Final Fantasy is an incredibly deep set, and it should reward Standard brewers for years to come as cards move in and out of playability. I've already built over a dozen decks to try, and thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

I won't do my usual deeper dive into the card choices I've made for each deck, but I will give you a little info on why I think this could be good or fun to play. These decks would be my starting point. I plan to play 5-10 games with each of them to test out the interactions and see how they shape up against other decks (at which point, if it feels like there might be something there, I'll move on to developing a sideboard).

The first deck looks at incorporating the Chocobos from Final Fantasy into the bird cards from Bloomburrow. This looks to make the best of Choco, Seeker of Paradise and Traveling Chocobo. While Valley Questcaller isn't a bird, it makes a fine lord.

ChocoBros

ChocoBros | Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (30)
• 4 Jackdaw Savior
• 4 Mockingbird
• 4 Sazh's Chocobo
• 4 Traveling Chocobo
• 4 Valley Questcaller
• 3 Ambrosia Whiteheart
• 3 Choco, Seeker of Paradise
• 2 Bartz and Boko
• 2 Kastral, the Windcrested

• Enchantments (6)
• 4 Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo
• 2 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Lands (24)
• 2 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 4 Razorverge Thicket
• 4 Starting Town
• 3 Botanical Sanctum
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Lupinflower Village
• 2 Restless Anchorage
• 1 Brushland
• 1 Yavimaya Coast

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When The Wandering Minstrel was spoiled, I knew I had to try my hand at a Towns deck. This dips into all five colors via towns (for the activated ability on The Wandering Minstrel) but it is really just a Temur Ramp deck. I think people are sleeping on Gladiolus Amicitia. A bad Primeval Titan is still a very strong card.

5-Color Towns | Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (25)
• 4 Overlord of the Hauntwoods
• 4 PuPu UFO
• 4 The Wandering Minstrel
• 4 Town Greeter
• 3 Ignis Scientia
• 3 Marang River Regent
• 2 Gladiolus Amicitia
• 1 Ureni, the Song Unending

• Spells (9)
• 4 Reach the Horizon
• 3 Travel the Overworld
• 2 Prishe's Wanderings

• Lands (26)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 4 Balamb Garden, SeeD Academy
• 4 Hedge Maze
• 4 Starting Town
• 4 Willowrush Verge
• 2 Guadosalam, Farplane Gateway
• 1 Baron, Airship Kingdom
• 1 Gongaga, Reactor Town
• 1 Treno, Dark City
• 1 Windurst, Federation Center
• 1 Zanarkand, Ancient Metropolis

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I can't wait to try this one out. So may people say Yuna, Hope of Spira spoiled and immediately thought she should be slotted into an Abzan deck, to pair with Overlord of the Balemurk. I think that's a fine idea, but I really want to test her out with Annie Joins Up. Get twice the triggers and returning twice the enchantments. This deck probably wants to go even larger with something like Summon: Knights of the Round, but right now I want to try out Rydia, Summoner of Mist and Summon:Fenrir interaction (i.e. play Rydia on turn 2, drop a land on turn 3 to discard Fenrir, and then return it with Rydia's ability).

Naya Yuna | Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (26)
• 4 Fear of Missing Out
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Summon: Fenrir
• 3 Overlord of the Boilerbilges
• 3 Rydia, Summoner of Mist
• 3 Yuna, Hope of Spira
• 2 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 2 Terra, Magical Adept
• 1 Summon: Titan

• Spells (9)
• 3 Torch the Tower
• 3 Annie Joins Up
• 3 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Lands (25)
• 3 Forest
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 4 Starting Town
• 4 Thornspire Verge
• 3 Commercial District
• 3 Hushwood Verge
• 2 Sunbillow Verge
• 1 Elegant Parlor
• 1 Lush Portico

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Diamond Weapon is out here giving off Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis vibes, so we've got to give it a go. Every card in this deck is a permanent, so all of your mills will fuel Diamond Weapon. Casting it as early as turn 3-4 should be doable. At one point I had Herd Heirloom in this to give Diamond Weapon trample, and I'm not sure that's not the right move...

Diamond Weapon | Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (29)
• 4 Chupacabra Echo
• 4 Diamond Weapon
• 4 Overlord of the Balemurk
• 4 Town Greeter
• 3 Osteomancer Adept
• 2 Disruptive Stormbrood
• 2 Haywire Mite
• 2 Honest Rutstein
• 2 Lasyd Prowler
• 2 Summon: Primal Odin

• Spells (7)
• 4 Dredger's Insight
• 3 Broodheart Engine

• Lands (24)
• 4 Forest
• 4 Swamp
• 4 Llanowar Wastes
• 4 Underground Mortuary
• 4 Wastewood Verge
• 3 Restless Cottage
• 1 Fountainport

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Last, but not least, let's take a look at Cloud, Midgar Mercenary. Everyone is rushing to drop him into a Boros deck, but I think there's a real chance that Azorius is the better route, gaining access to Cryptic Coat and Assimilation Aegis as tutor targets. Staunch Crewmate does a Cloud impersonation. I'm not sure this is the correct suite of Equipment, but it's a fair starting point.

Azorius Equipment | Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (18)
• 4 Cloud, Midgar Mercenary
• 4 Staunch Crewmate
• 3 Adelbert Steiner
• 3 Zack Fair
• 2 Danitha, Benalia's Hope
• 2 Kemba, Kha Enduring

• Artifacts (17)
• 4 Assimilation Aegis
• 4 Cryptic Coat
• 3 Spring-Loaded Sawblades
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Buster Sword
• 1 Celestial Armor
• 1 Lavaspur Boots
• 1 Lost Jitte
• 1 Sword of Forge and Frontier

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 The Aetherspark

• Lands (24)
• 6 Plains
• 3 Island
• 4 Adarkar Wastes
• 4 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Seachrome Coast
• 2 Restless Anchorage
• 1 Ishgard, the Holy See

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And there you have it, five decks to get you started in Final Fantasy Standard. I'm impressed with the number of cards the set offers, and the different directions you can go.

You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/anakinsdad.bsky.social