How to beat Ned in Queen’s Blood in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Ned is one of the earliest Queens Blood opponents you can battle in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. He can also be a frustrating opponent, as some of his cards have special effects.

If you’re struggling, here’s how to beat Ned in Queen’s Blood in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

How to beat Ned in FF7 Rebirth

Ned can be difficult to finish, as you’ll only have your starter deck and won’t have much chance to practice beforehand. Your opponent also has the Crystalline Crab card, which can cause problems. Fear not, here’s how to approach the match.

Start the game with a strong Mulligan

Hoarding all of your high-rank cards is tempting, but they are useless if you can’t get them on the field. I recommend having at least three rank-one cards in your starting hand, as this will give you some options during the match. For the starting deck specifically, the Security Officer card is excellent, and it’s even better if you can get a pair in your opening hand.

Start your match the right way

If you’ve got the Security Officer card on turn one, put it at the back in the middle, as it will rank up the spaces above and below while opening the space in front. 

If you’ve got a pair of Security Officers, you can give yourself a ton of options by playing it as I have in the picture above on turn 2.

Go on the offensive

Next, you want to push further into the board, freeing up spaces for your other cards. The starter deck lacks offensive options, but cards like J-Unit Sweeper and Levikron are great for pushing forward. Remember, you can steal your opponent’s unoccupied spaces; just make sure you don’t leave room for Ned to do the same to you.

Beware the Crystalline Crab

As you progress through the game, you’ll encounter far more dangerous cards than the Crystalline Crab, but it’s still a pain early on. The Crystalline Crab increases the power of the card directly above it by two points. Ned has a pair of these in his deck, and he can quickly earn a surprise score advantage.

As this is Ned’s most dangerous card, I recommend prioritizing the bottom row. The Crystalline Crab can’t affect cards below it and is only worth 1 point on its own. Once you’ve secured the row, focus your efforts elsewhere.

Remember your Win Condition

The Crystalline Crab may seem a bit unfair, but most of Ned’s other cards are weak. You can quickly turn the tide of the match with your Elphadunk cards. You have 2 of these in your starter deck, each worth a whopping 4 points. The downside to Elphadunk is they don’t open spaces in front and can’t be used to push further into the board. Still, if you played the Security Officer on turn one, you’ve got a pair of rank-two spaces on the board to play with.

Ned can be overwhelming for newcomers, but I urge you to stick with Queens Blood, as it’s a superb minigame you can enjoy anywhere. If you’re on the card game grind, take on Zahira next.