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 three cards from the newest FFTCG booster packs, Hidden Hope, which will be released on March 22!
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 Hidden Hope
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’d like to talk about three cards from Hidden Hope, slated for release on March 22.
The illustrations for these cards were created by Fumio Minagawa, whose depictions of FINAL FANTASY VI and FINAL FANTASY XI characters for FFTCG have made her as popular as ever, and first-time illustrator for FFTCG, Oreki Genya. I hope you enjoy their work!
[22-048H] Nanaa Mihgo, [22-097L] Curilla
Let’s begin with Ms. Minagawa’s two cards.
One is [22-048H] Nanaa Mihgo and the other is [22-097L] Curilla, both characters from FINAL FANTASY XI. I know I always say this, but the full-art versions are incredible, so I urge you to check them out for yourselves.
Now let’s take a look at their capabilities as FFTCG cards.
First, we have [22-048H] Nanaa Mihgo. She has a cost of 4, power of 5000, and is a Wind Forward. The cost is high for her low power, but she has a very potent ability that makes up for it: an auto-ability with two powerful selectable actions that triggers when she enters the field.
One action states, “Choose 1 Forward of cost 2 or less in your opponent’s Break Zone. Play it onto your field.” Since you’ll be choosing from your opponent’s cards, you won’t be able to target specific Forwards, but if you’re able to get formidable cards like [15-119L] Porom or [19-108L] Zidane, you’re in luck.
And if there’s no adequate Forward with a cost 2 or less in their Break Zone, you can select the other action, “Choose 1 Summon of cost 3 or less in your opponent’s Break Zone. Cast it as though you owned it without paying the cost. If you cast it, remove that Summon from the game after use instead of putting it in the Break Zone.” [9-068H] Mist Dragon, [10-055H] Chocobo, [10-068C] Cu Sith, [15-014H] Brynhildr... This card holds a lot of potential.
Next is [22-097L] Curilla, a Water Legend card. A mighty Forward with a cost of 5 and power of 9000, she has two abilities that are both linked with Job Knight.
As long as [22-097L] Curilla is on the field, other Job Knight Forwards won’t take damage less than their power, and when she enters the field, you can reveal the top five cards of your deck and play up to two Job Knights with a total cost of 4 or less onto the field.
A Job Knight deck is essential when playing this card. If you use [18-015R] Ramza to play [22-097L] Curilla, and [22-097L] Curilla to play two Job Knights with a cost of 2, you’ll have four Job Knights just like that, which will allow you to use [18-015R] Ramza’s powerful ability that lets you break an opponent’s Forward and also deal 1 point of damage to your opponent. This card opens up all kinds of possibilities.
【Comments from the Illustrator: Fumio Minagawa】
Are the strong, mighty women gazing at you, the player? Or a certain someone?
[22-090H] Lulu
The next card by Oreki Genya is [22-090H] Lulu from FINAL FANTASY X, a party character who’s like a big sister to Yuna. There’s a striking mystery to the illustration, and the moogle toy in the upper right is a delightful addition.
Now let’s take a look at what the card can do. She has a cost of 2, power of 5000, and has two damage-dealing abilities.
One is an auto-ability that triggers at the start of the Attack Phase: if you remove two Summons in your Break Zone from the game, you can deal 7000 damage to one Forward. Dealing 7000 damage per turn is tremendous, but having two Summons ready in the Break Zone every turn isn’t easy.
However, this is where the second ability comes in handy. “Discard 1 Summon: Choose 1 Forward. Deal it 5000 damage” allows you to readily send a Summon to the Break Zone. If your opponent plays this card, deal with it quickly or it may cost you the game.
【Comments from the Illustrator: Oreki Genya】
I was in charge of illustrating Lulu for this pack. I spent a day or two going over past CG visuals and game images, all the while pondering her character, and submitted three rough drafts. There was a lot of trial and error involved as I tried to balance the cute stuffed toy with her dark, sophisticated air. I also focused on what kind of lighting would complement FF’s high-quality production as well as coloring and film-like texture. Progress was very smooth as I’m especially a fan of “dark” characters. My favorite parts of this piece are her hair details and the magical effect for the stuffed toy.
I hope you enjoyed learning about these three cards from the latest pack. Please look forward to Hidden Hope, which goes on sale March 22!
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
