Every character from Final Fantasy makes an appearance in the **Magic: The Gathering** crossover set featuring the Final Fantasy universe. While Final Fantasy 6 received an entire preconstructed Commander deck, the Terra card in the main set has some unique differences. Terra, Magical Adept stands out as one of only two commanders with access to all five colors introduced in this Final Fantasy set.
Terra, Magical Adept focuses on enchantments, which all summon creatures are categorized as. Being an Esper (the summons from Final Fantasy 6), Terra, Magical Adept fits perfectly as a commander for summon creatures in Magic. With access to all five colors, you can include any summon in your deck.
Deck Overview
|
Commander: Terra, Magical Adept // Esper Terra ADVERTISEMENT |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Anikthea, Hand of Erebos |
Birds of Paradise |
Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant // Ifrit, Warden of Inferno ADVERTISEMENT |
Faeburrow Elder |
Garnet, Princess of Alexandria |
Ject, Reluctant Guardian // Braska’s Final Aeon |
|
Jill, Shiva’s Dominant // Shiva, Warden of Ice |
Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire |
Jukai Naturalist ADVERTISEMENT |
Narci, Fable Singer |
O’aka, Traveling Merchant |
Ondu Spiritdancer |
|
Rydia, Summoner of Mist |
Sanctum Weaver |
Scholar of New Horizons |
Sigurd, Jarl of Ravensthorpe |
Summon: Anima |
Summon: Bahamut |
|
Summon: Brynhildr |
Summon: Choco/Mog |
Summon: Esper Ramuh |
Summon: Esper Valigarmanda |
Summon: Fat Chocobo |
Summon: Fenrir |
|
Summon: G.F. Cerberus |
Summon: G.F. Ifrit |
Summon: Ixion |
Summon: Knights of Round |
Summon: Kujata |
Summon: Magus Sisters |
|
Summon: Primal Garuda |
Summon: Primal Odin |
Summon: Shiva |
Summon: Titan |
Summon: Valefor |
Summon: Yojimbo |
|
Sythis, Harvest’s Hand |
The Master of Keys |
Tom Bombadil |
Weaver of Harmony |
Wildsear, Scouring Maw |
Yenna, Grand Summoner |
|
Yuna, Hope of Spira |
Zur, Eternal Schemer |
Blasphemous Act |
Dance of the Manse |
Esper Origins // Summon: Esper Maduin |
Extinguish All Hope |
|
Farseek |
Nature’s Lore |
Rampant Growth |
Three Visits |
Path to Exile |
Swords to Plowshares |
|
Arcane Signet |
Chromatic Lantern |
Commander’s Sphere |
Crystal Fragments // Summon: Alexander |
Fellwar Stone |
Power Conduit |
|
Sol Ring |
Talisman of Unity |
Timeless Lotus |
Sphere of Safety |
Canopy Vista |
Cascading Cataracts |
|
Cinder Glade |
Clifftop Retreat |
Command Tower |
Exotic Orchard |
x2 Forest |
Glacial Fortress |
|
Hall of Heliod’s Generosity |
Hinterland Harbor |
Ishgard, the Holy See |
Island |
Isolated Chapel |
Jungle Shrine |
|
Karn’s Bastion |
x2 Mountain |
Nesting Grounds |
Overgrown Farmland |
x2 Plains |
Prairie Stream |
|
Rockfall Vale |
Sandsteppe Citadel |
Seaside Citadel |
Smoldering Marsh |
Starting Town |
Sunken Hollow |
|
Sunpetal Grove |
Swamp |
The World Tree |
Than Quarry |
Woodland Cemetery |
|
This deck is made up of **45 creatures, eight sorceries, two instants, one non-creature enchantment,** and **34 lands.** Most of the creatures are summons, represented as Saga enchantment creatures, with non-summon creatures primarily offering support for enchantments and Sagas.
Notable Cards
Terra, Magical Adept // Esper Terra
With Terra, Magical Adept, you can draw a summon from the top five cards of your library, while the others are pushed to the graveyard. **This isn’t the best approach,** as you may need other effects to retrieve them since Terra can only bring back one enchantment from the cards it discarded upon entering. **You should aim to transform Terra into Esper Terra,** as that’s the main advantage of using Terra as your commander.
When Terra undergoes transformation, it is exiled first before reappearing on the battlefield. Since it leaves the battlefield, it will be unable to summon creatures immediately, meaning you won’t be able to flip Terra into Esper Terra during the same turn it returns.
Esper Terra **creates copies of any non-legendary enchantments you control.** You’ll often target your Saga creatures, allowing you to utilize the Saga’s effects by allocating lore counters, with a choice between one to three. Before reverting back into Terra, you can unleash a flurry of spells for a powerful turn.
Yenna, Redtooth Regent
Yenna, Redtooth Regent is a pivotal card in this deck. For only two mana, you can **duplicate any enchantment you control**, making the copies non-legendary to avoid sacrificing them. With summons, **you can create token copies that persist even after the last lore counter is placed.**
This becomes particularly valuable for high-cost summons, allowing you to bypass their mana costs. You can also **duplicate Esper Terra** to create even more summons and retain token copies of Esper Terra while continuously transforming the original.
Tom Bombadil
Your summons will inevitably reach their final chapters, and this is where Tom Bombadil shines. **Whenever a Saga completes its last chapter, Tom Bombadil can exchange it for a new Saga from your library.** This process is unaffected by casting costs, meaning a low-cost summon can turn into a powerful high-cost one (and vice versa).
Since you will likely have Sagas on the field, **Tom Bombadil often enjoys hexproof and indestructible status.** His effect is entirely passive, requiring you only to keep him on the field to gain its benefits.
Garnet, Princess of Alexandria
Garnet, Princess of Alexandria is one of the best ways to ensure your Saga creatures remain effective. While she must attack to activate, if multiple lore counters are lost simultaneously, Garnet can gain significant stat boosts.
The true power of Garnet lies in how quickly she can accumulate +1/+1 counters. Lore counters on Sagas are added during your draw step, so Garnet can ensure that your Summons don’t reach their final chapters as long as she’s attacking every turn.
Playing the Deck
Overall Strategy
The strategy for a Terra, Magical Adept deck revolves around playing numerous summons and keeping them in play by managing their lore counters or continually creating copies of them to “reset” as needed. There are 23 summons in the deck, including transformed cards not categorized as summons on their front.
To get your permanents into play quickly, you have many options to remove counters from them, such as Power Conduit, O’aka, Traveling Merchant, and Garnet, Princess of Alexandria. Generally, **you want to prevent your Sagas from being sacrificed,** so removing lore counters is crucial.
Some creatures can return Saga creatures with finality counters attached, which cause them to exile instead of going to the graveyard. Permanents capable of removing any counters can also eliminate these finality counters, allowing your Sagas to return to the graveyard and be revived later.
Keep in mind that **Terra, Magical Adept will mill a handful of your summons.** You have several options to bring them back. For instance, Yuna, Hope of Spira can reanimate them for free by placing a finality counter, while Rydia, Summoner of Mist can reanimate them at their mana cost. The Master of Keys also grants your enchantments escape, offering yet another path to reanimation.
Winning and Challenges
The **main path to victory for this deck is through combat.** Permanents that enhance your enchanted creatures are particularly effective, like Zur, Eternal Schemer, and Yuna, Hope of Spira. Additionally, **Sphere of Safety can offer protection,** making it more difficult for opponents to attack you while you establish your summon chains.
The **biggest drawback of this deck is its mana requirements.** As it utilizes all five colors, accessing the right colors can sometimes be problematic. Permanents that let your lands generate any color, such as Chromatic Lantern and The World Tree, help alleviate this issue, but lacking access to these early on may leave you stuck with mismatched lands for your hand.
