Hey there everyone! Welcome back to Lv.1 Onion Knight: The FFTCG Blog that got 75% of its remaining DLC cancelled.

Let me start things off by wishing everyone a Happy New Year! This past year of getting to be a part of the FFTCG community has been a blast. I started the year off unemployed, getting ranched hardcore on all of my matches, and generally not having a clue how to improve my overall skills with the game. Now... well really the only thing that's changed is that I'm employed. But it's been a pretty great year - I've met a ton of awesome players and fellow FFTCG content creators, and I'm looking forward to getting to play with and explore the wonderful enigma that is the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game Community, but most importantly losing a lot of matches in the future.

LOSERS CUP 2019 AT THE JAVITS CENTER HELL YEAAHHH!

2019 is shaping up to be a big year for the game already. The first ever FFTCG Fan Festival is right around the corner, and we've gotten confirmation that a brand new official game mode will be making its debut there: Boss Fight!

With this in mind, I figured now would be the perfect time to introduce something that the FFTCG NYC crew has been workshopping for awhile now. So ladies, Gents, and Otherwise - I'm happy to premier a brand new four player game mode for the new year - the Twin Party System!

The Twin Party System, or TPS for short, is a team based format where two players join forces in a four-way match. While experimental four player variants are nothing new to the card game scene, the FFTCG NYC Crew has been testing, tweaking, and brainstorming to create what we believe is the best, most solid format possible, with an adjusted ruleset from a typical constructed match to really make playing in teams both strategic and fun. In short, the goal of the TPS is to make players feel like they've formed a party just like in the games, as well as to give local tournaments different format options to utilize.





The TPS was the brainchild of Andrew Cheah of the FFTCG NYC Crew, who besides being a chill-as-hell human being, was one of the people who helped me get marginally less sucky at this game, and also helped grab me my first official playmat from a tournament, which has now become damp and sodden with my tears.





Some fast facts about Andrew:

Is one of the founders of the NYC group and is now our number one Asian player by default after the previous one moved to the Philippines.

His favorite Final Fantasy character is Bartz from Final Fantasy V.

He'll break your heart then Break your Forwards.

He's actually a World's Qualifyer... for CardFight!! Vanguard, though he did place 17th at the Boston Crystal Cup last year.

Because he's played a variety of card games at a competitive level, Andrew has gained a unique perspective on the FFTCG's Mechanics and Formats, which led to the creation of the Twin Player System.

You can learn more about Andrew's process for creating this new Format at the end of this posting, along with some of his tips and suggestions for playing it. But for now, lets get to what everybody came here for: How to play the Twin Party System.

The Twin Party System: A Four Player Format

Before we get started there are two things I want to point out:

The Twin Party System is an unofficial Fan-Created Format, and is not currently supported by either Hobby Japan or Square-Enix.

Despite being a member of the team who tested it, I do not claim any personal ownership over its creation, and merely wanted to share it with the FFTCG Community on behalf of Andrew and the FFTCG NYC Team.

Now that we have that out of the way, lets go over how to play the Twin Party System!

New: Cosmos/Chaos Mode Rulings

About the Format

As I've said in the past, I really enjoy opportunities to use my blog to showcase other members of the FFTCG community, so here's a brief Q&A with Andrew, the creator of the TPS Format. I hope that you come to fear love and respect him as I have over this past year.





🔰 What is your experience with TCG's and how did you get into the FFTCG?



AC:

Ok, so the Sparknotes version of that is: I played card games all my life starting with Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic the Gathering. In 2011 I discovered Cardfight!! Vanguard, and that was what got me more seriously into card games. Starting in 2013 myself and a group of friends banned together to form a 4 player Vanguard format to support lack of organized play.

In 2017 though, my interest in the game waned due to company decisions, so I was ready to get into a new game. Last summer one of our local card game shops Silk Road was chosen for the FFTCG Petit Cup. Since I was close with the owner of Silk Road, I reached out to Jonathan Amar from another local game shop, The Uncommons to help support the event. After playing so many other games, This one just felt right -I went from collecting to building and then working to grow our local community.

🔰 How did you come up with the Twin Party System Format?



AC:

I like experimenting with different game Formats and was surprised that the FFTCG didn't have anything like that yet. A Four Player mode is kind of a natural "next step" for a TCG like this since people like to team up with their friends and win - by crushing other friends.

The idea behind the TPS Format started back in April of 2018. I figured if the FFTCG was good as a one player game, since it allows for so much freedom and experimentation in deckbuilding, a 4 player variant would be a great idea. The build being showcased here is final version of the beta build that's been tested out with fellow NYC players.

🔰 What do you think the best way to play the TPS Format is - having a teammate randomly assigned to you, or signing up as a team?



AC: For casual it's more fun to play with a random person but for a tournament format it would be best to have emphasis on building pre-registered teams rather than blind 2v2 matches, just because it allows you to synergize with your partner much better that way.





🔰 What are some of your recommendations for deckbuilding for this format?



AC: I think if you're starting out, each partner having a Mono Element deck would be a good idea to test the waters and see how each element plays off of each other in a team setting.

Once you've gotten acclimated, i think Dual color decks are going to be a bit crazier, but it can also allow certain deck types to fully experience the best of every color available without one deck having to carry four elements. For example, Warriors of Light can split 4 elements into 2 per person, or allowing off-color Knights like Garland 6-002L or Delita to benefit from having a partner running Water/Lightning Knights.





🔰 Any suggestions for team synergy strategies?



AC: Because the FFTCG is so flexible in term of playstyles, it really depends on the theme of what each team wants to do.

One player can play more defensively with an element like Water by ramping up and playing more forwards to block for the team with. You can pair that with a partner running a more offensive build like Mono Lightning, who can mess with the opponents field while also building up their own side of attackers.





🔰 What are your hopes for the TPS Format?



AC: I'm really interested to see how people react to a different format. It would be great to get feedback from the community and see if people would be interested in testing it out at their local stores. If people like it and used it as a supplement to standard constructed, that would be cool, but it's up to the will of the players to drive an external Format like that. It would be great to have more options for people, stores, tournaments, ect.

But really, I just want somebody to pull off the dream of a Bartz/Gilgamesh team...

So there you have it folks! A brand new format for the New Year! What do you guys think of the Twin Party System? Would you be interested in trying this out at locals or casuals? If you do, let me know what you think! The FFTCG NYC Crew is looking to make this a fun experience for everybody!

Until next time - Keep on Grinding,



