May 15, 2017 Ritchie McAlley

JustPlay has just held it’s first organised play tournament for the rising TCG that is Final Fantasy. This tournament comprised of 11 players all taking advantage of the strong cards which have been released, even managing to make large use of the cards released just weeks prior in Opus II. Decks such as Standard units, modified starter decks, mono-colour decks and even blends of the player’s creations battled it out in 4 rounds of swiss, before a top 4 cut.

Here is a quick rundown of the top 4 players and their decklists, and a quick overview of what their deck aimed to do. All of these players went 3-1 in Swiss.



4th Place (After top 4 Cut) Stuart Moore - Mono Water

Forwards: 26



Name Code Copies

Ephemeral Vision 2-123C 2

Semblance of a Witch 2-125C 1

Viking 1-167C 1

Quistis 2-127R 2

Yuna 1-214S 3

Yuna 2-138L 1

Tidus 1-213S 3

Lenne 2-142R 1

Knight 1-165C 3

Knight 1-166C 1

Viking 2-132C 1

Wakka 1-216S 3

Larsa 2-139C 1

Agrias 1-152R 1

Ashe 2-121H 2





Backups: 15

Name Code Copies

Yuna 1-177R 2

Horne 2-134C 2

Alma 1-153C 2

Ovelia 1-156C 1

Lenne 1-215S 2

Summoner 2-128C 1

Wakka 1-180R 2

Rosa 2-143R 1

Astrologian 2-130C 2

Summons: 9



Name Code Copies

Leviathan 1-178R 3

Leviathan 2-140C 2

Moogle 1-172C 2

Fairy 1-170C 1

Cúchulainn, the Impure 2-133R 1





This deck took third place in Swiss due to Strength of Schedule (SOS) before falling to fourth place in the top four cut. Mono water is not the typical mono colour deck but it does have some very strong cards, including the forward Wakka, most notable for the special ability Status Reel. This can negate abilities on the field, but more noticeably it can negate effects which trigger when the card is sent to the break zone. Status reel negates the effects of the card entirely, so it will make a Golbez or any other monster with a strong on-break effect fizzle. The combo of Lenne and Yuna forwards cannot be understated either, with the ability to drop a 3 drop leviathan from the deck to bounce a blocker to hand being strong in itself.



3rd Place (After top 4 Cut) Alex Gaffney - Modified FFX Starter

Forwards: 24



Name Code Copies

Ninja 1-078C 2

Paine 1-199S 3

Rikku 1-201S 3

Larsa 2-139C 2

Geomancer 1-168C 2

Knight 1-165C 2

Viking 1-167C 1

Ultimecia 1-152L 3

Tidus 1-213S 3

Wakka 1-216S 3





Backups: 20

Name Code Copies

Evoker 1-068C 2

Minwu 1-171H 3

Yuna 1-177R 3

Devout 1-077C 1

Brother 1-197S 3

Baralai 1-200S 3

Evoker 1-159C 1

Shuyin 1-212S 2

Lenne 1-215S 2





Summons: 6



Name Code Copies

Sylph 1-074R 2

Fairy 1-170C 1

Valefor 1-198S 3







This is what I played at the tournament. The FFX starter was my favourite starter deck on release and the Yuna, Rikku and Paine combo is still strong. Taking a preference to the backup yuna for lower summon cost to keep it protected moreso than a forward Yuna worked well, and there were very few times that she was broken. The star of this deck again was the Forward Wakka, able to blank a card at any point. Another surprisingly good card was Larsa, a forward with the same field effect as Minwu; that forwards can’t take damage less than their power. Also, the ability to make a Rikku 12k to block if Yuna and Paine are on the field, as well as not being able to take damage less than her power stops a lot of decks from being able to get player damage in. Valefor was also an extremely useful card as most of the time it was a free, or sometimes even better than free 3k board nuke. Having two in hand, Yuna on field and one more backup resulted in 6k to everything your opponent has, which can break a lot of decks early game, and can be a counter to a deck such as unblockables.

2nd Place (After top 4 Cut) Michael Bennett - Ice & Lightning

Forwards: 22

Name Code Copies

Terra 1-046H 3

Terra 1-047R 3

Laguna 1-059R 2

Laguna 1-058L 2

Squall 1-041L 3

Squall 1-042R 2

Kuja 1-037H 2

Lightning 1-142R 2

Rinoa 2-047L 3





Backups: 18

Name Code Copies

Time Mage 1-049C 2

Jihl Nabaat 1-193S 3

Seymour 1-137R 2

Sage 1-133C 3

Summoner 1-053C 2

Devout 1-048C 2

Mog (XIII-2) 1-196S 2

Magus 1-140C 2







Summons: 8



Name Code Copies

Odin 1-124R 3

Shiva 1-038R 3

Mateus, the Corrupt 2-044R 2

The first thing that should become apparent with this is how heavily the deck list favours ice. With only one lightning forward, it’s the ice cards that will be making up the bulk of the attacking force in this deck. The Lightning element is very much almost a tech choice, complementing the heavy FFVIII lineup. This deck, as any ice deck does, features a lot of dulling and freezing effects, with the legendary Rinoa being able to make your opponent unable to block, because if they do and kill Rinoa, her ability to dull all the opponent forwards will leave the board open for further attacks. A lot of the power in this deck comes from the backups, with cards such as Jihl and Time Mage slowing the opposition down tremendously. It allows you to set up a field, hopefully getting out both Laguna and Squall, and hopefully even a Rinoa. With the local meta not terribly favouring high cost forwards, Vayne wasn’t needed here, and a very formidable deck rose to second place.

1st Place (After top 4 Cut) Jamie Perkins - "Straight Fiiirreee"

Forwards: 25



Name Code Copies

Emperor Xande 2-007L 3

Cloud 1-009C 2

Cloud 1-182L 2

Rosso 2-024R 3

Gadot 1-007R 2

Warrior of Light 1-005R 3

Tifa 1-016C 2

Tifa 2-011L 2

Red XIII 1-191S 3

Lann 1-027H 3







Backups: 16

Name Code Copies

Sage 2-005C 3

Lebreau 1-030R 2

Tellah 2-012R 2

Summoner 2-018C 2

Zangan 1-188S 2

Reynn 1-028R 2

Red Mage 1-003C 3







Summons: 9



Name Code Copies

Ifrit 1-004C 2

Brynhildr 1-023R 3

Belias, the Gigas 2-019R 3

Bahamut 1-018L 1



Mono fire has been one of the prominent decks all over the globe since the release of Opus 2. It is mainly due to one card; Emperor Xande. Playing Mono Fire is to get rid of the first condition of his effect, which is that he can only be played by fire Cp. Dealing 5k whenever it attacks, and dealing 9k when it dies, on top of it’s massive 9k body is devastating. If your opponent has two monsters, you are likely taking out two monsters if they decide to block. But it’s not the only reason this deck is so strong. There is a lot of removal in the form of legendary cloud and bahamut, and Tellah, but there are also a few specks of an unblockable deck hidden in there. With quite a few 2 drop forwards, sage and also with common Tifa having haste, this deck was able to often go for a few points of damage very early, and force a response, putting a timer on the game. Then Legendary Tifa took over.

Her special, making all 3 drops unable to block, as well as making one extra forward unable to block whenever she attacks, means you have to have high cost forwards to block, or you are losing the game. Which means you can’t attack with them, but it also means you can’t attack with your low cost forwards, because they will get blocked by the beefy bodies that this deck provides. With so many abilities such as Ifrit doing damage, this deck forces you to keep up the tempo with high power monsters, but they can get pinged just as easily by Tellah or Bahamut. The deck has a lot of options, and the only concern that Jamie ever had with the deck is that it can occasionally run low on resources. Apart from that, a great blend of Mono-Fire.

The winner Jamie (left) and Micheal runner up!

Congratulations to Jamie for the big win on the day. We have a Win a Box of Opus 1 event coming up at the start of June, with tickets on sale now available on our store for just £10 here. Along with the box we will be giving all entrants Promo cards and even more Foil Promos for the Top finishing players!

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you at our next event.

Alex and the JustPlay team.