should be able to easily coexist with other priming characters in the same deck.
Now, let’s look at the primed Odin (XVI) [24-112L]. This is a 4 CP, 10000 power, Dark Forward, and along with the two keyword abilities Haste and First Strike, it also has auto-abilities that activate when Barnabas (XVI) primes, as well as a special ability. The auto-abilities are an ability that activates Odin (XVI) [24-112L] himself when he attacks, as well as an ability that allows Odin (XVI) to attack twice in the same turn. Again, these auto-abilities activate only when Barnabas (XVI) primes into Odin (XVI), but in exchange, they are permanently granted to Odin (XVI) [24-112L]. A large Forward with First Strike that can attack twice in the same turn is sure to be a threat to the opponent. The special ability “Iron Flash” allows Odin (XVI) to attack once more, which means he can continue to attack as long as the special ability can be used. An onslaught is the best word to describe what this card can do, and I’m sure this ability makes sense to those who fought Barnabas in FINAL FANTASY XVI. Going over the rules again, primed Forwards maintain the name of the original card, so the names of both Barnabas (XVI) [24-113R] and Odin (XVI) [24-112L] can be used as a cost for its special ability. Using the ability multiple times in one turn should become a common sight.
Finally, let’s quickly go over how Priming works.
By paying the priming cost, you can search your deck to find the card indicated by the Priming ability. For Barnabas (XVI) [24-113R], search for Odin (XVI) [24-112L], and place it on top of the priming card. You can think of it as Barnabas (XVI) [24-113R] turning into Odin (XVI) [24-112L]. This is during your main phase, at the same time when there is nothing on the stack; in other words, this can be used at the same time as when you’re normally casting characters. This effect does not mean that the card has entered the field, so be aware that auto-abilities that trigger when entering the field do not activate.
What did you think about Barnabas (XVI) [24-113R] and Odin (XVI) [24-112L]? Clive [24-005L] and Barnabas (XVI) [24-113R] are note the only cards who have Priming, so please look forward to others with the ability.
We hope you love collecting and playing Hidden Legends as much as we loved designing it! I will see you again in about 4 months to talk about “Tears of the Planet”, the first of many exciting new FFTCG releases coming 2025.