Modern Set Review: Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy is coming. The most anticipated set in 2025 brings iconic characters and moments from Square Enix's famous anthology series to the card game.

In Modern, FF is a weird set to evaluate. Many cards have interesting effects, but the format's overall power level is so high that most of them end up being overshadowed by better options in the Metagame.

For each of these, however, there are also cards like Vivi Ornitier and Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant, which fit into the format's strategies or have a new ability that can be explored in different ways in the format. So let's delve deeper into the main cards that might be worth some attention.

There aren't many decks with Stoneforge Mystic in Modern right now, and Cloud, Midgar Mercenary requires more mana colors to work, which is counterintuitive to Urza's Saga.

There may be situations in the future where having Stoneforge Mystic and more "extra copies" of it makes sense, and in that case, Cloud is the closest we have to it. Also, should the day come when Umezawa's Jitte is unbanned and/or Sword of Fire and Ice becomes competitively relevant again, its ability to double triggers might be worth a shot.

Restoration Magic protects permanents. There may be times when using it to protect a key land matters, so we add it as an honorable mention.

There are circumstances where Ultima, when combined with Teferi, Time Raveler becomes a pseudo-extra turn when cast at the opponent's upkeep. It seems like too cute for five mana and two cards, but it's the kind of interaction that can go 5-0 in a League or two in a Taking Turns list.

Astrologian's Planisphere comes with a built-in body, has cheap cast and equip costs, and triggering its abilities is a relatively easy task in Modern.

It could end up being overshadowed by Cori-Steel Cutter, but it's also possible that it could slot alongside the other equipment in Prowess or Jeskai Ascendancy lists. It's also worth noting that the equipped creature transforms into a Wizard, which matters for Flame of Anor.

Gogo, Master of Mimicry is so specific and unique that it's hard to be sure where it could work. It's in the right colors and body to have a home in Modern, and the ability to copy any triggered or activated ability opens up a huge range of possibilities for it in the format.

Some examples include, in addition to the obvious interactions with Fetch Lands (which I don't think are worth it outside of Commander), copying abilities from Planeswalkers like Tamiyo or Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, ETB triggers like Solitude, among others.

However, four mana for a card that does nothing on its own is far from ideal for any competitive format, especially one as mana-efficient as Modern. Ultimately, Gogo carries a similar weight to Vivi Ornitier in the format: it will either be absurdly broken or completely irrelevant, but is leaning more towards the second spectrum right now.

Between Fetch Lands for Surveil Lands, Preordain, Consider, Serum Visions, and Dragon’s Rage Channeler, there are plenty of ways to turn Matoya, Archon Elder into a card advantage engine.

Like Gogo, Matoya has the same problem of not doing anything on her own, but since most of these cards are already naturally played in some competitive lists, and she's the right type to enable Flame of Anor, it's possible that some Izzet Wizards or Izzet Murktide lists might want her in the 75 for long games, but I don't see her having a future in Dimir variants.

Stolen Uniform is equivalent to Magnetic Theft for Azorius Hammer Time lists, perhaps taking away from Boros variants one of the main reasons to play instead of .

Ninja’s Blades is interesting alongside Kaito, Bane of Nightmares and creatures that have some built-in evasion, but current lists running Kaito already have inherent qualities in their creatures, and the new artifact competes with better equipment in Modern.

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is another hard-to-evaluate card for Modern. Theoretically, a deck like Golgari Yawgmoth might want a copy of it to search with Chord of Calling to perform the combo and have a way to, when it reaches the fourth trigger, prevent the opponent from interacting with your win condition, but if you reached the fourth trigger, the opponent should have already interacted with you anyway, and in that case, it is no different from a glorified Blood Artist.

These same Yawgmoth lists have now swapped out the Blood Artist lines for Agatha’s Soul Cauldron and Walking Ballista, so there’s also the issue that Sephiroth might not be needed under any circumstances other than as an attrition tool.

Samwise Gamgee lists might want a copy of him to chase with Birthing Ritual and enable a few more interactions with Renegade Rallier while also having the potential to enable the emblem with a few other cards, but it doesn’t feel like the kind of card that’s going to become a staple in Modern right now.

Fire Magic's versatility in dealing with Ocelot Pride's tokens for one mana and most other Energy deck creatures for three at instant speed will probably be enough to earn it a few sideboard slots.

Opera Love Song offers a brief card advantage coupled with a two-mana pump when needed. It doesn't seem like the kind of card that would become a staple in an Expressive Iteration world, but Questing Druid has seen some play in Modern in Prowess variants, and this spell has similar versatility for more aggressive lists.

Some Hammer Time lists have been opting for Boros over Azorius lately and running Kassandra, Eagle Bearer. While it already has Sigarda’s Aid and Puresteel Paladin, this version might want Raubahn, Bull of Ala Mhigo as another enabler to attach Colossus Hammer or even Kaldra Compleat to a creature without paying costs.

Raubahn has the drawback of lacking immediate impact, and Hammer Time has heavy deckbuilding concessions that may prevent the inclusion of Arena of Glory to make it attack with Haste when it enters, but it definitely deserves some testing.

It’s worth noting that some Boros Hammer lists run Magus of the Moon in the Sideboard while also playing Urza’s Saga. Final Fantasy brought a new change to the Saga rules that now makes, in this specific case, the land stays in play and retain all the abilities it already had.

In this case, this archetype might be one of the ones that best takes advantage of this interaction to prey on greedy mana bases while establishing an efficient plan B in having Saga spit out Construct tokens every turn.

Tifa Lockhart offers a third turn combo with Might of Old Krosa or Scale Up and any Fetch Land (Tifa becomes a 5/2, the Fetch turns her into 10/2 and the fetched land doubles her power to 20/2 with Trample).

Does it seem too vulnerable for the current format? Yes. Could a deck emerge that uses it this way alongside other cards that also perform potential combo-kills with these cards, such as Infect creatures? ​ Maybe.

Is it competitively viable? Probably not.

Between Wrenn and Six, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Omnath, Locus of Creation, there are possibilities for Traveling Chocobo in Modern, and it might deserve some testing and slots in the Goodstuff piles.

Emet-Selch, Unsundered has Psychic Frog and Fallaji Archaeologist as its best friends, in addition to Thought Scour. In theory, if you can transform it, you get your entire graveyard as “extra cards in hand,” including all removal, creatures, Fetch Lands, and whatever else you need—but only on your turn, which plays heavily against Selch in Modern.

In most lists that would run it, the Ascian is competing with Abhorrent Oculus and Murktide Regent and doesn’t take advantage of the benefits that Oculus has with Psychic Frog and Unearth, nor does it offer a clock that’s as efficient as Oculus if not faster. Against Murktide, Selch doesn’t offer the same clock while requiring many more cards in the graveyard to work.

Maybe some lists with Goryo’s Vengeance would want it, since interactions with Fallaji Archaeologist and other cards fill the graveyard quickly enough, but it doesn’t seem like there are many homes for the Ascian in Modern right now.

Golbez, Crystal Collector interactswith lists that have plenty of artifacts or put many artifacts tokens in play. Its color combination makes it more suitable for Asmo Food or Urza, Lord High Artificer lists with Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek, or in an Affinity list that wants a splash of since it interacts with the strategy and with Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student while granting recursion and clock when returning high-power creatures from the graveyard to the hand.

Possibly one of the best cards in the set for Modern, Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant has some advantages over Seasoned Pyromancer and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and also some inherent drawbacks.

The main advantages are the extra power and toughness, and the ability to reccur creatures later on. In a Boros Energy list, if Joshua makes it to Chapter 3, being able to return Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah to the battlefield with a single card virtually wins the game, but getting to that point means that the opponent’s resources have already been depleted to the point that Joshua has survived three turns on the board — in which case, wouldn’t it be better to have Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury instead?

Joshua and Phlage don't directly compete for slots in the maindeck, but rather for cards in the graveyard, and Phlage already demands a lot of them to the point where it's hard for Joshua's transformation to be worth it. On the other hand, Joshua is a complementary attrition tool, not an exclusive one, and on his own he also offers a decent clock and evasion when transformed.

However, the slots he currently belongs to are Seasoned Pyromancer and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Pyromancer works better with an empty hand or with Goblin Bombardment while Fable of the Mirror-Breaker offers more bodies on the board and its transformed side can create copies of Pyromancer to generate card advantage.

I can imagine situations where Joshua could replace one of them or create more of a split between the discard outlets, since each has a distinct advantage.

I'd love to say that Lightning, Army of One has a place in Boros Energy because it's precisely the kind of archetype this card wants: it has a go-wide strategy, Guide of Souls gives her evasion, and doubling the damage can do crazy things with Goblin Bombardment.

However, the more I think about where it could fit, the more it seems win more and redundant compared to the other options.

Since it doesn't allow recasting artifacts repeatedly, Noctis, Prince of Lucis doesn't have the same interactions that Emry, Lurker of the Loch does in Modern, and unless you're setting up a combo, three life per artifact adds up too quickly in the current Metagame.

Rydia, Summoner of Mist turns Fetch Lands into Looting while the second ability and can reuse Urza’s Saga by tapping her. It can be a good pairing with Wrenn and Six in Goodstuff stacks and, in longer games, it can reurse Fable of the Mirror-Breaker as well.

Vivi Ornitier has an absurd amount of potential in Modern. While three mana for a card that dies to Lightning Bolt and Galvanic Discharge when it enters requires it to be very worthwhile to use, it might have the prerequisites to build decks around it.

With it in play, Mishra's Bauble turns into Lotus Petal, Mutagenic Growth becomes Black Lotus while also protecting it from damage removal, and cards like Gut Shot and Lava Dart double its damage and provide free mana that can be used to play other spells.

Its potential also expands to Jeskai Ascendancy lists, which run Mox Opal and Mox Amber as well as cheap interaction, artifacts that also trigger Vivi Ornitier and Flame of Anor, in which it is the right type while virtually "reducing" its mana cost. It's also possible to use it as a solid win condition without the combo if we push the list a bit more towards card advantage with Expressive Iteration, Preordain, and more cheap removals.

Jeskai Ascendancy may be the combo where Vivi has the most potential in the first few weeks, but it's also worth testing in Storm. The most successful versions right now are Boros/Mono Red with Ruby Medallion, which also reduces its mana cost, and the moment Vivi hits the board, Desperate Ritual turns into Dark Ritual, Manamorphose starts generating extra mana, and Vivi itself works as another win condition in the list, which could justify the archetype's return for the Izzet versions.

Of all the cards in the set, Vivi is by far the closest to a Modern Horizons-level design.

The Wandering Minstrel is a half-Spelunking that can be fetched by Summoner’s Pact and Green Sun’s Zenith for a low cost. The rest of its text is irrelevant to Modern.

Buster Sword feels too slow for Modern and too conditional for lists that would normally want this type of card, but its hit effect is similar to Sword of Fire and Ice and may, at some point, merit testing and slots as part of the Stoneforge Mystic toolbox.

I don't know how relevant it will be, but Excalibur II can be found with Urza's Saga. Maybe there is some archetype with recurring life gain that wants it to turn any creature into a threat, but I can't think of any in the format today that runs the Saga.

Unless you really need to fetch a basic land very quickly and for the lowest possible cost, Expedition Map is a better tutor for any list that would like World Map.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and Ugin, Eye of the Storms are better options if we want permanent removal for high colorless mana in Modern. If, for some reason, Summon: Bahamut hits the final chapter in Tron, the game is won — but the same can be said for any Eldrazi Titan in the format.

Speaking of Eldrazi, Ultima, Origin of Oblivion isn't one of them, so it doesn't fit into the Eldrazi Ramp lists for ramp and feels too slow to be in Tron.

Design-wise, Adventure Lands are probably the best cycle in Final Fantasy and a tool that Wizards should use more often. In Modern, however, most of them feel like they cost too much mana to work.

The only two cards in the cycle that have potential to see play are Midgar, City of Mako as an incidental Costly Plunder on a land and Lindblum, Industrial Regency in Indomitable Creativity lists, but the fact that both enters tapped significantly delays the decks that could use them and their abilities are less than impressive, so it's likely that they won't make it into the competitive Metagame at first.

There may be some decks that want Starting Town instead of Gemstone Mine, Mana Confluence or City of Brass, but the main one of these archetypes, Dredge, hasn't seen major results in a while.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!