Hello Everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel, and this is Commander Kryptonite, the series that looks at the strongest commanders in the format, how they work, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to go about beating them. Today we're looking at one of the strongest new commanders from Final Fantasy and one of the most iconic video game supervillains: Sephiroth. This creature and deck are packed with power, as you might expect, so naturally this is a commander you'll want to be aware of. The odds of running into it in the wild are quite high. Let's begin!

The Commander

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is an incredibly strong commander that's capable of producing emblems that can't be interacted with. This is typically an effect reserved for planeswalkers, but Sephiroth breaks that trend once the fourth creature dies in a single turn. This could happen through a board wipe, removal, blocking, or even just sacrificing them to a sac outlet like Phyrexian Altar. Once that happens, we also get the flipped side of Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel. On the One-Winged Angel side, Sephiroth can sacrifice as many creatures as it wants to draw that many cards and drain the table at the same time. This keeps Sephiroth's hand full and the pressure on.

The Deck

These decks, bracket three of four, tend to lean on an aristocrats strategy, sacrificing creatures over and over to drain the table of life and resources. Since Sephiroth can create emblems that players can't interact with, this playstyle is usually hyper efficient. Pair that efficiency with the fact that this deck is Mono-Black, and not having colors is a thing of the past. This deck really isn't capable of having a bad game all that often. Here is an example of a Sephiroth deck you might see at your local game store.

EDHREC Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER | Commander

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Accursed Marauder
• 1 Ayara, First of Locthwain
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Bloodghast
• 1 Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1 Carrion Feeder
• 1 Crypt Ghast
• 1 Drivnod, Carnage Dominus
• 1 Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Forsaken Miner
• 1 Gravecrawler
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia
• 1 Marionette Apprentice
• 1 Merciless Executioner
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Nether Traitor
• 1 Nine-Lives Familiar
• 1 Ophiomancer
• 1 Pawn of Ulamog
• 1 Pitiless Plunderer
• 1 Plaguecrafter
• 1 Reassembling Skeleton
• 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Warren Soultrader
• 1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1 Zodiark, Umbral God
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General

• Instants (10)
• 1 Culling the Weak
• 1 Dark Ritual
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Deadly Rollick
• 1 Fell the Profane // Fell Mire
• 1 Flare of Malice
• 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
• 1 Sheoldred's Edict
• 1 Village Rites
• 1 Withering Torment

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Blasphemous Edict
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Diabolic Intent
• 1 Feed the Swarm
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Unearth
• 1 Victimize

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Bastion of Remembrance
• 1 Bitterblossom
• 1 Black Market Connections
• 1 Dictate of Erebos
• 1 Dreadhorde Invasion
• 1 Grave Pact
• 1 The Meathook Massacre

• Artifacts (10)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Bolas's Citadel
• 1 Bontu's Monument
• 1 Jet Medallion
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 The Darkness Crystal
• 1 The Masamune

• Lands (33)
• 25 Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Cabal Stronghold
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Midgar, City of Mako
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

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Strengths

This deck is incredibly consistent, resilient, and powerful all at once. It can play early-game combos to win or grind it out in a late-game slugfest. Since it plays Mono-Black, it's very easy to use the Cabal Coffers combo with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to produce an abundance of Black mana. The deck can also include recursion packages, allowing cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel to be looped over and over to drain the table to zero.

Weaknesses

Though the deck is more consistent using only one color, there are drawbacks, particularly in the removal Sephiroth can use. If one of its opponents plays a troublesome enchantment like Linguify or Rest in Peace, a Mono-Black deck will have a harder time getting back on track than a White or Green deck would. Additionally, this deck relies on having a lot of smaller creatures to sacrifice, so if something is played that prevents those creatures from piling up, the deck could struggle to "do the thing."

Cards to Look Out For

1. Ashnod's Altar - This applies to all sac outlets, but Ashnod's Altar can also produce a huge amount of ramp. This effect holds the table hostage since any attempt to target Sephiroth will likely result in sacrificing four creatures, flipping Sephiroth over and creating an emblem. These need to be removed early if you want a chance at winning.
2. Bitterblossom - The deck needs four creatures to die in a single turn before Sephiroth can flip, so tokens play a big part in the gameplan. It's always better to sacrifice expendable tokens rather than key support creatures, so keeping the board clean is essential.
3. Dictate of Erebos - A lot of players treat this as a gamechanger. It holds the board hostage and turns all those sacrifices into a symmetrical effect. Sacrificing no longer means going down in material, and the other players usually struggle to keep anything on the board at all.
4. Gray Merchant of Asphodel - If there's a reanimation synergy at all, Gary's going to be involved. In the late game, when boards are bigger, this card can flip life totals or just win the game outright. Since it's an ETB effect, it can be looped and reused multiple times. There's a reason Gary is so beloved by mono-black players.
5. Blood Artist - The emblem Sephiroth creates drains opponents when creatures die. One of the best things these decks can do is double or triple up on that effect. Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, and even Falkenrath Noble can all fit in to turn up the heat.

How to Beat the One-Winged Angel

Mono-Black usually gets stronger the longer the game goes on, draining life totals while staying healthy or trading life for value with cards like Necropotence. Unfortunately for us, Sephiroth is very good at playing enough removal to drag games into the later stages.

If we can include hate pieces in the 99 that are artifacts or enchantments, Sephiroth will have a harder time dealing with them. But that won't help once the game starts. Typically with Black decks, the best cards convert life into resources like card draw, so we should chip in for damage whenever possible to limit that ability.

Sephiroth needs its dying ability to trigger a fourth time in a turn to flip and create an emblem, so it's important to keep sacrifice outlets and creature swarms off the field. Since those triggers go on the stack, we can also remove Sephiroth from play before it gets the chance to flip.

Ultimately, this deck plays well against creature-based strategies, but being in Mono-Black comes with a price. Archetypes like artifact decks, spellslinger builds, or certain combos aren't as vulnerable and they might be able to sneak out a win before Sephiroth drains the table. Fortunately, this commander tends to attract a lot of attention, so flying under the radar might be easier than you'd think.

Commander Kryptonite

Still having trouble with Sephiroth? Consider adding these cards to your 99:

1. Angel of Jubilation - This card is an anthem and shuts down sacrificing creatures or paying life to cast spells or activate abilities. That's a huge part of most Mono-Black decks, and this one's no different. Since it also buffs your board, it's a solid fit for most White decks.
2. Screaming Nemesis - I still can't believe this card was printed. One chump block with Screaming Nemesis and the Sephiroth player will be hit for damage and won't be allowed to gain life for the rest of the game.
3. Oubliette - A great way to lock Sephiroth out of the game and reduce the rest of the deck to a mild aristocrats shell. While it can still do damage, it's nowhere near as threatening without those emblems in play.

And that is hot to defeat Sephiroth... at least in Magic. As far as the Final Fantasy games go, you are on your own. If there is a commander you would like to see featured on Commander Kryptonite, send us an email at thoughtvesselshow@gmail.com Until next time, happy gaming.