It’s old news at this point to talk about just how popular the new Magic The Gathering Final Fantasy set is, but its for good reason. With a smart IP pairing between Wizards of the Coast and Square, incredible card design, and artwork that feels both true to Magic and Final Fantasy, it’s no surprise this set is going wild.
We’ve covered it plenty here at TechRaptor, ranking all of the legendary creatures, chatting with the lead designer of the Commander decks, and even getting a chance to premiere our own preview cards. Now that the set’s settling down, Wizards of the Coast sent us some pre-constructed products to check out – so read on for our thoughts on the Magic The Gathering Final Fantasy Starter Kit and Limit Break Commander Deck.
Magic The Gathering Final Fantasy Starter Kit
The Magic The Gathering Final Fantasy Starter Kit contains the following:
- 2 60-card pre-constructed decks
- 1 Traditional foil legendary creature in each deck
- 5 Non-foil new-to-Magic cards in each deck
- 54 Non-foil cards from the main set in each deck
- 4 Non-foil double-sided tokens
- 2 MTG Arena code cards (available in select regions)
- 2 cardboard Deck boxes
Featuring the famous clash between Cloud and Sephiroth as depicted in Final Fantasy VII, the Starter Kit contains everything two players need to jump into the action and learn how to play MTG. Let’s chat briefly about each of the two 60-card decks, talking about what they do and how they serve as introductory decks.
Red-White Cloud Deck
Looking at this deck’s feature card, Cloud, Planet’s Champion, gives us a good sense of what this deck wants to do. As you can see from the image above, if Cloud is equipped he gains double-strike and indestructible, which is obviously extremely powerful. The other rares from the deck – as pictured above – also clue is into the fact that this is a deck that’s all about attack, attack, attack.
Get your creatures loaded up with equipment and then swing for the fences! The deck plays extremely fast, and once new players understand the nuances of equipping artifacts to a creature, this deck runs pretty smoothly. So you must be wondering, with creatures and equipment so powerful, what hope does my opponent have against me?
haha
Blue-Black Sephiroth Deck
If the Red-White deck is all about attacking with creatures armed to the teeth, the Blue-Black deck is all about having an answer for just about whatever your opponent throws your way! Led by Sephiroth, Planet’s Heir, the Blue-Black deck does exactly what you’d think Blue-Black does. It draws you cards and slows down your opponent (Blue), and kills your opponent’s creatures before they can cause a fuss (Black).
I really like Xande, Dark Mage (pictured above), because he and other creatures like him really want you to not be bashful about casting spells to gain card advantage. If the hurdle for new players with Red-White is understanding equipment, understanding the Stack is going to be a hurdle with this deck. Once you understand the difference between instant speed and sorcery speed spells, and how effects resolve, you’ll be slicing your opponents to ribbons with lethal precision.
Starter Kit Final Thoughts
I’ll admit, I’ve seen more beginner-friendly pre-constructed decks over the years (remember the glory days of those $15 Intro Decks??), but these are by no means too complicated to wrap your head around. In fact, many newcomers to the game may find themselves impressed by the depth of strategy on hand with Magic, I know I was the first time I sat down to play. The rulebook included here is also a great resource, and is one of the clearest presentations of the rules I’ve ever seen! So if you’re new to the game, or want to get a friend into it and they like Final Fantasy VII – this is a phenomenal place to start!
Now let’s jump into a more advanced option, the Magic The Gathering Final Fantasy Limit Break Commander Deck – also starring everyone’s favorite SOLDIER, Cloud!
Magic The Gathering Final Fantasy Limit Break Commander Deck
The Magic the Gathering Final Fantasy Limit Break Commander Deck includes the following:
- 1 Ready-to-play 100-card Commander deck
- 1 Traditional foil face commander
- 1 Traditional foil featured commander
- 98 Non-foil cards
- 10 Double-sided tokens
- 1 Collector Booster Sample Pack
- 1 Reference card
- 1 Deck box
Already hard to get ahold of, and selling for around $120 USD at the time of this writing, the Limit Break Commander Deck is a serious piece of precon hardware. Just like the Starter Deck (but completely super-charged), this deck is focused around Cloud and equipment.
The deck comes with two potential commanders for you to field, but I think – as is usually the case – you won’t get much traction out of Tifa without a fair bit of luck. But Cloud… good lord… what a card! And of course he’s a huge target the second he hits the board, but the fact the Cloud has haste and lets you auto-attach an equipment to him when he comes in mitigates the fact that you’ll be the target here.
I really love a Voltron approach to Commander (I just built a nasty little deck with that Secret Lair Wolverine) because I love to turn my creatures sideways. So, this really appeals to me. But what’s nice about this deck is that unlike the Fallout Scrappy Survivors deck from a few years back that saw you focusing on overloading a single creature with tons of equipment, you get a lot of benefit out of spreading your equipment around! Sharing is caring, even in Midgar!
The other cards in the deck are – as you’d expect – a mixture of great creatures, beat-down equipment (plus some good evasion equipment – shoutout to the inclusion of Trailblazer’s Boots), and a few key spells to get you out of a jam.
It’s old hat now to comment on the power creep of pre-constructed decks, but I played this in my pod against some pretty heavy hitting decks and it held its own until everyone realized it was a real threat – and then I was crumpled.
The other Final Fantasy Commander decks also look pretty cool, and each have a big bold approach (you can check out all the decklists here), but I’m really drawn to this aggressive approach.
The commander deck also comes with a Collector Booster sampler pack, which contains two cards. With single Collector Booster packs selling for $100, this Collector Booster sampler was a fun way to get a tiny taste of the action (like a drop of water in the desert, but still).
Magic The Gathering Final Fantasy Limit Break Commander Deck – Final Thoughts
The high price retailers are asking for this deck isn’t just about chasing valuable cards inside – this deck is a heater! Holy smokes, it really sings – and when it gets grooving you really feel like a big threat at the table, swinging for absolutely silly amounts of damage. Cue the Final Fantasy victory music – if you can get this for a good price, and you like playing aggressive-leaning midrange, grab it!
The Magic the Gathering Final Fantasy products featured in this review were provided by Wizards of the Coast.
