Trading Card Game - Final Fantasy
Two different versions of a Final Fantasy trading card game have been developed by Square Enix and Hobby Japan that feature a number of popular characters from the Final Fantasy series. The first edition of the card game was released exclusively in Japan in the year 2012 and was called the “Chapters” series. The next, called the “Opus” series was released worldwide in the year 2016.
Final Fantasy card games have developed a popular following worldwide and there is even a global tournament circuit that has been established. The game requires each player to use a deck of exactly 50 cards that has a maximum of 3 copies of any given card in it. In order to play cards in this game, players must spend what are called “Crystal Points” (a reference to the many crystals found in the Final Fantasy role-playing games). These crystal points are earned by either discarding cards or turning backup cards from a vertical to horizontal position, much like “tapping” a card in Magic the Gathering. As of September 2016, 2.5 million booster packs have been sold in Japan alone. As of July 2017, 5.5 million booster packs have been sold worldwide.
How To Play
Players play cards by using Crystal Points (CP), which are gained by turning backup cards sideways or discarding a card from the player’s hand. Cards can be active (vertical) or “dulled” (horizontal). The goal of the game is to deal 7 damage points to the opponent using Forwards -- which can only attack opponents if they are considered active during the owner’s attack phase. The receiver of the attack is also able to block an attack as long as they have an active Forward. When Forwards battle, they deal damage according to their Power. When a player is dealt damage, they take one card per damage point from the top of their deck and place it face up into their Damage Zone. When a player has 7 cards in their Damage Zone, they are declared the loser of the match.
In order to utilize a card or an ability, a player must first announce his action and target and pay the necessary CP cost. Effects can be used and responded to before resetting. Players can use “pass priority” and decide to not add an additional effect to the stack. When both players use pass priority, the stack resolves from the top and continues down. After this, players can choose to add effects again and repeat the process until both players use pass priority on an empty stack. Each turn has six basic phases-- the Active Phase, Draw Phase, Main Phase 1, Attack Phase, Main Phase 2 and End Phase. Summons Actions and Special Abilities of Characters can be added to the stack whenever the owner has an opportunity.
How To Win
This card game has a variety of rules that need to be followed properly to ensure that a fair match is played and each match is played until a losing condition is met. The first, and most common losing condition that is met, is when a player has seven cards in their “Damage Zone”. As a player takes damage, they must place a card down in their Damage Zone that is equal to the number of damage points they receive. Once seven cards are placed in any player’s Damage Zone, that player is designated as a loser. Another losing condition occurs when a player has no more cards to draw from their deck. The third and most specific losing condition occurs when a player with an empty deck takes any damage whatsoever -- even if they have less than six cards in their Damage Zone.
Card Characteristics
On every card, the card name is written within frames at the top. Each player may only have a single Character with that card’s name on their side of the field at a time, the only exception being if the card has a “multi-unit” icon on its top right corner. In addition to the multi-unit symbol, a card may have a EX icon that implies the card’s first ability (if it is a Character card) or the entire effect (for Summon cards) that can take effect when the card is placed into the Damage Zone. A card’s ID is written on the bottom, and any deck may have up to three cards with the same ID.
- Cost- Number indicated on the top left corner. This tells the player how many CP (crystal points) is required to use the card.
- Element- Denoted in a variety of ways, but is easily identifiable by looking at the color of the crystal in the top left hand corner. This system is similar to Magic the Gathering’s colored mana system.
- Type- Denoted in text and by and the shape of the frame of the left side of the card. There are four types: Forward, Backup, Monster, and Summon, all with special characteristics.
- Job- Written on the center of the card.
- Category- Written on the right side of the card. Both the “job” and “category” sections denote a card’s archetype and skills it might have.
- Text- The text on each card describes the character’s abilities or summon’s effects. There are four types of abilities: Action, Auto, Special, and Field. Some effects that have a keyword are usually field abilities. The most common examples are Haste, Phase, Brave, First Strike, Back Attack, and Freeze.
- Power- Power is a statistic that is printed only on Forwards and any Monster that is treated like a Forward. It is indicated on the bottom right hand corner of the card and is unrelated to the damage the card takes. A card may only take damage when attacking, defending, or as a result of some effect. On the other hand, its power can only be raised or lowered by an effect.