Final Fantasy is one of Magic’s most popular sets. It still sits as the best-selling set of all time overall, and for good reason. It was a set made with love and made by fans of Final Fantasy. No matter what Final Fantasy game is your favorite, there are cards from it that you can use in your decks (even if Final Fantasy V lovers might be struggling). In this Final Fantasy Fan Showcase, we’ll go over the top cards from the set. Then, go over a Commander deck for each Bracket level. There is a lot to cover, so let’s jump right into it with.
Final Fantasy Meta Cards
To start things off, let’s look at the most powerful cards in the set. Constructed players still shudder at the sight of Vivi Ornitier, and it’s great in Commander as well, even usable as a cEDH commander. It’s an incredibly strong card for any Spellslinger strategy, acting as both a win condition and ramp. Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is a must-run in any Sacrifice deck. It provides you with lifegain while burning your opponents, on top of giving you a permanent emblem so you never lose access to this effect. For any fan of Equipment decks, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary slots right in.
We mentioend Vivi before, but there’s some great commanders from the Final Fantasy set. Kefka, Court Mage and Terra, Magical Adept are both cEDH commanders that have put of good results. Noctis, Prince of Lucis saw some cEDH experimentation, and while its not quite there, it’s still a very powerful Artifact Reanimation commander. Lightning, Army of One fittingly works great as a Voltron commander too. Then, can’t talk about the best commanders without making mention of the most popular Commander in the entire format:
Look past the creature lineup, there are some great generic cards. Starting Town is a staple, being a land that can tap for any color with it coming in untapped if you draw it early enough. The Fire Crystal is great for both Aggro and Red-heavy decks, discounting creatures while being able to make temporary copies of any of your creatures. Both Genji Glove and Buster Sword are good cards for Equipment decks, and The Regalia is a fantastic ramp engine for any deck that can’t run Green.
Bracket 1: The Party Recruitment
The Final Fantasy set included every protagonist from every game, along with a ton of party members from each one. This deck utilizes The Wandering Minstrel as its commander, with the deck being made entirely of creatures and lands. Each creature is a character that could be a party member in any of the Final Fantasy games. This is a Bracket 1 deck, so even though cards like Adelbert Steiner and Ashe, Princess of Dalmasca don’t do anything in the deck but act as a body, they were still important party members in their respective games, so they made the cut.
As for the lands, every land is a Town, a land type introduced in Final Fantasy. Each two-color combination has a corresponding land (for example, Insomnia, Crown City). On top of that, there is a cycle of mono-colored Towns that are Adventures, so they can be used as a spell before playing them as a land later (as seen on Zanarkand, Ancient Metropolis). There are also some miscellaneous Towns such as Starting Town and The Gold Saucer. Thanks to your commander, all the lands that would enter tapped enter untapped while providing you with creature tokens to help you actually win the game.
Every protagonist from every Final Fantasy is present here. Since I, III, XII, and XIV don’t have proper named protagonists, there isn’t any presentation of those games here. However, from II’s Firion, Wild Rose Warrior all the way to XVI’s Clive, Ifrit's Dominant are here in the deck. Along with a ton of party members, including the most brainwashable man Kain, Traitorous Dragoon and the not thief Locke, Treasure Hunter.
A sample decklist can be viewed below. It’s not an overly strong deck, but it is more thematic. The deck can win with creatures with your commander’s ability, and is all about gathering the party and going in on the boss that is your three opponents.
Commander
Creatures (66)
Lands (34)
100 Cards
$183.08
Bracket 2: Tidus Plays Ball
This deck is a thematic deck, but one that is just a tad too strong to sit in the Bracket 1 level. It’s led by Tidus, Yuna's Guardian as the deck’s front and center jock. He’s a Blitzball star in FFX before getting thrown through time, playing games at the Blitzball Stadium. The deck is less focused on being an optimal Tidus deck, and instead plays more thematic sports-themed cards along with FFX-related cards to tie a coherent strategy together.
Blitzball isn’t the only sport represented in Magic. If it’s related to a sport, the card made the cut here. So the deck includes cards such as Strixhaven Stadium, Big Play, Boxing Ring, and Contested Game Ball, to name a few. Even if these cards aren’t exactly the most powerful (far from it, actually). They do fit in the theme for everyone’s favorite himbo jock in Final Fantasy. It’s a mixture of sports in the deck to bring the theme back around.
On top of all the sports-related cards, Tidus’ party members are here for the ride too. The mentor Auron, Venerated Guardian, the love interest Yuna, Grand Summoner, the best friend Wakka, Devoted Guardian, the big sister Lulu, Stern Guardian, and the scary big brother Kimahri, Valiant Guardian are all here. Even another Tidus is in the 99 with Tidus, Blitzball Star. All the cards outside the thematic sports cards do synergize well thanks to originally being from a counter-focused precon to allow the deck to function properly in Bracket 2.
A sample decklist can be vieewed below. There is a good balance of Final Fantasy X cards, along with a variety of different sports-related cards to make for a solid, thematic deck to bring into a lower bracket level.
Creatures (22)
Instants (13)
Sorceries (15)
Artifacts (10)
Enchantments (6)
Lands (34)
100 Cards
$99.16
Bracket 3: All The Cids
As every Final Fantasy fan knows, every game has to have a Cid. They’re not related to each other, but often share a few traits. The biggest one is that most of the time, they’re the character who’s a mechanic or wizard, often being the source for an airship that appears frequently in Final Fantasy games. In Magic, every Cid has their own card, but they’re all under the Cid, Timeless Artificer umbrella.
There are a ton of Vehicles in the deck, including all the playable ones from the Final Fantasy set. The Regalia is especially useful to ramp you with mana (and Cid worked on the car at the start of Final Fantasy XV). The helpful The Lunar Whale helps out here, with The Prima Vista able to turn into a creature when casting big noncreature spells. Cargo Ship is very useful, acting as a mana dork for artifact spells, which the majority of the deck is.
To help make your Vehicles easier to cast, there are plenty of permanents to give them a discount. These include Voyager Quickwelder, Foundry Inspector, and Etherium Sculptor. Since all your Cids give your artifact creatures a stat boost, the more artifacts you can slap onto the battlefield, the better.
A sample decklist can be viewed below. You’re going through Cids, creating a ton of Vehicles with them for your party to crew and attack with.
Creatures (34)
Instants (4)
Sorceries (1)
Artifacts (29)
Lands (32)
100 Cards
$220.08
Bracket 4: Lightning: One Woman Army
Lightning had quite a journey throughout the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, and in Magic, she’s best front and center as your main attacker. Lightning, Army of One is a very powerful Aggro card, as whenever she deals damage to a player, all damage that’s dealt to them is doubled. This includes sources controlled by your opponents, so you can easily make someone else a target. There are a lot of ways to build this Lightning deck, and this one will be using an Extra Combat style to win games quickly with commander damage.
The deck is Voltron, stacking your commander with stat-boosting Equipments and making her evasive to do as much damage as possible. Two-Handed Axe and Genji Glove are amongst the best for dealing out a ton of damage with just one attack. You can also add on Excalibur, Sword of Eden and Colossus Hammer for extra damage and increase your odds of winning with just one swing.
On top of your commander, there are other permanents to make your damage even more devastating by doubling or tripling it. Creatures that do this include Twinflame Tyrant and Fiendish Duo. Most are attached to enchantments, with Dictate of the Twin Gods and Furnace of Rath making it so all sources deal double damage to everyone, and Gratuitous Violence makes it so only your creatures do double damage. Damage triplers are City on Fire and Fiery Emancipation. All of these effects stack with one another, so if you control more than one, that’s a ton of burst damage you have access to now.
A sample decklist can be viewed below. There are a lot of great ways to build Lightning, Army of One, this is just one of many.
Commander
Creatures (17)
Instants (9)
Sorceries (8)
Artifacts (22)
Enchantments (10)
Lands (34)
100 Cards
$802.53
Not feeling Lightning as a commander? We have another article talking about another Bracket 4 Final Fantasy commander: Ardyn, the Usurper, which you can check out here.
Bracket 5: The Mad Clown
And we’ve reached the final bracket level. cEDH is where only the strongest decks can survive. And when it comes to Final Fantasy commanders, it’s hard to beat Kefka, Court Mage. It’s a very strong Midrange commander, attacking your opponents’ hands while drawing you a bunch of cards. You’re usually not transforming your commander ever, and there will even be games you won’t actually ever cast it. Grixis is one of cEDH’s best color combinations, so you have access to all the best cards.
There are a lot of cards that provide passive value. With your commander, Waste Not can provide you a ton of different effects depending on what your opponents discard. You get some passive card draw with Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, Mystic Remora, and Rhystic Study. You also have The One Ring to stall dying for a turn while providing a lot of card draw the more turn cycles that pass.
The win condition is the ol’ reliable Thassa's Oracle with either Demonic Consultation and Tainted Pact. You can also shut down other opponents, getting rid of tutors with Opposition Agent and Orcish Bowmasters punishes any decks that draw too many cards. You even have clone effects with Flesh Duplicate and Phyrexian Metamorph to get more triggers of your commander to keep your hand fresh and to draw through your deck more quickly.
A sample decklist can be viewed below. Some decks play turbo combos, but this one is a slower one that takes advantage of the many powerful Midrange cards in cEDH.
Creatures (20)
Instants (26)
Sorceries (10)
Artifacts (13)
Enchantments (5)
Lands (26)
100 Cards
$9271.7
In Conclusion
Final Fantasy is one of the best Universes Beyond sets that Magic has seen. The worlds feel like they could fit within the Magic Multiverse, something other Universes Beyond sets don’t have the ability to describe themselves as. It was a set made with love, and there are a ton of cards to play with. The odds of there being another Final Fantasy set are incredibly high. After all, this set only pulled from the 16 baseline games, no sequels like Lightning Returns or spin-offs like the Final Fantasy Tactics series.
While the set was already huge, there are still a ton of characters that didn’t see the light of day from the base 16, on top of all the spin-offs and sequels. So if another set comes out, there is still a ton that can be pulled from. With it being the best-selling set ever, it’s hard to imagine a world where Magic doesn’t want to double-dip in the Final Fantasy world.
In this Final Fantasy Fan Showcase, we only touched the surface of just how deep the Final Fantasy set is. There are so many different possible Commanders at every power level. Whether you’re a very casual player or want to play at the highest power level, there is a Commander for everyone.
If you want another Final Fantasy commander in your arsenal, check out our deck tech on Final Fantasy VII’s Tifa Lockhart over here.
