Upgrading All The Final Fantasy Precons
New Commander precons means it's time once again for another round of precon upgrades! Final Fantasy is here and with it comes four Commander precon decks. The set is omega-level hype and I know there's tons of Final Fantasy fans out there willing to pay any amount of gil to get your hands on the precons, so I decided to do something I rarely do these days: a deck analysis and upgrade guide for all four decks!
We'll check out each deck one at a time, highlighting each deck's strengths and weaknesses, then use that analysis to recommend optimized upgrade guides. Also for purists who want to upgrade the decks using only cards from Final Fantasy, I've got good news for you: later this week I'll be publishing an upgrade guide for each precon using cards only from Final Fantasy, once all the main set cards are officially revealed, so check back in a few days for that!
Okay, with the intro out of the way, let's check out the decks:
Limit Break
Let's kick things off with the FFVII precon since it's the only one of the four videogames I've actually played so I'm biased towards it! Limit Break is a White / Red / Green Equipments deck with a cute "Power 7+ Matters" subtheme as a nod to its title. The idea is simple: play creatures, increase their power with equipment, then smash face for tons of damage and value!
Before we talk upgrades, let's look at the stock list:
Limit Break looks like a deck focused on Equipment and 7+ Power Matters, but how focused is it on its themes? For Equipment I count 16 equipment cards, 11 cards that directly support equipments (e.g. Puresteel Paladin), and a handful of cards that indirectly support equipments (e.g. Professor Hojo makes equip costs cheaper and draws you cards when you equip). Honestly I'd have expected more equipment but it's still a fine baseline.
Now the Power 7+ Matters theme is trickier: there's only 2 creatures in the deck with baseline 7+ power (e.g. Sephiroth, Fallen Hero), with about 4ish creatures that you can reasonably assume will hit 7+ power at least half the time (e.g. Avalanche of Sector 7) and that's being generous. There's also a handful of other cards that increases power, mostly equipments like Champion's Helm, but most of these bump the power by about 2 and not enough to get most creatures to 7+ power. Unsurprisingly, there's only 4 cards that reward you specifically for having 7+ power (e.g. Bugenhagen, Wise Elder), and at least 2 more that care about power (Lifestream's Blessing).
So while the Equipment deck is fairly well-supported, the "Power 7+ Matters" theme is mostly relevant only because of our commanders, Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER and Tifa, Martial Artist, which reward you for boosting their power to 7 and have a starting power of 4 which is high enough to quickly reach the goal with a single Hero's Blade for example. Other than that this subtheme is mostly just a cute nod to the videogame and not something you can go all-in building around.
Alright, so we've established this is primarily an Equipment deck, now let's look at the individual cards.
The Good
First let's look at what the stock list does well so we know what to keep untouched during upgrades.
- The commanders are fantastic. Precon decks often have overpowered commanders to smooth over the jank often found in the 99 and this precon is no exception: Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER is incredible leading the stock list, immediately getting tremendous value the moment you cast him, providing card + mana advantage while beating face. Tifa, Martial Artist is also a fantastic commander and in my opinion even more deadly than Cloud when built correctly, but she really wants to lead a different deck, not this stock list.
- Some of the new cards are really good. Both commanders are great, but some of the other new cards are also slam-dunks for an Equipment style deck like this, such as Professor Hojo, Cid, Freeflier Pilot, Barret, Avalanche Leader, basically anything that works with equipment is great.
- Some of the reprints are really good. Puresteel Paladin, Nature's Lore, Clever Concealment, there's a lot of banger reprints here.
The Bad
I'll be honest: there's a lot of weird inclusions in this deck. I will assume that a lot of this comes down to flavor inclusions at the expense of gameplay cohesion?
- A lot of cards feel out of place. Aerith, Last Ancient offers a lifegain payoff you will almost never pull off in an actual game because aside from Sephiroth, Fallen Hero or Wrecking Ball Arm there's no other way to reliably get her to 7 power and very little lifegain in the deck otherwise. The foretell cards like Ultimate Magic: Holy are totally playable on their own but just feel odd in this deck when there's almost no other ways to cast them from exile. We've got a tiny Soldier theme going on with Heidegger, Shinra Executive but only 6 soldiers in the entire deck, it's really not doing much here. Why Skullclamp when there's almost no creatures we actually want dying to trigger it? What the heck is Hellkite Tyrant doing, we're never going to win off it, and the only haste enabler in the entire deck for it is Lightning Greaves???
- Some of the cards plain suck. For example: Explorer's Scope is a card I ironically love, but I'll be the first to admit that you absolutely need a ton of topdeck manipulation to make this card good, which this deck simply does not provide.
I feel like 50% of the deck is cohesive and sweet, 30% are good cards but don't synergize with the deck much if at all, and then 20% of the deck is underwhelming. As someone who is playing through the FFVII remake I get all the references and the flavor is absolutely spot-on, but it really feels like playability was sacrificed for flavor. You're gonna have to do a lot of carrying for this deck to work, Cloud!
$25 Upgrades
I have two main goals when upgrading this deck:
- Focus on Equipment. This precon is an Equipment deck first and foremost, so I'm going to bolster the Equipment strategy while removing cards that don't fit this theme or just do the job poorly.
- Focus on Voltron. Here's a dirty secret: Equipment decks are always better as Voltron strategies rather than Go Wide. Even though Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER offers additional card draw for each equipped creature, it still ends up being far better to just focus on piling everything on Cloud and protecting him rather than spreading it out: you'll kill people faster with commander damage, you'll reap bigger rewards off stuff like Behemoth Sledge gaining you way more life, and it's simply easier to protect a single creature than trying to protect your entire board. I've been playing Akiri, Fearless Voyager for years as my own Equipment commander specifically to encourage myself to Go Wide swinging with equipment instead of going Voltron as a self-imposed nerf to the deck and STILL it ends up correct to just pile on all my equipment on to a single creature most of the time. So if we're trying to be optimized, don't fight it, go all-in on Cloud!
So we're turning Limit Break into Equipment Voltron with Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER as the star of the show. Every addition must help us with our goal of winning with Cloud, and every cut will be to cards that don't help with that goal.
The Upgrades
There are the handful of relatively cheap equipment that work great with Cloud like Loxodon Warhammer which bumps Cloud's power to 7 and gives him evasion and lifelink, or Sunforger which also bumps up Cloud to the magic number but also gives us a ton of free tutorable interaction each turn. I've also focused on cheap protection for Cloud like Loran's Escape, and something that nobody really talks about is Green's "draw cards equal to power" which is bananas here like Hunter's Insight which is easily a 3 mana draw 7+, I find it kinda silly that all the precon guides are focusing on more expensive and less efficient draw options like Sram, Senior Edificer or even Sword of Fire and Ice when you can just out-value all of that with cards that are less than a dollar.
The Cuts
For every card in the deck I ask the question "does this help me win with Cloud" and if the answer is "no" or if the card is simply bad at its job then it gets cut.
Upgraded List
Here's how it looks like with the upgrades installed:
One down, three to go!
Revival Trance
Revival Trance is a White / Black / Red Graveyard deck focused on milling and discarding creatures with cards like Stitcher's Supplier and Big Score then utilizing the creatures in the graveyard, mostly by reanimating them (The Falcon, Airship Restored) but also fueling other cards too (Cyan, Vengeful Samurai)!
Let's look at the stock list:
Revival Trance is a focused Graveyard deck: I count 19 cards that put creatures into the graveyard either through milling or discarding and 25 cards that care about your graveyard, mostly reanimation but a bit of other stuff too.
There's also Pitiless Plunderer and Morbid Opportunist here which I thought would hint at a Sacrifice subtheme here but nope, there's 1 sac outlet in the entire deck (Shadow, Mysterious Assassin) and like two or three cards that sacrifice themselves (Priest of Fell Rites) so maybe these are either random "hope for value" inclusions or maybe the remnants of a previous version of the deck that focused more on Sacrifice, who knows?
So yeah, Graveyard deck! Put creatures in graveyard, profit!
The Good
- The list is pretty focused. It's more focused than Limit Break at least! Aside from a couple random choices, 95% of the deck is focused on the goal of "put creatures in graveyard, profit" and that's good to see!
- It's very consistent. There's so much looting and rummaging that you get to churn through your deck quickly, reducing variance and making sure you find the cards you need (and discarding the ones you don't) reliably, WITH ONE MAJOR EXCEPTION (see The Bad)
- Some of the new cards and reprints are great. Again a mixed bag here, but we've got some absolute banger reprints like Reanimate and Ruinous Ultimatum, plus for new cards the commanders are great (as always) and we've got some crazy good new cards like Kefka, Dancing Mad which is one of the best reanimate targets.
The Bad
- Some of the new cards are weird/weak inclusions. Setzer, Wandering Gambler cares about Vehicles and coin flips which is completely unsupported in this deck. Strago and Relm is interesting in a Theft deck, not here. There's also some weak cards like Interceptor, Shadow's Hound which is really cool and self-reanimate is thematic, but there's only a single Assassin in the deck (not even a commander) and a 4/3 without evasion is simply not worth getting back anyway.
- Some of the reprints are just kinda weak. Mind Stone is the weakest of these, it's hardly good enough in monocolor decks these days and just plain awful in a 3C deck that needs mana-fixing. Like all precons the lands are a bit on the jank side but not too bad.
- Not enough Terra targets. Terra, Herald of Hope is the face commander of the deck, so we want to make sure that every time we trigger her ability we have something to reanimate. There's a healthy amount of creatures that she can target, but we can get that number higher.
Overall the precon looks better built than Limit Break but just like the other precon I feel like it sacrificed playability for the sake of lore and aesthetics. This is probably the right call for the primary audience, Final Fantasy VI fans, but from a pure gameplay perspective it does take away from the overall power.
$25 Upgrades
The point of our deck is to put creatures in the graveyard and then do stuff with them. With that in mind, goals:
- Add more reanimate creatures for Terra. This is the big one, I want to make sure every attack with Terra is likely to hit something to reanimate!
- Lower the curve in general, start replacing weak cards for better versions. The deck is fairly focused but there's just a lot of weaker cards we can swap out for better stuff.
- Take out the random stuff. If the card doesn't assist in our goal of graveyard stuff it's out!
Adds:
I've added more creatures that can be reanimated by Terra, Herald of Hope, along with two extra combats such as Fear of Missing Out which allows us to mill + reanimate more. More importantly though I've overhauled the manabase with catchup ramp and bouncelands to enable them, they work great with Terra and just smooth out the deck even more.
Cuts
The cuts are pretty easy: I swapped out the weakest part of the manabase, cards that don't work well with Terra, and finally the thematic but weakest cards.
Two down, two to go!
Upgraded List
Scions & Spellcraft
Scions & Spellcraft is a White / Blue / Black deck that is all about casting noncreature spells for value, and you get bonus value if the spell has a high mana value! Noncreature spells like ramp cards (Talisman of Dominance) and removal (Snuff Out) fuel a bunch of cards like Papalymo Totolymo and Hermes, Overseer of Elpis!
So how well does the precon nail that Noncreature High Mana Value flavor? Let's check the stock list:
To meet its goals of "cast noncreature spells = profit" I count 43 noncreature spells (3 of these are creatures with noncreature adventure sides) and 18 cards that care about noncreature spells, with 4 of those only caring about instants/sorceries (e.g. Fandaniel, Telophoroi Ascian). For the High Mana Value subtheme though, I count only 4 noncreature spells with high mv that you can cast for cheaper (e.g. Snuff Out) and only 3 cards that care about mana value at all, though this includes both commander options.
There's also tons of extra little subthemes going around: there are 14 cards that make token creatures (e.g. Astrologian's Planisphere) and about 4 cards that beef up your tokens (Hildibrand Manderville). The equipment cards seemed like a weird inclusion to me at first but they all riff off Y'shtola really well, like Reaper's Scythe growing quickly from our commander's ping ability and Dancer's Chakrams gaining us tremendous amounts of life. There's a "cast two spells" (flurry) subtheme with Alisaie Leveilleur & Alphinaud Leveilleur plus Lyse Hext. There's even a legendary payoff with Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness which actually is somewhat good here since we've got 17 legendaries in the deck.
So the deck is about Noncreature spells, and the commanders care a bit more about High Mana Value but it's not a main focus of the deck, and there's a bunch of minor cute subthemes that play off our main theme and commander.
The Good
- The face commander is busted. Of all the face commanders, Y'shtola, Night's Blessed is my pick for the overall most powerful if properly built around: it's an absurd card draw engine and finisher and lifegain all rolled into one. Heck, even if you become the archenemy (which you often will be), getting punched in the face for 4+ damage still draws you cards. I'd argue that Y'shtola falls in the "too strong" category and not a fan of how power-creepy it is, but it's hard to deny that this will excite a lot of players who like obviously powerful commanders.
- It's a fairly solid Control deck. The stock list provides enough tools to let you sit around and durdle, winning through pings rather than the usual smashy-smash playstyle that 90% of precons fall into.
- There's some good reprints. Propaganda, Archaeomancer's Map, Snuff Out -- these are some very solid cards that work particularly well here.
The Bad
I feel like this deck is nerfing itself so that Y'shtola, Night's Blessed doesn't curbstomp all the other precons.
The stock list is filled with all these cute little synergies which add depth and complexity to the list -- cast two spells per turn, legendary creatures matter, tokens matter -- but Y'shtola is very clear on what she wants to be doing, and that's chaining together high mv noncreature spells, and this deck simply refuses to do that.
If you simply dropped all the cute little subthemes and focused on Y'shtola's strengths the deck becomes an absolute monster. As someone who likes cute subthemes I actually really dig the design of this precon, but if we want to upgrade it then it's quite obvious how to do so.
$25 Upgrades
Unsurprisingly, Y'shtola, Night's Blessed happens to be one of the most popular commanders from the set, so the most powerful additions to it have spiked in price. Since Y'shtola repeatedly damages each opponent, cards that trigger off noncombat damage such as Curiosity, Ophidian Eye, Tandem Lookout, Helm of the Ghastlord, and Sigil of Sleep are powerhouses that quickly take over the game. A lot of these cards also are staples in the most popular (and powerful) commander from the set, Vivi Ornitier, further increasing the price spike.
I managed to include most of these but left out Ophidian Eye due to budget. Also Jin-Gitaxias works similar to Y'shtola just worse, it's another great inclusion but is currently $5.
Less obvious but sweet tech that I'm throwing in are some free to cast spells like Angelic Favor, mana-neutral spells like Unwind, and some cutesy ways to guarantee draw like Undermine.
Cuts
We're taking out the cute subthemes. Like I said they add a lot of depth and nuance to the list, but since I'm upgrading for power they are simply not as strong as the main gameplan.
Three down, one to go!
Counter Blitz
Counter Blitz is a White / Blue / Green deck focused on Counters, specifically +1/+1 counters but there's a smattering of other types of counters in the deck too. The goal of the deck is to play creatures and slap counters on them with cards like Maester Seymour then reward you for doing so, drawing you cards with Bred for the Hunt, giving them keywords with Sphere Grid, or protecting them with Inspiring Call, all while your creatures to continue to grow and bash in for more damage!
Let's see how well the stock list pulls off its goals:
Counter Blitz is all-in on Counters and does what it sets out to do well: I count 38 cards the put counters on either themselves or other cards, nearly all of these are +1/+1 counters but there's a bit of other stuff too (4 summon creatures put lore counters on themselves like Summon: Valefor). I also count 31 cards that reward you for having counters in some way, such as Inexorable Tide and Rikku, Resourceful Guardian. There are no other themes I'm noticing here, it's all-in on Counters!
It's important to point out that our two commanders work especially well with the new summons, but there's only 4 in the entire deck so it's not a focus for the stock list.
Of all the precons, Counter Blitz is clearly the most focused on a singular goal, and nearly all the card choices are aimed at synergy with its Counter theme.
The Good
- Incredible focus on synergy. Of all the precons, Counter Blitz is the only one where I feel like 99% of the cards feel like they're serving the main goal of the deck and aren't some random stuff thrown in. Like sure, An Offer You Can't Refuse doesn't synergize but it's a very solid card and we need cheap interaction. I checked over the list multiple times and I feel like the only two cards that don't synergize and I feel are a bit weak as generic filler is Pull from Tomorrow and Destroy Evil. That's great!
- Very high reprint quality. There's a lot of staples for Counters decks here, like Inspiring Call, Inexorable Tide, Hardened Scales, and it's the first time we've seen Damning Verdict reprinted, one of the best cards for a Counters deck as a one-sided wipe and it was quite expensive for that reason!
- The new cards are powerful without being busted. I think all the new summons are incredible in general not just in a Counters deck, I think Summon: Yojimbo and Summon: Valefor will be showing up in a bunch of future brews. I also appreciate that the two commanders, Tidus, Yuna's Guardian and Yuna, Grand Summoner are both powerful and support the new summon sagas from the set without being so oppressively strong that all deckbuilding choices warp around them.
The Bad
Honestly, not much???
Of all the FF precons, I think Counter Blitz is the best designed deck with the least glaring issues. Obviously I have nitpicks with individual cards -- I've been yelling about Temple of the False God only being good in decks that reliably land ramp and it's especially bad in decks with lots of color pip requirements -- but these are just nitpicks.
I think the one thing I would've liked to see more of in the list are summon cards: if you look at our commander options, Tidus, Yuna's Guardian and Yuna, Grand Summoner, both clearly work exceptionally well with the new summon creatures like Summon: Valefor as Tidus can remove lore counters to keep them around longer and Yuna can pump up creatures when the summons die, and that's a unique new game design space that would differentiate the deck from more generic +1/+1 Counter lists out there. Unfortunately there's only 4 summons in the entire deck, which I think is a shame!
$25 Upgrade
+1/+1 Counters is a very deep archetype so there's more sweet upgrade options that I could ever hope to cover, but I selected some of my favorites: for protection I've added Bulwark Ox and Mutational Advantage, a bunch of proliferates with Metastatic Evangel and Dreamtide Whale being the two best, ramp got a massive upgrade with Astral Cornucopia / Kami of Whispered Hopes / Purestrain Genestealer / Summon: Fenrir, and so on.
Cuts
Aside from cutting the weakest lands, cuts were pretty tough because everything works pretty well here. Still, I tried cutting the weakest cards, especially the ones that are the least mana-efficient (Blitzball Stadium is cool but we have far more efficient ways of putting counters on things, giving evasion, and drawing cards for example).
Upgraded List
FF-Only Upgrades Coming Soon!
I know a lot of folks picking up these Final Fantasy precons are interested in upgrading using only FF cards, so I will be providing upgrade guides for that coming next week! Thanks for reading!
