In a rather untraditional move, Wizards of the Coast has suddenly released all four of their Commander precon deck contents. There’s an absurd number of new Eternal-legal cards hitting the market all at once. Each Commander deck offers an experience completely dedicated to one of the most popular main series games from the Final Fantasy franchise.
Perhaps most iconically known for the meme-worthy laugh scene (and it is mentioned in here), Final Fantasy X is being represented by the Bant Counter Blitz Commander deck. With a heavy tokens feature at its core, this deck offers tons of deep cuts into its source.
MTG Counter Blitz Commanders
Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian is the face Commander for the Final Fantasy 10 Commander deck, which should come as absolutely no surprise. Tidus clearly communicates the counter-based nature of this Commander deck. As far as Tidus’s abilities go, it’s honestly not that exciting.
Moving around counters creates some incredibly unique situations, but only moving one counter, drawing one card, and Proliferating once means that Tidus’s progress will be rather slow. That said, because the focus of this deck is counters, Tidus will be rather versatile.
Yuna, Grand Summoner is the second Commander for the Counter Blitz deck. Yuna and Tidus complement each other quite well, compensating for their weaknesses. While Tidus can create value with counters and draw cards, Yuna creates lots of counters when casting creatures, and keeps counters in play by redistributing them.
Between the two Commanders, Tidus will work better in a counter-themed deck. Yuna suffers from an inability to draw cards. While she may hit the ground running faster than Tidus, you’re more likely to run out of resources in the long game with Yuna at the helm.
MTG Counter Blitz Summons
Considering that Yuna, the FF X heroine, is known for her summoning prowess, it makes sense that a collection of summons supports the Final Fantasy Counter Blitz Commander deck. Notably, Tidus can move Lore counters around on these creatures, allowing them to stick around for longer.
Summon: Yojimbo is the most impressive of the four summons in the Counter Blitz deck. This card permanently exiles something on its first ability. This is something Tidus can repeat effortlessly, allowing you to pile on the value. The second and third abilities of this card are also no slouch, essentially creating a temporary Propaganda effect before granting you some extra treasures on its departure. Any MTG deck that wants to buy time for a massive payoff can use this card to strong effect.
Summon: Ixion and Summon: Valefor are both somewhat unimpressive. Ixion certainly synergizes with the Counter Blitz strategy and rewards Tidus for continually moving Lore Counters off it. Valefor, honestly, seems like a card you may remove from the deck. The stun counters don’t really synergize with your Commanders, and the card overall doesn’t do a ton for five mana.
Summon: Magus Sisters is going to play a lot better than it looks. Random effects aren’t too reliable, but all three of these effects are valuable, especially in a deck that cares about counters. Whether you’re creating Shield Counters, +1/+1 counters, or removing an opposing threat, Magus Sisters is unlikely to disappoint. You certainly need synergy to make this card worth it, but Magus Sisters should be right at home in Counter Blitz.
MTG Counter Blitz Legendary Creatures
A majority of the mechanically unique MTG cards appearing in the Counter Blitz are Legendary creatures depicting all kinds of characters from the story. Sadly, none of these creatures are particularly powerful, but they all have their uses. Of the three cards here, Gatta and Luzzu are the most interesting. This truly shines against damage-based removal, which, unfortunately, is not too popular in Commander. Just having a creature block a fatty and gain a ton of counters, however, can supercharge Yuna, in particular.
Auron and Lord Jyscal Guando, honestly, are two cards I would consider cutting. Auron can become a powerful threat if you give them enough time to snowball, but Lord Jyscal Guando seems really weak unless you’re creating a Clue every single turn, including your opponent’s. Unless you have additional synergies with Clues, they aren’t the best payoffs since you need to pay two mana to use them.
As flavorful as these three legends are, they share a similar issue. Lulu is probably the most universally applicable card here since it has a Proliferate ability. The Stun Counters likely means that this card is a decent addition to the recently spoiled Sensational Spider-Man since he can translate Stun Counters into card draw.
The other two cards are far too specific. Both Rikku and O’aka require counter synergies to create any value whatsoever. Rikku can create some absolutely hilarious situations if you’re trying to handle certain strategies, but this card won’t be too impressive unless you can make use of her steal ability. O’aka seems perfectly feasible as long as you can consistently draw cards with it.
Thankfully, there are some more interesting, mechanically unique Legendary creatures on offer. Tromell, Seymour’s Butler offers a Hardened Scales effect, which every counters-matters deck wants. Proliferating multiple times in a turn can easily end a game or develop a board to monstrous proportions.
Maester Seymour offers a strange combination of scaling that makes your creatures bigger, but rewards you for going wide, which is rather unusual for counters-matter cards. Monstrosity can dump a bunch of counters on Seymour, which he can then start replicating onto other creatures. This seems strong enough to see play in both counters matters and go wide decks.
Sin, in particular, might be a Commander that some try to helm. A gigantic Leviathan that essentially doubles all of your counters is the exact type of shenanigans that Commander players like to get up to.
Kimahri, in comparison, offers something really unique. There aren’t a lot of creatures that can consistently copy opposing threats. This may appear in an ‘I can do anything better than you’ deck that basically just tries to steal opposing cards.
Shelinda can create a ton of counters on both herself and on others, which isn’t revolutionary, but synergizes quite well within the deck. Wakka, however, is way more interesting. You need to attack with Wakka in order to get anything out of it, but you’ll buff your entire board and get rid of an artifact for your efforts. Artifacts are absolutely everywhere in Commander, so you should have no issues making Wakka work.
The Rest
For the most part, the noncreature mechanically unique cards in Counter Blitz are quite powerful. Protection Magic is an incredibly versatile protection spell for decks that want to Proliferate and move counters around. Any deck that’s interested in counters will want this.
Yuna’s Whistle might be the best card in the entire Counter Blitz Commander deck. This card allows for all kinds of bizarre deckbuilding shenanigans. The Whistle will keep going through your deck until you hit a creature, and put X +1/+1 counters onto a creature. With some sneaky deckbuilding, you can make Yuna’s Whistle a tutor that buffs something significantly. Just run one core creature alongside a bunch of creature token creators. This card functions as an instant speed combat trick, pushing it over the top.
The two new mechanically unique enchantments don’t look too impressive, but these could be incredibly powerful in the right settings. Summoner’s Sending is, admittedly, not too interesting in Commander. This could become a weird graveyard hate piece in Legacy, however.
Sphere Grid, on the other hand, is fantastic in counters-matter decks. Not only will it continually scale your creatures, but it also unlocks Trample, which is incredibly valuable when you’re trying to make your creatures huge. I expect Sphere Grid to be a rather popular Commander addition.
Blitzball Stadium is the only mechanically unique artifact in Counter Blitz and is another great payoff for the deck. If you load your creatures with lots of different counters, this can refill your hand. The card also scales as the game ages. You can get this out right away to start drawing cards as soon as possible, or wait and give your creatures a little buff. Admittedly, the scaling effect of this card is rather lackluster. This is incredibly situational, but it can work in the right deck.
The only mechanically unique Sorcery in Counter Blitz is Yuna’s Decision. This card does offer some really powerful abilities for four mana, but it is situational. Drawing a card and getting a land and a creature into play is an insane amount of value that ramp decks will be very interested in. The secondary mode makes sure that Yuna’s Decision is decent as a topdeck, as well. This could easily go in any big green Commander decks.
Chocobo Knights is the only nonlegendary mechanically unique creature appearing in Counter Blitz, and it is incredibly straightforward. This will turn your marginally large board into something that threatens to take out an opponent. I’m not a huge fan of effects like this since they don’t refill your resources in any way, but if you’re trying to close the game out of nowhere, this is a great way to do it.
Best Reprints
There’s a ton of interesting and flavorful reprints in Counter Blitz. A bunch of sought-after Streets of New Capenna Commander cards, in particular, have been reprinted here. Considering the Bant Brokers theme from that set was also counters-matter, this makes a lot of sense.
Damning Verdict is the big star from the Bedecked Brokers deck, capable of creating one-sided board wipes. That $20 reprint is joined by Resourceful Defense, a $9.25 card that keeps your counters in play after your permanents leave the battlefield.
Farewell joins the board wipe suite as one of the most powerful board wipes ever printed in Commander. This card is so powerful that it may be added to the Game Changers list in the future. The card currently sits at $4.50.
This is coupled with another boardwipe-esque effect. Bane of Progress, one of the most brutal +1/+1 counter-related payoffs ever printed. If one of your opponents is playing a deck focused on artifacts or enchantments, this $12 creature is an absolute blowout. Even if that’s not the case, there are so many artifacts and enchantments in Commander that you’ll generally make a big impact.
If you’re looking for a powerful counters-based win condition, Walking Ballista sees a reprint here. The $11 card was banned in Pioneer thanks to being a part of multiple problematic infinite combos. There don’t appear to be any in this Commander deck, but infinite combos have had a habit of slipping into precons lately.
Finally, Gyre Sage is a particularly powerful mana generator in Counter Blitz. This will easily create tons of mana with all the synergies within the precon – more than worth its $4 price tag. Generous Patron is yet another $5 reprint that should keep your hand stocked while giving you more counters to Proliferate and move around.
The Counter Blitz definitely overachieves from a Final Fantasy X flavor perspective and offers some interesting cards that could impact the larger Commander format. It’s a bit disappointing that the creatures in this deck aren’t powerful, but many of the instants and sorceries could see wide varieties of play.
