Final Fantasy Trading Card Game The Final Fantasy Trading Card Game is a trading card game released by Square Enix featuring " Final Fantasy " characters . Similar to other trading card games , players build decks of cards and battle each other using them . Square Enix announced they will release the game ' s first card set " Opus 1 " in English on October 28 , 2016 , featuring 216 unique cards . Gameplay . Each turn , players spend their Crystal Points to play other cards . Crystal Points are provided in two ways : either by Dulling ( turning sideways ) a Backup card , providing one Crystal Point of its type , or by discarding a card from the player ' s hand , providing two Crystal Points of that card ' s type . To successfully play a card , the player must pay at least one CP of its type , and enough other CP to make up its cost . Therefore , a Fire card with a cost of 5 requires one Fire CP and four CP of any types . The exceptions are Light and Dark type cards ; these have no type requirements for paying their costs , and cannot be discarded for CP . The game is won by attacking with Forwards . The defending player can choose whether or not to block attacking Forwards with their own Forwards . If two Forwards are in combat with each other , the Forward with the higher power destroys the other , and the loser is put into its owner ' s Break Zone ( discards ) . If the Forward was unblocked , it deals one damage to the defending player . Whenever a player is dealt damage , they put that many cards from the top of their deck into their Damage Zone . When a player ' s Damage Zone has seven cards in it , that player loses the game . To play a card or ability , a player announces the card or ability and any targets it has then pays any costs for it . Then , each other player may respond to that card or ability before it has its effect or enters the field , and the first player may respond to any actions the other players take . This is known as " the stack . " Once players pass on playing cards or abilities , the objects on the stack resolve from top to bottom - in other words , first in , last out . Character cards ( Forwards and Backups ) can only be played if the stack is empty . A list of cards may be viewed here . These are the cards that will be taking part in the game ' s combat . They attack the opponent and defend against the opponent ' s attacks . In the bottom right corner of each Forward card is a large number denoting their power . If at any point during a turn a Forward has taken more damage than its Power , it is put into the Break Zone . Card types . Forwards enter the field in an Active ( vertical / untapped ) state , but cannot attack or use abilities that require tapping （ ダル ） until the beginning of the player ' s next turn . Backups provide CP and have abilities that support your Forwards . Backups are not affected by " summoning sickness " as Forwards are , but enter the field tapped . A player may only control up to five Backups at a time . If a player would control more than five , they choose any excess Backups and put them into the Break Zone . Monsters are mostly notable for their support abilities . Their defining trait is that they are unaffected by summoning sickness , meaning that they can use their tap abilities the turn they enter the field . Many of them can also become Forwards for a turn at a time . Forwards , Backups , and Monsters are collectively called Character cards . If that card represents a specific person , a player may only control one card with that name at a time . They can ' t play other cards with the same name . If they control more than one card with that name , they must put all of them into the Break Zone immediately . Cards marked with the three - cards icon in the top right corner are exempt from this rule . Note that any number of players may control cards with the same name , just as long as no one player controls more than one of those cards . Summons are one - shot effects . When they are played , instead of entering the field , they have the printed effect and are put into their owner ' s Break Zone . Summons , along with activated abilities , can be played at any time except for the Active Phase , Draw Phase , and End Phase . Items are used to strengthen a player ' s characters . Each Item has an Equip ability and a Return ability . Playing an Item card does not use the stack , and therefore cannot be responded to by Summons or abilities . Equip abilities are written as " Equip ( type ) . " When an Item card is played , its owner chooses a character of the given type . The item enters play attached to that character . Return abilities are written as " Return ( cost ) . " A player may pay the Return cost to return the item to his or her hand . An item in play not equipped to a character is put into its owner ' s Break Zone . Card abilities . Card abilities can be broken into four categories : activated , passive , special , and EX Burst . These abilities are designated by a cost ( usually CP or tapping ) followed by a colon . With a few exceptions , these abilities may be used at any time by paying their cost . For example , to use Rosa ' s ability , the player must tap her , then choose any one Forward . Until end of turn , the next time that Forward would deal damage , that damage is reduced by 1000 . All Forwards also have the ability to form a Party in battle . When declaring an attack , the player may choose to form a Party of their Forwards that can attack . Forwards in a Party must all have the same Crystal Type or all have the " P " icon . Parties attack as if they were one Forward , and are blocked as if they were one Forward . A party ' s power is the sum of the power of its Forwards . When blocking a Party , a Forward may divide its damage among the members of that Party in any way . All Backups have the activated ability " T : Gain 1 CP of this card ' s Crystal Type . " unless otherwise stated on the card . This ability can be used at any time and resolves immediately , bypassing the stack . This also means that they cannot be responded to . Special abilities are a subset of activated abilities , and can be found by having the name in red text before the ability , and also have an " S " as part of their cost . The " S " means that the player must discard a card with the same name as the one with the ability you want to use . For example , to use Jecht ' s True Jecht Shot ability , the player must pay one Fire CP , two CP of any types , tap Jecht , and discard a card named Jecht from their hand . Then the player may choose one Forward and break it . Passive abilities require no activation cost , and can either be continually in effect ( such as Yuna ' s , which reduces the cost of all the player ' s Summons by 1 ) or be a one - shot effect when a certain condition occurs ( such as Fang , who gains first strike until end of turn whenever she attacks ) . Some specific keyworded passive abilities appear exclusively on Forwards : One keyword ability appears exclusively on Backups : One keyword ability appears exclusively on Summons : EX Burst abilities work like triggered abilities , but they trigger when the card is placed in the Damage Zone . For example , the player may play the Moogle summon card normally and get its effect , or you can get its effect when it is placed in the Damage Zone from your deck . When a character card has an EX Burst ability , it triggers when they enter the field or are put into the Damage Zone . Cards with EX Burst abilities have an " EX " in the top right corner . Overdrive abilities act as an additional cost for a Character card . Overdrive abilities are written as " ( cost ) - When this Character enters the field , ( effect ) " , in addition to a card ' s other abilities . When playing a Character card with an Overdrive ability , a player may also pay that card ' s Overdrive cost to add the Overdrive text to the card . Note that the payment occurs before the Character enters the field , so the decision to use an Overdrive happens before any other players can decide how to respond to the card being played . If the Overdrive cost is not paid , the text is ignored . Blue Magic abilities appear only on Monster cards , and allow them to be used similarly to Summon cards . Blue Magic abilities are written as " Blue Magic - ( cost ) : ( effect ) . " To activate a Blue Magic ability , pay its cost and discard the Monster card from your hand . Deck construction . A deck must have exactly 50 cards in it , and no more than three of any card with the same card serial number . Turns . At the beginning of the game , players shuffle their decks , decide who goes first , then draw five cards from their deck . The player sets all of their Forwards and Backups to Active . The player whose turn it is draws two cards from their deck . If it is the first turn of the game , that player draws only one card . The player may play Forwards , Backups , and Summons and activate abilities . The player may choose a Forward they control that can attack and tap it to show that it is attacking . The defending player may choose an active Forward they control and block with it . If a Forward is blocked , the two Forwards deal damage to each other equal to their power . Otherwise , if the Forward is unblocked , it deals one damage to the defending player , and that player puts one card from the top of their deck into their Damage Zone . Combats are resolved individually , so the player whose turn it is may repeat this process as long as they control Forwards that are able to attack . After combat there is another main phase . " Until end of turn " effects end , and the active player discards cards until they have at most five cards in their hand . Then it becomes the next player ' s turn . Fire - type cards specialize in dealing damage outside of combat , and are generally fast and aggressive . Many cards have abilities that deal damage to Forwards when they enter the field . Ice - type cards specialize in slowing down the opponent . Many Ice cards can tap the opponent ' s Forwards or make the opponent discard cards from their hand . Wind - type cards specialize in preempting the opponent ' s plans . Many Wind - type cards can set the player ' s other cards to Active at any time , and are sensitive to the costs of the opponent ' s cards . The Wind - type cards also have offensive abilities to put cards from the opponent ' s deck into their Break Zone , taking advantage of the alternate win condition that states that a player loses the game when they have to draw a card from their deck but can ' t . Earth - type cards tend to focus on increasing the power of the player ' s Forwards . Sometimes , this comes at a high cost , such as Kefka , who can boost the power of one of the player ' s Forwards by 5000 , but breaks that Forward at end of turn . Other Earth - type cards can make the player ' s Forwards unable to be broken . Thunder - type cards have many abilities that can instantly break the opponent ' s Forwards . Most of these abilities are limited by the cost of those Forwards . For instance , Odin can only target Forwards that cost 4 or less . Water - type cards mostly focus on combat tricks and undoing the opponent ' s actions . Many Water - type cards can return the opponent ' s Forwards and Backups from the field to their hand . Shine - type cards represent heroes and villains of the " Final Fantasy " series , and are mostly higher - powered versions of other cards . Therefore , there is no unique strength of Shine - type or Dark - type cards , though in general these cards are all powerful . This is limited by the fact that a player may only control up to one Shine - type and / or Dark - type cards at a time . If a second card of Shine or Dark - type enters the field , its controller must immediately put all Shine or Dark - type cards they control into the Break Zone . Release . Japan . The trading card game went on sale on February 25th , 2011 in Japan , introducing two Entry Sets . The sets contain 50 cards and comes in two types - Black Deck and White Deck - while boosters will contain eight cards each . Currently there are a total of 322 cards : 160 standard cards and 162 premium cards . The five rarity types for the cards are Common , Uncommon , Rare , Special Rare and Premium . " The 3rd Birthday " contains a promotional Aya Brea card when purchased , while the " Kingdom Hearts : Birth By Sleep Final Mix " contains a promotional Cloud Strife card . " Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy " was also released with a tie - in promotional card . The second booster series , Chapter II , was released on May 27 , 2011 , with two new Entry Sets , Earth and Lightning . A third booster series , Chapter III , added another two Entry Sets , Fire and Ice . North America and Europe . " Final Fantasy Trading Card Game " Opus 1 will be available in a different configuration for its Europe and North America releases . The two – player game will be sold in the traditional trading card format of starter and booster packs with a total of 186 cards . The three starter decks , " Final Fantasy VII " ( Fire & Earth ) , " Final Fantasy X " ( Wind & Water ) and " Final Fantasy XIII " ( Ice & Lightning ) , will be sold in six - deck displays with each starter deck containing 50 cards , a paper playmat , and rule information . Boosters will be sold in 36 - pack displays with each pack including 12 cards and one premium foiled card .