Previews for the Magic: The Gathering x Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set are, at long last, upon us. Yesterday’s first look stream saw an impressive 22 cards revealed, which is a lot for a set that’s not actually out for another four months. Among these fresh spoilers are some really exciting pieces, including a Cactuar capable of swinging with 10,000 power. For long-time MTG players, however, there’s little doubt that Emet-Selch, Unsundered is the most powerful among them.
As a reasonable looter on the front half and a full-on Yawgmoth’s Will on the back, this is a card with serious potential in multiple formats. It’ll certainly see testing in Standard, but I predict success for the card in both Modern and Commander as well. As we’ve seen time and again, Wizards likes to preview one powerful card from each expansion early. I think Emet-Selch is filling that role for Final Fantasy.
Emet-Selch, Unsundered In MTG Standard
- Emet-Selch, Unsundered
- Mana Value: 1UB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Elder Wizard
- Stats: 2/4
- Card Text: Vigilance.
Whenever Emet-Selch enters or attacks, draw a card, then discard a card.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are fourteen or more cards in your graveyard, you may transform Emet-Selch.- Hades, Sorceror of Eld
- Type: Legendary Creature – Avatar
- Stats: 6/6
- Card Text: Vigilance.
Echo of the Lost — During your turn, you may play cards from your graveyard. If a card or token would be put into your graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead.
Looking at Emet-Selch, Unsundered, it’s easy to see how it could be a busted MTG card. Gavin Verhey himself noted on the first look stream that “If you transform this, you are not going to lose.” This isn’t particularly surprising. Most long-time Magic: The Gathering players are familiar with how powerful Yawgmoth’s Will is. By turning your graveyard into a literal second hand it enables both combo shenanigans and value plays. Emet-Selch gives you the same effect on a permanent basis, provided you’re willing to put in the work.
Getting fourteen cards in the graveyard is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but there are ways of achieving it in Standard. Dimir Midrange decks in the format can use both Kaito, Bane of Nightmares and Oildeep Gearhulk to fill up, as well as Emet-Selch itself. Dimir Midrange is also quite a grindy deck by nature, which means it will naturally accrue removal spells and interaction in the graveyard over time. In such scenarios, Emet-Selch can come down as a kind of finisher, essentially ‘drawing’ you 14 cards once it flips over.
Dimir Midrange is definitely the ideal home for this card as Standard sits right now. It’s a great top end for the deck, and it’s also a totally fine play early to sculpt your hand and adapt to what your opponent is throwing at you. Countermagic like Spell Pierce helps you protect Emet-Selch, too, which is vital since it needs to survive at least one turn cycle to flip. Unless Tarkir: Dragonstorm totally pushes Dimir out of the format come April, I can see Emet-Selch seeing serious Standard play.
Modern Madness
Exciting as that is, this card’s potential goes far beyond Standard. Emet-Selch is right in that sweet spot when it comes to eternal playability in Magic: The Gathering. It costs three mana, which is just about acceptable cost-wise. More crucially, it’s in blue. It also offers both steady advantage and the potential for overwhelming value swings in a single card. While Legacy and Vintage may be a bit too fast for the card, I think it has a real shot in Modern.
Dimir Murktide is a top-tier deck in the format right now, and Emet-Selch fits in very nicely. Looting on entry and attack lets you set up for your other big plays such as Murktide and Oculus. With all the Fetchlands and cheap interaction in the deck, and of course Psychic Frog, it’s pretty easy to hit 14 cards in the ‘yard, too. Once you do, getting to double dip on all your removal and countermagic (on your turn) should be enough to close things out.
There’s an argument to be made that Emet-Selch, Unsundered is a bit of a nonbo with what Dimir Murktide is doing as an MTG deck. Generally, it wants to use the cards in its graveyard as a resource, after all, not stack them up to 14. That said, I think the upside on Emet-Selch is powerful enough to warrant inclusion regardless. Even if all it does is feed your graveyard for your other plays and never flips, that’s okay. The games where it does flip should be pretty much guaranteed wins, which balances out the opportunity cost of playing a three-mana looter.
A Cracking Commander
While there’s no guarantee Emet-Selch, Unsundered makes it competitively, it’s bound to make some waves in Commander. Both in the command zone and in the 99, this is a terrifying new option for Dimir decks to have access to.
As most MTG players will know, Commander games run long, and board wipes are a regular occurrence. This makes 14 cards a trivial requirement to reach, especially when you throw in self-mill like Phenax or Altar of Dementia. Once it flips over, Emet-Selch creates an insane value swing that should let you take down the pod with ease. If recasting cheap disruption was a good use case for the card in other formats, imagine how good recasting the likes of Cyclonic Rift will feel.
The best part is that Emet-Selch doesn’t even need to do anything like that to be worth a slot. As I mentioned above, the opportunity cost of running a slightly clunky looter is completely balanced out by the potential upside. Card selection is hugely important in Commander, and this gives you some starting as early as turn three.
Regular Commander aside, this card is already seeing discussion in the cutthroat cEDH community. While most agree that it’s no replacement for Yawgmoth’s Will, a highly-played card in the format, it is at least worth considering. For decks that rely on Will to win, extra redundancy like this is a big deal.
Being discussed at all for cEDH is high praise indeed, which bodes well for the card’s performance on release. It’s too early to say for sure, of course, but I’d be shocked if Emet-Selch isn’t one of the best Magic: The Gathering cards in Final Fantasy when all is said and done.