FIN is the most excited I’ve been for a set, possibly ever. I’m sure like many others, Final Fantasy played a huge part of my childhood, and I always love revisiting the games. Not only is the IP very exciting, but it’s the second Universes Beyond draftable set (the first being The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth, one of the better limited sets in modern limited). The commons and uncommons are allowed to be a bit more powerful, and the set is designed with a heavy emphasis towards draftability. I hope you’re as hyped as I am, now let’s start analyzing the cards!
5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Gruff Triplets, Virtue of Persistence, The Eternal Wanderer)
4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Virtue of Loyalty, Imodane's Recruiter, Realm-Scorcher Hellkite)
4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Faunsbane Troll, Gumdrop Poisoner, Talion’s Messenger)
3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Candy Grapple, Hearth Elemental, Torch the Tower)
3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Shrouded Shepherd, Spellscorn Coven, Sharae of Numbing Depths)
2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Evolving Wilds, Archon's Glory, Flick a Coin)
2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Mintstrosity, Ice Out, Grabby Giant)
1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Titanic Growth, Scarecrow Guide, Territorial Witchstalker)
1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Dark Tutelage, Kindled Heroism, Impact Tremors)
0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. Cards that “could” be situationally decent, but bad in most situations. (Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Mana Flare)
0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. They rarely print cards this bad these days. (Hew the Entwood, One with Nothing)
Airship Crash
Rating: SB // 5.0
This should be a sideboard card, but it can be played main deck if you need playables.
Ancient Adamantoise
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This works best in equipment based decks, where you can get in some points early, then equip him to kill a decent sized creature. It’s likely a little underwhelming in the Izzet type decks, but it’s not unplayable.
Ancient Adamantoise
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
You should only consider playing this in a deck that both wants and can reliably get to 8 mana. Otherwise, it should be ignored.
A Realm Reborn
Rating: 0.0 // 5.0
This isn’t a limited card.
Balamb T-Rexaur
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is possibly the best land cycler of the five. It’s very reminiscent of Hill Giant Herdgorger, with bonus ability to cycle.
Bard’s Bow
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
The equip cost is one of the most expensive in the set. It will come up sometimes, but in the very very late game, making this mostly a 3/3 for 3.
Bartz and Boko
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
This obviously scales with the amount of birds your deck has. Bartz does work with just 1 bird in play, and can turn into a Plague with a bird herd. I realize it should be a flock of birds, but I like bird herd better.
Blitzball Shot
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is Run Amok 2.0, allowing you to play it on blockers as well. This is one of the better tricks for aggressive decks, and pretty bad in others.
Cactuar
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
This isn’t powerful enough to justify the upkeep and inconsistency it provides.
Chocobo Kick
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
Despite being sorcery speed, this is a solid removal spell that can help trigger landfall later as well.
Chocobo Racetrack
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
This is a bit too expensive for the effect it provides. You don’t typically want to be playing many lands past turn 5, and the payoff for doing so is pretty meager that late in the game.
Clash of the Eikons
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is likely just Prey Upon most of the time, but the options for lore counter manipulation is free real estate.
Coliseum Behemoth
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
A solid top end creature with a powerful ETB. You want to make sure you only play this in decks that are able to pay the high mana cost.
Commune with Beavers
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is a fine cantrip, that should be pretty difficult to whiff on. It will probably get a bit better later in the format, when players have a better understanding of deckbuilding and picking the right card of the three.
Diamond Weapon
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is perfectly fine if you can cast it for 7, and gets much better when it’s even cheaper. It pretty much needs to be killed with a removal spell, or else it brick walls your opponent.
Esper Origins // Summon: Esper Maduin
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
To my understanding, this just keeps coming back infinitely for 4 mana once it’s in your graveyard. The flashback exile gets negated by it flipping, and when the Esper dies or is sacrificed, it ends up in your graveyard where you can flash it back.
Galuf’s Final Act
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
This works best with big saga creatures on their last chapter, or using it in response to a kill spell. It’s still really narrow, and sometimes the counters don’t matter.
Gigantoad
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is fine filler if you’re looking for 4 drops.
Goobbue Gardener
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is a very mana hungry set, with expensive spells and equip costs. Mana dorks are in high demand here.
Gran Pulse Ochu
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
Typhoid Rats are almost always solid in limited. The activated ability allows it to become much more relevant in the late game.
Gysahl Greens
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
If you really need two drops, or have bird synergies, this works.
Jumbo Cactuar
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
This can work with Blitzball Shot, but it’s still weak, slow, and vulnerable to removal.
Loporrit Scout
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
This is a pretty weak 3 drop you can hopefully avoid having to play.
Prishe’s Wanderings
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This does a good job of fixing in soup-like decks, since it can find towns that produce 2 colors. It’s still a bit weak, but instant speed lets you potentially win some combat steps here and there.
Quina, Qu Gourmet
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
You should only consider playing Quina in a deck that produces a lot of tokens. The number of token making cards would need to be about 5+ if you want to play this.
Reach the Horizon
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is another piece of fixing, but more importantly a big ramp spell. This will allow you to play 7 drops on turn 5.
Ride the Shoopuf
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This isn’t the type of card I typically like, but its certainly not unplayable. This can be extremely powerful if it lines up with creatures/lands past turn 2.
Rydia’s Return
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
The creature pump is a bit expensive for not adding trample, and doesn’t really close games out all that well. The second half is really expensive as well.
Sazh Katzroy
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
This guy’s pretty insane. Even if he dies before he gets to attack, you still get a creature or land from your library for the trouble. If he gets to attack, the counters get out of control incredibly fast.
Sazh’s Chocobo
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This creature scales throughout the entire game, for the small investment of G. It’s obviously a terrible top deck late in the game, but the opportunity cost is worth this little guy.
Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo // Black Chocobo
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
I’m not too sure the whole bird herd archetype is all that great, and it seems like this is pretty close to Gysahl Greens.
Summoner’s Grimoire
Rating: 0.5 // 5.0
These types of cards are typically unplayable in limited, and I assume this will be as well.
Summon: Fat Chocobo
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is 6/6 worth of stats for 5 mana. Sure it eventually dies, but don’t we all?
Summon: Fenrir
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
This is one of the highest value uncommons I’ve seen since Imodane's Recruiter. You get so much for 3 mana, and the final chapter shouldn’t be too hard to win as you will be 1 mana and 1 +1/+1 counter ahead of your opponent.
Summon: Titan
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
This is an insane creature that ends games quickly. For 5 mana your getting at least 12/12 worth of stats (assuming you only have 5 land). Not to mention you can get a bunch of free land during the process.
The Earth Crystal
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
This has such high potential to do nothing that I’m extremely skeptical.
Tifa Lockhart
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
This is 2 for a 2/2 the vast majority of the time.
Tifa’s Limit Break
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is neat combat trick, with the ability to end games randomly, but there are more reliably options available.
Torgal, A Fine Hound
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
There aren’t many other dogs/wolves, but the majority of creatures are human. Not only is this a mana dork, it makes most every creature you play enter with a +1/+1 counter.
Town Greeter
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is a pretty sweet version of Elvish Visionary, even if it only draws you a land. The set has plenty of cards that care about your graveyard, as well as flashback.
Traveling Chocobo
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
A very powerful passive ability that helps you get lands/birds off the top of your deck.
Vanille, Cheerful l’Cie
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This is a pretty solid deal for 4 mana, assuming you have a decent permanent to return.
Top 3 Green Commons:
Town Greeter Summon: Fat Chocobo Gran Pulse Ochu
Green has the biggest disparity among its cards in regards to power level. It has some of the best commons/uncommons and a solid amount of bad ones. It has plenty of ramp/land fixing, and looks like a solid overall color. I’ll be breaking down multicolor next, Stay Tuned!
Lose and Learn, Learn and Win!
