After completing Chapter 4 you won’t encounter any more ranked Queen’s Blood players until the end of Chapter 7, but that doesn’t mean you’re done playing cards! To pass time on the ferry in Chapter 5 you’ll be encouraged to participate in a Queen’s Blood tournament. While you can opt out if you’re allergic to this minigame, you can win some new cards by participating, and the stakes are pretty low, so you’ve nothing to lose by giving it a shot. This page will provide a guide for winning the Queen’s Blood tournament on the ferry in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth including tips for unlocking the Card Royalty trophy.
How to Win the Queen’s Blood Tournament in Chapter 5¶
As soon as you gain control in Chapter 5, you’ll need to head upstairs to where the tournament is being held. Talk to your companions, then talk to the receptionist to enter, and once you’re registered the tournament will begin. You can opt out at any time by talking to the receptionist to the right, and you can buy booster packs from the receptionist to the left.
With that done, let’s go win ourselves a Queen’s Blood tournament! Below you’ll find the deck we used to waltz to a rather easy victory, if you need advice on using it, check out our Best Early Queen’s Blood Deck page.
Card | Number |
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Shinra Security Officer | x2 |
Crystalline Crab | x2 |
Crawler | x1 |
Ignilisk | x2 |
Capparwire | x2 |
Chocobo & Moogle | x1 |
Quetzalcoatl | x2 |
Zemzelett | x2 |
Titan | x1 |
Each round you’ll get to choose to compete against a few opponents. The choice doesn’t usually matter much (especially not if you’re using the deck we recommended), but if you don’t like the cut of an opponent’s jib, you can play whomever you wish. Win and you can opt to move onto the next round. Lose and… it doesn’t really matter. Play another opponent or attempt rematches until you’re victorious. There’s no real penalty for losing, so perseverance will ultimately carry the day.
The opponents you’ll face are as follows:
Round | Opponents |
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Round 1 | Felix, Wize |
Round 2 | Aerith, Barret, Tifa |
Round 3 | Andrea, Madam M |
Round 4 | Chadley |
Round 5 | Regina |
Exhibition | Red XIII |
Card Royalty Strategies¶
Despite the fact that you can’t technically “lose” the tournament (unless you forfeit out of frustration), beating your head against the wall until RNG favors you isn’t much of an option. Luck does play a role in Queen’s Blood, of course, but there are only 15 cards and you get to draw five at the start, meaning any card has a ⅓ chance of being available from the start. You’ll usually play at least five cards in most games, so much of your deck will see the field in any given game. All that to say, if you’re losing consistently, it’s because you’re being outplayed or you just don’t have the cards to compete, and in this tournament the former is going to be much less likely than the latter.
Not being judgmental - the skill issue can be corrected with the implementation of certain tips and strategies:
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This is primarily a buff deck. Its core strength is boosting the power of other cards - the orange squares on each card’s grid generally means it’ll buff allied cards in said grid. It’s worth looking over these cards so you know to play, say Ignilisk on the top row whenever possible to achieve maximum effect.
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In addition to being a buff deck, this is also a speed/pressure deck. Many of its cards are designed to claim tiles on the cheap, like Cappariwire and Security Officer. The more tiles you control, the more cards you’ll play compared to your opponent, and this correlates well with overall power on the board. Win the card battle and you’ll probably win the match.
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Whenever possible do not play a card that will claim a tile next to a tile the opponent has claimed, as they’ll usually respond by playing a card in said adjacent tile, converting your own pawn. There are times when you need to do this, but it’s an advanced strategy and probably won’t come into play much in this tournament. Instead, build up on the left side of the board until the enemy encroaches on your claimed tiles, then respond by converting their pawns.
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You can skip a turn if you want to let the opponent lead. Useful if you’d rather respond to their actions instead of taking the initiative. Just don’t do this when you’re losing, or the opponent will skip their next turn and end the game. This is a bit of an advanced strategy and again, shouldn’t be necessary in this tournament, but it can change the tempo of some matches.
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Capparwire is the lone card that doesn’t buff, but rather weakens adjacent cards (top and bottom tiles). It only does this when it’s played, however, so if you play it before another card, its effects won’t persist. Play Capparwires first whenever possible.
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You can mulligan cards from your initial hand. As a general rule, try not to have more than two cards that cost two pawns to play at the start of the game. It’ll only slow you down.
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Cards like Quetzalcoatl and Zemzelett will be this deck’s “trick” cards, due to their ability to strike diagonally. Keep them handy for midboard encounters where their ability to strike at unconventional angles can win tile disputes.
All in all, most opponents aren’t that difficult in this tournament, and even if you lose due to mistakes or bad RNG, it’s barely even a setback. Just rematch until you win, and with the deck above and a basic grasp of Queen’s Blood’s mechanics should you be able to dispatch every challenger. The most difficult opponent is probably Chadley, as he’s also running a fast buff deck with many of the same cards we have - genuinely a case where victory or defeat can come down to who ends up playing the Chocobo & Moogle card in the most advantageous spot!
Emerge victorious and you’ll claim the following prizes:
- Ifrit Card
- Terror of the Deep Card
- Assess Materia Earrings
- Shinra-8 Tournament Trophy
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