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We do a lot of talking about Final Fantasy TCG on the site, and with the upcoming Opuses, we started to discuss some of the new mechanics for FFTCG we would like to see. My history is primarily in Magic: the Gathering, so a lot of the ideas are partially borrowed from mechanics from that games history. This article is a place to start discussions. If you came from Reddit or Facebook, feel free to comment there, or here, on what you think about our ideas and throw out some of your own.

Also, keep in mind that I am a newer player and I am asking our more experienced players if any of the mechanics mentioned have been used, but if I word something in a strange way, remember that I’m still learning the sometimes odd wording of FFTCG.

New Mechanic for Summons

The first thing that I brought up when we started talking about potential new mechanics for FFTCG, which I thought would be extremely exciting, is the idea of Summons entering as forwards. The summon would enter the field as a forward with a set number of time counters. Once they enter the field, they do something, but they also act exactly the same as a forward. During each activate phase, they lose one time counter. Once all time counters are gone, they move to the break zone.

For an example, here is a very untested idea for a Forward Summon:

Shiva 4 CP 8000

You must dull a forward of the same element or same category as Shiva as part of the cost to play Shiva to the Field. Shiva is a Summon and a Forward. Shiva enters the field with 3 time counters. Remove one time counter during each activate phase. When the last time counter is removed, break Shiva. When Shiva enters the field, dull and freeze one forward. When Shiva attacks, choose one dull forward, deal it 5000 damage. If that forward is frozen, deal it 10000 damage instead.

Of course, this would be done much easier with a keyword of some sort to cut down on how much text is there. If a keyword such as Partner Summon (3) was used, you would end up with text closer to this:

Shiva 4 CP 8000

Partner Summon (3) When Shiva enters the field, dull and freeze one forward. When Shiva attacks, choose one dull forward, deal it 5000 damage. If that forward is frozen, deal it 10000 damage instead.

There is a lot of design space for this type of summon and it represents certain games more accurately than others. Things could be pushed even further to have certain summons have a reduced cost if a certain forward is dulled as part of the casting cost. I also think there would need to be some testing to decide if the forward would count as a CP towards the cost.

One other idea for the forward is that the forward that “summons” Shiva is removed from the game until Shiva is put into the break zone.

Healing Magic

Another option, though it seems from the recent Q&A that it is unlikely, is the ability to add healing magic to a few cards. For example, giving a character Cure would allow you to remove one card from the damage zone from the game. Something like this.

Remove this character from the game to move one card in the damage zone from the game.

It is a powerful effect and one that shouldn’t be able to be used outside of your turn, but it is something that I think warrants some discussion.

New Mechanic for Parties and Team Cards

The original printing of Final Fantasy TCG had a few cards that were a combination of multiple characters. Cloud/Red XIII were one team card, for example. It reads as follows:

Fire 7, Forward. 9000.

Combination – Cloud (3) / Red XIII (3)

Haste

Whenever a Forward you control attacks, choose 1 Forward. You may deal it 4000 damage.

Howling Moon (S): All Forwards you control gain 1000 Power, Haste and Pre-emptive Strike until end of turn.

I like the idea of having multiple characters on a card, but I think they should work a little differently. For example, Cloud/Tifa

If a Cloud character, Tifa character, and Barret character form a party, the party gains 3000 power. You decide how damage is divided if they are blocked.

This would let you have Cloud/Tifa, count as both Cloud and Tifa characters, so you would only need to have two cards out to form the party. In addition, if Barret and Red XIII were on a team, that card would count for the above mentioned rules as well, since Barret is a character on the Barret/Red XIII card.

These new cards would be considered Team Cards and would count as both characters, so they could trigger:

Critical Damage

There is a bit of a disagreement as to how critical damage would work as a new mechanic for FFTCG. Some feel it should be a keyword ability that would only work when damaging other forwards. Others feel that it could do extra damage to a player.

The idea right now, is something along these lines. When Vaan deals damage, you may remove the top card of your deck from the game. If you remove a card named Vaan, double the damage dealt.

In combat against forwards, a Vaan with 7000 power could attack and a blocker at 9000 power would have to consider blocking more carefully, even if the attacker is empty handed. Vaan could end up doing 14000 damage, though his power is still only 7000 and he would die in the exchange. Still, this would kill the larger blocker as well, making smaller characters more difficult to safely block if they have critical damage.

The same rules are in effect if it were to go to players, though it may be too powerful. If Vaan deals damage to a player, remove the top card of your deck from the game. If it is a card named Vaan deal one extra damage to the opponent. There may need to be extra restrictions or costs when dealing damage as now having 5 damage is the danger zone.

I like both ideas, if balanced, but I think just adding Critical Hit Chance as an ability for some characters that only works against other forwards may be the safer place to start.

So there are the potential new mechanics for FFTCG that we came up with so far. We have a podcast coming up soon with even more to discuss, but we wanted to see what the community thought and get those brains thinking. Lay out your feedback and let us know what you come up with. Or just let us know where we went right or wrong in this article.

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