Bloody Hell, This MTG Commander Precon Went Full Chaos Mode (and Tifa Lockhart Just Made It Even Wilder)
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
This new 'Edge of Eternities' Commander precon, 'World Shaper,' is surprisingly powerful with its land-sacrificing shenanigans, turning initial skepticism into genuine enthusiasm. Add a certain Final Fantasy crossover card, Tifa Lockhart, and you've got yourself a recipe for exponential, game-winning chaos.
Right, so remember that moment last July when Wizards of the Coast decided, with all the subtlety of a dragon trying to hide in a teacup, to let non-creatures be commanders in Magic: The Gathering? Yeah, I was there. My initial thought? "What fresh sorcery is this? Are they just letting literally *anything* command our decks now?"
Fair dinkum, I was sceptical. Always have been a bit wary of the vehicle mechanics in Magic, and this rule change — allowing legendary vehicles, or, in a completely unsurprising twist, *spacecraft* — felt like a pre-emptive strike to push whatever shiny new thing they had coming. Lo and behold, less than a month later, the ‘Edge of Eternities’ set lands, packed with these newfangled spacecraft cards that gain abilities as you tap your creatures to fuel them. And wouldn't you know it, the pre-constructed Commander decks for the set are, you guessed it, piloted by a bloomin' spacecraft. It’s like they cast a 'subtlety of a brick' spell, isn't it?
Now, a curious wizard such as myself can't just scoff from the sidelines. I had to dive in. For a few weeks, I’ve been tinkering, piloting one of these 'Edge of Eternities' precons, and I've got to admit, my initial grumbles have mostly melted away like a snow troll in a fireball. It's actually, surprisingly, brilliantly good. There's just one tiny, explosive ingredient missing... and it comes straight from the chaotic world of Final Fantasy.
The deck in question is 'World Shaper,' a delightful concoction of red, green, and black – or 'Jund' as we arcane connoisseurs call it. Its core theme is a beautiful, self-destructive dance of sacrificing your own lands, only to play even more. At the helm is Hearthhull, the Worldseed, a commander that's less of a mighty hero and more of an organic, terraforming space-bug-ship-thingy. It’s piloted by these Eumidian chaps, who look like they've got some serious opinions on galactic gardening.
Hearthhull’s main party trick is deceptively simple but incredibly potent: for just one mana, you tap this space-beetle, sacrifice a land, and suddenly you're drawing two cards AND you get to play an extra land that turn. Two powerful advantages for the price of a small sacrifice. And as if that wasn't enough, every land you sacrifice makes each opponent lose two life. See? I told you it was a bit chaotic. This isn't just card advantage, mate; it's a slow, steady bleed that can quickly turn into a gushing wound once the rest of the deck starts humming.
Wizards, bless their sometimes-obvious hearts, designed World Shaper to absolutely revel in this land-sacrificing, land-playing fiesta. You've got cards that trigger magnificent effects every time you sacrifice a land (hello, extra creature tokens to flood the board!). Then there are those sweet, sweet 'Landfall' abilities that do wondrous things whenever you play a land (like, say, granting you an extra combat step. Because one combat step is never enough, is it?). The deck even throws in a few cheeky cards that let you snatch lands right out of your graveyard, or even bring a whole graveyard-full back into play en masse. It’s an endless, glorious cycle of destruction and rebirth, perpetually setting off a cascade of triggers and effects that can turn a seemingly calm board into a glorious, game-winning explosion out of nowhere.
And that, my friends, is precisely where our special guest star makes her grand entrance. After a good few weeks of testing the unaltered precon – purely in the name of scientific inquiry, you understand – I decided it was time to tweak. A few cards that weren't quite pulling their weight got swapped out for some personal favourites. Among them? Tifa Lockhart, a legendary creature from Magic's recent Universes Beyond crossover set with Final Fantasy. Now, Tifa’s ability sounds simple enough: each time you play a land, her power doubles.
Doubles. Just let that sink in for a moment. If you're only playing one or two lands a turn, it's cute. A nice little boost. But with World Shaper, a deck designed to pull lands from its graveyard like a magician pulling rabbits from a hat, Tifa becomes less of a pugilist and more of an eldritch, exponential horror. In one recent game, through a masterful (or perhaps just lucky) combination of card draws and timely plays, I managed to drop *eight* lands all at once. Tifa’s power, starting from a humble one, didn't just climb; it quantum-leaped. One became two, then four, then eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, one hundred twenty-eight, and finally, a frankly absurd two hundred fifty-six. With trample. Suffice to say, my opponent stared, blinked, and then gracefully conceded. It was glorious. A proper 'accidentally blew a hole through reality' moment, just like I like them.
Now, a little observation from your friendly neighbourhood digital wizard: that colossal Tifa punch-up was only possible because I could pull a whole bunch of lands out of my graveyard simultaneously. The precon comes with a sorcery called Worldsoul's Rage that does the trick, but honestly, for a deck that *demands* you sacrifice all your lands, it's a bit sparse on those effects. It's a surprising oversight, almost like they *didn't* want us doing quite *that* much trample damage, eh? So, if you're looking to replicate my chaotic success, I'd strongly recommend adding a few more spells with similar graveyard-to-play abilities. Lumra, Bellow of the Woods, for instance – an elemental bear (because why not?) that does much the same thing when it enters the battlefield. Just make sure Tifa – or some other ridiculously potent Landfall effect – is primed and ready. Your enemies, mate, genuinely won't know what hit 'em. And that, I reckon, is half the fun.
Tags: MagicTheGathering, Commander, MTGPrecon, FinalFantasy, DeckTech
Original article: Polygon