As we approach Opus VI in just a couple of weeks, I thought we would take this Thursday to do a more basic article, a straight up list of my top 10 things currently in the Final Fantasy TCG. And off we go!

#10 – Box Art

Typically, when a new Opus or scheduled year of Opuses.. (Opai?) is set, we get to see some fancy box art. It’s a nice way to get people pumped up for the sets to come, and also give a hint to either a card that is included or a theme that will be standard for that said set. But even with the information aside, it’s Final Fantasy Art! Even without being the biggest FFXIII fan, I was really excited to see a TCG Booster Box with Lightning on the front when I started playing this game back with Opus 1.

I mean look at this box art! ^ Are you kidding me? It’s gorgeous! This is going to look fantastic on any store display shelf or on your row of booster boxes as a part of your collection.

#9 – Sustainability

Something I’ve seen as a worry here and there from players is that soon, the game will run out of characters and we will have to rely on reprints, or they will stop making more Opus sets, etc. I’m afraid I will have to disagree pretty heavily here. They have not even begun to scratch the service. Between the dozens of Final Fantasy titles that exist, there are hundreds and hundreds of characters that do not have a single card yet. And these aren’t just minor npcs or random background characters either. People have suggested that Final Fantasy VII has pretty much exhausted it’s resources as far as characters go. I definitely disagree. Let’s take VII as the example. Sure we have Avalanche members, and Cloud, and the Crisis Core Crew such as Genesis and Angeal. But what about the Turks? What about all the summons? Fat-man Palmer? Don Corneo foils will be value as far as the eye can see. Emerald/Ruby/Diamond weapon, bloody hell we don’t even have Jenova yet. See where I am going with this? And this is just one game of the series! We have a huge future to look forward to for content.

#8 – Collectability

While this game has both it’s casual and competitive scene, the game also has a gigantic following of pack-crackers that are just after one thing, collecting all of their favorite characters or cards. They may just want to collect a set of Final Fantasy Tactics characters, or they might want to have complete play-sets of Foiled cards from the entire game. But with all the memories and emotional weight that these characters carry with them, it’s no surprise that players want to have a shiny binder full of these. Promo cards add another layer onto collecting, because they offer alternative art for cards already in the set. Also make sure to grab your alt-art S cards from Opus 3 starter kits!

#7 – Card Art

This hardly needs an explanation, but the art for so many of these cards (especially when foiled) are fantastic. We have many talented artists being celebrated here, and I don’t think Yoshitaka Amano really needs an introduction. On top of the already established art from all these games we love, we have been getting original art for FFTCG since Opus 4. The new cards in Opus VI coming from Final Fantasy 2 are outright beautiful. Now while the great art is in the majority, there are a few… glaringly horrendous ones, which will be covered in a list after this one. But for the most part, it’s always exciting seeing Final Fantasy art being displayed when spoilers go out.

#6 – Accessories

If you are a Final Fantasy fan, chances are, you have some collectibles. Lamps, game boxes, plushies, clocks, action figures, mousepads, shirts, the list goes on. We love our Final Fantasy characters and to show them off. The TCG is no exception. Players absolutely adore making custom playmats that show off their favorite characters or game from the series. Card sleeves and storage boxes are no exception, with the more rare officially printed sleeves heavily sought after. There’s a reason people pay $50, $60 for imported Final Fantasy chapters sleeves. Just got some custom Final Fantasy dice myself! And I see many more items coming, both officially and those that are custom made. I know for sure that the Shiva / Dragoon FFXIV sleeves coming in a couple of weeks will sell out very quickly. The demand is just insane to customize our card presentation.

And the Top 5….

Check out tomorrow’s article for the conclusion to the top 5 things I love about FFTCG! See you then

(Did you know? HORI released a Vana’diel Clock called the Final Fantasy XI Vana’diel Forever Clock which is officially licensed by Square Enix. It was released March 2005 . The clock is about eight inches tall and displays Vana’diel time, the moon phases, and Earth time. There are four alarms that that can be set to either Vana’diel time or Earth time. The alarms are the theme sounds to San d’Oria, Bastok, Windurst and Jeuno. Wake up for work To San d’Oria bag pipes!)