As I sit at my computer on my first day of summer vacation, I find myself drinking coffee and editing deck lists on FFDecks listening to the Gustaberg Theme from FFXI. When I look at each card in my deck I ask myself “Why is this card in my deck?”, if I cannot provide a reason, or enough synergy from other cards to support my reason, then it is a candidate for being cut to make the deck more consistent. Reflecting on your deckbuilding process like this will not only make your decks stronger, but also make you a better player. As you justify a card’s presence in your deck, you confirm its synergies and the goal of your deck. This helps you remember your game plan in a match and keeps you from straying from your best lines. So what does this reflection process look like? I will list a few examples below! Obvious Includes and Why They Work: When you look at a card like Al-Cid, he is almost a necessity in competitive lightning decks. The tempo he provides from potentially breaking an opponent’s forward and bringing out two of your own is massive. However, like his character in the game, Al-Cid must be surrounded in your deck by some beauties. When you add Al-Cid to your deck, you will of course put in Onion Knight (what a babe) and maybe even a Rygdea (that hair) or two. Illua (actually a female) is also a great choice. For awhile we were even seeing Black Waltz 3 come up in many lightning decks. By playing many 3 cost or lower cards, most of which that combo with the damage of Al-Cid’s entrance ability, we increase the amount of times we will draw him and get full value out of him. We can also play cards like the 2 CP Black Mage 2-108C to reduce a forwards power, therefore letting Al-Cid bring out a forward without a damage ability and still getting the kill. When you ask yourself “why” you put a card in your deck, can you back it up with support like we did in this Al-Cid example? Here are some examples of questions to help your process of asking yourself “why” you included a card in your deck:
Partial Packages: Let’s say you wanted to run a splash of lightning in another colour. You have to put Al-Cid in, right? But you don’t want to compromise the other element in your deck, so you only add 3 Onion Knights. Is that enough targets for Al-Cid’s effect to go off reliably? The answer is debatable. You might not always be able to use him when you draw him. When you are adding cards to your decks because you like their abilities, make sure to ask yourself how reliable it will actually be in practice. Sometimes you can be split across many ideas for a deck and it will dilute the consistency of your list. Boosters and other “Staples”: There are cards in this game that when you build a deck with their elements, you add them into your deck automatically. This is because they are strong cards and you see lists everywhere running them. However, it is very important that these cards do not receive any preferential treatment when questioning their place in your deck. “Because all Ice decks run Duke Larg” is not a reason to keep him. However, his ability to put your 7K Ice forwards out of Fusoya range is. When you play an elemental booster in your deck ask yourself “is power important in my deck?” and if it isn’t, then don’t run a booster. 3-CP back up slots are precious, and there are a lot more to choose from in the game these days, just look at Earth as an example. Enna Kros, Graviton, Momodi, and any 3 CP searcher are all desirable 3 CP back ups to play. You could also look at a card like Shantotto, which is an amazing play to stabilize if you start off slow or your opponent gets ahead and overextends. I mean, you should ALWAYS play Shantotto if you are playing Earth right? Well maybe not. Does your deck ever plan on being behind? If you have a tempo, forward oriented strategy, you might not play Shantotto that often. Next time you build a deck think to yourself:
Homer Cards: This is my biggest weakness as a player. There are cards that I love that I want to include in any given deck. Opus 1 Kuja for example. And while he is a pain in the behind for people, he doesn’t do anything on his own, and there are more proactive 5-costs to play in Ice. Other cards that I have tried to play include 3-CP Songstress Yuna and 5-CP Opus-1 Orlandeau. Both are powerful cards, but when you ask yourself why they are in your deck, you will find that their upsides are out-weighed by their other versions, or in the case of Yuna, running Ashe as your 3-cp water forward. I am by no means telling you to not run your favourite cards, or the cards listed above. But think about what situation they would need to be successful. Can you support them? Yuna can remove all abilities from your opponent’s characters (except for Light and Dark characters), for example back up Minwu, allowing Orlandaeu to swing in with his ability. But if Yuna isn’t strong enough, she will be blocked and end up in the break zone. When you are building a deck and ask yourself “Why”, you will more than likely cut some homer cards to optimize your deck’s goal. It can be easy to dream about throwing in all these powerful cards in your deck, I am certainly guilty of it myself, but if you try it out and things aren’t going your way, ask yourself "why" and refine your list. Your deck will become stronger and you will be a better player for it. If there is any advice that you have for me or others for building decks feel free to comment below. Let me know what types of questions you ask yourself when you are deck building. Cheers! EDIT: I originally stated you could bring the new rare Estinien out with Al-Cid, that has been confirmed as an illegal play. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I have removed that sentence from the article. About the Author:
Alex Kelsch is one of many contributors to Cloud City. He mainly plays the Ice, Earth, and Lightning elements, and has a soft spot for the discard mechanic. His favourite Final Fantasy is probably 4, but he doesn’t like having to choose. Alex works as a high school teacher, specifically teaches PE and Science. He also loves playing Tennis and Soccer, and coaches several youth teams.
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