Commander Deck Tech: Terra, Magical Adept (Esper Terra)

The Magic: The Gathering x Final Fantasy collab gave Commander players dozens of new commanders, including Terra, Magical Adept.

This commander, who centers around enchantments and automill (that is, milling your own deck), works really well with the coolest Summons in this set.

The second list we'll show you, right at the end of this article, takes advantage of effects that trigger when enchantments enter play.

But first, let's start with this beloved commander!

We've already discussed the Terra, Herald of Hope precon, named Revival Trance (click here if you'd like to see more about it!). Now it's time to discuss the other Terra card in the game, Terra, Magical Adept.

When Terra enters play, she lets you mill five cards and put an enchantment you milled this way in your hand. Then, for a total of six mana, you may exile this commander and return her to the battlefield, transformed.

This way, we'll have Esper Terra: a legendary Saga enchantment creature. Her first three chapters copy one non-legendary enchantment you control, but it will be a token.

If that enchantment is a Saga, you'll put three Lore counters on it and give it haste. At the beginning of the next end step, you'll sacrifice this copy. Terra's fourth chapter gives you a total of ten mana, exiles Esper Terra, and returns her into play as her regular self.

The Final Fantasy set brought us many Sagas and Summons, new Saga enchantment creatures that interact with Lore counters and with this deck's commander.

As this list centers around the Final Fantasy set, we added many cards from this set to it.

Let's start with the most unique part of this list: Summons!

Summons

Just like regular Sagas, Summons also get Lore counters when they come in and after the draw step. You also sacrifice them when you finish them.

Each Summon is different, so adding all of them to this list makes it a real toolbox.

Summon: Fat Chocobo and Summon: Choco/Mog are definitely not the strongest cards in the game, but they will make you feel as if you have a Chocobo right next to you while you play.

Summon: Leviathan and Summon: Valefor are bounces, which are always useful when you need to get rid of a problem on the board, even if just temporarily.

The lovely Summon: Good King Mog XII creates 1/2 Moogle tokens with lifelink and copies of tokens that aren't Sagas under your control. It also gives your other Moogles +1/+1 counters. A very generous king, don't you think?

Speaking of creature tokens, Summon: Knights of Round is excellent. Its first, second, third, and fourth chapters create three 2/2 Knights. The last chapter, the fifth one, gives your creatures +2/+2 and an indestructible counter until the end of the turn.

For two turns, Summon: Bahamut removes non-land permanents, then draws, and finally burns. It will catch any opponent off guard.

Esper Origins is the card you want to mill and keep in the graveyard.

When you cast it through Flashback, it turns into Summon: Esper Maduin, which puts cards in your hand, gives you green mana, and also gives your creatures +2/+2 and trample until the end of the turn.

Blink and Protection

It's always fun to play blink cards in decks that also play ETB effects, like this one.

Eerie Interlude and Lae'zel's Acrobatics also work as protection occasionally.

But, to really protect your cards, we added the following:

Summon: Yojimbo controls the combat phase much like Ghostly Prison. They both disrupt aggro players.

We also added Rhythm of the Wild to this list. It gives your creatures +1/+1 counters or haste, and its passive ability stops the opponent from countering your creatures.

Zur, Eternal Schemer is an incredible protection. Besides hexproof, it gives your enchantment creatures deathtouch and lifelink.

Finally, Yuna, Hope of Spira protects enchantments during your turn and also helps you deal damage through trample.

Its second ability is interesting in this list because it reanimates one of your enchantments from your graveyard with a Finality counter. And you don't even have to pay anything else to activate it!

Everything that Terra, Magical Adept leaves behind, Yuna brings straight into play.

Ramp

Ramp is always a delicate matter for five-color lists. Our main list plays triome and shock lands so that you can get some of the spells below and speed up the game.

Nonetheless, you can play a mana base with gates in this deck, like our alternative list does. Check out our article on gates if you'd like to see more about these types of cards!

Besides the lands we'll get with cards like Farseek and Cultivate, Summon: G.F. Ifrit, Summon: Esper Valigarmanda, Summon: Esper Maduin, and Summon: Yojimbo's treasures also create mana.

Moving Counters

Occasionally, removing or moving counters from your Sagas will be quite useful, either to reuse a cool effect or to keep cards like your Summons in play for a little longer.

To do that, this list plays:

As we said early on, our alternative list plays just a few Final Fantasy cards. It focuses more on powerful MTG enchantments and takes advantage of cards from Theros and Duskmourn quite heavily.

Those who enjoy enchantment decks got really happy when Duskmourn came out. As these cards aren't legendary, this list can play the Overlord cycle, particularly because we can copy them with Esper Terra.

Silent Hallcreeper is a jack of all trades in this list because its ability, which turns it into a copy of another creature, is useful on several cards. For instance, the Overlords or even Ajani's Chosen.

This list uses a gate mana base and only a few basic lands, so we added spells that look for gates and spells that put in play lands that have a type. We also added some triomes, like Jetmir's Garden and Ketria Triome.

This list also plays spells that do something when enchantments enter play under your control.

Terra, Magical Adept is definitely not for beginners because her lists will always have several effects and abilities happening all the time.

But, if you have a little bit of experience, she is definitely a lot of fun.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!