MiniMog 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. MiniMog is the eighty-first card in the inventory and the fourth Level 8 card. It depicts the pseudo-Guardian Force MiniMog used with the MiniMog command rather than with the GF command, learned from the rare Mog's Amulet item obtained from the Chocobo World or Angelo Search (Remastered). The card is also part of the Queen of Cards sidequest.
As a Level 8 GF Card MiniMog has good values with two 9s, a value NPC card players can rarely beat without special rules. Its value placements may also be useful for games that use Same and/or Plus.
Obtain[]
The boy who has MiniMog.
The MiniMog is held by the boy in a blue shirt who runs laps around Balamb Garden. He plays with Balamb region rules. The player must "catch" him before he runs off screen to challenge him. When the party returns from the SeeD exam and Squall is to talk to Xu and the other superiors running the exam outside the library, if the player heads left from the lobby instead, the path is blocked by the boy in a blue shirt and his brother, and the player can challenge him there as well.
During the Balamb Garden Revolt event, the boy appears in the Training Center and the player has a chance to save him from a T-Rexaur. If the player chooses to not help him, the boy will no longer be running laps. The girl in pink found on the right side of the Garden near the library and garage inherits the boy's Triple Triad deck, and the player can challenge her for the card instead. Doing this results in the boy coming running from the Training Center.
It is best to win MiniMog off the boy as early as possible, and it is likely one of the first high level cards the player gets. The Queen of Cards requests this card when she is sent to Dollet. To do the queen's sidequest the earliest, the player can lose the MiniMog card to her on the Balamb Town train station and reset the game until she says she is going to Dollet. Then, after leaving Timber as part of the story, the player can head to Dollet instead of Galbadia Garden (where the party is supposed to go next) and find the queen in the upstairs of the pub, where she explains what she did with the MiniMog card. The player can then head to the house opposite the pub to find the artist's atelier, and play the kid there to win back the MiniMog card (this is the Queen of Cards' son). The queen's sidequest is available until the point of no return.
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 MiniMog card and then win it back.
Card Mod[]
The MiniMog refines into 100 Pet Houses with Quezacotl's Card Mod, an item that fully restores HP of all Guardian Forces. However, GFs gain health by simply walking around the field, and so the player does not necessarily need to heal them. Pet Houses are also available from pet shops. It is more useful to keep the card for playing the minigame and for the Queen of Cards sidequest than to modify it. If the player modifies the MiniMog card, they can't progress into the queen's quest at all and miss out on several cards until endgame.
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.