UpgradingMagic: The Gathering’s Limit BreakFinal Fantasyprecon commander deck will require you to cut some cards to open space for new ones, but the changes are for the better. One of the four commander decks in the set,Limit Break is themed afterFinal Fantasy 7, and, as such, contains cards featuring characters and elements from what is the most popular installment in the series. ThisFinal Fantasycommander deck forMTGis Naya on the color pie, meaning it runs cards that contain Green, Red, and White mana.
Limit Break features Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER and Tifa, Martial Artist as its possible commander cards. Cloud’s gameplay revolves around the usage of Equipment cards and attacking enemies, while Tifa’s gimmick is dealing damage to enemies with creatures with power 7 or greater to ensure multiple combat phases.Because of how the deck is built, Cloud is the best option for the commander. He is also one of thebestMagic: The Gathering Final Fantasycardsto have. However, to ensure he performs adequately, a few upgrades may be necessary.
10Add: Forge Anew
The Enchantment Card Helps You Equip Artifacts
One of the immediate upgrades you should consider for the Limit Break deck is Forge Anew. This Enchantment card works perfectly with an Equipment deck such as the one led by Cloud. When it enters, you can return a target Equipment card from the graveyard straight to the battlefield. Furthermore, while it’s your turn, you can activate Equip abilities as though you were casting an Instant spell. Lastly,Forge Anew allows you to pay 0 mana instead of the regular Equip cost of the first Equip ability you activate during each of your turns.
Forge Anew works as a recursion device in case you lose any Equipment cards via an opponent’s removal spell, for example, but its main value is granting you a free Equip action on each of your turns.There are some pretty expensive Equip costs in the Limit BreakFinal Fantasydeck forMTG, such as Colossus Hammer (it requires 8 mana), so being able to Equip it for free, and at Instant speed can change the course of combat, for example.
9Cut: Summon: Kujata
This Saga Has No Synergy With Limit Break
The first card in the Limit Break precon you’ll want to immediately remove is Summon: Kujata.This Enchantment Creature - Saga Ox card has nearly no synergy with the rest of the deck, and it’s expensive to play with its 6 mana value. The creature’s 7/5 power and toughness, along with Trample and Haste make it look scary, but you’ll want to get that damage in with equipped creatures.
If it gets any stronger, you’ll immediately become the threat at the table without much payoff.
Summon: Kujata is in Limit Break for its flavor, but it adds no extra value to theFinal Fantasycommander inMTG, Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER.This Saga card isn’t bad by any means, but its poor interactions with the rest of the deck make it extremely dispensable. None of its lore counter effects actually work with Equipments, so you’re better off removing it from the deck and adding something else that makes Limit Break run more naturally.
8Add: Akiri, Fearless Voyager
The Creature Can Ensure A Lot Of Card Draw
Another upgrade card you should consider for the Limit BreakFinal Fantasydeck is Akiri, Fearless Voyager. This Legendary Creature card has 3 mana value and a 3/3 power and toughness score.With her, whenever you attack a player with one or more equipped creatures, you draw a card. Additionally, you can pay 1 White mana to unattach an Equipment from a creature you control. If you do, tap that creature and it gains Indestructible until end of turn.
Akiri adds a lot of value to Cloud’s deck since he will be constantly stimulating equipped creatures to attack opponents, so you’ll get a card draw from every opponent you attack with an equipped creature – the damage doesn’t even have to connect.The second ability is a bit less frequently used, but it’s a great protection skill that allows you to evade a removal spell that intends to destroy one of your creatureswith any sort of damage, be it targeted or a universalboard wipe inMTGlike Blasphemous Act.
7Cut: Heidegger, Shinra Executive
The Creature Only Gives Flavor To The Deck
A card I wouldn’t think twice about removing is Heidegger, Shinra Executive. This Legendary Creature card gives a target creature +X/+0 until the end, where X is the number of Soldiers you control. Furthermore, at the start of your end step, you create a number of 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens equal to the number of opponents who control more creatures than you.
This card isn’t bad, but it’s in thisFinal Fantasycommander deck for the flavor alone.
Limit Break has a few Soldier cards, but it’s not a tribal deck centered around Soldiers. Additionally, the card has means of increasing the number of Soldiers on your board, but it can be unreliable depending on which decks your opponents control. Overall,Heidegger, Shinra Executive is an expensive and slow card to play, and can really stagger progress during gameplay, even if its abilities seem positive, making it inapt to work in this particularMagic: The Gathering Final Fantasyset.
6Add: Gilgamesh, Master-At-Arms
The Legendary Summon Synergizes Perfectly With The Rest Of The Deck
While he does not appear in the original game, Gilgamesh does appear as asecret boss inFF7 Rebirth, so adding Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms would not only be beneficial to the deck, but it would also, technically, stay on theme with the rest of the cards. When this Legendary Creature card enters or attacks, you look at the top six cards of your library.Then, you may put any number of Equipment cards from among them onto the battlefield inMTG. The rest is put at the bottom of the library in random order.
When you put one or more Equipment onto the battlefield this way, you may attach one of them to a Samurai you control. Luckily, Gilgamesh himself is a Samurai Creature, meaning he can the battlefield and automatically get an Equipment. Its 6 mana value is a bit expensive, but it pays off tremendously, as Gilgamesh is already a 6/6 creature inMagic: The Gathering, and an Equipment card can make him reach higher numbers quite quickly.
5Cut: Furious Rise
The Enchantment May Result In Card Loss
To give space to any of the recommended upgrade cards for Limit Break,I’d recommend cutting Furious Rise from the deck. With this Enchantment card, at the start of your end step, if you control a creature with power 4 or greater, exile the top card of your library. Then, you may play that card until you exile another card with Furious Rise.
While the effect does seem good, this card may see you waste a lot of cards that would have come naturally to your hand inMagic: The Gathering.
Because Limit Break is a deck of big Creature cards,you’ll most likely always have someone with power 4 or greater, forcing you to exile the top card of your library. However, this is not a landfall deck where mana is nearly limitless. Because of mana limitations, you may be unable to play the exiled card before another one is exiled – and if you do, you may be prioritizing the exiled card over one in your hand, making this a highly disruptive card for thisFinal Fantasydeck.
4Add: Danitha Capashen, Paragon
This Creature Reduces The Mana Cost Of Equipment Cards
A worthwhile upgrade for Limit Break is Danitha Capashen, Paragon. This card doesn’t carry as much flavor as Gilgamesh, for example, but its gameplay effects are remarkable. This is a 2/2 Legendary Creature that has First Strike, Vigilance, and Lifelink. In addition to this valuable combination of effects,Danitha also reduces the cost of Aura and Equipment spells by 1 colorless mana. Because this deck is centered around Equipment cards, having Danith to lower their costs can allow more of them to be cast inMagic: The Gathering.
The fact that she has First Strike, Vigilance, and Lifelink can sound like a threat, buther 2/2 power and toughness can make her go somewhat unnoticed until the right moment. If you use Forge Anew’s effect after blockers are declared and equip her with a powerful Equipment card, she can deal a load of damage, restore life, and trigger Cloud and Akiri, for example, making her quite the menacing upgrade for thisFinal Fantasydeck.
3Cut: Ash Barrens
This Land Should Make Space For Another Land Upgrade
One of the most obvious land card cuts you’ll need to make when upgrading the Limit Break deck is Ash Barrens. A staple in several precon commander decks,Ash Barrens is a landcycling card that allows you to tutor a basic land card. It’s not bad for alow-bracketMTGcommander deck, but it’s a slow land card that can easily be replaced by other land cards, be they basic lands, dual lands, bounce lands, or special lands.
As was mentioned, Ash Barrens is not a bad land card, butif you intend to speed up the rhythm of the Limit Break deck, you’ll need lands that effectively drop in and provide colored mana or have special effects that synergize with the rest of the cards. I highly recommend removing Ash Barrens from thisFinal Fantasydeck because there is another land card that could change the entire flow of your game.
2Add: Rogue’s Passage
This Land Ensures Your Combat Damage Connects
The land I recommend using in the Limit Break precon deck is Rogue’s Passage. This land only generates one colorless mana when tapped, which wouldn’t make it too different from Ash Barrens, but its special ability is what makes it stand out.By paying 4 mana and tapping Rogue’s Passage, a target creature you chose can’t be blocked this turn. Effectively, by paying this cost, you can ensure your attacker will deal damage to an opponent.
Because thisFinal Fantasyprecon commander deck is all about attacking opponents with your equipped creatures and triggering effects by doing so,Rogue’s Passage makes your investment into equipping them worthwhile, ensuring that their damage will connect and actually make the game move forward. It’s worth remembering that you need to activate Rogue’s Passage’s ability before blockers are declared, otherwise your target creature will be blocked and your damage inMagic: The Gatheringmay not connect with the target opponent.
1Cut: Hellkite Tyrant
This Dragon Card Only Puts A Target On Your Back
The fifth initial card I’d recommend cutting from the Limit Break deck is Hellkite Tyrant. This is a 6/5 Dragon Creature card with Flying and Trample, making it a powerful creature to have on your board, but its abilities just don’t work. Whenever Hellkite Tyrant deals combat damage to a player, you gain control of all Artifacts that player controls. Additionally,at the start of your upkeep, if you control 20 or more Artifacts, you win the game. It’s a fun little card, but it puts a target on your back.
The precon deck has exactly 19 Artifact cards, and the odds of pulling all of them are low. Even if you gain control of your opponents’ Artifacts, reaching the 20 Artifact requirement should still be very hard. Even if it is a possibility, your opponents will team up to remove Hellkite Tyrant, making it a waste of 6 mana. There are several other possible upgrade cards, like Weapons Vendor, Sigarda’s Aid, Sram, Senior Edificer, and Blackblade Reforged, that could give extra value to your Limit Break deck inMagic: The Gathering.
