When it comes to Final Fantasy, few elements are as iconic as the Summon mechanics. Since the third entry in the series, players have been able to call upon powerful creatures for intense one-time attacks. Naturally, when it came time to put the series to cardboard, the designers at Wizards had to make sure the Summons were involved somehow. We saw one example back in February, but now that previews have officially begun we have a lot more Final Fantasy Summon spoilers to chew on.
The idea of Saga Creatures is totally new for Magic, so there’s real potential for some of these to be busted design mistakes. We all remember Smuggler’s Copter, after all. On the other hand, new design space can sometimes lead to overly-cautious cards, too slow to see real play. However their power level works out, the Summons we’re looking at today are some of the most iconic characters in the Final Fantasy series. If you’re a die-hard fan, every single one of these is worthy of attention on lore alone.
Summon: Bahamut
- Mana Value: 9
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Type: Enchantment Creature – Saga Dragon
- Stats: 9/9
- Card Text: (As this Saga enters and at the beginning of your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I and II – Destroy up to one target nonland permanent.
III – Draw two cards.
IV – Mega Flare – This creature deals damage equal to the total mana value of other permanents you control to each opponent.
Flying.
Of all the Final Fantasy Summon spoilers we saw in today’s debut panel, Bahamut is undoubtedly the most exciting. As a character in the series he actually predates summoning as a mechanic, appearing in the original game as a quest-giver. He’s most well-known for his immensely powerful summon appearances, however, and that’s what Wizards channels with this card.
Right out of the gate, nine is a huge amount of mana to spend on anything. Even with no color restrictions, that’s tricky for a lot of decks to reach. In exchange, however, you do get an awful lot of value. A 9/9 Flier that casts two Maelstrom Pulses, draws two cards, and probably burns your opponent to death is no joke. If you can keep Bahamut around to use all four chapters, you’re probably winning the game.
Unfortunately, he has no built-in protection whatsoever. In fact, thanks to also being an enchantment, he’s easier to kill than most big creatures nowadays. This makes running the card out normally a risky proposition. You can counterbalance that risk by reanimating Bahamut instead, and that’s where I expect the card to shine the brightest.
Being an enchantment is an advantage here, since it allows for shenanigans with Ghen, Arcanum Weaver, Academy Rector, etc. Just using a standard reanimation spell, however, will also work well. I expect this card to mainly show up in Commander, but it could also push a Standard Reaniamtor deck over the edge.
Terra, Magical Adept/Esper Terra
- Terra, Magical Adept
- Mana Value: 1RG
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Wizard Warrior
- Stats: 4/2
- Card Text: When Terra enters, mill five cards. Put up to one enchantment card milled this way into your hand.
Trance – 4RG, Tap: Exile Terra, then return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner’s control. Activate only as a sorcery.- Esper Terra
- Type: Legendary Enchantment Creature – Saga Wizard
- Stats: 6/6
- Card Text: I, II, and III – Create a token that’s a copy of target nonlegendary enchantment you control. It gains Haste. If it’s a Saga, put up to three lore counters on it. Sacrifice it at the beginning of your next end step.
IV – Add WW, UU, BB, RR, and GG. Exile Esper Terra, then return it to the battlefield (front face up).
Flying.
If you thought Saga Creatures were complicated in and of themselves, wait until you see the flip Creature/Saga Creature cards Final Fantasy has to offer. Final Fantasy VI’s Terra is the first we’ll be looking at, and it really gets the Strixhaven bells ringing with how much text it brings to the table.
On the front side, you’re getting a decent body, some self-mill, and some enchantment recursion. Milling five cards at once is actually pretty good, and above the usual going rate of four that we see on Cache Grab, Overlord of the Balemurk, etc. For that reason alone the card could find a home in graveyard decks in Standard and beyond.
Flipping Terra over is another story. Investing six mana at sorcery speed is just asking to get blown out, especially when creature Terra dies to every removal spell from Shock upwards. Even if you do successfully transform her, Terra’s Saga side is incredibly specific. You need nonlegendary enchantments that do something on entry, or enchantment creatures, to get any kind of benefit.
This effect is clearly intended to play alongside other Summon Creatures, and there is some potential there. Since Bahamut isn’t legendary for some reason, you can copy it and run through all four chapters in a single turn for an easy win. This one’s a maybe, depending on the other Summons we see in the set.
Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant/Ifrit, Warden Of Inferno
- Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant
- Mana Value: 4RR
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Noble Warrior
- Stats: 5/5
- Card Text: When Clive enters, you may discard your hand, then draw cards equal to your devotion to red.
4RR, Tap: Exile Clive, then return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner’s control. Activate only as a sorcery.- Ifrit, Warden of Inferno
- Type: Legendary Enchantment Creature – Saga Demon
- Stats: 9/9
- Card Text: I – Lunge – Ifrit fights up to one other target creature.
II and III – Brimstone – Add RRRR. If Ifrit has three or more lore counters on it, exile it, then return it to the battlefield (front face up).
Next in our journey through today’s Final Fantasy Summon spoilers we have another double-sided essay of a card. Clive, while not as wordy as Terra, is still incredibly complex. For starters, it marks a surprise return of the devotion mechanic, which we haven’t seen in a Standard set since 2020’s Theros Beyond Death.
Clive lets you drop your hand and draw a card for every red pip you have in play. Since he has double red in his own cost, you’re getting at least two cards here. In a dedicated red list, this can easily result in a full hand refill, which is nothing to sneeze at. Six mana is fairly steep, mind you.
Flipping Clive requires the same six mana sorcery-speed investment as Terra, which isn’t great but is at least less risky due to Clive’s higher toughness. Once you flip him into Ifrit, you get a 9/9 that immediately fights another creature. That’s much more useful in your average game than copying enchantments, but it also has a less exciting ceiling. Chapters two and three grant a big mana boost, which can also be nice, but since you’re already on six plus mana by the time this comes around it’s probably going to waste.
Overall Clive seems a bit too fair to see play, even in a slower format like Commander. Standard barely plays anything over four mana these days, and Clive isn’t a great reanimation target either.
Summon: Esper Valigarmanda
- Mana Value: 3R
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Enchantment Creature – Saga Drake
- Stats: 3/3
- Card Text: I – Exile an instant or sorcery card from each graveyard.
II, III and IV – Add R for each lore counter on this Saga. You may cast an instant or sorcery card exiled with this Saga, and mana of any type can be spent to cast that spell.
Flying, Haste.
Taking a quick detour into the Final Fantasy Commander decks now, Summon: Valigarmanda is a card many players will wish was Standard legal. It’s the most aggressive Summon we’ve seen so far, with a genuinely powerful effect attached to a serviceable body.
Valigarmanda exiles a spell from each ‘yard on entry, then lets you cast one per chapter afterwards. It also gives you mana towards them, in increasing quantity each time. You can only cast three spells in the chapters the card gives you, counter shenanigans notwithstanding, so you don’t need to hit something in every graveyard to get full value here. That said, it will perform best in spellslinger decks or those that mill themselves or others.
All of that is great, but what really makes Valigarmanda in my eyes is the body. A 3/3 with Flying and Haste is solid, even in Commander. You can get nine damage in before it sacrifices itself on chapter four, or you can keep it back to fend off pesky fliers. The Summons we’ve seen so far have been underwhelming for their costs, so it’s great to see one that can hold its own on the battlefield.
Summon Support
On top of the Summon spoilers themselves, we also saw a couple of nice Summon support cards during today’s Final Fantasy panel. Yuna, Hope of Spira is one of them, and it may be the card that ultimately pulls the Summon archetype together.
For five mana, you get a repeatable reanimation effect for enchantments and a fantastic protective anthem effect for Yuna and your Summons. We mentioned reanimating Bahamut earlier, and this is probably the best way to do that in Standard. Not getting the Ward on your opponent’s turn is disappointing, but bringing back your best Summon and getting a 3/5 in the bargain for five is very solid.
It’s also worth noting that this isn’t restricted to enchantment creatures. You can get regular enchantments too, such as Omniscience and Dracogenesis. This could open up some spicy new combo lines in Standard, beyond the existing Omniscience decks we have now.
Summoner’s Grimoire is a bit less exciting, but it’s still a nice way to cheat out big Summons. With a Haste granter like Enduring Courage you can swing with your newly-made Summoner right away, and put any creature you want from your hand into play. This reminds me of Kona, Rescue Beastie in terms of the risk/reward involved, but a little bit weaker overall. Kona never saw much play in Standard, so I don’t expect this will either.