One of Final Fantasy MTG’s major themes is Birds. More specifically, the Chocobo. There are a multitude of Chocobo cards that work together nicely in Limited, and thanks to the power of legends like Choco, Seeker of Paradise, Bird typal in Commander has become increasingly popular.
One thing we did not expect, though, was for Bird typal to make a splash in a high-powered format like Legacy. Yet, today, one player managed to go undefeated in a Magic Online Legacy League with a deck whose creature package features 26 Birds! This deck isn’t the most competitive by any stretch, but it looks like an absolute blast to play and showcases just how pushed some of these new Final Fantasy cards are.
Building Around Birds
At its core, this archetype in Legacy relies on a few key synergies to help apply pressure and generate a resource advantage. In the one-mana slot, Sazh’s Chocobo is a surprisingly scary card to face down if it hits the board early. In conjunction with Fetchlands, Sazh’s Chocobo will grow out of control in short order.
Your best and most aggressive starts involve multiple copies of this card. So, to further maximize your chances of starting the game with two or more, you’ll find a playset of Mockingbird in the mix. Of course, if your opponent leads on something powerful like Ocelot Pride themselves, you’re welcome to copy that instead.
Your last one-drop is an elite mana accelerant in Birds of Paradise. Birds of Paradise lets you play your potent three-drops ahead of schedule, which can really come in handy in your draws that don’t feature Sazh’s Chocobo.
In order to get the most out of sticking to the Birds theme, there are a few key payoffs you get access to. First and foremost, using a full playset of Cavern of Souls means you won’t have to worry about your key Birds getting hit by Daze or Force of Will.
As far as creature payoffs are concerned, Traveling Chocobo is amazing in this deck. Getting to play extra Lands and Birds from the top of your deck is great. If you hit a clump of Lands, cantrips like Ponder and Brainstorm can reset your top cards on command.
Doubling up on all Landfall and Bird enters-the-battlefield triggers makes Sazh’s Chocobo an even scarier threat than it already was. Your other Bird payoff, Bartz and Boko, gets even better with Travling Chocobo in play, since you can decimate your opponent’s board. Your creatures all work well together, and we haven’t even gotten to the combo portion of the deck yet.
Nadu Package
That’s right. Everyone’s favorite broken Bird Wizard makes an appearance in Legacy Bird typal. The card is very strong even just as a way to generate value whenever any of your Birds get hit by removal spells, so its inclusion is certainly justified.
Plus, if you’re able to find both Nadu and Shuko, things can get out of control quickly. All lands you put into play with Nadu’s trigger help you cast the Birds that you reveal and put into your hand. While you don’t have any endgame combo piece like Thassa’s Oracle, playing out Sazh’s Chocobo and buffing it continuously as more lands enter will often be enough to close things in your favor.
Brainstorm and Ponder give you a good chance of finding Nadu. At the same time, Glint-Nest Crane digs for Shuko. You are certainly at risk of whiffing off Glint-Nest Crane. Nonetheless, if you can land Traveling Chocobo before casting Crane, you’ll dig eight cards deep for your cheap Equipment. In grindy games, you should be able to find Shuko without too much difficulty.
Given the presence of Glint-Nest Crane, it’s a bit surprising to not see any more artifacts in the mix. Adding Urza’s Saga as a way to search for Shuko and a few other artifacts to tutor for, like Haywire Mite and a piece of graveyard hate, seems like a low-cost way to make your Nadu gameplan more robust and consistent.
A Fun Alternative
All things considered, this is still a solid starting point for a really sweet shell. It isn’t the most competitive but looks like a joy to pilot.
Sazh’s Chocobo pulls a lot of weight here, both as a decent turn-one play and as a way to push damage once you have your Nadu engine rolling. Between Nadu and Traveling Chocobo, you have a lot of ways to gain card advantage, too.
Playing against opposing combo decks is a bit of a concern, even with Force of Will present. You don’t have much in the way of removal game one, either, so something as simple as a Barrowgoyf can be a frustrating roadblock if you don’t find Nadu and Shuko.
In this sense, Bird typal is far from perfect in a format as powerful as Legacy. Seeing the deck put up a great League performance was very unexpected. It really goes to show how well the Final Fantasy MTG Birds synergize with each other (and how broken Nadu is). Give Bird typal a shot at your next FNM if you want to play something off-the-wall. You may be pleasantly surprised.
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