The official release of Final Fantasy MTG is now only a month away. Unlike some other Universes Beyond sets of MTG’s past, Final Fantasy will indeed be Standard legal. As such, it’s only fair that players can participate in another round of Store Championships following the set’s release.
While the events themselves are still a way away, the Store Championship promos have already been revealed in a recent livestream. These reskinned cards each showcase something cool from the Final Fantasy universe. The winner’s promo this time around may not be quite on the level of Urza’s Saga, but it still holds decent value.
Participation Promo: Preordain
For anyone who plays in a Final Fantasy MTG Store Championship, you will receive a neat Preordain promo for your troubles.
As is typical with most participation promos in prior sets, Preordain isn’t the most valuable card out there. However, time around, at least we’re getting a card that sees ample Constructed play.
Since being unbanned in Modern, Preordain has become a staple of Dimir Frog and Izzet Prowess. In Pauper, the powerful cantrip is commonly a four-of in High Tide combo decklists.
Preordain may get outshined a little by Brainstorm and Ponder in Legacy thanks to the power of Fetchlands. Still, that doesn’t mean Preordain doesn’t have its place in Constructed, and it’s a welcome participation promo here.
From a reprint value perspective, Preordain is worth roughly 40 cents in its cheapest, non-foil form according to TCGplayer market price. The beautiful artwork on this version combined with the Final Fantasy aesthetics could easily make the promo go for a little bit more, though.
Top 8 Promo: Death’s Shadow
Next up, we have Death’s Shadow. Any player that makes top eight of their Store Championship will get a copy of this beautiful card. Death’s Shadow is portrayed as Diabolos, a recurring monster in the Final Fantasy series.
Unfortunately, even though the illustration is gorgeous, the card choice is rather questionable. Death’s Shadow is mostly an outdated Constructed card that doesn’t really have a home anymore.
Years ago, Grixis Death’s Shadow was a top tier Modern archetype. The gameplan of using Fetchlands, Shocklands, and Street Wraith to lower your own life total and make Death’s Shadow a deadly threat used to be very strong.
Since then, better black threats like Psychic Frog have been printed into Modern, and there’s little reason to go down the Death’s Shadow route. This contributed to the price of the card dropping over time.
Further, Death’s Shadow even saw a Mystery Booster 2 reprint, which only hurt its price tag even more. The card barely cracks $1. Compared to the Preacher of the Schism top eight promo in Aetherdrift, which is a Standard staple, Death’s Shadow falls short.
Winner’s Promo: City of Brass
Finally, we have the winner’s promo. If you manage to emerge victorious at your Store Championship, you’ll walk away with a Bhujerba-themed City of Brass. City of Brass is an interesting design that helps multi-color decks play their cards on curve.
This Land is not legal in Pioneer, however, and is largely mirrored by Mana Confluence. The life loss is a major detriment, so most decks choose not to utilize this effect if they can avoid it.
Nonetheless, City of Brass does make an impact in Premodern Quirion Dryad shells that desperately need the color fixing. City of Brass also shows up plenty in Commander.
Despite its mediocre levels of play and getting reprinted in Mystery Booster 2, City of Brass still maintains a $15+ price tag. Value-wise, this puts it far above both Goddric, Cloaked Reveler and Virtue of Persistence, the two most recent Store Championship winner’s promos.
Plus, it’s important to keep in mind that the winner’s promos are in lower supply. There’s a reason why the Urza’s Saga promo ballooned to over $300. City of Brass almost certainly won’t reach that threshold, though it should be worth a decent chunk of change regardless.
Mixed Feelings
At the end of the day, these promos have garnered mixed reactions within the player base. Some Final Fantasy enthusiasts like the design of the promos, especially Diabolos as Death’s Shadow. The Preordain participation promo is generally well-received, both for the illustration as well as being a common card in the competitive scene that players want a playset of.
The downside that others have brought up, though, lies with the fact that these cards aren’t Standard legal. One player stated that for a Standard tournament designed to get people hyped to play the format at the local level, the promos should either be prevalent Standard cards or valuable assets like Urza’s Saga.
City of Brass isn’t Standard legal. It does hold some value, but it certainly doesn’t match Urza’s Saga or even Void Winnower (Duskmourn’s Store Championship winner’s promo) on price. Players also voiced disappointment with the fact that Death’s Shadow is getting promo treatment again, following its recent appearance as an RCQ promo.
Players mostly agree that these choices are still a huge step up from the disappointing Tarkir: Dragonstorm Store Championship promos, yet there’s still plenty of room for improvement. An article with more promo information is set to release tomorrow, so make sure to check in for any new information.