Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy collaboration is an exciting opportunity for fans of the video game franchise to jump into the classic trading card game for the first time. There are a wide range of new cards in this cool crossover, but one of the most exciting is the Pre-Constructed Commander Decks made for the fan favorite deck format. Of course, no FF merchandise could be made without including FFVII, so you can rest easy knowing Cloud and the rest of the party have a deck all to themselves. Whether you are new to Magic’s Commander or just new to the game altogether, this guide will explain how to Limit Break your friends at your next game night.
Limit Break Deck basics
The commander for the FFVII Commander Deck is Cloud, EX-Soldier. He is a Legendary, Tri-Color Red, Green, and White card so his deck will naturally run those colors. He has three abilities:
- “Haste” lets him attack on the same turn he is played.
- He can equip one equipment you control when he is played.
- When he attacks, you get to draw one card for every creature you have that is equipped.
As an added bonus, if Cloud’s Power is 7 or greater, he can create two Treasure tokens.
While the spiky-haired, big sword-boy is the star of the show, his bff (gf??) is no slouch either. Tifa, Martial Artist runs the same three colors and has her own abilities:
- “Martial Artist” gives Tifa +1 to both Power and Life for each opponent you attack this turn (MtG’s Commander format is usually played with more than 2 players).
- If any of your creatures have 7 or higher Power, at the end of combat, they untap and are able to go into combat one more time. This basically gives you two rounds of combat every turn.
Get Cloud’s power up to 7
In case it wasn’t clear from the above cards description, your main goal for this deck is to get Cloud’s power up to 7. Luckily, to simulate the Materia System in FFVII, Cloud’s Deck is full of equipment to buff him up. Since he starts at a power of you need to get him a total of +3 to get him there. Here are a couple ways to do so:
- ”Conqueror’s Flail” gives +1/+1 for each color permanent you have on the field. Since Cloud runs three different colors, you are likely have three different lands which would give him a total of +3/+3
- ”Wrecking Ball Arm” makes the creature it’s equipped to automatically have a power and life of 7. As an added bonus, the equipped creature can’t be blocked by creatures with a power of 2 or less, and legendary creatures can equip it for only 2 Mana as opposed to the 7 it requires for normal creatures.
- A sneakier way is to equip “Champion’s Helm” to Zack Fair. When Zack dies, he can give +1/+1 and any equipment to any other creature. Since Champion’s Helm gives +2/+2, Cloud will hit 7.
- Finally, the easiest is just to equip “Hero’s Blade” which gives +3/+2 to the equipped creature. As an added bonus, if a Legendary Creature enters the battlefield, there is no cost to equip it.
Other helpful tips
If you are having trouble drawing the equipment you need (given Commander’s 99 card deck size, use Cloud’s ability that lets you draw for the number of equipped creatures you have. If a piece of equipment won’t get Cloud to 7, equip it anyway just to get some draw power. You can also try to equip “Darksteel Plate” to Tifa. Since Cloud is a Commander, if he is destroyed, you can easily bring him back, though he will have an additional Mana Cost. Tifa is not so lucky, but “Darksteel Plate” makes Tifa “Indestructible” so she can’t be destroyed unless the equipment is first. It ensures that you are always going to be attacking twice, once you get your board set-up.
While Magic: The Gathering may be incredibly different from Final Fantasy VII. But in this instance, your path to victory is pretty much the same as it is in the video game: Apply buffs to your characters to make them hit harder and faster while minimizing the damage you take. If things get rough, don’t worry, there are some of Aerith’s healing spells in there as well.
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