Final Fantasy Trading Card Game (2016-)

 

Jeebus, they photograph well. There'll be a clear image of Shiva, soon enough, worry not.

 

This certainly has some spoilers.
Avoid the labeled sections for the games you want to play yourself.
The part above the cut is about XIII.

 

I have wanted physical representations of XIII ’s Eidolons for…EVER.

Are there toys? Yes.
Are there problems with them? Double yes.

There was a non-transforming shokugan-esque line of them, but they did NOT look good. My (admittedly sometimes faulty) memories are saying that one of them was a chase figure, to boot. …Bahamut, I think. Yes! Final Fantasy Creatures Kai Vol. 3. Bahamut is indeed the secret rare, for the individual releases. Alexander is the one left out of the boxset.

The Play Arts Kai line was home to only two of them: Odin and Shiva. They are known to start breaking down as soon as you transform them. Once.

Whomp, whomp…

Even if they had made the others, they would have required parts-swapping. These designs were never intended for plastic, which is ultimately good, because it means the fiction came first, and marketing wasn’t able to mess it up. But, I WANTED six dollops of icing, dammit.

Enter the Final Fantasy TCG.

They’ve been releasing waves since 2016! I only found out about it, last week… I came across the XIII starter set, when randomly looking for XIII merch, on Amazon. Success, right?!? Well, it seemed so, but that deck is only HALF helpful, if you want cards for all of the Eidolons. Honestly less so, since I only bought two cards from it. Compared to what was provided in the Universe of Hope starter set, its contents are pretty damn scattershot. To ebay, it was!

There are two notable issues to be aware of, regarding this game/collection:

1.) As someone who was used to paying 15¢ for common Power Rangers cards, and around a $1 for (3 decades old!!!) X-Men ones, these cards are PRICEY. It has really driven home for me how niche, and small, the PR fandom truly is. Final Fantasy is a BIG deal. I get it; I’m part of its cult. Fanboy nutter, sitting right here! When it actually does come to marketing, Squeenix leans into delivering higher-end merchandise. The Play Arts Kai figures are HUGE. You don’t want to know how much complete Triple Triad decks can go for, and the ones I’ve seen could well be reprints! They sell statue sets. There’s that Terra; you know the one.

Positive Spin: These are QUALITY. The backs have a plastic feel; they’re matte, textured, and only bear the TCG logo. Classy. They do fit in holders meant for standard 35pt cards. The world-sized elephant in the room are the sparkles. A LOT of the cards have them. Their overwhelming, blanket density is incredible, but I can see them slamming headlong into some folks’ sensibilities, at a hundred miles per hour. I, for one, have absolutely no problem with them being ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS~

2.) This is a card collection that is still actively being added to—being created! A new wave just recently dropped. If you’re looking for matching ‘sets,’ you may be waiting a while yet for them to be completed. What I’m referring to when I say ‘sets,’ are things like the parties of each game and other kinds of linked groups like organizations, summons, creatures, bosses, etc. There are two preeminent examples to prove my point: There are no Yoshitaka Amano cards for either incarnation of Cecil, or a Tetsuya Nomura card for Squall. That is fuggen WILD, given that all of the other party members of IV and VIII, both permanent AND temporary, have already been made for those respective sets.

Positive Spin: Bandai of Japan and America were working with a franchise that is largely predicated on uniformity, for Super Sentai Battle: Dice-O and the Power Rangers ACG. The imperative to deliver homogenous cards, in an immediately successive manner, is far less pressing for Final Fantasy. That still doesn’t explain Cecil and Squall, though!


Can you wait? Can the world? I dunno, so you might want to make some concessions.

Let’s return to these Eidolons, specifically:

Once you’ve opened an image in the shadowbox, right-click and open it in a new tab, to see it full-sized.

There is indeed a Hecaton with clean, full-body art, to match Alexander, Bahamut, and Shiva; I just very much prefer the one I chose, instead. There wasn’t any benefit to going with the other, because there are no other Brynhildrs or Odins. Those are the ones you’re getting, at this moment in time. Unless you’re okay with Twilight Odin. I am not, as for me, the sequels do not exist. Stiria and Nix have sparkles. Do they ever. But, the cold holofoil look I got in the picture is so fitting that I went with it, without a second's hesitation. I was under the impression that Odin simply had an understated holofoil finish, until I double-checked for the sake of journalistic integrity (this was before taking the above photo, obviously). He has sparkles, too! I had to be directly under a lamp and shake him around to see them, but by g-whiz, he does have them. They look pretty great, to someone who is incredibly biased to colors being presented over a black background. He’s still the oddball, but I love him a whole lot, now. Hmm. Fitting. That’s how I feel about Lightning.

They all have textboxes bearing their elemental symbols. You can get some of them as full-arts, though. Don’t worry, you won’t, because those are even more ludicrously expensive! I’m choosing to believe that’s an upside-down magatama, because Alexander is not Wind. You try telling me, or any other FF fan, that he isn’t Holy. I feel like Bahamut should be Wind…because Highwind.

Fanboy bullshit aside, I’m telling you that between the sparkles and the textboxes there IS a DEGREE of uniformity. I’m happy. Incredibly happy.

I’ll be going DEEP, below the cut, detailing sets and assembling some for your my viewing pleasure 😜

4 Only Because of the Prices (That I’m Paying Regardless) out of 5

 

The official card browser can be found here.

You can search using specific terms, but I honestly recommend using the category function, instead. Tick one, or multiples, and then press ‘search.’ Sometimes the page will reload to display the results, but most of the time they will appear below the search engine without any visual feedback. So, just scroll down.

The reason you should avoid searching specific words, is because the results will include cards that simply have them in the description of their function. As an example, the ‘White Mage’ search is ridiculously voluminous.

If you try to go back using your browser, you’re going to get ejected, wholesale. Click ‘Close,’ on the top-right of an individual card’s listing, to return to your search.

You’re likely smarter than I am, but I’ll still cover my bases and mention that if you see a number like 30/142 at the top-left of your search, go to the bottom and spam the ‘Load More’ bar until all of the results are showing. I didn’t immediately notice that they only load the cards groups at a time.

There is a Special category, in the category listing. It’s especially worth examining if you’re a fan of the first game.

Onward!

 

I

 

This one hurts me the most, because they’ve only made half of the classes in the chibi-art style associated with the Dawn of Souls release. I’ve actually always wanted them to represent I using chibi versions of the Fighter, Thief, White Mage, and Black Mage, instead of the Warrior of Light. A friend of mine has told me that he had a big to-do in XIV. If you’re a fan of XIV, don’t worry, there’s a ton of cards for him, Garland, and Chaos.

You could dip into the Tactics cards for White Mages and Black Mages, but they won’t be chibi. You can get a male version of the former, and a female version of the latter, though, which are nice options to have. Heading to III is really what you want to do, because these specific cards are chibi, and there are Red Mages, unlike Tactics, currently. Refia is available in all three colors, and you have a lot of male options, save for the one as-of-now missing Ingus.

In point of fact, if you aren’t invested in III, you can just use it to get all of your cards for I. Refia has been made as a Warrior, Thief, and Monk. Luneth and Arc are pretty androgynous, as well, across the board.

 

Special Cards

 

The entire retinue can be found within the Special category, but it is a mite spotty. The only Black Mage appears to be female. Maybe get a Vivi, if you’re looking for a guy?

There is a Ninja, and I was really excited, until I realized that there weren’t any Knights, Masters, or Wizards, to accompany it. That’s a pretty complete bust.

There are two sets of Fiends: one chibi, to match the half-completed party, and one that is swish beyond compare, by Toshitaka Matsuda. DAT LICH!!!

II

 

Why does Josef look like SomeCallMeJohnny is just DONE with the world’s shit?

There is a complete set of Amano cards, save for Scott. I realize that Scott is only present in Soul of Rebirth, but the idea behind that is the only thing I like about II. Credit where it’s due. There are two options for him: one by Matsuda and one using the Dawn of Souls art. They could not be more different from one another, or Amano’s work, but they do exist. Sometimes that’s the best one can hope for.

The function of this Leon is HILARIOUS.

If you’re okay with only having THE FOUR, Matsuda has also done them. Minwu and Ricard, too. Not complete, but they are stellar. Seriously, just go see if there are Matsuda cards for any given game you’re interested in. Right now.

I love that there are multiple Leilas.

 

 

III

 

This set bears the art of Akihiko Yoshida. The lower-contrast, background recreation of the art present here is not unique to his cards. It appears quite a bit, across many of the represented games. I rather like these cards for III ’s main party, in spite of me generally not liking job games that involve a duplication of leveling.

All of the guest characters are available, again thanks to Amano. Real talk, though: I’ve played III, and I still have to ask, WHO THE FUCK IS DESCH?!?!

They have not yet completed all of the job cards, for all four characters. But, there is an absolute SEA of them. See if you can find your favorite job loadout. Still, I have to admit that I somewhat see these as a misallocation of resources. Especially if I’m the only one who has thought of using them for gender-varied I cards. Think of all the stuff they could have made instead. They could have made the missing Cecil and Squall cards, at the very least!!!

 

Yes, there is a nice Onion Knight, if you’re THAT GUY.

After saying some of the above, I feel compelled to state that I don’t hate III. When I played it, I was a crazy person, trying to fully 100% the games. I spent so much time leveling all of the characters, in all of the jobs. III definitely has a charming feel, in its DS incarnation. I believe that I’d likely have a pleasant time, if I played it now, like a sane person.

We cool, III. We cool.

But seriously, who is Desch?

 

 

 

IV 

 

 

IV is the game that has stopped me each of the multiple times I’ve tried to assemble and deliver this post. At first, it was giving me an aneurysm because of how many different types of cards there are. Then, when I focused and pushed through, I realized that there weren’t any complete sets for the party. As harped on, Amano is done, except for the central protagonist! Yes, including Golbez. There are plenty of Cecil cards, otherwise. There are plenty of cards for everybody, in a lot of different styles! If you are a diehard fan of IV, I genuinely suggest you roll up your sleeves and dive in. See what works for you. Everyone is there, they just don’t match, in totality.

Maybe try to just get matches for specific groupings? Cecil and Rosa (and Kain). Rydia and Edge. Palom and Porom. Tellah and Edward.

Just don’t get this one. Amano, WTF?!?! This is TERRIFYING!!!

You can get IV ’s versions of the Fiends. Best I can personally do.

 

 

V

 

That hideous creature is Boco. I am not kidding. There are multiple Syldra cards, too.

(Appropriate) Amano dominance continues with V. You can get everyone, including Krile, the Dawn Warriors, and Gilgamesh. Of course, Gilgamesh. C’mon~

It’s so refreshing after IV.

There are specific job cards for all five, but there doesn’t seem to be as many as there are for III. As of yet, anyway. As much as the preponderance of XIII-2 and 3 cards present in the aforementioned starter set, labeled simply as XIII, does my head in, the presence of Krile (as a Knight) was the real blast charge. I don’t have beef with her, in a vacuum, but WHY IS SHE RANDOMLY IN A XIII DECK?!??!

Wait.

Terra in XIII. Maduin is her Eidolon. He transforms into Magitek Armor.

I’ll be in my bunk.

 

VI

 

Dog. The best class.

Oh, you’ve decided to join me~

Amano accounts for everyone except Vicks and Wedge (and Esper Terra). There is a Theatrhythm card for a Magitek Trooper. It’s labeled Magitek Armor, but there’s a dude in there, so I am the one in the right! Buy 2. I would, if I was willing to buy over 20 of these expensive things. I know I collected import toys, for years. Please, don’t remind me.

Now, listen, it’s not Moogle racism when they are all LITERALLY the exact same set of sprites. If I say what I’m about to, about the later games, then you can come after me. Don’t worry; I won’t. There are four Mogs available: he’s got a martini, he’s sleeping, he’s shockingly yellow, and he’s reeling from a low blow. That last one is peculiar, but this whole endeavor is, to be honest, so we’re just gonna keep rolling. I am NOT suggesting that you buy eleven Mogs! I’m telling you to buy ONE, and keep in mind that there are ten other moogles, that you briefly play as, who look exactly the same. Do the rational thing, not the crazy thing that I will likely do, if I have a sudden, pleasant windfall. Leave the crazy to me.

Nomura delivers Terra’s Esper form from one of the Dissidia games. It’s what we’ve got. It’s perfectly fine.

You changed their names to The Fiend and The Demon? Really? Woolsey, forever and always.

Goddesses, get your Goddesses, from...Mobius Final Fantasy, apparently. Eeeeeesh, I would not mess with Doom, if I were you. Unless you’re Strago. Gotta finish that bucket list~

They made Cid Ice elemental… Talk amongst yourselves…

I’ll give you a topic: Why is this otherwise very nice Terra card Ice, as well?!

 

Next-Day Neg says, "It's because that's a Magitek card, and Ice Beam is something that can be done with Magitek Armor, stupid. Though, I wish they had done something unique to Terra, with it. They really needed an Artillery Elemental. Would work for Tek Missile and Hecaton."

 

Next-Month Neg says, "11 of the 14 Terra cards are Ice... What the fuck happened? How can you display advanced, emotional logic, but fail that impossibly hard at something that takes NO effort, whatsoever?!?!! If it was something stupid like, 'We had to balance the meta-game,' Imma lose it, because who's actually playing this as a game? Be accurate to the mythos and specifics of the actual games; that's all that matters.

Besides, the last thing Terra is, is balanced. OP, all day, every day, 30 years running, baby~

DUNCAN RULES!!! Matsuda slays, always.

 

Chupon. His name is Chupon. This Woolsey disrespect will not stand.

Folks, it's everyone's favorite couple~ Even the wiki immediately states that they're partners. It's canon. I have no idea why the latter two cards are labeled as XIII, but I have first-hand knowledge of much worse things done by the sequels. Like Snow's hair, for example.

 

XIII-2? Repression is a wonderful thing. Ah, DLC. I didn't download shit. I've still never seen the ending, or anything of 3, in motion 😎

 

The biggest letdown is that there isn’t a single card of Terra (actually) in Magitek Armor. I’m set, because I have a custom framed Game Informer Issue 200 cover. Not everyone has one of those, Squeenix!!! Can we make with a Magitek deck, with everyone from VI in them? I don’t even care if you insist on tinting most of them yellow, for accuracy. That’d be greeeeaaaaat. And, while you’re at it, can I get a Matrix TCG with an APU Corps deck? Legal issues be damned.

Thanks! 

 

VII

 

This is where we generally switch over from Amano to Nomura. We’ve got the stock-standard loadout, for VII. Even Sephiroth and Zack, if you’re THAT GUY. Zack’s has the lowered-contrast background effect, but it is still Nomura. Not going to lie, there are much better cards coming up, shortly.

The figment and the plot point. You hate to see it. I. I hate to see it.

Rest in Peace.

 

There’s a Marlene! She’s ADORABLE!

Know what else is adorable?

Advent Children

 

NANAKI AND REEVE SNUGGLING!!!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Numerically, that is the associated Cloud for the AC set. I can live with that. Cid’s the only one with his last name. I can live with that, too. Once again, Marlene steals the show; that card is magnificent. What I can’t live with is the fact that the solo Barret card says AVALANCHE Operative, when it’s supposed to say AVALANCHE LEADER, dammit!!!

Yes, I admit that the Vincent is labeled as Dirge.

No AC love for Elena or Tseng. I should be mad, but I’m not. It’s the Reno and Rude show, baby! With a sliver of the worst villain ever (who is a pretty damn decent hero). Tseng’s “””””Remake””””” card is pretty spiffy. It’s almost like an employee badge. Elena only has cards from Pictologica. Yeah, that’s pretty lame. She does deserve better than THAT. Give us a card of her in Icicle Inn, falling forward, mid-punch. Do it! 😝

Look, Remnants. Why am I saying it like that? I genuinely like them! As characters. The cards are a bit muddy/blurry. Pictures of the actual cards tell me that that’s not simply a scanning issue. I’d avoid them.

There are some really cool WEAPON cards, thanks to Mobius, but they haven’t done Diamond, Ultimate, Jade, or Omega, yet. If those are even in Mobius. Don’t tell me; I don’t want to know.

Dirge of Cerberus

 

I really appreciate that they made cards for Vincent, Reeve, and Yuffie’s looks from Dirge. They are the characters focused on. Especially Reeve <33333 All of the Tsviets are accounted for, some multiple times. All of them, actually, except Rosso. Good.

"This fight is busted. Shouldn't we fix it?"

"No. Just put a shop in the arena. It'll be fine."

 

It is NOT fine 😂😂😂😂😂

There is indeed a Femme Vincent, né Shalua. Took me forever to realize that that was what they were going for. Oh Dirge, you truly are the best bad game~

Shout out to SuperButterBuns!

 

VIII

 

 

The Nomura cards in question, that are only missing Squall, are basically their Triple Triad cards. I.e., you know exactly what they look like. If not, go try out the card browser. I’m not (entirely) being a shithead. It’s really nice, and worth exploring. You could, ya know, do that thing, if you really want. I’m not going to stop you.

In one way, I guess it is kind of fitting that they’ve waited this long, on Squall. His card is the last one you’ll typically get in a run of VIII. Hinting at parentage via mini-games. Whoo…

 

 

I like the saturated, painterly style of these. Fuujin and Raijin look great, but Seifer is derptastic. What happened here, Kinsha Creations/Accord Seven?

Haha, they made a Pupu! It’s hidden in the Dissidia category. At the very least, there isn’t a card for Eden, so GFs are out, at the moment. Oh, no, there’s a Japanese-only promotional card. Now I have to check if there are Japanese-only cards for everything I’ve said doesn’t exist...

Nope. No, I don’t. You can check any given person or thing’s Final Fantasy wiki page, yourselves. Plus, I randomly picked another GF, and it hasn’t been made yet. I’m outta here!

 

 

 

IX 

 

Not that this game is much better, for me...

You can get the permanent party in IX’s standard art-style. There are two Beatrixes you can use, and they are both nice in different ways. Though, I have the same problem with cards pulled from IX ’s FMVs, as I do with the Remnants’: they’re blurry.

As much as this Dagger would thrill me to no end, as a White Mage stand-in, for the first game, I’m not going to pay that much for a blurry card. Also, it says Garnet. Everything I’ve seen for her from Squeenix has said Garnet. She wants to be called Dagger! That’s a kick-ass name! Garnet is what you dupe in SOTN speedruns, sucka.

Why is she just Celes, again, though? Amano, that’s twice I’ve had to call you out. I love Celes, too, but c’mon. He’s 7 for 8, with the permanent party, so far. No Eiko, at the moment. No Marcus, Blank, or Cinna, either. As far as I’ve seen, they share a single art piece with Baku, Ruby, and…the Nero Brothers. I don’t remember them, AT ALL. Put it out as a full-art, by default, labeled Tantalus. Kill all those birds with one stone.

Every time I see Faris, I think it's Edgar, too. Just sayin'.

The Fiends are back! It doesn’t say who they were drawn by, this time. Bummer. I don’t like that vestigial leg situation. I don’t like it one bit. I need to know who to blame.

A number of Dagger’s Eidolons are present, but Atomos and Ark don’t match the others. One is from the FMV, the other is done in a samurai splash style. I don’t even know where to begin trying to figure out what that’s properly called, as an art technique. My apologies, but I bet you know exactly what I’m referring to. There’s no Shiva, or Bahamut. Eiko is only missing Phoenix.

There IS a matching Atomos! It’s hidden under Dissidia. I’m glad I decided to go through all of the categories, to be safe. There's lots of games I had no idea existed. That’s only natural, seeing as I excommunicated Squeenix, over a decade ago.

 

X / X-2

 

Oh god no.

 

Nomura cards have been made for everyone, including Seymour and the X-2 versions of…YRP, was it? Yes.

No Shiva. Seriously? No Anima. Seriously? No Magus Sisters. Wait a minute…oh, Valefor is female. I don’t remember ever knowing that. She has been made. Crisis averted! But, seriously, get on those. There’s an Amano card for the sisters, from IV, if that helps anyone.

You can get these goobers.

I hate Jeremy Chong for making Brother look cool. Go sit in a corner and think about what you’ve done! Like, that's not even Brother, honestly. That's a metal dude who likes X for some reason and decided to fully commit to cosplaying that freak. Entirely different head.

XI

 

This section has spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok.
Strange, but true.

 

 

I sincerely do not remember any of these people from my time playing XI. I wish there was a Fenrir. It was cool when I ran past someone who had summoned him. I like Fenrir. Have since VI. Shout out to Citan, while we’re here~ I actually tried to watch Thor: Ragnarok.

“He’s so cute, sitting there! Oh no, he’s not going to die, right?”

“You should change the channel.”

Shit, there’s a Fenrir for VI. My wallet!

Oh, there’s a Quadav! I slaughtered so many of them for their shells, to play the Auction House stock market, to assemble a matching set of armor for a thief. They didn’t sell those. For other classes, yes. Thieves, no. I called it the Orange Emo Menace. Yeah, I was THAT GUY. I’m still THAT GUY 😁

Next-Day Neg says, "Having shared that, I'm realizing my time in XI was really pathetic. I genuinely appreciate how helpful the other players were, both with specific tasks and just coming up and casting buffs on people without being asked. Very faith-in-humanity affirming. Sincerely. But, I think I've proven that I'm not the kind of person who should have ever played an MMO. I haven't, otherwise! Even at the time, my major reason was because it was a numbered entry. I remember saying it shouldn't have been! Now they've done it twice. That's shady shit, Squeenix.

 

Essentially, this was my experience:

"I have FINALLY picked out what I'm going to wear!"

"Okay. Going to work?"

"No. I'm going back to bed."

XII

 

Final Fantasy, you hurt me as much as you heal me.

 

Yoshida delivers, here. Reks, Larsa, Vossler, and Reddas, to boot. However, Basch is the only one with an actual background. This feels like trolling.

XII Espers. Oh boyyyyy. I feel justified in my distaste. Only one of them is loosely roped into the story, I don’t think it’s an appropriate match for the person it’s intended for, I forgot that it existed, causing me to be stumped by a late-game puzzle, and the rest are mostly body horror personified. They’re gross, they suck, XIII is everything XII wishes it was. I will win on this hill.

Oh yeah. This lot. Love how the only woman was only in two scenes and got killed. That might be true for Bergan, too, I concede. Zaphod Beeblebaath was non-existent, too. You know what? They're all losers.

I'm not diving into Revenant Wings, mostly because I can't remember who all was in it. There were generic units, too, right? I did play it. You would think being able to drag to select multiple units would be a good thing. Nope, it was messy. At least it actually had a pilot-able airship. Ridiculous to think that that's something to be excited about, now. Back in my day, all of the games had airships. Multiples! There are some cards for Kytes, Filo, and that angel dude who looks like Vanille. I can tell you that much.

XIII

 

There's the other Hecaton I mentioned.

I would love to have all 21 of these cards. Maybe. I. will. As it stands, I have the official guide, which has the Gestalt modes rendered in a very large format. The Eidolons themselves are quite small in the bestiary, hence my jumping upon the cards all the way up there, on the surface. I’m now glad that there’s a big piece of concept art for Odin, next to those bestiary entries, since he is the odd one out in the TCG, in terms of color and framing. Well, I guess he’s positioned similarly enough to Brynhildr. You get what I mean.

 

Mother. The equally best class.

I wish there was a Snow labeled NORA, but that’s not a big deal. NORA Leader, I mean! I’m really happy that there are multiple Gadots and Lebreaus. I used to think it was only Yuj who was over-designed. There’s no way he wasn’t meant to have his own game! But, Gadot and Lebreau had a lot of love put into them, too. How about, if nothing else, a CGI show set in Bodhum? Prior to the events of XIII. Saved By The Bell meets 90210. Dating and hijinks intercut with them heading out to deal with the local wildlife. Action interludes, ftw.

No, I’m not sorry about that. This originally had a mini-review of the guide. Count your blessings.


That’s it. We’re finally done here. Go home. Well, go to another site~