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  • 23 Oct. 2023

FFTCG Beyond Destiny Sneak Peek!


FINAL FANTASY TRADING CARD GAME, abbreviated FFTCG, is played all around the world.
We’re excited to bring you an FF Portal-exclusive sneak peek of four cards from the newest FFTCG booster packs, Beyond Destiny, which will be released on November 17!

Once again, we bring you new card introductions from FFTCG producer Taro Kageyama and comments on their art from the illustrators who drew them!

A Sneak Peek at Beyond Destiny

Hello, everyone! This is FFTCG producer Taro Kageyama. I have the pleasure of introducing new FFTCG booster packs before their release, and this time I'll be talking about Beyond Destiny, slated for release on November 17. I'll be introducing four cards—two drawn by Ryoma Ito and two by Gen Kobayashi. I hope you enjoy the illustrations! Now let's dive in.

[21-053L] Balthier, [21-055H] Penelo

First, we have the two cards illustrated by Mr. Ito. The characters are [21-053L] Balthier and [21-055H] Penelo from FINAL FANTASY XII. Here's a preview of the normal and full-art versions.

As always, the illustrations are beautifully paired. I know I've written this before, but if you have the chance, I encourage you to check out the full-art versions for yourselves.

Now let's take a look at what these cards can do. First, we'll start with [21-053L] Balthier.

[21-053L] Balthier has a cost of 4, power of 8000, and is a Wind Forward and Job Sky Pirate. He has both an auto-ability and action ability. His auto-ability is extremely powerful—when Balthier or another Wind Character enters your field, you can deal 3000 damage to a Forward controlled by your opponent. While that may not seem like much, Wind elements are adept at placing multiple Characters on the field in one turn, so it wouldn't be unusual to trigger this even three times in a single turn. His action ability also provides a major boost. When you discard one Job Sky Pirate, it activates all the Characters you control! That of course includes Backups, and activating Backups makes it easier for additional Characters to enter the field. Though the ability can only be used once per turn, it has more than enough power to make up for it.

Next is [21-055H] Penelo. She has a cost of 2, power of 5000, and is a Wind Forward and Job Sky Pirate and Job Dancer. She has two auto-abilities—one that triggers when she enters the field and one when placed in the Break Zone. The first ability allows you to choose two Characters, which you can activate if you control two or more Job Sky Pirate Forwards. One can be Penelo, so the condition isn't too difficult. If you activate two Backups, you can make up for the 2 CP used to cast Penelo, and by activating Characters with action abilities that have a dull cost, those abilities can be used again. The second ability allows you to choose one Job Sky Pirate with a cost of 3 or more from the Break Zone and add it to your hand. Since it requires a cost of 3 or more, that excludes her own card, but it works well with [21-053L] Balthier's action ability that discards one Job Sky Pirate. In the past, Job Sky Pirate decks have taken several tournaments by storm, and they may come into the spotlight once again with the debut of these cards.

【Comments from the Illustrator: Ryoma Ito】

[21-055H] Penelo
Though I received requests for several cards, I decided on Penelo first, and the other characters were designed with the same touch. As this is her character from FINAL FANTASY XII: REVENANT WINGS, she's portrayed with a little more maturity. I hope you enjoy the depiction.

[21-053L] Balthier
I used a lot of soft colors for Penelo, so while I wanted a consistency of style, I made a conscious effort to avoid colors with a similarly delicate feel. The card itself is very powerful, too, so I hope a lot of players add it to their decks.

[21-091C] Black Knight, [21-118H] Leila

Next are two of Mr. Kobayashi's cards, which are illustrations of characters from FINAL FANTASY II. One is [21-091C] Black Knight, a monster that leaves a terrifying impression on the player at the game's start, and the other is [21-118H] Leila, a pirate who joins Firion and his friends on their journey.

The Black Knight's intimidating presence before the moon and the determined expression on Leila's face leave a striking impression. There's a sense of depth in the layout of the compositions that I hope you get to appreciate for yourselves.

Now let's review the gameplay elements of these two cards. First, [21-091C] Black Knight is a Lightning Monster with a cost of 2. When it enters the field, it can Break one Forward or Monster that has a cost of 2 or less. This alone makes it a useful card, but on the field, it has even more to offer with its action ability. It requires the card to be placed in the Break Zone and has a total cost of 5 CP of which 2 must be Lightning CP, but can Break one Forward or Monster unconditionally —a potentially game-winning card. In other words, with 7 CP, you may Break one Forward or Monster that has a cost of 2 or less as well as one Forward or Monster of your choice, which gives this card a lot of potential.

Next is [21-118H] Leila. There was a time when [6-126R] Leila wreaked havoc with [4-133C] Vikings, and this card is no less potent. [21-118H] Leila has a cost of 3, power of 4000, and is a Wind Forward. When she enters the field, you may search for one Job Pirate or Card Name Viking and add it to your hand. There may not be many Job Pirates, but those from other sets can be used with this card.

Additionally, when a Water Forward you control attacks, one Forward controlled by your opponent loses 1000 power. It may not seem like much, but it's rather useful and does have advantages, such as making it easier for your Forwards to attack.

【Comments from the Illustrator: Gen Kobayashi】
My illustrations are of the Black Knight and pirate Leila from FINAL FANTASY II.

Black Knights are terrifying enemies that overwhelm the protagonists at the beginning of the game, but I chose to depict this one as if he's in pursuit of the heroes.

With Leila, I envisioned the scene on the ship shortly after they meet. In the original game, her lackeys are the ones who battle the protagonists, but I decided to exercise artistic freedom. I had a lot of fun with that freedom, maybe even a little too much because as I'm writing this, I realized she's wielding her weapon in the wrong hand! I'm terribly sorry about that!


These four cards have such beautiful illustrations and powerful abilities, and I hope you have a chance to use them. They're all part of the Beyond Destiny booster pack, which goes on sale November 17. Please look forward to these new cards, and I'll be back for the next booster pack reveal!

What is FFTCG?

FFTCG is a one-on-one tactical card game featuring FINAL FANTASY characters and summons. Not only is there fun in collecting cards featuring familiar faces, the main draw of the game is the simplicity of the rules combined with the complexity of the gameplay. The art drawn for the game by famed illustrators is also a popular aspect of FFTCG!

Play the FFTCG tutorial:
https://sqex.to/FinalFantasyTCG