Final Fantasy’s spoiler season has finally concluded, and we have a ton of cards to sift through! Finding the best cards in the set for any given purpose can be difficult, but Commander players will have the hardest time. Not only were a ton of Commander cards present in the main set, but the Final Fantasy Commander decks had way more mechanically unique cards than usual. If you’re looking for somewhere to start, we’ve listed what we consider to be the best Final Fantasy Commander cards.
As a note, we heavily prioritize cards that have a chance of seeing play across various archetypes, not just a specific niche they were created for. Despite how strong Yuna, Grand Summoner is, for example, she primarily creates value in archetypes centered around +1/+1 counters. That’s too specific for the contents of this list. There are a few exceptions to this, but the card’s payoffs are so massive that they threaten to have a larger impact on Commander as a whole.
9 | Tataru Taru
Everyone loves drawing cards in Commander, so a creature that punishes card drawing is an attractive one, indeed. If your playgroup has a nasty habit of drawing cards when it’s not their turn, Tataru Taru can generate a lot of Treasure Tokens. Sadly, this isn’t quite as good as other draw-based hate that punishes any draw outside of a player’s one draw per turn, but Tataru Taru can easily fit into any Commander decks that offer card draw to opponents in exchange for other benefits.
Grouphug decks will love this, and depending on the metagame of your Commander and cEDH pod alike, Tataru Taru can appear anywhere since it’s just two mana. That said, the ‘once per turn’ restriction may end up being too big of a downside in more competitive games.
If you’re interested in finding Tataru Taru, they appear in the Final Fantasy XIV Commander precon, Scions & Spellcraft.
8 | Fandaniel, Telophoroi Ascian
Fandaniel, Telophoroi Ascian might be the only partial exception on our list in terms of being applicable in a variety of Commander decks. Fandaniel can provide some serious value in any black deck that uses lots of instants and sorceries, but this card truly shines when built around.
In the right deck, failing to sacrifice a creature to Fandaniel’s triggered ability can deal ludicrous amounts of damage. We haven’t seen an effect quite like this before, and suspect that this might become a popular build-around Commander.
Similar to Tataru Taru, Fandaniel appears in the Final Fantasy XIV Commander precon Scions & Spellcraft.
7 | Espers to Magicite
This card is going to create a ton of value for four mana in a lot of different situations. Espers to Magicite is good against any graveyard decks, as well as any decks that play big creatures, which, in Commander, is more decks than not.
Unlike many of the cards in the MTG Final Fantasy Commander set, Espers to Magicite can fit in all kinds of different decks. The card will have additional synergy in decks that don’t care about their grave and otherwise want to recur gigantic creatures. That said, as long as you’re in black, Espers to Magicite won’t steer you wrong.
You can find Espers to Magicite in the Final Fantasy VI Commander precon Revival Trance.
6 | Adventure Lands
Any lands that double as spells are free game in Commander, and while these aren’t quite as proficient as the Modern Horizons 3 MDFC lands, they’re still a free inclusion in a lot of different Commander decks. The Final Fantasy Adventure lands won’t be as strong as other cards on the list, but a lot of them can be thrown in any non-competitive Commander deck that shares a color with it, and the deck will be better for it.
Of all the Final Fantasy Adventure Lands, Ishguard, the Holy See might see the most play. While other Adventure lands create more value in specific strategies, this card can see play in any deck that plays a healthy amount of artifacts or enchantments, both of which are rather popular in Commander.
5 | Matoya, Archon Elder
From this point on, every single inclusion is an incredibly powerful Commander tool that is bound to have an effect on the format. These cards’ positions could easily be interchanged depending on what is done with them.
Matoya, Archon Elder is a build-around Commander, but she is very easy to break. Any deck that uses a healthy amount of Scry and Surveil effects will want this card, and there are ways to go infinite with it, drawing your entire deck. Curator of Mysteries, notably, accomplishes this, but you’ll need to have a plan to win since your deck will be empty.
Whether you’re trying to pull off an infinite with Matoya or just getting a ton of value in a Scry or Surveil deck, this card grants obscene payoffs to commonly played cards. Turning Temples into lands that draw cards is obscene.
4 | Yuna’s Whistle
In a deck built to maximize Yuna’s Whistle, the instant is easily the best card in the entire Final Fantasy set. Unfortunately, to truly maximize Yuna’s Whistle, you need some serious deckbuilding restraints. Ideally, you want to hit a massive creature that is not only central to your strategy but will also significantly buff whatever presence you have in play.
The good news is that Yuna’s Whistle should be powerful in a variety of different decks, regardless of how much you cater to it. Yuna’s Whistle will always function as a pseudo-creature tutor and a combat trick rolled into one. For three mana, that’s an insane deal.
As long as you can consistently hit a decent-sized creature and make sure that the combat trick aspect of the card gets value, it’s hard for Yuna’s Whistle to be anything worse than good.
Yuna’s Whistle, alongside our next inclusion, can be found in the Final Fantasy X Commander precon, Counter Blitz.
3 | Yuna’s Decision
Any Green Timmy player who wants to show up and play gigantic creatures has dreamt of this card. Yuna’s Decision is one of the most flexible ways to cheat your gigantic creatures into play. Most of the time, you’ll be using the first mode on this card which, basically, Polymorphs a creature you have in play into a creature in your hand. You even get to draw a card, replacing Yuna’s Decision.
When this mode isn’t doing anything, Yuna’s Decision can be used to recur some permanents from the graveyard. This is certainly a lot less flashy, but it importantly makes sure that Yuna’s Decision can always do something and won’t get stranded in your hand. This level of versatility and explosivity makes Yuna’s Decision a fantastic Commander card.
Yuna’s Decision can be found in the Final Fantasy X Commander precon, Counter Blitz.
2 | Vivi Ornitier
Vivi Ornitier is a mana generation machine and a win condition rolled into one. Because Vivi’s two abilities feed off one another with some help, it’s really easy to get into snowball situations that just end the game outright. Copy this Commander with Spark Double, and the amount of value you can generate becomes obscene.
Even if Vivi is not the focus of your Commander deck, exiling it with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron also sets up game-ending scenarios. Suddenly, all of your creatures with +1/+1 counters can convert their power into Izzet-colored mana.
You don’t need to power up Vivi with her triggered ability, either. Use pump spells or equipment to give her massive amounts of power, and turn that into mana to keep going. This card will likely be very easy to break, and debatably even has cEDH potential.
1 | Noctis, Prince of Lucis
Noctis already has myriad infinite combos brewed around him for cEDH purposes, so it makes sense to place him at the top of our list. Noctis basically functions as a Yawgmoth’s Will for artifacts with an additional penalty, but paying 3 life doesn’t really matter when you have 40 life to use.
One popular win condition completely negates Noctis’s downside. Aetherflux Reservoir gains far more life than Noctis will lose. It’s only a matter of time before you can zap all of your opponents. This Commander is even causing some fringe cards to spike in price already.
While the cards above this one still have some theory-crafting to do, players were so excited about Noctis, Prince of Lucis, that the theory-crafting is already hitting the scene.
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