In part 1 of my effort to rank all the Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy legendary creatures we ranked the first 111 creatures, leaving us only with the top 50 to go. We're now past the rounds of creatures designed for limited, instead seeing cards you may see at places well beyond that - whether at your kitchen table, or in tournament play.
Check out the first part if you want to see what I'm basing my ranking of these cards on, and lets get to it, starting with one of the few uncommons to make it into Part 2.
50. Freya Crescent
Red mana dorks are here, and while Freya is limited, she can do quite a lot with that, and her Jump ability makes her a decent quick backup equipment bearer.
49. Zell Dincht
Zell is an odd card for Red, as playing with lands like this is normally green’s area, but this is strong in landfall decks as he lets you play more lands and will bring back lands to keep triggering the landfall effects.
48. Ultima, Origin of Oblivion
A blight for 5 color decks, Ultima here also is going to be an inclusion in many casual Eldrazi decks as a mana doubler who can deny mana or land abilities to your opponents.
47. Kuja, Genome Sorcerer
Making little black Wizards who ping on casting is useful, and provides Kuja with a spot in spellslinger commander decks,and when transformed, they can turn it into a quick kill condition.
46. Cyan, Vengeful Samurai*
Part of the Final Fantasy 6 Commander deck, Cyan here can come down as cheap as 1 mana, and provide a growing double striking body for white inclusive recursion decks.
45. Venat, Heart of Hydaelyn
A solid card draw option on the front side with a decent body, that in the late game is unconditional removal and becomes an indestructible card draw engine? Sign me up!
44. Hraesvelgr of the First Brood*
We don’t see many Elder Dragons added to magic, but Hraesveigr joins the line up as one of the cheaper ones, and provides a sizable flying, protected body that ensures you hit your opponent.
43. Rikku, Resourceful Guardian*
While stealing counters is very Rikku, her first ability to grant unblockability is much bigger, and synergizes perfectly with Tidus to trigger his abilities in the Final Fantasy 10 Commander Deck.
42. Locke, Treasure Hunter*
Locke in his Final Fantasy 6 Commander Deck form is a powerful, and evasive attacker who grants you treasure (hi Prosper!) and card advantage in theft… I mean treasure hunting form.
41. Yuffie, Materia Hunter*
Unlike most Ninja’s, Yuffie doesn’t need ninjutsu for her ability to trigger, instead she can just grab your opponents’ Sol Ring and grab it for yourself, while also moving equipment over to her - something that can be quite nasty with Ninjutsu.
40. Aerith, Last Ancient*
A lifegain and resurrection commander makes for a somewhat different combination than we often have, and doing it at a decent rate with options makes this Aerith interesting.
39. The Wandering Minstrel
Surprisingly not from a Commander deck, Wandering Minstrel seems aimed more at casual and Commander play with letting your tap lands come into play, and rewarding running towns as a potential 5 color commander option.
38. Seymour Flux**
The latest iteration on ‘what if Phyrexian Arena was a creature’, Seymour Flux grows, but you’ll be relying on it for card advantage mostly, and its 5 mana casting cost is a significant handicap there.
37. Gogo, Master of Mimicry
While unlikely to light up competitive tables, Gogo’s unique ability to mass copy an ability suggests a powerful card in commander and casual formats, while having a decent enough body.
36. Sabin, Master Monk*
A powerful, potentially hasty and recurring double striking threat makes Sabin a potential game changer if you can give him some evasion.
35. Banon, the Returners’ Leader*
An interesting addition from the Final Fantasy 6 Commander deck, Banon provides a solid card draw for boros decks that are heavy on creatures and lower to the ground.
34. Vincent, Vengeful Atoner*
Give Vincent, Vengeful Avenger a powerful piece of equipment (like Excalibur?) and make sure he gets through and he will swiftly take down an entire table of foes.
33. Cid, Timeless Artificer
With 16 different arts, there’s a Cid from each main game here, and as our representative of the relentless ability it is a very interesting and different take on it, that will see casual play aplenty.
32. Zodiark, Umbral God
Embrace the blackness and get Zodiark who is an undeniably indestructible, mass murdering threat to the game.
31. Kefka, Dancing Mad*
Final Fantasy 6’s Joker might not be our dancing queen, but he is comparable to Etali in how he grabs cards and is a hard hitting red threat that steals cards from opponents for free.
30. Tidus, Yuna's Guardian*
The commander deck version of Tidus is all about counters and moves them around during your turn, and provides significant card draw and proliferation capability.
29. Interceptor, Shadow’s Hound*
Who’s a good doggy? Interceptor is, and interceptor is ready to menace your foes, and will come back as long as you have a legendary friend even if your opponent cruelly put him down.
28. Firion, Wild Rose Warrior
Granting equipped creatures haste is nice, but the doubling of equipment like Firion does is a unique, and powerful ability playing on the short duplicating we’ve seen from red before.
27. Tifa, Martial Artist*
Another of the Final Fantasy 7 commanders, Tifa cares about the number 7, letting you get an extra combat if you hit with a powerful creature, a mark she can hit in games of 4 or more players without any special help beyond a couple other attackers.
26. Emet-Selch of the Third Seat*
As long as you can consistently cause some life loss, this Emet-Selch is a strong option for control decks, letting them replay spells and at a discount.
25. Y’shtola Rhul
Y’shtola Rhul asks some very interesting questions with its additional end step for players to figure out, and pairs it with a powerful blink ability sure to make this the cat’s meow in the right decks.
24. Bugenhagen, Wise Elder*
Manadorks can be quite powerful in the command zone, and Bugenhagen can also draw cards once you get to the mid or late game.
23. Yuna, Grand Summoner*
Yuna serves a multitude of roles as ramp, counter placer, and as a limited Ozolith to serve as some protection for your counters.
22. Cloud, Ex-Soldier*
Another equipment commander is nothing new, but this Cloud’s focus on power 7 or greater (a common theme for the Final Fantasy 7 commander deck creatures) for treasure is distinct, especially with the card draw per equipped creature.
21. Balthier and Fran
A powerful attacker, and lord for vehicles, Balthier and Fran let your vehicles keep going and pounding your opponents. Pairing up with various Aetherdrift cards, it will be seen in casual construction a fair bit.
20. Noctis, Prince of Lucis
Noctis brings a solid body, and the ability to keep bringing back artifacts at a cost of 3 life, and the artifact's mana cost.
19. Yuna, Hope of Spira
A powerful option for enchantment heavy decks, Yuna has some protection and buffs enchantment creatures, while also resurrecting enchantments each turn.
18. Lightning, Army of One
A heavily keyworded warrior, Lightning, Army of One also effectively doubles the damage of all your other creatures if she gets through.
17. Kefka, Court Mage
A solid card advantage and disruption engine on its face, Kefka kicks it up a notch to finisher mode with an 8 mana transform that kills creatures, and becomes a flying threat.
16. Tifa Lockhart
Tifa here is a strong 2 drop for green decks, especially in formats with fetchlands or where you want to focus on building her up. In Commander, expect to see a landfall/voltron approach, while she might appear in competitive formats as a quick beater, especially those with fetchlands.
15. Sin, Spira's Punishment
This version of Sin is very interesting and likely to be very good in a self-milling land deck that wants a top end option with its ability triggering on entry, as well as on attack.
14. Sephiroth, Fallen Hero*
A powerful attacker, Sephiroth, Fallen Hero grows other creatures you have, and can take over other cell-infested creatures emerging from the graveyard.
13. Emet-Selch, Unsundered*
An early game looter and body with vigilance, gives way to a mid-late game card advantage engine and finisher threat, making it one of the best in the set.
12. Garland, Knight of Cornelia
Serving as functionally a Dragon Rage Channeler on one side, Garland also presents a solid early body, and in the late game gets recurred as a significant flying threat.
11. Golbez, Crystal Collector
A powerful two drop who can generate card selection value with artifacts, and then turn it into a card advantage engine and eventually a win con.
10. Terra, Magical Adept
A powerful enchantment powering creature, this Terra is the capstone of the humans transforming into summons, and promises a lot of power from the front, and especially the back if you have the enchantments to pay it off.
9. Sephiroth, Fabled Soldier
Decks making use of aristocrats (sacrificing your own creatures) strategies will love this Sephiroth who combines Village Rites type effect with Blood Artist, and then caps it off with a powerful One-Winged Angel form.
8. G'raha Tia, Scion Reborn*
G’raha from Scions and Spellcraft Commander deck is a powerful creature able to make some giant Hero tokens for you as you cast spells, especially good with free spells that may have a higher alleged cost, but are easy to play during the game.
7. Cecil, Dark Knight
A highly powerful 1 drop, Cecil is an overstated body at 2/3 for 1 with deathtouch, and his life loss isn’t too much for it. In fact, it runs him into his transformed self, where he becomes a 4/4 lifelinker who protects others when attacking.
6. Choco, Seeker of Paradise
The chocobo leader is here with Choco, and while I’m not sure it will see competitive play I think it will be a staple of Commander and other casual formats. Choco gives you immediate benefits if you have other birdies, as you get card advantage and lands for each bird attacking.
5.Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed*
The leader of the FF14 Commander deck, this Y’shtola is quite powerful in control or even artifact shells. Taking advantage of opponents smacking each other to draw, or casting expensive cards that you may have discounted to drain and trigger that yourself, make for an intriguing and powerful card.
4. Vivi Ornitier
Little Vivi from Final Fantasy 9 doesn’t necessarily look highly powerful at first glance, but the ability to grow, and to produce mana make him a powerful little dude. It’s already been spotted that it has at least one infinite combo with Quicksilver Elemental from Mirrodin, and there’s a lot of neat things Vivi can do at a cheap rate.
3. Terra, Herald of Hope*
Heading up the Final Fantasy 6 deck, Terra here presents a quick, evasive threat who feeds her own resurrection ability with self-mill. Notably, the resurrection effect lacks finality counters or similar nonsense so you can abuse the resurrection more that way.
2. Cloud, Midgar Mercenary
Cloud is cheap, powerful, and presents a unique card that should be viable in a number of formats. Toss it in with Stoneforge Mystic as an additional tutor, or have it take that spot. With his doubling ability he makes some of the game’s strongest equipment even stronger as the various Swords of X and Y become just silly.
1. Celes, Rune Knight*
My pick for the best card from Final Fantasy - Magic: The Gathering is none other than the alternate commander for the Final Fantasy 6 deck. The ability to wheel through cards keeps your hand fresh, and her second ability rewards you for playing out of your graveyard and going wide. She goes infinite with basically any persist creatures, and a number of other things.
After 2 parts, 161 creatures, over 6000 words we've made the journey through to the end. What do you think is the best legendary creature in Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy? Any rankings you think I got wrong? Let me know below!
A longtime lover of speculative fiction, in almost all its forms, Don joined TechRaptor in 2014 on a whim sending in an application as he was looking for… More about Don
