I'm back once again for another Pauper review for the latest Magic: The Gathering release! This one I'm especially excited for, as Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy is what we might consider a dream set of mine. I've been a serious Final Fantasy fan for over twenty years and I've been dying to see what it might look like in Magic ever since. Now we're here in 2025 and we can finally see what that looks like.

However, I'm here to talk about commons, not necessarily Final Fantasy. If you want to see me gush about the lore and how they work within the cards themselves, don't worry. I've been putting out tons of articles regarding that very topic over the last few weeks, and still have many more planned in the near future. Today, though, I'm here to focus solely on Constructed playability for the Pauper format, so that's all I'm going to discuss today - outside a few oddball nods, of course.

There's a ton to talk about, so let's not waste any time and get right to it! We'll start off with an examination of this set's mechanics then look at the remaining card pool from there. Mount your chocobos, and let's get to it!

Job Select

Job Select is the latest take on equipment bringing a creature along with it. This continues the trend of mechanics like Living Weapon and For Mirrodin! A total of eight of these are coming to Pauper, though I only think a few are likely to be playable.

The two that I see as being the most likely candidates are Black Mage's Rod and Red Mage's Rapier. Black Mage's Rod is extremely good, as it provides a pinger creature potentially even after the creature it makes dies. It's also one of the first pinger options we see in Black, making it even better. Red Mage's Rapier can lead to some real Kiln Fiend or Festival Crasher-type nonsense, so there's very much a possible home there. I also kind of like the rate on Paladin's Arms for a creature with ward, though I think it's a distant third to the other two cards here.

Most of the other cards simply don't have the kind of rate that's really good for Pauper. If White Mage's Staff granted a Soul Warden-style ability to the creature rather than giving a life on attacking, then it might be playable. As is, it's fairly underwhelming, and the others just aren't worth the cost.

Tiered

Tiered magic is a pretty cool new innovation for design. Here it makes sense for the theming given how Final Fantasy games have multiple power levels for different magics, but I could see this being used in the future too for different sets. It's nice to have a base level card be just fine or go bigger if you have the mana to burn on it. There's great examples at higher rarities of this, like Restorative Magic and Fire Magic both being excellent at their base level and get better at higher levels.

In Pauper, though, we only have three of these. The only one that looks even remotely playable, though, is Vincent's Limit Break. This lets you make your creature substantially bigger and then brings it back if it dies. The problem is that when you compare it to other cards that change base power and toughness like this, the rate often doesn't feel the best, and it's only really good if your opponent is blocking or if you're going unblocked on the highest tier mode. Personally, I'm skeptical on whether or not it sees play, but it's certainly an interesting design.

Players are getting very confused on how it works, though (it makes the creature bigger and then returns it if it dies. It doesn't make the creature return bigger if it dies). Given that, I expect it to see play until players realize it doesn't work the way they think it does.

Saga Creatures

All of these cards read kind of sweet. I like the design space they're getting into with these. I'm less high on Summon: Fat Chocobo just because the rate is so high and I think Summon: G.F. Ifrit is far too slow to make a real impact. The abilities on the latter are good enough that maybe I'm wrong, but I'm a bit skeptical on it at the moment. Summon: Choco/Mog, on the other hand, feels really solid. The rate is reasonable and then you get an attack boost to your entire board for four turns in a row. I could see that one in White Weenies builds in the future.

Landcyclers

Most of the landcyclers this time are pretty rough. The rate on cycling all of them isn't great and the majority simply don't do enough to warrant playing them on the front side. I do, however, like the plant with the famously awful Bad Breath: Malboro.

This creature is one Final Fantasy players everywhere love to hate and the ability is a pretty good application of its status-inducing abilities on one simple creature. When it was first previewed, I read a lot of comments about how this just seems worse than Troll of Khazad-dum. In many ways, it is. Two mana vs. one to cycle it, and the fact that it's only a 4/4 to Troll's 6/5 with far less evasion makes it a bit less than ideal. However, its ETB ability does quite enough that utilizing it multiple times is likely far better than it may appear. Perhaps I'm a bit too optimistic on this one, but hey, consider me a fan.

Towns

Towns are the newest land subtype to come up out of this set. In short, they're essentially gates by another name. In this way, the ten dual lands function more or less the same as gates, however they lack the synergy that gates currently feature. As is now, though, the only card possibly worth playing is Adventurer's Inn, and that's only if you want it as a stylistic choice over Radiant Fountain, which is more or less the same card.

It doesn't help that there are currently only three cards that even care about towns at common. The only one likely playable in Pauper is Town Greeter, which is similar in functionality to classic Green self-mill card Satyr Wayfinder. Still, much like Adventurer's Inn, it's unlikely that you're running any towns, making the card just a stylistic preference. Maybe eventually we'll see some solid town support. After all, it did take over a decade before we got a truly viable gates strategy in the format.

When I see this, I can't help but think about how famously powerful Smuggler's Copter has been in other formats. Sadly, this is no Looter Scooter. Three mana with a crew of two is far different from Copter's two and one, respectively. Additionally, you only get the looting ability if you attack and not block. That's a lot to differentiate it, so while it seems fairly enticing, I don't have a lot of faith in it seeing any play.

Amazing flavor on this one aside, I'm not so sure about the rate on this one. Four mana for three creatures isn't the worst, nor is opting to tap down three creatures instead - with a stun counter each, no less. Despite this cool modality, what kills it is the combo of it still costing four mana and the fact that it's a sorcery. If this were an instant, it'd probably be great for control decks, but as is there's not really a good place for this and as such, it's unlikely to be a real player.

I don't like creatures that are a questionable rate for Constructed play and one that doesn't pass the Lightning Bolt test at that. However, I do like things that let me eat artifacts for more cards, especially when cards like Ichor Wellspring remain in the format. Sadly, I think the rate is poor enough that it's unlikely to show up anywhere, but more sacrifice outlets like this would be quite welcome.

Broken Wings has never really been playable and both Wilt and Heritage Reclamation offer cheaper alternatives for artifact and enchantment destruction. Still, adding cycling to Broken Wings is notable in that it adds to the versatility options, allowing you to replace it if you don't have any good targets. Probably still not quite good enough for tournament play, but an interesting shift in design.

If you play this as a slow threat in decks with a lot of high mana spells, it's not the worst option as it's both a beater and a kill spell. The reality is, though, that most decks will have far better and way more effective ways to close games than this. It's a neat design, but likely doesn't do much in a format like Pauper.

This seems kind of cool, until you realize it's a functional reprint of Fanatical Strength, Predator's Strike, and Staggering Size. Guess what sees zero play? Neither will Blitzball Shot.

Making a Chocobo token is cute, but probably too expensive in the case of Call the Mountain Chocobo - even if you get a land out of the equation. Gysahl Greens is basically an above average bear, but unless you're trying to go hard on some landfall aggro deck, it's unlikely to be all that good. Seeing as something that already isn't happening when Steppe Lynx and Akoum Hellhound already existing, I'm not holding out hope for these to be good either.

Rabid Bite isn't good in this format, nor are superior variants like Bite Down. The fact that you can double the damage as well as fuel possible land drop synergies isn't likely to make this one playable. That said, I'm a fan of the innovative ways they continue to expand this design space.

Better Divination is always welcome, and granting a +1/+1 counter is really nice. The issue with this one is that Pauper is already home to draw spells that are frequently far better. As a result, the card feels mediocre in the context of the format and likely won't see any play.

I doubt this one sees any play. Think of the kinds of Green decks in the format. How many of them are playing or care about all three artifacts, creatures, and lands? Most only care about creatures and lands out of the three, which also happens to be the two modes the similar Adventurous Impulse finds. Given that they're usually identical cards for all intents and purposes and Adventurous Impulse sees no play, I doubt this one makes a mark either.

Three mana edicts aren't the most exciting, but they're a lot better when they also come with a creature stapled to them. This is the kind of card that can give Black Control decks a little more reach and versatility. I doubt it's going to set the world on fire, but this is a very good step in the right direction for these beloved classic strategies.

This is a sort of sidegrade to Think Twice which isn't exactly Pauper playable. This might be interesting for other formats, but I think the pricey flashback cost hinders it a bit much - especially in a format like Pauper which has access to several of the best cantrips ever printed.

If you have a bunch of artifacts, those can look like some pretty decent stats - especially with the vigilance tacked on. It's a bit rough compared to Auriok Sunchaser, which is cheaper at 2 mana, but additional copies are fine even with that increase in cost. With this and another card I'll get to later, it'll be interesting to see if a new White-based Artifact Aggro deck shows up.

1/1 deathtouchers with nothing else going on for them suck in Pauper. However, if you can fill your graveyard with creatures and get to eight mana, this thing can get huge. Now, realistically, these kinds of graveyard decks aren't hitting eight mana unless you're something like Cycling Songs. That deck really wants to max out on ways to cycle creatures into the graveyard, so it's unlikely the deck wants this, but hey, maybe it gets tried as an alternate win condition if the Drannith Stinger plan doesn't pan out. I wouldn't count on it, but it's the one real possibility I see outside of something like Dredge which, again, doesn't usually get to 8 mana to make real use of the ability.

It's cool that we continue to get more variants of this sort of effect, but Pauper doesn't care about this the way Leyline of Resonance decks might in Standard. Cool card, but very much not the kind of power level you'd expect out of Pauper.

Hey look, it's the requisite Ravenous Rats variant of the set. There's so many that you could make a deck of these kinds of cards and Swamps and only need to run a modest number of lands. It's exactly what you expect: unplayable except to a specific subset of casual-minded players who like this particular strategy.

Regardless of your thoughts on getting Ramen in Magic, the fact remains that this is a very good card. It's comparable to Lembas, but Lembas both scries and makes its way back into your deck. The thing with this, though, is that you can hold it to play at instant speed, meaning if you're piloting a control or tempo style deck, you can hold up interaction on your opponents' turns. Then, if you don't need to use any of your interaction, you play this. It seems like one of the better and more versatile two mana artifacts that draw a card on entry, so I'd expect this one to see some play.

Ulamog's Crusher doesn't even see play in Tron decks these days and hasn't for a long, long time. I doubt a French vanilla beater like this is going to make a real kind of showing anywhere.

Pauper always seems really close to seeing a solid Red equipment deck breaking out with the amount of synergy the archetype has received over the past few years. Heck, I've even had a local player trying to jam one such deck at our weekly Pauper nights. This adds another piece to the puzzle, but still probably not enough to crack it as a deck.

This is just a functional reprint of Electric Revelation, which to my knowledge has never seen any kind of play until recently. It seems to be showing up in some of the so-called Ruby Storm lists lately (the name coming from the Modern deck). The deck is a super niche player and is so recent, it's hard to say if the deck really wants copies 5-8 as well. We'll have to see how it plays out in the coming weeks. Nothing else wants this, though, so I'd expect ti to not make a huge impact on the format.

Whoa, it's not very often we see a legendary card at common! This being a non-creature artifact and one with a rather ho-hum ability makes it unlikely to see real Pauper play. However, it is cool to see them doing more legends at common over the past few years.

This is just a functional reprint of Shore Up, so if you really needed more copies of that anywhere, here you go.

Repeatable graveyard hate is always decent, and this does give you a solid rebate for casting it. The stats aren't nothing either, as a 1/4 can block a lot of things. Still, I think the upfront cost as well as the fact that you need to untap with it before you can start exiling stuff makes it a tougher sell than other options as far as graveyard hate goes.

Hey look, I got to preview this card! (Thanks again WotC for that free preview.)

In my reveal thread I talked about the lore but not so much my thoughts on Pauper playability. My initial thought was that it plays a bit like Court Homunculus, which hasn't seen serious play in years. The real question is, though, does a critical mass of them make it worthwhile? The fact that you can find more is also nice, but looking at things realistically: three mana is often quite a bit, especially when the creature gets picked off so easily. That having been said, maybe there's now a deck that uses four of each Magitek Infantry, Court Homunculus, Gaelicat, Auriok Sunchaser, and Ardent Recruit for a cool Artifact Aggro deck in White. We'll just have to see where it lands, but personally, I'm a bit lower on this than many people seem to be at the moment.

It's not very difficult to flicker this and then generate tons of pingers. The more you make, the more damage you can dish out to your opponents. This definitely seems like the kind of strategy Ghostly Flicker and Ephemerate enthusiasts will be interested in, though it remains to be seen if it'll be better than existing Flicker endgame strategies we already have access to.

Okay, now there's a sweet rate. Sorcery speed kills this one a bit, but good card selection plus filling your graveyard is a lot at 2 mana. Seven mana for flashback is a ton, but it's good to have access to in a late-game pinch.

Two sizable creatures off a single card is my kind of spell, though four mana is still quite a bit even for the spells that might want something like this as a finisher. More importantly, Seize the Storm (and the similar Serpentine Curve) are likely to create even bigger creatures for the decks that want these kinds of spells. I'd defer to those for spell-heavy decks, but might consider this for other types of control-oriented builds.

This is basically Skyswimmer Koi. The difference, though, is that this one also triggers off of additional copies. Still probably too expensive to be worthwhile, though.

Two mana for this kind of ability? That's my kind of number. Tunneling Geopede and Spitfire Lagac being three and four mana make them totally unreliable. Two mana makes this one a lot more appealing, though the stats make it quite easy to deal with. Three land drops makes this a Lightning Bolt on a creature, though, so I have to imagine someone will mess with building a deck out of it. I doubt it'll be better than existing pinger options, but it's a nice alternative for players to mess around with.

Is it weird that I like this one? That's not a bad rate for blocking that also contributes to your affinity count for the deck of the same name. Additionally, given the midrangey nature of Affinity decks, the games do tend to go on long enough that getting to seven lands isn't too out of the ordinary. It's probably too rough for the majority of the game to be relevant, but I can't help but feel like there's potentially something here.

There's a lot to love about this card. Meme value aside, it reads like a worse Abrade at first glance given that it's a sorcery. However, anything you take out gets exiled makes this more of a side-grade than anything. Often, you're going to care about just having the instant speed option. However, there are bound to be more than a few times where the right meta call is to go for the exile mode instead. I'd expect Abrade to continue seeing more play when it does see play, but I'm sure we'll see this one from time to time.

Oh, and if by some miracle you cast this on a Renegade Freighter you should just automatically win the game on the spot. I don't make the rules.

Oblivion Ring variants never see play in Pauper at three mana, so it's unlikely that it sees play at four mana either. The fact that this also acts as a mana rock is notable, but not notable enough to get this one to actually see any play.

Expedition Map this is not, and the three mana is a world of difference. Couple this with the fact that the only deck which runs Expedition Map - Tron - doesn't even always run the full four copies and the likelihood of this actually being playable is low. You might see it once in a Blue moon from someone who really wants that extra land search, but if I'm being frank: you're likely seeing a suboptimal build at that point.

This might be the best one mana combat trick to date in White, unless there's something I'm forgetting. Decks like White Weenies are prone to going wide, so providing an opportunity for players to use this and either deal with a big blocker or go for a kill shot is quite solid. Combat tricks rarely make the cut so I'm not exactly holding my breath on this one, but it's got a better chance than most given the strong rate.

As a long time Final Fantasy fan, this set is like a dream come true. As a Pauper player, though, I'm a bit less convinced. I think a lot of the cards in this set are interesting and will inspire players to try new things, which is fantastic. I'm less sure in regards to how many of them I expect to actually see play though. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks ahead, though, and I'm stoked to see how the format adjusts to this influx of new cards.

Paige Smith

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