PAX East is currently underway, and with it, we are getting absolutely bombarded with Final Fantasy spoilers. MTG enthusiasts, as well as anyone who enjoys the renowned Final Fantasy franchise, are sure to enjoy all that this set has to offer.
Many of Final Fantasy’s most iconic characters from across the array of different games are getting flavorful printings. Today, we’re going to showcase not only one of the scariest antagonists of the series, but also a particularly powerful Commander option. If you’re a fan of Final Fantasy VII, you’re in for a treat.
Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER
The character we’re talking about is Sephiroth, brought to life in MTG as Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER. This mono-black legend is an extremely powerful payoff for Aristocrats strategies in Commander, and there’s a good chance it will emerge as one of the most popular mono-black Commanders out there.
The goal with Sephiroth is to have a high density of expendable Creatures that you can sacrifice to its first triggered ability. Token producers like Ophiomancer and Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia, for example, pair extremely nicely with Sephiroth. You simply sacrifice the token you generate to Sephiroth to draw a card when it enters or attacks, and the token will respawn to keep the engine rolling.
On top of the card advantage Sephiroth gives you, it also has the Blood Artist effect whenever any creature dies. Notably, this includes your opponent’s Creatures. So, in a four-player Commander game, any board wipe will cause you to drain your opponents for a lot of life in the process.
What really puts Sephiroth over the top, though, is its ability to transform. Having four creatures die in one turn is much easier than it sounds. You can obviously transform Sephiroth yourself by sacrificing four of your own creatures if you have a sacrifice outlet and enough tokens in play. Pairing Phyrexian Altar or Ashnod’s Altar with mass token producers such as Plague Vermin makes transforming Sephiroth easy.
However, Sephiroth doesn’t actually care whose creatures die. As such, even an effect as simple as Grave Pact works wonders in conjunction with Sephiroth. All you need to do is cast or attack with Sephiroth, sacrifice one of your other creatures to draw a card, and each opponent will be forced to sacrifice a creature as well.
Assuming each of your three opponents has a creature to sacrifice, that’s enough for Sephiroth to flip. The reward is absolutely incredible. You get a huge flier with a buffed attack trigger, but most importantly, you get your Blood Artist effect on an Emblem. So, even if Sephiroth gets removed at this point and never sticks around long-term, the damage is done.
Any mass removal spells from then on drain your opponents whether Sephiroth is in play or not. The amount of damage Sephiroth can do at such an efficient rate makes the card an all-star.
Combo Enabler
In addition to the incremental advantages that come with having Sephiroth at the helm, having a Blood Artist in the Command Zone also makes an array of infinite life drain combos more consistent. With any combo you can assemble that involves sacrificing a creature an infinite number of times, Sephiroth can then serve as your win condition.
For example, let’s say you control Phyrexian Altar, Gravecrawler, and any Zombie. Now, you’re free to sacrifice Gravecrawler to Phyrexian Altar, float a black, recast Gravecrawler from your graveyard, and repeat this process over and over. By itself, this combo does nothing. Once you add Sephiroth into the mix, though, you win the game on the spot.
There are a bunch of other combo lines that are very similar that net the same result if you’re playing Sephiroth. If you don’t have Phyrexian Altar at the ready, using Carrion Feeder as a sacrifice outlet alongside Pitiless Plunderer and Gravecrawler lets you go infinite all the same.
No Gravecrawler instead? No problem. Just use Altar, Plunderer, and Reassembling Skeleton for the same result. Sephiroth is insanely strong, digs for your combo cards, and dominates grindy games. What more could you want?
Sephiroth in Standard
While Sephiroth is most appealing in Commander, the card is good enough to warrant consideration in Standard, too. There are a handful of ways to go about maximizing Sephiroth as a value engine.
First, Sephiroth pairs perfectly with Mobilize Creatures. Following up a turn two Voice of Victory with a turn three Sephiroth is a great way to gain an advantage. Start by attacking with Voice. As long as one of your Mobilize tokens lives through combat, you can play Sephiroth during your second main phase and sacrifice the token to draw a card and drain your opponent.
The tokens are getting sacrificed anyway at the end of your turn, so getting some extra value beforehand is nice. On future turns, by attacking with Voice and Sephiroth, you’re able to stack your triggers so that you make two tokens first, then sacrifice one of them to Sephiroth to draw a card and drain your opponent.
Throw in other token makers and Enduring Innocence, and you’ve got a gameplan. You can also go even deeper on the Aristocrats train and play an Orzhov shell with Bartolome del Presidio as a sacrifice outlet and Raise the Past to make transforming Sephiroth much more realistic.
In a more traditional midrange deck, Sephiroth does have a lot of competition with Preacher of the Schism. After all, four toughness is a game changer in a world of Lightning Helix and Nowhere to Run.
Still, Sephiroth rewards you heavily for building around it, so perhaps the potent villain could lend itself to some sweet brews right out of the gates. There’s a lot to like, so don’t count him out!