Without a doubt, one of the most interesting focal points of Final Fantasy MTG are the Summons. Each Summon is represented as a Saga Creatures, which is a really cool way to go about designing these cards.
Because of the emphasis on Summons, this set naturally brings with it a lot of upgrades for Saga-themed Commander decks. One two-drop legend in particular seems like an awesome EDH build-around with all the new goodies available.
Garnet, Princess of Alexandria
Garnet, Princess of Alexandria is a simple card but has a rather powerful ability in a dedicated Saga deck. Each time you attack, you get to remove lore counters from any number of Sagas you control to boost Garnet’s stats. Attacking with a big threat with Lifelink is nice, but what makes this legend so appealing is mainly being able to keep your Sagas around long-term.
Obviously, some Sagas provide the biggest reward with the final chapter, which causes the Saga to get sacrificed anyway. This isn’t always the case, though. There are a multitude of Sagas whose middle chapters generate lots of value, and getting to repeat the same chapter turn after turn can pull you far ahead.
Tale of Tinuviel is a perfect example. When Tale enters, you’ll ideally make Garnet Indestructible. Next turn, you get to reanimate a creature from your graveyard. Now that Garnet is Indestructible, you’re free to attack with no fear of losing Garnet in combat.
This process rewards you in two ways. First, you get to keep resurrecting creatures from your graveyard to play. This includes Summons that previously got sacrificed or answered via opposing removal spells. Second, by keeping Tale of Tinuviel in play, Garnet maintains its Indestructibility.
Other Sagas that pair perfectly with Garnet include The First Iroan Games and Battle at the Helvault. In the case of The First Iroan Games, after putting three +1/+1 counters on Garnet and making Garnet a beefy attacker, you can remove a lore counter from it to ensure Garnet grows bigger and bigger every turn.
Or, you can wait until chapter III when you draw two cards, then start removing lore counters from it to keep the card advantage flowing. Garnet gives you a lot of flexibility, and it’s hard to go wrong either way.
Meanwhile, Battle at the Helvault comes down and temporarily exiles a nonland permanent from each of your opponents. By consistently removing lore counters from Battle at the Helvault, more and more permanents will continue to get exiled until someone manages to blow up your Saga.
New Additions
Once we factor in some of the other new additions from Final Fantasy, Garnet becomes even more intriguing. One Summon that synergizes well with Garnet, Summon: Yojimbo, comes down and gives you some nice interaction.
From there, Summon: Yojimbo does a pretty good Ghostly Prison impression. With Garnet out, removing a lore counter from Summon: Yojimbo each turn will make it very difficult for go-wide decks to meaningfully pressure your life total.
Another recently previewed Summon in the form of Summon: Titan is a cool inclusion for a different reason. Repeating chapter II isn’t that impressive, but in this instance, chapter III is extremely threatening with Garnet. Before you know it, Garnet will have amassed enough counters to threaten lethal via Commander damage in one hit!
Beyond just filling your deck with a high density of Sagas, you can also utilize strong Saga support cards. Something as simple as Clash of the Eikons gives you a ton of flexibility. At minimum, Clash of the Eikons lets Garnet fight down an opposing Creature and gain you some life. On top of that, you get the luxury of manipulating lore counters on your Sagas, which can be very strong depending on the situation.
In fact, Clash of the Eikons happens to work very well in conjunction with Summon: Titan. One of the dangers with Summon: Titan is that if it gets removed before you get to chapter II, you don’t get much value out of it. Assuming you can play Summon: Titan and immediately follow up with Clash, you can get your ramp value right away, all while accelerating towards chapter III to make Garnet a huge threat.
Other Saga support cards like Ian Chesterton and Satsuki, the Living Lore are welcome inclusions, too. The more ways to push your advantage, the merrier.
Evasion, Buffs, and Counter Synergies
The last thing you need to truly take full advantage of all that Garnet has to offer is ways to make Garnet as threatening as possible as an attacker. Garnet does a great job accruing +1/+1 counters over time. The issue is that you need to reliably attack with Garnet each turn to get your triggers, and Garnet starts as a measly 2/2.
As such, you will want some cards that provide evasion or buff Garnet’s stats. For protection, something as simple as Swiftfoot Boots does the trick. For power boosts, Helm of the Gods comes to mind as an efficient way to get more damage through.
If you want to go even bigger, Equipment like Excalibur, Sword of Eden can be extremely scary for your opponents to face down. All of your Sagas reduce Excalibur’s cost. With Excalibur equipped, it’ll be extremely tough for your opponents to block Garnet profitably, and you’ll gain a ton of life as a bonus.
You can even throw in some +1/+1 counter synergies, since Garnet is bound to have plenty of counters on it over time. Kodama of the West Tree, for instance, helps give Garnet Trample and lets you tutor up Lands when Garnet connects in combat. Top things off with some card draw effects such as Rishkar’s Expertise that take advantage of Garnet’s stats, and you’re in great shape!
Garnet definitely takes some work to maximize, but the reward is there. Hopefully, more Sagas and support cards get spoiled in the coming days to buff this Commander option even more.
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