If you've played video games, you're likely familiar with Final Fantasy in some way, even if it's just in name. If not, Final Fantasy is a series of roleplaying games that is much beloved by the community for its deep story, lovable characters, exciting boss fights and innovations in character customizations. The Next standard legal magic set Final Fantasy brins some of the magic of the franchise to Magic.with over 300 new cards in the main set, more than 100 new Legendary creatures and a substantial Commander set there's bound to be something for everyone. As with our previous Top 10 lists we’ll be covering cards from the main set that are good for most decks. Now let's dive into this set to see what new things we can add to our decks!
Ongoing cost reduction like we get with the Medallions can be really good. Yes, The Crystals from Final Fantasy cost double to cast, but they do have some added upside: each has a static effect and an activated ability to use late game. Modal cards are always better since the added flexibility can make the impact of that one card larger in our 99.
Drawing cards is great! Memories Returning gives us a neat way to get three of the top five cards of our library. While there's high overlap with Fact or Fiction, getting first choice can increase your likelihood of getting a stellar pile of three instead of being forced to take less cards.
Creatures that cost eight Mana can be a lot of fun, and Ardyn, The Usurper definitely fits into that category. Since Ardyn has a start of Combat trigger, it's possible to get value right away. Whether you're Exiling one of your opponent's best threats or bringing back something from your own Graveyard with Menace, Lifelink, and Haste, you're bound to get a solid payoff and likely become the biggest threat. Naturally, Ardyn will excel in decks that are cheating him into play to get that sweet payoff earlier, but paying full cost could be worthwhile in the right deck.
Aristocrat decks can be fun to play and challenging to play against, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER introduces another tool in the toolbox. Sacrificing creatures and drawing cards when doing so is great, and having a Blood Artist like static ability as well is excellent. If you can manage to get four death triggers in a turn, Sephiroth transforms into Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel, which gives you a Blood Artist emblem and a wider sacrifice and draw trigger. I expect we’ll see quite a few transformed Sephiroth's.
Casting spells for free is awesome. But you know what's better? Casting four spells for free! With the right deck Triple Triad could make this dream a reality, or multiple spells at least assuming some players flip lands. Yes it costs six to get into play, but you should get more than that in value if the Enchantment sticks around for a turn cycle.
When making Tokens, do you want to make more Tokens? The answer is almost always yes, and Quina, Qu Gourmet helps flood the board with Frogs. Quina may not have the removal ability that Chatterfang, Squirrel General does, but at Uncommon you should see it hopping around in lots of decks.
Swords in Magic offer lots of unique ways to get value from attacking and Buster Sword is no different. While there's no added protection, the payoff of casting spells for free when you deal combat damage is pretty awesome. I expect this card will lead to lots of memorable stories.
Removal. Removal. Card draw. Win condition. What more could you what in a 9/9 Flier? Summon: Bahamut is one of the new Saga Enchantment Creatures introduced to capture the feeling of Summons present in Final Fantasy. Interestingly, with this ene card type there have been some rule changes to Sagas - if they lose the Saga type through any means they stop getting Lore counters but continue to trigger at the Chapter they would normally. I’m sure that would lead to any shenanigans. One other interesting note with the summons, is they are Creatures, so they could be copied as such to get even more continued value.
Having more card draw in your decks is always the right choice, but it can be tough to find space for straight card advantage cards since they're not as interesting as the other things we're trying to do. Midgar, City of Mako gives us a new option to squeeze some card advantage into our Mana base. Yes, it will enter tapped after you've cast it as an Adventure, but it makes one of those Lands slots multi-functional. Always worth a consideration.
Lands that tap for multiple colors are fantastic. Mana Confluence is still a pricey card as a result. While Starting Town doesn't always enter untapped, the ability to fix for colors will always be beneficial for decks that need it.
Well there we have it, 10 cards you should pick up from Final Fantasy for your Commander decks. These aren't the only goodies that exist though, you should check out our pre-order page to see all the other cool tech. Were there any cards you’re excited about that I missed? Let me know in the Chimera Gaming Discord, or reach me directly on Bluesky.
Did you know we usually have 20 pods firing for Commander night on Tuesdays? Tables fill up fast and I hope to see you there!
