In the grand tradition of Gwent from the Witcher series, Queen’s Blood is taking the world of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth by storm. It’s a deep, addictive, and challenging strategy game that offers a chance for you to show your card game prowess by competing in tournament-style matches. So let’s throw down and figure out how to win the Queen’s Blood tournament in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Everything you need to know about the Queen’s Blood Tournament
Before we dive straight into the nitty gritty, we first need to give you a bit of info. The Queen’s Blood tournament in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth takes place on your way to Costa Del Sol in Chapter 5. Your normal QB rank will not change during this event, and you’ll have to win five rounds to be crowned Queen’s Blood champion.
Each round players will get the chance to challenge a few different opponents. It’s up to the player to decide who they face, and even if you lose you can always rematch or face off against someone else who is available. But you only need to beat one challenger to advance to the next round.
My deck of choice focuses on taking spaces away from the opponent, giving them no chance to build any sort of strategy. You can take a look at my deck which contains mostly store-bought cards, with a few extra ones from some opponents in the Junon and the Grasslands:
The competition ranges from novices to bonafide Queen’s Blood masters. It’ll take everything you got to beat some of the harder opponents, and there’s even a final mystery opponent after the tournament finishes. Now let’s get this show on the road and take a look at our competition in the first round.
Round 1
How to beat Wize 3.0
We’re not going to spend too much time on the early rounds since the opponents here are not anything to worry about. Wize 3.0 is an actual card game robot that is looking to gauge your “queentessance.”
There’s not much thought you have to put into beating Wize 3.0. As long as you’re aggressive and taking space, it should be a cinch. Utilizing cards such as Grasslands Wolf and Levrikon will help extend your control of the board significantly.
How to beat Felix
Felix is another opponent that shouldn’t cause you too much trouble. After the match, he even admits to not fully understanding the rules. You’ll want to use these rounds to develop strategies that will be needed in the later rounds.
And if you don’t want to think too much about these early matches, focus on stacking cards in a single row while cutting off your opponent’s advances in others. Whether your deck is built for concentrated power to one or two rows, or you like to spread your cards around and take complete control of the board, Felix should give you very little trouble at all.
Round 2
How to beat Barret
Now that we’re into round two, this is where you’ll need to start thinking about the cards you’re playing. Barret’s not a pushover like the last opponents, he utilizes cards like Archdragon which lowers the points on any card you place in front of it. And if the value of your card goes to zero, it will be destroyed and Barret will have a new space to play a card.
I attempted my normal opening by placing a Levrikon in the top left, which Barret immediately mimicked. From there, it was a battle of who would place their pawns next to the enemy’s pawns first. If Barret is pushing against a lane you’re attempting to take, consider focusing your cards on another lane.
Just be wary of a card Barret likes to play called Zu. Zu captures spaces diagonally, meaning if you have an open space on the middle lane and Zu is on a space behind and above/below that space, it will get taken. But once you take enough space, Barret shouldn’t pose too much trouble.
How to beat Aerith
While Barret loves to debuff your cards, Aerith uses cards that boost their power. She uses cards such as Ignilisk and Mu, along with a few other power-up cards that even we have. This makes this battle especially tricky, since you might think you have a row won, only for her to place a power card above said row, ruining your strategy.
To beat Aerith, you’ll need to place power cards yourself to offset the extra points Aerith will get. Or you could take a page out of Barret’s book and use cards that lower the points of enemy cards. Either one of these strategies works, but you’ll of course need to do the usual space-taking while making sure you don’t become overaggresive in one lane. Especially with Aerith, taking one lane is a surefire way of losing the other two, and eventually, the match.
How to beat Tifa
Tifa is by far the most unorthodox player in all of Round 2 and the easiest to defeat. She uses barebones cards, none of which provide much insight as to what kind of play she’s attempting to make. Because she’s unorthodox in her card play, you’ll want to leave a lot of avenues open just in case she throws down a card you weren’t expecting. But once you’ve successfully taken down one of your fellow teammates, it’s time to report the score and move on to round 3.
Round 3
How to beat Andrea
Round 3 gives us matches against familiar faces from the slums of Midgar. The first opponent we can challenge on the second floor of the tournament hall is none other than the owner of the Honeybee Inn, Andrea. Round 3 is really where we start getting into the better players since Andrea uses a combination of power cards as well as ones that drain the power of your cards.
If you’re using a deck like mine, some of his cards might even be in your deck, like Zemzelett. Other cards like Archdragon reappear, and we get to see the first use of Capparwire. This match is tricky, and you never know when Andrea will place a card that completely removes the strategy you had in place.
Because of this, we recommend stocking your deck with power-up cards. That way, even if he tries to lower the point total of some of them, you won’t give up the space. You can also grab a few high-point cards like the Ogre, boasting a whopping five points.
How to beat Madam M
The other recognizable opponent in Round 3 is none other than Madam M, the same one Cloud had an “intimate” interaction with back in Midgar. She talks a pretty big game but is one of the easier opponents if you know how to shut her down. For one, it seems her deck is filled with cards that cost at least two pawns or more.
This means if you take space aggressively, the match could be over right after it begins. During my attempt, I performed my usual opening on the top row. She wasn’t extending her spaces that much, since it seemed like she was waiting to increase the amount of pawns on a certain space. Eventually, she was able to put out an Ogre in the middle row, but by then it was too late for her.
Round 4
How to beat Chadley
Round 4 is the start of the semi-finals, and there’s only one opponent you’ll have to face to advance: Chadley. Chadley’s difficulty is a 50/50 gamble, mostly depending on how he plays the opening. You can get off to a good start only for him to slap down multiple power cards and leave you wondering where it all went wrong.
He has a card called Chocobo & Moogle, that will raise its power by one for every other card he has already enhanced. To put a stop to this, you’ll want to be as aggressive with taking space. If you can suffocate his card placements, you won’t need to worry about Chocobo & Moogle stacking too much power. For some of you, this might be the first match you’ll need to restart (I know I did). But once you have persevered past Chadley, the finals await.
Final Round
How to beat Regina
Our final match of the Queen’s Blood tournament in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is against one of the best Queen’s Blood players out there, Regina. She might be intimidating before the match, but don’t let that fool you. I found Chadley to be a harder opponent, and this might differ for you if you decide to use a different deck and strategy than I do. Her card placements are good, but much like Madame M, she takes too long enhancing her spaces in the backline.
You can use this to your advantage by going on the offensive right out of the game. This is usually a surefire way to get ahead in any Queen’s Blood match, and it applies even in the finals of the tournament. She’s got a couple of interesting cards you might not have seen like Spearhawk that help enhance cards from far away.
More than anything if you have an open space in the same column as Regina does, you’ll want to make sure to fill that space as soon as possible. If not, she might be able to capture it even though no open spaces are adjacent to it thanks to the cards she has. Do this, and you’ll hoist the tournament trophy in no time.
Bonus Round
How to beat Red XIII
Right before you receive the trophy and rewards for winning the tournament, a surprise challenger throws down the gauntlet. While he may have added some extra flair to his outfit, we can see that our opponent is none other than Red XIII (albeit dressed as a Shinra Soldier). His deck works with mostly trooper cards, like Riot Trooper and Flametrooper. Flametrooper is the one to look out for if you’re using a deck that focuses on removing power from your enemies. Upon being destroyed, Flametrooper lowers the power of your cards on certain tiles by three.
However, if you’ve taken after me and used the deck I provided above, you should have no trouble dealing with your friend Red. Again, focus on creating space for yourself while cutting off any new spaces he tries to create. If you’re like me and have Shiva in your deck, you can use her as a last-ditch effort if you feel yourself losing ground. Her ability to place cards of varying power on any open spaces will help solidify your points.
Successfully winning the tournament rewards you with a Shinra-8 tournament trophy, Assess Earings, and the QB cards for Ifrit and Terror of the Deep. And for those trophy hunters out there, you’ll also receive the Card Royalty achievement, getting you one step closer to all the trophies in FF7 Rebirth.
