The time is upon us: Final Fantasy has launched and cards from the set are starting to hit circulation. Despite a seemingly throttled supply of sealed product, the coming weeks will most assuredly see a rapid increase in singles across online and brick and mortar Magic shops. As this unfolds, I wanted to use this week's article to examine the most valuable (and likely most desirable) cards to open from the set.

Like every new release, card prices start elevated until supply makes its way across the internet. That being said, there are already some clear trends indicating the most in-demand singles from this much-anticipated Universes Beyond set. Let's take a look at the big ones, likely to be the cards you hope to open the most at your LGS's next Limited event.

A Brief Disclaimer: While I appreciate the flavor of this set, I confess I am not familiar with the Final Fantasy franchise. I will strictly look at this set from the lens of a Magicplayer, understanding that certain cards may have additional appeal for being a memorable character or reference from the video game series.

Iconic Mythic Rares

While I am unfamiliar with the Final Fantasy franchise, I can easily tell that some of the most valuable mythic rares from the set are iconic references to the video game series. Topping the list (normal printings only) at prerelease is Vivi Ornitier, pre-ordering for upwards of $70 on some retailer sites.

Vivi Ornitier is a playable character in Final Fantasy IX; interestingly, he's a Black mage in the video game, but in Magic he represents the Izzet color pair. What makes the card so valuable beyond its recognizability from the video game series? My guess is that he is assumed to be an inclusion in one of Standard's most powerful decks at the moment, Izzet Prowess. While waiting for Final Fantasy Limited on Arena, I've been messing around in Standard BO1 these past two weeks, and Izzet Prowess is one of the more common decks I am paired against. Vivi Ornitier supercharges that deck by getting stronger with each noncreature spell and then generating massive mana advantages--the incidental damage is also sure to end games even more quickly.

Time will tell if Vivi Ornitier also finds a home in other decks outside this one. Being legendary, he can also see some Commander play, I don't think he'll hold that $70 price tag, but stranger things have happened.

Another legendary creature mythic rare takes the second spot for most valuable card in Final Fantasy: Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel.

Sephiroth is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Given the popularity of this particular game from the Final Fantasy series, I'm not surprised to see Sephiroth's Magic card is so powerful and desirable. Pre-sales of this card are in the $40 range, with large retailers charging even more.

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is a supercharged Blood Artist variant! Blood Artist is a two mana 0/1 creature, so for one additional mana you get a 3/3 that can also sacrifice creatures to draw cards and transform into a 5/5 flyer that can go crazy with sacrifices while also giving you a Blood Artist emblem! I play a Rakdos sacrifice deck in Commander, and you can bet that I'll be hoping to pick Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER for my deck once its price [hopefully] settles down.

The next most valuable card from the set is Buster Sword, an efficient equipment that pumps your creature and generates card advantage.

Is Buster Sword powerful? Definitely. Will it see play? I'm sure it will. Does it deserve to be the third most valuable card from Final Fantasy? I'm not so sure. Honestly, for a mythic sword, I would have expected something a little...more complicated. I predict this card won't hold its $35 preorder price tag for very long once the set is fully released.

I get this is Cloud's basic weapon, and an iconic item from Final Fantasy VII. Perhaps it's Buster Sword's iconic nature that is buoying its price for now.

Rounding out the top five most valuable cards of Final Fantasy are two more iconic mythic rares: Summon Bahamut and Cloud, Midgar Mercenary.

Summon: Bahamut is one of the new Saga creatures introduced in Final Fantasy, and it is quite the powerhouse! This card reminds me of those titanic colorless Eldrazi creatures. For nine generic mana you get a 9/9 flying creature Saga that destroys a couple nonland permanents, draws two cards, and deals massive amounts of damage to your opponents' faces over the course of four turns. Did someone say Reanimate target?

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary is Magic's representation of Cloud himself, a major protagonist in the Final Fantasy VII series. Because of his popularity in the video game franchise, I'm not surprised to see his card presell for over $20, in the top five of the entire set. He's also going to make for a very popular equipment matters general in Commander, and will be an auto-include in any Commander deck that plays equipment worth tutoring.

Tier Two: Still Highly Desirable

As we move outside the top five cards, there are yet many iconic and valuable cards worth opening in your booster packs of Final Fantasy. Traveling Chocobo is another recognizable character from the video game franchise, and his Magic card is also worth around $20 upon the set's release.

According to the Final Fantasy Wiki fandom page, Chocobo is a recurring animal in the Final Fantasy series. They first appeared in Final Fantasy II, and are nonlegendary giant bird creatures, equivalent to horses (being domesticated for use as mounts). Traveling Chocobo doubles as an Oracle of Mul Daya and a Bird synergy card. I'm a little confused by Traveling Chocobo's coloring, I'll admit--many of Magic's historical bird creatures are White and Blue. I only count about a dozen Green bird creatures, but maybe this creature will shine in a bird-themed Bant Commander deck.

The next card to touch on is Final Fantasy's first rare to show up on the list, Starting Town.

This land reminds me of Mana Confluence, a spin-off of City of Brass. On the plus side, Starting Town has a colorless, pain-free option for adding mana. This is an ability that Mana Confluence and City of Brass both lacked--they damaged you no matter what. On the minus side, Starting Town will come into play tapped starting turn four for the remainder of the game. Is it a worthwhile trade-off? Which card is better, Mana Confluence or Starting Town? I don't know, but either way I suspect Starting Town will find its way into a many multicolored decks for its versatility.

While on the subject of rares from Final Fantasy, I need to at least mention Jumbo Cactuar, a 1/7 Plant creature with one of Magic's goofiest (and most flavorful) abilities to-date.

You're reading it right, this creature attacks as a 10,000/7. Granted without evasion or trample, it needs a bit of help. Seven mana is a steep cost to pay for a 1/7 creature that does nothing of consequence unless it attacks. Therefore, I don't know if we'll see this creature make waves in tournament play, since many games of Standard currently don't even make it to turn seven. I think I'll need to build a Standard deck that runs this and Underfoot Underdogs to see if I can pull off the combo just once.

Honorable Mentions - Special Treatments

If you visit Scryfall and sort Final Fantasy cards by price, you'll find dozens of other cards intermixed with those I referenced above. It turns out there are no less than a zillion special printings, treatments, and artworks for all the rares and mythic rares in the set. The result: a ton of valuable versions of many cards exist, even if they're not the base, primary printing.

Rather than touching on every one of them, I instead focused on the base printings for my analysis above. With that in mind, there are a couple really cool printings I want to shout out before wrapping up.

First, there's an array of special legendary creature treatments that Wizards re-used in Final Fantasy.

I love the roman numeral in the background for each character, highlighting which video game in the series in which they're featured.

Technically, the eight cards above are, in order, the most valuable cards in the set, but only if you open these particular foil treatments. If you do, you'll be the proud owner of a multi-hundred dollar card, at least as of pre-ordering. Given enough time, even these treatments will drift lower in price as well. For now, though, they are some of the most exciting cards you can open from a Final Fantasy collector booster.

Then you have an array of borderless, foil treated, and alternative art versions of the cards discussed above, which all fetch a premium to their base printing. When you include these printings, you'll find some iconic characters with special printings that are currently expensive. One such example is Y'shtola Rhul--normal copies are around $3, but the printing pictured below is preselling for nearly $50.

Wrapping It Up

There is much to be excited about in Final Fantasy, Magic's latest (and best-selling) set. It's difficult to predict where card prices will end up, especially if there continues to be a shortage of sealed product. Should the print run continue until demand is satiated, I can see singles prices dropping significantly as supply floods the market.

Then again, if new players embrace Magic because they're fans of the Final Fantasy franchise, maybe the demand will soak up supply. I suspect this may be the case for the most popular characters from the video game series.

Since I have no real appreciation for the video game references, my tastes will be mostly geared towards powerful cards I may want to try for Commander combined with the cards whose artwork I appreciate most. Hopefully that will keep my costs down as I pick up cards from the set. Either way, I won't be purchasing any Final Fantasy singles for at least a couple weeks. I have to imagine as supply increases; prices will stabilize and become a bit more reasonable. For those eager to acquire copies immediately, I wish you the best of luck in opening these expensive cards from your booster packs.