Hey everyone! RB here again for my last Opus XI: Soldier’s Return Card of the Week! Normally I’m writing about Heroes while Kageyama-san writes about Villains, but after spending some time with Mira, last week, I’m feeling like I want to stay on the Dark side a little longer. What better card to reveal than Opus XI’s Dark Legend, Sephiroth 11-130L!
Let’s take a look.
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Sephiroth’s imposing presence looming over Midgar is felt in his artwork from FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE! To celebrate the upcoming release of FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE, this card will also be available in Full Art.
Sephiroth 11-130L is a 4 CP Dark Forward, category VII, with Job “One-Winged Angel” and 10,000 power. That much power is insane for a 4 CP Forward, so obviously he comes with a catch. You can only play Sephiroth if either player has received 4 points of damage or more. He has an auto ability that reads “When Sephiroth enters the field, choose 1 Character. Break it.” He also has a special ability, Octaslash, that reads “Choose up to 1 Forward, up to 1 Backup, and up to 1 Monster. Remove them from the game. You can only use this ability if each player has received 5 points of damage or more.”
So, just like in FINAL FANTASY VII, Sephiroth won’t join in on the confrontation until later in the game. Because his play condition says either player, Sephiroth can be used for either pressing an advantage or mounting a comeback. Getting rid of a pesky character and being an incredibly strong Forward of course are great reasons alone to use Sephiroth, but to make consistent use of Octaslash, you’ll likely want your deck to have ways to manipulate your own damage taken.
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Since Sephiroth is Dark, he doesn’t need to be played in any specific elemental deck, and you have a few different options of characters that can push you towards your damage thresholds. Cecil [5-086L] immediately comes to mind since his Special Ability, Dark, can be used multiple times. Cecil and Sephiroth side by side have the potential to cause a lot of removal. Cactuar [4-058L] or the recently revealed Kuja [11-090L] are great options for Wind or Lightning decks respectively.
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Now, it’s not just different elements you’ll have to decide when building a deck for Sephiroth [11-130L]. You’ll likely want to run 1 or 2 other versions of Sephiroth alongside him for more chances to Octaslash. Sephiroth [3-039R] is nice because his EX BURST auto ability allows you to search your deck for Sephiroth [11-130L]. That said, your One-Winged Angel may end up stuck in your hand because of his damage condition. To account for that, a solid option would be to run him alongside another Sephiroth with a Special Ability, like Sephiroth [7-034L] or [10-034H]. Multiple uses of Shadow Flare is already something that Ice/Earth Sephiroth decks have utilized in the past, so this new Sephiroth provides some synergy where you can choose which version you play based on what point of the game it is.
So what do you think? Are you ready for reunion with the One-Winged Angel? Is this game ender a game changer? This was my final Opus XI Card of the Week, but Kageyama-san will be back next week with another character who also has some synergy with Sephiroth.
Until next time!
~RB