The MTG card for Jenova, one of the most iconic boss battles from the original Final Fantasy VII and the ongoing remake series, has been revealed. This uncanny alien is a green black midrange threat, who first turns your creatures into mutants, and then lets you draw a frankly silly number of cards when those mutants die.
Japanese MTG site TokyoMTG revealed Jenova’s card on its social media early on Tuesday morning, and enterprising fans in the r/MTG reddit community have already translated it. Jenova will feature in the main MTG set for Final Fantasy at rare, so expect her to show up at your prelease.
Jenova, Ancient Calamity is a Legendary alien creature, which costs two generic, one black, and one green mana, with one power and five toughness. She has a triggered ability that, at the start of combat on your turn, places a number of +1/+1 counters equal to her power onto another creature you control, and permanently turns it into a mutant as well as its other types.
Her second ability triggers whenever a mutant you control dies during your turn: you get to draw cards equal to its power.
If you can find a sacrifice outlet, Jenova gives you the effect of Greater Good on a stick. It’s totally achievable in a Golgari commander deck, particularly if you run a lot of mutants as well. The Fallout ‘Mutant Menace’ Commander precon would be a great place to start.
In Standard she seems a bit too slow to contend with Jeskai Prowess, but if a deck emerges that can survive long enough to get her into play, she’s going to offer absurd midrange value. There are some three drop mutants in standard at the moment, and adding ‘when this creature dies, draw at least two cards’ makes even the worst of them playable.
Her mechanics are a great match for her lore. Minor spoilers for Final Fantasy VII ahead: Jenova is an ancient alien that has been experimented on by the unscrupulous Shinra corporation. Don’t feel too sorry for her – she eats worlds. Her genetic material infects other entities, turning them into incredibly powerful mutants (old boss boy Sephiroth is one of these), before compelling them to return to her in something called the Reunion. Sounds just like a Golgari commander to me.
Not long left before Final Fantasy hits the MTG release schedule! Are you tempted to sleeve up a Jenova deck? Or has something else from the MTG Final Fantasy set release caught your eye? We’d love to chat about it in the official Wargamer Discord community.
While Jenova might wreck worlds, other cards from Final Fantasy are wrecking wallets. The price for copies of Moonmist has shot up over 1000%, as has the price for Quicksilver Elemental!
Source: Wargamer
