Every day, more and more Final Fantasy spoilers are coming out of the woodwork. Many of these cards are quite flashy, which is to be expected for a set with so many iconic legends. If you’re a fan of over-the-top designs, then you’re in for a treat. Over the past couple of days, three new Final Fantasy mythics were previewed, and one in particular is a real doozy.
Summon: Knights of Round
Every turn cycle for four turns, Summon: Knights of Round gets you three 2/2 Knights. On the fifth turn (if you haven’t won the game already), you get to buff all of your other creatures and make them Indestructible. What’s nice is that this Saga has Indestructible itself, so you aren’t vulnerable to traditional creature or enchantment removal.
The obvious obstacle here is the mana cost. Getting to eight mana, even in Commander, isn’t always the easiest. Subsequently, this card will shine brightest in decks that can cheat it into play.
In EDH, there are a handful of Commanders that come to mind that could make good use of this card. First, Terra, Herald of Hope from the Revival Trance Precon is capable of resurrecting any creature with power three or less for two mana when it connects in combat. All you need is a way to discard Summon: Knights of Round, and Terra can resurrect it just fine.
Second, this enormous enchantment pairs perfectly with Anikthea, Hand of Erebos. Once again, as long as you have a way to get Summon: Knights of Round into the graveyard, Anikthea will make a token copy of it free of charge when it enters or attacks.
In Standard, both Abuelo’s Awakening and Zombify work as reanimation spells in this context. It’s unclear if Azorius Omniscience combo or Rakdos Reanimator will look to make room for the Saga, but the effect it provides is strong enough to warrant consideration.
Getting nine power and toughness worth of stats spread across four bodies right away is often enough to stabilize the board. Eventually, your board presence will become so overwhelming you’ll be able to turn the corner.
Buster Sword
Despite undoubtedly being iconic, Buster Sword is a bit weak, all things considered. The +3/+2 bonus is nice, and the triggered ability you get can be quite strong. The issue is that Buster Sword itself doesn’t provide evasion in any way.
Ideally, you want to be suiting up big creatures that can easily connect in combat themselves. Alternatively, you can pair Buster Sword with other equipment in a Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER deck and get a huge attack out of the deal.
Buster Sword works particularly well alongside creatures with Double Strike. Just imagine attacking with Cloud, Ex-Soldier suited up with Embercleave and Buster Sword. Even with that, however, we were hoping for a bit more. While the flavor is nice, there are simply better Equipment to search for with Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, even with Cloud’s trigger-doubling ability.
Nibelheim Aflame
Nibelheim Aflame is another example of a card with an extremely high ceiling that takes some work to maximize. The upside is that if you have the biggest creature on the board, you essentially get to create your own Duneblast. Nibelheim Aflame also works well with creatures with Deathtouch, since the Creature itself is dealing the damage to every other creature.
The issue is that you need to have a creature in play for Nibelheim Aflame to do anything. Chances are, this will mean Nibelheim Aflame is too flimsy for Standard. The good news, however, is that Nibelheim Aflame has some neat Commander applications. For example, Nibelheim Aflame seems like a potent addition to Zurgo, Helmsmasher decks.
Right off the bat, Zurgo is huge and tough to kill. From there, Zurgo grows whenever another creature that was dealt damage by Zurgo dies. With a big enough board in a multiplayer format, Zurgo has the potential to become absolutely enormous following Nibelheim Aflame.
Nibelheim Aflame even has the upside of providing card advantage later in the game if you cast it from your graveyard. Many decks can’t use this card super well, but those that can get a pretty impactful effect. It’s clear that this set features a lot of powerful but inefficient designs, and these three cards certainly fit the mold.
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