Shikadi

04/12/2023

A short tournament report:

R1 L - Magissa (Hunter)
I came into the tournament knowing my deck literally can't touch Yuzuki so this was a non game

R2 L - Mono Ice (Jordi)
His t1 was Lufenian Lasswell, I Aria search WoL, he has Charlotte to freeze Aria and I draw a second WoL which means I can't cast it. It's basically over at this point so it probably doesn't matter but when I did finally get to cast WoL on t3 it full whiffed hitting zero 3-costs

R3 L - Mono Water (Ryan)
This is a matchup I'm fine with unless he opens Yuna with auto cancel Levi which he did (2 copies). Was still an OK game but having two WoLs turn into Sephiroths slowed me down too much

R4 W - Water/Lightning (JFB)
You know it's a great format when I'm playing JFB at 0-3. This is the first game where both decks are allowed to function and it was a pretty good one, he did a good line with Yshtola special to clear me early-ish but I had already resolved Relm + Gogo so I had too much recovery/redundancy

R5 W - VI (Alvin)
I don't know if he had Umaro 7 in his list but I never saw one meaning Rydia could do whatever she wanted i.e. cuchulain & cu sith (on BFA/Yuna) to prevent any legitimate threat. He played it quite aggressively which is correct but the high EX count makes stabilising too easy and I ended up clearing with Neo after having taken both his backups with Heca & Unei

R6 L - Rainbow feat. Monks (Guan)
Unfortunately he drew the good cards not the Monks. This game was mostly a case of him having the right cards at the right time in particular cuchulain & mist dragon on top of galuf (the one thing BFA can't kill) off the tutored green Cecil

R7 W - Mono Wind (Kurosawa)
This matchup is too far in my favour to even recall what happened; Rosa hates Cuchulain, Luso can't do much, chocobo hates BFA/Yuna, Fina doesn't stop anything meaningful, anything Zidane steals I can take back with Unei and on top of all that Rydia is too hard to remove reliably

R8 L - Warriors of Light (Shouta)
I didn't see any BFA/Yuna so Refia did whatever she wanted. He played well off it so there really wasn't any point during this game where I had any chance to win

I wasn't expecting to do well anyway considering I don't have a legitimate testing environment and have been very busy with non-FFTCG life but I will acknowledge I should have thought about deck order more and played Rydia first in expectation of aggro. I also had a few other ideas that I didn't get enough time to test/refine properly (various rainbow cores included)

I'm actually very proud of my Water/Ice WoL deck and I do genuinely think it's better than my record here suggests but either way I had a great weekend hanging with Alec & the Euro boys (Jordi, JFB, Evan and the honourary European, Kurosawa)

21/10/2023

https://youtu.be/SoeAlBKop-M

https://www.ffdecks.com/deck/6160165767217152https://www.ffdecks.com/deck/5200749932838912Format: Opus XX

15/10/2023

I'll make a more positive post about the event soon just going to address this first (Wall of text incoming, apologies)

In game 1 of finals, I accidentally drew 2 cards going first and none of me, Alex or the HJ (who was sitting there watching) picked it up and I won that game.

Firstly, I'm very sorry to Alex. He had already been slow rolled regarding who gets to go first so it extra sucks to then find out his opponent had an unfair advantage entirely at their fault, especially with such high stakes on the line.

Secondly, I absolutely mean it when I say it's an accident but of course I recognise that an actual cheater would say that anyway so it may not hold any weight. What I will say though, is that people know I care a lot about game integrity and have no history of cheating in this game. And for the devil's advocates; if I actually wanted to cheat there's clearly no universe I'd straight up double draw both in front of a judge and on camera.

In the end, the people who want to believe I intentionally cheated will believe it no matter what and those who hate me will use this to try and undermine my integrity and accomplishments whenever they get the chance but I trust that enough people know me to know this is just one honest mistake. You can ask anyone I've played against at any event or watch any of the other stream games. If I could go back in time and play game 1 with the correct hand size I would in a heart beat (or even just assume I lose and play game 3).

Sorry for the heavy post and extreme apologies again to Alex, I just want to make it clear that I do not take it lightly at all and was absolutely shattered when I found out it did actually happen. I care a lot about game integrity, my own integrity and fair games for all players especially at high level so it really sucks to have this occur in the grand final of an otherwise amazing event.

I'll say in advance, I don't intend to reply to any comments/threads about it because it will almost certainly devolve immediately but I'm more than happy to discuss it further with anyone over PM.

Cheers

14/10/2023

6-0 on day 1, top 16 starting soon

(Built the monster deck well before that recent tournament in Japan)

Will post something more in depth later

10/09/2023

Is it real: Yes

This card occupies an incredibly relevant space in the game that didn't previously exist outside Earth - it gives polite decks a punish to hyper aggression.

Having the option to search another copy of itself for a 1 card non-damage based board clear gives it a niche that has only really existed on Shantotto until now. Putting that on a Light card alone is already a big deal as it's now accessible to any deck that doesn't rely on a different Light/Dark card (which very few do).

On the note of being a Light card, the usual drawback is lessened here because they tend to get in the way during high pressure boards but those are usually the cases you want to cast it anyway.

The board clear is slightly more expensive than Shantotto and it's on a Forward instead of a Backup but that of course has some relevant advantages. Primarily that you can play it at 5 Backups and more than once a game. The decks that want it also tend to be lighter on Forwards so the extra body to actually hit someone is welcome.

Of course the most important point is that it's not JUST a board clear and it's not even ONLY relevant when it's cheaper. Searching any card is a decent base case, 3 CP 9k isn't great but it's likely whatever you search can mitigate that. Sometimes you don't even need the clear when it's cheaper, there might even be a card to search that solves the board more efficiently.

The much more subtle advantage that isn't immediately clear at face value is that its clear is not an auto. This means it (unlike Shantotto or basically anything else) actually CAN clear through Amaterasu. Naturally they can Ama the search but in that case you haven't invested all the CP into it plus it's not even guaranteed to stop it since you could already be holding another and they have to invest in the Ama without knowing that (most of the time).

Long story short, this is a super high impact card; expect to see it a lot and warp a lot of matchups that would otherwise be much more skewed.

27/08/2023

In finals

26/08/2023

Here's what I'm playing (this will be public tomorrow anyway)

26/08/2023

2nd after Swiss, top of the 5-1s

15/08/2023

Is it real: Maybe

This is one card I think people overrate a lot. To be clear, this is a 4-cost 8k. That's VERY expensive in 2023. The only way it can pay itself off is if they use two Summons to get past it.

In YGO this is what we call a "floodgate". It doesn't actually take anything away from your opponent, just prevents them doing something until it dies. In YGO, this is less of a concern since it only "costs" 1 card compared to 4 CP in FF (for a 6 CP investment including the card itself).

That could be OK if it prevented someone's engine but with Syldra banned, there are very few decks which use Summons as an engine. The worst part is, the decks which DO (*cough* Rydia) play Amaterasu which absolutely f***s this card. So it's not really a card you can just "sit on".

There is the use case that you play this at the start of a "pivot turn" to prevent them interacting but in many of the positions you can afford to invest an additional 6 CP on top of whatever you're doing that turn, you're probably far enough ahead without it.

If he's got his ability protection he's better but unfortunately that shouldn't come up in situations where it matters. Water doesn't have good self-damage and most decks shouldn't be dealing you a 3rd damage unless their engine is online at which point investing the 6 into this (which doesn't affect the board state at all) is almost certainly not going to help.

The redeeming feature is that he's VI so he's a decent toolbox option in a deck with Edgar. As a card in general though, the situations that it's worth casting are too few and far between.

15/08/2023

[Locke]
Is it real: Maybe

This may or may not be a hot take but I think this card is the biggest trap of the set and not only is it making people's decks worse, it's also losing them the game faster.

I have a reasonably high opinion of VI last set; a lot higher than I gave it credit for initially. But I need to make one thing very clear; the ENTIRE reason that deck was playable (let alone good) was 5Locke.

In "modern FFTCG" every deck needs an "engine". When I use that word, I mean a way of inherently generating CP, in particular from a neutral position i.e. without your opponent contributing to specific scenarios. Edgar Sabin is one way to "generate CP" but it's non-neutral i.e. if your opponent doesn't play 8ks, you can't generate that CP.

"Ice-based" VI's ONLY way to do that is via 5Locke. And that's not to say it's a concession; that card's power level/ceiling is incredibly high. Not only do you need it, you WANT it anyway. To play this new Locke early instead of 5Locke is effectively giving the game away. It's a 1-cost Vanilla 7k which locks you out of your powerful engine.

That being said, I think it does have a place, just from the opposite angle. Instead of playing this Locke early (or alone) as I see SO MANY people do, consider its place as an option to end the game, which I'll address in addition to Celes below.

I did recently discover that Andoria somehow works with his ability so that's kind of cute but I maintain my position that Ice VI's primary focus should be abusing 5Locke.

[Celes]
Is it real: Maybe

Firstly, this card only exists to give new Locke haste. As we've established, he's not great himself, so in general this card is weak. On top of that, she locks you out of the 4-cost Celes which is the other best engine card for Ice VI.

However, there are two situations I can see this having a purpose. Firstly, if you've stuck two other VI forwards (such as Edgar & Sabin or anyone else with Mog who generally sticks around) you can potentially trigger Locke's board wipe. Secondly, it enables you to cheese 2 damage out of nowhere (similar to Behemoth K) if the board is complicated/hard to push through.

[Setzer]
Is it real: Yes

Very easy/obvious replacement for the other Setzer backup. Gives a huge boost to 4-cost Celes by allowing her to party with Fire, makes 3Locke's board wipe actually possible and provides a nice generator effect any time you stick two Forwards. Not much else to say here.

10/08/2023

Is it real: Not really
..BUT this card is of particular interest to me because it reinvigorates an archetype I created way back in Opus 11/12 - Cloud Combo.

If you get a chance to resolve Cloud [11-136S] on this, you can search Yuffie (and another 3rd class) then attack phase Yuffie activates Cloud and MP2 sacrifice the new one for Regis, reviving the original two and searching the red one to add another to hand. So by simply resolving Cloud on 3rd class you end up with 6 Forwards including a live Yuffie (maybe +1 card in hand and of course even more options next turn if Cloud lives)

I would also like to mention Zack who does similar crazy things; if you resolve Cloud on Zack, you can search Fina to activate Cloud while using Zack for one of these options;
* If you want 2 discards, get Rufus/Weiss (if Nero) then straight to Regis to trigger it again.
* If you want Yuffie instead, get 3rd class then sacrifice that for Yuffie, do attack phase activate and sacrifice the next one for Regis reviving Zack and one of the 3rd class

As usual, the main issue is actually resolving Cloud since it's difficult to give him Haste reliably in the colours his combo cards demand not to mention the hefty deck building cost and potential to draw the options out of deck before Cloud goes off. But it is funny how much board presence you can create out of nowhere from turn 2.

30/07/2023

Is it real: Not really

I know these cards already existed but I'm going to take this chance to talk about them because I think they're a trap that a lot of people fall into. Everything I'm about to say applies specifically to pre-Opus 20 although I have a feeling it will continue to be true in Opus 20.

These backups suck and having to play them is a big reason decks that use Crystals felt underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, they were on the right track giving every element a SU backup that generates a Crystal, they were even close on the idea that it should be sacrificial, unfortunately they COMPLETELY missed on the part where its effect needs to be relevant in some way.

For anyone not up to speed, vanilla 2 cost backups aren't good enough anymore. They need to either search another backup, have a real EX, or have a real effect (think Chocolatte, Yunalesca w/Weiss). The Crystal COULD satisfy the "real effect" part, but it's only as good as what you use it for, and until now, as I've said before, the only worthwhile one was Robel-Akbel.

There are a couple of promising Crystal cards in Opus 20 but it's still a super relevant deck building cost to dedicate backup slots to these blanks so I don't have high hopes for these over more sensible Crystal generation.

30/07/2023

Is it real: Not really

This card is unfortunately full of paradoxes which make it almost impossible to be anything other than a "casino" card which is a new term I just invented for high-roll cards that require you to invest in the high-roll before you know if it'll land. (At the very least, it can't be Amaterasu'd in between the sacrifice & reveal)

The main problem is; you're ideally looking for Forwards, or at least expensive backups (which are few and far between). But you have to cast two backups in the first place, which means you have to be playing enough backups that you'll actually have two in play early/often enough.

The next (obvious) issue is that you can hard whiff hitting another copy of a character you have in play (or two copies of the same character). Which suggests that you shouldn't play high counts of the Forwards you want... which then reduces your chance of hitting them AND forces you to diversify into an already thin pool of playable options.

Not to mention being unable to go hard on searchers for Ardyn himself meaning you might not even see him to (maybe) reward this hefty deck building cost.

Don't get me wrong, the ceiling on this card is insane, I just can't see a universe where your deck playing it is anywhere near reliable enough to play seriously. At best there might be a "fat Forwards" deck that can "tech" it in as a hail mary but I don't have high hopes for that kind of deck in 2023.

30/07/2023

Is it real: Not really

This is almost a slap in the face when Ashe was released 2 sets ago. Sure it's not restricted to mono but it also costs FIVE more and of course damage is way less reliable than power reduction. Not to mention, Fire decks suck at playing polite unlike Water.

Basically only exists as an EX option for the one decent Garland's special (who is still out of date anyway).

30/07/2023

Is it real: Not really

I see no universe you'll ever want this over a different Tifa, the only real part about is it's job but the other one is already better. It's kind of cute that this makes their entire board unable to block through Jenova Dreamweaver but if your aggressive deck's problem is blockers in 2023 then you've got other issues.

I've said it a million times before and I'll say it again, if you're paying more than 1 (effective) CP for a Forward, it had better be doing something super relevant (examples: Zidane, Hien) and this most definitely is not.

The special is unfortunately in the space of "nice option to have available" which is a class of ability that improves a castable card but doesn't raise an uncastable card into castability.

30/07/2023

Is it real: Yes

When I first read this card, I thought that's a good card. After seeing it in action, it didn't just meet that expectation, it exceeded it.

This is a rare "modal" Fire card where the set of options is actually cohesive. Even though they all say "do damage to stuff" they each have a distinct purpose and the card is only strong in the context that it has all three options.

The first effect says "kill a thing no matter how big it is" but you can only do it once. Or if you want it specifically for the RFG you get a Forward kill along with it to pay off some of that 7 CP.

The Job effect will almost never actually clear a bunch of the same job (maybe Avalanche or potentially Soiree if you can efficiently clear Madam Edel first) but it IS useful to spot remove an 8k that the 3rd ability can't kill when you've already used the RFG one (or they don't have enough or you need to save it for something bigger).

The Element effect is probably the least common (at least against the decks I've seen so far) but also probably the highest ceiling when it does come up.

Since it has such a great enter and is also a versatile generator, this is a rare case of an expensive Forward which actually deserves its cost and is worth casting. A BFA for the modern age which came at the right time since Fire as an element (rather than a couple of splashed cards *looks at Zidane/Ama*) has been falling into obscurity the last few sets.

That being said, I expect this to ALSO get "splashed" into similar not-actually-fire decks (i.e. WoL decks) as a strong, versatile card with good utility.

23/07/2023

Is it real: Yes

When so much of the set is "interesting" and there's not a lot of obviously top tier cards but there ARE a lot of cool cards that COULD be good depending, it's a shame they mis-stepped here. Similar to Wind's treatment over the last few sets, someone in the design department clearly has a hard-on for Water/Earth and they're being especially generous to Rydia (just as we finally got rid of Syldra) as if Unei wasn't enough.

One of Rydia's only real issues has always been competitive options for her all-important second trigger. Porom/Leonora were basically the only reliable ones and "RPP" existed as a three colour deck almost entirely for this reason. Now suddenly we have a super powerful neutral option (which even pushes her to 6 counters in case you feel like doing Remora/Leviathan/Fenrir) in the exact correct colours (which also gives you a free damage for some reason).

That's just the start of it though because boy is his search option relevant. While the new 4-cost one is actually pretty good, 5-cost Wind Cecil is the obvious one and man is it busted. For context, that card has always read very well (a neutral 1-cost 8k which protects everything from targeting), it just had two things keeping it in check; it's high investment and in the wrong element. This may sound weird coming from a notorious Wind gamer but Cecil has never really fit into Wind decks (at least Mono and Ice/Wind, the two I've spent the most time with by far) for reasons that I won't detail here.

Now, through this new Cecil, first up, he costs 3 less i.e. -2 instead of 1. That is clearly already insane, a -2 CP 8k with such a universal protection effect. Where it gets really stupid though is Water/Earth is the exact CORRECT element combination, primarily because it's the engine with a damage immune core card that casts Amaterasu & Mist Dragon for free and creates the most "unbreakable" board if not dealt with immediately thanks to Unei.

This isn't even mentioning the potential to cheat things out like WoL or the fact that Water/Earth has plenty of good 4-cost neutrals to satisfy the "condition" on Wind Cecil's "cost reduction".

Basically, (at least thanks to the bans) we were very close to having a very "open" meta with no existing decks being obviously pushed by the new set, but this is a card which certainly breaks that. Expect to see a lot of this.

09/07/2023

Is it real: No

She looks like she's about to teach us a lesson and the lesson here is bad card design. Or at least, understanding where the game is at and how this fits (it doesn't). At its core, it's just a 3 cost 9k (assuming you meet the deck building cost) vanilla and those haven't been playable for a VERY long time.

A clear indicator of a strong card is whether you can take away a meaningful part of it and it would still be playable (e.g. Warrior of Light's 5k effect, Dryad's card draw etc). Similarly, a clear indicator of a bad card is whether you can buff it in a meaningful way and it would still be unplayable.

In this case, even if it's break zone trigger didn't have a CP cost attached (a large buff), it would still be useless. As I've mentioned before, it's no longer feasible to spend CP investing in a character whose only purpose is their break zone trigger. For a long time now, there's been zero reason/pressure to spend resources killing something which is vanilla in play (except some enters where Althea exists but never mind that anymore). Something which just exists to attack/block simply doesn't contribute meaningfully to the outcome of the game.

When looking at freeze in particular, the first thing to look for is always whether it can hit backups or not because that turns it from a "vanilla" effect into a meaningful one (+CP). This one does, but it's immediately nullified by the fact that you have to spend 2 CP yourself, so EVEN IF it goes off, it still can't refund any of the 5 CP you invested in it. That's just insanely out of touch especially when something way better like Porom came out ELEVEN sets ago.

Its only redeeming feature (and must be the reason they made it so awful) is that it's category XIII, which DOES happen to be the only category that can turn any of its vanillas into generators via Lightning S. Unfortunately she's in the worse colour for that and even worse than that, she's odd cost. For anyone not familiar, odd is much worse than even because you can only play as many odd cost cards as active backups you have during a game and as a hard aggro deck, XIII feels that the most (in fact, one of the main reasons it's such a strong aggro deck IS that its core functions as all evens)

Also fun to point out that it's exactly 2 targets rather than up to 2 which obviously doesn't actually matter but is a really weird and stupid "slightly weaker than necessary" to put on it. Almost makes me think they're in on their own joke of designing irrelevant cards that are 10+ sets out of date.

In limited? It's probably fine. Nothing special but an alright body especially if you somehow keep its power condition online.

04/07/2023

We did it! Althea & Syldra banned effective
next set release

11/05/2023

https://youtu.be/08KJpNwLNUE

As requested, contains multiple demonstrations of various loop sequences

No Tilika no problemMinor mistakes:* I illegally tap for Larkeicus at one point but it still works the correct way* When I talk about 4 backups that can't pl...

24/04/2023

Quick tournament report for Materia Cup Brisbane! To no one's surprise I played Mono Wind, with my only concession (for potential XIII) being 3x Diabolos [12-049H].

[R1 - Weird Avalanche]

When I first realised it was Avalanche I was mildly concerned except I had Typhon and Dryad so not really. Then he searched Cloud [14-065L] and I was even less concerned, I just put a Bismarck on the field (behind Althea) and he couldn't touch me from there.

[R2 - Rainbow VIII]

Since I play my own version of VIII I am very aware how easily it can kill you out of nowhere but I know I have time because he needs to hit himself 3 times before Gilgamesh turns on. He did some early damage with Seifer/naked Gilga but I had Typhon/Dryad to slow it down. Once I had Maina into Yuffie then Althea Maina into other Yuffie there's not much else he could do. He did have a fairly threatening turn involving Basch and Seymour but Fina exists for some reason.

[R3 - Mono Water]

Went exactly as expected for this matchup. However, we did end up going into time (mostly my fault as I spent a lot of time during his one big turn mapping my next turn before deciding whether to Althea) and having already won at that point, during my two turns to fulfil the formality of actually dealing 7 damage, he hit the exact EXs to prevent me dealing the 7th within those two turns giving us a double loss instead.

[R4 - Magissa]

This was the scariest game since Magissa can high-roll and that's exactly what he did, opening Magissa Palom backed by Amaterasu for my Rosa a couple turns later. I ended up trusting in Zidane to find some answers while mitigating as much damage as possible and was lucky enough to steal his Susano which stabilised me and I won from there.

[R5 - Rainbow EX Summons/Neo]

He opened Dorando so I stuck a Fina in front of it backed by Diabolos in case he had the special (he didn't). He didn't see Neo until 3 or 4 turns in which of course is too late and after clearing it with Alexander I just sat there poking with Yuffie who was immune to all his EXs.

[Top 8 - Rainbow EX characters]
This was streamed although I'm under the impression there were technical difficulties so I'm not sure how clear it was. Also basically my entire game was under the surface in this match so it would probably not be clear from the stream what was actually happening.

-Game 1-

This game was frustrating because I didn't see any Forwards for SO LONG so I had to spend the first X turns fu***ng around with Evrae, Chocolatte & Althea digging for something to actually do while he poked me with Vanilla/Hope. Normally going to 5-6 slowly like this wouldn't be the end of the world but his deck has potential Haste/unblockable through Zidane and also Warrior of Light's free body which means my Lulu is very restricted since I need to sit behind Dryads.

I managed to navigate it somehow until I finally got to Yuffie and in a very complicated turn (including using his own Zidane stolen by mine to both take his Zidane recursion cards and potentially block it if he drew the 3rd) managed to establish the exact scenario to actually win on my last turn (before deck out). However, I threw it at the finish line by bouncing a backup instead of a forward (for the Yuffie S CP) out of habit leaving me 1 CP short for the Zidane haste kill I had ready for next turn.

-Game 2-

This game was much faster and this time I'm not sure if I technically misplayed or not. On turn 2 I had the option of going to 4 backups holding only Fina but I opted to keep some engine cards to avoid repeating last game. He then slammed Cecil into Warrior of Light backed by Zidane the turn after which gave me a very short clock.

The real clincher was during the next turn, where I had a potential Luso turn but to reach 7 casts I needed just one of my six cards to be 2 or less CP. Unfortunately it was 2x Fina, 2x Chocobo Sam (with my 3rd already in play), a Bismarck and then the second Bismarck off Chocolatte leaving me 1 CP short of Luso wipe.

Fortunately, he couldn't secure the 7th damage on his next turn and I managed to find Yuffies which created a glimmer of hope. I had exact CP to end with Bismarck + Yuffie special through Cecil and Lulu in hand (saved from Warrior of Light by Chocobo Sam) for engine next turn but he had Brynhildr and a way to Hope > Alexander to kill both Bismarck and Yuffie (who couldn't get protection due to Warrior of Light block) leaving me with only Lulu. I drew Diabolos Alexander for turn (the only turn that game where Alexander wasn't a good draw) leaving me dead.

https://www.ffdecks.com/deck/5931517046947840

Overall I have no regrets, Diabolos never ended up being useful and being a better card would have actually helped in the top 8 match but that's how card games go, you can never guarantee anything and there's always a chance things either line up or don't.

In the end it was an amazing, fun weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed playing games, seeing everyone and hanging out/talking about the game with like-minded people.

17/04/2023

Is it real: Yes

In this week's episode of cards that are good but there's no reason to play them because Wind already has the best cards in the game. Solid minor engine alongside Buddy (with both Evrae and Lulu as additional X names) that can be played as is or extended with things like Tidus, Jecht and/or Guardians.

Unfortunately, like many engines and elements, it doesn't add anything Wind actually needs. The BZ RFG on Paine is nice and Yuna lets you kill more Rydias if you're bad at drawing Typhon but that's not really what Wind is looking for right now.

Play it if you have a particularly strong affinity to X (I'm under the impression it's a very popular title) and it'll be all good, just won't have any meaningful benefit over mono or Ice/Wind.

17/04/2023

Is it real: Yes

This one's an easy one. Once again, Wind gets a double backup, and once again it's got at least a passable option in every element, on top of good options in its own. Wind is the last element that needs/deserves more of these but here we are.

14/04/2023

Is it real: Yes

Now THIS is a good card, in an element combination that's been super shafted in the past. Multi-3 is far better than multi-2 since it only consumes one odd cast and this card has the golden combination of traits; strong base case, applies pressure and high ceiling. On top of that, you get a free damage.

Something to note is that being able to split its base case 8k into two 4ks gives a lot of flexibility alongside cards like Brynhildr, Squall or Blaze. Gaining extra packets with additional attackers is icing on the cake and it can also deter aggro on the crackback if they can't remove it.

As a 3-cost Fire, it also gives both Magissa and Akstar something excellent to cheat in. On the more ambitious side, it's also a XIV Forward with natural Haste, a rare combination that Hien loves if you're inclined that way.

Strong, reliable card that'll be played in any deck that can cast it.