While the main Final Fantasy MTG set is ripe with flavorful interpretations of incredibly popular characters, the Through the Ages Bonus Sheet didn’t quite get the same fanfare. Between bizarre, unflavorful card choices and some really weird-looking artwork, some of the cards on the Through the Ages Bonus Sheet seem a bit rushed in one way or another.
When recently showcasing some of the more questionable choices on the list, we mentioned that the 64th card on the list was still missing. That card has finally been revealed, and while the art is awful, the reprint isn’t too bad.
Kuja, Mage Manufacturer
Kuja, Mage Manufaturer reprints Inalla, Archmage Ritualist, one of the few Commanders with the most powerful ability in the format. Eminence is absolutely no joke, allowing Commanders to affect the board state even from the Command Zone. The Ur-Dragon and Edgar Markov are two incredibly popular Typal Commanders with Eminence.
Inalla doesn’t have the same reputation as these other well-known Commanders, and for good reason. Wizards as a Typal archetype have less support than Dragons or Vampires, but they will be gaining a decent amount of support in Final Fantasy. Additionally, unlike The Ur-Dragon and Edgar Markov, you need to pay mana into Inalla’s effect to make use of it.
Inalla also has an activated ability that is, frankly, incredibly underwhelming. Losing 7 life in a game of Commander isn’t really a big deal. Unless you have infinite Wizard tokens to burn out the table, this activated ability really doesn’t mean much.
Getting a copy of any Wizard spell you cast is certainly worth a measly one mana, but you do need a healthy amount of mana to take advantage of this, while Edgar and The Ur-Dragon’s abilities impact the game immediately. Even worse, Legendary creatures copied by this spell will still succumb to the Legend Rule. While this is still an incredible payoff for Wizard decks, it doesn’t go nearly as far as the other Commanders with Eminence.
Reprint Value
As far as reprint value goes, Inalla, Archmage Ritualist is not an expensive card. The cheapest tournament-legal variant of the card has a modest secondary market value of $2.27, meaning that there are certainly worse cards to open in your Through The Ages Bonus Sheet slots.
Notably, this card was reprinted rather recently in a Secret Lair, and that variant is currently the most expensive version of the card by a decent margin. The nonfoil Secret Lair variant is about $6.76, and the foil goes for $12.83.
While that variant of Inalla, Archmage Ritualist may not be affected much by this reprint, the other variants certainly will. Despite that, this variant of Inalla has a strong chance of being the cheapest. The artwork used for Kuja, Mage Manufacturer, alongside the other game renders of characters, looks awful. Some players even say that Kuja is the worst of the bunch.
Using concept artwork from Yoshitaka Amano would have done a lot for how the card looks, and could have even increased its secondary market value. Despite this, Kuja, Mage Manufacturer has made its appearance on the Through the Ages Bonus sheet, and threatens to be an interesting card for your Final Fantasy Prerelease games next weekend.