Welcome to the Final Fantasy Set Review, where we’ll help you figure out what cards to look out for and pick up. Final Fantasy prereleases run through June 12, with the set releasing on June 13 – and we can’t wait.
You can find other recent Commander set reviews here:
This time around, we’re doing things a little differently. Final Fantasy has so many excellent cards (especially legends!) that we’ll be going over the best Rare and Mythic cards to put in the 99 in this Set Review, with our picks of the top Commanders for the set to follow in a later article. This set truly is massive.
As such, we’ll only be looking at great support cards for popular decks and general role players.
FINAL FANTASY: WHITE
Clerics get good support out of the gates with Aerith Gainsborough and Minwu, White Mage. Minwu helps your little Soul Sisters grow large enough to jam, while Aerith can find a home in Legendary Matters decks in addition to Cleric and lifegain decks.
The big equipment deck card for the set is Cloud, Midgar Mercenary. Whether you’re playing Syr Gwyn, Arna Kennerud, Bruenor or Kassandra, you’re going to want to add this legendary Stoneforge Mystic to your deck. It’s an additional tutor plus has a very powerful amplification ability.
Next up, we get some solid support for Knights decks. Dion himself could easily helm a mono-white Knights deck, offering a very flickerable token generation and evasion, with a later game ability to pump the team and even blow up a permanent. Along with Summon: Knights of the Round, you’re getting some sweet pickups for Knight typal.
We love a good board wipe here, and Ultima is one that can help you deal with the pesky green-black decks and aristocrat decks that love to cash-in on creatures dying. If you have a lot of decks like that in your local playgroup, you can take advantage of the “End the Turn” part of Ultima to stop things happening after it resolves. It can’t stop them doing things in response, but you can’t have everything.
Gets super-interesting for decks that play at Flash speed, like Heliod the Radiant Dawn.
Venat, Heart of Hydaelyn gives you more card draw in your Legendary Matters decks, lower down on the curve. This allows GW versions of the deck in particular not be reliant on Captain Sisay in the command zone to tutor for everything, which makes games a little more varied. Once you flip Venat – and again this will be easier in GW, with it costing (7) – you get to exile something and get an even better card draw machine that can save something from board wipes until your next turn.
Part of a cycle, these crystals are all pretty neat. The Wind Crystal gives the discount of Pearl Medallion, with a lifegain doubler, and a late game way to jump the team and gain even more life. I like this one a lot.
FINAL FANTASY: BLUE
Edgar, King of Figaro is just a six mana hand refill in any kind of deck that generates a lot of artifacts, whether that be Thopters, Food, or Constructs. He’s got another use though, and that’s to go into the coin-flip decks to fix your flips. The ideal support card, I guess.
Gogo, Master of Mimicry is really cool, and will be a great add to your Wizard decks, and your Spellslinger decks. Copying abilities like this is very open to shenanigans. Whether that’s copying a Planeswalker ability or even slotting into a Kinnan cEDH deck as a way to soak up mana and be efficient, Gogo is sure to see a lot of play.
I quite like Louisoix’s Sacrifice. It’s a cheap and useful counterspell, and given the sheer amount of Legendary Creatures in most decks these days, it’s not the biggest deal to sometimes pay this additional cost. Three mana also isn’t the worst for the effect.
Matoya, Archon Elder is a sweet draw engine, and I can see her fitting into Kenessos sea creatures, Tales of Middle-earth blue-green decks like Elrond and Galadriel, and she’ll also just generally be a good engine piece in graveyard strategies that surveil a lot, like Mirko, Obsessive Theorist.
Memories Returning is a sweet riff on the Fact or Fiction template, and this one is one I really want to play, because it’s going to be fun. Getting opponents involved is always a good time.
Summon: Leviathan is another one-sided board clear for sea creature decks looking to turn the tide. That it also gives you card draw to draw into more creatures, counterspells, or Heroic Intervention is the icing on the cake. Oh, and it can attack too? Wild.
The Water Crystal is a mill player’s dream. A cost reducer that increases mill velocity, with a late game mana sink. Sweet.
Y’shtola Rhul is a complex card, and you’d be forgiven for missing the fact that she herself gives you two blinks for six mana because of her extra end-step ability. Six mana is quite a lot, but I can see Y’sthola fitting well into both flicker decks and decks that mess with upkeeps and endsteps.
FINAL FANTASY: BLACK
I love making opponents exile their dead creatures, and if you’re telling me I can do that with a way to later have those creatures, and also get a discount on my black spells? Well, I’m biting your hand off. This is one of my favorite crystals in the cycle.
Black decks like to make burst-mana and to keep their hands topped up. Kain is a good early play that can guarantee you the top-ups you need, and you can do some dastardly things with him, like building him tall and strapping a Vampiric Link to him to ensure you gain life off of anyone attacking with him. I’m curious to see what people can accomplish with a little Goad.
Ninja’s Blades gives you what is essentially a free Yuriko trigger. Does it go in a Yuriko deck? Probably. But, it also goes in decks that trend higher on mana costs and plays in the yard.
Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is a legendary blood artist. While it will be attactive to run him in the command zone, he will also be right at home in countless aristocrats and tokens builds, especially those with Commanders and gameplans that involve sacrificing many creatures per turn.
Summon: Primal Odin asks you whether you would like a Phlage for two turns, or maybe more, it’s okay, you won’t lose the game if you reanimate it. Primal Odin also nukes a potential blocker on the way in, which makes it quite the card. I’m all in for testing this one.
FINAL FANTASY: RED
I’m a massive Ben Starr fan, and I’m sure you are too. That is at least half of the hype for Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant. The other half is that it’s just a really solid card in red decks. Getting to self-wheel on EtB before flipping into a 9/9 that can fight something and generate you a decent chunk of mana, before flipping back to a self-wheel? It’s a really concise engine.
My other fave crystal in the set is The Fire Crystal. This one gives us the much-needed haste along with our mana reduction, which I’d almost be okay paying four mana for in the first place. It gets better, though; you also get a copier effect for six mana, that’s repeatable every turn. I’m snapping this one up for my Emberchaud deck for sure.
Low on the curve creatures are what every equipment deck wants, and both Raubahn and Firion excel in this department. Raubahn scoops up your pricey equipment, and while admittedly you’ll bypass attack triggers, he’s still a force to be reckoned with especially with that Ward ability. Firion, meanwhile, essentially doubles up on your non-legendary equipment the turn you play it, which is… awesome. He also gives haste to equipped baddies.
Gilgamesh is a curve topper for equipment decks, and feels reminiscent of God with such an impactful trigger. He is a “Titan”, getting you free equipment on Enter or Attack, and is gonna make Nahiri, Forged in Fury fans overjoyed. Or really any equipment deck with a high density. Scroll Rack, anyone?
Nibelheim Aflame is a nice riff on Chandra’s Ignition. Chances are if you want one, you want the other. While this one doesn’t hit face, it does dig you for more cards, which is also pretty nice.
One of the better Summons in the set, G.F. Cerberus ramps things up turn by turn until you’re popping off. I’d like to try this in my Shiko and Narset, Unified deck, but the more apt spellslingers have no doubt much grander plans for this one. Izzet good? You bet.
Triple Triad is neat. Six mana to cast a free spell on upkeep is pretty nice, but when you consider it’s one mana less than Mind’s Dilation and can give you most of the same effect, but in red? Well, that something to write home about. Who knows what’s on the cards here? That’s the fun of it.
Vaan, Street Thief slots into a bunch of typal matters builds as a way to keep up the momentum. You either get treasure or you peel off a clutch spell. He also – and this is key to me – grows your army of otherwise diminutive and evasive bodies. That is something to be hyped about.
FINAL FANTASY: GREEN
Ancient Adamantoise soaks up damage, and then refunds you with a burst of mana when it eventually dies. Or at least, that’s how it works on the face of things. In practice, you’re going to be teaming this thing up with Vigor and other ways to keep it soaking up the damage. Or, you’re going to have some fight spells to ensure you can finish it off yourself at the right time.
The Earth Crystal is a counter doubler, and cost reduction, at four mana. It has the least impressive final ability, but it’s still pretty playable. There’s just so much of that effect to pick from in green already.
Okay so the Cactuar is a bit of a meme card, it’s true. But if you’re playing any deck that wants to Fling creatures, or give everything trample, or use Mage Slayer, or even just gain a bunch of life off of power, then this is the card for you.
Summon: Titan is a shoe-in for lands decks, and graveyard decks to some extent too. I like this one in decks like Borborygmos Enraged, or Teval from Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander. It’s also not bad in some forms of enchantress, like Tatsunari, Toad Rider.
FINAL FANTASY: MULTICOLOR
Absolute Virtue is a new top-end piece for more controlling hug decks like The Council of Four, and for UW reanimator decks, which have seen a decent amount of new tools more recently. It’s somewhat replacement level in a sense, but I still want to test it versus its contemporaries.
Emet-Selch, Unsundered does make for a good Commander, it’s true, but it also slots really nicely into Dimir and Sultai graveyard focused builds. If you’re self milling in any way, this is trivial to flip. And, if you’re in Sultai, you can play a certain combat trick… hello, Moonmist.
Jenova, Ancient Calamity is kind of the patron saint of Skullclamps. She can draw you a bunch of cards consistently, and is ideal in the 99 as a draw engine. She’s also a very future-proof card given we’re going to be visiting Marvel sets in the near future.
Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant kinda powercreeps Tersa Lightshatter in RW decks already, and I’ve played her a grand total of once in my Hofri deck. My Hofri deck, incidentally, loves this one, as incidental burn and reanimation is exactly the stuff it loves. Sure, they can interact with it as it ticks up, but that’s spending removal on something that isn’t going to win you the game, which is bad for them.
Noctis is a good Commander, sure, but it’s also sweet in any Esper artifacts list. Esper is also the right colors for blink, meaning you can avoid finality with ease.
Rounding things out, I’d recommend Serah Farron as a great cost reducer in your Legendary-matters decks. Once you flip her, she also buffs the team. So, three mana for a buff and cost reduction comes out at a pretty decent rate.
FINAL FANTASY: COLORLESS, ARTIFACTS AND LANDS
Summon: Bahamut is going to be wonderful for colorless decks that can ramp it out, for saga decks that can manipulate it, and for any decks looking to reanimate it for cheap. It more than makes up for its mana cost if you’re doing any of these things. It can feel a little pricey though if you’re planning on hard casting it, though.
Ultima, Origin of Oblivion lets you use Forsaken Monument as your Commander, which is kinda cool. You won’t use the blight counter often on opponent’s lands, but when you do, it’ll be a real tempo swing to essential turn someone off of mana or an ability.
Aettir and Priwen is a real build-around at a total of 11 mana to “do the thing”. That’s more expensive than Helm of the Host!
If you can do weird life total stuff, though, this could be a fun puzzle piece.
Buster Sword is costed as a Sword of X&Y. The effect is pretty good, but you’re not getting the protection. You’re also, most of the time, going to be casting a mana value 3 or less spell. Is that that good? I mean, it’s fine, but I think if I’m in equipment decks I pick other things slightly higher.
Excalibur II isn’t as strong as Excalibur, Sword of Eden. But in dedicated lifegain decks, it could be stronger.
Genji Glove is insane, and I love it. Double strike and double combats? Sign me up. Goes right into Lightning, Army of One, and a bunch of other decks. Opening this up to decks outside the usual RW decks means some decks are going to win big. Obeka, anyone?
The Masamune powers up Sephiroth, basically, but can it do much outside of that? Well, if you can get it onto Elenda, the Dusk Rose, or Elias il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, you might have a good time.
Land ramp accessible to every color is always interesting. I like this one in decks like Isshin, or in red decks that want to ramp lands out. Crew 1 makes it very enticing.
Clive’s Hideaway is a free spell in Legendary Matters decks. Might be harder to justify in Dihada and a GW deck, but at the same time, treasure fixes all problems. I’m probably trying it.
The town cycle are kinda like MDFC lands, except you still get to play the land even if you cast the spell. This makes them a fine addition to most decks, but what are the better ones? Well, white’s is awesome, as recursion is sometimes the hardest tech to justify if you’re not filling your own yard. Blue’s is one of the strongest mill effects, so I’m high on that too. Sorcery speed Village Rites for three makes the black one pretty playable, but the other two I think are less exciting.
END STEP
Today we’ve looked at the best cards for the 99 of your decks from Final Fantasy. Next time, I’ll cover the 10 Best Commanders from the set – followed closely by looking at the Best Commons and Uncommons.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.