We’re nearing the end of spoilers for the Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy set now, and the pool of rares and mythics has almost entirely dried up. This doesn’t mean there are no exciting new cards being revealed, mind you. Commons and uncommons can often be just as impactful as their high-rarity cousins, sometimes even more so. The MTG Final Fantasy uncommon lineup is looking particularly juicy, too.
Some of these cards have serious potential, especially in Commander. Whether it’s dumping a load of creatures into play or tutoring up the exact answer you need, these are cards that could very well see play in a wide range of decks. The best part? Given how heavily opened this set will be, for various reasons, you should be able to pick up a lot of them for pennies. Who said Magic had to be an expensive hobby?
Random Encounter
- Mana Value: 4RR
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Sorcery
- Card Text: Shuffle your library, then mill four cards. Put each creature card milled this way onto the battlefield. They gain haste. At the beginning of the next end step, return those creatures to their owner’s hand.
Flashback 6RR (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its Flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Revealed during yesterday’s Weekly MTG stream, Random Encounter is a cheeky nod to how battles work in most of the Final Fantasy games. It’s also a surprisingly potent card, with a lot of potential in certain decks.
For six mana, Random Encounter mills your top four cards and puts all creatures milled right into play with Haste. Immediately, there are explosive possibilities here. If you hit four creatures, you’re having a great time, but as long as you get two or more, you’re fine. You get the enters abilities for each of them, as well as one free swing. In some games, that’s enough to shift the balance of power in your favor. You also get the creatures back in your hand at end of turn, where most effects like this would have you sacrifice them.
Unfortunately, Random Encounter lives up to its name by shuffling your deck before the mill. This means you can’t use topdeck manipulation effects like Sensei’s Divining Top to line up big creatures before you cast it. To get the most out of it, then, you really need to run it in a deck with a high density of creatures, preferably expensive ones. Popular mana-cheating Commanders like Slimefoot and Squee or Etali, Primal Conqueror could certainly find a home for an effect like this.
While it’s unreliable, Random Encounter is the definition of a great Commander card for its storytelling potential alone. It’s also an interesting mix of self-mill, mana cheat, and card draw, which should help it find homes in multiple decks.
Delivery Moogle
- Mana Value: 3W
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Creature – Moogle
- Stats: 3/2
- Card Text: Flying.
When this creature enters, search your library and/or graveyard for an artifact card with mana value 2 or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you search your library this way, shuffle.
While they’re a controversial element in Commander, doubly so since the new Bracket System dropped, tutor effects are undeniably useful in the format. Delivery Moogle from the Final Fantasy MTG set, despite being an uncommon, is one of the better tutors we’ve seen in recent years.
While searching for an artifact with mana value two or less sounds restrictive, it’s actually anything but. Both Trinket Mage and Tribute Mage see plenty of Commander play, and Delivery Moogle has both of their effects rolled into one. Two mana and below covers pretty much all the best utility artifacts in the game, so there are few problems you can’t solve with this card and a well-built deck. Whether it’s fetching up Vexing Bauble to deal with free interaction, or Soulless Jailer to shut down graveyard decks, the possibilities here are limitless.
On top of that, Delivery Moogle can search your graveyard, too. This means it can get back a key piece your opponents destroyed previously, or a card you milled or discarded to another effect. This looks like a minor change on the surface, but it really opens up a lot of possibilities, in graveyard-focused decks in particular. Delivery Moogle can serve as a handy redundancy in the late game, which is something neither Trinket nor Tribute Mage could do.
Factor in a surprisingly good 3/2 Flying body, and Delivery Moogle looks set to be a new white Commander classic. Between this and Aetherdrift’s Brightglass Gearhulk, cheap hate pieces have never been more accessible. Just make sure your playgroup is good with tutors before you go adding Delivery Moogle to all of your decks.
Giott, King of the Dwarves
- Mana Value: RW
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Legendary Creature – Dwarf Noble
- Stats: 1/1
- Card Text: Double strike.
Whenever Giott or another Dwarf you control enters and whenever an Equipment you control enters, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
Finally, we have a bit of a curveball, both mechanically and flavorfully. Given how many fan-favorite characters have been neglected in MTG Final Fantasy, it’s surprising to see Final Fantasy IV’s lesser-seen Dwarf king in the set, and at uncommon too.
That said, Giott is a very welcome addition. Dwarf is a creature type with a lot of fans, and not a lot of in-game support. The type’s lack of presence in Aetherdrift was a sticking point for many earlier this year. Giott, obscure a character as he is, is a great addition to Magic’s Dwarf lineup. He’s also notable for being a great choice for a Dwarf Commander. Though there are plenty of legendary Dwarves, only Depala, Magda, and The Lady of Otaria are really suitable to lead a Dwarf Typal deck.
Giott serves as an interesting new option. By letting you rummage whenever you drop a Dwarf or Equipment, he gives you a lot of power to dig through your deck. Thanks to his built-in Double Strike, he also makes a decent Voltron Commander. He clearly pushes you most towards an Equipment-heavy playstyle, and that’s probably how most will run him. There are enough cheap Dwarfs in Magic that you can go down a go-wide Aggro route instead, however, using the rummage ability to push through land pockets.
Whether you’re running him in the command zone or the 99, Giott is going to be a slam-dunk Dwarf Typal staple for the rest of time. It’s great that Wizards was able to use a Universes Beyond set to further a long-suffering core Magic archetype like this.
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