Final Fantasy Trading Card Game

The Final Fantasy Trading Card Game (Japanese: ファイナルファンタジー・トレーディングカードゲーム Fainaru Fantajī Torēdingu Kādo Gēmu), often abbreviated as Final Fantasy TCG or FF-TCG, is a trading card game developed by Hobby Japan and published by Square Enix. The first iteration (the "Chapter" series) was released in Japan in 2011 but never released outside Japan and was discontinued in order to release a second iteration (the "Opus" series) worldwide in October 2016.

Each player uses a deck of 50 cards, with no more than 3 copies of the same card. Players play cards by spending Crystal Points, earned by "dulling" (turning from vertical to horizontal) Backup cards, or by discarding cards. The game features a wide range of Characters from games in the Final Fantasy series. The game has a global tournament circuit.

There are 1898 unique cards in the Chapter series. As of Opus XI, the Opus series developed 1700 different cards. The game had sold more than 3.5 million booster packs in Japan (as of September 2016) and 5.5 million packs worldwide (as of July 2017).

Players build a deck of exactly 50 cards with no more than 3 copies of the same card. At the start of the game, each player shuffles their deck and places it in their deck zone. Each player then draws 5 cards. A player may mulligan once by placing the 5 original cards on the bottom of their deck in any order then drawing 5 new cards. A random method is used to determine who chooses the starting player. The player who goes first draws one card on the first turn, but every turn after that first turn, each player draws 2 cards.

Players play other cards by spending Crystal Points (CP). Crystal Points are gained by Dulling (turning a card sideways) a Backup card, which will provide one Crystal Point of its Element type, or by discarding a card from the player's hand, which will provide two Crystal Points of its Element type. To successfully play a card, the player must pay the CP cost with at least 1 CP belonging to its Element type. Example: A Fire card with a cost of 5 CP requires one Fire CP and four CP of any type. Light and Dark Element type cards do not have this restriction and any CP can be used to play these cards, but they cannot be discarded for CP. Cards in play can either be active (vertical) or dull (horizontal) and often switch between the two, including at the start of each turn when all of the turn player's cards become active.

The primary goal of the game is to deal 7 damage to the opposing player. Players play Characters including Forwards which can attack the opponent during the owner's Attack Phase as long as they're active and have been in play since the beginning of the turn. When a Forward attacks, the non-turn player may declare a block with one of their own active Forwards. When Forwards battle, they deal damage to each other equal to their power value. A Forward with equal or more damage than its own power is broken and put into its owner's Break Zone. If an attacking Forward isn't blocked, it deals one damage to the defending player. When a player is dealt damage, they put 1 card per damage from the top of their deck face-up into their Damage Zone. When a 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 and pays the CP cost. Either player can respond to an effect before it resolves using the "stack". If both players consecutively "pass priority" (choose not to add another effect to the stack), the top effect on the stack resolves (the most recent one added) then players may once again add effects to the stack. The process continues until both players consecutively pass while the stack is empty, in which case the next phase of the turn begins. Every turn moves through 6 phases sequentially; the Active Phase, Draw Phase, Main Phase 1, Attack Phase, Main Phase 2 and End Phase. Character cards (Forwards, Backups and Monsters) can only be played by the turn player during their own Main Phase 1 or 2 while the stack is empty. Summons and Action/Special Abilities of Characters can be added to the stack any time the owner has priority. During the End Phase, if the turn player has more than 5 cards in their hand, they must discard cards until they have 5.

The game ends when a player fulfills a losing condition. Three conditions exist: Have 7 cards in the Damage Zone, attempt to draw from an empty deck, or receive damage while the deck is empty.