*Queue Prelude*
The whirlwind around this set is something to behold. We knew Final Fantasy would be popular, I just didn't foresee it shattering expectations over and over. Product being difficult to get isn't anything new for veteran players. Fortunately, a lot of this set is being opened for chase cards or draft. So if you're a singles enjoyer this is a good time to skip the sealed. For those of us who enjoy cube, these are the cards that really caught my eye. As with all of these types of list I can only pick so many cards, especially when I have to pit them against Magic's large history of cards. If none of the cards below fit your fancy, that's totally fine. What I really like about this set is how it takes existing archetypes and makes them weird. This pioneers a path to new playstyles, pushing my and other's creativity in cube and a lot of it is here in Final Fantasy.
For every set, I look at all of the new cards being released with the set. So whether it is in the main set or supplementary, I am evaluating all of it.
How I rank the cards is based on both power level and innovation. When evaluating by power level, I'm scaling it off of unpowered vintage. By innovation, I am referring to cards that either smooth out the drafting process by overlapping into a bunch of decks or open up new archetypes in cube. The cards need to still be powerful or at least playable as they need to still be competitive versus other cards. Ultimately, your cube, your choices, address your needs. You may not even need to get anything from the set.
The List
Starting Town wasn't a card I really cared about until I remembered that lands are important. Being the love child of City of Brass and the Fastlands is a big deal since we don't get too many of these 5 color lands. Since it's universal, all of your players will include it in their final decklist, anyone who doesn't needs to be talked too unless they play monocolor. One other upside is your choice to opt for colorless mana instead of pinging yourself for 1. Just run this card if you can afford the slot or jam it in.
Summon: Bahamut is probably going to be the easiest auto include from the set. Colorless fatty that kills a card immediately upon entry is solid, but nothing we haven't seen before. The card as a whole package offers a lot. By the time it reaches 4 lore counters, you will have destroyed 2 permanents, drawn 2 cards, and dealt some damage directly at your opponent. In a vacuum, this card doesn't do anything more amazing than other similar options like Ulamog, Emrakul, or even Atraxa. Unlike the other cards, it does just enough of what you want that more decks could use it as it is also colorless. Ramp decks are the biggest beneficiaries from the introduction of this card since they are the ones sacrifcing universal tools for power. Once this card lands, it will make short work of your opponents. As with all other similar cards, this can be a skip or side grade if you already have something similar. If you don't have something like this, get yourself a copy.
Battle Menu might be my favorite card mechanically from this set. It is versatile and rarely a bad card to draw because of this. At the baseline, you will always have a 2/2 Knight with Flash. This along with the removal part of the card is really all you need for the card to be good. The other two choices function . Tying all of these into an instant allows it to exist in creature less/lite decks. This won't create big plays, but it will always be there when you need it.
Louisoix's Sacrifice has a lot of potential, but the baseline for the card does not impress me. In most cases, you are paying the extra 2 making it comparable to Disallow. You are trading the ability to hit creatures with a cheaper cost if you sacrifice a legendary creature. In the wider context, there is not enough cards that are able to stifle (see what I did there) abilities, while remaining flexible. With the current context in mind, this card will play an unfilled role.
Cecil, Dark Knight is the latest in aggressive black creatures and is so aggressively pushed, we might have a long term staple. At the baseline, you have an overstatted 1 drop with deathtouch. This makes it great on both the attack and on defense since it can always trade. Having 3 toughness is a much bigger upside than it initially appears. Aggro decks struggle against creatures with big butts and even more so when they have any power on them. His toughness allows him to safely swing popular choices like Courser of Kruphix, Adeline, or Ledger Shredder safely. The life loss is the main trade off for the power and I'm not sure if it's that bad since he has a transform condition that's tied to it. The life loss does scale with his power, so do be mindful of that. The biggest downer of the card is that you have to transform him once the conditions are met. On his back, you get a huge creature with lifelink that protects your other creatures in combat. There's nothing bad about this side other then it loses deathtouch, which might not even be this relevant on such a big body for so little mana. With the value and longevity of the card, this definitely worth testing whether or not black aggro exists in your draft environment.
Summon: Esper Valigarmanda took me a bit to warm up to this card, but given more time to look at it this is strong. This card having haste solves a problem I have with the saga creatures, which is how little they participate in combat. Valigarmanda having 4 chapters makes it all the more better in that regard. Focusing on just the creature side of it, there's not too much to be excited about. The other creatures that are comparable to it, have never seen widespread cube play and it needs more to be considered. Fortunately the chapters do generate interest. The first chapter can be seen as grave hate against your opponent's instants and sorceries. The next 3 chapters are where this card gets insane. Each step will have you generate extra mana and allow you to cast the exiled cards. The mana does not have to be used on the spells meaning you can instead use it to ramp out bigger threats or set up extra mana to cast multiple spells. The exiled cards become "extra cards in the hand", so make sure to choose carefully. As a whole package, this becomes a lot to like as it can fit into various archetypes and become a threat in each of them. The play value of these cards becomes amazing if it can survive a turn.
Sabin, Master Monk is going to be a nasty resilient beat stick. It bears a strong resemblance to two other cards that are still present in my cube: Tenacious Underdog and Death-Greeter's Champion. What I like about these cards is their resiliency and explosiveness, which is found here in Sabin. At its baseline, it's strong but not impressive when you compare it to the rest of your options. Where it shines is that blitz ability and how often you can use it. Being able to blitz from the graveyard can be decisive as it turns your dead draws into a 8 damage that can draw you into a better card. Thus when I factor this into the context of my cube, this will see a lot of play. Curve topper for aggro, added pressure during board stalls, and a fail safe for explosive decks are some of the gameplay lines I am predicitng for this card. The simpler text on the card is a huge bonus for those pursuing an easy to understand cube. This has legs and I'm going to try it out.
Cloud, Midgar Mercenary should not be seen as your second copy of Stoneforge Mystic, but it is another equipment tutor. I'm intending to treat it as a sidegrade since it has more aggressive stats, but is more color intensive. This limits its application to white aggressive decks, which were already happy with Stoneforge Mystic. The equipment trigger clause isn't much of a huge boon either as it's too conditional and the cards that would benefit are limited. Needing Cloud to be the source of the triggers while also needing to be equipped is too much effort. Fortunately for myself, I run Yoshimaru and the extra density in legendaries is something I will always appreciate. Otherwise, this is an easy skip.
Summoner's Grimoire is another variation of Fatty cheat cards inline with Elvish Piper and Champion of Rhonas. Being able to cheat down creatures for free just by swinging is good enough, everything else is just a nice bonus. As the ability is tied to an equipment, you can be more reckless with triggering this ability. A nice added bonus is the special mention of Enchantment Creatures. A couple years ago that would have been cute text, but now we have real contenders especially with our first card mentioned and the Overlords from Duskmourne. Worth trying out especially if you have a higher concentration of enchantment creatures.
Lightning, Army of One has my eye because of game ending she can be. We are looking at consistently winning the turn after she is played. Yes, she can be seen as just another Boros aggro piece, but this is the cheapest double damage available next to Insult//Injury. It's game over if she can connect. Having first strike will mean your non first striking creatures get the double damage. The trample helps in forcing the ability through chump blocks and even if she dies that strike, the double damage trigger will still go off. You can treat this like an anthem effect,but it does impact spells. Following this trigger up with cards like Fireblast and Lightning Bolts is GG. The thing that I feel is missing from this card is haste and maybe it's for the better that it doesn't have it. If you got space, try her out.
The End Step
Since I got a chance to play the set while working on this article, I already feel like I am missing some big choices. I've been really impressed by how Rydia, Summoner of Mist plays and she feels really good. In due time, I can see her potentially breaking into normal cubes once there's a good amount of playable saga creatures. I also really like the Job Select cards cards as well as they have a lot of versatility associated with them. They can fill the density quota for different decks like noncreature, aggro, or artifacts and still be viable independently. As mentioned in another article, this is foundational for a good cube experience. Lastly, my favorite thing to play this set has been the wizard tokens and wizard adjacent cards. They like Job Select have deeper levels of play as well. Spells matter in black has been a thing that's been slowly creeping in and this set has pushed it further. There's enough cards currently to support it, however it won't be able to hang with certain power levels.
From what I've played so far, this set has been really enjoyable. It has enough vanilla gameplay that deckbuilding and playing the format is easy to understand, emphasizing fundamentals anyone can study and carry from set to set. That being said though, this set is deep and has a lot of complexities between the amount of legendaries and saga creatures that lead to interesting (or really bad) decision making. If you haven't gotten a chance yet, I highly recommend playing on Arena. The team did a good job at making the set interesting if you enjoy the small details. I was caught off when someone played Kefka (Purphoros) and his laugh was played on entering. This was one of many small things I saw and there's probably more that I have yet to seen. Thus as much as others want to hate on this set and product for whatever reason, WotC did put a lot of care into this product and it's very enjoyable for what we got. Now getting your hand on physical product and they really should have flooded the market with such a huge IP to see how much will be absorbed.
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