Who knew a little guy with a big hat would be so good in Commander?
The best Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY Commanders can let you enjoy some of the most iconic video game characters in cardboard form with a variety of mana symbols attached. Look, we all knew this set was going to be a big deal, but nobody thought it’d be the bestselling set of all time. We also weren’t expecting the sheer volume of legendary creatures (161, to be exact), so we’re going to pick some of our favorites.
The Best MTG—FINAL FANTASY Commanders
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We’ve gone ahead and chosen 16 Commanders for this list since there are 16 games in the main series. We couldn’t choose one from each game because the quality of Commanders varies wildly here. Still, we’re pretty happy with all of our picks, so let’s go ahead and get and dive into some of the best Commanders from MTG—FINAL FANTASY.
#16 Zidane, Tantalus Thief
Zidane, Tantalus Thief
FINAL FANTASY, Uncommon
Final Fantasy 9’s (IX) Zidane, Tantalus Thief is a genuinely interesting Commander and one that’s going to cause a ruckus at the table. For five mana, Zidane allows you to steal the best creature on the battlefield as he enters play, and whenever an opponent gains control of a permanent from you, you create a Treasure token. Essentially, Zidane wants to yoink as many creatures as possible and create Treasure tokens while doing so, creating a fun politicking angle that can be entertaining with the correct playgroup.
#15 Ultima, Origin of Oblivion
Ultima, Origin of Oblivion
FINAL FANTASY, Rare
Ultima, Origin of Oblivion is one of the few colorless legendary Commanders from MTG—FINAL FANTASY, where this one can end up being a little mean despite card pool limitations. Whenever Ultima attacks, you put a Blight counter on target land where it can only tap for colorless mana. However, if a land you control would tap for one colorless mana, it would tap for additional colorless mana instead. With this effect, it means you can essentially “ramp” with Ultima while also cutting off every opponent’s best and greediest mana options. You aren’t going to make a ton of friends playing Ultima, but sometimes, you just need to be the heel in Commander.
#14 Noctis, Prince of Lucis
Noctis, Prince of Lucis
FINAL FANTASY, Rare
Noctis, Prince of Lucis allows you to cast artifacts from your graveyard at the cost of three life along with paying other mana costs, but does enter play with a Finality counter. Irrelevant of these abilities, it’s so easy to combo-out your opponents by using this card (such as using Lotus Petal, Solemnity, and Aetherflux Reservoir) as long as you can get rid of the pesky Finality counter. There’s a lot you can do with Noctis, making this easily one of the best MTG—FINAL FANTASY Commander options around.
#13 Squall, SeeD Mercenary
Squall, SeeD Mercenary
FINAL FANTASY, Rare
Final Fantasy 8’s (VIII) Squall, SeeD Mercenary reads very unassuming as a Commander but can generate a ton of value if left ignored. Squall can give target creature you control double strike for as long as it attacks alone, but if Squall manages to deal combat damage to a player, you may return target permanent card with mana value three of or less from the graveyard to the battlefield. Squall reads like a mini-Sun Titan of sorts and one that is accessible from the command zone while also being in black, which is the premier color for this kind of effect.
#12 Ultimecia, Time Sorceress
Ultimecia, Time Sorceress
FINAL FANTASY, Uncommon
Facing Squall in Final Fantasy 8 (VIII) is Ultimecia, Time Sorceress, who lets you surveil each time she attacks or enters the battlefield. You can really leverage her surveil ability by paying seven mana and exiling away eight cards to transform her into Ultimecia, Omnipotent, who grants you an extra turn when she enters. If there’s one thing Magic: The Gathering players love, it’s getting an extra turn or two to wrap up games as quickly as possible.
#11 Choco, Seeker of Paradise
Choco, Seeker of Paradise
FINAL FANTASY, Rare
Choco, Seeker of Paradise is the best Bird Commander printed thus far, as it delivers a ton of value whenever a Bird you control attacks. When you do attack with your Bird creatures, you look at that many cards from the top of your library and put one of them into your hand, and if any of the looked cards are land cards, those enter the battlefield tapped. If that wasn’t enough, Choco also gains +1/+0 whenever a land enters you control as part of its Landfall ability. There’s a ton going on with Choco, making it one of the best Chocobo Commanders around. And if you’re feeling spicy, Choco can also lead a Tempest Hawk strategy given the available Bird synergies.
#10 Hope Estheim
Hope Estheim
FINAL FANTASY, Rare
Hope Estheim is perhaps one of the best Mill Commanders we’ve seen in a hot minute, who forces each opponent to mill away cards equal to the amount of life you’ve gained in a given turn (and this triggers during your end step). Normally, we see Mill Commanders fall into blue and/or black, but the addition of white makes for an interesting pivot while adopting a popular Commander theme. It’s incredibly easy to gain life in Commander, and even if Hope Estheim is your only way to mill your opponents, it can be more than enough to win the game (especially if you pair these lifegain effects with Boon Reflection, for example).
#9 Terra, Magical Adept
Terra, Magical Adept
FINAL FANTASY, Mythic
Terra, Magical Adept is one of the best Saga Commanders around with the release of MTG—FINAL FANTASY, as she mills away cards and returns an enchantment amongst those back into your hand as she enters the battlefield. You can also pay six mana to transform here into Esper Terra, making it so you can copy enchantments for the next three turns and then generate two of each color of mana as the last chapter hits. If that wasn’t enough value, Esper Terra flips back into Terra, Magical Adept, and then you get to do it all again! And since Terra falls into five colors when it comes to Commander, this means you can play every Summon printed in MTG—FINAL FANTASY, which is remarkable in terms of flavor.
#8 The Wandering Minstrel
The Wandering Minstrel
FINAL FANTASY, Rare
The Wandering Minstrel is an exciting option if you’re interested in utilizing many of the Town cards from MTG—FINAL FANTASY, as the Minstrel allows any land that enters under your control to be untapped. But, if you happen to control at least five Towns, you create a 2/2 Elemental token at the beginning of combat on your turn. And if that wasn’t enough, The Wandering Minstrel can give all your other creatures +X/+X until the end of the turn, where X is the number of Towns you control. You can activate this effect multiple times if you have the mana to do so, ending up dealing a ton of damage to each opponent in the process. If you want an alternative win condition instead of solely focusing on Towns, using the Gate cards from other Magic: The Gathering sets (along with Maze’s End) is a way to win without ever rumbling into combat.
#7 Kefka, Court Mage
Kefka, Court Mage
FINAL FANTASY, Mythic
Final Fantasy’s most memorable villain is one mean Commander, as Kefka, Court Mage forces each player to discard a card whenever Kefka enters play or attacks. If discarding cards wasn’t enough, you also draw a card type among cards discarded this way, which is a decent way to generate card advantage against the rest of the table. If the game goes long, you can pay eight mana to transform Kefka into Kefka, Ruler of Ruin, where whenever an opponent loses life during your turn, you draw that many cards. There’s a few ways to infinitely combo with Kefka, such as Psychosis Crawler that requires the transformed side for this to work along with drawing a card and then following this up with a Thassa’s Oracle or Laboratory Maniac will be enough to seal the deal.
#6 Yuna, Hope of Spira
Yuna, Hope of Spira
FINAL FANTASY, Mythic
Yuna, Hope of Spira is a Commander that could easily lead into a more aggressively-slanted version of Enchantress, as she gives herself and enchantment creatures you control trample, lifelink, and ward throughout your turn. Gifting a bunch of keywords to your Summons is one thing, but Yuna is also able to return an enchantment to the battlefield with a Finality counter, and since there’s various ways to remove these counters (such as Nesting Grounds or Power Conduit), it shouldn’t be too hard to keep these around for good. If you’re looking to build this version of Yuna for Commander, we do recommend Starfield of Nyx as it really leverages Yuna’s passive ability quite well.
#5 Lightning, Army of One
Lightning, Army of One
FINAL FANTASY, Mythic
Lightning, Army of One is one of the hottest Commanders from MTG—FINAL FANTASY, as she’s able to double any kind of damage until your next turn after she connects with an opponent. Since Lightning comes with first strike, and if she’s able to deal damage to the opponent, this means any normal combat damage would deal double! Gnarly, right?
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Even if you don’t want to play Lightning, Army of One as a Commander, she’s incredible in the ninety-nine of most Boros Commander decks because the ability to encourage double damage is strong, not to mention Boros is one of the more aggressively-slanted color pairings in Magic.
#4 Balthier and Fran
Balthier and Fran
FINAL FANTASY, Rare
Balthier and Fran are the real heroes of Final Fantasy 12 (XII) and are also an excellent new Commander option if you prefer playing with Vehicle cards. With Balthier and Fran in play, each Vehicle you control will have vigilance, reach, and +1/+1, which is already an excellent rate. But if you manage to attack while Balthier and Fran are crewing a Vehicle, you have the option to pay three mana to gain an additional combat phase after the current one. Sure, you can only do this once per turn, but that’s a very attainable way to have another combat phase and might be the cheapest one printed yet.
#3 Kuja, Genome Sorcerer
Kuja, Genome Sorcerer
FINAL FANTASY, Rare
Kuja, Genome Sorcerer is a curious option to lead a Wizard-focused Commander strategy, as Kuja can create a 0/1 Wizard token at the beginning of your end step. What makes these Wizards tokens interesting is they deal one damage to each opponent whenever you cast a noncreature spell, meaning you can accelerate on damage without much work. If you happen to have four or more Wizards on the battlefield (note, they don’t have to be only the Wizard tokens), Kuja transforms into Trance Kuja, Fate Defied, allowing you to double-up on any damage dealt by any Wizards you control. Turning one damage to each opponent into two is pretty strong with those Wizards tokens laying around, not to mention Kuja himself can also deal double damage in combat.
#2 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER
Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER
FINAL FANTASY, Mythic
Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is another excellent option from MTG—FINAL FANTASY, as he allows you to create value by sacrificing creatures to draw cards. Sephiroth also inherits one of the best Blood Artist-like effects we’ve seen so far, forcing each opponent to lose one life (and you’ll gain a life) when another creature dies. It doesn’t have to be your creature specifically, but a creature on the battlefield.
And if this effect triggers for the fourth time in a given turn, Sephiroth will transform into the One-Winged Angel, creating an emblem upon entering that shares the same trigger as Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER — forcing each opponent to lose a life whenever a creature dies. But also, when the One-Winged Angel attacks, you can sacrifice as many creatures as you wish to draw that many cards, forcing even more lifeloss to each opponent due to the emblem. With Sephiroth generating card advantage, a sacrifice engine, and a consistent way to tackle each opponent’s life total, it’s no surprise the Final Fantasy 7 (VII) villain, becoming such a popular Commander from MTG—FINAL FANTASY.
#1 Vivi Ornitier
Vivi Ornitier
FINAL FANTASY, Mythic
We’re unsure anybody was expecting little existential-dreading Vivi Ornitier to be quite as strong in MTG—FINAL FANTASY, but here we are. For the reasonable cost of three mana, Vivi packs a punch as he gets a +1/+1 counter and deals one damage to each opponent whenever you cast a noncreature spell. If that isn’t enough, Vivi’s mana ability allows you to accelerate on mana equal to Vivi’s power — which means casting even more spells!
It’s all of these effects combined that make Vivi Ornitier one of the best Commanders to play from MTG—FINAL FANTASY, and is even seeing play in more competitive circles as it can do so much for so little mana invested. If you’re looking to build Vivi Ornitier in Commander, then we recommend Quicksilver Elemental, Harmonic Prodigy, and Savor the Moment as a starting point.