As the longer-than-necessary spoiler season for Final Fantasy finally comes to a close, I am confident this set was designed for commander players. We knew that would be the case, but it bears repeating for all Universes Beyond sets with Standard legality going forward. That said, it’s for our benefit as Standard players to be honest. I love new toys, don’t get me wrong, but when commander players are driving the prices up for those same game pieces in an already overpriced set, I think I’m okay not participating as heavily as I would in a normal release. Enough preamble, though, let’s get started on the few cards usable or noteworthy from the fully-revealed set. Beginning with this equipment package of Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, and Freya Crescent:
Cloud is clearly a powerful card, but his impact depends more than most on the cards he finds himself surrounded by in the current Standard format. Between Cloud and Kellan, Fae-Blooded, you can commit many slots of your deck to situational 1-ofs, as you have multiple ways to tutor equipment (or even an aura in Kellan’s case). At first glance it Cloud’s second ability seems poorly supported in standard because there aren’t many triggered abilities on equipment, but something as simple as doubling ward triggers from Lavaspur Boots or Sheltered by Ghosts is good enough. In a rare scenario, doubling Cori Steel-Cutter triggers can be game-deciding. Freya enables a lot of curve-outs that you might not expect. Notably, it also allows double-spelling on turn two with Cori Steel-Cutter (because that card needs more support, right?). Here’s an example of an idealistic curve: Freya, pass. Cloud Midgar Mercenary, grab The Aetherspark from his trigger and cast a Lavaspur Boots or Basilisk Collar, pass. By turn three, if you get to swing with Cloud equipped with The Aetherspark, you could be looking at an 11-loyalty planeswalker. Even something as simple as Freya into Bladehold War-Whip is extremely powerful. Don’t sleep on these two.
Starting Town is broken. It will be ubiquitous. It will be everywhere (although I suspect that it won’t breach many 2-color decks until rotation). This card will redefine Standard, enabling smooth three-color mana bases. Mana bases have been a hurdle for decks like Jeskai Control (stuck with clunky, monetarily expensive surveil lands) and Esper Pixie. Painland reprints would’ve been nice, but Starting Town’s flexibility makes it easily my pick for this set’s best card so far. If this isn’t at least a $15 staple, I’ll eat my hat.
Summon: Brynhildr seems like it could see some serious play in Gruul Delirium builds. Not only does the dual typing have extra value (especially since the deck only runs ~4 enchantments), but also the haste is extremely relevant for creatures like Fear of Missing Out, Keen-Eyed Curator, and Omnivorous Flytrap.
The land cycle of Final Fantasy is, unfortunately, a let-down.
Ishgard, The Holy See, Jidoor, Aristocratic Capital, and Zanarkand, Ancient Metropolis are terrible. The marginal upside of having an (admittedly mechanically cool) adventure on a land is not worth the downside of having a mono-colored tapped land. It’s a lot like the MDFC lands of the past, except those could be shocked into play untapped for 3 life, unlike these, which are always disappointing to play. Midgar, City of Mako, and Lindblum, Industrial Regency are the only ones that might see play in monocolored shells, but otherwise, this cycle will gather dust. Also, I understand what it means, but “the Holy See” is a terrible name for a card. Thankfully, it will never “see” the light of day.
Sephiroth is hard to pull off, but unlike most of the cards revealed for Final Fantasy, the juice is actually worth the squeeze. When he transforms, he creates a back-breaking, non-interactable Blood Artist emblem. This is obviously a little bit more difficult in standard, but with cards like Bartolomé del Presidio in combination with Nesting Bot and Infestation Sage in a Raise The Past shell, I can see it being pulled off consistently.
Memories Returning is an interesting (although worse) version of Stock Up. Instead of seeing five cards and choosing the best two for three mana, you get the first, third, and fifth-best cards for four mana. The flashback is largely irrelevant, and I think I prefer the effect of Stock Up even if they were the same mana cost. Now, if this were an instant, maybe there would be more discussion involved, but I’m still excited to test with this.
Fire Magic is a great sideboard option against a lot of decks due to its versatility, but specifically, I think that the instant speed effect being an oftentimes better Tectonic Hazard is enough to justify itself on its own. I could see a couple of copies occupying sideboards for Stormchaser’s Talent matchups, especially Pixie builds, where you can use this at instant speed to nuke a powerful opener. Consider your opponent plays a Nurturing Pixie on turn two, targeting a Stormchaser’s Talent, for example. It also brings a lot of the rare-but-persistent Convoke decks to heel with the ability to interact with their always-telegraphed Resolute Reinforcements before they get the chance to convoke with them.
Yes, Dark Confidant is back. No, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Although people have been hyping up Bob’s great return, he’s probably not even the best version of his effect in the format, since we have both Caustic Bronco and Darkstar Augur. Sorry, Magic Boomers—Bob’s glory days are far behind him. I think he could see some play in low-to-the-ground decks, but losing life almost every turn in the current meta feels bad, even if it’s just one or two. 2-of sideboard option for Dimir midrange, maybe?
Summon: Knights of Round is the once-per-year worthy reanimation target. Being able to consistently apply pressure to the board every turn while not caring about most removal is pivotal for any big, bomby 8-drop. Yes, it dies to Nowhere to Run (and Caustic Exhale if that sees play post-rotation), but unlike other creatures who are vulnerable to bounce effects like Valgavoth, Terror Eater, d Knighants of the Round still contribute to the board. Also, it’s hard for me to admit, but I think Sunfall is past its prime. I’ve seen many people excited about Summon: Bahamut, which I get. It’s flashy. But the complete lack of protection is never going to be tenable in modern-day Standard without some form of immediate card advantage.
Are we really talking about this card as seriously as we are? Come on, this is not a real player in the current standard metagame. I have had multiple people, both online and in-person, ask me about this card in high hopes, but I’m not about it. Hitting Cori Steel-Cutter is not a real justification for paying an extra mana for Day of Judgment that ends the turn immediately (which has its fair share of both upsides and downsides). Not after rotation, and especially not now when Temporary Lockdown exists. If we enter Simulacrum Synthesizer summer, maybe this is the matchup killer. Otherwise, it’s hard to foresee a meta in which this sees play.
Legends is getting some insane support this set, and will likely continue to get “legends matter” pieces indefinitely since we live in Universes Beyond land now. With Starting Town being printed and Plaza of Heroes legal, Naya Legends’ mana base is extremely consistent. If you choose to make it Human Legends, you have sixteen whole lands that tap for every color since you can also use Cavern of Souls and Secluded Courtyard, which is just absurd. Serah has a rough statline, but I think her best play pattern probably revolves around protecting her with Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard, Melira, the Living Cure, and Jirina, Dauntless General. Flipping her is just disgusting, and doing so on turn 4 (or rarely three, with Llanowar Elves or a 1-drop legend like Skrelv, Defector Mite) is just backbreaking.
As you can see, there’s not too much standard-relevant discussion to be had, and that’s bound to be the norm for Universes Beyond sets in the future. And like I said in the preamble to this article, good. I don’t want to have to buy more of this overpriced product than I need to in order to succeed in the meta. There are a few more cards I’m excited about, but I feel like the chance is low that they’ll see play (like Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant). Frankly, I was already pushing it with Freya. At least Spider-Man won’t have the gross, metallic border that has plagued Universes Beyond products since their inception!
Thanks for reading! If you want to follow my Twitter to keep up with my takes, arguments about standard/limited, and general random happenings, please do so! Follow me on Twitter
