Tidus and Yuna have a great story, lasting over a couple of games and endless amount of time. There was more than one twist in FInal Fantasy X, and I don’t want to spoil things for you. But these two are Bant counters creatures, and while they work really well together, I want to talk about their decks and what people are going to play. 

Some of these cards I’ll have mentioned in the ProTrader Discord, or on the MTG Fast Finance cast, so there might have been movement already by those speculators or other unknown agents. Let’s get into it!

There’s a chance some of these see reprints in the decks, no way to know till we’ve got the lists released. Some of these, though, are tough to reprint due to IP.

Cards for the couple (meaning either deck):

Damning Verdict – $19 – This has a foil at $40-$50 from the promo pack and if there’s no foil included in the Commander decks here that could be a $100 card, as it’s unfairly perfect. There’s a lot of great SNC synergies with counters, but lopsided wrath effects are the most fun by far.

Brokers Ascendancy – Gilded Foil $5 – A lot of times you just want to get the counters on everyone and everything, so this will be a welcome card. Great version, unique styling, should do well.

Kami of Whispered Hopes – Promo Pack Foil $6 – This is the only special version so far, and this does two important things. Adds counters, and when you add counters to it, lets you scale up fast. Get yours cheap.

Hardened Scales – WOT foil $5, Borderless 2XM foil $4 – Either version will be under a lot of pressure very soon, so get the one you like best. I expect either/both to be more than $10 by July 4.

Lae’zel, Vlaakith’s Champion – Foil Etched $2 – I’m one of the folks who thinks that this showcase is so unappealing, I’d much rather have the etched. Again, adds to your counters and gives you something to do with them. 

Zimone, Paradox Sculptor – Mana foil $28 – Looking at the stock, there’s just too many of the reg borderless and the FEA available, so go for the most special version. We love doubling counters, and here you do.

Branching Evolution – FEA Surge foil $10 – You would think there was a special version along the way, but nope, go for the PIP surge foils while they are still cheap.

Yuna-specific cards

Freed from the Real – nonfoil $3 – We’ve already seen the SLD rainbow foils jump to nearly $30 in less than a day, as it makes a combo with Yuna. Tap her for a blue, her +2 counters is ready to go. Untap her, do it again, cast a Triskelion of infinite size. GG. There’s only two foil versions, both too expensive already, so get yourself some cheaper ones. 

Warden of the Grove – clan foil $4 – Warden loves coming in with counters, and helps everyone else come in with counters too. Wins all around! It might get a little cheaper as time passes but not by much. 

Marwyn, the Nurturer – DOM promo foil $5 – This is very tricky, because the upcoming Festival in a Box for Vegas will have a special foil of this staple Elf, and that’s a card I can’t wait to stock up on. 

Simic Manipulator – pack foil $1 – One of my favorite ways to turn counters into profits, the Manipulator reloads well. Even if it dies, you keep the creature you stole!

Threefold Thunderhulk – Pack foil $1 – Instant value with Yuna, as it comes in with the bonus and you instantly get the bonus tokens. Sadly, a strong candidate for being reprinted in the commander deck, so watch out. 

Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant – nonfoils $1 – As a Midnight Hunt Commander card, there’s a lot of them out there, but so so good with the theme! Extra counters means extra protection.

Sage of hours – pack foil $18 – She’s about to pop this card off, and somehow it’s never been reprinted. Sage is a staple in the counters decks, but at least it’s too good/too expensive to likely be included in the deck. 

Scholar of New Horizons – bulk – A great way to use counters and get lands for them. Also great with your assorted Sagas.

Triskelion – Borderless foil 50¢ – The classic, able to turn counters into damage instantly. 

Tidus- specific cards 

Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus – Oil-Slick foil $15 – We get to double proliferates AND a way to get indestructible counters? Heck yes. Make an indestructible counter, proliferate it, and move it? Or make two counters? The fun never stops. The other Dominus creatures should likely be included too, but the blue one is the big target here. 

Arwen, Mortal Queen – scrolls foil $17 – I agree that the poster is sweeter, and that could go up a lot. This is the range I like for my specs, to go from $20ish to $40ish is much more likely than the poster foil going $120 to $250. The card is perfect for what you want, because if you proliferate her indestructible counter, you can still remove one to give out the other counters. 

Eagle of Deliverance – bulk – There are blessed few ways to put an indestructible counter onto a creature in these three colors, and the Eagle is an expensive but useful way to do it. All you need is the first one, and you can go from there. 

Agent’s Toolkit – promo foil $8 – Tidus loves this card, and I’ve mentioned it before. You can get the only foil version surprisingly cheap, but it won’t be cheap for long. 

Falco Spara, Pactweaver – Gilded foil $12 – You might run out of things to do, but with just a couple of counters around, you can do it all! This tends to get killed quite quickly, so make hay while the sun shines. 

Contractual Safeguard – promo foil $4 – If you cast this in your main phase, you get 2W: put a shield counter on each creature you control. That’s already pretty good for a deck like this, but the potential with the other counters you’ll have access to really makes this fantastic. Again, promo foils are the only shiny ones out there. 

Diamond City – surge foil $5 – Being in the Fallout set, you’re pretty safe from reprints. It’s also really great as a proliferator because it helps you move around the things you proliferated. 

Brotherhood Outcast – Surge foil $8 – Just three mana to start the fun with a shield counter, already a pricey foil due to its inclusion in other proliferate decks, this should bump the price hard. 

Cliff (@WordOfCommander at Twitter and BlueSky) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the co-host of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

I am planning on getting to all of the big commanders in Final Fantasy, but the ones designed for Commander are the ones that are most likely to get a lot of the attention and the money. We don’t know all the legendaries that will be printed in the set, but we know four of the ‘face’ commanders and one of the backups.

Let’s get to Y’shtola first, as between the mana cost, effects, and character, this promises to be a very powerful and popular commander. I plan to get to each of the commanders in their own time, but my expectations are highest for the Cat Warlock.  

Before we get to the cards, there’s two big hurdles for these specs to get there: 1) Y’shtola has to be popular. I think that won’t be a big problem, but with the sheer amount of new legends we’re getting, so many fan-favorite characters, there’s a decent chance that all the attention splinters. 2) For any Commander, there’s staples, must-haves, cards which are too good to leave out. Sad truth is that decks could be 150 cards and still feel like there’s not enough space. These are cards that I would at least try in the decks, and we’ll see if that’s enough to get the prices to jump.

She wants you to cast spells and drain, and rewards you every turn for doing these things. Therefore we’ll want to maximize what we’re doing on other turns, or finding repeatable ways of inflicting life loss. I talked about how good buyback cards are for Y’shtola before, so none of those are on this list. For each of these, I’m going to call out what version I think is worth buying and what their current price is.

Foil Intimidation Campaign – bulk – There’s an awful lot of these around, but it’s exactly what the deck wants, a repeated way to cast a noncreature spell of cost 3 or more. Sadly, there’s no promo or foil-etched, I just feel that this is something worth doing in the deck. 

Bloodchief Ascension – borderless CMM foil $20 – The etched foil should be watched too, there’s a lot of people who like that matte look. The card doesn’t directly combo with the commander, but they do go together awfully nicely. Once it’s online, which shouldn’t take long, every kill spell you fire off ends up costing someone 4 life, 2 from the commander trigger and 2 from the Ascension. Repeat as needed.

Faerie Tauntings – pack foil $12 – Perhaps the card I love most for this deck, you’ll be casting a lot of instants and now they all come with a bonus drain. Very low supply, only one printing, this might hit some very high value if the hive mind notices the synergies. 

Bontu’s Monument – pack foil $22 – There’s no special version of this yet but if you want to build a creature version of Y’shtola, this will help the triggering a lot. 

Gixian Puppeteer – FEA $2 – Seems pretty easy to draw a second card on a turn, and the life loss will lead to more card draw. The recursion isn’t as important as the life loss, but this chaining is what you’re looking for. 

Keen Duelist – SLD Foil $2.50 – When you get to make someone lose life, for no mana, that’s going to be a win for you. It’s also handy that this can happen before you put Y’shtola into play, and you’ll still get the draw trigger at the end. 

Loyal Subordinate – CMM foil is bulk-priced – This will get you most of the way there for her trigger, and all for no extra mana. This is just a great card with the exact synergies you want. 

Rusko, Clockmaker – $90 MB2 foil – As one of the Alchemy/Arena cards to be brought to the real world in foil only, this is already pricey thanks to players who love Commander flavors of UB Control. It’s obnoxiously easy for this to get out of hand, and given such a tiny supply, this could get crazy expensive!

Subversion – NM pack foils are $40, but LP can be had at $20 – It’s expensive at five mana but the free trigger is super helpful, especially if added to other such effects. This has had one mild reprint in the Battle Royale but as a rare in Urza’s Legacy, the first foiled set, there are so few of these out there. 

Twilight Prophet – Etched Foil $9 – This is a case where the Etched Foil is the only one that looks notably different, even though there’s a Secret Lair it’s got the regular frame to go with new art. Go with the most unique frame. The card itself requires a turn cycle to work its magic, but will synergize beautifully with what the deck is trying to do. 

Will of the Abzan – EA nonfoil $6 – Really, the perfect card if Y’shtola is in play. You get to have the trigger for life loss, they lose a creature, they lose more life, you get a creature back, and then at end of turn you get something good back from your yard! It’s a recent card, so the price hasn’t fallen far, but this is a card worth keeping an eye on. Usually with Commander-only cards like this the regular frame rises more (there’s less in circulation) but with the EA cheaper that’s where I want to start. 

Cliff (@WordOfCommander at Twitter and BlueSky) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the co-host of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.