Unless you’ve been living under a rock for… I dunno, a long time at this point, you’re probably aware that in a few weeks Wizards of the Coast is releasing the first Standard-legal Universes Beyond set: Final Fantasy.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for… you know what, if you’re reading this you’ve probably heard of Final Fantasy. If you haven’t, well this isn’t the place for a background on one of the world’s most popular and beloved video game franchises. Back to Magic.
Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, art by Kazto Furuya
This is a big step for Wizards, who previously have released Universes Beyond products in a way that only allowed them to be legal for eternal formats including Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and most importantly Commander. Making Final Fantasy legal in all environments poses many challenges for a company that certainly loves to continue to push the envelope.
One of the ways many of these challenges are being addressed is that Final Fantasy is essentially being released as three separate products. The first is the “main set.” This is a 309-card set (including basic lands) which will comprise the Standard-legal portion of the product. The first of the other two offerings is the “Commander” set which consists of 100 new-to-Magic cards which will not be Standard-legal (though eight of them will go to Arena which is a different story).
The final product line is being called “Through the Ages” and is 64 reprints of existing Magic cards with Final Fantasy flavor. There’s also going to be three Secret Lair products which are essentially an extension of the “Through the Ages” offering. These cards, being reprints, are only legal in the formats that the cards are already legal in. Being printed here does not make them Standard legal. So, for example, Warrior of Light, which is a reprint of Jodah, the Unifier, is Standard legal because Jodah was printed in Dominaria United which is still (somehow) Standard legal. But Thrum of the Vestige being a reprint of Lightning Bolt does not make Bolt legal in Standard.
Traveling Chocobo (Black Chocobo Variant), art by Toni Infante
Thoroughly confused yet?
The important thing to know is that the cards that will be Standard-legal are the ones with the FF-Crystal expansion symbol, and have the FIN expansion code in the bottom-left corner. So far we’ve seen 143 “draft cards” (minus 16 basic lands) and 12 “starter kit” cards which will be Standard-legal but not in Play Packs or Collector Packs, only in the Starter box.
143 cards is almost half of the entire set, but we’ve actually seen 17 of the 20 mythic rare and 40 of the 74 rare cards from the set. In that sense, we’ve likely seen more than half of the cards that will have the biggest impact on Standard, which means its time for some early thoughts on if and how Final Fantasy is going to impact the Standard metagame.
The Good News
Traveling Chocobo (Extended Art), art by Toni Infante
The set debut and the first week of previews has given us some interesting themes to look at, and cards that will potentially cause some shifts in Standard. The obvious elephant in the room to talk about is the return of Dark Confidant to the environment. Cecil, Dark Night is also a cheap option to add to black decks looking to fight back against a very aggressive environment.
Also, it looks like Izzet Prowess may not be the only aggro kid on the block for long, as Chocobos are set to descend on Standard with a vengeance. Traveling Chocobo may only be a 3/2 for three mana, but being able to play lands and Birds from the top of your library, and doubling landfall triggers, are both incredible effects. Sazh’s Chocobo and Tifa Lockhart both have synergy here, and Choco, Seeker of Paradise, can easily close out games just by resolving and then swinging with the birds.
Absolute Virtue, art by Toni Infante
Lastly, I want to talk a bit about Absolute Virtue. “You have protection from each of your opponents,” is not a line of text that should be overlooked. Yes, it’s an 8/8 for 8 mana which means it isn’t showing up early, but as soon as it does, it can completely turn the tide of the game until your opponent finds a way to deal with Absolute Virtue. Similar to cards like Platinum Angel, you need to make sure you can protect it once its in play, but this gives control decks a way to close out games without relying on Omniscience, which everyone is prepared for these days.
The Bad News
You know those Izzet Prowess and Omniscience decks that are already the best in the format? Well they may be about to get better. Frown-y face.
Self Destruct, art by Liiga Smilshkalne
Have you thought about what happens when you cast Self-Destruct on Screaming Nemesis? It deals X damage to any target, and then X damage to itself, which means X damage to another target again. And if that target is a player, that player can’t gain life. Vivi Ornitier will also add some more punch to these decks as each Stormchaser’s Talent and Opt will deal damage, make Vivi bigger, and let Vivi produce more mana, continuing the onslaught.
Vivi Ornitier, art by Toni Infante
So while I think the Birds deck could be cool, and Dark Confidant will revitalize black decks, Vivi Ornitier is going to slot right into Izzet Prowess, even if Cori-Steel Cutter gets banned. Heck, if Cori-Steel Cutter gets banned you just opened up four slots for Vivi anyways.
The Ugly News
I wanted the Cloud/Lightning equipment deck to be good but it doesn’t look like it would ever be fast enough to keep up with Izzet Prowess. Maybe it will need to act as a Boros midrange deck of sorts in order to succeed, but Screaming Nemesis seems like a serious thorn in its side. The same goes for Sephiroth. Even with Cecil and Dark Confidant, and all the other bells and whistles, it’s hard to imagine Cloud or Sephiroth having a huge impact, or any impact, on Standard at this point.
Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, art by Wisnu Tan
Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel, art by Wisnu Tan
Final Verdict: Bird aggro will be a good deck. Boros equipment will be a bad deck. Izzet prowess will get better. I want to see Absolute Virtue win the Pro Tour. Hey, it could happen!
Rich Stein (he/him) has been playing Magic: the Gathering and Final Fantasy since his childhood. His favorite Magic set is Ravnica and his favorite Final Fantasy game is Tactics. Rich isn’t sure which game he enjoys more but he’s never seen anyone flip a table over after a bad run at Final Fantasy (at least not since Absolute Virtue first appeared).