Minotaur 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. Minotaur is the eighty-eighth card in the inventory and the final Level 8 card. It depicts Minotaur, one half of the Brothers Guardian Force recruited from the Tomb of the Unknown King.
As a Level 8 GF card, Minotaur has good values with two 9s. It is a great card to place in a corner, as NPC card players can almost never beat a 9 without special rules. Its value placements may also be useful for games that use Same and/or Plus. The Brothers' cards are likely to be the player's first double-9 corner cards and thus see a lot of play. Minotaur is an earth-elemental card, which comes into effect with the Elemental rule in play. Elemental is encountered halfway through the game at Fishermans Horizon, though it is also a rule in Dollet and the Queen of Cards can be paid money to introduce new rules to a region. Placing Minotaur on a tile with the matching stone symbol boosts its values by +1. The increased values do not count toward Same/Plus triggering, but do count toward Combo mechanics.
Obtain[]
The crypt opens.
The card is in the crypt at the center of the Tomb of the Unknown King optional dungeon. The crypt opens after the player defeats Sacred and Minotaur in battle, and the party automatically gains their cards. The earliest the player can tackle the dungeon is after they can leave Deling City; it is mandatory to visit the tomb to find an ID card to progress the story into General Caraway's manor, but going in deeper than the entrance and fighting Sacred and Minotaur to obtain their GF is optional. It is best to do the Tomb of the Unknown King as soon as it is available to get the new GF as well as the Brothers' cards.
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 Minotaur card and then win it back.
Card Mod[]
The Minotaur card refines into 10 Adamantines, an excellent item used for weapon modifications for Squall's, Selphie's and Zell's ultimate weapons, and for teaching a GF the Vit+60% ability, which no GF can learn natively. However, Adamantines are also available from Adamantoises, a regular enemy, though it may be annoying to try for their high level drops whereas the Minotaur card simply awards the player with 10 Adamantines right away, enough to have Vit+60% for every party member if desired, and for every weapon that needs one. Minotaur is one of the few unique cards that may be worth modifying unless the player is adamant in keeping every one-of-a-kind card. It is still possible to get the card back from the Card Club in the endgame even if modified.
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.