Barbara Who? Final Fantasy Saga Commander Spikes Obscure MTG Rare by 1500%

Last updated on June 9, 2025

Barbara Wright – art by Irina Nordsol

The Final Fantasy prerelease events are in the books, with the newest Magic set dropping tomorrow on MTG Arena and this Friday on tabletop worldwide. And as it's been the norm these last few days, there's another obscure Magic card from an older set that's moving up in price thanks to its synergy with the shiny Final toys.

In today's case, the regular Doctor Who printing of Barbara Wright is currently at $5.00 on US markets, according to MTGStocks. That's nearly triple the price from roughly $1.75 at the start of last week, and more than 1500% since the EDH precons from Final Fantasy x MTG were fully revealed four weeks ago.

Source: MTGStocks

Why Is Barbara Wright Spiking?

Esper Terra (Final Fantasy) – art by Yoshitaka Amano

Barbara Wright is close to unplayable in the command zone, either by her lonesome or partnering with one of the Doctors. But she's often a fine addition in the 99 of popular saga commanders Tom Bombadil, Narci, Fable Slinger, and Eivor, Wolf-Kissed.

Yet the real reason for Barbara Wright‘s spike is Final Fantasy‘s five-color commander Terra, Magical Adept.

The reason Barbara Wright hasn't seen that much play until now is that her Read Ahead ability is a bit of a double-edged sword. When you read ahead, you don't trigger the skipped chapters – that's to say, if you play Summon: Bahamut with Barbara in play, and you choose to jump straight to Chapter IV, you don't get to trigger Chapters I, II, and III.

For extra clarity: Read Ahead is different to how things work if you put several lore counters on a saga all at once by other means. For example, if you play Summon: Bahamut with a counter doubler like Doubling Season in play, you'll place two lore counters on Bahamut as it enters and in this case you will trigger both Chapter I and Chapter II. But if you Read Ahead, the skipped chapters don't trigger.

And one of the nice things about Final Fantasy saga creatures is that, since they are creatures, you can attack with them. But reading ahead means they'll stay around less turns (or even be sacrificed right after they enter the battlefield if you skip to the very last chapter), which takes away much of their punch.

In other words, Barbara's Read Ahead ability is only useful when you have a saga with some very strong last ability that you want to get to ASAP.

And speaking of strong abilities…

… if you Read Ahead to Esper Terra‘s last chapter, you get and flip her back into Terra, Magical Adept. And if you happen to have any way to give Terra haste, you can tap her and pay , to transform her again into Terra, Magical Adept.

In short: An infinite mana combo . And as much self-mill as you need. And a lot of enchantment in your hand if you happen to build your deck around it. Which, I mean, of course you are if Terra, Magical Adept‘s your commander of choice!

A Rising Saga Lifts All Verses

Tom Bombadil – art by Dmitry Burmak

Not unsurprisingly, Final Fantasy is pushing up a lot of saga-matters cards. As noted, Tom Bombadil and Narci, Fable Singer are the two most-popular saga commanders… at least until Terra dethrones them, which at this rate looks likely to happen before Edge of Eternities is out.

And both Tom and Narci are seen a lot in the 99 of new Terra brews, which in turn has spiked Tom Bombadil more than 100% up since the Final Fantasy Commander precons were revealed…

Source: MTGStocks

… while the extended art version of Narci, Fable Singer, which savvy Magic players saw coming weeks ago, shot up by a crazy 500%!

Source: MTGStocks

What Will Happen With Barbara Wright's Price?

Eivor, Wolf-Kissed – art by Jessie Lam

Barbara Wright‘s premium versions spiked as soon as the Final Fantasy commander decks were fully revealed. The regular version has climbed in the last few days, which suggests interest in the card is real.

But, with our usual caveat that this is not investment advice (doing your own research is priceless!), Barbara Wright‘s spike seems tied to exactly one new commander, and specifically for one infinite-mana combo. And unlike recent cases like Vivi pushing Quicksilver Elemental to the moon, where the spiking card was a couple of decades old, Barbara Wright comes from a fairly recent MTG set so supply is bound to be a lot higher.

Keep that in mind as we find out how this chapter of Barbara's saga ends!