Good evening fellow FFTCG fans, I'm here to spread the glorious news of the release of our new Opus 2 booster set and to take a look at some of the cards I'm looking forward to trying out myself. Furthermore before we get into the nitty gritty of ogling the new Emperor Xande card (spoiler alert: he's bonkers) I just want to remind you that Wednesday nights are our dedicated Final Fantasy/Warhammer 40k night and we'd love to have you guys down to play.

Flame and Ruin

So let's start off with the biggest, meanest man of the set himself, the heavyweight lord of Syrcus Tower, Emperor Xande.

Coming in at a hefty 5 red-specific crystals, Xande is not the easiest card to play, but for such a high cost he rewards the player with an incredible tempo gain of a 5000 damage strike each time he attacks, forcing your opponent to deal with him immediately or quickly lose the board. Not to be simply dealt with, Xande goes further and deals another 9000 damage to an enemy forward on being placed into the breakzone, making his vengeance have an incredible effect on most boardstates we can expect.

Alongside a very healthy 9000 power statline, Xande is an incredible late game control and aggression tool, forcing your opponent to respond immediately or to suffer as his mounting damage overwhelms the board. Xande is a card that demands attention and if given it, responds in kind with a sickening 9000 damage finisher.

Whilst on the subject of Fire Legendaries, 2-011L Tifa is likely to be a phenomenal staple in upcoming red decks.

Whilst again rocking the powerful 9000 statline, Tifa's ability to make another forward unblockable is an incredible boon to the late game board states of Fire, allowing the deck to bypass other deck's late game forward blockers that can usually cause issues. 

The brutal ability Falcon's Dive comes at a high price but will be essential for fire decks making the late game pushes past blockers and will ensure almost any board state featuring a Tifa in play will be incredibly unsafe for the defender. Red aggro archetypes were a monster in the opus 1 meta and with cards like these it is very much still ready to throw down. 

Freezing the fireworks

Whilst we've mentioned a few of the fire heavyweights and the effect they can have on this new meta of ours, it's important to take a small look at some of the fancy new counterplay options opening up to other decks. Nothing freezes out a large, aggressive card like the new 2-026L Vayne and his insane control mechanics. Take a look:

Weighing in at an extremely cost efficient 4 crystals and with a beefy statline of 8000, Vayne is the premium in control cards coming out of this set. First up his ability to stop the opponent's 5 cost forwards from activating AND forcing them to dull when he enters the field is an incredible control tool if he can be protected. The ability to remove so much tempo from the opponent and stop his board from participating is crushing for any late game focussed decks. 

Furthermore factoring in his Force of Will ability, Vayne is able to lock down any forwards for the small cost of 2 crystals and a discard. An immense control tool all contained in a single, flashy package. 

Choice and Calm

Finally as we come away from the blinding lights of our expensive Legendaries, I'd just like to talk a little about 2-049H Asura. Coming to your deck as an extremely cost efficient 1 crystal summon, Asura is a card to be watched this expansion. Take a look:

What's immediately interesting is the incredible flexibility that comes with this card. Whether treated as a cheap cycle for low cost characters, crystal reactivation or even flexibility for your forwards, this card has it all at an insanely low price. 

As a player who loves the combo playstyle used in many green decks this card screams out options to me and will find itself into many decks going forward. The ability in the extreme late game to reactivate 5 backups is an insane tempo gain and allows for some very devious counterplay going into your opponent's turn. 

Whether slotting this into green/blue to pull your key Yuna or simply looking to shore up your early game boards, this card will very likely see a lot of play by those looking for options. 

Final thoughts

The opus 2 expansion for me is an incredibly exciting time for Final Fantasy TCG (to the point that I bought a full booster box day one) and opens up a vast array of new decks. I'm looking forward to experimenting with the new synergies and intricacies and looking for some wacky decks in the process. 

If you play Final Fantasy we'd love to see you this upcoming Wednesday and each week as we look to create a strong player base and get experimenting with our decks in the process. 

Who knows, you too could find yourself pulling a Foil Tifa like I did :D

Justplay Shaun