Last updated on September 25, 2025
Vivi Ornitier – Illustrated Toshiyuki Itahana
Final Fantasy keeps breaking Magic records. Vivi Ornitier, who by now is clearly the most impactful card from the Universes Beyond MTG set, has claimed the #1 spot as the most popular Izzet commander of the last two years.
According to EDHREC, Vivi Ornitier is now the most-played commander, after overtaking Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph and even the Izzet guild’s parun himself, Niv-Mizzet, Parun.
Source: EDHREC
That makes Vivi Ornitier the #39 most popular commander in all of Magic when you look at the last two years, adding yet another title to Vivi's impressive list of accomplishments.
Full Spectrum Wizard
Vivi Ornitier – Illustration by Toni Infante
Vivi's far from the first Final Fantasy commander to grab the #1 spot in its color identity: While Vivi was pinging down Ghyrson Starn, Y'shtola, Night's Blessed quietly stole the Esper crown from Hashaton, Scarab's Fist, leaving Aetherdrift‘s zombie wizard in the dust and herself becoming the #22 most popular commander overall.
And if you've been paying attention to the MTG card market, you're probably aware of the many, many cards from much older sets that Vivi and Y'shtola took out from the bulk bins of history and turned into red-hot best-sellers.
But what makes Vivi Ornitier stand out is how good he is – not just how popular.
For starters, Vivi's a great team player, often playing in the 99 and letting Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph take the lead in the command zone. But when he does take command, Vivi Ornitier is so strong that he's also the most popular Izzet commander in cEDH, to the point that he has broken into the Top #10 most popular cEDH commanders overall in the last three months according to EDHTop16
Source: EDHTop16
He's also so broken in Standard that Vivi Cauldron was the most-played and highest-winrate deck in Orlando's Magic Spotlights, players are clamoring for a ban, top-tier players consider the current Standard format to be in a really bad spot…
… and even Wizards of the Coast themselves are keeping a close eye on him, with a ban in November being considered.
“Vivi Ornitier is warping the Standard format and likely needs to go,” noted WotC's Carmen Klomparens in the last Banned and Restricted Announcement. “We believe that we will likely take action in November.”
And, as it turns out, WotC's announcement that Vivi will likely be banned in Standard may have helped push the Izzet wizard into the #1 spot among Izzet commanders, by making him more affordable.
Vivi's (Slight) Price Drop
One way you can be sure that Vivi Ornitier is a powerhouse is how flat his price has been since FIN launched.
Like pretty much every card in every Magic set, his regular version had a huge drop in price the first week (this always happens: pre-release prices are just crazy high, and get slashed at least in half as soon as players start cracking packs). Yet while most cards kept sliding down after that, Vivi floated around $40-$45 for weeks.
But as soon as WotC marked him as a likely victim of the ban hammer in November, his price dipped to below $30, where it has remained since then.
Source: TCGplayer
It's clear that Vivi Ornitier needed little help to become the #1 Izzet commander (the popularity trends in EDH were already super clear). But a 25% discount probably helps convince Commander players who were on the fence to pull the trigger and buy a copy, making him even more popular.
Wrap Up
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed – Illustration by Magali Villeneuve
Vivi Ornitier pinged down the old guard to become the most popular Izzet commander, while Y'shtola, Night's Blessed did the same as Esper commander, both of them getting into the Commander Top #40.
We'll see what Avatar: The Last Airbender brings in November. But judging from Spider-Man‘s lukewarm reception, it doesn't seem that any new card this year will contest Vivi's top spot among Izzet commanders, nor Final Fantasy's title of Most Impactful MTG Set this year.
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