Opus XIV Card of the Week - Shinryu

1 July 2021
Opus XIV Card of the Week - Shinryu

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Hello everyone! FFTCG Producer Tarou Kageyama here. I hope you’re all enjoying these “Opus XIV: Crystal Abyss” Card of the Week features. This time, for my second turn in the series, I’d like to introduce Shinryu [14-115L], which features new art by Toshitaka Matsuda. Matsuda-san’s new illustration of Omega has already been revealed, so I think many people may have been expecting the arrival of Shinryu as well. Behold his majestic figure!

14-115L Shinryu


Full Art


・Two types of powerful auto abilities

　We can see that Shinryu [14-115L] features an amazing illustration, but this card’s abilities have the strength to be worthy of this powerful art. The card has two auto abilities, so I’ll go over them one at a time in order.

　To start, his first auto ability is one that activates when he enters the field: “When Shinryu enters the field, deal 10000 damage to all the Forwards of cost 3, 6, and 9 opponent controls.” There’s a restriction on the targets, but 10,000 damage is high, and it would generally be possible to break most Forwards meeting the cost conditions. For cost 3 cards, there’s Citra [10-127H], Cyan [11-003R], Ritz[11-063L], and Y’shtola[12-119L]; for cost 6, there’s Tenzen [12-012L], Neo Exdeath [12-110L], and Rain [13-017H]; cards like these could potentially be broken. It’s [especially notable that it lets you take care of Neo Exdeath [12-110L] without choosing him (and provoking his ability). You can use it to vanquish even Yiazmat [9-057L]. This ability’s strength fluctuates because it’s dependent on the situation, but looking at the overall picture, it looks like it’ll bring plenty of destructive force to the table.

　The second ability is another auto ability: “At the beginning of Main Phase 1 during each of your turns, reveal the top card of opponent’s deck. If it is a Forward, all the Forwards opponent controls lose 7000 power until the end of the turn. If it is not a Forward, draw 2 cards.” If you’re able to reveal a Forward, you can lower your opponent’s Forwards’ power to 0 or less. Even if you aren’t able to get their power to 0, their power will still be lowered significantly, enabling you to execute attacks safely. Additionally, if the card you reveal is not a Forward, you can draw two cards, which gives you a big advantage in your hand. Either way, it’s not the kind of effect that your opponent is going to want to sit back and watch as it activates every turn, so they’ll likely need to take care of Shinryu [14-115L] quickly. Another notable point is that since you’re able to see the top card of your opponent’s deck prior to attacking, you’ll know in advance whether they would be drawing an EX Burst.

・Synergy with other cards

　We can expect these abilities to be amply effective even when running the card on its own, so it’s a little difficult to point out which cards it would work well with, but combining it with a card that can deal even a small amount of overall damage will make Shinryu [14-115L] even more of a force to be reckoned with. Low-cost Summons such as Ifrita [9-002H], Raiden (REVENANT WINGS) [10-100C], and Pandemonium [11-055R] may be perfect for the job. As a slightly different strategy, it might also be interesting to approach it from the fact that you’re able to see the top card of your opponent’s deck. With Lani [12-018H], for example, you can avoid so-called “bad draws” and instead take the most effective card possible from your opponent.

　So, what do you think about Shinryu [14-115L]? I hope you’ll give him a try. Next week, RB will introduce the main character from a mainline title. I hope you look forward to it!
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