Shiva is a one-of-a-kind Triple Triad card in Final Fantasy VIII used to play the minigame and for turning into items with Quezacotl's Card Mod. Shiva is the eighty-fourth card in the inventory and the seventh Level 8 card. It depicts the Guardian Force Shiva, one of two Guardian Forces Squall Leonhart starts the game with. The card is called "Shiva" even if the player renames the GF. The card is easily missed as the window for acquiring it is short.
Shiva has middling values for a Level 8 card, but its value placements may also be useful for games that use Same and/or Plus. It is an ice-elemental card, a rule that comes into effect with the Elemental rule in play. Placing Shiva on a tile with the matching ice crystal symbol boosts its stats by +1. The increased values do not matter for triggering Same/Plus, but do count toward Combo mechanics.
Obtain[]
Zone gives the Shiva card if the player gives him the Girl Next Door.
Zone has the card, but the player cannot win it off him in a card game. Instead, he will give the card if Squall gives him The Girl Next Door magazine for free. The only time this can be done is on the White SeeD Ship bridge, an unrevisitable location; the ship disappears from the world map if the player docks in Fishermans Horizon or visits the Balamb Garden infirmary after speaking with the White SeeD leader. The Girl Next Door is found among the stacks on magazines on the floor of the Timber Maniacs building in Timber.
If the player completed the Card Club quest before the point of no return (fighting the boss atop the Lunatic Pandora), the club members will appear aboard the Ragnarok in the endgame, from whom the player can win all Level 8–10 cards they do not currently hold in their deck, even the cards they had modified before. This allows the player to modify the Shiva card for items and then win it back.
Card Mod[]
The Shiva card refines into 100 North Winds with Quezacotl's Card Mod, an item that boosts compatibility with Shiva the GF. North Winds can also be turned into Blizzaga with Shiva's Ice and Water Magic Refiner, allowing the player to easily max out the spell for every playable character if they mod the Shiva card. However, the Shiva card is one-of-a-kind and it is easy enough to acquire North Winds in other ways, 100 of them being more than the player will ever need.
Physical version[]
In 1999, following the release of Final Fantasy VIII in Japan, Bandai produced a full set of collectible Triple Triad cards in Final Fantasy VIII Carddass Masters Perfect Visuals. The set was made up of the 110 cards as seen in the game along with 72 artwork cards and a collector's edition playing mat. The cards have a blue side and a red side. The cards have become a rare collector's item.