Looking at Some of the Best Commanders in the Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy Set

Now that we’re a few weeks removed from the official launch of the Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set, players have had plenty of time to playtest and build around all of the set’s 162 commander cards. As such, we’re starting to get a bit of a clearer picture regarding which of the new commander cards are the best and most powerful (or fun) ones to build around, with the cards with the greatest utility continuing to go up in price accordingly. There are a staggering number of new commanders in this set, so picking and choosing which ones to have in your command zone versus which ones to have in the 99 of your commander deck can be a bit tricky to pin down. Hopefully, our picks here will give any Magic: The Gathering and Final Fantasy fans a good foot in the door.

• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Soldier
• Power/Toughness: 3/2
• Casting Cost: 1RW
• Market Value: $14.97 (Regular), $16.88 (Foil)

Lightning started off strong as one of the most sought-after cards in the entire Final Fantasy set, and players discovering her power potential as a commander has only helped the Lightning, Army of One card continue to inflate in value (especially the extended art/borderless/surge foil versions). Not only does Lightning have some incredible innate abilities like Lifelink and First Strike, but when paired with the right support cards, she can really make the most of her double damage potential to devastating effect. The trade-off is that all that offensive power clearly makes you a target of the other 3 players in a commander pod.

• Rarity: Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Bird
• Power/Toughness: 3/5
• Casting Cost: 1GWB
• Market Value: $0.90 (Regular), $1.43 (Foil)

Despite being one of the less valuable commander cards as part of the Final Fantasy Magic: The Gathering set, players definitely shouldn’t count out Choco, Seeker of Paradise. This Bant commander card can make the most of the color combination’s natural affinity for bird cards with its main ability, stacking the board with lands in the process and buffing up Choco to be immensely powerful, all while pumping up your mana pool.

• Rarity: Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Mutant Wizard | Legendary Creature — Avatar Wizard
• Power/Toughness: 3/4 | 4/6
• Casting Cost: 2BR
• Market Value: $1.02 (Regular), $1.57 (Foil)

A lot of attention has been paid to Vivi as the ideal Final Fantasy commander to use in a spellslinger deck, but Kuja, Genome Sorcerer is arguably just as viable for anyone looking to craft a Rakdos deck instead of an Izzet one. Kuja continuously spawns Black Wizard tokens that deal 1 damage to each opponent with every non-creature spell cast, meaning spellslingers can stack their deck with plenty of sorceries and instants and quickly gain the upper hand. Getting to flip Kuja once you control four or more wizards only serves to make that upper hand even more definitive.

• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Wizard Knight
• Power/Toughness: 4/4
• Casting Cost: 1RWB
• Market Value: $2.23 (Regular), $2.28 (Foil)

Celes is an interesting commander in that she might arguably be better than the other showcase commander from the Graveyard Trance precon, Terra, Herald of Hope. Making sure to support Celes with plenty of creatures, along with any cards that have graveyard effects, makes the most of her ability to buff creatures played from the graveyard with +1/+1, quickly stacking the board with more attackers than your opponents might be equipped to deal with.

• Rarity: Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Rebel Monk
• Power/Toughness: 2/2
• Casting Cost: 1WB
• Market Value: $1.05

Lyse Hext very well may be the best Voltron commander in the Final Fantasy Magic: The Gathering set, gaining power quickly from casting non-creature spells that are already cheaper for her to cast. Better yet, casting two or more non-creature spells (which you’ll likely be doing already anyway) gives Lyse Hext double strike, meaning you’ll be dealing double damage with any attacks on top of whatever effects come from the non-creature spells you’ve been casting (which, again, are cheaper thanks to Lyse Hext’s signature ability). This is an insanely fun and powerful commander to build around, provided you give her the right support.

• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Avatar Soldier
• Power/Toughness: 3/3
• Casting Cost: 2B
• Market Value: $34.65 (Regular), $38.09 (Foil)

As far as mono-colored commanders go, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER might be the best of the bunch. As a mono black commander, supporting Sephiroth with plenty of disposable creatures or other cards that trigger removal allows you to gain card advantage, all while enabling a vampirism effect that helps you gain life while your opponents lose it. Defeat four of your opponent’s creatures, and you can transform Sephiroth into the One-Winged Angel, which only improves Sephiroth’s already excellent abilities.

• Rarity: Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Noble
• Power/Toughness: 4/3
• Casting Cost: 1WBB
• Market Value: $0.41 (Regular), $0.90 (Foil)

Noctis is an Esper deck commander that players should absolutely give a shot, especially if they have plenty of artifact cards to support him with. Paired with the right artifacts and with a willingness to sacrifice some life to play them from the graveyard, Noctis could easily help facilitate some broken infinite combos. It might take some tinkering and research to get the right support cards for Noctis, but when built around correctly, he’s a highly underrated commander from the set.

• Rarity: Uncommon
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Noble | Legendary Creature — Demon Noble
• Power/Toughness: 2/3
• Casting Cost: BR
• Market Value: $0.29 (Regular), $0.26 (Foil)

Final Fantasy II‘s antagonist, The Emperor of Palamecia, is another fantastic Izzet spellslinger commander that automatically generates mana when tapped for casting non-creature spells. The more powerful the spell, the higher the likelihood that players can buff the Emperor, making him another great cross between a spellslinger and Voltron commander just like Vivi, only at a fraction of the cost. Once the Emperor transforms into the Lord Master of Hell, players easily gain their win condition by triggering X damage for the number of non-creature spells in their graveyard.

• Rarity: Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Monk
• Power/Toughness: 1/2
• Casting Cost: 1G
• Market Value: $4.33 (Regular), $5.02 (Foil)

It was a tough call choosing between Tifa, Martial Artist and Tifa Lockhart as the best version of Final Fantasy VII‘s best girl, but Tifa Lockhart ultimately wins out for the card’s surprisingly cheap cost and use as a fantastic commander for a mono-green deck. Considering how many lands you’re likely to support Tifa with in a mono-green deck, you’re already going to be making the most of her innate Landfall ability, and the fact that she has Trample makes her a real force to be reckoned with.

• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Cat Warlock
• Power/Toughness: 2/4
• Casting Cost: 1WBB
• Market Value: $4.67 (Regular), $4.60 (Foil)

Another of the best showcase commanders from the precon commander decks is Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed, who only continues to rise in value as one of the better Esper commanders. She’s a great commander to build a spellslinging Control deck around, but you’ll also get to draw cards anytime your opponents take damage, increasing the chances of being able to quickly pump your mana pool for casting high-value non-creature spells that take life from your opponents while adding it to your own health pool.

• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Wizard
• Power/Toughness: 0/3
• Casting Cost: 1BR
• Market Value: $46.47 (Regular), $52.47 (Foil)

To a lot of players, Vivi is one of the all-time great Izzet spellslinger deck commanders. There’s an argument to be made that using Vivi as intended can result in long, drawn-out games of Commander where your opponents can get easily frustrated, but the strength of Vivi lies in his versatility. Instead of playing Vivi as a pure spellslinger commander, players can instead build a Voltron deck around him, buffing him with items and enchantments until he has enough power to deal a devastating board wipe or completely wipe out all other opponents.

• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Soldier
• Power/Toughness: 4/4
• Casting Cost: 2RGW
• Market Value: $3.45 (Regular), $4.13 (Foil)

Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER is easily the most powerful of the precon commanders (acting as the showcase commander of the Limit Break precon deck), and pairing him with the right equipment makes him even more unstoppable. On his way in, Cloud grabs a piece of equipment and generates treasure tokens for each other equipped creature on your board. With the right setup and support cards, all those treasure tokens can quickly pump a player’s mana pool and let them cut loose with Cloud against their opponents (doubly so if he happens to have a Buster Sword equipped).

• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Elder Wizard | Legendary Creature — Avatar
• Power/Toughness: 2/6 | 4/6
• Casting Cost: 1BB
• Market Value: $2.94 (Regular), $4.55 (Foil)

Emet-Selch is both one of the best villains in the Final Fantasy franchise and one of the best Dimir commanders in the Final Fantasy Magic: The Gathering set, especially if you’re interested in playing Control. Making sure to support him with plenty of disruption and recursion cards allows Emet-Selch to continuously discard and then cast spells from the graveyard at a reduced cost, which also paves the way for a quick transformation to make him even more powerful.

• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Wizard
• Power/Toughness: 3/3
• Casting Cost: RWB
• Market Value: $1.59 (Regular), $1.32 (Foil)

As much as I love Celes, there’s a reason that Terra, Herald of Hope’s value continues to rise weeks after the Final Fantasy Magic: The Gathering set’s release. First, Terra has a relatively low cost for a commander, only requiring a total of three mana, one of each from the Mardu color combination. Once on the board, Terra immediately gains flight (which makes her harder to block unless players come prepared with creatures that have reach) and can bring creatures back from the graveyard every time she deals damage. Terra, Magical Adept is also a viable choice for a commander for a Gruul deck, but Terra, Herald of Hope is arguably the better commander card for the character.

• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Wizard | Legendary Creature — Avatar Wizard
• Power/Toughness: 4/5 | 5/7
• Casting Cost: 2BBR
• Market Value: $4.97 (Regular), $6.22 (Foil)

Along with Vivi, one of the most talked-about commander cards in the Final Fantasy Magic: The Gathering set is Kefka, Court Mage. Kefka’s abilities make him just as deliciously diabolical in play on the board as he is in Final Fantasy VI, able to force players to discard cards all while allowing you to draw an equal amount, quickly getting enough mana to transform him into Kefka, Ruler of Ruin, getting ever closer to your win condition. With the right ramp support, Kefka can easily help you gain card advantage while leaving your opponents at a significant disadvantage.