MTG Final Fantasy may have released a few months ago, but it appears that more new cards are on the way. As part of the Final Fantasy Holiday release on December 5th, four new scene boxes are on their way.
Just like the scene boxes for the Lord of the Rings holiday release, there are four scenes total to look forward to. Each contain six new, mechanically unique cards as well as art cards that together make up a cool picture. So far, three of the four scene boxes have been revealed in their entirety.
FF1 Scene
Our first scene box focuses on Final Fantasy 1. As was the case for the Lord of the Rings scene boxes, these new cards will not be Standard legal. However, they will be playable in Eternal formats and Commander, and multiple of these cards look poised to make a splash in EDH.
Of these six designs, The Destined White Mage immediately catches our eyes. This isn’t the only card to reward you for assembling a full party. The difference is that this card still has great potential even when you don’t meet the criteria.
It’s the perfect addition to a life gain EDH deck. Unlike Ajani’s Pridemate and other similar designs, The Destined White Mage lets you distribute +1/+1 counters to any of your creatures whenever you gain life. Add on the ability to grant Lifelink to any of your creatures, and you’ve got a perfect combo enabler for Walking Ballista!
Just like with Heliod, Sun-Crowned, the goal is to give Walking Ballista Lifelink. Then, when you ping the opponent, as long as Ballista has enough counters to survive, you’ll gain a life, triggering The Destined White Mage to put another +1/+1 counter on Ballista. You’ll get to deal infinite damage to your opponents as a result.
Funnily enough, The Destined Black Mage also pairs nicely with Ballista. In this case, giving Deathtouch to Ballista allows you to mow down opposing threats with ease. This legend isn’t that strong outside of some cool synergies, though.
The Destined Thief and The Destined Warrior both reward you heavily for having a full party. Importantly., you need to build around them, since without a full party, they don’t pull their weight.
Fortunately, the reward of giving your whole team +3/+0 or drawing three cards when you connect in combat is huge. Both cards should be solid inclusions in a Tazri, Beacon of Unity EDH deck.
Our last two cards are Garland, Royal Kidnapper and Chaos Shrine’s Black Crystal. Garland is a funky card. In a multiplayer environment, getting to steal an opposing Commander is sweet. Gifting an opponent the monarchy is annoying, but in a deck with card draw punishers like Nekusar, the Mindrazer, you can work around it. Finally, Chaos Shrine’s Black Crystal is a decent effect for sacrifice shells. It’s not anything special unless you’re consistently getting value each turn, so it is narrow.
FF8 Scene
Our next scene is centered around Final Fantasy 8. Much like the last scene, none of these cards look strong enough to see play in Legacy or Vintage. As for Commander, Edea, Possessed Sorceress looks like the most powerful option of the bunch.
Edea is annoying to kill with targeted removal, and in most scenarios, you’ll be able to find a good creature to steal and send into combat. If you have any sacrifice outlet in play, such as Phyrexian Altar, you can then generate card advantage by sacrificing opposing creatures. Notably, this effect isn’t capped at triggering only once each turn. So, cards like Insurrection become absurd card advantage engines when used alongside Edea and a free sacrifice outlet.
Duelist’s Flame has high upside but isn’t the easiest to set up. It requires creatures to be both attacking and blocking to maximize. If you attack and the opponent doesn’t block, Duelist’s Flame ends up being a dud for the turn.
Duelist’s Flame is best used alongside huge threats that demand a chump block. That way, you’ll Trample over the small blocker and get to look at a bunch of cards before choosing another big threat to cheat into play.
As for Fated Clash, by contrast, you don’t need to enable Flash for it to be good in some spots. If you have a Commander with a brutal attack trigger, giving your threat Indestructible along with a weak creature on your opponent’s side, then blowing up everything else can be a huge swing in your favor. For decks that want access to board wipes, this should be an appealing choice.
The other three legends don’t look amazing, all things considered. Seifer, Balamb Rival is cool for decks centered around the Goad mechanic. The payoff just isn’t super high for building around it.
The same can be said for Squall, Gunblade Duelist. You really need ways to buff Squall and have other creatures to attack with that match whatever number you choose to get the most out of it. Setting this up unimpeded isn’t always easy.
Lastly, Rinoa, Angel Wing is a cool card that synergizes with fliers. The fact that the final ability only saves your attacking creatures unfortunately caps its potential.
FF15 Scene
Our last six cards belong to the Final Fantasy 15 scene box. This collection, in particular, features a multitude of awesome EDH support cards. Campsite Cuisine is an easy addition to nearly any Food-themed EDH deck. You could also consider adding this card to your Jodah, the Unifier deck given how many legends you have to trigger it. That way, you’ll be able to set up a pseudo-Overrun in no time.
Fishing Gear looks like an awesome piece of equipment that rewards you for playing creatures that can’t be blocked or have double strike. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to spike something big from your opponent and get a huge advantage.
Speaking of unblockable creatures, Fishing Gear is the perfect card to use in conjunction with Noctis, Heir Apparent. Noctis is a fun legend to craft your deck around. Obviously, using Noctis’s final ability, you can set things up so that Noctis enters during combat and lets you attach an equipment for free. Throw in cards like Colossus Hammer that are cheap on the front end and have massive equip costs that you can bypass, and you’re in business.
Interestingly, Noctis also works well with Ninjutsu cards, since those can also enter tapped and attacking during combat. There are lots of different angles to take with Noctis at the helm.
Chocobo Camp isn’t the flashiest design, yet as a green land that enters untapped if you control a legend, the opportunity cost to playing it is low. In a dedicated Bird deck, the +1/+1 counters will add up over time.
Warrior’s Resolve acts as a decent card advantage mechanism for go-wide decks or decks with a +1/+1 counter theme. It’s not amazing by any means, but it’s a fine addition. Similarly, Flash Photography is a reasonable copy effect. It’s just nothing to write home about.
One More on the Way
The last scene box, showcasing Final Fantasy 9 cards, has notably not been revealed yet. According to Wizards of the Coast, these cards will be shown off by Square Enix. We don’t have a set date for these previews, unfortunately, so we’ll just have to keep an eye out for them.
As a whole, these scene boxes are exciting for EDH play specifically. There isn’t any efficient powerhouse that jumps off the page for other formats (like Legolas’s Quick Reflexes did in LOTR). Still, if you enjoy Final Fantasy, make sure to mark your calendars for the Holiday release to obtain your new toys as soon as possible.
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