Hey guys, It’s Tim again! Let’s keep the Spoilers going and of course we have more guests today.

Today we have Jonathan Siordia from EmoTempest, Jordan Denk from OttawaCanada, our first World Champion Tobi Henriet, Lucien Mousin from fftcg.fr and Jonathan Tailor-Bird from the Slice & Dice FFTCG community.

Bobby Corwen 11-059C

1 CP Forward, Category IX, Job Chocobo, Power 2000

Bobby Corwen can form a party with a Forward of any Element.
When a Forward forming a party with Bobby Corwen is put from the field into the Break Zone, draw 2 cards.

Jonathan S: “He’s a chocobo, not monster, He is called Bobby Corwen”

This card shows some promise. The first card that card party with anyone despite its element, now what's the best way to use him… Partying him with things that you put your opponent in a position where they have to choose either draw two cards or something bad happens. Partying Bobby with Locke and genesis creates a situation of either draw or discard. I can see this in a party with O6 L Seifer, Paul, and Ark Angel HM.. In a chocobo deck he is searchable and a new bird to join the fun. Who knows he might find his way into a category IX deck.

Jordan: I need to begin this review by professing my love for FF9. It is most definitely my favorite game in the series and one of my all-time favorite games. For those of you who don't know, Bobby Corwen is a Chocobo whose egg is found by a couple of the Black Mages and taken back to the Black Mage Village. The egg eventually hatches and little Bobby is looked after and taken care of by the two Mages in the village. It's actually a pretty moving part in the story as the love and affection shown by the mages towards this little Chocobo, demonstrates that they aren't simply "puppets" and are capable of much more - A central theme in the game that follows Vivi throughout the 4 discs.

The card itself is neat. Being job Chocobo makes it easily searchable and its text fits well with the nature of Chocobos as a whole. Outside of a dedicated Chocobo deck, this card simply won't find a home in my opinion, but it almost certainly will see play in any deck centered around Chocobos.

Tobi: Bobby has a great job & catagory, tons of stuff you can do with chocobos & tons of stuff you can do with category IX . He's only 1 cp to put down on the board which you want filled because you're looking to party attack to make use of his effect. First card I thought of to put next to this little rascal is Mime (1-173C).

Now is this very strong? Not exactly. He's a small guy, costed at 1 you don't risk a lot if this guy gets sniped but if it's one of the cornerstones of your deck it's kind of a scary place to start with.

Lucien: I'm personally not convinced about this card. However, the draw may be interesting. The mechanics to form a party with any element is interesting, currently the only card allowing to do this was Mime [1-173C]... Let's hope other cards with will do the same thing!

Jonathan TB: Our first named Chocobo! I don’t why that makes me happy but it does. Especially because Bobby Corwen is from Final Fantasy IX, my favourite game of all time! The name Bobby Corwen is a reference and homage to Boco from FFV.

“When a Forward forming a party with Bobby Corwen is put from the field into the Break Zone, draw 2 cards.” This is where it gets exciting for me. Partying has always been a good way to get around large forwards, trying to force your opponent to block or take the damage. With Bobby Corwen partying, he almost becomes the target to break in the party because if your opponent chooses the other forward, you’ll be drawing 2 cards and gaining some great value. If you have an 8000 power Forward party attacking with Bobby Corwen and they have a 9000 power Forward then, if they decide to block, they are losing a big body whilst you’re losing a small one but saving your big boy/girl for your next turn.

The only downside will be that with 2000 power he’s easy pickings for ping damage and may not survive a turn to even form a party but only time will tell if this cute boy will see any play at all.

Puck 11-098C

4 CP Backup, Category IX, Job Prince

When Puck enters the field, choose 1 Forward of cost 1 in your Break Zone. Play it onto the field.

Damage 3 – When Puck enters the field, choose 1 Forward of cost 2 in your Break Zone. Play it onto the field.

Jonathan S: How is the prince of Burmecia not dragoon related!? After reading this card I thought what was the best target for his first ability. Being as he is FFIX 1 drop Vivi to come in and ping for up to 10K seems good and if you trigger him at 3 damage he will be able to bring two FFIX forwards increasing the count to maximize Vivi’s damage.

Leo would probably be another great card... quite possibly the one with the highest chance of survival. Leo would come in hopefully somewhere 4k+ to stand a chance of surviving while allowing you to color fix for whatever crazy ideas your deck is already trying to do.

There are probably a lot more 1 drops coming out but Puck definitely will see some play. Maybe there will be a new tri color category IX deck we can work on.

Jordan: Holy Puck! Many of you may know that I'm not the biggest fan of purple cards, but this one has a whack of text that make its potential impossible to ignore. In the game, we're first introduced to Puck very early as he aids Vivi in sneaking his way into the Alexandria castle to watch "I want to be your Canary". We later find out, he's in fact the Prince of Burmecia. What a UNIT.

When evaluating the card itself, it's tough to ignore the nasty number four in the top left corner. The primary function of backups is, and always will be, to produce CP. This is why 2cp backups are so coveted as they allow us to curve well consistently. Backups like Puck lose out on much of the intrinsic value associated with the card type and in many ways operate more like a summon. With that said, the value it provides is still quite impressive. At damage 3 it's effectively a 0 CP backup. There are very few backups that can boast this net cost and those that do generally don't also build your board. The real struggle here will be finding legitimate 1 and 2cp forwards to make Puck playable. Ultimately I think he will see play, the text is just too sexy not to, but the hoops needed to be jumped through in order to make him effective may just be too much.

Tobi: I'd like to use this card to share my take on the importance of backups. FFTCG has a very unique resource system, it's probably the reason why I like it so much. I found most of my success playing a very basic & simple game. I would try to net advantages as fast as I can & start pressuring my opponents.

One way of doing that is playing cheap backups in the first turns. This card is not cheap, therefor it falls in a special category where it's a backup you don't want to see this in your opening hand. I feel there's only room in a deck for that many backups that fall into this category & some decks even prefer to run none at all.

If you play a lot of 1CP & 2CP forwards, this card could fill your board after you took 3 damage. You can search it with Steiner (3-137R) and get back Vivi (8-016H) and Rygdea (1-211S). This is playing 3 colors so there's probably a better way of playing it or is there?

Lucien: As I don’t play lightning, I find it hard to estimate his potential. However, I don't think it's a bad card. It's a 4CP Backup which allows to put 2 forwards onto the field. The other interesting fact is that you don't have to put lightning forwards, but forwards of any element... This card could have its place in a scion of the seventh dawn deck, in order to place some cards such as Urianger or Yda for example. However, you still have to find a good 1CP card to bring back...

Jonathan TB: First up, we have Puck, the young Prince of Burmecia, who ran away from home at the age of 14. We first meet him when he bumps into Vivi in the city of Alexandria at the start of Final Fantasy IX. I’m personally very excited to build another FFIX deck including this card so here are some of my ideas.

Seeing that he’s a Category IX Character my immediate thought for the first ability was to target Vivi [8-016H], as Puck will add to the number of Cat IX Characters for Vivi’s ability stack. Beautifully timed, this could get you the 7000 damage packet easily or if you’re lucky the 10000 damage. The only issue I see is the strength of an FFIX tribal deck is pretty established in Fire and Water. Making a tri-coloured FFIX themed deck may require a lot of integral components to be swapped out and I feel the strength of the deck will go down, unless we see some stronger FFIX Lightning support this set. Staying within the title of FFIX, Garnet [8-113C] and Zidane [8-115L] would be prime targets for the second ability. Personally, I feel that with what we currently have post-Opus XI this card is feeling a bit underwhelming in Standard and L3 Constructed. But in titles…now, that’s a different story! This would certainly be a must have for the cards I just mentioned.

The way I want to play this card is building a Water/Lighting FFIX deck with Class Fourth Moogle [10-121C] to splash Fire for Vivi [8-016H] and other tasteful tech plays.

Zack 11-007R

1 CP Forward, Category VII, Job Soldier, Power 8000

At the end of each of your turns, choose 1 Forward opponent controls. Discard 1 card from your hand. If you do so, deal it 5000 damage.

Jonathan S: Zack is a really interesting card, a double edged sword if you will. Like most amazing fire cards this has a drawback. Now, his effect is mandatory if A: your opponent has a forward and B: you have a card in your hand. So lets over extend and hope for the best, just kidding... On a serious note this card is probably something to consider for the new O11 starter deck Cloud. It will help you start going through your decks while setting up forwards. From Zack to Yuffie or Tifa with haste and if you're sticking with the FFVII theme it could grow into better cards such as Aerith Barret. Otherwise Zack will be a great card early turn while setting up and late when ahead or if your opponent has scale toad.

Jordan: Ah, red cards. While fire has been a notoriously underpowered element, the gap has started to shrink a bit over recent sets. With that said, lovely art, but I don't see Zack helping very much.

While 8000 power for a 1CP forward is great, the drawback of discarding a card every turn is quite large. 5000 damage is rarely going to finish off a forward by itself, which forces you to have combo damage every turn in order to not be taxing yourself. While there are certainly some relatively cheap options that will enable this ability to actually provide value, I'm not so sure that they are where fire really wants to be going as an element. On turns when you don't combo off his ability or manage to net anything with it, he's effectively become 2CP more expensive. That happening just once turns him into a 3CP 8000 power forward with an effect that is more of a liability than anything else. This may have cut it back in opus 1-2, but ultimately, I think this card is rather weak.

Tobi: So, I like this card. I think it's pretty good. Being a Soldier is ok, being from the VII franchise is really good. 1CP for being at 8K power? Lol ok. I discard a card if I have one at the end of my turn.

I can definitely see myself lose to an early Zack, if the draws align & you can keep emptying out your hand either building more pressure or dealing with your opponent’s board there's going to be times where you just won't be able to match his amazing stats for cost.

His "drawback" is you HAVE to pitch a card to deal 5k damage at the END of your turn, I know this doesn't sound like fun but then again, if you're on 5 or 6 damage & you have to trade a 4cp forward into this guy you're not have fun either. Especially if Belias (9-017C) decided to help this big boy.

There are times where I wished I would have a card that would deal 5K damage at the end of turn window where your opponent can't add to the stack.

Lucien: I think Zack can be a very good card in an aggro deck. With 8k for 1CP, it gives a very good cost-effectiveness. However, the discard may be double-edged. Although it can do 5k damage, if the opponent chooses to keep Zack on the field, the owner will be forced to discard a card each turn, which can be a problem if the game was too long.

Jonathan TB: Zack. A name most Final Fantasy fans are quite familiar with, as shown by being featured considerably in the TCG but he made his debut appearance in the acclaimed Final Fantasy VII and, later, with his very own spin-off in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Zack Fair is (or was) a 1st Class SOLDIER and a best friend to Cloud during their days working for Shinra Co.

The card in question though I've found quite peculiar to review. Firstly, he's another Card Name Zack...the Zack [10-007H] from last Opus is such a good situational card I feel this might not see as much play as its predecessor for that reason but I'll do my best to comment on this beauty of a card.

With a discard being mandatory at the end of your turn for Zack just being on field you start to see why he's so cheap to put out there. Luckily, in recent sets, Fire has implemented a few more draw abilities with the likes of Ignacio [10-001H] or Geomancer [10-012C]. Otherwise, you play aggressive and work from the top of your deck, making sure that you have no cards in hand at the end of your turn. But the main point I'd like to make is that at 1CP he's a much better target for Xande [10-018L] than any other Fire Forward. If you play it smart, the opportunity to break one of your opponent's Forwards could be as simple as playing Xande, targeting our handsome boy, Zack, and also targeting Vivi [3-017L]. Whatever damage Vivi manages to do, a quick discard at the end of your turn will, hopefully, deliver the final blow with 5000 damage from Zack. Although, keeping him on the field for too long could cause you problems in the long run, he got a sensational body of 8000 power to block next turn. A huge improvement on Naji [10-011R] in my opinion.

An alternative use for this card that I see is combining him Terra [10-132S] and Phoenix [3-020H]. With Terra on the field, cast Phoenix in response to your opponent attacking with a big Forward and deal 2000 damage from Terra to the chosen Forward and 2000 damage to the board. Phoenix will bring in Zack with 8000 power allowing him to block immediately, breaking the Forward that received 4000 damage.

Bomb 11-016R

1 CP Monster, Category X, Job Bomb

When a Fire Character other than Bomb enters your field, place 1 Monster Counter on Bomb.

Put Bomb into the Break Zone: Choose 1 Forward. Deal it 4000 Damage.

Put Bomb into the Break Zone: Choose 1 Forward. Deal it 10000 damage. You can only use this ability if 3 or more Monster Counters are placed on Bomb.

Jonathan S: Now I have always thought the other Bomb cards could be useful but this one takes the cake. Sitting at 1 Cp and building a monster counter for every fire character is really efficient. Its a card like this that lets fire keep growing into a control style color. It should be ready in a turn or two at most but 1CP to kill Yiazmat, Nidhogg, O10 Shantotto, and so many other big threats I can see decks playing 2 of this card easily.

Jordan: On to the playable red card! Our fifth card named "Bomb" is almost certainly the best of the bunch and can actually provide some considerable value given that it is only 1CP.

While 4000 damage isn't going to do much on its own, it should be fairly easy to get 3 counters on Bomb triggering the second effect which deals 10k. 10k is going to deal with just about anything in the game currently and with such a low cost, Bomb will mostly be trading up economically. Along with the new "Cu Chaspel", Bomb can even hit some previously untouchable cards such as "Y'Shtola 5-L" which add even more utility. Overall I think this card is quite good and I'd be shocked if it didn' t see some form of competitive play.

Tobi: If I had to score this card from 1-10. I would rate it YES!

It's so good, trust me, really really good. I think it's the first time we've seen removal come at a range for cost like this before, I’m convinced this card should be a staple x3 in any mono fire & I even believe this is a nice excuse to play a fire over water deck

Thinking about Bomb & Mira (4-137L) as your building blocks, This kind of deck isn't easy to figure out but i'm sure there's somebody out there who can do it justice. If you do, let me know please!

Lucien: A new good fire card. With 1CP, it is possible to do 10k damage, which can be very profitable. In compensation, we need to have to put 3 other fire characters, otherwise it will only do 4k damage. However, you can drop several Bombs at the same time. Thus, for 4 CPs, we could put 3 bombs and 1 Zack in order to make 10k of damage rather easily. Will Opus XI offer other low cost fire cards ? However, I doubt the effectiveness of this kind of cards on control decks.

Jonathan TB: Bomb is a creature that, when struck by a playable character will grow in size, until, after the third hit, it explodes causing significant damage.

This rendition of Bomb stays true to it's roots within the games. Bomb is a Category X 1CP Fire Monster that employs the new "Monster Counter" mechanic.

Playing mono Fire will surely get you to fill that quota reasonably fast but if you want to build a silly combo of playing Caius [10-004H] into Gadot [1-007R] and another 2 cost then you're set to let 10000 damage blast your opponent for the low cost of 5CP. The likelihood of that happening though is slim but it's enjoyable to imagine.

Another archetype that I thought could possibly add this fiery seasoning was WOFF. With the majority of Fire Forwards in the deck only costing 2CP and Reynn [10-020L] costing zero at times then you could build those Monster Counters fairly quickly and add an extra level of pressure onto your opponent. Either way, I feel some may enjoy embellishing their mono or dual Fire decks with at least 1 or possibly 2 copies of this likeable, explosive creature.

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That’s all we have for today. Check back for the last group next week!