kamarupa, Balaam__ this is the more competitively driven deck for short-list concepts about Horrors. I hope you enjoy it! I certainly enjoyed it, and it's my favorite of the ones I've put together.

It took a minute looking the deck over and discerning how each card feeds into the rest and moves the game forward, but I really like what’s here.

My favorite thing is that you’ve managed to capture that feeling of tension Tonberrys (Tonberries?) exude in the classic FF games—the first time you face one you think it’s too cute to be a serious threat, until it one shots you. After that, each subsequent encounter has you dreading his plodding footsteps as he inches closer to your party as you wait for the inevitable text “Chef’s Knife” to appear onscreen. Also, since you didn’t mention the pile of garbage known as FF13 anywhere in the description, I would like for you to know I would upvote twice if it were possible.

Balaam__ XIII wasn't anywhere NEAR a top contender for best/most liked for me personally, but I did enjoy some of it. I'm so glad you noticed my commitment to theme!

I never played any Final Fantasy games, so I feel rather lost here, but I am under the impression this deck is working as an homage or rendering in spells of FF. Balaam__ at least seems to understand what's going and that's good enough for me. +1

kamarupa it is in fact an homage to the beloved creature, Tonberry. I personally have an affection for Moogles, Chocobos, Cactuars, and these guys, the Tonberries. They are very special to my heart, represented in several different facets over the course of almost 30 years of games. Sometimes represented as a disease that turns citizens into them, sometimes as couriers of death, always here to do the stab. Tonberry is an iconic part of Final Fantasy as a whole, and it happened to be a really great chance to do something thematically unique. The terror and danger of this guy is that he moves incredibly slowly, but his attack is certain death upon landing. So the stun counter and enter tapped is a way to represent how it requires a few turns for him to reach you on your side of the battlefield. The ability Chef's knife is a move that unalives the corresponding party member in just one hit! So the deathtouch and First strike is like a literal translation of "if i hit you, you're gonna die." which is flavor win for sure. Mechanically, I use the deck as the same way the original programmers who created Tonberry expected players to engage with it. The creature is unassuming until it's apparent that you've made a mistake and it's far too late to scramble and save yourselves!

Balaam__ I made some changes here for functionality- I hope it doesn't compromise the love for Tonberry. This deck might have some legs! It's not tier 1 by any means but I'll be d@#$%mned if it doesn't do what it set out to do!

It’s pretty tight, all things considered. You’ve got plenty of pseudo-draw, cycling keeps things moving forward while fortifying what’s in play, and there are only very minor instances of disharmony like Shadow of the Grave temporarily kneecapping Vile Manifestation until you get some more cycling cards back in the discard pile.

Balaam__ that's another great example of clunky gameplay on my part- so I swing in combat phase prior to casting the Shadow of the Grave, awaiting damage to go through. Post-combat I cast SOTG in order to refill my hand and dump from it the fodder I won't be needing in the following turn. Bit of a rudimentary and super sucky Scroll Rack type of effect.

So long as you stay on top of the chain of events, nothing wrong with that. I have some decks with obtuse, counter-intuitive looking strategies in them that are pretty technical and while they make you look smart when pulled off correctly, one misstep in the sequence and you’ll look like Nooby Noob-Noob McNoobertson Jr.

Balaam__ I would know about specified sequencing via this deck, MBD Zombie. But you've already seen that one!

Tonberry is what I look like when I'm standing in my kitchen past bedtime tryna make me a Lil snacc.