Hello everyone, FFTCG producer Tarou Kageyama here! This is my second Card of the Week from the “Resurgence of Power” Booster Pack coming to local game stores on December 9th. Last time, I wrote about Teodor [18-026L], featuring brand-new artwork by Fumio Minagawa. So, I would like to continue in this direction and talk about another card with a brand-new illustration. Without further ado, I’m pleased to present Basch [18-111L], featuring new artwork by Ryoma Ito. As always, you will see the standard and full art cards side-by-side.
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What do you think? I realized I had unintentionally picked two gruff men in a row, but Basch [18-111L] is just too dashing to ignore, Now, let’s go ahead and take a look at the abilities listed on this card.
Basch [18-111L] is a Multi-Element Fire/Earth card, with a cost of 3 CP, 7000 power, and three abilities. Out of the three abilities, two have the Damage keyword. Typically, a CP 3 cost for a 7000-power card would be average; but as a multi-element card, 7000 is not all too powerful. That said, Basch [18-111L] has three very powerful abilities.
His first ability reads, “When Basch enters the field, you may receive 1 point of damage. When you do so, search for 1 Fire or Earth Character other than Card Name Basch and add it to your hand.” If it grants me the ability to search for a card without any limitations on cost or Character type, I think taking one point of damage is not a big deal.
Plus, this effect ties nicely into Basch [18-111L]’s other two abilities, because the remaining two involves the amount of damage you’ve taken. If you have three or more damage, Basch [18-111L] gains +1000 power and Brave. And if you have five or more, you can “choose 1 Forward [your] opponent controls” and “deal it 8000 damage.” You may receive one point of damage on your own, so getting to three would likely be very quick. Plus, your opponent may hesitate to deal you a fifth point of damage, if they know you control Basch [18-111L].
As you can see, Basch [18-111L]’s synergy can be self-contained; but as you build your deck, you can also expand this approach to turn the disadvantages of taking damage into an advantage. Naturally, cards with abilities that activate once taking a certain amount of damage come to mind. Just looking at cards that coincide with Basch’s elements, Fire and Earth, you can use two different Bahamut cards – [13-012R] and [17-014R] – as well as Baron Guardsman [17-072H]. A slightly older card, but one that would allow you to leverage the damage you’ve taken to deal damage to your opponent’s Forward (although your card would also take damage equal to the power of the opponent’s Forward), would be Noctis [7-077L]. Another good option with a damage-related ability has ties with Basch from a lore perspective: Gabranth [17-067C]. It’s also nice that you can utilize Basch [18-111L]’s ability to search for this card.
So, what did you think of Basch [18-111L]? Amongst the Category “FFXII” cards, I understand the Sky Pirates are quite popular, but it would be great if you could give Basch a shot, since he’s quite robust as well. This wraps it up for now. Next week will be the final entry for Card of the Week series on Resurgence of Power. Stay tuned!