Am I in an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh? Here’s how to win the Queen’s Blood Tournament in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
How to Win the Queen’s Blood Tournament in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (FF7)
As you board the Shinra-8, you’ll hear a loud announcement about a Queen’s Blood tournament in the lobby. If you win five rounds against five different opponents, you’ll be able to claim the following rewards:
- Card #095: Ifrit.
- Card #115: Terror of the Deep.
- Assess Materia Earrings.
- The Card Royalty achievement.
This is doable even if you’ve never defeated another Queen’s Blood player before. But you should be sure you know the basics of the game first.
First, if you’ve never played a single game of Queen’s Blood, be sure to grab a few decks at the merchant at the bar. He has a fat Chocobo plushie in front of him. You can purchase every deck available so far through him, though you’ll be missing out on the cards that can only be obtained by beating other Queen’s Blood players. Still, these cards will significantly boost your default deck and will make all the difference as you get to higher and higher rounds in the tournament.
I recommend you purchase the Ruffians Pack to get Mandragora and the Shut Up ‘n’ Drive Pack to get Ignilisk. Mandragora has the same spaces as a Levrikon but also immediately summons a Mandragora Minion into your hand, which functions like a Grassland Wolf. You’ll get the Mandragora Minion for free without impacting your next draw, so you’ll have more options to work with. Ignilisk will be able to boost the cards around it, which can turn the tide of a fight.
The deck I used for every round but the last is this:
| Card | Ability | How to Obtain |
|---|---|---|
| Levrikon | No card abilities | Default deck |
| Grassland Wolf | No card abilities | Default deck |
| Mandragora | When played, add Mandragora Minion to your hand. | Ruffians Booster Pack |
| Cactuar | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 3 while this card is in play. | Won from Nene in Kalm |
| Crystalline Crab | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. | Default deck |
| Chocobo & Moogle | Raise power by 1 for each other enhanced allied card. | Beat Thorin in the A Rare Card Lost side quest |
| Ignilisk | No card abilities | Shut Up ‘n’ Drive Booster Pack |
| Zemzelett | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 3 while this card is in play. | Won from Zogan in Under Junon |
| Shiva | When played, spawn Diamond Dust of power 2, 4, or 6 in empty positions. | Won from Isabelle in Under Junon |
| Titan | When played, raise potion ranks by 2. | Purchasable from Thorin’s Shop |
| Hell Rider II | When played, lower the power of enemy cards on affected tiles by 3. | Purchasable from the Crow’s Nest in Junon |
If you have very limited cards or no cards, I recommend this deck to start:
| Card | Card Ability | How to Obtain |
|---|---|---|
| Grassland Wolf | No card ability | Default deck |
| Levrikon | No card ability | Default deck |
| Security Officer | No card ability | Default deck |
| Mu | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 1 while this card is in play. | Default deck |
| Crystalline Crab | Raises the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. | Default deck |
| Mandragora | When played, add Mandragora Minion to your hand. | Ruffians Booster Pack |
| Ignilisk | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. | Shut Up ‘n’ Drive Booster Pack |
While I use special cards for my default deck, it’s not necessary. This strategy can be achieved with only default cards. But you need to have the max amount of Grassland Wolf, Levrikon, Security Officer, and Mandragora to pull it off.
Beyond that, Crystalline Crab, Mu, and Ignilisk work fine for boosting a card on the row above it and pushing your own row outward. The Crystalline Crab is also a default card in your deck.
As for how to actually lay your cards, I highly recommend building two rows using Levrikon, Grassland Wolf, Security Officer, and Mandragora. Once you’ve dominated two rows, you can put a card close to your opponent’s backline to prevent them from moving forward, locking them into place. This will work for every fight you encounter except for the last one.
How to Win Round One in the Queen’s Blood Tournament
Our first potential opponent is Wize 3.0, who can be found outside on the deck, and Felix, who can be found on the second floor. Both opponents are Rank 1 players. Wize 3.0 seems to only have access to the default deck, but Felix has a few rarer cards in his arsenal, making him slightly harder to beat.
Wize 3.0 has the following cards:
| Card | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Crystalline Crab | Raises the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. |
| Security Officer | No card abilities |
| Levrikon | No card abilities |
Felix has the following cards:
| Card | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Cactuar | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 3 while this card is in play. |
| Grasslands Wolf | No card abilities |
| Levrikon | No card abilities |
| Mandragora | When played, add Mandragora Minion to your hand. |
For this first round, it’s sufficient to go in with cards with high attack numbers, indicated in the right-hand corner of the card, and low pawn requirements, indicated in the top left of the card. Grassland Wolf and Levrikon, for example, will let you grow your row outward while giving you +2 attack power. They’re also part of any default deck. Security Officer will move you across the board fastest while claiming the board all around it.
Crystalline Crab, which gets the most of its value during the middle of the game and in the middle and bottom row, can both bolster your cards while moving outward. Mu and Ignilisk should be placed after you’ve claimed as much of the board as possible to beef up your already laid cards.
Once your match is done, report to the man behind the bar next to the Moogle plush to report your winning.
How to Win Round 2 of the Queen’s Blood Tournament
For the second round of Queen’s Blood, we have three potential opponents before us: Tifa, Aerith, or Barret. Aerith and Tifa are both on the Sundeck, and Barret is behind the bar.
Aerith’s deck is as follows:
| Card | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Quetzalcoatl | No card abilities |
| Mu | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 1 while this card is in play. |
| Security Officer | No card abilities |
| Elphadunk | No card abilities |
| Crystalline Crab | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play |
Aerith has a distinct strategy. Her Elphadunk is a powerful card that starts off with 4 Power, and she uses Mu and Crystalline Crab to further bolster it. It’s very similar to our strategy. This means that whatever row her Elphadunk is in has a very good chance of winning that row for her. Especially if you only have access to default cards and cards purchased from Booster Packs.
However, Titan, Chocobo & Moogle, Zemzelett, can help out significantly when it comes to bolstering your own power if you want to fight against her Elphadunk. Each of these cards can be won by beating Queen’s Blood opponents in earlier chapters, with the exception of the Titan. Titan can be purchased from Thorin’s Card Shop after completing the side quest A Rare Card Lost.
The same strategy you utilized in round one, where you push aggressively into her backline with Grassland Wolf, Levrikon, Security Officer, Crystalline Crab, and Mandragora works here. However, if you don’t think you can beat her Elphadrunk’s power, don’t put your best cards on the same row as her Elphadrunk. Instead, save those cards for the other rows to ensure you have the numbers to win those rows.
Tifa’s deck is as follows:
| Card | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Chocobo & Moogle | Raise power by 1 for each other enhanced allied card. |
| Security Officer | No card abilities |
| Mu | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 1 while this card is in play |
| Toxirat | When played, lower the power of allied and enemy cards on affected tiles by 3 |
| Crystalline Crab | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles b 2 while this card is in play |
| Zu | No card abilities |
Tifa is the easiest opponent of the three because there’s no strong synergy with her cards. Her Chocobo & Moogle could be powerful. Each time a fiend on her side of the board receives +1 power from a card ability, her Chocobo & Moogle also receives +1 power. And Crystalline Crab and Mu mean that she might be able to snowball with it. However, Toxirat reduces the power of both enemy and allied cards, and she periodically destroys her own fiends.
That being said, the same strategy and deck we’ve utilized so far, with Levrikon, Grassland Wolf, Crystalline Crab, etc., will work on her.
Barret’s deck is as follows:
| Cards | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Levrikon | No card abilities |
| Archdragon | When played, lower the power of enemy cards on affected tiles by 3. |
| Queen Bee | No card abilities |
| Mu | Raises the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 1 while this card is in play |
Barret’s deck is standard beyond access to the Archdragon. The Archdragon can potentially remove your card off the board if it has less than 3 power. When the Archdragon does so, a red enemy pawn will appear where your card once was. You can avoid this by having a high-Power card in front in the spot closest to your enemy’s row. But it’s better to try to roll with the punches and build up each of the three rows with your pawns. That way, you can easily flip the red pawn back in your favor.
Otherwise, the same aggressive push into the enemy’s backline that you used for round one will work against Barret. He’s not particularly strategic about where he places his cards, so it’s easy to build into his side of the board. Use Grassland Wolf, Levrikon, Crystalline Crab, and Mandragora to do this.
How to Win Round 3 of the Queen’s Blood Tournament
There are only two potential opponents for round three, and you likely recognize them from your time in Wall Market. You can opt to fight either Andrea, who can be accessed by using the stairs behind the bar to reach the balcony, or Madam M, who is on the Sundeck.
Andrea’s deck is as follows:
| Card | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Archdragon | When played, lower the power of enemy cards on affected tiles by 3. |
| Security Officer | No card abilities |
| Levrikon | No card abilities |
| Capparwire | When played, lower the power of allied and enemy cards on affected tiles by 1. |
| Zemzelett | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 3 while this card is in play. |
Andrea essentially has Barret’s strategy with better AI and more deck variety. He utilizes a combination of Capparwire and Archdragon to destroy his opponents’ cards and takes those spaces for himself. The best way you can counter this strategy is to play carefully and place as many pawns as possible on two touching rows. So, build pawns across the top and middle row or across the middle and bottom row.
If you do this effectively and he manages to remove one of your cards and flips a pawn, you’ll be able to recover and flip it back with the adjacent row.
Madam M’s deck is as follows:
| Card | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Screamer | No card abilities |
| Cactuar | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 3 while this card is in play |
| Security Officer | No card abilities |
| Crystalline Crab | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play |
| Ogre | No card abilities |
Madam M’s strategy is simple. She uses Security Officer and Screamer to claim as much of the board as possible, then uses Cactuar and Crystalline Crab to pump up her fiends. Her Ogre is pure, high-powered muscle. However, with the strategy of Grassland Wolf, Levrikon, Crystalline Crab, and Mandragora, you can easily push into her backline first and prevent her from utilizing this strategy effectively. From there, you just need to out-do her beefed-up fiends.
With our current deck, Madam M is the easiest opponent of the two. If your deck is lacking brawn, then add two pawn monsters with higher attack points to your deck.
How to Win Round 4 in the Queen’s Blood Tournament
There’s only one possible opponent for round four, and that’s Chadley. He’s waiting on the Sundeck, where you could find Tifa earlier.
Chadley’s deck is as follows:
| Card | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Chocobo & Moogle | Raise power by 1 for each other enhanced allied card. |
| Security Officer | No card abilities |
| Ignilisk | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. |
| Crystalline Crab | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. |
| Zemselett | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 3 while this card is in play. |
| Mu | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 1 while this card is in play. |
Chadley is a tough opponent with some of the best cards and a strong strategy. He’ll essentially utilize the same strategy we’ve used for the past three rounds against us and use a variety of card abilities to empower his fiends.
But there is a way to overcome him using the same deck we’ve used for each match. We’ll need to pump up two lines with power-boosting card abilities. If you only have a default deck, be sure to purchase the Shut Up ‘n’ Drive booster pack and put two Ignilisk into your deck, as well as two Crystalline Crabs. If you have the Chocobo & Moogle card, ensure that it’s in your deck, as its power can quickly snowball. Mu is an option as well, and these are part of your default deck.
Next, we’ll want to focus on dominating either the top and middle rows or the top and bottom rows. We’re almost guaranteed to lose one row as Chadley expands aggressively. However, you’ll need to make sure you have two rows that are touching that you’re in control of so you can use Ignilisk, Crystalline Crab, and Mu to their full potential.
By spamming these cards, you should be able to edge Chadley out of the running. You may need to restart the match if Chadley gets lucky and you don’t. Or you could completely flip his cards using the new deck we’re building for Regina below.
How to Win the Final Round in the Queen’s Blood Tournament
Regina is our final opponent. She’s the reigning champion and no pushover. In fact, she’s our first-ever Rank 5 opponent. And to beat her, we’ll need to use a completely new deck.
Regin’s deck is as follows:
| Card | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Zemzelett | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 3 while this card is in play. |
| Chocobo & Moogle | Raise power by 1 for each other enhanced allied card. |
| Ogre | No card abilities. |
| Crystalline Crab | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. |
| Ignilisk | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. |
| Spearhawk | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. |
| Ifrit | Raise power by 2 for each other enhanced allied card. |
| Titan | When played, raise potion ranks by 2. |
Regina has Chadley’s strategy with better cards. She uses her Ogre for raw power, her Zemzelett, Crystalline Crab, and Ignilisk to boost power, and then lets her Chocobo & Moogle snowball with its card ability. What that leads to is a very powerful opponent.
To that end, we’re building a new deck.
| Card | Card Ability | How to Obtain |
|---|---|---|
| Security Officer | No card abilities | Default deck |
| Levrikon | No card abilities | Default deck |
| Grassland Wolf | No card abilities | Default deck |
| Cactuar | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 3 while this card is in play. | Beating Nene (not necessary, functions similar to Ignilisk and Mu) |
| Crystalline Crab | Raise the power of allied cards on affected tiles by 2 while this card is in play. | Default deck |
| Chocobo & Moogle | Raise power by 1 for each other enhanced allied card. | A Rare Card Lost reward (not necessary) |
| Capparwire | When played, lower the power of allied and enemy cards on affected tiles by 1 | Weird and Wicked Booster Pack |
| Archdragon | When played, lower the power of enemy cards on affected tiles by 3. | Weird and Wicked Booster Pack |
| Toxirat | When played, lower the power of allied and enemy cards on affected tiles by 3 | Suppressive Strikers Booster Pack |
Regina has the most distinct strategy here. She has very powerful cards that she’ll spend her time building on her side of the deck. She doesn’t expand outward as aggressively as Chadley or your past opponents. Take advantage of this by using Security Officer to get to her part of the board as quickly as possible. Then, build up pawns on all three rows, but don’t put cards next to her pawns.
You want those spots open so you can use Capparwire, Archdragon, and Toxirat to disrupt her side of the board strategically. Once she’s put a few cards down, use those cards to carve out parts of her side of the deck and remove buffs from her powerful cards. This will cripple her enough for you to sweep in and take the victory. You can even use this strategy to put cards in the middle of her field.
You’ll have to be strategic when placing cards. Play it a little passive until you see an opening in front of you.
How to Defeat the Mystery Contender in the Queen’s Blood Tournament
If you thought this gauntlet was over, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Red’s out for blood, and only the Queen’s will do.
Red’s deck consists of:
| Card | Card Ability |
|---|---|
| Flametrooper | When destroyed, lower the power of allied and enemy cards on affected tiles by 3 |
| Mandragora | When played, add Mandragora Minion to your hand |
| Riot Trooper | No card abilities |
| Capparwire | When played, lower the power of allied and enemy cards on affected tiles by 1 |
| Grassland Wolf | No card abilities |
| Ogre | No card abilities |
The match against Red isn’t particularly hard. He likes to spam Mandragora and Grassland Wolf to fill up the board quickly. His most powerful card is Ogre, and he can stir up a little chaos with Capparwire. But the deck you used against Regina can make mincemeat out of him by deleting his low-power cards.
I recommend this, as he’s essentially using our strategy against the earlier opponents against us, and it’s better to not leave anything to chance.
Once you defeat Red, you’ll get a slew of rewards:
- The Card Royalty achievement.
- A Shinra-8 tournament trophy.
- Card #095: Ifrit.
- Card #115: Terror of the Deep.
- Assess Materia Earrings.
Ifrit raises power by 2 for each other enhanced allied card, making it a powerful one to use in a power boosting deck. Terror of the Deep lowers the power of allied and enemy cards on affected tiles by 1 while this card is in play. Sort of like throwing a grenade into the water.
After you complete the tournament, everyone will go below deck to rest. Before you do, be sure to grab the Fortification Materia to the right of the bar before you go, near the railing on the ship.
