Completing a Sephiroth Deck: Solving the Fabled SOLDIER Challenge in MTG

In the Magic: The Gathering crossover set featuring Final Fantasy, the iconic antagonist from Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth, makes a significant appearance. Players will find multiple cards featuring Sephiroth, with Sephiroth, Fabled Soldier being the standout card of the set.

Sephiroth, Fabled Soldier serves as an excellent mono-black commander, embodying an “aristocrat” strategy. This style of deck thrives on sacrificing your own creatures for advantageous effects, a key tactic for any Sephiroth-led deck. By sacrificing creatures, you can effectively execute your game plan while embracing the role of the villain.

Decklist

Key Cards

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel

As the commander, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is your main source of burn damage and lifegain, dealing damage to opponents with every creature that dies. You’ll need to quickly trigger this ability multiple times to switch to the reverse side of Sephiroth.

The reverse side of Sephiroth grants an emblem that retains the effect of Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER. Since emblems are impervious to removal, even if Sephiroth is taken out, you can still deal damage through opponent creature deaths.

Drivnod, Carnage Dominus

The deck features numerous death triggers allowing Drivnod, Carnage Dominus to double the effects triggered by creatures dying. Note that this only applies to death triggers, not sacrifices made for cost. Drivnod makes it easier to deal quick damage and finish off opponents.

This card can also gain indestructibility by exiling three creatures from your graveyard, which is practical with an aristocrat deck that consistently has creatures in the graveyard. Additionally, Drivnod’s ability can be activated at instant speed by sacrificing four life, offering flexibility to use resources for other actions while keeping it safe.

Gravecrawler

Gravecrawler is an essential card for aristocrat decks as it can be easily recast after being sacrificed multiple times in a turn. As long as another Zombie is on the battlefield, this is the most consistently re-playable creature in the deck.

Its main perk lies in its ability to set up potential infinite combos with sacrifice outlets. The combo is straightforward to execute, promising limitless burn damage. Here’s how you can set it up:

Black Market Connections

Black Market Connections provides options for card draw, treasure token ramp, or generating creature tokens that you can sacrifice. The creature tokens are changelings, making them usable for creatures that require specific types, like Gravecrawler.

The real value of Black Market Connections lies in its flexibility. It effectively compensates for the usual weaknesses of mono-black, albeit at the cost of losing life. Remember, you must select at least one effect each turn, which might impact your life total if all three effects are utilized continuously.

How To Play The Deck

In a Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER Commander deck, you’re consistently sacrificing your own creatures, allowing them to fuel burn effects that target your opponents. Embrace the inevitability of your creatures dying; even blocking with less powerful creatures can lead to significant damage.

This deck features a low mana curve, enabling more frequent spell casting without heavy mana commitment. Being mono-black, cards like Bontu’s Monument and The Darkness Crystal allow for effective spell casting while holding mana for counteractions or interactions.

Since not every creature can return from the graveyard, it’s crucial to have permanents that generate tokens. These tokens often appear at upkeep or in response to a creature’s death, providing you with ample fodder for your sacrifice outlets. Key options for token generation include Black Market Connections, Bitterblossom, and Ophiomancer, which should enter play as soon as possible.

The primary win condition is to deal damage using burn effects. Although your creatures may not have high stats for combat, the capacity for direct damage makes this drawback minimal. Rather than relying on combat prowess, you can adversely affect your opponents by delivering consistent burn damage.

One notable downside is the deck’s dependency on multiple permanents to function effectively. You need both a sacrifice outlet and creatures to sacrifice to maximize utility. Consequently, if key cards are removed, it can become detrimental.

Methods for retrieving permanents from the graveyard are limited, making lost cards seldom recoverable. Thankfully, a variety of permanents provide similar benefits, so even if one is lost, you might draw into another suitable option.