Eager to try out the new cards from Opus 2, we had a casual tournament on our regular meet-up day.

Tifa was one of my favourite characters in Opus 1, so I was quite pleased to see that another great version of her was being printed in Opus 2. Her ability really helps you get damage through, so I decided to make a Fire & Wind ‘unblockables’ deck. Here’s my list:

FIRE/WIND UNBLOCKABLES

Forwards (26)

2x Auron (1-002R)

3x Capricious Thief (2-059C)

3x Edge (2-054R)

3x Lann (1-027H)

3x Tifa (1-189S)

3x Tifa (2-011L)

3x Yuffie (1-086C)

3x Zell (2-008C)

3x Zidane (1-071L)

Backups (16)

3x Aerith (1-064R)

1x Aerith (1-065C)

1x Baralai (1-200S)

3x Red Mage (1-003C)

2x Rikku (2-071R)

2x Sage (2-005C)

3x Zangan (1-188S)

1x Zemus (2-148H)

Summons (8)

3x Belias, the Gigas (2-019R)

2x Ifrit (2-002C)

3x Shemhazai, the Whisperer (2-070R)

MATCH ONE vs SAM (FIRE/LIGHTNING)

My opponent got off to a fairly aggressive start, getting me up to three damage before I was able to start retaliating. However, I managed to recover by getting Tifa into play and using Waterkick to help clear the field. Eventually, I got Zidane and Capricious Thief into play, then managed to sneak in enough damage for the game. WIN

MATCH TWO vs JOHN (WATER/LIGHTNING)

I opened with Yuffie and Zidane, to which my opponent replied with Larsa, which really slowed me down! This was soon followed by Drace, so things were not looking good. My only option was to keep slamming down threats and hoping that something stuck. Eventually we wore ourselves out, had a fairly clean board, and were both in top deck mode. I got luckier, getting a Tifa and Waterkicking my way to victory. WIN

MATCH THREE vs LYNDON (ICE/LIGHTNING)

I played a Zidane on my second turn, and I could tell from my opponent’s reaction that he was going to be a problem for him. This proved to be the case, as every other forward I tried to keep on the field got ruthlessly broken by an Odin as soon as they were played. Meanwhile, Zidane kept on getting through, doing a total of four damage during the game. I managed to close things out with a field of Zidane, Tifa (L), and Capricious Thief. WIN

MATCH FOUR vs ALEC (WATER/LIGHTNING)

I got a Yuffie into play first turn, and she managed to do several points of damage before being destroyed. In this game my backups were actually the key to victory, as I got a Red Mage and the amazing Zemus into play. These meant that my opponent absolutely had to remove all of my forwards, or damage was coming through. Thanks to my early lead on damage courtesy of Yuffie, trying to race me wasn’t quite an option. Lann got the kiling blow, but I also had Capricious Thief on the field as well. WIN

MATCH FIVE vs AARON (GOLBEZ)

As it turned out, both of us were currently 4-0, so this was basically the final. My opponent opened with a Golbez. Normally this would be quite grim, but I countered with Yuffie, gave her haste with Sage, and also played a Zidane. This meant I was already ahead in the damage race. After another couple of turns, my opponent had Gordon and Monk in play, but I also had Tifa (L) and Edge. Tifa stopped Gordon blocking, then I used Ifrit on the Monk to allow Zidane and Yuffie to get through. WIN

FINAL STANDINGS

Rank Player Wins 1st Tim 5 2nd Aaron 4 3rd Lyndon 3 4th Alec 2 5th John 1 6th Sam 0

So, the deck performed really well (who knew loads of hard-to-block forwards would be good, right?). However, based on the five matches I would make the following changes.

Remove:

1x Rikku (2-071R)

3x Shemhazai, the Whisperer (2-070R)

Add:

1x Baralai (1-200S)

1x Ifrit (2-002C)

2x Bahamut Fury (1-190S)

SUMMARY

This is an aggressive deck which tries to attack under your opponent’s forwards. Ifrit and Bahamut Fury will help remove their smaller blockers, allowing you to get through for damage.

Legendary Tifa is amazing, and every time she was in play she felt like a massive threat. My lineup of Wind backups help against control decks, as Aerith, Baralai, and Rikku can all ready my forwards, which is good against dull/freeze effects.

Special mention should go to Zemus. It was a great card to have in my deck, and for your opponents it needs to be dealt with quickly (if possible). This card is going to help you close out games, and is going to be particularly devastating with something like Tidus and his Blitz Ace.

Anyway, thanks to FFTCG Mognet for providing an excellent site to view the currently available cards.

Cheers!