Crystal Dominion Card of the Week: Robel-Akbel

October 7, 2021
Crystal Dominion Card of the Week: Robel-Akbel

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　Hello everyone! FFTCG Producer Tarou Kageyama here to kick off the “Card of the Week” series covering the latest booster pack—Crystal Dominion—scheduled to release on November 26th. Through these weekly articles, we will reveal and introduce some cards to highlight ahead of the release. We hope you’ll enjoy these until the end! I’ll be leading with our first article.

Now, let’s get straight to the main topic. Today, I’ll be introducing Robel-Akbel [15-084L] – an Earth Legend card featuring an original illustration by Toshitaka Matsuda. Once again, he drew a wonderful illustration that never ceases to capture those that set eyes on it. Thank you for your beautiful work, Matsuda-san!

Robel-Akbel 15-084L


Robel-Akbel 15-084L Full Art

Robel-Akbel appears as one of the key characters from the Wings of the Goddess arc in “FINAL FANTASY XI”. The beast on which Robel-Akbel rides—which is clearly visible in the full art version of the illustration—is also part of the mystery, but I’ll need to refrain from divulging too much here, so please give the game a try if you ever have the chance to do so.

In FFTCG, Robel-Akbel [15-084L] is a 4CP Forward with 8000 power and two auto abilities. The first reads “When Robel-Akbel enters the field, you may...” Oops! I should explain this first. This icon you see here indicates the new “Crystal” feature introduced in Crystal Dominion. As such, the first ability reads “When Robel-Akbel enters the field, you may pay 1 Crystal. When you do so, choose 1 Forward or Monster. Break it.” You can break Forwards or Monsters unconditionally, just by entering the field and paying a Crystal, so there’s no way it could be considered weak. However, it’ll surely be difficult to properly evaluate this without having a full understanding for Crystals, so although we’re derailing a bit, allow me to explain.

Crystal is a resource that differs from CP (Crystal Point) and cannot be obtained by dulling backups or discarding cards from your hand. Generally, Crystals are obtained through some kind of card effect. For example, take a look at this Geomancer [15-080C].

Geomancer 15-080C


Crystal C-001

The card reads “When Geomancer enters the field, gain 1 Crystal.” Just like that, players obtain Crystals. Now, unless the Crystals obtained are used to pay for something, the Crystals will remain in your hand [as resource] until the game ends. It would be best to manage your Crystal count with counters like dice or tokens from board games, alternatively playing cards and such would also work, but the Crystal Dominion booster packs also include, at random, cards that help manage Crystals like the one seen in the image above, so you could use those as well. (For tournaments, you may not use FFTCG cards that can actually be used in-game, or coins and such. Treat this the same way you would deal with counters.)

Now that you have a better understanding for Crystals, I’d like to go back to talking about Robel-Akbel [15-084L]. Crystals are relatively easy to obtain by means such as the one exemplified with Geomancer [15-080C], so Robel-Akbel [15-084L]’s ability should also be relatively easy to use. By playing Geomancer [15-080C] in advance, you’ll be able to defeat a Forward or Monster, just by placing Robel-Akbel [15-084L] on the field!

Robel-Akbel [15-084L] has another useful auto ability. Crystals aren’t involved with this one, but it allows you to choose 1 Backup in your Break Zone and add it in your hand at the beginning of Main Phase 1. As long as you have a Backup in the Break Zone, it’ll feel as though you’re pulling 3 cards on each turn during the Draw Phase. You could retrieve the Backup you discarded from your hand to generate CP, or reuse the Backup placed in the Break Zone for some sort of ability. Using it alongside cards that have great synergy, such as Star Sibyl [5-091H] and Calbrena [14-061H] will allow you to gain advantage more efficiently.

It’ll probably be difficult to understand its true value until other new cards are revealed since this is a card that uses the new Crystal gimmick, but I’m sure you’ll be able to have fun with it. Ah yes – I forgot to mention one important thing. I’m sure many have already noticed but check out this card’s Job. That’s right – starting with set, we’ll see characters that have multiple Jobs. I hope you’ll look forward to this feature as well.

Next time, Richelle will be introducing a character from a motion picture, so I’ll end this article on that note!
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