Final Fantasy is one impressive Universes Beyond Magic set. It features 99 Legendary Creatures – but which ones are the best as Commanders? Today we’re going to explore ten of our favorites.
THE BEST FINAL FANTASY COMMANDERS
When it comes to the Final Fantasy set, there are dozens of options to choose from – with nigh on one hundred options in the main set alone. Zoning in on one you like might be as simple as picking a favorite character from a game you loved. But, for others, they’ll be looking for powerful Commanders or unique and fun takes on mechanics and gameplay. This selection aims to highlight those kinds of Commanders.
10. ZIDANE, TANTALUS THIEF
Jacob covered his Top 5 Uncommon Commanders from the set last week, so we’d be remiss not to cover one of his picks here. Zidane, Tantalus Thief is a RW Commander that specializes in theft. His strong enter the battlefield effect suggests a build focused on flicker and other strong EtB effects. You’ll want to include Eerie Interlude, Ephemerate, Skyclave Apparition, Duergar Hedgemage, and similar impactful bodies.
You’ll also benefit greatly from cards like Treasure Nabber, which will net you treasures for giving back the artifacts you borrow. Yes Man, Personal Securitron is some nice repeatable draw that also nets a treasure, and Seize the Spotlight will nearly always be a free “draw three”, because otherwise you’re going to be getting value and treasures.
You can do some interesting things using effects like Sword of Hearth and Home and Bazaar Trader, the latter of which can give you a treasure for passing on something you already borrowed, and making sure it never goes back.
9. SERAH FARRON // CRYSTALLIZED SERAH
Serah is great cost reduction for playing your Legendary Creatures, and she later turns into an anthem as well. Cost reduction will allow you to get cards like Karametra, God of Harvests, Reki, the History of Kamigawa, and Gandalf the White out early in order to capitalize on their ramp, draw, and synergy. It’s not that you need the cost reduction in Green in order to cast big spells; it’s that Serah enables you to get synergy pieces down early, and then follow up with more spells.
Being able to get things out quicker means you can take advantage of the extra draw from Rammas Echor, or deploy The Great Henge earlier. It means you can get Excalibur, Sword of Eden down quicker, and it means you can turn a Loran of the Third Path or Boromir, Warden of the Tower into a cheeky one mana play while deploying something bigger and scarier.
Serah is going to do a lot of work.
8. HOPE ESTHEIM
Hope Estheim seems kinda cracked. Most mill decks are mono blue or blue-black, with blue-white not really getting in on that side of win conditions. The thing is, I don’t think you build Hope as a mill deck primarily. You’re playing this as a lifegain deck, with Mill as an alternate win condition in the command zone.
You will still probably play the mill cards that force people to mill half of their library, sure, but you’re actually using those to make your main win condition – gaining life – work with Hope Estheim.
When opponents are at fewer than 40 cards remaining in their libraries, you can use the lifegain to kill them really easily. Otherwise? You have access to a bunch of ways to gain arbitrarily large amounts of life. You’re probably playing Lightning Greaves and Swords to Plowshares already, so add Crackdown Construct and you can gain life equal to the largest library and win on the spot.
While there are other weird things you can do with activated abilities on creatures, the bread and butter of the deck will be cards like Will, Scion of Peace for cost reduction, Beacon of Immortality for big mills, and Sphinx of the Revelation to draw a lot of cards. Hello, Psychic Corrosion.
7. BALTHIER AND FRAN
Vehicles decks aren’t the most exciting decks outside of a few like Shorikai, but Balthier and Fran has reignited our love for the archetype by giving us extra combats. Yes, you read that right: extra combats. When you attack with a vehicle crewed by Balthier and Fran, you get to pay three mana to get an extra combat, provided you’re in the first combat phase.
So, to be clear: you untap Balthier and Fran, and crew something else, and you can pay for more extra combats. And, given they give your vehicles vigilance, you can just keep attacking.
While you’ve got some easy direction for picking the best vehicles for this list, the rest needs a little more thought. Running Magda with other dwarves will help you generate the mana you need for extra combats – alongside Grand Warlord Radha. You might even want a cheeky Vitalize for untapping your Commander cheaply.
6. KEFKA, COURT MAGE // KEFKA, RULER OF RUIN
Kefka is doing his best Nicol Bolas cosplay – or is the other way around? Either way, we’re excited to run Kefka. Repeatable hand attacking through discard while drawing you cards on the front side is sweet. Once you get Kefka flipped over, you can ensure a steady stream of cards through just whittling down life totals.
The likes of Waste Not, Harmonic Prodigy and Jeska’s Will can help you get Kefka flipped quicker, by adding mana and doubling up on hand attack. Utilizing flicker spells like Essence Flux and Ghostly Flicker will be the best ways to protect Kefka, at least until you flip him; so, pack some counterspells too.
Cards like Wound Reflection and other amplifications cards will help to get you the win, and considering the card advantage Kefka gives, you can run combo wins pretty reliably. You could also go a tokens route, generating tokens for casting non-creature spells, and using effects like Impact Tremors to kill opponents and keep your hand topped up.
5. KUJA, GENOME SORCERER // TRANCE KUJA, FATE DEFIED
Kuja just oozes cool. I haven’t played any FF games, but this guy has a certain allure. Not only because of his art and swagger, but because it’s a really cool RB Commander. Controlling four wizards is somewhat trivial, given Kuja makes one, and is one, asking you only to have two more in play. It’s not quite as easy as when you’re in blue, but it’s still easy enough.
When you’re trying to flip Kuja, playing Wizards like Harmonic Prodigy and Mysidian Elder will get you there much faster. Roaming Throne isn’t a bad shout either, but then that’s a given.
You have access to a host of Wizards to double damage from, including Black Waltz No. 3 from the main set, and Coruscation Mage and Gleeful Arsonist. You’re essentially running a Rakdos spellslinger deck here, so make sure to add plenty of draw and interaction.
4. LIGHTNING, ARMY OF ONE
Lightning, Army of One is well placed to wield the Genji Gloves from FIN. Double strike and an extra combat means whoever you’re tagging is taking three, then six, then 12, then 24 damage from Lightning alone. Whew.
Lighting looks to be a great deck to leverage a cheeky Boros Charm to finish someone off for 16 damage after double striking them with Lightning. It seems a great place to put Taunt from the Ramparts and Take the Bait, because Goad is very interesting with Lighting.
My big picks for this deck are Sword of War and Peace and Molten Psyche, which can do some serious damage. If you’re wanting a deep dive on Lightning, check out our article on How to Do Massive Damage with Lightning.
3. VIVI ORNITIER
Vivi Ornitier is the most infamous Commander in the set, and many folks are already trying to break him wide open. We’ll have to see how it plays out, but in my mind? Having a way to combo off and generate absurd amounts of mana in the command zone that also has a win condition stapled to it is firmly in the high end of Bracket 3 or just straight up Bracket 4 or higher, based on the cards you end up including in the deck.
Regardless of power level, most Vivi decks are going to include Curiosity, Veyran, Voice of Duality, and Quicksilver Elemental. Combos do exist, but in order to get to them, you might well be taking some really long turns with the amount of mana producing spells and abilities that could sit in this deck.
Could Vivi emerge as a player in the cEDH metagame? Will it take really long turns that annoy people in lower brackets? I can at least answer the latter with a yes.
It is Vivi though, and that’s why this one is popular.
2. TERRA, MAGICAL ADEPT // ESPER TERRA
There are a lot of five color Commanders that are suitable to jam all of your summons into. There are some that seem a little off theme, like Tom Bombadil. For those wanting the most Final of Fantasy experiences, we’re thinking Terra has what it takes to light your fire.
Terra lets you jam with all of the new Summon cards, and jam with enchantments, and just generally have a great time. You’ll want to be jamming with Yuna, Hope of Spira (just like the potential new best deck in Standard!), use Sanctum Weaver for big mana plays, and take advantage of the many enchantress card draw options, from Sythis, Harvest’s Hand to Enchantress’s Presence.
If you truly want the best of Saga decks, then Tom and Narci should definitely in in your short list for the 99, along with some Assassin’s Creed action from Sigurd.
Yenna could be well placed to excel in this deck.
1. SQUALL, SeeD MERCENARY
I could make the rather predictable nutz joke here, but I like to think I’m marginally above that. That said – did you expect to see this card at number one on this list? Well, maybe you didn’t, because you might not have clocked how good Squall actually is. Squall offers a unique deckbuilding experience in Orzhov. He combines a lot of the best parts of the Boros Advantage Engine (patent pending) with Orzhov reanimator technology and the chance to use Exalted to its full potential.
So, he’s kinda Voltron, but he’s also a toolbox Commander. You can use Entomb and Buried Alive, and Land Tax, and set up the graveyard for him to pop off.
You can use equipment to buff him and get value, and you can use cards like Angelic Exaltation and Sublime Archangel to set up for big swings. You can easily sacrifice permanents to fuel effects, and get them back again with Squall.
Personally, I feel like he’s the most exciting design on the list.
END STEP
These are our picks for the best Commanders we’re building from Final Fantasy. Who are you building?
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.