I’ll be the first to admit, I have more than a soft spot for Kefka and Ultros. The fact that they now find synergy as solid tech choices in a deck that could make a real impact at the start of an opus does things to my heart that I can’t even begin to describe. The abundance of new powerful category VI cards – Relm, Umaro, Celes – in elements that a) have the category VI searcher in and b) can combo really well with other power cards in those elements, make ice/water look like the most appealing version of VI to me since fire/ice emerged back in o4.

As is usually the case with your ice/water decks, you spend the first few turns slowly ramping up those backups and making the most out of the searches and recursion you get off of Gestahlian Empire Cid and Setzer. In the fire/ice variant, you’ll likely be playing Locke turn 2 pretty consistently but that’s something that may not happen as often in this list. For those who are greedy, you can play either of the Mog (VI)’s turn 2 and start drawing into the rest of your deck quicker [for reference, I chose the tap to draw Mog (VI) over the draw 2 ETB version but at this stage, I’m not sure if one is more correct than the other].

Relm is an absolute powerhouse. The flexibility this card brings is just outstanding. Playing her as a turn 2 play and developing two of your monsters onto the board can put you ahead by a fair margin. My usual choice would be an ice Flan to be able to search out earth CP for Shantotto if needed – as well as sacking them to force discards, of course – and to bring out Schrodinger to develop card advantage and things to sack for Kefka. Schrodinger has also, alongside Kefka, been one of my heavily biased tech cards, and it feels really awful to hit a monster again an empty board *or* a board full of ETB’s, but the synergies with other cards makes me want to leave it in and test it more. Outside of this, there are a variety of 1- and 2-cost monsters, both inside of colour and out, that can serve as great Relm targets depending on the situation: Goblin to haste Relm into an empty board and draw; Clione for protection against summon-heavy decks; Unsaganashi for protection; Bomb for… well, bombing; etc. There’s a lot to play around with in just this one card and the possibilities that it can enable, and has quickly became one of my favourites of the set because of it.

Umaro’s unique form of “removal” makes him an amazing 5cp 9k. Do I ever want to play him for 7cp? Rarely, but sometimes the situation calls for it and still lets you press on, or lets you keep that Dadaluma that’s about to never be dull again tapped down for that little bit longer with his end of turn ability. Umaro is our main reason for wanting to force Mog (VI) into the list so badly, and with both of them generating card advantage, it makes it that little bit easier to slam them both down in one turn to guarantee that cost reduction [Note: you’ll have to haste the Mog (VI) with Goblin if that’s the one you’re running to generate that advantage immediately, but it’s still usually fine with his conditional hexproof]. Could you skip over Umaro? Possibly, but it’s that extra category consistency coupled with the unique removal that makes him feel like he’s more of a boon to the list than a hindrance.

Classic ice legend Locke makes its return, as any ice-based deck with even a splash of category VI is bound to do. I’m not sure if there’s too much to talk about here that hasn’t been said already – he’s a real good card that can put you ahead, and continue to put you ahead if left unanswered. We have a new Celes though, so I’ve been trialling that over our old Celes that usually gets paired up with Locke and while it doesn’t generate anything on enter, the pressure it can exert when it starts swinging feels amazing. Bouncing a Setzer or Cid for replay value while at the same time bouncing a forward to clear the way for her to swing through is huge or, if there’s nothing to bounce, the other two options serve just as well. A 3cp 9k isn’t too much special these days but hey, sometimes it’s enough to get the job done and still lets you dodge things like an EX for 8k.

Barthandelus (or Barth, or Bart) is an amazing ice legend that we got this set and while not category VI, it synergises really well with other cards, especially in water. Dealing damage minus 2k to two things allows for Ultros to kill two things on attack, or for you to follow up by playing a Cagnazzo outside of mono water to finish up the job. Schrodinger’s come in really handy for this little follow up, as well as the aforementioned Kefka fodder. My favourite thing about Barth, though, is how it essentially forces your opponent to play on-curve or be punished. When you’re in ice, disrupting your opponent’s hand and potentially ruining that curve, it allows you to just be able to press that advantage you have over your opponent just that little bit more.

For the light/dark considerations, I feel that Emperor Gestahl is the no-brainer first choice, since it’s removal and category support in one. With his break ability, you have the option of running a small dark engine, with Kam’lanaut and Chaos. I really like the feel of Raegen in this list, as he can be played nice off of the Emperor Gestahl and grab it back, or just recur some good VI forward, like that Kefka you’ve been saving your two Schrodinger’s for. While testing at first, I found it hard to find early game consistency with my 2cp backups, so I opted for a Chaos in the list as well. Later on, I have the option of using Raegen’s active to get it out of my hand, or chuck it down after disposing of a breakable backup.

Ice/Water feels like a really versatile and strong combination that’s been blown open this set with the addition of Relm, moreso than all the others she has dug up. As with the Ninja deck above, maybe the answer isn’t to put a lacklustre earth engine in for the sake of making it tri-colour, but some things just can’t be helped in the face of new set hype.

In Closing

We hope you’re as excited for Opus 11 as we are, we’re having an absolute blast with it. This is by no means exhaustive of the decks in Opus 11 but hopefully covers a good jumping off point for a lot of different archetypes and gives you some new decks and ideas to try. There’s so much left to cover, there could be an entire article just as long about Relm alone. We’ll try to keep the content coming while the World’s locked down, until next time. Stay safe!