The first days of spoiler season for Final Fantasy are in full swing, and while I was initially pretty apprehensive about most of the cards we were shown in the past few days, the more I’ve thought about them, the better they seem. Take Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, for example:
At first glance, Cloud seemed to me like he didn’t have much support in standard just because there aren’t many triggered abilities on equipment. There will surely be more equipment that supports this via the Job Select equipment and the yet-to-be-spoiled Buster Sword. Even without them, there’s already an existing equipment-synergy shell that uses Valiant triggers from the Bloomburrow mice and infinite free equips with the discount from Bladehold War-Whip. Having a second equipment tutor that generates card advantage alongside Kellan, the Fae-Blooded might just make this deck a formidable force in opposition to the current meta. Having a toolbox of 1-of cards for any situation, like Chainsaw, Basilisk Collar, Dragonfire Blade, and Lost Jitte (which is one of the few things that actually triggers Cloud’s second ability, alongside Lavaspur Boots giving him Ward 1, which actually will trigger twice) will make this deck unusually versatile. Also, I would be remiss to not mention the raw strength of Rebel Salvo. Be on the lookout for any waves that Cloud might make.
Tifa Lockhart initially seems strong for Gruul Aggro, but I’m skeptical. While her power-doubling ability is flashy, she struggles in shells like Delirium that lack consistent power-boosting spells. Pairing her with haste enablers like Draconautics Engineer and Break Out feels clunky, and her lack of haste makes her reminiscent of Picnic Ruiner, which both require pre-combat buffs to shine. Yes, she has trample, but let’s be honest here, I think most attacks Picnic Ruiner has would be identical to the ones Tifa would have due to Overprotect and the sadly still-legal Monstrous Rage. All this to say, I think she’ll be cut from most lists after a few weeks. And no, I don’t think Fabled Passage is worth running just for her. Even in Delirium.
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, 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.
Hear me out: Simic Ramp? I think Summon: Leviathan has a chance to see some play as a card-advantage-packed, cheaper Cyclone Summoner. Yes, it kills itself after one attack. But I think this tempo swing (or all-around tempo reversal) is enough to justify its temporary nature. Also, it’s blinkable, which probably isn’t too relevant now, but could be notable in some yet-unexplored shells.
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. Unless the red/black entries have cheaper adventures, this cycle will gather dust. Also, I understand what it means, but “the Holy See” is just a terrible name for a card. Let’s hope it never sees the light of day.
Sephiroth is hard to pull off, but unlike most of the cards revealed for Final Fantasy so far, the juice is worth the squeeze. When he transforms, he creates a back-breaking, non-interactable Blood Artist emblem. This is 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.
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 think. 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, like if your opponent plays a Nurturing Pixie on turn two after they target a Stormchaser’s Talent. 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 understand that Lightning has some large weaknesses—dies to cut down, etc., etc., but the raw strength of this card simply cannot be ignored. First strike and lifelink is something that could be a decisive mirror-breaker in aggro matchups, and the fact that this essentially doubles the damage of each of your other creatures and burn spells is massive. If this ever connects (something that’s made a lot more likely by its powerful combination of keywords), the chances of your opponent dying on that turn seem to be closer to 100% than 0%.
Kefka– what can I even say? This card was made for me. Like a Hostile Investigator on steroids, even if you aren’t a self-discard devotee like myself, everyone can appreciate a card advantage engine on a stick. He never needs to transform to be extremely powerful; in fact, I don’t think you will almost ever be doing so. Your mana is probably better spent on the raw card advantage that this provides through every turn that this persists on the board. The activation allowing enemies to sacrifice any permanent also means they’re probably just going to sacrifice a land instead of something truly prevalent. Whether you’re throwing him into a random midrange build or a synergy-driven discard deck, I think Kefka is going to be a more-than-satisfying card to cast. Also, the little minigame you get to play with your opponent, where you try to discard different card types, will be a lot of fun.
