Without a doubt, one of the most hyped-up cards in the Final Fantasy MTG set is Vivi Ornitier. Vivi has the potential to make a boatload of mana if left unchecked, while simultaneously growing out of control and constantly pinging the opponent. The key is finding the right supporting cast for this sweet build-around.
Well, MTG Pro Jim Davis gave us a great starting point with a brew centered around the potent Wizard. In conjunction with a popular artifact and a Warlock mythic from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Vivi can net you absurd amounts of mana and help you cycle through your deck!
A Wizard, a Warlock, and Cauldron Team Up
This archetype is centered around three main cards. The first, obviously, is Vivi Ornitier. The second is Geralf, the Fleshwright. Geralf is an intriguing card that is capable of flooding the board with Zombie tokens, assuming you can keep playing a large number of spells on the same turn. Once you add in the third essential combo piece, Agatha’s Souls Cauldron, pumping out spells becomes trivial.
The goal behind this deck is to get Vivi exiled under Cauldron. There are a handful of ways to discard Vivi, such as Roiling Dragonstorm, to set up Cauldron nicely. Simply casting Vivi often will prompt a removal spell from the opponent, regardless, considering how threatening Vivi is as a damage dealer if it sticks around.
Once Vivi is exiled with Cauldron, every creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it gains Vivi’s mana-producing ability. This ability can be activated even if the creature is affected by Summoning Sickness. This is where Geralf enters the equation.
On your combo turn, you’ll start by casting Geralf. From there, any cheap spell you follow up with will trigger Geralf and net you a Zombie token. This deck has a decent number of cantrips and card draw spells to play on the cheap.
Your first Zombie won’t enter with any +1/+1 counters on it. Luckily, you can tap Cauldron to put a +1/+1 counter on the Zombie or Geralf, then immediately use Vivi’s ability to net three mana. After casting your next spell, Geralf will trigger and you’ll get a Zombie with a +1/+1 counter on it. Thanks to the +1/+1 counter, that Zombie can also immediately give you more mana to work with via Vivi’s ability.
As long as you can avoid hitting a huge stretch of lands, you’ll have a board flooded with Zombies soon enough. Your Zombies keep increasing in size, so you’ll have a ton of mana to work with. Eventually, once you find Bitter Reunion, you just give your enormous board of Zombies Haste and attack for the win!
Supporting Cast
In order to ensure that you can find your combo pieces in a timely manner, this deck features lots of ways to churn through your library. These cards help prevent you from fizzling on your combo turn as well.
In the one-mana slot, we have Opt and Sleight of Hand. These cards are as simple as they come, but are pivotal in helping you reach your goal.
In the two-mana slot, there are a handful of different discard outlets present. Besides Roiling Dragonstorm and Bitter Reunion, both Highway Robbery and Glacial Dragonhunt do the trick. Highway Robbery is nice, since you can Plot it, then cast it for free after jamming Vivi in a fair fight. This ensures Vivi outsizes cards like Nowhere to Run, making it harder for your opponent to remove when they untap.
As for Glacial Dragonhunt, having a discard outlet double as a removal spell is quite strong. The Harmonize ability comes in clutch during your combo turns, too, since you’ll have more than enough mana to get additional use out of the card.
The same thing is true for Winternight Stories. Winternight Stories isn’t quite as strong as Stock Up when it comes to finding your combo pieces. Nonetheless, being able to discard Vivi is important, and when you’re going off, Harmonizing Winternight Stories makes it less likely you’ll run out of spells to play.
Ill-Timed Explosion is a decent card draw spell and discard outlet, and it’s also your main way to catch up if your opponent has generated a wide board. Ill-Timed Explosion gives you a lot of flexibility. In some games, casting Vivi, then on a later turn casting Ill-Timed Explosion to blow up your opponent’s small creatures while leaving Vivi on board can give you an insurmountable advantage.
Competitive Viability
Ultimately, while this brew is clearly in the early stages of development, there are some things to like about its chances in Standard moving forward. First and foremost, both Vivi and Geralf are strong cards outside of the combo thanks to all the support around them.
In the event your opponent has instant-speed removal at the ready for Geralf, you’ll often be able to get a couple of triggers and generate some Zombie tokens before it perishes. Similarly, it isn’t difficult to set up a window where you can play Vivi and follow up with a couple of cantrips. Vivi will quickly outsize most damage-based removal if you’re careful.
Both Vivi and Geralf are extremely threatening, even if you don’t have Cauldron in the mix. Your cantrips and card draw spells are decent on their own as well, you just have to avoid falling too far behind. In this sense, you don’t necessarily need to execute a full combo in order to win the game.
In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if more fair elements were added to the strategy over time. Jim Davis himself has already mentioned the possibility of adding Cori-Steel Cutter to the sideboard to bolster a fair game plan as players bring in more answers to your combo. Perhaps an efficient effect like Shore Up might be a useful addition to protect Geralf and Vivi when going off.
There’s a ton of room for exploration within this archetype. It’ll be cool to see if Vivi and Geralf are capable of breaking out in Standard in the coming weeks.
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