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Warning!
The decks you are about to see are mostly untested first drafts! They were played Wednesday on the early access Streamer Event on MTG Arena and are my first stabs at the new Final Fantasy Standard format. Most are brews jam packed with Final Fantasy cards, while there are also a few updates to previously established archetypes, but it's important to note that these are the first steps and not finished products! Use them as stepping stones for your own deck brewing process, but play them card for card at your own risk!
Whoa boy this is a big one.
While I personally have no affiliation with Final Fantasy (I grew up playing all the Zelda games, sorry not sorry!), I'm also profoundly aware of how huge of a series and IP Final Fantasy is. Over a dozen games spanning many decades, and here we are with perhaps the biggest Magic IP crossover since The Lord of the Rings.
And it's going to be Standard legal too!
This makes this one of the most important Magic: The Gathering releases in a long time and I've got good news... It's a lot of fun! Final Fantasy is coming into the largest Standard format we've ever seen, and while it does have a number of powerful cards poised to make an impact, it will also see new life when we hit rotation this fall.
So how do I know these cards are fun? I've already played with them!
Today we are going to go over all ten decks I played as part of my Ten New Brews on YouTube and stream, briefly going over each list and my thoughts on how it was, giving it a letter grade, and talking about what kind of potential it has going forward. I played five games of best of one with each deck so the deck's record will also be included, but do note that these matches were played during the Early Access event not on the open ladder. My opponents were all other content creators also trying out all sorts of fun Final Fantasy stuff.
Let's go!
Maybe This Time | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (20)
- 2 Adelbert Steiner
- 2 Astor, Bearer of Blades
- 2 Firion, Wild Rose Warrior
- 2 Skrelv, Defector Mite
- 4 Cloud, Midgar Mercenary
- 4 Freya Crescent
- 4 Raubahn, Bull of Ala Mhigo
- Planeswalkers (1)
- 1 The Aetherspark
- Instants (4)
- 4 Rebel Salvo
- Artifacts (11)
- 1 Basilisk Collar
- 1 Buster Sword
- 1 Dissection Tools
- 1 Lost Jitte
- 1 Sword of Forge and Frontier
- 2 Bladehold War-Whip
- 4 Chainsaw
- Lands (24)
- 3 Plains
- 3 Mountain
- 2 Plaza of Heroes
- 4 Battlefield Forge
- 4 Inspiring Vantage
- 4 Starting Town
- 4 Sunbillow Verge
Export Arena
Deck's Record: 4-1
Deck's Grade: A
Deck Potential: High
Standout Card: Cloud, Midgar Mercenary and Raubahn, Bull of Ala Mhigo
Wow.
It's almost a joke at this point how many times I have tried various equipment decks on Ten New Brews, only to be disappointed every single time because they never work.
Well Final Fantasy has finally bucked that trend!
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A huge portion of the White and especially Red cards in the set care about equipment, and do so in wonderfully powerful ways. Cloud is a modern-day Stoneforge Mystic. Raubahn cheats on equip costs. And Freya Crescent is a Red Llanowar Elves that also wears equipment well.
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Add in some new powerful equipment like Buster Sword (which was a big overperformer), great removal like Chainsaw and Rebel Salvo, and a few old equipment payoffs like Astor, Bearer of Blades and Bladehold War-Whip and you've got the complete package.
This deck crushed. It has taken a long time, but Boros Equipment is finally posed to make a serious impact on Standard.
Viva Vivi! | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (11)
- 1 Stormshriek Feral
- 2 Marang River Regent
- 4 Geralf, the Fleshwright
- 4 Vivi Ornitier
- Instants (8)
- 2 Ephara's Dispersal
- 2 Spell Pierce
- 4 Opt
- Sorceries (12)
- 2 Ill-Timed Explosion
- 2 Glacial Dragonhunt
- 2 Highway Robbery
- 2 Stock Up
- 4 Sleight of Hand
- Enchantments (5)
- 1 Bitter Reunion
- 2 Roiling Dragonstorm
- 2 Winternight Stories
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Agatha's Soul Cauldron
Deck's Record: 4-1
Deck's Grade: A
Deck Potential: High
Standout Card: Vivi Ornitier
Wow, back to back bangers!
Vivi Ornitier was a card that jumped off the screen during my Set Review, but it wasn't entirely clear what a Vivi deck would look like. Well, the first attempt did pretty good!
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And by pretty good, I mean we storm combed multiple people on turn five or 6. In Standard.
With a Vivi under an Agatha's Soul Cauldron and a Geralf, the Fleshwright in play, every additional spell you cast creates a zombie with at least one counter on it. This zombie can use the Vivi ability to add 3 mana to cast a spell, which makes a zombie with two counters that makes 4 mana, and so on and so forth. As long as you have spells to cast you can keep going off, making mana and drawing cards, until you cast a huge portion of your deck.
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At some point you'll eventually find some Lindblum, Industrial Regency to make a Wizard token to ping while you're going off, or a Bitter Reunion to give all of your zombies haste, or a Stormshriek Feral you can pump all of your mana into. And the best part is that all these are reasonable spells to cast while setting up, so you're not wasting slots on actual "win condition" cards that don't do anything during set up.
There's a whole host of optimization to be had here, but with the velocity and flexibility a deck like this provides, combined with a combo kill and the ability to sideboard Cori-Steel Cutter and change gears in postboard games, you've got some real Standard combo potential.
Watch out for this one.
Battle Music | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (23)
- 2 Bloomvine Regent
- 2 Etali, Primal Conqueror
- 3 Overlord of the Boilerbilges
- 4 Overlord of the Hauntwoods
- 4 Summon: Fenrir
- 4 Trumpeting Carnosaur
- 4 Twinmaw Stormbrood
- Instants (4)
- 4 Smuggler's Surprise
- Sorceries (8)
- 4 Glimpse the Core
- 4 Random Encounter
- Lands (25)
- 7 Forest
- 1 Plains
- 2 Mountain
- 2 Karplusan Forest
- 2 Cavern of Souls
- 3 Commercial District
- 4 Fabled Passage
- 4 Thornspire Verge
Deck's Record: 3-2
Deck's Grade: C
Deck Potential: Medium to Low
Standout Card: Random Encounter
If those first two decks were too good for you and you're looking for something a little more out there, you're gonna love Random Encounter.
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Random Encounter is a card with an enormously high ceiling, notably just winning the game with a massive swing of huge idiots, but also asks a lot of you in deck-building and requires a little luck. Building a deck with enough viable hits is challenging while also having a functional mana curve, but it's a fun challenge! It's also excellent that you don't sacrifice the creatures they go back to your hand, so if you gain some life and don't quite finish the job, you'll see another turn to go again. Smuggler's Surprise helps with redundancy as it wants the exact same things.
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The deck is going to have a lot of ramp and large creatures, but the trick is finding cards that are great hits off Random Encounter and Smuggler's Surprise that still have utility in the early game. Trumpeting Carnosaur, Overlord of the Boilerbilges, and the Charring Bite half of Twinmaw Stormbrood can all be cast early to keep the board clear, but all offer fantastic hits as well.
It's unlikely this deck will ever be a tier one Standard deck, but if you love putting huge creatures into play and just want to feel something, it's a blast!
Cecil's Shadow | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (23)
- 1 Tinybones, the Pickpocket
- 3 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER
- 3 Sinkhole Surveyor
- 4 Caustic Bronco
- 4 Cecil, Dark Knight
- 4 Dark Confidant
- 4 Deep-Cavern Bat
- Instants (8)
- 4 Cut Down
- 4 Go for the Throat
- Sorceries (4)
- 1 Insatiable Avarice
- 3 Duress
- Artifacts (1)
- 1 The Last Ride
- Lands (24)
- 20 Swamp
- 2 Great Arashin City
- 2 Soulstone Sanctuary
Deck's Record: 2-3
Deck's Grade: C-
Deck Potential: Low Unless The Format Slows Down
Standout Card: Cecil, Dark Knight
Dark Confidant returns!
Unfortunately, 20 years of power creep haven't been too kind to one of the previously most powerful creatures of all time. Creature sizing is through the roof, and decks are often excellent at making sure they don't run out of cards.
That being said, we've gotta try right!
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This deck looks to leverage a super low mana curve, Dark Confidant and Caustic Bronco, and a few life loss effects alongside the new Cecil, Dark Knight. Cecil offers a monstrous body for 1 mana, but damages you when it deals damage. However, it's 2025, so there's upside too! If this ability triggers while you are at 10 or less life and Cecil survives, it flips over into a 4/4 lifelinker, which is quite the deal for 1 mana.
The aggression and removal in this deck was nice, but this is the kind of deck that would thrive in a slower, more midrange or control-oriented environment. Naturally the self-life loss deck is going to struggle into the more aggressive decks, which Standard currently has a ton of.
Oh, and please don't put The Last Ride in your deck for any reason, ever.
For The Birds | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (29)
- 2 Aven Interrupter
- 2 Kastral, the Windcrested
- 2 Mockingbird
- 3 Bartz and Boko
- 4 Choco, Seeker of Paradise
- 4 Llanowar Elves
- 4 Sazh's Chocobo
- 4 Traveling Chocobo
- 4 Valley Questcaller
- Instants (3)
- 3 Get Lost
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo
Deck's Record: 4-1
Deck's Grade: B+
Deck Potential: Medium to High
Standout Card: Choco, Seeker of Paradise
I may not know much about Final Fantasy, but I know what a Chocobo is. (Kinda!)
What I did not expect was to them to be a viable Standard deck, but here we are.
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Whoa boy are there a lot of powerful bird cards in Final Fantasy! Choco, Seeker of Paradise is the headliner, paying you off for attacking with a ton of birds by drawing you cards and potentially plopping lands into play, which of course will trigger your various landfall abilities. Traveling Chocobo doubles those triggers while also allowing a steady stream of lands and birds, and Bartz and Boko does an extremely impressive Flametongue Kavu impression.
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Add this to the forgotten bird cards from Bloomburrow and you've got an aggressive deck with a surprising amount of synergy that can kill fast but also go long.
It's very unclear what the final decklist will look like, but there's something here.
Any Town USA | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (11)
- 1 Ignis Scientia
- 1 Loot, Exuberant Explorer
- 2 Summon: Bahamut
- 3 The Wandering Minstrel
- 4 PuPu UFO
- Planeswalkers (4)
- 4 Ugin, Eye of the Storms
- Sorceries (8)
- 4 Reach the Horizon
- 4 Travel the Overworld
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Spelunking
- Artifacts (1)
- 1 The Irencrag
Deck's Record: 2-3
Deck's Grade: D+
Deck Potential: Low
Standout Card: PuPu UFO
We've had gates, deserts, snow, and more when it comes to land sub-types, all with varying levels of success, and now we've got towns!
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Focused primarily in Blue and Green, the towns themselves are pretty good. It's a lot of the usual enters the battlefield tapped fare, but Adventurer's Inn and Zanarkand, Ancient Metropolis are standouts that also play very well with Arid Archway, which also plays well with all of the extra land effects.
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However, the issue is that there just aren't that many actual payoffs for putting all these towns in your deck. Travel the Overworld is nice but clunky, so the deck just ends up being an Ugin ramp deck with a few sidequests.
If the format was slower and more midrange, this kind of deck could shine, but it is not well situated in the current metagame - it's really missing something like Gates Ablaze to give it a more controlling angle of attack.
Final Heaven | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (24)
- 4 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
- 4 Llanowar Elves
- 4 Mossborn Hydra
- 4 Sazh's Chocobo
- 4 Summon: Fenrir
- 4 Tifa Lockhart
- Instants (4)
- 1 Royal Treatment
- 1 Snakeskin Veil
- 2 Tyvar's Stand
- Sorceries (4)
- 4 Awaken the Woods
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Ride the Shoopuf
- Lands (24)
- 17 Forest
- 3 Promising Vein
- 4 Fabled Passage
Deck's Record: 2-3
Deck's Grade: B-
Deck Potential: Higher Than Record Would Indicate
Standout Card: Tifa Lockhart
One of the fears of only playing five games is the sample size is so small, and this was a very rough set. Losing all five die rolls is tough for a linear deck, and I was constantly drawing awkwardly; drawing the 1-drop on turn two, etc.
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That being said, there is some serious explosive potential in this shell. Any time a card says "double" on it, you know there is going to be some exponential possibilities, and Tifa Lockhart does just that. Most important is what this deck gains when it comes to redundancy. Ride the Shoopuf and Bristly Bill, Tifa Lockhart and Mossborn Hydra, and a variety of fetchlands alongside Fabled Passage bring a nice level of consistency.
This version aimed to go huge with Awaken the Woods, rather than trying to push through fragile pump spells like Titanic Growth, which aren't really suited for competitive play.
That being said, it needs work.
Blood On The | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
Deck's Record: 4-1
Deck's Grade: B-
Deck Potential: Medium
Standout Card: Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER
This deck had a single mission statement - answer the question "is Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER a good card?"
The answer is a resounding yes.
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Sephiroth is the best Blood Artist ever printed, as both an enabler and a payoff that even has a go big mode which completely alters the game with his emblem. Adding in another great new sacrifice payoff in Judge Magister Gabranth helps the cause, as does the Blood Artist already in the format in Vengeful Bloodwitch.
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Bartolome del Presidio is a phenomenal sacrifice outlet, but the deck does feel a little flat when you don't draw Sephiroth; there are a lot of 1/1s for 1 mana. The small Lively Dirge package helps this issue a bit, but the correct build here is difficult to nail down.
Que Serah | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (32)
- 1 Basri, Tomorrow's Champion
- 1 Loran of the Third Path
- 1 Marvin, Murderous Mimic
- 1 Sigarda, Font of Blessings
- 1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
- 1 The Wandering Rescuer
- 1 Tolsimir, Midnight's Light
- 2 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
- 2 Kellan, Daring Traveler
- 2 Melira, the Living Cure
- 2 Skrelv, Defector Mite
- 2 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
- 2 Torgal, A Fine Hound
- 2 Zack Fair
- 3 Venat, Heart of Hydaelyn
- 4 Llanowar Elves
- 4 Serah Farron
- Sorceries (4)
- 4 Animist's Might
- Lands (24)
- 4 Plains
- 4 Brushland
- 4 Hushwood Verge
- 4 Plaza of Heroes
- 4 Razorverge Thicket
- 4 Starting Town
Deck's Record: 1-4
Deck's Grade: D
Deck Potential: Low
Standout Card: Venat, Heart of Hydaelyn
One of the ten must be the worst, and here we are.
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The idea was to use Serah Farron and Venat, Heart of Hydaelyn to fuel a Green and White legendary stompy deck, with big, impactful creatures but also some mana and card advantage.
The problem is the deck isn't really fast enough to compete with the true aggro decks in the format, but also isn't powerful enough to go toe to toe with the slower decks. Also, neither card performed particularly well.
Oh well!
Crystal Mesh | FIN Standard | Jim Davis
- Creatures (10)
- 2 Sunset Strikemaster
- 4 Firion, Wild Rose Warrior
- 4 Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms
- Instants (4)
- 4 Rebel Salvo
- Artifacts (21)
- 1 The Irencrag
- 2 Dissection Tools
- 2 The Fire Crystal
- 4 Barbed Batterfist
- 4 Chainsaw
- 4 Dragonwing Glider
- 4 Samurai's Katana
- Lands (25)
- 17 Mountain
- 4 Cavern of Souls
- 4 Fountainport
Deck's Record: 3-2
Deck's Grade: C+
Deck Potential: Low To Medium
Standout Card: Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms
Six-mana creatures that effectively win the game when you cast them have a long and successful pedigree in Standard and near-Standard formats. Think Primeval Titan or Muxus, Goblin Grandee.
Final Fantasy gives us Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms.
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While this is also an equipment deck, it is nothing like the Boros version from earlier. Rather, this is more of a pseudo-combo deck looking to maximize Gilgamesh and Firion, Wild Rose Warrior alongside equipment that creates a creature. Firion will double those effects, giving you extra tokens as well as haste, while Gilgamesh can recruit you an entire army!
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If you are able to give Gilgamesh haste with Firion, Wild Rose Warrior, The Fire Crystal, or Dragonwing Glider, you get to peek the top 12 cards of your library and put in every single job select or for Mirrodin! equipment you can get into play with it's creature, creating an instant army. Chainsaw shines here once again also allowing you to find removal spells, another card that works very well with Firion, Wild Rose Warrior.
This deck is similar to the Random Encounter deck in that it's a bit of a crazy glass cannon that probably won't ever be a top tier deck, but it's a hell of a ride that can win some games too!
What A Set!
Any fears about this set not making an impact have been quelled with this Early Access Event.
There were half a dozen other ideas that I wanted to try, but it's Ten New Brews, not Seventeen New Brews! There's a lot going on and many of the new cards were very fun, which has me looking forward to both upcoming Standard as well as post-Rotation Standard in the fall.
While I've unfortunately fallen off of the Pro Tour and Pro Tour Final Fantasy will be the first Pro Tour in almost 3 years I won't play, you can bet I'll be tuning in to see what my old teammates cook up!
