Alexander 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. Alexander is the ninety-fifth card in the inventory and the seventh Level 9 card. It depicts the Alexander Guardian Force drawn from Edea during the Battle of the Gardens event. The Alexander card is used for the Queen of Cards sidequest. The card is called "Alexander" even if the player renames the GF.
As a Level 9 GF card, Alexander has good values with a 9 and an one A, which represents the value 10 for the minigame and is unbeatable without special rules. It is a good card to place in a corner. Its value placements may also be useful for games that use Same and/or Plus. Alexander is the only holy-elemental card and thus may specifically benefit from having the Elemental rule in play; placing Alexander on a tile with the matching light ray symbol boosts its values by +1. The increased values are disregarded for Same/Plus calculations, but do count toward Combo mechanics.
Obtain[]
Piet holds Alexander.
Piet holds Alexander, the blond-haired man in a white lab coat who works on the Lunar Base. It is notoriously difficult to win card games with the Lunar region rules, as it simply has all rules by default. When in space, the player can save their game in the med bay before challenging Piet, and then reset and try again if they end up losing too many cards. After the Lunar Cry event, Piet is found on the escape pod crash site. The crash site is not marked on the world map, but the player can find it by walking into the right spot near the tip of the peninsula south from Tears' Point. (Video of correct spot.)
Tips:
- It is likely that a rule will be abolished after 1–3 games are loaded (one doesn't actually have to play the game), so the player can reload the game until one's least favored rule is removed. It is best not to continue with Open abolished.
- If struggling with the Random rule, using the Card Mod ability to convert all low level cards into items leaves a higher probability of the player's higher level cards being selected.
- If the player gets first turn, they can play a card with poor values to a corner that is possible to take back from both sides. When the CPU takes the card, the player can take it back while making sure the CPU can't Plus/Same it from the middle.
- It is advised to defend the corners and block the possibility of combos for the CPU by placing cards with the same/smaller value facing toward the player's corner cards.
- If the CPU sets up for a Same/Plus, it is advised to block this while taking care not to set up another combo for them.
- If the game is heading to a draw, the player should try not to lose any high value cards to the CPU as it will play them next round under Sudden Death.
The Queen of Cards requests Alexander as her fourth card after MiniMog, Sacred and Chicobo. Losing Alexander to her and having her in Dollet with it makes the Doomtrain card available in the Timber pub. The player can then win Alexander back form the queen's son in the artist's atelier in the house opposite the Dollet pub where the queen appears.
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 Alexander card and then win it back.
Card Mod[]
The Alexander card refines into 3 Moon Curtains, which teach Auto-Shell to a GF, enough to protect the whole party, and also further refine into 100 Shell spells each, though there are better ways to get Shells than making from these rare items. The only GF that learns Auto-Shell natively is Doomtrain and the AP requirement for it is steep, and so it may be useful to modify the Alexander card for the quick and easy Auto-Shell, as manually casting it in battle takes several turns and spells/items. As Alexander is needed for the Queen of Cards quest, it is best to put off modding it until after it is returned. The player can also get Shell for everyone from Quistis's Mighty Guard or Selphie's Wall, though timing a Limit Break can't be directly controlled.
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.