The Ultimate Final Fantasy Limited Set Review

Andrew Quinn June 2, 2025 Deckbuilding, Draft, Limited, Strategy

Last updated on October 11, 2025

Buster Sword | Illustration by Douzen

The Final Fantasy x MTG crossover is finally here! Final Fantasy is the longest running and most influential RPG video game series in the world. When video games first gained traction in the 1980s, someone had the idea to build a game based on tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. The game they created was called Ultima, which went on to inspire a group of Japanese developers to put their own spin on it, releasing the original Final Fantasy in 1987. Since then, the Final Fantasy series has featured 16 main series games and dozens of spin-offs. It's become the industry standard for what it means to create a fully immersive, narrative-driven gaming experience. For me, Final Fantasy X was my introduction to the whole genre of RPGs, and I’ve become a huge fan of Japanese RPGs ever since. I’m so excited for this set, and it’s my immense pleasure to bring you this set review.

Who knows — if you're not a Final Fantasy player, you may even enjoy the set's flavor so much you want to check it out! (If you do, I recommend Icy Veins's beginner guide here).

As always, this review is based on my initial impressions of the cards. It’s hard to figure out how these cards will play out without knowing things like the speed of the format or the relative power levels of the colors and archetypes. Many cards will under or over perform based on initial impressions as the format takes shape. My reviews are largely based on the card’s quality in a vacuum or the assumption that the archetype they belong in is playable.

I use a comparative rating system on a scale of 0-10. Here’s a rough guide to what each rating means:

10: The absolute best of the best. 10s make a meaningful impact on any game, especially when playing from behind, and they’re extremely tough to beat.
Examples: Ugin, Eye of the Storms or Elspeth, Storm Slayer.

8-9: Extremely good cards, usually game-winning bombs and the most efficient removal spells, though not quite good enough to be a 10/10. Could also be the mythic uncommon of the set (though these are harder to predict).
Examples: Betor, Kin to All or Fangkeeper's Familiar.

5-7: Important role-players. These are typically great uncommons that really drive you towards playing a particular color, like build-arounds and good removal, as well as very powerful commons.
Examples: Rally the Monastery or Rakshasa's Bargain.

2-4: The average Limited card. Most commons end up in this range, and Limited decks are often made up of these.
Examples: Dirgur Island Dragon or Ainok Wayfarer.

1: These cards aren’t playable in your main deck, usually because they’re too situational. They could be useful out of the sideboard, or they might be the last card to be added.
Example: Poised Practitioner or Krotiq Nestguard.

0: Virtually unplayable in every scenario, and you should never put these cards in your main deck. Typically cards that were designed with Constructed play in mind but are useless in Limited.
Examples: Dracogenesis or The Sibsig Ceremony.

Table of Contents show

Set Mechanics

Sin, Spira's Punishment | Illustration by John Tedrick

Final Fantasy is fairly high on the complexity scale, and there are a lot of random mechanics throughout it. There are a couple of recurring mechanics though, so here’s a quick breakdown.

Job Select

A classic mechanic in some of the Final Fantasy games is the idea of assigning classes or jobs to each of the characters in your party, thereby determining their skills as you level them up throughout the game. Job select functions exactly like living weapon or for Mirrodin! It appears on equipment cards, and creates a 1/1 Hero token that comes with the equipment. This has been a historically powerful concept, as it turns what might be otherwise weak equipment into actual creatures, but with the upside of leaving an equipment behind after they die. This is going to be a very important mechanic as it intrinsically supports a lot of the set’s Draft archetypes.

Tiered

Another common theme seen in Final Fantasy is the idea of tiered spells. In the early game, your black mage characters can typically learn basic spells like Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder. As the game progresses, you learn their more powerful versions, such as Fira, Firaga, or Firaja. Tiered puts each tier of these elemental spells onto the same modal spell. As you cast a tiered spell, you choose one of its modes to play and pay the associated additional cost to do so. It’s that simple. These are just charms where each mode costs a different amount, so their flexibility is bound to make them strong.

Saga Creatures

Between the Aeons of FFX, the Espers of FFXII, or the Eidolons of FFXIII, another common theme of Final Fantasy is the idea of summons. Your characters often gain the ability to summon powerful allies to assist them temporarily in battle. In this set, the summons of Final Fantasy are represented as saga creatures. For the most part, these function the same as sagas normally do, giving you chapter abilities for each turn that they remain in play, except they can also attack and block just like normal creatures. These look extremely powerful, though we likely can’t rely on them being creatures given that they automatically die in a few turns.

Towns

A common theme among most RPGs is the idea of travelling from one town to the next. In the Final Fantasy Magic set, town is a land type, which means nothing on its own, but there are some cards that care about seeing towns, much like gates or deserts. There’s also a cycle of rare towns which have adventure spells on them, which basically function like modal double-faced lands and so are extremely powerful.

Transforming Double-Faced Cards

The other major theme of Final Fantasy that’s represented in a mechanic is the epic boss battles seen throughout the series. Final bosses in Final Fantasy and nearly every other JRPG follow the trend of transforming into their final form once you defeat them. Many of the villains from the Final Fantasy series are represented by double-faced cards in this set, allowing them to transform into their final forms once you meet the appropriate conditions. There are also a bunch of other designs for double-faced cards in the set, including sidequests, characters that transform into their summons (so they have saga creatures on their back face), and even a pair of characters that can meld together.

Draft Archetypes

Final Fantasy is like most typical Magic sets, where the Draft format is centered around 10 2-color archetypes. When drafting these color combinations, the cards you see lean heavily towards supporting these strategies.

Azorius (White/Blue ): Artifacts
Dimir (Blue/Black ): Simple Control
Rakdos (Black/Red ): Black Mage Aggro
Gruul (Red/Green ): Landfall and Chocobos
Selesnya (Green/White ): Go-Wide Aggro
Orzhov (White/Black ): Artifact/Creature Sacrifice
Golgari (Black/Green ): Graveyard Matters
Simic (Green/Blue ): Town Ramp
Izzet (Blue/Red ): Noncreature Spells that Cost 4 or Greater
Boros (Red/White ): Equipment

Landcycling has gone down in my estimations over the years, but it’s nice to have in a format to make sure that we have access to mana fixing just in case. This moogle has a decent base rate as basically a 3/4 flier for 5 mana, which is definitely a stat line I’ve played before and liked. On balance, I doubt Cloudbound Moogle is all that good, but it’s definitely a good card to have in the format.

Coeurl

Rating: 2/10

Coeurls are a classic monster in the Final Fantasy series. Their signature “Blaster” attack often has the ability to paralyze or stun your characters in some way, so a tapper is a good choice for its design. Tappers are a bit outdated now and 2 mana is a little too much to activate, so I don’t think Coeurl will be too good. It's still a 2-drop, so it likely has a place in the format.

Crystal Fragments / Summon: Alexander

Rating: 2/10

Short Sword is a fine card that you can sometimes play, but you wouldn’t be excited to pick up. I think that’s about it for Crystal Fragments, because paying 7 mana to transform it into Summon: Alexander doesn’t sound like something that a deck that wants the equipment is likely to do.

The Crystal’s Chosen

Rating: 2/10

Decks that want to play this kind of effect simply can’t play 7-mana spells unless they’re capable of outright winning the game. Not long ago, Imperial Oath surprised us all by being strong enough to buck this trend, but I don’t think The Crystal's Chosen is anywhere near as good. It’s powerful enough that I could see it in a ramp deck of some kind, so it’s not useless, but it’s not all that special.

Delivery Moogle

Rating: 6/10

What a sweet card! Three out of white’s four Draft archetypes have some need for artifacts, so they’re likely to have something you can find with Delivery Moogle. Obviously, you need at least a target to fetch before you play it, but a decently-sized flier that draws you a real card when it enters is very good in any deck.

Dion, Bahamut’s Dominant / Bahamut, Warden of Light

Rating: 8/10

The base rate of a 3/3 plus a 2/2 for just 4 mana is a great start, plus they have flying on your turn. Transforming Dion, Bahamut's Dominant, as well as the other Final Fantasy XVI characters, seems rather difficult to do. Paying 6 mana is a lot, and your opponent has a window to kill it in response to the ability, leaving you with nothing. Still, if you find the right time to do it, Bahamut, Warden of Light does a good job of ending the game for you.

Dragoon’s Lance

Rating: 5/10

Two mana for a 2/1 with flying is an excellent rate, especially as an early play for an aggressive deck. Not only that, but equipment that can grant flying have historically been very powerful, even if they’re expensive to equip. Dragoon's Lance is bound to be a strong card, especially in the equipment deck.

Dwarven Castle Guard

Rating: 4/10

A 2-drop creature that can trade off with an early play and replace itself with a 1/1 token is extremely good. Dwarven Castle Guard especially shines in sacrifice decks, but it’s perfectly reasonable in any white deck.

Fate of the Sun-Cryst

Rating: 4/10

Fate of the Sun-Cryst is a bit on the expensive side, but the flexibility of the ability to destroy anything is pretty nice. Three mana to kill a tapped creature or 5 to kill anything seems like a fair trade off. I don’t think you can run too many copies, but the first one is probably very valuable.

From Father to Son

Rating: 0/10

Oh boy. There are a couple of rules you should always be aware of. Firstly, vehicles suck. Secondly, tutors suck. A tutor like From Father to Son that can search for a vehicle? Unbelievably bad.

G’raha Tia

Rating: 6/10

This is an effect that we’re more used to seeing in black. Morbid Opportunist was one of the best cards in the entirety of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. While putting the same trigger on a 5-drop rather than a 3-drop is bound to make it weaker, drawing a card is still one of the best possible payoffs for doing something and you don’t even need to build around G'raha Tia to make it good.

Gaelicat

Rating; 3/10

The evil flying cat is a monster design I’m actually more familiar with from the Legend of Heroes series, another excellent story-driven series of Japanese RPGs. Gaelicat is a nice little common that’s a reasonable way to start your curve. The fact that it’s not an artifact might hold it back too much in the end, but I don’t think this is bad by any means.

Machinist’s Arsenal

Rating: 8/10

Assuming you have plenty of artifacts, Machinist's Arsenal looks obscene. You only need a couple of other artifacts for this to be a 9/9 or an 11/11 for just 5 mana. Then you can reequip this to any other creature and turn it into a massive threat. You really need other artifacts for this to be remotely playable, but it’ll be exceptional in the white/blue artifacts deck.

Magitek Armor

Rating: 2/10

Vehicles really suck in Limited. Magitek Armor isn’t quite so bad because at least it creates a token that can crew it, but I still think this is going to fall well short of where it needs to be.

Magitek Infantry

Rating: 4/10

Anyone who’s played Final Fantasy XV knows the pain of just minding your own business in the countryside when an airship carrying a dozen of these lands in front of you and you have to take care of it. Despite my mixed feelings, Magitek Infantry looks really strong. It reminds me of Whisper Squad, which looked really weak at first, but then you’d end up playing against someone with seven of them and the game becomes all about them.

Minwu, White Mage

Rating: 7/10

The power of Minwu, White Mage is of course that it enables its own trigger because it has lifelink, which is pretty good. There are a small handful of other clerics in Final Fantasy, but for the most part Minwu just buffs itself. My only concern is that a 3/3 is too small to get into a lot of combat. Still, there are a lot of random ways to gain life and give Minwu the first couple of counters, so that might not be much of an issue.

Moogles’ Valor

Rating: 7/10

This is a very hard card to evaluate. On the one hand, Moogles' Valor looks obscenely broken in many scenarios. Even if you're just creating a couple of Moogles, doing this on an opponent’s turn and then laying out some very favorable blocks sounds absurd. But on the other hand, what if you have no creatures? A 5-mana instant with literally no text is a major downside. I think on balance this should be good more often than not, but this is one I could very easily be wrong about.

Paladin’s Arms

Rating: 2/10

A 3-mana 3/2 with some minor upsides is a little outdated at this point, but Paladin's Arms slots nicely into the artifact and equipment decks. I imagine it’ll be a decent curve-filler in those decks.

Phoenix Down

Rating: 1/10

Cheap reanimation spells in white have had a storied history in Limited over the last few years. Some have been great, others have sucked. I think Phoenix Down leans towards the latter. It might be relevant that it’s a cheap artifact, but this is quite expensive and there are nearly no skeletons, spirits, or zombies for you to exile. Cool design, but I don’t think it’s very good.

Restoration Magic

Rating: 4/10

Tamiyo's Safekeeping was a sleeper hit in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and I imagine that Restoration Magic will be similar. Most of the time, you’ll just use Cure or Cura to “counter” a removal spell and be done with it, but having Curaga available as a free bonus definitely doesn’t hurt.

Sidequest: Catch a Fish / Cooking Campsite

Rating: 7/10

Rating: 5/10

You don’t need to do much to sell me on a 2/1 flier for 2 mana. Il Mheg Pixie is a great aggressive play in the early game, and the surveil on its attack trigger is a really good bonus.

Jill, Shiva’s Dominant / Shiva, Warden of Ice

Rating: 8/10

Jill, Shiva's Dominant’s base rate as a literal Man-o'-War is already fantastic; it doesn’t even need to transform into Shiva, Warden of Ice. But hey, it can also transform into Shiva. Since you’d always play it as the front side, everything else is pure upside, even if transforming this noble is a little bit on the costly side and Shiva won’t always be that effective.

Louisoix’s Sacrifice

Rating: 1/10

This is a Constructed card, plain and simple. Negate and Stifle aren’t playable main deck cards in Limited, and combining them into the same card doesn’t change that. Louisoix's Sacrifice is a strong sideboard card though, so bear that in mind.

The Lunar Whale

Rating: 7/10

I still don’t like vehicles, but The Lunar Whale looks pretty strong. As a vehicle, it can stay back while being less vulnerable to interaction, and you can crew it up and attack when you know you’ll get value out of it and it won’t be destroyed. Given that the eventual payoff is potentially a lot of free cards, that sounds good in any blue deck.

Magic Damper

Rating: 2/10

This is basically Shore Up, which is always fine, but you want a reason to run it. It’s not worth protecting any random creature, but the stronger the creatures you have, the more likely you are to want a card like Magic Damper.

Matoya, Archon Elder

Rating: 6/10

This looks a little out of place, but there are a few ways to trigger it. Dreams of Laguna looks like a great combo here, for example. A 1/4 is also a reasonably effective defensive creature, so Matoya, Archon Elder looks quite good in a control deck.

Memories Returning

Rating: 6/10

I really love these Fact or Fiction-esque minigames you can play with your opponents. Memories Returning is essentially a draw three for 4 mana, which is particularly good in the blue/red archetype. Nine mana means you won’t flash this back very often, but it’s good enough up front without needing to factor that in.

The Prima Vista

Rating: 1/10

Vehicles really suck. Even an entire set built around vehicles couldn’t change that. More specifically, vehicles that do nothing other than act as efficiently-sized creatures are extremely bad. The Prima Vista is no different. It’s technically playable, but I won’t clamor to get this into any of my decks.

Qiqirn Merchant

Rating: 3/10

Qiqirn Merchant has the makings of something that could end up as my favorite card in the Final Fantasy set. Horned Turtle is a really nice defensive card, especially when it’s also a looter. You can block, smooth out your draws, then cash it in for a nice three cards when the game goes long. I really hope the format is slow enough for this to work.

Quistis Trepe

Rating: 7/10

I do love a Snapcaster Mage, and the ability to steal spells from your opponent’s graveyard is a really nice touch on this classic design. Three mana is a tad on the expensive side given that you also need to pay the cost of the spell you flashback, but it’s still doable. Quistis Trepe just looks like the kind of card you always want to topdeck in the late game, and I’m all here for it.

Relm’s Sketching

Rating: 7/10

It may only be a token, but this is still basically just a Clone, which has proven itself time and time again to be a great card in Limited. Better yet, being a sorcery triggers a lot of synergies within the set, so Relm's Sketching is bound to be one of the better uncommons in blue.

Retrieve the Esper

Rating: 2/10

Casting expensive sorceries should be worthwhile in Final Fantasy Limited, but even with two bites at the apple, casting a very underwhelming creature doesn’t sound too appealing. Four mana for a 3/3 and 6 mana for a 5/5 just aren’t good deals. Still, with all of the set’s synergies, Retrieve the Esper may find a good home.

Rook Turret

Rating: 3/10

I always like the Phantom Monster creatures that we see in these sets. They’ve definitely been getting worse recently, but I still like Rook Turret’s stat line, and fortunately the ability should be very relevant. I think you’ll probably only play this in the artifacts decks, but that’s fine.

Sage’s Nouliths

Rating: 1/10

This feels so bad. Two mana for a 2/1 with a pseudo-vigilance ability just isn’t up to par. The equip ability is also high enough that you’ll probably never want to use it. If your deck needs cheap artifacts, you could probably do worse, but I don’t think you’d play Sage's Nouliths otherwise.

Sahagin

Rating: 2/10

I’m really interested to see how this “big spells” deck pans out, but Sahagin doesn’t seem like it’ll be an important piece of it. I don’t know how many big spells you’ll reliably be able to play during a game, but you need too many of them for this to make much of an impact.

Scorpion Sentinel

Rating: 2/10

What I like here is that a 1/4 for 2 mana starts out as a decent defensive option for a ramp deck. Turning into a 4/4 in the mid-late game is also very relevant. Still, Scorpion Sentinel isn’t the most impactful of cards, and you won’t run it all the time.

Sidequest: Card Collection / Magicked Card

Rating: 1/10

Four mana to draw three cards and discard two is really weak. I know we like drawing cards, but the rate here is extremely bad. You’d hope we’d have some other benefit for playing Sidequest: Card Collection, but the ability to sometimes transform into a 4/4 flying… vehicle? Nah, I’m off it. It’s not completely unplayable, but it’s far from good.

Sleep Magic

Rating: 6/10

Sleep Magic is very flavorful. Sleep is a common status to receive in not just Final Fantasy, but in all RPGs, and you’re typically woken up when you’re hit physically. In Magic, this isn’t much of a downside. A tapped creature is very unlikely to be damaged by anything, so this looks very close to a 1-mana Claustrophobia.

Stolen Uniform

Rating: 0/10

I’m sure you can cook up some cool scenarios with Stolen Uniform, but I wouldn’t bother. Spending a whole card to do this isn’t worth it in the slightest. At best it’s an extremely situational combat trick in the color that wants combat tricks the least, which doesn’t sound very appealing.

Stuck in Summoner’s Sanctum

Rating: 3/10

These kinds of cards have fallen off a lot in recent years, and 3 mana just isn’t a great mana cost for them. There are a couple of bonuses that we can make use of, but I don’t think it’s enough to make Stuck in Summoner's Sanctum more than just a moderate playable.

Summon: Leviathan

Rating: 8/10

A big blue board wipe attached to a 6/6 creature would be absolutely absurd. It’s a board wipe, and that’s huge, but the 6/6 creature is only going to be around for a couple of turns. You do get one attack and one card out of it, so Summon: Leviathan represents a lot of tempo and advantage. It’s a great card in any blue deck, but thankfully its power level is kept in check by virtue of being a saga.

Summon: Shiva

Rating: 6/10

Summon: Shiva may not stick around for too long, but it gives you a good amount of tempo. The temporary nature of these summons scares me, but I think Shiva looks great. You may lose it after two turns, but it at least replaces itself with a free card or two and dominates the board while it’s in play.

Swallowed by Leviathan

Rating: 4/10

This essentially amounts to a counterspell that also lets you surveil 2. That’s pretty good, and it’s definitely an upgrade over a simple Cancel. You’ll need to have some stuff in your graveyard, but blue decks are usually good at enabling Swallowed by Leviathan whether through surveil and self-mill or just naturally casting instants and sorceries.

Syncopate

Rating: 3/10

I’ll resist geeking out over the awesome FFX flavor to this card. We’ve seen Syncopate several times in the past, and it’s always been fine. You can cast it as a Force Spike for 2 mana and counter your opponent’s 2- or 3-mana play, and you can put any amount of mana into it later to counter bigger things.

Thief’s Knife

Rating: 4/10

I do love creatures like Scroll Thief and Thieving Otter. If you can enable a hit or two, the extra cards you get are huge. Not only that, but it’s not unreasonable to equip Thief's Knife to something more evasive later in the game and get a ton of value.

Travel the Overworld

Rating: 6/10

You had me at “draw four cards.” With just two towns in play, Travel the Overworld becomes Tidings, a very strong card in its own right. Any cheaper than that and this starts to become absolutely ridiculous. This is a very real payoff for a towns deck, and if that deck is good, this sorcery is bound to be one of the reasons why.

Ultros, Obnoxious Octopus

Rating: 6/10

Ultros, Obnoxious Octopus is very aptly named, because this card is really obnoxious. Casting 4-mana noncreature spells isn’t easy: If they don’t affect the board in a meaningful way, you often fall too far behind your opponent. Ultros gives you a great way for those kinds of spells to interact with your opponent’s creatures and slow them down, giving you more time to cast awesome spells. Its second ability won’t matter most of the time, but it’s already good enough as an annoying, cheap creature.

Valkyrie Aerial Unit

Rating: 6/10

There is an artifacts deck in Final Fantasy Limited, and this is a fantastic payoff for it. If Valkyrie Aerial Unit costs around 4 mana or less, it looks incredible. You only need three artifacts in play to enable that, which sounds imminently possible. You can’t play this without the artifacts to support it, but it's great with them.

The Water Crystal

Rating: 1/10

My Bruvac the Grandiloquent Commander deck is eating well with this set, but this isn’t good in Limited. You’re actually helping your opponent if you mill them and don’t kill them with it, so The Water Crystal looks like the worst of the Crystal cycle to me.

Y’shtola Rhul

Rating: 1/10

Y'shtola Rhul is a really cool and unique design, but it doesn’t seem to be good enough in Limited. Six mana for a 3/5 is really bad, of course, so you have to lean really heavily into this ability. You essentially get to flicker one creature twice each turn, which might be incredible but it’s usually mediocre. I’m not saying that you can’t make this work, but I’m saying that it’s hard to do so in Limited.

Black

Ahriman

Rating: 3/10

What’s not to like? Three mana for a 2/2 flier is already a good start for Ahriman. Tack on deathtouch and a good sacrifice ability and you have a very solid playable.

Al Bhed Salvagers

Rating: 6/10

Blood Artist is an incredible Magic card, and we’ve seen many variants of it over the years. They’ve pretty much always been good, and given that Final Fantasy has a sacrifice archetype in black and white, I see no reason why Al Bhed Salvagers won’t also be awesome.

Ardyn, the Usurper

Rating: 4/10

I’m sure anyone can read Ardyn, the Usurper and realize that it’s incredibly powerful. Assuming you can use the trigger on the turn you play it, you get a 5/5 demon with lifelink and haste right away. The only issue is that pesky mana cost. Eight is typically too much to pay unless it wins you the game on the spot, and I think Ardyn is just too vulnerable to be as good as the other expensive bombs in this set like Summon: Knights of Round and Summon: Bahamut.

Black Mage’s Rod

Rating: 4/10

This looks like a great early play for the Black Mage deck (who knew?). Not only is it a cheap wizard to start getting your damage pings in, but it’s also a noncreature spell to trigger your other wizards. It’s also just a defensible 2-drop for any deck that needs it, so I’m sure Black Mage's Rod will be a solid card.

Cecil, Dark Knight / Cecil, Redeemed Paladin

Rating: 6/10

Cecil, Dark Knight is a weird one to evaluate. On the one hand, 1 mana for a 2/3 with deathtouch that can transform into a 4/4 lifelinker sounds pretty incredible, but the downside can really add up quickly. Your life total is very much a resource, but without the proper tools to support Cecil, it might be too much a liability. My gut tells me Cecil is good but not broken. The downside is significant enough to keep it in check and make sure it doesn’t run roughshod over the format.

Circle of Power

Rating: 4/10

Circle of Power hits a lot of the right notes. It costs 4 mana for the cards that care about that, it creates a Wizard token for the wizard deck, and it draws you into more cards. Given that the Wizard tokens are 0/1s, giving them +1/+0 is a big deal, potentially even giving you a combat phase that you wouldn’t have otherwise had. These noncreature spell-based decks have a lot of sweet things going for them, and I’m excited to see how this pans out.

Cornered by Black Mages

Rating: 4/10

Cruel Edict effects are pretty undesirable in Limited, but we’re very interested in the black mage token. In fact, we want it enough that Cornered by Black Mage is basically a two-for-one play, like a black mage Nekrataal. Well, it’s definitely not as powerful as that, but this should still be a very strong card for the black mage deck.

Dark Confidant

Rating: 7/10

Dark Confidant is one of my favorite cards in the game, and I’ve played it in a bunch of formats. Now, I get to play it in Standard for the first time! As far as Limited goes, you can’t afford to lose too much life, so Bob is much more powerful in aggressive decks because their mana curve tends to be lower. Regardless of how much life you lose, drawing an extra card each turn is a strong enough effect that it’s worth it to take the risk.

Dark Knight’s Greatsword

Rating: 3/10

I don’t remember the last time I spent 3 mana for a 4/1 creature, but here we are. Paying 3 life to re-equip Dark Knight's Greatsword is potentially very powerful, and WotC of course knew this, which is why it gives such a mediocre buff. +3/+0 doesn’t help most creatures to survive combat, but it’s quite strong on evasive creatures, so the strength of this card is quite variable. Some decks will be very happy with it, while others won’t care too much.

The Darkness Crystal

Rating: 2/10

See what I said for The Wind Crystal. The Darkness Crystal is fine and might actually be a funny sideboard card against the sacrifice decks because it turns off death triggers, but it’s usually not worth the mana investment.

Demon Wall

Rating: 4/10

In these reviews, I always mention how I like the design of a cheap defender creature that can eventually attack. Demon Wall is probably one of the strongest versions we’ve seen, which is likely why it’s bumped up to uncommon. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a way to put a stray counter on this with some other effect, and then you have a big menace creature that you only invested 2 mana into. This is great, and I’ll always play it.

Evil Reawakened

Rating: 3/10

Reanimation spells aren’t often that good in Limited, but Evil Reawakened might have the support it needs. There are a lot of expensive (8 mana or more) rare and mythic creatures that basically win the game by themselves that you'd really like to cheat out, and this is a good way to do that. This won’t come together all the time, but I could definitely start my draft with one of those big win conditions then keep my eye out for this as a way to enable them.

Fang, Fearless l’Cie / Ragnarok, Divine Deliverance

Rating: 4/10

I can’t see a ton of ways to actually trigger Fang, Fearless l'Cie’s ability. There are a couple, including some flashback spells and some graveyard recursion, so triggering it definitely isn’t out of the question. Of course, if you’re a green/black deck and have Vanille, Cheerful l'Cie to pair with Fang, enabling Ragnarok, Divine Deliverance is definitely worth it.

Fight On!

Rating: 3/10

We’ve seen this card plenty of times in past Limited sets, and it usually finds a home somewhere. You can’t run too many copies of Fight On! given that it only works later in the game, but the first copy should be great.

The Final Days

Rating: 2/10

I usually love cards like this, but it has a very significant drawback: The tokens enter tapped. The fact that The Final Days doesn’t actually affect the battlefield the turn you play it likely holds it back. I could however see wanting one copy in a green/black deck to flood the board with tokens as a win condition.

Gaius van Baelsar

Rating: 5/10

Fleshbag Marauder and its variants have always been pretty solid. Gaius van Baelsar is harder to play, but the ability is potentially a lot more powerful. If your opponent is the only one with a token or an enchantment out, this turns into a two-for-one. Of course, choosing the nontoken creature mode is still fine, especially if they only have one creature to hit and you can deal with it cleanly.

Hecteyes

Rating: 4/10

These creatures are always pretty good. Hecteyes is among the simplest ways to get some early card advantage, and it gets even better if you ever get to recur or reanimate it. I’d be happy playing just about as many of these as I could find.

Jecht, Reluctant Guardian / Braska’s Final Aeon

Reno and Rude

Rating: 3/10

I get what they’re trying to do with this card, but there are far too many hurdles to jump for Reno and Rude to be playable. In the early game, you won’t have the creatures to sacrifice or the mana to spend on the card you exile. In the late game, a 2/1 menace creature just isn’t likely to get through in combat. There are much better payoffs for the sacrifice deck, so I’m looking at this as little more than a slightly evasive 2-drop in aggressive decks.

Resentful Revelation

Rating: 4/10

Like many similar spells, filling your graveyard while you draw a card for just 2 mana is a great deal. If you want to fill your graveyard, Resentful Revelation is exactly how you want to go about doing it.

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER / Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel

Rating: 9/10

This is the big bad of the most famous game in the whole series, Final Fantasy VII, and his card really packs a punch. Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is both an enabler and a payoff for the sacrifices deck, and it’s exceptional at both of those roles. Transforming it into Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel is kind of difficult, but its abilities become that much stronger if you’re able to do it. Even if you’re not built to maximize Sephiroth, it’s still great in any black deck and worth picking highly.

Sephiroth’s Intervention

Rating: 5/10

Four mana is a lot, but gaining 2 life is a highly desirable upside to have on a removal spell. Sephiroth's Intervention is just a nice, clean answer to any creature in Final Fantasy Limited, and you’ll want to play however many copies you can find.

Shambling Cie’th

Rating: 3/10

Shambling Cie'th seems really at odds with itself. A creature that recurs itself in this way would be a great defensive option in a control deck, but entering tapped stops that from being an effective option. It could be nice in an aggressive deck, but recurring it also feels too slow for that. I just don’t think the numbers line up correctly for this card and it will just stay mediocre.

Shinra Reinforcements

Rating: 4/10

If you’re on the self-mill plan, what could be better? A half-decent body, some cards into your graveyard, and 3 extra life just to be safe? Even if you’re not in the dedicated mill plan, there’s still good value to gain from Shinra Reinforcements.

Sidequest: Hunt the Mark // Yiazmat, Ultimate Mark

Rating: 9/10

Vincent Valentine only has one major downside: It’s extremely vulnerable on its front side. And that’s it. Otherwise, Vincent is absolutely absurd and nearly unbeatable. It picks up +1/+1 counters pretty much for free, transforms into a huge lifelinker on a whim, and is impossible to kill once it does. This reminds me a lot of Unstoppable Slasher, and I expect it to be just as brutal to play against.

Vincent’s Limit Break

Rating: 1/10

These spells have a tendency to hit or miss depending on how the numbers line up. The problem is that Vincent's Limit Break does very little without investing a ton of mana, which puts it on the weak side. Note that the power/toughness adjustment happens upon resolution of the spell, not when the creature returns to play.

Zenos yae Galvus / Shinryu, Transcendent Rival

Rating: 9/10

Like Massacre Wurm or Harvester of Misery, the absurdity of a creature that comes down and has the potential to wipe the board with little effort is hard to ignore. Except neither of those had the ability to transform into a flying 8/8 when they were done. Zenos yae Galvus is an incredible black rare that requires little to no effort on your part to be a strong asset.

Zodiark, Umbral God

Rating: 0/10

This rating is entirely based on one simple thing: Zodiark, Umbral God is uncastable. In your average 2-color deck, quintuple black mana just isn’t attainable. You could pick this early and try going mono-black, but I don’t even think Zodiark looks good enough to stretch to that. Thanks to the “rounded down” wording, your opponent is always left with at least one creature, so they can always keep their best creature alive. This just doesn’t look worth it at all, so avoid at all costs.

Red

Barret Wallace

Rating: 3/10

It’s of course thematic for Barret Wallace to have reach, but reach on a creature that wants to attack just feels weird. Four mana for a 4/4 reach creature is already a good enough stat line that any red deck will happily play it. Barret’s attack trigger is fine, but it’s little more than a nice bonus that can come up every so often.

Blazing Bomb

Rating: 4/10

I’m really trying to get into the habit of not underestimating every 1-drop I come across. This honestly looks quite strong, assuming you can get some triggers out of it. It’s very unassuming, but it starts to look very dangerous once it picks up even a single counter, much like the bomb creatures it represents.

Call the Mountain Chocobo

Rating: 3/10

This hits a lot of good notes in the set. It’s a 2/2 chocobo that draws you a land, and it helps you to trigger your landfall abilities while being a solid two-for-one. Call the Mountain Chocobo is also a 4-mana spell that you can cast twice for blue/red. It generally looks like a solid role-player in those decks.

Choco-Comet

Rating: 7/10

Red X spells that deal X damage have fallen out of favor in recent years. Or to be more precise, the versions we’ve had have been a lot worse than previous ones. Choco-Comet however stands out because it also gives you a chocobo token, essentially turning it into a Flametongue Kavu that deals X damage. That’s absolutely incredible, and I’d be surprised if this weren’t one of red’s stronger cards in Final Fantasy.

Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant / Ifrit, Warden of Inferno

Rating: 2/10

I’m sure you can engineer some scenario with an indestructible creature or something with a lot of toughness, but for the most part this is just Fling. Not the strongest of removal spells, but Self-Destruct is great at sacrificing a creature that’s already about to die, and you might even have some fun with Jumbo Cactuar.

Sidequest: Play Blitzball / World Champion, Celestial Weapon

Unexpected Request

Rating: 4/10

Threaten effects are quite strange. Using them just to get a hit in is sometimes good, but not enough to warrant playing an otherwise useless card. However, they’re good at stealing a creature when you can sacrifice it before it goes back to your opponent. Red isn’t looking to do that, which bumps Unexpected Request down a grade, but splashing this in a black/white deck or running it when you have some random sacrifice outlets could be very good.

Vaan, Street Thief

Rating: 2/10

As much as I love Final Fantasy XII, Vaan is by far one of the worst “main” characters in the series, or any other RPG for that matter. He’s just so uninspired and undergoes virtually no development throughout the whole story.

As a card, Vaan, Street Thief doesn’t seem terrible, but it requires too much support that we just can’t provide in a Limited environment.

Warrior’s Sword

Rating: 1/10

A vanilla 4/3 for 4 mana is a pretty terrible base rate for this card, and 5 mana to equip is unreasonably expensive. I could see wanting Warrior's Sword in white/red equipment, but probably nothing else.

Zell Dincht

Rating: 7/10

Rating: 4/10

If you ever get to play Sazh's Chocobo early, it should pick up enough +1/+1 counters over the course of the game that it’ll become incredibly strong. There are also great landfall and chocobo cards that synergize well with it. It's a horrible topdeck to draw late, but the upside is high enough that it’s worth taking that risk.

Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo / Black Chocobo

Rating: 5/10

The opportunity cost of Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo is extremely low, since you get a 2/2 for 2 mana right off the bat. The issue is that getting to four birds doesn’t seem very easy. With the right support, it could definitely come together, and the payoff of getting an additional 2/2 plus a land is definitely worth going for.

Summon: Fat Chocobo

Rating: 4/10

Fat Chocobo is my spirit animal. Enough said. I love this guy, and I’m so happy Summon: Fat Chocobo is good. Five mana for a 4/4 plus a 2/2 is great. Giving your team trample for the next few turns seems kind of random, but I bet it’ll matter more often than not.

Summon: Fenrir

Rating: 6/10

Any creature that ramps you on turn 3 is worth a second look. Summon: Fenrir might only be temporary, but you can get your free land and then trade off this saga creature for value, effectively giving you an easy two-for-one. If this isn’t possible, just getting to attack once and hopefully draw a card is still well worth it.

Summon: Titan

Rating: 8/10

There’s a lot to like with this particular summon. Milling a bunch of cards then putting all your binned lands onto the battlefield sounds great for both ramp and landfall. It’s pretty huge, so Summon: Titan has a meaningful impact on the board, and it gets two big hits in. Once with its own attack, and then again by giving a huge bonus to another creature. All-in-all, this is a great summon that fits well in most of green’s strategies.

Summoner’s Grimoire

Rating: 2/10

When a card’s only job is to cheat out other cards, it’s probably quite bad in Limited. In general, I wouldn’t play Summoner's Grimoire, but given the sheer number of very expensive rares and mythics in Final Fantasy, you could use it every so often to cheat some of those into play.

Tifa Lockhart

Rating: 5/10

Like many similar cards in the past, Tifa Lockhart has received a lot of attention on social media lately for the ease with which it can win a game. A good pump spell plus a fetch land can give you a turn 3 kill in some formats. The issue is that without that support, it’s too weak. If you can support Tifa with ways to buff its power and perhaps some additional land drops, it definitely has the potential to be a powerhouse in your deck.

Tifa’s Limit Break

Rating: 3/10

+2/+2 for 1 mana isn’t great, and doubling a creature’s power and toughness is only good if the creature was already quite big to begin with. I think Tifa's Limit Break is too situational to be actively good, but the thought of killing someone by doubling my 7/7 trample creature sounds kind of appealing. At that point, even tripling it doesn’t seem too unrealistic.

Torgal, A Fine Hound

Rating: 7/10

Two-drop mana dorks are always good in Limited. Ramping out your plays a turn ahead of time is worth spending a card on, and you can always trade it off if you have to. On top of that, most of Final Fantasy’s creatures are humans, so Torgal’s triggered ability is extremely relevant.

Town Greeter

Rating: 4/10

This is another iteration of a design we’ve seen plenty of times in the past, just like Ainok Wayfarer in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Town Greeter is just a great 2-drop. It mills you, it usually guarantees you a land drop for the next turn, and it can even gain you a bit of life. All good things.

Traveling Chocobo

Rating: 9/10

Even just getting to play lands off the top of your deck would make Traveling Chocobo a really good card, but it can do so much more than that. Double landfall triggers aren’t all that important, but it’s the ability to cast birds from the top of your library that really sells it for me. Even a single spell cast with this is like you drew a real card. I’d play this in any green deck regardless, but I’d also hunt for any chocobos I could possibly find for the chance to get some free cards.

Vanille, Cheerful l’Cie / Ragnarok, Divine Deliverance

Rating: 7/10

Before we consider the meld ability, Vanille, Cheerful l'Cie is basically just Acolyte of Affliction, which is a great card in its own right, so this makes the cut in basically every green deck. Melding with Fang, Fearless l'Cie sounds like it will happen very rarely. Controlling both shouldn’t be too hard, but you have to have them survive until your next turn. Your opponent can see it coming and has a lot of time to interact. But if you do get it to happen, Ragnarok should win you the game by itself, so it’s worth trying.

Multicolored

Absolute Virtue

Rating: 1/10

The thing is, Absolute Virtue doesn’t protect itself in any way, which is kind of weird. Sure, your opponent can’t do anything to you, but this creature still dies to a lot of removal spells while it gives you no value. I’m not saying the card is completely unplayable, but a card better win you the game if you’re spending 8 mana on it, which this is really far from doing.

Balthier and Fran

Rating: 3/10

They’re the best pair of characters in Final Fantasy XII, and yet they really suck in Limited. Don’t get me wrong, Balthier and Fran is quite strong, but there are so few vehicles in Final Fantasy that you can play in a red/green deck that this just feels incredibly out of place. Cool card though.

Black Waltz No. 3

Rating: 6/10

The black mages deck looks to flood the board with as many of these damage pings as possible. To that end, Black Waltz No. 3 is like having two of those Wizard tokens at once, and that piles on a ton of extra damage very quickly. This deck looks quite dangerous, and this is a great addition to those decks.

Choco, Seeker of Paradise

Rating: 7/10

What an excellent build-around for a chocobo deck. You don’t even need other chocobos, since Choco, Seeker of Paradise just draws you a card whenever you attack with it, but additional birds really make it that much better. Choco doesn’t even need to declare an attack to trigger, so having a chocobo or two on the battlefield before you play is is hugely beneficial.

Cid, Timeless Artificer

Rating: 6/10

Cid, Timeless Artificer is already great as a 4/4 for 4 mana with cycling. I’d be happy to play that in basically any deck. The fact that it’s also basically a lord that buffs all of your heroes and artifact creatures is a sweet bonus, and sometimes it might even give an absurd +3/+3. As an aside, because there are 15 different versions of this card, it’ll be very highly sought after, so grab whatever copies you can see. Remember the nine different versions of Nazgûl?

Cloud of Darkness

Rating: 7/10

I do love an easy two-for-one, and they don’t get much easier than this. We saw this exact effect on Chupacabra Echo in LCI, and it was great then. Cloud of Darkness is two colors, and I think that’s a fair way to balance it a little because the ability to kill a creature and get a 3/3 flier is extremely powerful.

Emet-Selch, Unsundered / Hades, Sorcerer of Eld

Rating: 8/10

If we discount Emet-Selch, Unsundered’s ability to transform, it’s clearly a good card but not terribly exciting. You need to be able to enable it. Fourteen cards is a lot to get into your graveyard, though there are quite a few good ways to fill your graveyard, so it seems possible. Needless to say, once you transform it into Hades, Sorcerer of Eld, a permanent Yawgmoth's Will is extremely good. It’ll be interesting to revisit this card once Final Fantasy Limited has been around for a bit to see where it lands.

The Emperor of Palamecia / The Lord Master of Hell

Rating: 7/10

Mana acceleration plus a payoff is a perfect combination for this “spend 4 mana to cast a spell” strategy. If you can play The Emperor of Palamecia on turn 2, then you get to cast your first 4-drop spell on turn 3 and start the engine right away, which is bound to be awesome.

Exdeath, Void Warlock / Neo Exdeath, Dimension’s End

Rating: 5/10

A 3/3 that gains 3 life is great. Exdeath, Void Warlock is the perfect card to help a black/green deck stay alive long enough against aggro decks to put together all of its synergies. Then, you get paid off by turning Exdeath into Neo Exdeath, Dimension's End and absolutely going to town. Awesome card.

Garland, Knight of Cornelia / Chaos, the Endless

Rating: 6/10

Garland, Knight of Cornelia isn’t broken by any means, but in a spells deck there are few better turn 2 plays. A 3/2 hits really hard and trades off with a lot of creatures in combat, and a few early surveils help to set up your early turns. What I really like about this card is that you can transform it from the graveyard, because needing 7 mana while it’s still on the battlefield is far too restrictive. Rather, it can be a free 5/5 you get out of your graveyard when you eventually reach 7 mana, which is awesome.

Garnet, Princess of Alexandria

Rating: 7/10

As far as saga build-arounds go, Garnet, Princess of Alexandria is one of the better ones that I’ve seen. With the sagas being creatures, keeping them around for longer is a very worthwhile effect. Plus, having Garnet pick up counters at the same time when it also has lifelink is just brutal. It’s hard to know just how many sagas you can end up with in your deck, but this card is a big reason to want to pick up as many as you see.

Giott, King of the Dwarves

Rating: 4/10

Double strike is a great ability to pair with equipment, so it’s easy to see what you’re supposed to do with Giott, King of the Dwarves. While that’s a good pairing, Giott is a little lackluster when you don’t have that going, which definitely knocks it down a couple of points. Even in the equipment deck, you sometimes won’t be able to enable Giott and it’ll just sit there doing not much of relevance.

Gladiolus Amicitia

Rating: 6/10

By itself, Gladiolus Amicitia looks pretty awesome. A 6/6 for 6 mana is pretty standard, but it also gives you an immediate buff to one of your other creatures. The problem is that the landfall deck lacks identity. What is it trying to do? On the one hand, it has aggressive 1- and 2-mana creatures, but then its big payoff costs 6 mana? I think the deck will probably suck, but Gladiolus is probably good enough regardless of where the deck ends up.

Golbez, Crystal Collector

Rating: 4/10

Golbez is a classic Final Fantasy villain, yet the card is so out of place in this set. Blue/black is bound to have some artifacts in it thanks to overlapping into white/blue’s artifact theme and white/black’s artifact sacrifice theme. But Golbez, Crystal Collector is far from being as good as something like Contraband Kingpin since there just won’t be enough cards to synergize with it. With more artifacts to surround it, Golbez could be absurdly strong, but I have a feeling you’ll fall short too often.

Hope Estheim

Rating: 2/10

Hope Estheim seems like a really cool build-around in some other context, but there’s a problem for us in Limited. First is that there are only two other mill cards in Final Fantasy and all three of them are rares. Milling your opponent is actually positive for them unless you can finish them off, and there simply isn’t enough lifegain to enable Hope as a potential win condition. It’s not unplayable, but I don’t think it’s that good either.

Ignis Scientia

Rating: 4/10

Elvish Rejuvenator is a very solid card in any setting and Ignis Scientia is just as good. It can also attack the graveyard quite effectively, so Ignis might be really annoying for the black/green decks to play against. For the most part, it’s a good ramp enabler and I’m happy with that.

Jenova, Ancient Calamity

Rating: 10/10

The Luminarch Aspirant design has proven itself time and time again. While Jenova, Ancient Calamity is 4 mana and two colors, it also comes with some significant benefits to outweigh those extra costs. We can buff Jenova to place even more +1/+1 counters and also draw a ton of cards when one of our other mutant creatures dies. This is just absurd, and the constant flow of advantage tells me this will be an absolute bomb in the set.

Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant / Phoenix, Warden of Fire

Rating: 8/10

Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant is already quite a good card even before it transforms into Phoenix, Warden of Fire. But Phoenix is the real payoff here. Right away it deals 2 damage, which means you gain 2 life thanks to lifelink. Then for the next two turns, like most lifelink fliers would, Phoenix dominates the board and makes it almost impossible for you to lose a damage race, before it floods the board with creatures and gets ready to transform again. These dominants from Final Fantasy XVI all look extremely powerful, and I’m curious to see how they play out given that transforming them is so costly.

Judge Magister Gabranth

Rating: 6/10

Gabranth was annoying to fight in Final Fantasy XII, and his Magic card will be annoying to play against here. Judge Magister Gabranth is a fairly bad card to draw much later in the game, but establishing it early is extremely threatening. Even without sacrificing much, having your creatures trade off in combat triggers this creature and makes it very big very quickly.

Kefka, Court Mage / Kefka, Ruler of Ruin

Rating: 8/10

Kefka is the big bad of Final Fantasy VI and one of the most famous villains in the entire series. The card is also pretty good. We mainly care about the first trigger here, which at minimum lets you rummage away a card and force your opponent to discard a card, but it can do so much more. You and your opponent have to discard at the same time, so there’s a chance you’ll discard different card types and you get an extra card out of it. Or you could discard an artifact/enchantment creature and draw at least two cards. The 8 mana to transform Kefka, Court Mage into Kefka, Ruler of Ruin sounds prohibitively expensive, but if it does come up you’ll be buried in even more cards. Kefka is a little difficult to enable at three colors, but if you get it early enough you can build towards it.

Kuja, Genome Sorcerer / Trance Kuja, Fate Defied

Rating: 7/10

I’ve already mentioned that the wizard tokens are incredibly valuable, so creating a free one every turn sounds awesome. Given that Kuja, Genome Sorcerer is itself a wizard, it should also be relatively easy to transform it and double up all your damage pings. I think this is going to be my favorite deck in the format, and this is a sweet rare to headline it.

Lightning, Army of One

Rating: 9/10

As the card for the badass protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning, Army of One practically dominates combat all by itself, as its moniker “Army of One” suggests. First strike, trample, and lifelink are a powerful combination that make this creature extremely hard to get into combat with. Then, its combat damage trigger accelerates your clock by buffing the damage that all of your other creatures deal for the turn. I can’t imagine many better creatures for an aggressive deck, and the only thing keeping it from a 10/10 in my eyes is that at 2 toughness, it’s pretty easy to kill with removal.

Locke Cole

Rating: 6/10

Blue/black is just trying to be a control deck in Final Fantasy, and Locke Cole does everything you want a control deck to do. Deathtouch lets it trade for any creature, hitting your opponent lets you dig through your deck to find better cards, and lifelink helps you stay alive against aggro. This is just pure upside, and I love it.

Noctis, Prince of Lucis

Rating: 5/10

Noctis, our protagonist from Final Fantasy XV, can control the 13 Royal Arms, so it makes sense that his card would be centered around artifacts. Getting to recast artifacts from your graveyard is quite situational because they don’t end up in your graveyard as often as other card types. We do have sacrifices and creatures that trade in combat, so it definitely can happen, but there’s a chance Noctis, Prince of Lucis isn’t very effective, and at three colors it takes a lot to put Noctis into a deck in the first place.

Omega, Heartless Evolution

Rating: 4/10

Even though blue/green’s thing is supposed to be towns, I don’t like that the strength of Omega, Heartless Evolution’s ability is linked to how many towns you currently control. It already costs 7 mana, and for a cost like that, I want to know that the card I play is always good.

Rinoa Heartilly

Rating: 5/10

Rinoa is responsible for what might be the weirdest and most unique attack in the entire world of RPGs. If you’ve never witnessed the Angelo Cannon in action, do yourself a favor and find it on YouTube. The card itself looks pretty good to me. You get 5/5 worth of stats across two bodies, and they attack as much more than that. While the joke is to always buff Angelo with Rinoa Heartilly’s attack trigger, buffing something with flying or lifelink is often much stronger, so it’s great to have that flexibility.

Rufus Shinra

Rating: 6/10

What’s great about this card is that even though you can only control one Darkstar, you can sacrifice it for value and then just make another one. Given how easy it is to create the Darkstar token and that it doesn’t cost any additional mana, Rufus Shinra is a great card for giving you continual fodder for your sacrifice outlets, but also just for good board presence. Darkstar could always trade off with stuff in combat, after all.

Rydia, Summoner of Mist

Rating: 4/10

The trick with Rydia, Summoner of Mist is that you can use it to discard a saga and then play it from the graveyard. That’s not bad, but it’s also not particularly good. It takes too much setup for my liking, but with the right amount of support it could do some work.

Serah Farron / Crystallized Serah

Rating: 8/10

Serah was a central character to the plot of Final Fantasy XIII. Having been turned to crystal for completing her l’Cie focus, her sister Lightning sets out to find a way to revive her. Her card looks incredibly powerful. Cost reduction isn’t usually the best Limited ability, but reducing legendaries by 2 mana is a big enough reduction that I’m interested. Final Fantasy has over 100 legendary creatures in it, which plays right into Serah Farron’s hands. Once transformed into Crystallized Serah, the +2/+2 to all your legendary creatures is something that makes it incredibly hard for your opponent to catch up to you.

Shantotto, Tactician Magician

Rating: 5/10

Drawing a card is a great reward for casting expensive spells. If Shantotto, Tactician Magician isn’t drawing you those cards, then it looks incredibly weak. Not having any power to attack with unless you’re able to cast a spell is a feature that’s been the downfall of many similar creatures, but hopefully the draw mode is enough to save Shantotto from mediocrity.

Sin, Spira’s Punishment

Rating: 8/10

Three colors is still a lot, but Sin, Spira's Punishment rewards you for this quite well. Since the ability says that you repeat its ability whenever you hit a land, you’re guaranteed to get a free nonland permanent. Plus, you can repeat the ability any time you attack. Given this, Sin operates very similarly to a flying Sun Titan, depending on what’s in your graveyard. If not for being 7 mana and three colors, this would be one of the biggest bombs in the set.

Squall, SeeD Mercenary

Rating: 8/10

Squall is Final Fantasy VIII’s protagonist and his card is designed almost identically to his rival, Seifer Almasy.

The turn Squall, SeeD Mercenary enters, you can give double strike to a creature, giving you immediate impact. Then, if Squall gets into the red zone itself, the potential threat of two free permanents is enough to make it so that your opponent either answers it or falls too far behind.

Tellah, Great Sage

Rating: 9/10

This is such a great payoff for casting big noncreature spells. Draw two cards? Plus a 1/1? This is just awesome. Tellah, Great Sage is a little vulnerable to removal since it’s only a 3/3, but untap with this in a good spells deck and I can’t imagine you’d lose very often.

Terra, Magical Adept // Esper Terra

Rating: 4/10

Terra, Magical Adept is a weird one to evaluate. To me, it seems quite out of place in red/green, especially with the self-mill plan being green/black. In my opinion, it requires too much support to really pop off, and we just don’t have the ability to do that in Limited. It seems potentially very powerful in Constructed, though.

Tidus, Blitzball Star

Rating: 5/10

What can we say about Tidus, the somewhat embarrassing protagonist of Final Fantasy X? Not only is Tidus, Blitzball Star a decent artifact build-around, but it’s one of my favorite Limited card designs: a Master of Diversion. This is a very powerful effect for any aggressive deck, letting you tap the best blocker your opponent has and swinging a combat in your favor.

Ultimecia, Time Sorceress / Ultimecia, Omnipotent

Rating: 3/10

I’m not buying it here. Sure, Ultimecia, Time Sorceress is groundbreaking as the first real card to take an extra turn without being at least a rare. But the cost is so absurdly high that I can’t see it happening often enough to be reliable. There are worse 5-drops to play, so it might be worth running Ultimecia on the off chance you can pay the cost, but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to pick it in a draft.

Vivi Ornitier

Rating: 7/10

Despite being blue, Vivi Ornitier is like the black mage of your dreams for the black/red deck. Not only do you get a damage ping for each spell cast, but Vivi starts to grow and then gives you access to a bunch of extra mana, probably enabling your bigger spells for the blue/red archetype. Vivi looks like a great build-around for the spells deck. And it should be, as Final Fantasy fans’ favorite little black mage.

The Wandering Minstrel

Rating: 1/10

While I love seeing a potential payoff for being all five colors, I don’t think this works very well. The Wandering Minstrel does basically nothing until you get to a whopping five towns in play, which isn’t great given that a lot of town builds might only end up with that many in the whole deck. I think this requires too much effort to pull off and the upside isn’t there to warrant it.

Yuna, Hope of Spira

Rating: 8/10

The story of Final Fantasy X revolves around Yuna, a summoner setting out on a pilgrimage to rid the world of Sin. So naturally, Yuna, Hope of Spira is designed to work in conjunction with summons. Given that summons frequently end up in the graveyard without trying too hard, playing Yuna and immediately getting one back for free sounds incredible. Then, you can keep doing that every turn. Yuna is a must-kill threat on a lot of boards, and it should be easy to set up since white and green have some of the better summons.

Zidane, Tantalus Thief

Rating: 6/10

The gimmick here is that Zidane, Tantalus Thief creates a Treasure token when you give back the creature you steal with the first ability. Of course, you ideally won’t give it back, but it’s nice that you get a little bonus. Zidane is basically a redesign of Zealous Conscripts, which is very fitting given the character’s story in Final Fantasy IX, and this card seems pretty decent overall.

Colorless

Summon: Bahamut

Rating: 8/10

If you get to put Summon: Bahamut into play, it’ll probably dominate the game. A 9/9 that blows up two permanents and draws two cards over the next few turns is absurd, though you’ll probably win before that point. Is it castable? I honestly don’t know. You have to build around Bahamut, making sure you can either cheat it out or reliably get to 9 mana. I hope the format can accommodate this awesome bomb, though it’s just as likely that it’ll be unplayable if Final Fantasy Limited is too fast.

Ultima, Origin of Oblivion

Rating: 4/10

Five mana for a 4/4 flying creature that any deck can play sounds perfectly reasonable, but Ultima, Origin of Oblivion’s other abilities don’t seem all that good in Limited. You can put the blight counters on your own lands and use this to ramp up into something silly, like Bahamut, but I don’t think that really factors in here.

Adventurer’s Airship

Rating: 1/10

I’ve said it a few times already, but vehicles suck. Adventurer's Airship flies and has a relevant ability, but it’s a poor imitation of Smuggler's Copter and I don’t think it’ll be that playable (unlike the original).

Aettir and Priwen

Rating: 1/10

Aettir and Priwen is just far too expensive for not enough payoff. Even if this turns a creature into a 20/20, your opponent can still chump block it, which is a heck of a downside for the amount of mana you’ve invested. On top of that, if your life total dips below 10 or so, it starts to look even worse. I don’t think this is anywhere near worth the effort, even in the equipment deck.

Blitzball

Rating: 4/10

Dragonstorm Globe surprised a lot of Magic fans by being the breakout star of Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited, and this mana rock might also get there. Unlike Tarkir, we don’t have much of an incentive to go five colors, so the mana fixing part isn’t that relevant. However, a lot of decks have the ability to easily deal combat damage with legendary creatures, turning Blitzball into a colorless Divination that any deck can run. I think this will see quite a bit of play, and I’d be surprised if it didn’t.

Buster Sword

Rating: 10/10

Cloud’s iconic weapon from Final Fantasy VII really packs a punch and might be one of the best cards in the entire set. To start, +3/+2 is a big bonus for just 2 mana to equip, turning even the smallest creatures into legitimate threats on the board. The combat damage trigger is absurd, not only drawing you a card, but letting you cheat on mana by casting virtually any spell for free. On top of all that, Buster Sword is colorless, and equipment is a supported theme in the set. Everything is set up perfectly for this card and I expect it to do great things.

Elixir

Rating: 1/10

The joke of course is that this classic Final Fantasy item should mimic Elixir of Immortality. Yet, the original elixir was only borderline playable in Limited, and Elixir looks a lot worse to me. I can see it being a useful sideboard card, but very infrequently.

Excalibur II

Rating: 0/10

While there’s sort of a lifegain theme in Final Fantasy, it’s not a supported archetype. Excalibur II needs to pick up at least three charge counters before it’s worth equipping, and that’s just not going to happen often enough to justify running it.

Genji Glove

Rating: 3/10

I think it’s probably obvious to most players that the abilities on Genji Glove are really powerful. The question is whether the cost is worth what you get out of it. At first glance, I’d say no, but if Final Fantasy Limited ends up being quite slow, then paying 8 total mana for this starts looking a lot more desirable.

Instant Ramen

Rating: 2/10

Final Fantasy XV had cooking meals as a major theme, and they landed a big contract with Cup Noodle to sponsor the game, which meant that eating instant ramen was part of a key gameplay feature. The Instant Ramen card is perfectly fine, but you likely won’t need it in most decks. If you’re built around artifacts, a cheap one that cantrips is definitely something I’d be after.

Iron Giant

Rating: 2/10

We’ve honestly had worse ramp payoffs that weren’t colorless. This is fine if you really need it, and it might be a great sideboard option for decks that don’t normally use 7-drops to help fight against slower decks, but the other 7-drops in the set are a lot stronger for ramp.

Lion Heart

Rating: 4/10

Two mana to equip for +2/+1 is a fairly good deal, and the high casting cost is mitigated by the fact that it’s capable of killing a creature on entering. Lion Heart is a pretty nice card that you might not always want, but the white/red equipment deck will love it.

Lunatic Pandora

Rating: 2/10

A cheap artifact that you can sacrifice to destroy something is rarely playable. The ability to surveil each turn is interesting though, giving a control deck a good way to spend its excess mana whenever it needs to. I don't think Lunatic Pandora is particularly good, but I think it could have a home.

Magic Pot

Rating: 2/10

Just like the Magic Pots in Final Fantasy games, this Magic Pot card is pretty weak but incredibly annoying. It’s certainly not unplayable and can fit well in some control decks, but the colors likely have better options and don’t need to resort to this.

The Masamune

Rating: 4/10

Not a lot of creatures have a trigger that’s compatible with The Masamune, but Sephiroth does, which I suppose is what it’s going for. The part I’m more interested in is giving first strike and forcing something else to block, which kind of acts like removal. Your opponent still has agency over what they block with, so it’s not too devastating, but it could definitely be good with the right support.

Monk’s Fist

Rating: 2/10

Since the effect on Monk's Fist is so minimal, the equip cost is significantly lower than on the other job select cards. That alone saves this from being basically unplayable. It’s not great, but it’s likely a lot closer to Glimmerlight (a great common) than to the useless Bronze Sable.

PuPu UFO

Rating: 2/10

While we enjoy mana acceleration in Limited, getting to play additional lands from the hand isn’t a very good way of going about it. PuPu UFO looks incredibly mediocre to me, and I’m only hedging with the rating because the ability to play a 4-drop on turn 3 is extremely powerful, even when done inefficiently.

The Regalia

Rating: 6/10

It’s kind of a shame that this doesn’t have flying, given that it can fly in Final Fantasy XV. Regardless, I quite like The Regalia. Its stats are decent, it’s easy to crew, and it ramps you every time it attacks. I think that’s enough to break away from the fact that vehicles suck (I bet you’re tired of hearing that by now).

Relentless X-ATM092

Rating: 4/10

If Final Fantasy Limited ends up as slow as I think it might be, this should be very strong. It’s not just a big threat, but you get two of them out of a single card, so it’s great to sink your mana into in the late game.

Ring of the Lucii

Rating: 3/10

Ring of the Lucii is a really poor imitation of Icy Manipulator, a card which would honestly still be incredible if printed today. It’s more interesting as a big mana rock, especially with how many cards we’ve seen that make you want to spend 7 or even 8 mana to use them.

World Map

Rating: 2/10

There are probably no lands good enough that it’s worth putting 3 mana into World Map, but Traveler's Amulet is a perfectly reasonable way to fix your mana and so is this.

Lands

Adventurer’s Inn

Rating: 1/10

Adventurer's Inn is a nice, functional reprint of Radiant Fountain, a card I’ve played plenty of in Pauper and Modern, but it doesn’t quite cut it here. If you want more towns in your deck, this isn’t terrible, but not tapping for any colored mana is a big downside that you’ll want to avoid.

Balamb Garden, SeeD Academy / Balamb Garden, Airborne

Rating: 6/10

Since you’ld always play this as a blue/green dual land, the opportunity cost to put this into your blue/green deck is nonexistent. I don’t know how highly you’d want to take it in draft, but I’d literally never cut it from any deck that could use it.

The Town Duals

Midgar, City of Mako

Rating: 7/10

Midgar, City of Mako is my pick for the strongest of this rare town cycle. A Village Rites built into a land has such an unbelievably low opportunity cost with such a high potential upside that you’ll never cut this from any black deck. It’s even something I’d take quite highly if I was trying to do the sacrifice theme.

Starting Town

Rating: 4/10

Starting Town is essentially a pain land (like Adarkar Wastes) for any color combination you’re in. That’s pretty good if you can pick it up, but it’s not something you likely need to prioritize. It’s nice that it’s a town, and it can go up in your pick order if you have synergies for it.

Zanarkand, Ancient Metropolis

Rating: 7/10

Now this is what I want out of a land with an adventure on it. I can make my land drops early if I need to, and if I draw Zanarkand, Ancient Metropolis late, it’s just a 6-mana spell that creates a 7/7 token plus my land drop for the turn? Love it.

Final Fantasy: Through the Ages Bonus Sheet

Final Fantasy comes with a bonus sheet of 64 cards that reimagine classic MTG cards as Final Fantasy characters, locations, and moments with absolutely spectacular artwork. These appear in approximately one out of every three Play boosters, so it’s important to evaluate them too.

White

Hero of Light (Adeline, Resplendent Cathar)

Rating: 9/10

Adeline, Resplendent Cathar has really proven itself over the last few years. Not only is it a very legitimate threat in its own right, but it doesn’t even need to declare an attack to give you a bunch of value. If you curve a 2-drop into Adeline on turn 3, your 2-drop will trigger it by attacking, giving you a free token right away. There are few better 3-drops for an aggressive white deck than this.

Knights of San d’Oria (Ranger-Captain of Eos)

Rating: 7/10

The power level of Ranger-Captain of Eos obviously hinges on how many 1-drops you have in your deck. As long as you have about two or three of them, I’d always play this. A 3-mana 3/3 that draws you a nonland card is always quite powerful.

Firion, Swordmaster (Sram, Senior Edificer)

Rating: 4/10

Sram, Senior Edificer is a little hard to build around in Limited, but there are quite a few nice equipment cards that we want to get into our decks. It’s not unreasonable to assume you might get to draw one or even two cards from Sram, but you shouldn’t play it without enough ways to trigger it.

Blessing of the Oracle (Akroma’s Will)

Rating: 6/10

Well, obviously we can’t use both modes of Akroma's Will in Limited, but one or the other still seems good. Flying, vigilance, and double strike make for quite an effective Overrun, whereas lifelink, indestructible, and protection are excellent defensive options that help you catch back up. Either of those seems decent to me, and the choice of either/or gives this a nice amount of flexibility.

Squall Leonhart (Danitha Capashen, Paragon)

Rating: 3/10

Danitha Capashen, Paragon isn’t a bad card by any means, but it’s also not that exciting. It has a good collection of keywords, but a 2/2 for 3 mana is far too small to be able to take full advantage of them. I’m sure Squall will find a home somewhere, but it’s not a guarantee that you’d want to play it in every white deck.

Noctis Lucis Caelum (Kenrith, the Returned King)

Rating: 10/10

Okay, so Kenrith, the Returned King is absolutely nuts. First, let’s assume you’re mono-white. It’s a 5/5 for 5 which can gain you 5-10 life per turn if you untap with it. Your opponent needs an obscene amount of pressure just to keep up with that. Then, Kenrith has other great abilities depending on which other color(s) you happen to be, each of which put you way ahead. Simply put, your opponent has to kill this creature or they have virtually no chance of winning, which is the simplest definition of a 10/10 card.

Garnet Til Alexandros 17th (Loran of the Third Path)

Rating: 6/10

Loran of the Third Path has proven itself as one of the better artifact/enchantment hate cards printed in the last few years. Killing the summons before they sacrifice themselves sounds like a waste of a removal spell, but when that removal comes as a free bonus on a creature, it doesn’t feel quite so bad. As such, Garnet is probably very good in Final Fantasy Limited and a welcome addition to any white deck.

Minwu, Rebellion Strategist (Mangara, the Diplomat)

Rating: 5/10

While it’s very possible to just not attack with two creatures or cast two spells in the same turn, forcing your opponent out of that play pattern is still a worthwhile effect. A 2/4 with lifelink is also a really nice defensive card to sit behind. I doubt you’ll want Mangara, the Diplomat in an aggressive white deck, but if a slower, more controlling one exists, this is bound to fit right in.

Memories of Nibelheim (Stroke of Midnight)

Rating: 1/10

We’ve seen this in the past, as well as many other variations on it, but it’s never been all that good. Destroying a rare bomb is one thing, but the fact is that Stroke of Midnight is incredibly weak at removing middle-of-the-road creatures, and removal really should be good at doing that.

The Imperial City of Archades (Wall of Omens)

Rating: 4/10

Wall of Omens is a very solid card. Most of the time, we don’t care about 2-drop walls that do nothing but block, but it feels free when you get a card out of the deal, and it can also synergize with anything that might let you reuse the ability.

Blue

Wild Rose Rebellion (Counterspell)

Rating: 5/10

The OG Counterspell is always nice to see, but these spells are tricky to play in Limited and double blue is quite a restrictive mana cost. Any blue deck ought to be happy to pick it up, but bear in mind that it might be too slow for some matchups. It’s definitely a card you can and should sideboard out in the right situation.

Terra Branford (Urza, Lord High Artificer)

Rating: 9/10

Urza, Lord High Artificer is an incredible card. Simply being two good creatures for one card is a great start, but it then turns any and all of your artifacts into mana rocks to fuel its final ability, giving you free cards off the top of your deck. Urza has been a powerful mainstay across multiple Constructed formats and is a staple in Vintage Cube. This set also has plenty of artifacts to fuel Urza’s abilities, so I have to imagine it’ll be pretty broken in Final Fantasy Limited.

Master Xande (Venser, Shaper Savant)

Rating: 8/10

Venser, Shaper Savant has proven itself time and time again as one of the most flexible and versatile creatures in the game. The ability to cast it at any time while interacting with the board or temporarily countering a spell gives you a lot of available plays. On top of everything else, being a creature lets you utilize Venser a lot more than a regular instant, either by flickering or recurring it from the graveyard.

Endwalker (Brainstorm)

Rating: 2/10

Brainstorm is a classic, but it’s not often a desirable card in Limited. Just like other cheap cantrips like Opt or Consider, Brainstorm is worth playing in spell-based decks, but probably not in anything else.

To the Crystal Tower (Cryptic Command)

Rating: 7/10

In a world where spending 4 mana on noncreature spells is a supported archetype, I can’t think of many better cards to spend my 4 mana on than Cryptic Command. All four modes are excellent and useful in different scenarios, and each has a big impact on the game. Triple blue to cast is a bit restrictive, but the power level is well worth the price.

Rating: 0/10

Not even Demonic Tutor is playable in Limited, so Diabolic Intent is a non-starter. This is because even the best cards in your deck usually aren’t worth paying an additional 2 mana to play.

The Shadow Lord (Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor)

Rating: 10/10

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor is clearly a very powerful creature. The line of play usually involves playing it on a turn when you’re already able to attack with some creatures and get your combat damage triggers right away. From that point on, your opponent is heavily incentivized to block every creature you attack with, which is something you can use to your own advantage. Then, if you ever get up to the 7 mana for its activated ability, you’ll probably just win the game.

This just has such a profound impact on the board that it’ll be a huge bomb in any deck that can run it.

Emet-Selch, Ascian (K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth)

Rating: 0/10

We saw this play out when K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth was reprinted in Modern Horizons 3. The card is just awful. Without the ability to build around and perfectly utilize it, this version of Emet-Selch is just far too weak to make much of an impact.

Ardyn Izunia (Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire)

Rating: 6/10

Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire is somewhat unassuming. A 2/3 with deathtouch is a great body on defense, but if you get to attack with it, you’ll be able to set up your best possible draw for the next turn and easily trade with anything your opponent blocks with.

The downside is that since you have to attack with Varragoth, you have very little agency over what it trades for, but that seems like a fair trade-off for a free Vampiric Tutor.

Red

Dragon of Mount Gulg (Ancient Copper Dragon)

Rating: 5/10

This is a card that was designed with Commander play in mind, where creating an average of 10 Treasures whenever you hit an opponent is a big deal. In Limited, it doesn’t matter quite so much, as by the time you’ve played the dragon, you’ve probably played most of the cards you have access to anyway. Still, this is a big dragon and the ability isn’t completely irrelevant. It’s just not a bomb rare and nowhere near as exciting as it is in other formats.

Gilgamesh, Weapon Collector (Godo, Bandit Warlord)

Rating: 6/10

Godo, Bandit Warlord cheats out an equipment card from your library directly onto the battlefield, which is basically like getting a free creature in Final Fantasy Limited. Right away that seems strong: Picking up one of the 3- or 4-mana job select cards gives you some great board presence for just playing one card.

Gilgamesh, Weapon Collector’s second trigger isn’t that impressive, but it’s good enough without it.

Kefka Palazzo (Purphoros, God of the Forge)

Rating: 8/10

Purphoros, God of the Forge guarantees a lot of extra damage, and all you need to do is play more creatures. It shouldn’t even be too hard to reach five devotion to red and start getting into combat

On top of that, this god is so hard to deal with that it might just be enough to win the game.

Vaan, Aspiring Sky Pirate (Captain Lannery Storm)

Rating: 7/10

Cheap haste creatures are obviously very strong in aggressive decks. Even though Captain Lannery Storm is quite small, you can usually trade it off in combat and be left with a Treasure token to ramp out a much stronger play on the next turn. If it ever goes unblocked, it accelerates you even faster.

A Promise Fulfilled (Light Up the Stage)

Rating: 4/10

A weak Divination is still somewhat serviceable, and getting to cheat it out for just a single red mana is perfect for aggressive mana curves. Light Up the Stage is a good card that helps you to smooth out your draws, but it’s also something you won’t particularly miss.

Thrum of the Vestige (Lightning Bolt)

Rating: 8/10

Lightning Bolt was first printed in Alpha, back in 1993, and to this day it remains one of the best burn spells ever printed. And now it gets the Final Fantasy treatment as Thrum of the Vestige. You just can’t beat the pure efficiency of 1 mana for 3 damage to any target.

Dawn Warrior’s Legacy (Mizzix’s Mastery)

Rating: 7/10

When we saw Mizzix's Mastery on the Mystical Archive bonus sheet, the card was a certifiable bomb that nearly always won the game on the spot. However, that was entirely a product of the Strixhaven Limited format being slow enough to accommodate an 8-mana spell, and the set was built around instants and sorceries, so it often just cast 10 spells every time you used it.

Its Final Fantasy reprint as Dawn Warrior’s Legacy won’t be anywhere close to the same power level as in Strixhaven, but it’s still a fantastic card for any deck built around instants and sorceries.

Cloud Strife (Najeela, the Blade-Blossom)

Rating: 4/10

A lot of Najeela, the Blade-Blossom’s power comes from its activated ability, which is wildly unusable in Limited. Not only are five colors hard to pull off, but it’s downright impossible in the type of aggressive deck that would want a card like this.

In a set like Final Fantasy, this is effectively just a 3/2 that creates a token on attacking. It’s perfectly fine, but nothing to write home about. It can synergize with other warriors if you have them, but they’re not a supported type, so it won’t happen too often.

Zidane Tribal (Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer)

Rating: 8/10

Oh boy, are we about to see another format dominated by Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer? We saw this when Ragavan was also on the Multiversal Legends bonus sheet. Ragavan is basically one of the best 1-mana creatures ever printed. If you can resolve it turn 1 on the play, it often dominates the game, which is why it’s banned in Legacy.

It loses some power in Limited, and it’s much easier for it to be outclassed, but it’s still absurdly powerful and you should definitely play Ragavan’s Zidane reskin.

Green

Princess Sarah (Azusa, Lost but Seeking)

Rating: 0/10

Azusa, Lost but Seeking is a powerful combo card and an abysmally weak Limited one. It’s very hard to be able to utilize the extra land drops, and a 1/2 for 3 otherwise is just awful.

Princess Sarah reskin or not, this card is so bad that you might actually make it easier for your opponent to win by playing it, so just don’t bother.

The Cloudsea Djinn (Nyxbloom Ancient)

Rating: 0/10

Sorry Commander fans, but as silly as this card might sometimes be, that’s entirely a product of being able to build around it, a luxury we don’t have in games of Limited. You’ve already cast a 7-drop, you don’t need more mana beyond that point, so Nyxbloom Ancient is an overcosted vanilla creature and nothing more.

Fal’Cie Paradise (Carpet of Flowers)

Rating: 1/10

Carpet of Flowers is a very powerful card, but it shouldn’t go in your main deck when 60% of decks don’t contain any Islands. It’s great out of the sideboard though, accelerating out whatever big threats you can find.

Newfound Adventure (Farseek)

Rating: 5/10

Two-mana ramp spells like Farseek/ are pretty great in Limited. They make for awful late game topdecks, but they can fix your colors and accelerate out a 4-drop on turn 3, which is something nearly every green deck is interested in doing.

Vayne Carudas Solidor (Fynn, the Fangbearer)

[cg set=FCA]Fynn, the Fangbearer[/cg]

Rating: 4/10

[card]Fynn, the Fangbearer is a powerful creature, but without the right support, you’re never going to win the game via poison counters. In Final Fantasy Limited, I’d just look at Fynn as a 2-drop 1/3 with deathtouch, which is honestly decent in its own right.

Search for the Frozen Esper (Nature’s Claim)

Rating: 1/10

Final Fantasy has quite a few artifact creatures, plus the summons are all enchantments too, so there’s a chance you’ll want to play Nature's Claim in your main deck. However, the fact that the summons are going to die in a couple of turns anyway makes me think this is more likely to be just a strong sideboard card.

Astral Titan (Primeval Titan)

Rating: 5/10

Rating: 4/10

This isn’t Commander, but commander ninjutsu still functions the same as regular ninjutsu, which means Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow will basically work like a Ninja of the Deep Hours in Final Fantasy. That seems fine, though its power is limited in a set that isn’t built to accommodate it.

Artifacts

Giant of Babil (Traxos, Scourge of Kroog)

Rating: 8/10

I remember Traxos, Scourge of Kroog being quite a powerful rare back when it was first printed in Dominaria, so will it be good enough here as Giant of Babil? The key is how many artifacts, sagas, and legends you can get into a deck, because if you can untap it a few times, this card will win a game for you in short order. The original Dominaria had 97 historic cards to untap it. This set has 164 with 40 more on this bonus sheet, more than twice as many! I’d say Traxos is as good as it ever was and maybe even better.

Crystal of Altar Cave (Chromatic Lantern)

Rating: 1/10

Mana rocks aren’t really necessary in a 2-color format. Even if they were good, like Dragonstorm Globe was in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, they need to do a little more than Chromatic Lantern to be worth playing.

The Strahl (Smuggler’s Copter)

Rating: 10/10

If you don’t know the story, Smuggler's Copter is the most powerful vehicle ever printed. It was banned in Standard barely a month after is was released. A 3/3 flier for 2 mana and the minimal crew cost is already extremely efficient, but the loot ability pushed it over the top. It especially shines in aggressive decks that are happiest to see it come down on turn 2, but it'll be great in any deck. I’ve said a few times already that vehicles suck, but every rule has its exception.

Luka Stadium (Strixhaven Stadium)

Rating: 0/10

Mana rocks are barely playable when they can produce any color and have a nice upside. One like Strixhaven Stadium that only makes colorless mana and has no relevant upside just isn’t going to cut it. In your average Limited game, how have you not won the game normally if you’ve dealt combat damage to your opponent over 10 times?

Lands

Balamb Garden (Command Beacon)

Rating: 0/10

Well, we don’t have any commanders in Limited, so Command Beacon is strictly worse than a basic land. It could technically do something alongside Ultima, Origin of Oblivion, but that’s still not going to be worth it.

Wrap Up

Sephiroth's Intervention | Illustration by Joshua Raphael

I’m really looking forward to this set. Final Fantasy means a lot to me, as I’m sure it does to many other fans around the world. If you enjoy this set and haven’t played the games before, I highly recommend giving them a go, especially Final Fantasy X. If you’re a fan of Final Fantasy and want to explore the world of JRPGs a little more, I recommend any of the following amazing games:

Metaphor: ReFantazio
Persona 5
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Tales of Berseria
Tales of Vesperia
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero
The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

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Until next time, take care of yourselves!

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Andrew Quinn

Andrew has been playing Magic since 2009 and has been an active Magic Judge since 2012. As a judge, he has worked on over 20 GPs across Europe and North America. As a player, he enjoys every constructed format and won the UK Legacy Nationals back in 2018, but he loves nothing more than to draft the greediest draft decks you’ll ever see.