Other than a small batch of Starter Deck cards way back in April, Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy set has been surprisingly leak-free. Now, however, as we come into the final stretch, a couple of cards are breaking schedule. Earlier today, we saw Final Fantasy IV’s legendary Golbez leaked. On top of that, the MTG version of the Masamune, one of the most iconic Final Fantasy weapons, also showed up prematurely.
In a total flavor win, this card is custom-made to synergize with Sephiroth. It’s also a really interesting piece of Equipment in general, offering Aristocrats decks a number of bonuses in one. Alongside the last of the set’s Adventure lands, also revealed today, it may form the foundation of a powerful new black deck in Standard. In any case, Commander players will have a lot of fun trying both of these cards out.
The MTG Final Fantasy Masamune Leak
- Mana Value: 3
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Legendary Artifact – Equipment
- Card Text: As long as equipped creature is attacking, it has First Strike and must be blocked if able.
Equipped creature has “If a creature dying causes a triggered ability of this creature or an emblem you own to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.”
Equip 2.
It’s hard to think of a more iconic weapon duo for MTG Final Fantasy to include than the Buster Sword Masamune. Though it’s most famous as Sephiroth’s sword of choice in VII, the Masamune actually appears in nearly every game in the series. It’s almost always the best sword in each game, too.
In Magic: The Gathering it’s not quite as all-powerful, but it does still have a lot going for it. Forcing your opponent to block the equipped creature is a pretty rare effect, and can enable some interesting synergies. Players have already caught on to Anzrag, the Quake Mole as a great option here, enabling a string of combat steps in the right boardstate. First Strike is also a nice bonus, though not hugely exciting.
The second half of Masamune is even more interesting. While equipped to a creature, it essentially serves as a localized version of Drivnod, Carnage Dominus for that creature, doubling any of its effects that trigger when a creature dies. This means it’s ideal on creatures like Blood Artist et al, and also on bigger threats like Harvester of Souls and Butcher of Malakir.
Of course, Masamune plays best when equipped to Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER. By doubling his drain trigger, it ensures only two creatures need to die to flip him over. Assuming you sacrifice one and your opponent blocks with another, that’s an instant flip right there. Masamune will also double the damage from Sephiroth’s emblem, which is excellent. This is actually the only emblem in Magic right now that Masamune has any effect on, which adds another layer of hilarious specificity to an already very specific card.
Midgar, City Of Mako
- Midgar, City of Mako
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Land – Town
- Card Text: This land enters tapped.
Tap: Add B.- Reactor Raid
- Mana Value: 2B
- Type: Sorcery – Adventure
- Card Text: You may sacrifice an artifact or creature. If you do, draw two cards. (Then exile this card. You may play the land later from exile.)
Masamune isn’t the only new MTG Final Fantasy card from today that cares about creatures dying. We also saw Midgar, the last of the Adventure lands, and a card that was actually supposed to be revealed today.
So far, the Adventure lands have been extremely underwhelming. Lindblum has some potential, but the others are all way overcosted on their Adventure sides. While Midgar is still a little pricey, the effect it offers is useful enough to make up for it. For three mana, you can cast Reactor Raid to trade in a creature or artifact for two cards. We’ve seen this effect plenty of times before, on the likes of Deadly Dispute and Costly Plunder.
The fact that Reactor Raid costs one extra mana isn’t great, and being locked to sorcery speed is even worse. One of the best applications of sacrifice draw cards like this is being able to use them in response to removal, after all. That said, as an extra option on a land, it’s pretty excellent. The Adventure sides of these lands will most often be used late in the game, when you’ve exhausted your other options. Drawing two more cards, even if you have to cash in a token to do it, is one of the best things you can do in that scenario.
At three mana, I could see Midgar appearing in Standard lists as a mid-to-late game option. In Commander it’ll be an instant staple in Aristocrats for sure, and probably a lot of other black decks on top of that. While similar to MDFCs, the fact that you can use both sides of the Adventure lands is a big advantage in slower games.
Back In Black
With The Masamune and Midgar, the possibilities for a Mono-Black Aristocrats deck in MTG Final Fantasy Standard is starting to feel very real. We’ve seen variants on such decks periodically over the last few months, including an interesting Orzhov take in Aetherdrift. Cutting white is a bit of a gamble, but there are enough tools now to make it an option.
Obviously Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER will be the centerpiece of such a deck. It’s essentially a full Aristocrats deck in one, being a sacrifice outlet and a payoff in itself. To support him, we’ll need more payoffs and fodder creatures.
There are some fantastic fodder pieces in Mono-Black right now. Forsaken Miner on one and Bloodghast on two is a hell of a curve, leading you right into Sephiroth on three. Or perhaps a Reactor Raid, if you’ve lost a couple of cards to Hopeless Nightmare. These are your best bets for creatures to sacrifice, since they can very easily return to play. You can even loop Forsaken Miner with Sephiroth and a sacrifice outlet like Gas Guzzler or Vampiric Rites.
Guzzler is another great pick, serving as a powerful draw engine once you get Max Speed online. That’s not too difficult to accomplish in Mono-Black, with both Sephiroth and Vengeful Bloodwitch offering accessible drain effects. These creatures are the best Masamune targets in the deck by far. As for Midgar, it’s an easy slam-dunk four-of in the deck, since it’s on-theme and not legendary.
Whether such a deck will work out in Standard or not is impossible to say right now. The fact that it’s getting so much support, however, makes me hopeful.
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