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0 Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy is the first Extended Universes premium set to be Standard legal. After only one week since its official release, many Final Fantasy cards are finding their way into competitive Standard builds. From enchantment reanimation with ‘Yuna, Hope of Spire’, and ‘Cecil, Dark Knight’ mono black midrange, to my personal favourite Gruul Delium with ‘Terra, Magical Adept’. Final Fantasy’s influence doesn’t stop there, though. In only one week, ‘Vivi Ornitier’ and ‘Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed’ have made their way up to the 200 most popular commander list on CEDHREC.com.
From Midgard to Modern: Why (Almost) Every MTG Format is Impacted
Are you playing with the new Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy cards? How do you feel about them becoming a steadfast in players decks? Let us know in the comments below. And if you want more information about this set, check out my feature article about the deck’s launch here.
Final Fantasy’s Influence On Standard
The Final Fantasy standard set evidently caters to nostalgic millennials looking to upgrade their decks with gorgeous full-art foils from all across Final Fantasy history. Luckily, Wizards of the Coast made actual playable cards that seamlessly fit into already established Standard strategies and archetypes. Some are slotting into midrange decks, while others are pushing two coloured strategies over the top. It is clear to me now that Wizards was not just printing nostalgia, but actually came up with some meta-changing additions for the format.
Vivi Ornitier, Opera Love Song, Dark Confidant, Starting Town, and many more have already invaded the Standard Metagame according to the official website. Due to the set’s tremendous popularity among Magic players, some cards like Vivi have spiked in price up to $75 or even $125 in their colorful full-art foil versions. MagicCon Las Vegas (June 20th to 22nd) will ultimately reveal which new Final Fantasy cards have the most impact on the Standard Pro Tour.
Final Fantasy’s Format-Warping Effect On Commander
The Commander format is the obvious playground for Final Fantasy. The set has a ridiculously high number of iconic characters, each with their beautiful artwork, that can be used as commanders. Noctis, Prince of Lucis, is a great Esper Graveyard Artifact enabler that will surely see commander play. Vivi Ornitier will undoubtedly win games in the right Izzet spellsinger deck. Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed, is as perfect a commander design as can be. Kefka, Court Mage, is just a broken, overpowered commander that, if turned to its backside, will surely win games on its own.
It doesn’t end there, the set brings a more than solid lineup of reprints such as ‘Dig Through Time’, ‘Propaganda’, ‘Snuff Out’, ‘Ruinous Ultimatum’, ‘Puresteel Paladin’, ‘Darksteel Plate’, ‘Herald’s Horn’, and many, many more. The monetary value of these Commander precons is fairly justified, considering the power level of their new cards and reprints.
Final Fantasy’s Impact on Modern Remains to Be Seen
The recent data on Modern decks, right after the Final Fantasy release, suggests that it is still too early to tell which cards have the potential to reshape the meta. Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, could be the missing piece to bring Hammer Time decks back to their former popularity. However, unless Wizards unban Umezawa Jitte or release an even more broken equipment worth tutoring for, it’s rather unlikely. Likewise, Tifa Lockhart is the key to a fun new sucker-punch-turn-three-combo-win. While such strategies can be amusing for the occasional FNM, it will unlikely get you far in any real tournaments.
Real contenders to shake things up in Modern are Vivi Ornitier and The Wandering Minstrel. Vivi can single-handedly take over a game of Magic if played or reanimated early enough. Vivi will ping your opponents whenever you play any noncreature spell, so all you have to do is cast low-cost spells. Then, for zero mana, activate his ability, which gives you tons of free mana, which will let you keep on spellslinging and continue pinging your opponent to death. Grapeshotting your opponent has never been easier.
Meanwhile, Wandering Minstrel adds consistency to a deck that is currently dominating the meta. Yes, Amulet Titan now has more ways to make your life miserable. Wandering Minstrel’s passive ability is a simple copy-paste of Amulet of Vigor’s ability. You know, the namesake card of the deck? The main difference is that Wandering Minstrel can be tutored up with Green Sun’s Zenith, thus granting more consistency to a deck whose only flaw was the lack of consistency.
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