Assuming you can get your hands on the latest Magic the Gathering release, it’s a very good time to be a Final Fantasy fan. While everyone is cracking packs and building Commander decks, I have my heart set on something a little more refined (and perhaps a little less advisable) – a monored standard deck built around FFXVI’s protagonist, Clive. No really, that’s his name – Clive.
The MTG Final Fantasy products, which launched on Friday, have cards representing sixteen mainline video games, including their heroes, villains, locations, spells, memorable scenes and more. There are 96 new legendaries in the main MTG set, never mind the Commander precons, and everyone has a favorite.
For a lot of Final Fantasy fans, that is likely to be a character from the PlayStation era when the series exploded in popularity in the west: FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX (if you’re a person of culture), bleeding into FFX on PS2. That’s understandable – they’re classics for a reason – but I feel Final Fantasy 16 hasn’t got the love it deserves since it launched in 2023.
The game takes place in a Westeros-like world of political intrigue, only rather than a few pesky dragons and an army of zombie-like White Walkers, each nation has access to a Dominant, a citizen who can transform into one of the franchise’s legendary Summons.
It’s that focus on massive creatures and screen-filling spectacle that had me dreaming of building a Final Fantasy deck themed around the sixteenth entry. And when I saw Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant, I knew I needed to go mono red.
While there are already some fantastic Commander deck concepts with Clive at the head, I wanted to find something I could use in Standard. It may not be good. It may not be clever. But so help me, I’m building a Big Red Clive Standard deck.
Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant is one of many transforming cards in the set. When he enters, you can discard your hand and re-draw cards equal to your devotion to red, letting you refill your grip. There’s been a surprising amount of red ramp recently, so playing this six drop ahead of the curve and refilling your hand is distinctly possible – with some counterspell protection from Cavern of Souls, of course.
And if your opponent lets him live for a turn, you can turn him into Ifrit, Warden of Inferno, a 9/9 that immediately fights another creature, before pumping out a pile of red mana the next turn. Funnily enough, while Clive is Ifrit, you can actually cast a second Clive without being forced to sacrifice the first – but more likely, I’m just gonna cast a spell with “X” in the mana value.
It’s the kind of top end for a Big Red deck that sickos like me have been dreaming of for years. I’m not yet set on my decklist – but Koth, Fire of Resistance, is a must-have. This Planeswalker can search up Mountains and blast away creatures, and critically has a pair of red pips that increase your devotion to red and ensure you draw maximum cards.
Got your own zany deck ideas that you’re going to try and force just because you love a specific character? Come and share them in the official Wargamer Discord community!
Now that Final Fantasy is out, it’s time to really settle in and enjoy standard for a while…. just kidding. The MTG release schedule waits for no man. It’s Edge of Eternities next, right? Or is it Marvel’s Spiderman…?
Source: Wargamer
