Originally my plan for this week was to talk about more Final Fantasy to celebrate Magic's release. More specifically, I wanted to discuss my favorite character in the series, Sephiroth. I've been a major fan of his character for decades, since before I even played the legendary Final Fantasy VII for the first time. I had Sephiroth usernames, drawings, action figures, fan sites - you name it.

Then, last Friday that came to a screeching halt as I took a hard left and sped toward something even better. So, if I'm that much of a fan of Sephiroth, what could possibly come up that could make me even more excited to write about?

One little Blue blur.

Aw yeah! This is happenin'! I can't begin to overstate just how excited I am about this. I've been a Sonic fan my whole life, since before I even thought about a Final Fantasy title. The Sonic: the Hedgehog video games have, quite literally, been a favorite of mine throughout my entire life. That's not an exaggeration, either.

The Sega Genesis was my very first video game console that I got when I was just a toddler. While the game on the screen in the above photo may not necessarily be Sonic (eagle-eyed readers will see it's Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure), it should be clear that I was hooked from an early age. In fact, my earliest memory was playing Sonic 2 at a family friend's house, zipping through Chemical Plant Zone.

Throughout the 90s I'd wake up early on Saturdays to catch both cartoon shows - the silly Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and the more serious self-titled Sonic the Hedgehog. When my family would go grocery shopping, I'd go to the magazines and read up on the latest secrets and cheat codes for Sonic games or look for Sonic comics. McDonald's toys, temporary tattoos, food tie-ins - you name it, I was about it.

To put it simply, Sonic the Hedgehog defined my childhood like few other games have managed to do. I've long wondered if we'd see him come to Magic with the introduction of Universes Beyond. That seemed even more likely when we got the Hatsune Miku crossover Secret Lairs, as Hatsune Miku is owned by Sega, the company behind Sonic.

Now I don't have to wonder anymore. Sonic the Hedgehog is here at last, bringing with him an all new group of friends to the greatest game of all time. Between all three Secret Lairs are not only a great set of characters, but several cards that make for an excellent Commander deck. As such, I've assembled them all - and then some - to make an awesome deck fit for the fastest thing alive.

Let's get ready and spin dash right through this list:

Sonic, Fastest Thing Alive | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sonic the Hedgehog

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Amy Rose
• 1 Anger
• 1 Aurelia, the Law Above
• 1 Aven Mindcensor
• 1 Brazen Borrower
• 1 Enduring Courage
• 1 Errant and Giada
• 1 Faerie Mastermind
• 1 Guardian of Faith
• 1 Knuckles the Echidna
• 1 Loyal Apprentice
• 1 Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel
• 1 Miles "Tails" Prower
• 1 Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
• 1 Professional Face-Breaker
• 1 Selfless Squire
• 1 Shadowfax, Lord of Horses
• 1 Solitude
• 1 Speedway Fanatic
• 1 Subtlety
• 1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
• 1 Tersa Lightshatter
• 1 The Wandering Rescuer
• 1 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 1 Captain Lannery Storm
• 1 Venser, Shaper Savant

• Instants (9)
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Fast // Furious
• 1 Fire Magic
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Legion Leadership // Legion Stronghold
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Unbreakable Formation
• 1 Unexpected Windfall

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Fabricate
• 1 Fiery Confluence
• 1 Open the Armory

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Assemble the Legion
• 1 Super State

• Artifacts (22)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Beamtown Beatstick
• 1 Dancer's Chakrams
• 1 Darksteel Plate
• 1 Embercleave
• 1 Hammer of Nazahn
• 1 Helm of Kaldra
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Machinist's Arsenal
• 1 Samurai's Katana
• 1 Shield of Kaldra
• 1 Smuggler's Copter
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Kaldra
• 1 Sword of Wealth and Power
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 Talisman of Creativity
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 1 The Reaver Cleaver
• 1 Unlicensed Hearse
• 1 Valor's Flagship
• 1 Weatherlight

• Lands (37)
• 2 Island
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Arena of Glory
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 1 Celestial Colonnade
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Den of the Bugbear
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Desolate Lighthouse
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Ishgard, the Holy See
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Monumental Henge
• 1 Mystic Monastery
• 1 Raugrin Triome
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Shivan Reef
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Spire of Industry
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stormcarved Coast
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Sundown Pass
• 1 The Gold Saucer
• 1 Training Center
• 1 Treasure Vault

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Man did I have fun building this deck. What's really fun is just how well everything came together. Sure I could've gone all-in on building a straightforward haste and flash only creatures deck, but where's the fun in that?! I wanted to include every single card I could into the deck that comes in the Secret Lairs, which includes the three other on-color legends, the Super State card, and the various reprints found in the other two lairs.

What it creates is a surprisingly strong foundation to work off of. You're encouraged to play equipment thanks to Amy Rose and vehicles for Miles "Tails" Prower. Both of these further the game plan behind Knuckles the Echidna and help enable you to set off his victory condition. But wait, now you have the Tornado (Weatherlight) as well! Now you're not only encouraged to go nuts on artifacts, but legendary creatures as well - which gives a great batch of creatures with haste and flash to pull from.

Now it feels less like a mish-mash of cards to fit the Sonic card on a purely mechanical level and instead we're able to go all-in on the deck's overall thematic synergy. That doesn't mean there still shouldn't be plenty of creatures with flash and haste, though! I definitely went and pulled a bit more creatures on the flash side compared to haste creatures. The thing with haste is it's fairly easy to grant to lots of your creatures with one card effect. That's not so much the case with flash. Additionally, flash provides a lot of really cool and powerful abilities

Most of the haste creatures are just ones that provide haste in the widespread fashion. Anger, Enduring Courage, and the similar Ogre Battledriver all grant haste to every one of your creatures under the right circumstances. I also included the Speedway Fanatic to help fuel your vehicles included thanks to the inclusion of Miles "Tails" Prower. The only realy notable dedicated hamsters, though, are Tersa Lightbringer and Aurelia, the Law Above - both of which provide you with some extremely powerful abilities alongside their ability to attack right away.

What surprised me was the number of cool flash creatures. Even though I've played with them all a ton in Standard, it's easy to forget that cards like Faerie Mastermind, Tishana's Tidebinder, and Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel all have flash. It certainly helps that each of them has an excellent ability for Commander as well! Several players in older formats like Solitude, Brazen Borrower, and Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd also work great here.

Don't count the Commander players out, though. Cards like Selfless Squire, Guardian of Fate, and Venser, Shaper Savant may not see much play elsewhere these days, but they're well worth the inclusion these days. Oh yeah, and you also get access to the oft-forgotten Errant and Giada. With this card in play, you can cast any flash creature or creature with flying (most of which have flash already) from the top of your deck. That may only amount to around 14 possible cards, but it's still a fantastic option to have access to.

The next big thing I wanted to hit on was equipment. Naturally, this aspect riffed off of Amy Rose and her associated cards Hammer of Nazahn and Open the Armory, however I still felt many to be gitting in a broad sense. For example, there aren't quite as many creatures as I'd like in the deck. Some cards, like Dancer's Chakram, Samurai's Katana, and Machinist's Arsenal provide those bodies. I also really like cards like Beamtown Beatstick, Sword of Wealth and Power, and The Reaver Cleaver (which comes in one of the lairs) to benefit Knuckles' alternate win condition.

Perhaps more important were the cards that could protect Sonic and allow him to take damage reasonably, such as Darksteel Plate and Shield of Kaldra. These give Sonic indestructible and make it so he can still spill out rings...er, treasures. I also included the other two Kaldra pieces since Helm of Kaldra works great with Sonic caring about haste and Sword of Kaldra going together with the both of them well. It's always a ton of fun if you can stick the landing on making a Kaldra token!

Finally, I also wanted to add in a few vehicles. After all, without them, Tails becomes little more than a junk filler card and we can't have that, now can we? Smuggler's Copter was the most obvious inclusion to me, as a way to filter through your deck to find the cards you need. There's also Unlicensed Hearse, which might not draw you a card, but will turn into a huge evasive threat in no time flat. If you want to go for a powerful game-ending plays, Valor's Flagship is the way to go. The awesome Decree of Justice-like vehicle either provides you with a massive threat or lets you cycle it away for tons of smaller options that you can use instead.

I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention the powerful Super State in this article as well. After all, I've given just about each of the characters their chance to shine a little. This powerful aura may appear quite costly and difficult to cast, but thanks to the amount of treasures you can make with Sonic himself, it's easier than it might seem. It's fitting to use seven treasures (the Chaos Emeralds) to be able to cast it, and if you can stick the landing to create Super Sonic, you'll easily dominate any game you play.

Man... Super Sonic in Magic: The Gathering. That's not something I thought I'd ever get to say. I'll never forget that first time I managed to collect all the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic 2 special stages, only to collect 50 rings, double jump, and Sonic turned golden. It was thrilling and solidified me as a gamer for the rest of my life. Now, over 30 years later, I get to write a whole piece on him and that's just so cool.

I'm getting into the Secret Lair trenches next Monday to try to get my hands on a copy of each of these lairs. Worried you won't be able to get one with the characters themselves? Don't worry! Check with your local game store, as they're going to be able to get their hands on copies of the lair with all the character cards soon after.

And as for Sephiroth? Hey, I'll play with you some other time!

Paige Smith

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