The 83 Best Final Fantasy Commanders Ranked

Last updated on July 23, 2025

Emet-Selch, Unsundered | Illustration by Nestor Ossandon Leal

Universes Beyond sets always have lots of commanders to immortalize the most iconic characters from their respective properties. Final Fantasy is no exception; in fact, it has a staggering number of commanders.

And across those commanders, it offers a little of everything: It has wildly busted legends for cEDH, casual bangers, niche build arounds, and even reprints of some of the most powerful and iconic legends to ever grace the command zone.

How Many Commanders Are There in Final Fantasy?

Golbez, Crystal Collector | Illustration by Bachzim

Including reprints and new cards across all three sets—the core Final Fantasy set going into Standard (FIN), the Final Fantasy Commander precons (FIN), and the Through the Ages bonus sheet (FCA)—Final Fantasy has a wild 198 commanders. Excluding reprints, that’s 162 brand new legends added to the format.

For context, we got 26 new commanders in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. The last big UB set with both Commander products and a base set (The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth) had a mere 125 fresh commanders. If I’m not mistaken, this set has the most new commanders introduced in a Magic product to date.

While we normally rank all the commanders in a set, that doesn’t fly with so many potential legends, so we’ll dig into the best and most interesting designs. It includes new commanders and reprints from the FCA sheet to give you an idea of where these commanders fit within the broader EDH landscape. I evaluate commanders on power, of course, but I also consider the vibe: Are these commanders introducing a novel new archetype or breaking new ground within an established archetype? Even if they aren’t the strongest power-wise, could they be an interesting build-around?

As a final note, I don’t know anything about the Final Fantasy games myself, and I won’t evaluate these cards based on how well they adapt characters, so I won’t comment on the flavor at all; my focus is on mechanical identity.

#83. Freya Crescent

Freya Crescent has potential. Turn-1 accelerants are busted, especially when you have them in your opening hand. Only ramping for equipment might be too restrictive, but Freya at least carries the equipment well and sets you up for an explosive start every single game.

#82. Diamond Weapon

Commanders with innate mana reduction are always handy because cost reduction reduces command tax, so it’s easy to cast Diamond Weapon multiple times in a game. Its power is over 7, so it’s ideal for Voltron strategies—though I’m mostly interested in using lure effects to maximize the immune damage prevention ability and beat through opposing boards.

#81. Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms

I commend Wizards for fitting the entire Epic of Gilgamesh into this card’s text box!

Jokes aside, this is pretty decent. Equipment commanders without white are always dicey because they miss out on the best support cards, but Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms provides a huge mana advantage between the free equipment and the free cost to equip to itself.

#80. Y’shtola Rhul

Free end steps is an intriguing reward for putting Y'shtola Rhul in the command zone. There are very few cards that do that. At the same time, a mono-blue color identity is very restrictive. This could easily look like an overcosted Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, so I don’t know where my feelings on the card land. At the very least, it’s interesting.

#79. Balthier and Fran

Balthier and Fran offers vehicle decks a wonderfully aggressive commander. Extra combats and vehicles work well together considering some of the best vehicles have attack triggers, including Smuggler's Copter, Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, and Lumbering Worldwagon. That oozes value and pressure, which sounds like a winning combination.

#78. Cid, Freeflier Pilot

I generally want my equipment commanders to cheat on equip costs or reward me for controlling equipped commanders, but Cid, Freeflier Pilot takes the archetype another, grindier way. Cid’s an excellent equipment bearer, and recurring cards gives the deck power. The vehicle synergies also give the deck some diversity. I imagine this ends up as a support piece more than a commander, but it has legs.

#77. Bugenhagen, Wise Elder

Bugenhagen, Wise Elder is exceedingly simple, but incredibly reliable. Pretty much every Commander deck wants to ramp, and the green ones doubly so. A mana dork in the command zone gives you tons of consistency so you’ll always hit the ground running. And the card draw trigger gives your 2-mana commander some late-game relevance.

#76. Barret, Avalanche Leader

Barret, Avalanche Leader turns a deck full of equipment into a board full of rebels, which then get free Argentum Armors and stuff. This seems really powerful! Equipment are good because they stick around even if your opponents kill the creature they equip. Sticking them on tokens furthers enhances that resiliency; if you keep the equipment off high-value creatures like Barret and Kodama of the West Tree, it stresses your opponents’ removal as they choose between the dangerous token and the powerful enabler.

#75. Alisaie Leveilleur + Alphinaud Leveilleur

This partner with pairing (ranked together because you should never run them solo) sets up a strong control game plan. I like that you can play both Alisaie Leveilleur and Alphinaud Leveilleur on turn 5 so long as you cast Alisaie Leveilleur first. They mesh well with mechanics like foretell and plot that help to set up explosive double-spell turns.

#74. Estinien Varlineau

When I think of a dragon commander, I don’t normally think of Orzhov (), but here we are with Estinien Varlineau. I don’t hate this; an aggressive commander that draws cards seems useful, especially with a few cheap dragons like Changeling Outcast and Clarion Conqueror to maximize the cards drawn off the second ability.

#73. Cait Sith, Fortune Teller

Cait Sith, Fortune Teller meshes well with red’s cast-from-exile payoffs, like Flaming Tyrannosaurus and Nalfeshnee. The power bump gives the deck some aggression and ensures you get value from the trigger if you can’t play the card.

#72. Dion, Bahamut’s Dominant / Bahamut, Warden of Light

Dion, Bahamut's Dominant makes a fine token commander; it works with token doublers and flicker effects, which white has in abundance. Once you’ve built a chivalrous board, you can transform Dion into Bahamut, Warden of Light to finish things off.

#71. Omega, Heartless Evolution

Omega, Heartless Evolution is a beast at lower power levels where you can flicker your commander or use Panharmonicon and similar effects to lock your opponents out of the game with stun counters. The higher you go, the less likely your opponents are to win via attacking, but I imagine there’s a sweet spot around Bracket 2/3 where this really shines.

#70. Krile Baldesion

EDH typically doesn’t care for small creatures, but Krile Baldesion gives us the tools to make them work. White has lots of cheap creatures that sacrifice themselves for value like Selfless Spirit and Bounty Agent that pair well with this commander for a ton of value.

#69. Locke, Treasure Hunter

Locke, Treasure Hunter’s evasion makes it a considerable threat in the command zone, and I love a cheap theft card. Locke doesn’t even need to connect since it’s an attack trigger, so you can mug your opponents then lead Locke to safety with Maze of Ith or something.

Locke’s greatest weakness as a commander is that Coram, the Undertaker has basically the same ability but with casual Commander’s best color attached, while Locke gets points for Treasure synergies…. I look forward to seeing how that shakes out.

#68. Serah Farron / Crystallized Serah

Serah Farron offers a great cost reduction ability, but the real power rests on the shoulders of Crystallized Serah. Turning your commander into an artifact provides an interesting sort of protection; you no longer need to worry about an opponent who sweeps it aside with Wrath of God or whatever everybody else does to handle your legendary board, so it’s easier to rebuild.

#67. Banon, the Returners’ Leader

Red often rummages or loots for card selection, and Banon, the Returners' Leader offers an interesting payoff for that. You don’t get a discount on the creatures you recast so this isn’t a reanimation commander, but it exploits cheap threats like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker for a grindy midrange strategy.

#66. Cloud, Planet’s Champion

Of the three Cloud cards, Cloud, Planet's Champion is… if not the weakest, certainly the least interesting. This is a simple Voltron equipment commander that makes equipping it easy, and it rewards you when you stack all your equipment on Cloud with some keywords. This archetype has so much support that this reads as disappointingly bland.

#65. Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant / Ifrit, Warden of Inferno

While Ifrit, Warden of Inferno has neat text, I’m most interested in Clive, Ifrit's Dominant’s enters ability. That has lots of card draw potential, especially if you pair it with cards like Rionya, Fire Dancer and Mirage Phalanx that clone it several times over. You can do a lot when you constantly wheel away your hand, especially if you want to set up Underworld Breach.

#64. Exdeath, Void Warlock / Neo Exdeath, Dimension’s End

Exdeath, Void Warlock has a transform condition that’s pretty easy to meet, which is good because the card’s power rests in Neo Exdeath, Dimension's End—a card that has my vote for “Magic card that looks most like it came from Yu-Gi-Oh!”

It takes very little to make Neo Exdeath massive, which pairs nicely with cards like Rishkar's Expertise and Essence Harvest to make use of the huge body, and it does it all for a low, low mana value. It’s an interesting alternative to Yargle and Multani because of the lower mana value and higher ceiling, though it has a notably lower floor.

#63. Shadow, Mysterious Assassin

Most sacrifice decks want to sacrifice small, recursive creatures or easily created tokens, going for quantity. But there are larger cards that want you to sacrifice them, like Prowling Geistcatcher and Corpse Augur, and those seem a perfect fit for Shadow, Mysterious Assassin—one of the few sacrifice commanders that benefit when your lambs are large.

Toss in a few creatures like Writhing Necromass and Huskburster Swarm that you can cast for substantially less than their mana value, and you have the start to an interesting deck.

#62. The Emperor of Palamecia / The Lord Master of Hell

A mana dork in the command zone comes with pros and cons. On the one hand, you have access to your mana accelerant on curve every single game. But mana dorks fall off the longer the game goes.

The Emperor of Palamecia makes up for that by transforming into The Lord Master of Hell once you no longer need the mana dork. I especially like how much control you have over when this transforms because it only triggers off spells that cost 4 or more, or you can put counters on the Emperor so you just need to trigger it once or twice to flip.

#61. Gau, Feral Youth

I’m specifically interested in Gau, Feral Youth for Duel Commander. A cheap, aggressive threat that turns Relic of Progenitus and similarly efficient graveyard hate into burn engines sounds intriguing to build around and potentially quite powerful.

#60. Quina, Qu Gourmet

At first glance, Quina, Qu Gourmet looks like a bad Chatterfang, Squirrel General. And… well, that’s accurate, but this commander still has a place, specifically because it lacks Chatterfang’s prestige. Chatterfang has the stigma that comes with being a well-known combo engine, so this could be useful for players who like the idea of the token doubler but don’t want the heat that comes from the Squirrel General.

#59. Matoya, Archon Elder

Card draw is good; in fact, it’s one of the best things you can do in Commander, so Matoya, Archon Elder has lots of potential. Simple cantrips like Opt and Preordain become powerful card draw spells, and since Matoya doesn’t have a once per turn restriction, you can draw cards throughout your turn with effects like Search for Azcanta, Retreat to Coralhelm, and Palantír of Orthanc.

#58. Lightning, Army of One

Lightning, Army of One hits quite hard, and it has interesting political potential as the damage doubling isn’t restricted to your damage sources. There are plenty of ways to slip Lightning through enemy lines, like Rogue's Passage and Whispersilk Cloak, so you can reliably paint a target on the back of the table’s biggest threat.

#57. Jenova, Ancient Calamity

It’s always nice to see a +1/+1 counter commander break away from Selesnya (), which already warms me up to Jenova, Ancient Calamity. Even better, it asks you to sacrifice the creatures you put counters on, which opens you up to lots of nonsense with The Ozolith. This commander’s payoffs are quite basic, but they’re just different enough to make it engaging.

#56. Hildibrand Manderville

The riff on Mosswood Dreadknight makes Hildibrand Manderville quite interesting, as you theoretically never need to pay the command tax. A cheap token lord that builds out the board and provides two bodies for Orzhov’s many sacrifice effects has interesting potential.

#55. Urianger Augurelt

Urianger Augurelt has the potential to be a substantial draw engine. Blue has plenty of cards like Aphetto Alchemist and Fatestitcher to untap this and draw multiple cards, and you can repurpose many of those cards into combo pieces that win the game.

#54. Ignis Scientia

Ignis Scientia is pretty basic so far as Simic commanders () go, but that’s what stands out to me. Simic has many incredibly powerful commanders like Koma, Cosmos Serpent and Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait that draw the table’s aggression early to shut them down. But what if we hid those in the 99, and just showed our opponents a casual chef that ramped until we could find one of the big beasties? Green has enough 1-mana accelerants to reliably play this turn 2 then get some meaty stuff down turn 3 onward.

#53. Gogo, Master of Mimicry

I look at Gogo, Master of Mimicry, and I see broken things happening. Baseline? You can copy simple yet powerful abilities, like planeswalker abilities and anything coming off historically powerful cards like Aetherflux Reservoir and Portal to Phyrexia. But it also lends itself to broken infinite combos—I bet you can get started with Tezzeret the Seeker and a way to make Gogo an artifact….

#52. Kefka, Dancing Mad

Kefka, Dancing Mad provides Rakdos () players a large battlecruiser that casts free spells, and it’s quite appealing. Since Kefka exiles the spells before casting them, we can exploit Rakdos’s many cast-from-exile synergies like Prosper, Tome-Bound and Passionate Archaeologist to extend the value further.

#51. Aerith, Last Ancient

Lifegain decks are always on the hunt for payoffs that make gaining life worthwhile since doing so doesn’t impact the board. Aerith, Last Ancient does this quite well with a solid reanimation effect. Even if you don’t hit the reanimation threshold, a free Raise Dead attached to an over-statted creature looks pretty decent.

#50. Cid, Timeless Artificer

Cid, Timeless Artificer is an interesting build-around that I imagine comes in two flavors: You either go hard on looting, cycling, and self-mill to throw multiple copies of Cid in the graveyard, or you do some Mirror Box shenanigans.

Once you have your setup, what do you buff? I imagine you reach for blue’s many Thopter generators since small flying bodies are the perfect recipients for a large buff.

#49. Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness

Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness hits everything I like in a card: It accrues a ton of value, it’s aggressive, it rewards you for playing multicolor spells… this won’t usurp Jodah, the Unifier or anything as a legends-matter commander, but it looks like a solid entry into Orzhov’s ranks.

#48. Edgar, King of Figaro

It’s a shame that Edgar, King of Figaro isn’t an Izzet commander () since it loses out on the best coin flip effects for Two-Headed Coin, but that doesn’t matter much as most of its power rests in the enters ability.

It draws so many cards, in the color with the best flicker engines like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Displacer Kitten. It’s a simple card draw machine that enables strong artifact strategies.

#47. Firion, Wild Rose Warrior

FIN has some awesome equipment commanders, and Firion, Wild Rose Warrior is one of my favorite due to its unique ability. Red’s no stranger to creating temporary creature tokens à la Twinflame, but doing it with equipment is pretty cool—not to mention powerful. The cost reduction gives you free equips on lots of strong equipment like the Mirrodin Swords, Umezawa's Jitte, and so on. The haste ability even lets you leverage living weapons like Batterskull!

#46. Garnet, Princess of Alexandria

Saga commanders want to interact with lore counters in some way, and I like how Garnet, Princess of Alexandria does it. You get lots of control over which sagas go away and which abilities you repeat.

For example, you could exile tons of permanents with Elspeth Conquers Death, ramp endlessly with Summon: Fenrir, and so on. Garnet’s +1/+1 counters gives you a clock to go with the fiddly bits!

#45. Black Waltz No. 3

Look, it’s Guttersnipe, but legendary!

Black Waltz No. 3 has potential as a spellslinger/burn commander, though it faces stiff competition from Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls and Tor Wauki the Younger.

It’s quite handy that this wizard triggers off any noncreature spell rather than just instants or sorceries, as it lets you burn your opponents while it sets up defenses with cards like Meekstone and Crawlspace.

#44. Tellah, Great Sage

A useful way to evaluate cards is to consider what similar effects cost, and whether you get a “discount” on the ability. In Tellah, Great Sage’s case, I’m very interested in the draw-two ability.

Drawing two cards at sorcery speed is worth 3 mana (Divination), but drawing two at instant speed typically costs 4 (Glimmer of Genius). In other words, we get 3-4 mana worth of value each time we cast a noncreature spell large enough to draw two cards (not to mention Hero tokens).

#43. Lyse Hext

Lyse Hext looks like a fantastic Voltron commander. Prowess and cost reduction together make “storming off” much easier, and the double strike trigger goes a long way towards finishing off your opponents. A lack of red or green makes me slightly suspicious as it cuts off easy access to the wombo-combo of double strike and trample, but tricks and equipment that grant flying probably make up for that.

#42. Sephiroth, Fallen Hero

Sephiroth, Fallen Hero brings hellfire to the Commander table. It’s quite easy to make modified creatures with mechanics like job select and living weapon that create tokens to attach equipment to, not to mention white’s plethora of counter production. This imposing commander adds tons of power to the board on top of being incredibly resilient thanks to the reanimation ability.

#41. Kuja, Genome Sorcerer / Trance Kuja, Fate Defied

Strangely enough, I rather think Kuja, Genome Sorcerer is the better half of this double-faced card; it seems more effective to amass an army of Wizard tokens than to double their damage output with Trance Kuja, Fate Defied. However you build it, this promises to be an interesting commander that combines spellslinging with sacrifice potential given that your commander pumps out potential sacrifice fodder.

#40. Edgar, Master Machinist

Wizards clearly went out of their way to make Edgar, Master Machinist fair, between the once-per-turn clause and the fact that the artifact it casts enters tapped, but I refuse to believe that we can’t crack this like an egg… we should probably start with Krark-Clan Ironworks.

#39. Zidane, Tantalus Thief

Zidane, Tantalus Thief looks awesome. Hear me out: We have a legendary Zealous Conscripts in the color of flickering, paired with the color of sacrifice outlets like Goblin Bombardment.

I know the last line of text wants us to give the opposing creatures back, but I’m interested in using this as an engine to fuel the rare Boros () aristocrats strategy.

#38. Celes, Rune Knight

Celes, Rune Knight gives graveyard decks lots of power. Wheeling away your hand when it enters shows you lots of cards and stocks the graveyard (and perhaps triggering some discard synergies), then the second ability sets up your board to become incredibly threatening. This commander works best in an Alesha, Who Smiles at Death-style deck that wants to recur many small creatures rather than one or two large ones.

#37. Yuna, Grand Summoner

Yuna, Grand Summoner is a powerful card; I just wish it were an interesting one. It joins the ranks of Chulane, Teller of Tales and Helga, Skittish Seer as a generic ramp engine that provides auxiliary value.

#36. Emet-Selch of the Third Seat

Emet-Selch of the Third Seat is a simple card advantage engine set up to get lots of value on your opponents’ turns. It benefits well from group slug cards like Rug of Smothering and Underworld Dreams to accrue triggers on opposing turns. The big goal here is efficiency. This commander plays much better if you use the mana reduction to make 2-3 mana interaction spells cost a single mana rather than getting a discount on bigger cards like Breach the Multiverse.

#35. Squall, SeeD Mercenary

Squall, SeeD Mercenary does some really cool stuff. You want to attack with Squall alone, then use its damage trigger to recur two permanents (or the same permanent twice, if you can sacrifice it between triggers).

That does some wild stuff—for example, it gets Marsh Flats back twice for actual land ramp in Orzhov, it lets you feed cards like Dusk Legion Zealot into a Warren Soultrader multiple times, or it wrings the most value possible from cards like Boromir, Warden of the Tower and Dauthi Voidwalker.

#34. Hope Estheim

I haven’t stopped thinking of Hope Estheim since I saw it spoiled. It’s fascinating that Wizards took two mechanics newer players tend to overvalue—mill and lifegain—and packed them into one card. It has lots of potential, and it could be a very interesting control commander. Be aware that this isn’t enough of a wincon on its own; a trap a lot of players fall into is to try to use this as the only win condition in a lifegain or mill deck, and it just isn’t fast enough.

#33. Kuja, Mage Manufacturer (Inalla, Archmage Ritualist)

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist utilizes the busted eminence mechanic, so you know it’s at least a little powerful. Final Fantasy has a wizard subtheme weaved through its cards, so Inalla got some new toys to go along with the combos it already exploits.

#32. The Emperor, Hell Tyrant (Yawgmoth, Thran Physician)

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician gave one of Magic’s most iconic villains his first card, and it’s a beast. The combination of sacrifice outlet and card draw makes it quite strong, and it only gets better once you start to exploit its ability to control the board.

#31. Kefka, Court Mage / Kefka, Ruler of Ruin

Flickering Kefka, Court Mage over and over seems like a great way to deprive your opponents of resources; once you get bored of that or they’re hellbent, you can go for Kefka, Ruler of Ruin. This commander drips with card advantage, which is one of the best things your commander can offer.

#30. Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER

Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER hits every note I want from an equipment commander: It cheats on equip costs and rewards you when you control equipped creatures, specifically when you attack with them. You generally get a card thanks to haste, and it hits pretty hard. Rewarding you for going wide and tall gives you myriad options over how to equip your creatures.

#29. Orphan, Cocoon fal’Cie (Muldrotha, the Gravetide)

One of Sultai’s most popular commanders, Muldrotha, the Gravetide is incredibly well designed. It has a powerful effect that can take over a game, but it requires so much time and resources to do so that it feels imminently fair. I normally don’t care much for generic good-stuff commanders in three or more colors, but this one feels great.

#28. Professor Hojo

I truly don’t understand why the mad scientist with a powerful card draw ability isn’t blue, but whatever.

Professor Hojo sets you up for powerful plays with equipment, but you can turn it into a reliable card draw engine with cards like Elvish Herder and Rhonas the Indomitable to draw a card for each turn. You aren’t breaking the game, but it looks incredibly reliable for such a cheap commander. Cost reduction and card advantage on a 2-drop is quite powerful.

#27. Terra, Herald of Hope

I’ve seen lots of chatter comparing Terra, Herald of Hope to Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, attempting to categorize one as strictly better than the other and… that’s a lost cause. They’re simply different.

Since Terra doesn’t bring the reanimated creature back tapped and attacking, it’s a fundamentally less aggressive commander, but the lower mana cost to reanimate the creature gives you more flexibility on the turns you use the ability. Terra will be a fine, grindy commander for midrange decks, and I look forward to seeing how it develops.

#26. Noctis, Lucis Caelum (Kenrith, the Returned King)

Kenrith, the Returned King is the Swiss army knife commander. It can do absolutely anything, so it’s an ideal commander for a deck with a strong concept, but no real support in the command zone. That also pushes it towards good stuff soup, but many 5-color commanders suffer from that.

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

When optimized to a cEDH level, K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth can win as early as turn 1. Even without that level of nonsense, it’s hard to make a commander that so thoroughly cheats on mana costs fair. It’s the most popular and most powerful mono-black commander for a reason.

#24. Tifa, Martial Artist

Tifa, Martial Artist gives aggressive Naya decks () all the combats they could need to win the game. Cards like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon easily rack up melee triggers in addition to exploiting the additional combat. We could always use more aggressive commanders, and I look forward to seeing what this one does.

#23. Sephiroth, the Savior (Atraxa, Grand Unifier)

Atraxa, Grand Unifier decks tend to be flicker soup exploiting the obscenely powerful enters ability on their commander. You’ll use green cards to ramp it out, then cards like Displacer Kitten and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines to get the most from its ability.

#22. Vayne Carudas Solidor (Fynn, the Fangbearer)

Players claim that Fynn, the Fangbearer isn’t fair. They are wrong.

Fynn is incredibly powerful, and it lends itself well to aggressive decks. But it occupies a “fun police” role, where it’s exceptionally powerful against decks that durdle around during the opening turns and neglect interaction. If your pod’s heading too far down the battlecruiser route, you should consider picking this up to remind them that Magic can be a very fast game. It’s an excellent budget commander since most of the cards are Draft chaff deathtouch creatures.

#21. Choco, Seeker of Paradise

I imagine Choco, Seeker of Paradise will eke out Kastral, the Windcrested as EDH’s best bird commander, if only because adding green to the mix makes any casual EDH deck better.

The attack trigger’s also just incredible. You draw a card, get some lands, and even put cards in the graveyard to Regrowth later! Ramp and card draw in one package? What could go wrong?

#20. Cloud, Midgar Mercenary

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary takes a unique spin on an equipment commander; nothing else doubles up equipment triggers without some additional qualifier (it has an enters ability for Panharmonicon, a saboteur ability for Felix Five-Boots, etc.). Flickering this to dig into a toolbox of utility equipment provides a powerful sources of card advantage while the ability doubling provides impact—this is exceptionally powerful for a mere 2 mana.

#19. Sin, Spira’s Punishment

Sin, Spira's Punishment could be fine top-end for a self-mill deck that utilizes mechanics like delve or cards like Relic of Progenitus to sculpt the graveyard and give them plenty of control over what you get back. Putting in the effort to clone or flicker Sin could provide an overwhelming force of value. While there are interesting build paths, this commander is rather slow.

#18. Terra, Magical Adept / Esper Terra

Because Esper Terra has all five colors of mana on the final chapter, Terra, Magical Adept counts as a 5-color commander, and it was clearly designed to be Summon.dek.

There’s some spice, however. Firstly, if you ever make a nonlegendary copy of Esper Terra, you can win on the spot—the copy can copy itself, which copies itself, for infinite hasty Terras. It’s also the first 5-color enchantment commander that doesn’t silo you into playing just shrines or sagas since you can copy any enchantment. With that in mind, I imagine we could see players whip up some pretty interesting brews around Terra.

#17. Terra Branford (Urza, Lord High Artificer)

Artifacts are Magic’s strongest card type, so it should be no surprise that an artifact commander would be one of blue’s best. Urza, Lord High Artificer does it all: It generates obscene amounts of mana, gives you an outlet for infinite mana, and even combos with cards like Winter Orb and Static Orb to lock your opponents out of the game. It’s a formidable creature.

#16. Warrior of Light (Jodah, the Unifier)

Jodah, the Unifier isn’t my favorite commander because it’s overwhelmingly powerful. It casts tons of free spells and generates an obscene anthem to pummel your opponents into the ground, and it does a great job exploiting power-crept legends. This is good stuff to its most detrimental degree, though it’s undeniably powerful.

#15. Cloud Strife (Najeela, the Blade-Blossom)

I’ve never seen a Najeela, the Blade-Blossom player that isn’t on infinite combos exploiting the incredibly powerful activated ability that gives this commander its WUBRG identity. This hyper-aggressive commander plays well at the highest powerful levels; some players skimp on creature removal to deal with combos, so this cuts right through them.

#14. Lightning, Lone Commando (Isshin, Two Heavens as One)

Isshin, Two Heavens as One is one of the format’s strongest aggressive commanders, though it never verges into broken territory like Winota. Isshin decks typically combine token generators like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar with burn effects like Hellrider and Purphoros, God of the Forge to blitz the table to 0 before they can react.

#13. Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed

I’m sure all the hype around Y'shtola, Night's Blessed has to do with the card’s power, and not the art, right?

Either way, this looks like one of the best control commanders we’ve seen in a while. There’s card draw and pressure, but more importantly, Y’shtola works as a powerful value engine once you stack it with auras like Curiosity and Sigil of Sleep. You need plenty of protection for this high-value threat, but it’s going to make a big impact on Commander.

#12. Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian

Tidus, Yuna's Guardian provides Bant () counters decks with another commander. It verges towards the generic, but you can’t deny the power of a Coastal Piracy variant that proliferates. It looks quite interesting with ability counters since you can proliferate them then spread them around; I imagine cards with hexproof and indestructible counters are invaluable for this strategy.

#11. Barnabas Tharmr (Kraum, Ludevic’s Opus)

One half of the dreaded Blue Farm partner pairing (the other being Tymna the Weaver), Kraum, Ludevic's Opus provides decks that partner with it two valuable resources: access to the color blue, and a draw engine that exploits Commander’s multiplayer status. Most players aim to double-spell on their turns at least, so you often get an extra card or two a turn cycle.

#10. Cecil Harvey (Tymna the Weaver)

Partners are incredible because it’s card advantage; you start with a virtual nine cards in hand while everyone else has eight. Tymna the Weaver takes that even further with additional card draw, up to three extra cards per turn. Combine that with a color identity that includes one of the best cEDH colors (black, for tutors), and it’s no wonder this card’s a staple at the highest power levels. I can’t wait to see what it does in Brawl!

#9. Tidus, Zanarkand Fayth (Thrasios, Triton Hero)

The best partners give you access to a powerful effect plus blue or black. At least, that’s how they run at cEDH tables; there’s a reason you rarely hear about Tana, the Bloodsower.

Thrasios, Triton Hero often chills in the command zone until you have infinite mana to feed into its activated ability so you can draw your deck and win with Thassa's Oracle, but you can also exploit the activated ability with cards like Training Grounds and Seedborn Muse.

#8. Noctis, Prince of Lucis

No amount of costs are enough to make Noctis, Prince of Lucis fair; this card has tons of combo potential, and it’s one of the most promising FIN commanders for cEDH; it has incredible combo potential, and black and blue are the format’s best colors. I don’t know about it in casual commander, but this ought to be another of the strongest commanders.

#7. Emet-Selch, Unsundered / Hades, Sorcerer of Eld

Emet-Selch, Unsundered has the potential to be the best commander in the set, at least with sheer power. Hades, Sorcerer of Eld is just Yawgmoth's Will on a stick. Magic has more than enough self-mill to facilitate a swift flip, and I highly doubt you need much more than that to win with the proper setup.

#6. Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER / Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is a perfect card. See, even I know that this character’s important to the story despite never playing the game, so new players are certain to migrate to it.

When they do, they find a card that perfectly encapsulates what black wants to do and provides good, honest value, so it’s a great entry point. Add in the fact that the card is actually a good legendary Blood Artist that provides card draw and a strong finisher in Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel, and I have to say that this is a 10/10 design and a great commander.

#5. The Wandering Minstrel

There are two kinds of The Wandering Minstrel decks: those that read the entire textbox and build around towns, and good ones that stop reading after the first line.

I’m not surprised that they printed a town-based commander to go with the new land type, but the archetype lacks the depth to be meaningful. But making all your lands come into play untapped, allowing you to emulate the play patterns of Amulet Titan in Commander? That has some sauce, especially considering that this is the cheapest version of Amulet of Vigor you can put in the command zone, and you get access to all colors… heck, I’m wondering if this is a good Maze's End commander.

#4. Bartz Klauser (Winota, Joiner of Forces)

Magic has a very small number of commanders I don’t think you can build fairly without resorting to playing Draft chaff, and Winota, Joiner of Forces is near the top of the list. It would be powerful enough just to cheat free creatures into play, but putting them in tapped and attacking makes this a lethal commander that overwhelms the table with just a few combat steps.

#3. Seymour Guado (Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy)

The best things you can do in Commander are drawing cards and generating mana. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy does the latter better than pretty much any commander in the format. Doubling your mana at such a lower cost lets this deck seize an early lead and drown the table beneath massive monsters before they have a chance to react.

#2. Yuffie Kisaragi (Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow)

Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow often serves as an entry point for players looking to get into cEDH, but it’s quite powerful at all power levels since commander ninjutsu cheats the commander tax. It provides an aggressive yet thematic commander to helm your ninja deck that even comes with card advantage!

Of all the Through the Ages commanders about to join MTG Arena, I expect Yuriko to be one of the most impactful for Brawl given how many stock Yuriko cards are already on the client.

#1. Vivi Ornitier

The only thing higher than Vivi Ornitier’s potential are the crazy preorder prices. Only time will tell, but I struggle to believe this is anything less than one of the strongest Izzet commanders ever printed; not only does it generate ridiculous amounts of mana, but it exploits powerful draw engines like Curiosity and Tandem Lookout. If you establish any of the myriad loops that cast spells over and over, you win.

Commanding Conclusion

Noctis, Prince of Lucis | Illustration by Jeremy Chong

Final Fantasy has some interesting commanders woven through the sheer bulk, with powerful build-arounds and combo engines. There’s a little something for every power level and strategy, not to mention some new archetypes opened wide.

With so many commanders, I’m sure I missed some sweet tech. What are your picks for sleeper commanders in the set? What commanders are you planning to brew with? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!