In late 2002, a little game came out that I fell tremendously in love with: Kingdom Hearts. Yeah, it's a fun game - and series - to meme on these days with how weird and convoluted the story has become, but at the time that first game was special. It became my first foray into the world of Square-Enix (then Squaresoft) role-playing games and introduced me to several Final Fantasy characters.

Thanks to the inclusion of these famous faces, it made me want to go back and check out the games they were originally from. While most characters added some elements of fun and neat cameo-based storytelling, there was one person who I quickly obsessed with - a devastatingly powerful one-winged angel.

That's right, we're finally talking about Sephiroth. This monster of a secret boss was difficult to take down. Just who was he? Why exactly was he so powerful? This made me read up on the character and got me excited above all else to get my hands on a copy of the legendary Final Fantasy VII.

If you read my lore breakdown of that game a few weeks ago, you'd know just how quickly a fan of it I became. What you might not know, though, is just how much of a Sephiroth fan I became in the process. It's hard to overstate just how much of one I was at the time, using various Sephiroth-themed usernames, drawing endless doodles of the character, and even having a Sephiroth fan site courtesy of Geocities. I was downright obsessed.

One thing I even tried doing at this time was make my own Sephiroth Magic: The Gathering cards. I loved getting to just mess around with what he could do, and even though they all certainly proved awful, those dreams would finally become a reality this year in 2025.

With the release of Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy, we're getting not just one but four awesome Sephiroth cards. Sure, one is just a reskinned Atraxa, Grand Unifier, but who's counting? There's four super cool cards here and, at long last, I - like many others - can finally live out their childhood dream of building a deck around this magnificent silver-haired bastard.

However, I'm not just making one Commander deck as I normally might. Oh no. Sephiroth is someone who gets the red carpet treatment from me. He's one of my favorite fictional characters of all time and I'm going to build lists for every single card he was given. If you normally read my Commander deck write-ups, you'll likely be a little disappointed by the fact that many of these individual explanations won't be so lengthy. It's an unfortunate side-effect of having to cover so much ground, I'm afraid!

Now then, without further ado, let's jump right into the first deck for Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER!

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER | Commander | Paige Smith

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

• Creatures (33)
• 1 Accursed Marauder
• 1 Al Bhed Salvagers
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Bloodghast
• 1 Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1 Butcher of Malakir
• 1 Cult Conscript
• 1 Fang, Fearless l'Cie
• 1 Forsaken Miner
• 1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
• 1 Grim Haruspex
• 1 Hell's Caretaker
• 1 Interceptor, Shadow's Hound
• 1 K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1 Marionette Apprentice
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Murderous Rider // Swift End
• 1 Nether Traitor
• 1 Ophiomancer
• 1 Pitiless Plunderer
• 1 Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1 Razorlash Transmogrant
• 1 Reassembling Skeleton
• 1 Reno and Rude
• 1 Shadow, Mysterious Assassin
• 1 Skeleton Crew
• 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1 Vein Ripper
• 1 Vengeful Bloodwitch
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Warren Soultrader
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat

• Instants (5)
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Defile
• 1 Doom Blade
• 1 Overkill
• 1 Sephiroth's Intervention

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Night's Whisper
• 1 Rejoin the Fight
• 1 Diabolic Intent
• 1 The Final Days
• 1 Victimize

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Attrition
• 1 Bastion of Remembrance
• 1 Dictate of Erebos
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1 The Meathook Massacre

• Artifacts (10)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Charcoal Diamond
• 1 Darksteel Plate
• 1 Dissection Tools
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 The Darkness Crystal
• 1 The Masamune

• Lands (38)
• 22 Swamp
• 1 Arch of Orazca
• 1 Ash Barrens
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Cabal Stronghold
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 1 High Market
• 1 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 1 Memorial to Folly
• 1 Midgar, City of Mako
• 1 Mortuary Mire
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Polluted Mire
• 1 Spymaster's Vault

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I love what they ended up doing with this first version of Sephiroth. The card is both extremely powerful from a playability sense while also being incredibly flavorful. For most of Final Fantasy VII, you see Sephiroth here and there but he's not actually the real Sephiroth. Rather, Sephiroth imprints himself onto others who have Jenova cells imprinted in them and isn't afraid to sacrifice them to further his goals. This is what makes his sacrificing ability an excellent way to represent the character.

In terms of how it plays from a Magic standpoint, the playstyle is a tried and true classic: Aristocrats. After all, Sephiroth himself is basically little more than a glorified Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat, but in the command zone. If you've played a Black-focused sacrifice-heavy deck in the past, you're almost certainly familiar with how this one plays out.

What I like to look for with these kinds of decks first and foremost are ways to repeatedly get creatures back onto the battlefield over and over again. Thankfully, Magic has created several of these over the years, with many having come out just in the last couple years. If you've been playing for the last couple years, there's a good chance you have copies of cards like Forsaken Miner, Razorlash Transmogrant, and Bloodghast sitting around. Each of these provides a way to have a creature you can sacrifice repeatedly with little effort.

Some other great examples might include Nether Traitor, Bloodsoaked Champion, and Reassembling Skeleton. Cult Conscript is great as well, though you do need to rely on some of your non-skeleton creatures to utilize it most effectively. For a deck like this, though, it's usually going to prove better compared to Gravecrawler which won't work quite so well thanks to the deck's low use of zombies as a whole.

Additionally, you want some good sacrifice outlets to make use of, otherwise you're relying on your opponents to kill your creatures. Since this would benefit Sephiroth in multiple ways, players are unlikely to take out your stuff. This benefits you since you can get in extra damage and then sacrifice for more, or else if they block you still get some triggers out of the deal.

For the purposes of this deck, I selected a couple personal favorite sac outlets. The best repeatable options are your free ones, which makes cards like Phyrexian Altar (or Ashnod's Altar), Viscera Seer, and Warren Soultrader so good. You can use their abilities as much as you'd like without repercussions. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is also a fantastic option, and just so happens to have gotten a cool Final Fantasy reskin thanks to the Through the Ages bonus sheet.

Sometimes you don't need an ability that you can loop, though, to do something powerful. Take a card like Hell's Caretaker, for example. You have to tap it to use its ability which means you only get to use it once per turn. However, getting back a powerful creature by sacrificing something small that you can easily return to the battlefield is a huge payoff. I like Priest of Forgotten Gods for a similar reason. It's not as flashy as something like Yawgmoth or Warren Soultrader repeatedly going off, but the amount of bonuses you get at your opponents' expense is well worth the cost.

Finally, there's all of the many ways to take advantage of your creatures dying. I already mentioned Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat, but that's just the tip of the iceberg for this kind of effect. You can also utilize the likes of Marionette Apprentice, Vengeful Bloodwitch, and Syr Konrad, the Grim for more of this. If you want one that's not a creature, Bastion of Remembrance will get the job done nicely. I even included the new Final Fantasy card Al Bhed Salvagers to go with the deck, even if it might be one of the worse options to you.

Also, while I'm on the topic of Final Fantasy cards, there is one that absolutely has to be mentioned here...

Seriously, what kind of deck would this be if you didn't include Sephiroth's Intervention in it? Is the card not particularly strong in the context of Commander? Absolutely. But the flavor opportunity is way too high to not put it in here. If you can't deal with a creature by attacking or blocking, at least you get this as an option to take it out in a more direct fashion.

I also like including The Masamune for a similar purpose. It's flavorful, but also just happens to be a very potent card when used in tandem with Sephiroth himself. Double up on all those death triggers for double the misery inflicted on your opponents!

All this is to say that Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is a fairly straightforward list to talk about. It's a good thing there's more to talk about, though, so I don't need to sound like a broken record talking about my Xth Aristocrats list. So let's move onto the next Sephiroth legend, Sephiroth, Planet's Heir.

Sephiroth, Planet's Heir | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sephiroth, Planet's Heir

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Accursed Marauder
• 1 Archaeomancer
• 1 Bloodghast
• 1 Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1 Displacer Kitten
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Gaius van Baelsar
• 1 Grim Haruspex
• 1 Interceptor, Shadow's Hound
• 1 Maha, Its Feathers Night
• 1 Marionette Apprentice
• 1 Massacre Girl
• 1 Massacre Girl, Known Killer
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Nether Traitor
• 1 Ophiomancer
• 1 Pitiless Plunderer
• 1 Plaguecrafter
• 1 Razorlash Transmogrant
• 1 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel
• 1 Sepulchral Primordial
• 1 Shadow, Mysterious Assassin
• 1 Skeleton Crew
• 1 Slaughter Specialist
• 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1 Vein Ripper
• 1 Vengeful Bloodwitch
• 1 Warren Soultrader
• 1 Y'shtola Rhul
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat

• Instants (7)
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Displace
• 1 Ghostly Flicker
• 1 Negate
• 1 Overkill
• 1 Sephiroth's Intervention

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Night's Whisper
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Diabolic Intent
• 1 Stock Up

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 1 Attrition
• 1 Bastion of Remembrance
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 The Meathook Massacre

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bilbo's Ring
• 1 Conjurer's Closet
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Helm of the Host
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 The Darkness Crystal
• 1 The Masamune
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (38)
• 4 Island
• 9 Swamp
• 1 Arch of Orazca
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 1 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
• 1 Command Beacon
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Demolition Field
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Fetid Pools
• 1 Fountainport
• 1 Gloomlake Verge
• 1 High Market
• 1 Midgar, City of Mako
• 1 Mistrise Village
• 1 Morphic Pool
• 1 Mortuary Mire
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Secret Passage
• 1 Shipwreck Marsh
• 1 Sunken Ruins
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Underground River
• 1 Watery Grave

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If this deck looks a bit familiar, that's because I definitely built it as a reworked version of Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel. Oh no, does that mean I have to talk even more extensively about Aristocrats strategies?! Well, not quite.

The thing is that this iteration of Sephiroth is a lot simpler thanks to being one of the face cards of the set's Starter Kit. You make your opponents' creatures die and your creature gets bigger. It's about as straightforward as you can get. In practice, though, killing your opponents' creatures over and over again is a surefire way for everyone at the table to hate your guts. That's why I based it on Fabled SOLDIER at first to give it a little more reach and a slightly different angle.

However, that doesn't mean I'm not still in the market for taking everything out. Far from it, in fact. For as simple as this Commander might be, I think it's also the most villainous option. Even including just a few other kill spells like Massacre Wurm and Massacre Girl (similar names unintended here) goes a long way at making your opponents miserable. It's simply not all-in on the strategy and gives everyone at the table a little wiggle room as such.

The main goal here, though, is absolutely to be the villain. You're Sephiroth, after all. You're one of the greatest antagonists in all of video games. Why won't you want to play up that villain role a little bit?

So, while I only left in a couple of these powerful board wipes, what I also stuck in were ways to use them over and over again. This is where the deck starts taking advantage of its Blue coloration a little bit. Displacer Kitten and Y'shtola Rhul are both excellent at this, flickering copies of cards like Massacre Wurm or even force edicts like Plaguecrafter to ruin your opponents' day. If you want to get really finicky with this, you can also utilize Archaeomancer with Displace and Ghostly Flicker to get a loop going.

The other thing I tried to add a touch of in this list was a handful of ways to grant some serious evasion. Sephiroth, Planet's Heir is often going to be little more than a glorified beater that gets chump blocked forever. You have to find some ways to make it so he can't be chump blocked. Commander staples like Whispersilk Cloak and Rogue's Passage are usually going to be two of your most common ways to do this. I've also included Bilbo's Ring to make Sephiroth that much harder to deal with and Aqueous Form to give one more means of unblockability that also helps set up your draws in the most effective way possible.

I do really want to stress though: this deck is almost guaranteed to make your opponents miserable. While it's fun to be the villain here and there, I'd like to encourage you to do so in moderation and only with friends that understand what they're getting into.

Thankfully, though, our next Sephiroth deck is quite a bit more simple and is notably less removal-heavy.

Sephiroth, Fallen Hero | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sephiroth, Fallen Hero

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Ajani, Nacatl Pariah // Ajani, Nacatl Avenger
• 1 Akki Battle Squad
• 1 Angel of Invention
• 1 Baird, Argivian Recruiter
• 1 Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
• 1 Emeria Angel
• 1 Envoy of the Ancestors
• 1 Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei
• 1 Guardian of the Forgotten
• 1 Heidegger, Shinra Executive
• 1 Kami of Celebration
• 1 Kemba, Kha Regent
• 1 Krenko, Mob Boss
• 1 Lightning, Army of One
• 1 Monastery Mentor
• 1 Professional Face-Breaker
• 1 Thundering Raiju
• 1 Towashi Guide-Bot
• 1 Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed Meadow

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

• Instants (8)
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Flawless Maneuver
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Grand Crescendo
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Secure the Wastes
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Wear // Tear

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Increasing Devotion
• 1 Martial Coup
• 1 Nibelheim Aflame
• 1 Release the Gremlins
• 1 Ultimate Magic: Meteor
• 1 Unfinished Business
• 1 Vanquish the Horde

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Assemble the Legion
• 1 Felidar Retreat
• 1 SOLDIER Military Program
• 1 Virtue of Loyalty

• Artifacts (21)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus
• 1 Bladehold War-Whip
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Captain's Claws
• 1 Champion's Helm
• 1 Cori-Steel Cutter
• 1 Dancer's Chakrams
• 1 Darksteel Plate
• 1 Glimmer Lens
• 1 Halo Fountain
• 1 Horn of Gondor
• 1 Horn of Valhalla
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mask of Memory
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1 Staff of the Storyteller

• Lands (38)
• 2 Mountain
• 6 Plains
• 1 Arena of Glory
• 1 Axgard Armory
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 1 Cave of the Frost Dragon
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dalkovan Encampment
• 1 Den of the Bugbear
• 1 Elegant Parlor
• 1 Forgotten Cave
• 1 Furycalm Snarl
• 1 Hall
• 1 Ishgard, the Holy See
• 1 Kher Keep
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway
• 1 Restless Bivouac
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rugged Prairie
• 1 Rustic Clachan
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Secluded Steppe
• 1 Sejiri Steppe
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Sunbaked Canyon
• 1 Sunbillow Verge
• 1 Sundown Pass
• 1 Windbrisk Heights

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Weirdly, this deck feels perhaps the most un-Sephiroth of all four of these decks. Rather than relying on playing up the villain, you're encouraged to fill your board with small creatures. Then you take those small creatures, give them a very minor buff, and suddenly you're taking over the game. With both of the other two commanders thus far - as well as the next one - the vibe feels very much like you're playing up the villain. Here, though, you get the energy of raising a righteous army, so it feels a little odd.

Weird flavor vibes aside, though, the important thing is just how brutally you can crush your opponents with this deck. With a small, simple modification (using counters, equipment, and auras) your creatures get monstrous. Having a small army of 7/5s will end many games extremely fast. If you have a good set of token generators and then have an easy means of dishing out counters, then you'll have no problem at all pulling such a thing off.

Making tokens is a breeze with the right card, thankfully. Classic token generation staples like Monastery Mentor, Emeria Angel, and Krenko, Mob Boss will fill your board up in record time. If you really want a big burst of threats, cards like Martial Coup, Grand Crescendo, and Secure the Wastes will give you what you need in a flash. Making tokens is easy, but filling them out is where things can get a bit trickier.

The easiest way to get the modified rider online was simple: give your creatures +1/+1 counters. Personally, though, there aren't a ton of ways put those kinds of effects into a deck like this without taking away from other options as well. So, I put in two cards that will continuously load your board up with counters: Felidar Retreat and Virtue of Loyalty. I found both of these to be devastating but also modest in that they only activate once per turn. This makes it far more manageable than something like Cathars' Crusade.

I did consider a couple other options as well. Ajani Goldmane, for example, was one that quickly came to mind. Even if you don't use his painfully weak +1, just ticking him down repeatedly can be more than enough to win a game. Basri's Solidarity, Bounding Felidar, Collective Effort... there's no shortage to these if you really want more. However, I wanted to lean into a more fun and versatile strategy rather than going all-in here, so I instead looked to put a bit more emphasis on equipment.

Cards like Captain's Claws and Cori-Steel Cutter are fun because they just so happen to let you make more creatures to go off with. I also like the ones that bring creatures with them, like Glimmer Lens, Bladehold War-Whip, and Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus. Sword of Truth and Justice pulls double duty, acting both as modifier to one creature and then dishing out counters around your board after. Skullclamp is perhaps the funniest card, though, as it makes your little tokens into a card draw engine or a means to push through more damage - or simply resurrect Sephiroth himself once more.

Overall, this is the sort of deck that I'd play if I still wanted to represent the character in a fun way that doesn't feel absolutely soul-crushing. A deck like Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER or Sephiroth, Planet's Heir can be just that. Having access to a bit of a palette cleanser will go a long way, especially before you reach the true final boss of Sephiroth as Atraxa, Grand Unifier.

Sephiroth, the Savior | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Atraxa, Grand Unifier (Sephiroth, the Savior)

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Absolute Virtue
• 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1 Baleful Strix
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Bloom Tender
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Evil Twin
• 1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1 Glissa Sunslayer
• 1 Jenova, Ancient Calamity
• 1 Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
• 1 Noble Hierarch
• 1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
• 1 Overlord of the Hauntwoods
• 1 Sen Triplets
• 1 Sephiroth, Planet's Heir
• 1 Sin, Spira's Punishment
• 1 Springbloom Druid
• 1 Summon: Knights of Round
• 1 The Scarab God
• 1 Timeless Witness
• 1 Volrath, the Shapestealer
• 1 Zenos yae Galvus // Shinryu, Transcendent Rival

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1 Nissa, Ascended Animist
• 1 Oko, Thief of Crowns
• 1 Vraska, Golgari Queen

• Instants (4)
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Crib Swap
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Void Rend

• Sorceries (13)
• 1 Commune with Evil
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Diabolic Tutor
• 1 Farewell
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Damn
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Villainous Wealth
• 1 Vindicate
• 1 Wrath of God

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Blind Obedience
• 1 Control Magic
• 1 Lignify
• 1 Sphere of Safety
• 1 Virtue of Loyalty
• 1 Virtue of Persistence

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Golgari Signet
• 1 Selesnya Signet
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Sol Ring

• Battles (3)
• 1 Invasion of Shandalar // Leyline Surge
• 1 Invasion of Tolvada // The Broken Sky
• 1 Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave

• Lands (40)
• 3 Island
• 3 Plains
• 4 Forest
• 4 Swamp
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Command Beacon
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Indatha Triome
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Opulent Palace
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Raffine's Tower
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Seaside Citadel
• 1 Spara's Headquarters
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Woodland Cemetery
• 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
• 1 Zagoth Triome

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When I think back to those early days of being enamored with Final Fantasy VII, there's one thing I'll never forget: the moment when the legendary One-Winged Angel first starts playing. You find yourself in a bright white battlefield as you watch an angelic and godlike Sephiroth descend to your level. The music feels epic in a way the completely elevates the battle and makes it feel like you're witnessing the finale of something truly special.

Safer Sephiroth wasn't just hard - he was brutal. If you weren't leveled up enough, he could wipe your party members out with ease, plague them with status ailments, or even take the health of every character down to 1. I died over and over and struggled to try taking him out. When I finally did, it was breathtaking - the perfect capstone to my experience with this game and an epic showing for one of the greatest villains of all time.

My goal with this deck was to do just that: give you a true final boss sort of experience. Sure, Sephiroth, Planet's Heir feels villainous, but in a way that feels more cruel than anything. I'd liken it to a superboss, like how Sephiroth appeared in Kingdom Hearts. No, here I wanted to make it feel like you were being presented with a series of challenges the you needed to overcome.

For example, you'll notice quickly several infamous powerhouses littered throughout the deck. Oko, Thief of Crowns stands out strongly, though is a little less potent in a setting like Commander, but it sets the stage for the vibe the deck is bringing. Liliana, Dreadhorde General presents another planeswalker that brutalizes your opponents, but not in a way that feels impossible to recover from. In some ways, it's not dissimilar to Sephiroth's Heartless Angel attack that cripples your life totals in the actual game.

Something like Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant or Sen Triplets will frustrate your opponent - a challenge to work past with the others in the pod. Cards like Evil Twin or Commune with Evil might not be the most powerful cards, but they resonate with the ideal that the deck is trying to represent. And above all, it wouldn't be the final boss experience without a card like Absolute Virtue stopping your opponents dead in their tracks.

The deck is a lot more "cool pile of good stuff," but hey, that's the Atraxa experience for you. Play a whole mish-mash of sweet cards across different card types and go absolutely nuts. I chose to take a more evil-in-a-fun-way approach, but this is something you can easily build to suit your needs however you'd like.

That's one of the things I've loved about having four different renditions of Sephiroth in this set. Before I even got my hand on a copy of Final Fantasy VII, I'd already immortalized him as one of the all-time greats. As I came to know him, he became a character of legend, and of myth. I loved engaging with the character in any way I could, and that even went so far as to dream up ideas of what he might look like as a card in Magic: The Gathering.

Now, over 20 years later, I don't have to dream anymore. My favorite video game character of all-time is here at least and I'm excited for all the different ways to utilize him. These are just my first four builds, but I'm sure they won't be the last. Try some different ways to build one of the greatest villains of all time, and be a little evil yourself for a change.

Paige Smith (aka Sephiroth912)

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