Best Control Cards in Fire (Opus 1)

Since my first ever article written for the Final Fantasy TCG was the primer to the Cloud Control-deck, it should be of no surprise that I am kind of a “control guy”. Yes. That guy. The one in your Magic group that always plays blue and let’s all of your matches transform into a tedious game of “mommy may I”. That’s what I enjoy the most.

The FFTCG right now features a vast array of aggressive decks, that more or less build themselves. Brewing around a control-strategy on the other hand seems to take a little more thought. (Disclaimer: This does not mean that I think other decks are easy to optimize).

So if you also enjoy building those sweet control suites – I compiled a list of what I think are the top 3 cards to play in control decks coming out of Opus 1 for each Element, which I will release over the course of the next days.

PROLOG

Control in the Final Fantasy TCG is a little different than in other games you might have played. As for now there are no cards that outright “negate” a card played by the opponent. Since you are not even able to react to a character entering the field (except if he triggers an auto ability) I am wondering if we will ever see a classic “counter spell”.

That’s why we have to focus on what makes a control deck work. We want to generate as much advantage as we can with as little cards as we need. We want to be able to trade our cards favoritly and try to stay alive to get into the late game, where our big characters can shine.

With that said: Let’s dig in!

FIRE

3. Bahamut

Bahamut would be much higher on the list if it were not so expensive to summon. If you are paying 9 CP for a card, you expect to get a huge impact out of it. Most of the time Bahamut can deliver that. It can take out their two biggest guys. Even a 9K-forward backed up by Maria and Minwu. But it can not deal with guys like Zidane. Also the opponent having a [3]Aertih on the field let’s it sit kind of awkward in you hand.

2. [4S]Tifa

“Woah! Hold on!”, I hear you scream at your screen. “This a top tier aggro-card!”, you might say. And you are not wrong. [4S]Tifa is excellent in any fire deck that wants to go on the offensive. But her Waterkick makes she incredibly useful for any control player. The fact that she not only deals a bunch of damage but also dulls the forward she is targeting, in addition not needing to dull herself for the effect, is insane. She really throws a stick into the gears of your opponents offense.

This card is very close to being the best fire card for our purpose. What keeps it from achieving this goal are the costs of her special skill. Only needing 1 red CP is a bargain. But to use it as much as we would want to, we would need to run [2]Tifa as well. Not the greatest of control cards. Although you could argue that she checks Zidane & Eminem.

1. Brynhildr

This is a premium removal card for every control deck. Brynhildr is cheap and deals with a lot of cards that need answering on it’s own. This includes Cloud of Darkness, [3]Yuffie and [4]Terra. But it also helps you to block and attack much more advantageous. The fact that also can EX Burst makes this my number 1 choice for control cards within the fire element.

Conclusion

The selection of cards may show that fire is not in a great spot when it comes to options for control players. This is clearly not where its focus was put by the designers. Fire should be played offensively or carrying you into the mid game. That said there are some great options to serve you well as a second or third element within your control brews.

Join me next time, when we are taking a look at Ice!

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Author Bio:

Prinny first dipped his toe into the pond of TCGs in 2002 when Yu-Gi-Oh! made it’s way to Europe. He has been taken the part of TO, judge and tournament player in several games. Mainly focusing on Magic: The Gathering and the World of Warcraft TCG.