Upgrading Final Fantasy Precons Using ONLY FF Cards!
So recently I did a $25 upgrade guide for every Final Fantasy Commander precon. I usually leave it at that, but in the case of Universes Beyond products I know a lot of folks want to keep their upgrades in-universe, so this article + video will show you how to upgrade the deck using ONLY cards from Final Fantasy, which includes any main set cards and all the special bonus sheet / promo stuff too!
Want to upgrade your Scions & Sorcery FFXIV precon using cards from only FFXIV? Want to equip Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER with his trusty Buster Sword in Limit Break? I'll help you with this flavorful upgrade guide!
Scions & Spellcraft FFXIV Upgrades
Scions & Spellcraft is the FFXIV precon. It's focused on Noncreature Spells Matter, with a subtheme that focuses on casting high mana value spells for extra value. I've already went into a detailed analysis of the deck so I'm not going to repeat myself here, we're just going to dive into the upgrades!
The FFXIV-themed cards to add are all basically top-tier interaction spells. Two of these -- Arcane Denial and Swords to Plowshares (pictured above) -- aren't yet in the MTGGoldfish database, so just keep that in mind.
Aettir and Priwen may be slow and clunky, but slap that baby on to any evasive creature and someone's gonna die, you gotta respect that!
And this is what I'd cut for them. As I mention in my $25 upgrade guide for the deck, these cuts are cards that either don't fit the theme, or fit the theme but aren't impactful enough or mana-efficient enough:
Limit Break FVII Upgrades
Limit Break is the FVII precon. It's all about Equipment, with a handful of cards also caring about having high power. The deck is mostly carried by its overpowered commander, Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER, so the upgrades will be leaning into maximizing Cloud's strengths, loading him up with even more powerful equipments to smash face and gain value!
We've got not one but TWO Buster Swords to equip to him, and two backup Clouds even that work great in the deck!
For cuts, we're taking out anything that doesn't fit the Equipment theme and start taking out the weakest pieces that don't support Cloud Voltron:
Counter Blitz
Counter Blitz is the FFX precon focused on putting counters on all of your creatures and then giving you big payoffs for having counters on everything! In my opinion this is the "best" (not "most powerful"!) designed stock list of the bunch because the 99 is so cohesive and heavy on synergy. But still there's always room for improvement!
For more thematic stuff, the reskinned Sword of Truth and Justice is a slam-dunk here, giving all the counter synergy stuff but also evasion for easier combat triggers. Summons are particularly strong with both commanders so I've added the remaining two good ones Summon: Shiva and Summon: Bahamut. Unfortunately the single best inclusion isn't thematic, it's just a reskinned Rhystic Study, which somehow is over $100 despite the "art" (screenshot) being horrible.
The cuts are a bit tough because everything is so thematic, but I just went by cutting the weakest stuff:
Revival Trance
Revival Trance is the FFVI precon and it's all about Graveyard Stuff, mostly Reanimator but some other "graveyard matters" card too. The entire goal of the deck is to dump creatures into your graveyard through discarding and self-milling, then use them various ways but mostly reanimate them.
Unfortunately there isn't much FFVI cards left to add to the deck. I think the most impactful card is the reskinned Bolas's Citadel but yeah that's pretty much it!
For cuts I'm just taking out weak stuff or stuff that doesn't fit our Reanimator main theme:
That's All, Folks!
That was a quick n' easy upgrade for all the decks using only cards from their respective games. I think Limit Break gains the most from the upgrades here, whereas Revival Trance gains the least. I hope that helps you out in your upgrade journey, and thanks for reading!
