Commander Deck Tech: Final Fantasy Legends - Warrior of Light (Jodah)

Although we're already talking about Avatar: The Last Airbender, it's been just under three months since the release of Final Fantasy in Magic: The Gathering. For an editor who's been a huge fan of the RPG franchise for 25 years and a Magic player for 16, seeing these two worlds come together was a defining moment and cemented the set as the best of all time for me.

Since then, I've experimented with playing Final Fantasy cards in all sorts of environments: from a Standard list I played in the Store Championshi to short dabbles with Pioneer and Pauper decks. However, it's undeniable that the best environment to express yourself with a Final Fantasy deck is Commander, both for the diversity of cards we can use and the more casual atmosphere.

In this article, I present my version of a Final Fantasy deck focused on using as many characters from the franchise as possible in a coherent strategy, led by Jodah, the Unifier, who received a Warrior of Light skin in the Through the Ages special slot.

It's worth noting that all cards on the list have been reprinted or originally came from Final Fantasy, and the main deckbuilding rule for this deck is that only Final Fantasy cards can be used in the list, regardless of the objective.

For practical purposes, and despite my language and commander choice, this is a Bracket 3 deck intended for casual matches, with no interest in infinite combos or potential board locks.

We have two Game Changers with Bolas’s Citadel (Kefka’s Tower) and Cyclonic Rift (Hope’s Aero Magic), and the only reason we don’t use the third is that the options we have interact little with the objective of our list: Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy as Seymour Guado, whose ability doesn’t work as well since we don't have enough mana sources nor infinite combos; Winota, Joiner of Forces as Bartz Klauser doesnt’go so well since we enough token generators nor enough payoffs to justify it; Urza, Lord High Artificer as Terra Branford, whose ability requires a more artifact-oriented deck; and Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow as Yuffie Kisaragi, whose Ninjutsu ability also doesn’t benefit our deck as much.

Finally, there's Rhystic Study as Stay with Me, which could easily make the list, but it doesn't synergize with anything we try—it would just be an annoying card to deal with that creates unpleasant game stats with a commander who already has a target on their back when it's announced, and it would take up a slot we're already using for something more interactive to our game plan or our needs in a Commander game. You can use it (especially in a Bracket 4 game), but it's not a card I consider relevant to what we're proposing unless we really want to go all-in on Commander staples.

As for the commander, there are other five-color options in Final Fantasy: Kenrith, the Returned King as Noctis Lucis Caelum, Najeela, the Blade-Blossom as Cloud Strife, and also The Wandering Minstrel. If the goal is to go even further into casual and expressive play, a Minstrel list with more Towns is a great way to build decks for Brackets 1 and 2, but the majority of Commander's audience falls between Brackets 3 and 4, and Jodah, the Unifier (Warrior of Light) is the most effective Commander we can have in these categories because it functions both as the central focus of the list and as a leveler if your board has a majority of Bracket 4 decks while your mana base and card selection are mostly Bracket 3.

For background, as a Commander player, I tend to pick very strong legends. Two of my favorite decks are Edgar Markov and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow, and I prefer Commanders whose central focus becomes the target of my list. Jodah, the Unifier delivers exactly that in the most straightforward way possible, and, furthermore, the fact that he's the Warrior of Light in Final Fantasy is a great way to symbolize the character's importance to the franchise.

This is a Legends deck, and we want to use as many Final Fantasy characters as possible in the list, but we can't focus entirely on having 62 creatures and 38 lands. We need manafixing, interaction, and some board control to advance our game plan while avoiding too many problems at the table, so our ideal number ranges between 32 and 36 legends—in this version, we have 35 if we count the artifacts.

Our goal is extremely proactive and even simple to understand: we want to accelerate and fix our mana in the first few turns and decide between playing our Commander first and following it up with legendaries that will have pseudo-Cascade to other legends, or assert a board position and then play Jodah to pressure opponents.

Despite being an Aggro deck and having the limitations imposed by using only Final Fantasy cards, this list is extremely resilient against most interactions and can recover well from games because every creature does something other than have a body on the board, and we have enough sources of card advantage, recursion, and interaction to spend a few turns rebuilding while we deal with problems or let another player become the problem.

We can divide the deck's packages into five categories: Ramp, Interaction, Protection, Bombs, and Legends, with Legends being subcategorized by mana values due to Jodah's ability to pull other cards when we play a Legendary spell.

Ramp

The colorless ramp includes most of the Commander staples for fixing mana: Sol Ring and Arcane Signet are necessary in most lists, while Chromatic Lantern (Crystal of Altar Cave) grants easy access to any color of mana.

Relic of Legends turns any legendary we control into another mana source and enables the most explosive plays with Jodah, the Unifier, while Blitzball and Commander's Sphere fix mana and can be sacrificed later to draw cards.

We also have the traditional green Ramp pack. While we don't have Triomes for Farseek (Newfound Adventure), Three Visits, and Nature's Lore, we have access to some Forest lands in all color combinations except , which directly influences our choice of duals with , since we only have Rampant Growth, Farseek, and Cultivate to search for a Swamp, but we'll get to that.

Interaction

Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, and Chaos Warp are classic Commander removal staples and are available in Final Fantasy, so there's no reason not to use them.

Stroke of Midnight (Memories of Nibelheim) seems like a worse choice than Void Rend (which is available in the FFXIV precon), but due to the deck's imperfect mana base and the spell's color requirements, I opted for the monocolored card.

Damn (Noctis's Death Magic) offers spot removal that can be used as a sweeper in some games. The flexibility of not needing something that exclusively clears the board in all circumstances—since, ideally, we have the most relevant board—is what guarantees this slot for the card, as there are also situations where we need a board wipe to solve multiple problems at once.

Protection

The reason we separate interaction from protection is that we’re not focused on, most of the time, responding to an opponent’s spell unless it will win the game, and we prefer cards we can use to preserve our position.

Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots offer permanent protection and stay on the board for Jodah, the Unifier or any other bomb we can use during the game for a very low cost.

Heroic Intervention (Aerith's Curaga Magic) and Clever Concealment protect our creatures from sweepers and other board interactions for cheap, with Concealment ensuring they stay safe until our next turn.

Akroma's Will (Blessings of the Oracle) doubles as protection from removal and sweepers, and as a combat trick that can win games with an efficient board. Its mana cost is relatively high, but its double utility makes it a good draw at any point in the game.

An Offer You Can't Refuse is the only pure stack interaction we have, aimed at dealing with troublesome cards at the lowest possible cost. If we want more stack interction, we can consider Counterspell (Wild Rose Rebellion), Dovin’s Veto (Shadowbringers), and Louisoix’s Sacrifice in one of the slots above, but we don’t usually leave much mana open each turn.

The bombs, that permanently alter the course of the game.

Ruinous Ultimatum’s cost is intentionally restrictive, and while we have a five-coIor deck, I'm in favor of having something with that cost that requires some effort or luck to play. If we have a relevant board, it can win the game on it own; if not, it puts all players under the same resource parity.

Cyclonic Rift (Hope's Aero Magic) functions as a cheap interaction and a pseudo-Ruinous Ultimatum in some circumstances. Its flexibility makes it worthy a slot, even as a Game Changer.

Rise of the Dark Realms reuses all creatures in all graveyards, and if no opponent can counter it and/or deal with the board immediately, we will likely win the game the following turn.

Since Jodah, the Unifier essentially works by playing two legendaries per spell from hand through mana costs, we can scale card selection based on their values, especially considering that one- and two-cost spells need to include assertive cards that will be encountered more frequently due to the large number of three-cost spells.

Mana Value 1

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (Zidane Tribal) serves as a cheap ramp early in the game if it enters in the first few turns and then acts as a source of card advantage against your opponents.

Zack Fair offers protection for Jodah, the Unifier or another important creature for a low mana value.

Mana Value 2

Tataru Taru is a sort of fixed Smothering Tithe. It offers a Treasure and a Draw when it enters while punishing effects like Rhystic Study and recurring draws.

Bugenhagen, Wise Elder functions as another manafix and ramp, while its draw ability is easy to trigger with Jodah, the Unifier. Just having both in play guarantees a seven-power creature on the board.

Thrasios, Triton Hero (Tidus, Zanarkand Fayth) provides a recurring source of card advantage in long games. It's one of the few cards that makes it worthwhile to spend turns with untapped mana responding to your opponent rather than focusing on a proactive game plan.

Mana Value 3

The Legends Interaction Package.

Venat, Heart of Hydaelyn offers an extra draw for the first legendary you play each turn, and we can turn it into removal and a constant source of card advantage late-game.

Serah Farron reduces the cost of Legends and, if transformed, offers a significant power boost for an aggressive archetype.

Similarly, Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness has an easy-to-trigger ability and increases the power of all legendary creatures while granting them evasion.

Elena, Turk Recruit allows you to reuse a destroyed or countered legendary card and grows for each historic spell you cast, including artifacts.

The extra ramp.

Captain Lannery Storm (Vaan, Aspiring Sky Pirate) and Locke, Treasure Hunter offer Treasure tokens whenever they attack, and Locke has the bonus of allowing you to play your opponent's exiled cards with him during the turn.

The Warring Triad functions as a mana rock until you have eight or more cards in your graveyard, where it transforms into a 5/5 with Flying and Trample. It's a great option for both color-fixing early and late-game sequencing with Jodah.

Ignis Scientia digs to the top for a land to put into play. Its ability to exile cards from graveyards is rarely used, but it can work in some circumstances.

The card advantage.

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor (The Shadow Lord) offers an extra draw for each creature that deals damage to the opponent, allowing us to replenish our hand with some ease. It's worth noting that this ability works for any player who deals damage to an opponent, allowing it to stay in play longer due to the political value of extracting card advantage from it for other players.

Tymna, the Weaver (Cecil Harvey) also guarantees extra draws for each opponent who took combat damage this turn. Unlike Gix, it only works for us, and Tymna usually has an immediate target when it enters due to its cEDH-level infamy.

Emet-Selch, Unsundered filters the hand each combat and, if transformed, offers a Yawgmoth's Will for as long as it remains in play.

Terra, Herald of Hope is a decent early-game beater that feeds the graveyard each combat. It synergizes with Emet-Selch while also reusing creatures with power three or less from the graveyard.

Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant also filters the hand for cheap, has an affordable transform cost, and can bring creatures back to the battlefield if it stays on the board for too long.

Loran of the Third Path (Garnet Til Alexandros 17th) functions as a legendary Disenchant that also provides a constant source of card advantage every turn. It synergizes with Tataru Taru.

The game winners.

Lightning, Army of One has one of the most powerful abilities when combined with some other legendaries and Jodah, the Unifier on the board. Since she has Trample, simply attacking the player with the lowest blocking potential will double all damage dealt by other creatures, potentially removing two or more players from the game in the same turn.

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom (Cloud Strife) has an extra combat ability that can also end games with the right amount of creatures on the board. With Relic of Legends and enough permanents in play, we can reuse this ability more than once, pressuring all opponents to deal with multiple attackers for three or more combats in a row.

Mana Value 4

Jenova, Ancient Calamity increases the power of another creature each turn and becomes a source of card advantage if it isn't destroyed alone before a sweeper or other targeted removal. Its primary target is usually Jodah, the Unifier.

Dion, Bahamut's Dominant transforms into a creature that boosts power and grants Flying to creatures you control, allowing you to bypass blockers and even remove a player from the game if necessary.

Alphinaud Leveilleur provides an extra draw whenever you play your second spell of the turn, which is pretty easy to trigger with Jodah.

The Lunar Whale provides a constant source of card advantage as long as it attacks that turn. Because it's initially an artifact, it survives most common sweepers, such as Blasphemous Act or Toxic Deluge.

Tifa, Martial Artist easily provides extra combat in a list that includes Jodah to boost the power of all legendaries, putting pressure on the board every turn she is in play.

Mana Value 5

Kefka, Court Mage can offer consistent card advantage every combat, unless all players agree to discard the same type and/or have nothing to discard. Even then, you'll have to discard at least one to draw two. Transforming it is a late-game function and needs to be used carefully as the draw trigger for damage dealt to the opponent is mandatory, and we don't have Reliquary Tower.

Kraum, Ludevic's Opus (Barnabas Tharmr) punishes opponents for playing their second spell of the turn, and the combination of cost and Haste are good advantages to have in an inherently aggressive deck.

Kenrith, the Returned King (Noctis Lucis Caelum) has a combination of powerful abilities that work at any stage of longer games, with the most important usually being the ability to pay to give Trample and Haste to all creatures.

Thancred Waters serves as additional protection for important creatures, and we can use spells like Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile to give him indestructible as well.

Rinoa Heartilly creates a legendary creature token when it enters, and combined with the card we draw with it through the Jodah/Warrior of Light trigger, we'll have +3/+3 for the entire board with just one card.

General Leo Cristophe returns a creature with a mana value of three or less from the graveyard, also offering +3/+3 to the board with Jodah and potentially being more impactful than Rinoa, since the creature it returns will have another relevant ability.

Mana Value 6+

Ultimecia, Temporal Threat is a Coastal Piracy along with Tempest Caller for all opponents. Even with few creatures, the extra draws it offers help replenish our resources.

Despite being a game changer, the impact of Bolas’s Citadel (Kefka’s Tower) varies greatly depending on what we have at the top, since we use a list with few ways to shuffle the deck or play extra lands. Obviously, there are situations where it simply goes off and we win the game because we generate too much value with a sequence of cards, but there are also times when it is simply another legendary source card advantage.

Atraxa, Grand Unifier (Sephiroth, the Savior) ends up being more impactful than Bolas’s Citadel most of the time because it puts so many cards in hand at once, while a 7/7 body with a keyword soup is a threat and nearly impenetrable defense on its own.

I had trouble with 36 lands, and I believe 38 is the ideal number for this list due to the mix of mana costs and colors, coupled with the lack of consistency that using only lands released in Final Fantasy can provide.

Our priority is green mana for Ramp cards, so we have three Forests accompanied by two copies of each of the other basic lands, and our duals tend to prioritize green initially and then find the other colors.

Clive's Hideaway is the only utility land we run. Having four or more legendaries to activate Hideaway is pretty easy, and we ideally want to cast a Ruinous Ultimatum or Atraxa, Grand Unifier from it, but anything with a mana value of three or higher is a win.

We have few five-color lands or lands that can search any basic land available, but fortunately the combination of Command Tower, Starting Town, Path of Ancestry, and City of Brass (Bhujerba, Floating Capital) are enough to handle our colorfixing.

Four of the original Tri-Lands are available in Final Fantasy precons, and having access to at least one of them early in the game helps a lot in knowing what to look for with Ramp spells.

Speaking of Ramp, Tangled Islet, Cinder Glade, and Canopy Vista can be found with Three Visits and Nature's Lore, making it easier to access the complementary colors of green mana.

With these lands, we also have more consistency in playing untapped Check Lands. We prioritized green as colors, but a copy of Isolated Chapel seems necessary, considering that is the second most common color on the list and is the land type we have the hardest time finding.

Filter Lands are also split between prioritizing or , but Sunken Ruins allows you to turn Tangled Islet into a source of or , helping ease our access to black mana even though we can't find a Swamp with Three Visits or Nature's Lore.

One of each available Pain Land caps the number of Duals we have available. Plus, they enter untapped, which is especially helpful in the early turns.

That's all for today!

Remember that Commander doesn't have a right way to build a deck. If you want to use your favorite characters, use them. Even if they don't have good synergies, they'll still be your favorite characters! (For example, I'd love to include Clive, Ifrit's Dominant in my list at some point), and the most important thing when getting people together to play is feeling good about the list you're playing and having fun with it.

Thanks for reading!