One of the many cool aspects of the Final Fantasy MTG set is the Through the Ages bonus sheet. This collection of 64 cards showcases artwork spanning all 16 games from the Final Fantasy franchise. Some of these reskinned reprints are quite expensive, too, only making the bonus sheet more appealing.
Over the last 48 hours, a quarter of the entire bonus sheet has been revealed, with the majority of the previews coming during an MTG livestream. The majority of these cards see lots of play across a multitude of formats, so they’re worth highlighting. To kick things off, we’re going to look at some elite legends for Commander headlined by an aggressive, expensive God.
Strong Legends
Six of the 16 bonus sheet cards we’re going to share with you are legendary Creatures, some of which make for potent Commanders. Purphoros, God of the Forge, skinned as Kefka Palazzo, definitely fits the mold.
Purphoros rewards you for flooding the board with tokens, damaging each of your opponents in a jiffy. It’s sometimes in your best interest to keep Purphoros as just an Enchantment, so it dodges removal spells like Swords to Plowshares.
Fortunately, traditional tokens don’t add to your Devotion count. Purphoros has a reprint value of roughly $24.50 despite its Commander Masters reprint, according to TCGplayer market price.
In addition to being a solid standalone Commander, Vial Smasher’s ability to pile on damage makes it a solid inclusion in Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls decks, which have even popped up in cEDH from time to time. Unfortunately, Vial Smasher’s appearance in a Duskmourn Commander Precon tanked its value down to less than $2.
Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker, just like Vial Smasher the Fierce, gets some of its value out of being a Partner Commander. Ishai has the potential to grow big fast, and is worth $4.50 despite having a few reprints.
Our next round of legendary Creatures some elite three-drops. Azusa, Lost but Seeking used to be a staple of Amulet Titan decks in Modern. Now, the card is mostly relegated to EDH. Nonetheless, getting to play extra Lands in a turn is powerful for heavy ramp decks, so is worth its $9 price tag.
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is actually most known for its role in the Pioneer Humans archetype since it’s rotated out of Standard. Unfortunately, that archetype doesn’t see a ton of play, but Adeline appears in a bunch of go-side Commander decks, as well.
As far as the reprint value for Adeline goes, it’s only worth about $2.
Captain Lannery Storm isn’t too exciting, though it gets some extra appeal for being a Pirate. Admiral Beckett Brass decks can make great use of Captain Lannery Storm as a result. Still, this card is only worth 10 cents, making it one of the weakest bonus sheet cards to open.
Modern Staples
Following the collection of legendary Creatures suited for Commander, we have a handful of Constructed staples. In Modern, all three cards shown above have important roles in tier one archetypes.
From a financial standpoint, Primeval Titan is the heaviest hitter of the group. Amulet Titan remains an incredible choice in Modern to this day, and now even features a neat kill condition involving Aftermath Analyst. This card is well worth its $16 price tag, and could easily increase in price significantly if it ever gets unbanned in Commander.
The other two cards here, Counterspell and Fatal Push, are perfect pieces of interaction. Counterspell took many years to get printed into Modern and remains a staple in Dimir Murktide and Azorius control shells. Fatal Push is one of the best removal spells ever printed, simply put, seeing consistent play in Pioneer, Modern, and Legacy. Counterspell and Fatal Push hold price tags of about $1.50 and $2, respectively.
Legacy and Vintage Staples
Meanwhile, Dark Ritual and Carpet of Flowers are Legacy staples. Dark Ritual gives an incredible burst of mana to Reanimator and Doomsday decks alike.
Dark Ritual’s appearance on the Strixhaven Mystical Archives bonus sheet even brought the busted Instant to MTG Arena, where the card makes waves in Timeless. It’s unusual to see a common with a slew of reprints stay above the $2 mark, but Dark Ritual delivers.
Carpet of Flowers is narrower but has an even higher ceiling. Sometimes, Carpet of Flowers can make lots of mana every turn, making opposing copies of Daze completely useless. The powerful Enchantment did drop in price a lot following its reprint in Doctor Who, though, sitting currently at about $2.50. Carpet of Flowers is also a cEDH favorite thanks to the popularity of blue in that format.
Bolas’s Citadel, by contrast, is more of a Vintage staple. Storm decks use Bolas’s Citadel as a target for Tinker, which is banned in Legacy and Commander. With some ways to manipulate the top of your library and plenty of cheap cards to cast, you can often win the game the turn you get Bolas’s Citadel into play. Mostly thanks to Bolas’s Citadel also being a fantastic in Commander, the card is worth over $9.
Commander Filler
The final four cards are mostly Commander filler cards at this point, though a couple are quite strong in that role. Chromatic Lantern, for example, is the go-to three-mana rock for multi-color EDH decks with tough mana requirements. It’s appeared in multiple Commander Precons, and has a reprint value of a little over $2.
Farseek is another ramp element, this time for multi-color green decks. Being able to grab nonbasic Lands is a pretty big game. Nonetheless, as a common, it’s only worth about $1.
Akroma’s Will is a fun finisher for go-wide decks that can also protect your board versus board wipes. This card has appeared in a handful of Commander Precons, yet it maintains an $11 price tag.
Finally, we have Cryptic Command. Once a Modern all-star, Cryptic Command is a bit inefficient for what it does by today’s standards. It’s still valued at roughly $5.50, but that’s a pretty big drop-off from what it used to be worth.
As you can tell, overall, the Through the Ages bonus sheet has a ton of bangers. You can find these cards in collector boosters and play boosters, enhancing the pack-cracking experience for everyone.
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