Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER depicts one of the most iconic villains in not just the Final Fantasy franchise but the entire gaming industry. As such, it makes sense that this character’s effects need to be profoundly powerful in Magic: The Gathering. Offering one of the most powerful Aristocrat cards that Commander has ever seen, players were extremely excited to add Sephiroth to many existing decks.
Fast forward to Final Fantasy release day, and Sephiroth is seeing a surprising amount of play in competitive formats. This isn’t in low-powered formats like Standard, either. Sephiroth is seeing experimentation across a bunch of different formats, like Modern and Historic.
Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER
For many decks, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is a creature that does two things: it repurposes small bodies into card draw, and it offers a slightly overpriced Blood Artist effect attached to a body that has some other perks. At first glance, these perks are a bit expensive for three mana, especially in older formats. That said, flipping Sephiroth is a lot easier in these formats than expected.
This has led to a lot of early experimentation for Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER. The above list from X user MTGZanetti, for example, tries to incorporate Sephiroth into Modern Mardu Energy. While the result behind the list isn’t impressive, it clearly outlines Sephiroth’s potential in the popular archetype.
Combined with Goblin Bombardment, Sephiroth, Fabled Soldier can drain your opponents for tons of damage. Thanks to all the tokens that Boros Energy creates, having four bodies die in a single turn with Bombardment on board is easy. Flipping Sephiroth not only grants the permanent Blood Artist emblem, but it also allows you to convert your tokens into cards in one fell swoop.
Sephiroth’s death triggers, of course, includes opponent’s creatures dying, which makes this an incredible sideboard option against Modern Basking Broodscale Combo. They win the game by continually creating and sacrificing 0/1 Eldrazi Tokens, which Sephiroth can put a stop to. The card even dodges Pyroclasm, Broodscale’s adjustment to the uptick in Energy decks.
If you manage to transform Sephiroth, it becomes very difficult for Basking Broodscale Combo to win through it’s main combo. Even if they get rid of Sephiroth himself, the emblem will remain. Considering that Broodscale Combo has a very strong matchup against Energy decks, strengthened even further by the recent Saga change, this could be a big deal.
This might mean that, at absolute worst, Sephiroth becomes a sideboard option against Basking Broodscale in Modern for Mardu Energy decks. Sephiroth could also be a strong option in the mirror depending on how those games play out.
Either way, this deck is still incredibly unoptimized, as Modern Energy experts have yet to take a crack at Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER. It will only be a matter of time before we discover whether or not Sephiroth is truly great, but it seems like a strong sideboard card at absolute worst.
You may also notice that this deck tried out Cecil, Dark Knight as a one-drop, but this idea was quickly discarded for the more common Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. Not only does Ragavan’s ramping do a lot for the deck, but Cecil’s abilities have massive anti-synergy with the Energy lifegain package.
Sephiroth and Yawgmoth
Final Fantasy and Magic’s greatest villains have teamed up to create a Historic monster. Climbing to top 100 Mythic right after Final Fantasy dropped on MTG Arena, X user Nytoks has included one copy of Sephiroth in Historic Yawgmoth, and thinks its pretty good. One copy of Sephiroth might not seem like much, but this is a Chord of Calling deck. This means that the card might be tutored for more often than you think. The deck also plays a full playset of Birthing Ritual, which can be used to float into Sephiroth.
Here, Sephiroth’s two modes we mentioned earlier are maximized. You can sacrifice irrelevant bodies to draw more cards, and Sephiroth can function as the win condition for once you assemble your Yawgmoth combo.
Because Sephiroth can also sacrifice creatures on attack, he sets up some interesting synergies with Kami of Mourning and Renegade Rallier. This can both recycle the creature targeted by Kami of Mourning and can trigger Revolt for Rallier, bringing back a body that Sephiroth sacrificed.
As far as sacrificable bodies go, this deck has loads. Since this deck wants to go wide and accrue value with Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Chord of Calling, tons of Undying creatures, like Young Wolf, mana dorks, like Birds of Paradise, and other small creatures that create multiple bodies, like Marionette Apprentice, appear here. Any of those are great targets for Sephiroth to sacrifice once they’re no longer usable.
That might not be the end for Sephiroth in Historic, either. As a result of some nerfs to Ocelot Pride, Historic Energy variant in Historic have a much larger sacrificial package, allowing Sephiroth to create even more value than normal. The card plays particularly well with Goblin Trapfinder as both a way to enable its Seek, and as a strong Seek target.
Surprising Competitive Potential
While everyone expected Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER to appear in Commander, the card didn’t seem incredibly interesting in constructed. Sephiroth’s applications may end up being niche, but any impact is more than expected.
It’s important to note, however, that this is very early into Final Fantasy’s introduction into various formats. It’s rather difficult to be truly sure if any of these cards are going to make a major impact or not in the long run.
Either way, if you happened to open a Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER in your prerelease packs, or in your MTG Arena drafts, and want to take Final Fantasy’s iconic villain for a spin, these are some competitive ways to do so.