Best Control Cards in Earth (Opus 1)

Hey y’all. Welcome back to my rundown of the best cards for control decks in Opus 1. Last time I listed the top 3 card of the wind element. Since those cards filled more of a supporting role when it comes to my favorite archetype in any trading card game, todays element has some real meat. Let’s go-lem and not waste any time-tan.

EARTH

3. [3]Cecil

Let me get one thing out of the way: There is no Prishe on this list.

Now, before you go to the subreddit and write a mean comment – hear me out. Prishe is a super solid blocker. But she costs also 5 CP to play and does not handle Zidane, [1] and [3]Yuffie or Lann. Those are cards you need efficient answers to in a control deck. This does not mean you should not run her. I personally play her as a 1-of (at max). There is an argument to make about running 2 for triggering her special skill, but a playset of an expensive card that will probably only be used for blocking is far from optimal.

[3]Cecil flew a little under the radar but gets picked up by a lot of control and mid range players. I even see him popping up in aggressive builds. His cost of 3 CP and power of 7K make him a perfect answer for all the unblockable shenanigans mentioned when talking about Prishe.

But it is his auto ability that puts the icing on the cake! Being able to deal damage to a forward when we receive damage is huge. The thread of pinging one of their guys even when an attack come through is close to a prison effect. You can outright shoot forwards like Gadot, pre-party [3]Chocobo and [2]Tifa. But you can also deal damage to any potential attackers and providing them with the thread of blocking with [3]Cecil for the Kill.

But being able to deal with Lann also means he dies to Brynhildr.

2. Tama

People were a little split on Tama. I saw a lot of people call here SO GOOD because she was able to negate elemental restrictions when playing characters.

I also thought that she would be an awesome card to have, but for a completely different reason.

The most important thing about Tama‘s ability is that she is able to put forwards and backups into play, any time you have priority. This opens up so many possibilities for our gameplan. As a control player we do want to play a reactionary game. Leave our options open and respond to the actions of our opponents. Without Tama – and summons aside – our opponent always has perfect information when it comes to our possible plays. Being able to react with a blocker or a come-into-play-effect is unbelievably powerful. Aether Vial is a 25$ Magic card although being printed as an uncommon. With more characters for her to absue to come in the future,Tama surely will get even better.

Bonus: She is a 2-drop backup that can sacrifice herself to make room for other characters.

1. Shantotto

An obvious choice. Shantotto is the only “real” wrath-effect we have right now.

This is our reset-button. We get rid of ANY thread that we were presented with in form of a forward. Even if a forward is made unbreakable – Shantotto don’t care.

Even with her cost being a whooping 7 CP, the effect is just to crucial to a control gameplan to not play her if able. Maybe not as a complete playset (mainly because she does not sacrifice herself), but as a 2-of for sure. A nice addition is that she fixes your colors. Her dulling for any element gives you the option to easily follow her up with a thread of another element, even if you only got to play earth backups so far.

Shantotto also combos nicely with Tama, giving us a way to clear the board at the end of our opponents Main Phase 2 or even during combat, leaving us so much ahead.

Conclusion

Earth was one of the first elements I drifted towards when I was looking into playing control. While other are very well placed within this archetype, I have a feeling that earth features the ability to play “hard control”. Especially with Tama offering you a draw-go-playstyle.

No other element can do this in a way that earth. Combining any element with this one will give you a nice control shell to build from.

Right now this seems not to be the way control decks in this game want to be played. But whatever the future brings. Tama and Shantotto are two cards to keep in the back of your mind.

Next up: Lightning!

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Author Bio:

Prinny first dipped his toe into the pond of TCGs in 2002 when Yu-Gi-Oh! made it’s way to Europe. He has been taken the part of TO, judge and tournament player in several games. Mainly focusing on Magic: The Gathering and the World of Warcraft TCG.