For a while now, Magic: The Gathering has been relatively leak-free. We’ve seen the odd card revealed a day or so early, but nothing like the huge blunders we saw with Modern Horizons 3. Over the weekend, however, we saw full leaks of both of the Starter Kit decks for the upcoming MTG Final Fantasy set. All in all, 41 cards from the main set were revealed, which is a huge chunk of the expansion as a whole.
Many players saw leaks like this coming after Wizards reportedly sent out Final Fantasy product to Brazil by mistake. Now that they’re here, there’s an awful lot to chew over. Today, we’ll be looking at the leaks from the Boros side of the Starter Kit, led by the already-spoiled Cloud, Planet’s Champion. This is a classic red/white Equipment deck with plenty of interesting lower-rarity cards. It also shows off the new Choose a Job mechanic, which brings one of Final Fantasy’s longest-running traditions to MTG.
Dragoon Spear
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Artifact – Equipment
- Card Text: Choose a Job. (When this equipment enters create a colorless 1/1 Hero creature token and attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+0 and is a Knight in addition to it’s other types.
During your turn equipped creature has Flying.
Gae Bolg – Equip 4.
The juiciest section of this batch of MTG Final Fantasy leaks is definitely the Choose a Job cards. This is a new mechanic in the vein of Living Weapon and For Mirrodin, giving you a free body that your Equipment attaches to automatically on entry. In a nice flavorful touch, these also grant a class to the equipped creature, mimicking the Final Fantasy job system.
Dragoon Spear is a solid card to introduce this mechanic. At a baseline, it’s a two mana 2/1 with Flying on your turn. Not fantastic, but decent in aggressive lists. The Equip cost is high at four mana, however, so you’ll need a way to discount that to make the most of it. There are some nice synergies that the Knight type can grant you, The Circle of Loyalty etc., so this could see Commander play for that reason.
White Mage’s Rod
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Artifact – Equipment
- Card Text: Choose a Job. (When this equipment enters create a colorless 1/1 Hero creature token and attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1, gains “Whenever this creature attacks you gain 1 life,” and is a Cleric in addition to its other types.
Equip 3.
White Mage’s Rod is the next Choose a Job card on the menu. Like Dragoon Spear, it’s an okay rate up front. Two mana for a 2/2 that gains you a life when it attacks is decent, and enables a lot of life gain synergies. Equipping again for three is rough, however, which likely rules this out of Standard play. It’s worth keeping an eye on all of these cheap Equipment cards since we know the set has a bit of an Equipment theme, but this one is pretty unexciting.
Samurai Katana
- Mana Value: 2R
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Artifact – Equipment
- Card Text: Choose a Job. (When this equipment enters create a colorless 1/1 Hero creature token and attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2, has Trample and Haste, and is a Samurai in addition to it’s other types.
Murasame – Equip 5.
Samurai Katana seems exciting at first, but it may actually be worse than the two Choose a Job cards above. A three mana 3/3 with Trample and Haste is a decent Aggro card, but nothing exciting in the age of Screaming Nemesis. The big problem is that five mana Equip cost later down the line. You’re pretty much never using that outside of Limited, which makes the card a mediocre Aggro creature and nothing more. Not the juiciest of the MTG Final Fantasy leaks from today, by any stretch.
Warrior’s Blade
- Mana Value: 3R
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Artifact – Equipment
- Card Text: Choose a Job. (When this equipment enters create a colorless 1/1 Hero creature token and attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +3/+2 and is a Warrior in addition to it’s other types.
Equip 5.
The last of the Choose a Job cards we saw today is also by far the worst. Warrior’s Blade comes down as a 4/3 Warrior for four, which is bad everywhere except Limited. It also shares Samurai Katana’s huge Equip cost but with none of its impact. Warrior is a well-supported type in Commander, so there are possibilities for the card there, but this isn’t coming anywhere near Standard unless something massive changes soon.
Adalbert Steiner
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Knight
- Stats: 2/1
- Card Text: Lifelink.
Adalbert Steiner gets +1/+1 for each Equipment you control.
This batch of MTG Final Fantasy leaks also included a lot of new legendary creatures. Adalbert Steiner is a beloved character from Final Fantasy IX, and he may actually be decent in Magic: The Gathering too. His ability looks pretty situational, and it can be, but it’s important to remember that Leyline Axe is currently in Standard. Equipping that to Steiner on turn three and swinging with a 4/3 Double Strike, Trample, Lifelink is no joke. Outside of that line, the card looks mediocre, especially compared to some of the other leaks from today.
Beatrix, Loyal General
- Mana Value: 4WW
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Soldier
- Stats: 4/4
- Card Text: Vigilance.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, attach any number of Equipment you control to target creature you control.
Another Final Fantasy IX alumni, Beatrix is clearly intended as a ‘glue’ card to bring all the Equipment synergies in the deck together. While her ‘Equip for free’ effect is good, she’s totally priced out of most formats at six mana. Standard is way too fast for this, and Commander has plenty of better options. It’s not an embarrassing Limited card, but that’s about as far as it goes.
G’raha Tia
- Mana Value: 4W
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Legendary Creature – Cat Archer
- Stats: 3/5
- Card Text: Reach.
Whenever one or more creatures or artifacts you control are put into the graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card. This ability only triggers once per turn.
Jumping up to Final Fantasy XIV now, G’raha Tia actually looks really interesting for multiple formats. Five mana for a 3/5 Reach isn’t too bad, and the effect is just a mostly-better Morbid Opportunist trigger. Triggering off of artifacts as well is a huge deal since it lets you draw cards from Treasures, Clues, etc. Smothering Tithe in particular plays very nicely with this card, letting you draw a card on each player’s turn in a Commander game. Of all the MTG Final Fantasy leaks today, this is perhaps the most playable in Commander.
Rosa, Steadfast White Mage
- Mana Value: 3W
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Noble Cleric
- Stats: 2/3
- Card Text: Reach.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. It gains lifelink until end of turn.
Iconic White Mage Rosa from Final Fantasy IV gets a bit of an odd card here. As a slower Luminarch Aspirant, she helps keep your board and your life total healthy in the mid game. The fact that her ability targets helps out with all the Valiant effects in Boros Mice, too. Unfortunately, Boros Mice just isn’t really a popular deck at the moment, with the speedier Mono-Red version edging it out most of the time. She seems like a solid role player in Commander, but I wouldn’t expect Standard play from Rosa.
Barret Wallace
- Mana Value: 3R
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Rebel
- Stats: 4/4
- Card Text: Reach.
Whenever Barret Wallace attacks, he deals damage equal to the number of equipped creatures you control to defending player.
Barret Wallace is one of the most beloved characters in Final Fantasy VII, which makes this card all the more disappointing. Four mana for a 4/4 Reach is pretty mediocre, and his attack trigger is so incredibly specific that it likely won’t net you much damage over the course of a game. You’ll run him in all of your Final Fantasy VII Commander decks, of course, but Barret is unlikely to make an impact beyond that.
Freya Crescent
- Mana Value: R
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Legendary Creature – Rat Knight
- Stats: 1/1
- Card Text: Jump – During your turn this creature has Flying.
Tap: Add R. Use this mana only to cast Equipment or activate abilities of Equipment.
Freya Crescent from Final Fantasy IX gets one of the most interesting cards among this whole batch of MTG leaks. Not only is this (almost) a 1/1 flier in red, but it’s also (almost) a one-mana mana dork in red. If you listen closely, you can hear the color pie creaking under the strain.
I expect Freya will be popular in Aggro decks thanks to that Flying, which makes it a great combat trick target. I could also see Aggro decks that want to run Freya implementing a couple of pieces of Equipment to leverage that mana ability. However it’s used, Freya is opening up some very exciting Magic: The Gathering design space.
Lightning, Security Sergeant
- Mana Value: 2R
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Soldier
- Stats: 2/3
- Card Text: Menace (This creature can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
Whenever Lightning deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card for as long as you control Lightning.
Lightning feels like a card we’ve seen several times before. Red getting Impulse draw, often tied to combat damage, is nothing new in MTG at this point. Lightning isn’t a particularly exciting iteration of the concept, either. The fact that you can play the exiled cards as long as you control Lightning is a nice bonus, but the lack of Haste here really kills the card, in my opinion. Outside of ‘cast from exile’ theme decks in Commander, this just seems too inefficient to really bother with.
Ultima Weapon
- Mana Value: 7
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Legendary Artifact – Equipment
- Card Text: Whenever equipped creature attacks, destroy target creature an opponent controls.
Equipped creature gets +7/+7.
Equip 7.
Barret Wallace isn’t the only Final Fantasy VII icon to get an underwhelming card in this round of MTG leaks. The same fate, sadly, has befallen Ultima Weapon. This is widely regarded as the most powerful weapon in the game and has made multiple appearances in the series since. In Magic: The Gathering, however, it’s just a super-clunky Equipment with very little chance of seeing play.
This costs seven to play and seven to Equip, which means you really need to be cheating both ways to make it any good at all. Even once it’s equipped, it feels pretty slow compared to other powerful Equipment like Embercleave. Maybe if it destroyed seven creatures per swing I could see it, but for now, this is a flavor win and nothing more.
Cloud Moogle
- Mana Value: 3WW
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Creature – Moogle
- Stats: 2/3
- Card Text: Flying.
When this creature enters, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Plainscycling 2.
Cloud Moogle is an incredibly underwhelming card, but what it implies is a bit more interesting. Just like with Lord of the Rings, it looks like we’re getting a cycle of common landcyclers in this set. All five of those cards have seen heavy play across formats, with Troll of Khazad-dûm actually getting banned in Legacy last week. Unfortunately, the fact that these appear to cycle for two mana rather than one rules them out of the same conversations. Maybe the rest of the cycle will be better, but if they’re all on this level then lightning will not be striking twice.
Coeurl
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Creature – Cat Beast
- Stats: 2/2
- Card Text: 1W, Tap: Tap target non-enchantment creature.
Coeurl is a recurring monster across the Final Fantasy series, so it’s only right that it would get a card here. While a two-mana tapper isn’t exciting at all in 2025, it is a nice flavor fit given that coeurls often paralyze party members in-game. The non-enchantment clause is odd but is probably intended to stop coeurl being an easy answer to the set’s new Saga Summon creatures. This is a solid Limited filler card, but nothing really beyond that.
Dwarven Castle Guard
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Creature – Dwarf Soldier
- Stats: 2/1
- Card Text: When this creature dies, create a 1/1 colorless Hero creature token.
Speaking of Limited-only cards from this round of MTG Final Fantasy leaks, Dwarven Castle Guard is another great example. We’ve seen a lot of creatures like this over time, generally at one mana. Nesting Bot is in Standard right now, for example, and makes this look incredibly weak by comparison. Unless Hero tokens get some powerful support cards, this is likely a pack filler at best. The art is great, however, and really captures the old-school Final Fantasy aesthetic well.
Item Merchant
- Mana Value: 1R
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Creature – Human Merchant
- Stats: 2/2
- Card Text: Whenever you attack, target attacking equipped creature gets menace until the end of the turn. (It can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
Much like Barret, Item Merchant feels too specific to really succeed. Giving an equipped creature Menace can be decent with Choose a Job, but in the end, the juice really isn’t worth the squeeze. It’s also odd that an Item Merchant wouldn’t create some kind of token or give you a choice of effects, but the flavor is the least of this card’s worries. You probably won’t even play this in Limited, honestly.
Blade Of Light
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Instant
- Card Text: Blade of Light deals damage equal to the number of creatures and Equipment you control to target creature.
Blade of Light is an interesting removal spell in an Equipment-heavy deck. Every Choose a Job card you play will add two to this card’s counter, making it easy to deal three or more damage. At that point, the card is acceptable as a white Lightning Strike. The problems here are really twofold. First of all, white has plenty of good exile-based removal right now, such as Ride’s End. Second, the deckbuilding restrictions needed to make this work are real and not really worth it with so many good alternatives about.
Suncrystal Fate
- Mana Value: 4W
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Instant
- Card Text: This spell costs 2 less to cast if it targets a tapped creature.
Destroy target nonland permanent.
Speaking of white removal, we did get a better example in today’s MTG Final Fantasy leaks. Suncrystal Fate is a three-mana removal spell for tapped creatures or a five-mana removal spell for anything. Neither mode is particularly exciting, but both will serve you very well in Limited. It’s worth noting that this can trigger Up the Beanstalk even when cast for three, so it could see play alongside Ride’s End for that reason. It’s probably a bit too clunky for that, mind you.
The Chosen Of The Crystal
- Mana Value: 5WW
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Sorcery
- Card Text: Create four 1/1 colorless Hero creature tokens. Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Showcasing Final Fantasy III’s iconic opening, The Chosen of the Crystal is an interesting card overall. Seven mana is an absolute ton, but you are getting 8/8 in stats across four bodies for your trouble. That’s four enters triggers and four tokens for cards like Fountainport and Caretaker’s Talent. You also get counters on all of your existing creatures, which can be a big swing. Unfortunately, seven mana cards just aren’t really playable in current Standard, and this feels too low-impact for Commander. Maybe if a way to cheat it out comes along we could see it, but otherwise, I highly doubt it.
White Auracite
- Mana Value: 2WW
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Artifact
- Card Text: When this artifact enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this artifact leaves the battlefield.
Tap: Add W.
White Auracite is a nice little two-for-one special. You get your Banishing Light effect for slightly more mana, but you also get a white mana rock to help make up the difference. While this is definitely too slow for Standard, I can easily see this becoming a new Commander staple for white. Dealing with any threat while ramping is a sweet deal, after all. White also doesn’t tend to get much in the way of mana acceleration, so this is a nice bonus for decks to try.
Rays Of Judgement
- Mana Value: 3R
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Instant
- Card Text: Rays of Judgment deals 5 damage to target creature and X damage to it’s controller, where X is the number of Equipment you control.
As a Limited removal spell, Rays of Judgement is pretty solid. Four mana for five damage is fine, and the potential to deal a point or two to your opponent’s dome is a nice bonus. Unfortunately, it feels totally priced out of current Standard, even in Equipment decks. There may well be some wild combo decks with this in Commander, but outside of that, this feels like a total miss. It is noteworthy for being a card that draws from Final Fantasy XVI, mind you, which we haven’t seen much of yet.
Suplex
- Mana Value: 1R
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Sorcery
- Card Text: Choose one:
- Suplex deals 3 damage to target creature. If that creature would die this turn, exile it instead.
- Exile target artifact.
Every Final Fantasy VI fan knew this card was coming. Using Sabin’s Suplex technique on the Phantom Train boss results in one of the game’s most unintentionally hilarious moments, as he lifts a train into the air and slams it down. This card portrays that moment perfectly and is a pretty solid little removal spell to boot.
Essentially, this is an Abrade that trades instant speed for exiling its targets. In many cases, this makes it a much better card. Permanently dealing with cards like Bloodghast or actually removing The One Ring are big upsides to consider. On the other hand, sorcery speed is a bit of a bummer. Overall, I think this is a solid, playable card that should see use across multiple formats. It’s sneakily one of the best reveals from this batch of MTG Final Fantasy leaks.
Rabanasta, City Of The Kingdom
- Type: Land – City
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: This land enters tapped.
Tap: Add R or W.
Rounding things off, we have a new nonbasic land. Rabanasta, City of the Kingdom is a land that enters tapped and taps for red or white mana. We’ve seen plenty of these in the common slot for Limited over the years. What makes this land stand out is its ‘City’ subtype. This is brand-new and will likely be a type that receives some synergy pieces in the full set, much like Ixalan’s Caves. It’s impossible to evaluate this card without knowing what support it will have. Make sure to keep your eye out for the word ‘City’ when we get more Final Fantasy spoilers down the line.