Iconic Final Fantasy Character Breaks Into Top Commanders List

Last updated on October 5, 2025

Cloud, Planet's Champion | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

For someone featured on the art of a card called Haste Magic, it sure took a while for Cloud to make it to the Top 100 commanders list, per EDHREC. Thought maybe the Haste Magic's appropriate after all, because Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER is climbing the ranks fast, making it yet another Final Fantasy commander occupying a spot in the Top 100.

On Cloud 89

Editor's Note: Cloud, Ex-Soldier is officially at #88 as of October 5, beating out Zinnia, Valley's Voice by one deck).

Cloud Strife is arguable the most popular Final Fantasy character of all time. You could argue Vivi, or Sephiroth, or basically anyone but Quina, but there's no denying how much of a video game icon Cloud's become since his debut in Final Fantasy VII. That popularity's transferred to his precon card, Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER, the face of the Limit Break Commander precon.

He currently holds position #89 on EDHREC's Top 100 Commanders list, which tracks user-submitted decklists from the last two years. In just 3-4 months, just under 13,000 decks featuring Cloud as the commander have been added to the site. That makes him the fifth commander from Final Fantasy to break into this list, which also includes:

• Kefka, Court Mage / Kefka, Ruler of Ruin — #82
• Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER / Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel — #80
• Vivi Ornitier — #37
• Y'shtola, Night's Blessed — #20

The next closes Final Fantasy card to the Top 100 is Choco, Seeker of Paradise at #144, but even that one has over 10,000 lists on the site.

The through-line between all of these commanders is not just that they're individually powerful card, but also that the characters are iconic. Kefka and Sephiroth are all-timer villains from the Final Fantasy line-up, while Vivi, Y'shtola, and Cloud are fan-favorite protagonists. That seems like the recipe for success with Universes Beyond commanders: They need to be both very powerful and highly recognizable to crack the top tier.

What Took Ya So Long?

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary | Illustration by Kazto Furuya

So what caused Cloud to rise the ranks so quickly after remaining fairly quiet for the first few months after Final Fantasy released?

One bet is the increased accessibility to the Final Fantasy Commander decks. These have become much more widely available over the last month or two, and there have been reasonable price drops from various vendors as well. More people can get their hands on the decks, so more people are building around the commanders.

It's also just a rock-solid equipment commander, as far as those go. Naya as a 3-color pair isn't often associated with equipment, with Dogmeat, Ever Loyal from Fallout being the only other Naya card that even references equipment. That gives it a uniqueness factor as one of the only viable Naya commanders for an equipment deck. In other words, it's one of the only places you can justify playing Sigarda's Aid, Embercleave, and Belt of Giant Strength in one place. Uniqueness counts a lot these days, especially when you're talking about an archetype as oversaturated as equipment in Commander.

The brooding, spikey-headed hero also has the perfect combination of mana generation and card draw, two of the absolute bare essentials in Commander, and two things you don't always get in your Naya decks.

So Cloud's just checking off all the boxes, from playability to coolness factor to distinctness from other commanders in the same lanes. It's not quite in the same competitive tier as the other Final Fantasy commanders that cracked the list some time ago, but it's interesting to see yet another FIN legend climb the ranks, especially given how close Cloud is to Sephiroth right now….