Type-0 Starter: Review and Upgrade

Quick look at Type-0 starter and how to upgrade it!



The Type-0 starter deck has a lot of really unique, synergistic cards that will undoubtedly see some form of competitive play once opus 3 is released. The question now, though, is how competitive can it be with just the starter cards and additions from opus 1 and 2? Well, as it happens, it can be fairly strong! After upgrading certain parts of the deck, I brought it to my locals (which is most likely one of the strongest locals in the world right now ) and managed to perform at an above average rate. Short of pilot error (since the deck plays fairly differently to other decks I am used to) I think the deck was at least on par if not better than everything I played against. In this article I will discuss some of the important strategies and synergies the deck possesses and then finish with notable upgrades the deck can put in and why.

Important cards out of the box:

When I first looked at ace I though he was basically a worse version of Zidane, a 7k that gives you value in some form. But, I quickly realised how powerful this card is. If you think about it in terms of Exdeath from opus 2, they are fairly similar, except for ace instead of upping his power (which you will see we achieve anyway with this deck), when he dies he can bring something back from the break zone! This essentially makes Ace a 0 cost 7k because when he enters you bring in a 4 drop (hopefully) and then when he leaves you draw a card making the total cost 0. On top of that the ability to bring in multiple forwards and swarm the field is exactly what type 0 wants to be doing, not only are almost all of the type 0 cards stronger the more class zero cadet’s that are out but they all have really strong specials to get which ace lets you find more of. All in all Ace is an extremely solid flagship starter to begin the deck with!

Okay so, I’m probably going to get some haters for saying this but in my opinion, Nine is pretty much worse than Wakka in every way. His auto ability is worse and his S ability is way more situational. The only thing about Nine that makes him good in comparison to Wakka is the fact that he is a job Class zero Cadet. Now, what is the upside to this? Well, Wakka is an extremely good final fantasy card! Nine synergises really well with the idea of swarming Class Zero Cadet forwards out, he lets you buff something and sometimes you can use his special to just win the game out of no-where. He is also a 10k more often than not in this deck which makes him exceptionally big. Ace Nine is one of the best turn 3 plays you can make in this deck (although, I suspect when there are more 4 drop Class zero Cadet’s they will also be exceptionally strong to play with Ace).

When I first read this card I thought it was the nuts, another Paine, Fallacious wanderer or Bartz to add to wind water to make the deck even more tempo advantageous. In reality, Eight does not live up to the standards of those cards previously mentioned. At the moment there aren’t enough Class zero Cadet Backups for him to have a decent cost reduction and unless you have lots of anthem affects up Eights S ability isn’t really strong or threatening to be something to worry about. He is useful, and does sometimes allow you to ramp out forwards, but in my opinion, Eight is the worst Class Zero Cadet in the deck (other than queen, but *SPOILER ALERT* she isn’t in the upgraded deck). He’s sometimes a 9k for 1-2, which is fine but, the other Class zero’s are just so amazingly good it’s unreal.

I’m having a hard time working out if I prefer Seven or Sice, both are actually insane cards and they both do similar things which is allow the Type-0 player to be as aggressive as possible. Seven is a very small forward, often just a 5-6k in this deck, which isn’t very big but, she has 2 very important lines of text that makes him so powerful. Firstly, none of your class zero cadet’s can be blocked by forwards of cost 4 or more when Seven is on the field. That is so powerful! Most good forwards are cost 4 or more! The best forward I can think of that is a 3 drop in terms of fighting ability is Ashe, which doesn’t really stand up well against Class zero Cadet’s anyway. The second line of text on this wonderful card is the ability to Cancel a special or auto ability by just discarding another Seven. Goodbye Shantotto! Now you no longer need to worry about swarming the field if you have Seven out because you can stop things like that. It forces your opponent to be scared to cast anything with a special or auto ability, all the time. Seven is just everything you want in a 2 drop, and more. Play 3 of this card!

Although not as versatile as Seven, Sice is more of an in your face kind of threat. She often turns sideways and kills something (in combination with other spells or his special). It’s a threat that just has to be dealt with. Sice also gets around Minwu very well, which is always something to look for in a solid, playable card. You should look to build up a board then both play and give haste to Sice as soon as possible to get use of his affect because usually this little guy will be the first thing to die when your opponent can kill something.

It’s a kill spell for 0, I like it. You can do cool things with it as well such as if you have 2 lightning backups and 3 wind you can tap 2 lightning to bring out Sice, then use diablos to kill something, untapping the 2 red mages to give Sice haste and kill something else. Pretty strong! This will most likely be a staple in wind for a long time.

This is sage with an ex burst. ‘Nuff said.

This is a 2 drop backup when you need it. A combat trick when you need it and a kill spell when you have the opportunity. Really strong card which I expect will always see play as a 3 of in type 0 decks. Oh, and it’s also a Class zero Cadet!

Here is the upgraded decklist:

Notable additions to the deck

This package (like most of the additions in this deck) is just a staple of playing Lightning at the moment, which is almost definitely the best element to be playing for opus 2. It’s a huge tempo play to kill something and play two forwards and in this deck Al-cid also has Sice as a target. Sometimes just playing two forwards for 4 is good enough.

Would have liked two Amon but I couldn’t find a place to fit another. The card is really strong and absolutely needs to be killed when played. It almost always guarantees a point of damage as well which is nice. Once again, simply a staple in any lightning deck at the moment!

Always play 3 red mage in a lightning deck, the card is busted!

Maria is really funny in this deck, With Moogle and Maria you are giving almost all your forwards a 2000 power anthem. That’s enough to make 2 drops trade with some 4 drops. I would really love to play a third Maria but there are already too many good wind backups being run in the deck and not enough lightning ones so 2 was all I could squeeze in.

General tips when playing the deck

Always try to make sure there is a class zero cadet in the break zone before playing Ace, or at least make sure to discard one when paying for his cost. Don’t miss out on ace’s strengths. Getting cards back for free is always great.

Abuse Cyclops and other power reduction abilities the deck has. Your forwards are generally not as strong as others but with the many combat tricks you have you can destroy unsuspecting opponents!

Ideally you want at least one red mage out as your fifth backup. It’s not really useful early game but once you have 5 backups you can play pretty much anything and give it haste

Ideal backup setup would be: Mog, maria, deuce, red mage red mage (or Arecia Al-Rashia)

It’s usually better to search for Ace with rem or Arecia Al-Rashia. He is your strongest play in the deck, especially when you have backups sorted out.

You can go from losing horribly to turning the tides very quick with this deck, try to always be on the aggressive as much as possible but if a defensive situation happens plan ahead to get as many class zero’s on the field as possible to lead to a big swing turn to haste out something and win.

Odin is a good card.

Late game a Rygdea into Odin can be a really solid win condition, you kill something and dull another, potentially also hasting the Rygdea. Don’t overlook the lethal potential of this card!That’s all for this article and we really hope you enjoyed it. Let us know what changes you might have tried and what your favorite Type-0 cadet currently is!