I know all the hype and attention is on the Spider-Man set, especially as it premiers on Arena this week as Through the Omenpaths, but we can’t lose sight of the other things Wizards has put out from Final Fantasy. A little while ago I talked about the best FCA buys, and this week I want to focus on some of the Commander cards, the FIC set.

So let’s get into the cards, where you can get the different shiny versions, and what’s worth buying. 

There’s actually two different shiny versions of these cards that you can get, and it’s important to know both the difference in price and where the cards come from. 

Surge foils come from the Commander decks themselves. These have the regular frame, but the Surge treatment so they are awesomely shiny. However, there are also Extended-Art versions. Collector Boosters can give you one nonfoil EA from the set of 93 cards, but the foils can only be found in the sample packs. 

Additionally, the legendary creatures from those 93 cards can also be pulled in FEA from inserts in the bundles and gift bundles. Let’s not go thinking there’s a lot of them, though. There are 69 very nice legends in the FIC set in extended art, and the inserts contain two of those in foil. So to get one of these legendary creatures in FEA, you’ll need to open roughly 35 bundles or gift bundles.

The Collector Booster Sample Packs aren’t sold as their own product, so Wizards doesn’t have to release the drop rates. We do know that they *only* contain EA cards and also the eight borderless commanders of the four decks. The foil rate for those seems to be pretty low, though, which we can infer from the quantities available on card sites and the relative prices.

With no direct data, we can look at the prices of the different cards. For the eight cards I’m focusing on today, the legends are all more expensive in FEA than in Surge, and vice versa for the regular cards. I suspect that collectors are at work, wanting the FEA versions of legends from our favorite games, but I can’t confirm that at all. 

It also needs to be said that I’m pretty high on the FIC cards long-term, both because they are good and on-theme and because the Final Fantasy cards attract completionist gamers. These won’t see reprints for a long time, if ever. Plus the special versions can only be gotten from expensive Collector Commander decks or these special 2-card packs. We’re at max supply here. 

Aerith, Last Ancient – Surge is $9, FEA is $13 – If you’ve never had the displeasure of playing against a Meren deck, let me assure you, a commander with ‘return a creature from yard to hand’ per turn is pretty damn good. Meren’s ability is better than Aerith’s, but Aerith’s got so much good stuff to build around (ahem, lifelink, etb) that even if she weren’t a top-tier character, she’d have a long-term future. 

Cid, Freeflier Pilot – Surge is $6, FEA is $11 – Really, Cid should be higher on all EDHREC lists, considering that he allows you to replay the equipment and vehicles that get destroyed. And we all know FF7 Cid is the best Cid anyway.

O’aka, Traveling Merchant – Surge is $2, FEA is $5 – Tom Bombadil is currently the default commander if you want to build five-color Sagas, and that deck wants all the ways to remove counters at instant speed. That’s because the way the triggers are worded, you can put the last chapter ability on the stack, and then remove a counter to keep the Saga but get the last effect on the card. It’s a lot of value, and as a bonus, you’ll get to draw a card for getting that value! You’ll demonstrate this once, and then the table will always blast poor old O’aka.

Gogo, Mysterious Mime – Surge is $13, FEA is $20 – I am a big big fan of ways to get extra copies of my commander onto the field, and Gogo is one of the best, since it gains haste as well. So if your Commander has to attack for a sweet effect, but there’s no good attacks, send in the Mime! This is one of the priciest legends on this list, and because of this ability, one of the most fun to break. 

Protection Magic – Surge is $3, FEA is $2 – Now we’re getting into cards where the Collector deck version in Surge foil is the pricier card, and to start, we have a card with both Yuna and Tidus, something fans of FFX love. It also helps that this is a very cheap way to both save your creatures and start the ball rolling with proliferate and counters-moving tomfoolery, so get your copies cheap while you can. 

Summoning Materia – Surge is $2, FEA is $1.50 – While there’s not a lot of call for pure value engines like this, I can’t deny that it’s one of the best. It is certainly a card that demands an answer, given the stream of cards that could be produced off of the top of the library. Normally people just kill the creature and move on, but since you can re-equip, there’s value here. As a comparison point, the FEA version of The Reality Chip is over $12.

Espers to Magicite – Surge is $3, FEA is $1.50 – This is a card I want to put in a lot more decks, because it’s such a unique and incredible effect. Commander players put in a boatload of creatures with activated abilities and static abilities or even just good ETBs, and this allows you to nuke everyone *else’s* graveyard while getting some amount of value for yourself. It’s pretty easy to imagine you getting your four mana back with the token you create.

Yuna’s Decision – Surge is $4, FEA is $2 – I played through FFX as an impressionable younger person, and let me tell you, Yuna and Tidus have a great story to tell. I can’t even *look* at their Farewell without getting misty-eyed. Yuna’s Decision is all about the art and the collectors, though. Cards showing the relationship between the characters, and especially this tender moment in Lake Macalania, sell better than the actual power of the card. This is a pretty weak card, as a Magic game piece. The art, and who/what it shows, makes it worth having in a premium version. 

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 an event and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

Aang was a clue, Katara confirms it: Allies are back!

We’re already getting some huge spikes, and the set isn’t released until mid-November! I think there will be some space for the spike prices to settle down, inventories to reload, and then once the set is in hand, the Ally specs will go wild. 

So today, I want to talk about not just the Allies, but the accessories and the timing, so that we can be ready when a new wave of players are building these decks.

Before we get to the cards, let’s review a couple of concepts. First, no spec is risk-free. We have lots of ways that these cards might get reprinted, but old Allies seem tricky to reprint in the main set. While there won’t be Commander decks for this set, there’s plenty of risk in a bonus sheet, Secret Lairs, or Special Guest inclusions. There’s no way to know for sure.

Second, I usually list prices on all the cards but all the Allies are deep in flux and we’re trying to think a level beyond that. So some of these will have prices and others not. 

Let’s talk cards!

Turntimber Ranger, Hagra Diabolist, Sea Gate Loremaster, Agadeem Occultist, General Tazri: All of these are experiencing some level of buyout, and could have more of that happen soon. If you find copies for pre-spike prices, great! I got in for two playsets of LP foil Rangers, but that’s as much as I was able to get. 

If there is an ‘Ally Deck’ I fully expect it’ll be a combination of old and new Allies, which will mean that some old ZEN foils will spike hard. I always recommend selling into hype, and so if you have them, feel free to list at the new plateau and see if someone bites. The other option will be to wait for the spike when everyone knows about the cards, not just the folks who are rabid for new news and are invested in being on top of the newest information. That will probably be a bigger spike, but if you can take your profits, take your profits and move on. It’s entirely possible that everything with the type Ally will go wild, especially because there’s no Commander deck to reprint a bunch of Allies in. 

Zulaport Cutthroat (Rainbow Foil $16) – I picked this on the MTG Fast Finance cast a week or two ago, but the Frank Frazetta version of this card is by far the prettiest version available, and supply is close to maximum. I always forget that this one is an Ally, so we’re really at a great confluence of specs here. 

Ally accessories: Again, no Commander deck means that one of the main reprint risks isn’t around, so we’ve got good chances on all of these. 

Roaming Throne (borderless foil $33) – The regular nonfoil is $30, so why not spend a couple bucks extra? Katara is doing the same thing, but the Throne copies everything you want to copy as well. I’m always surprised when I see that this hasn’t been reprinted since LCI, considering its popularity.

Realmwalker (pack foil $4) – I think these have the most room to grow, considering that the SL version in rainbow foil is $16. Every Kindred (focused on a creature type) deck should think about running this, and especially ones where you want to run a critical mass, plus they have low casting costs. 

Patriarch’s Bidding (MH2 etched foil $5) – I run this in more than one Kindred deck, and frankly, it’s busted good in those decks. It’s a way to get ALL of your triggers at once, and it’s wonderful insurance against everything short of Farewell. MH2 was printed and then some, but there’s only three shiny versions of this card: this etched, the pack foil from MH2, and the foil from Onslaught, which is at $70+ for the NM copies. 

Elesh Norn, Mother Of Machines (concept foil $48) – I like this version best, as it’s easy to read, rare, and there’s no other versions with the same art. If you wanted to buy regular nonfoils in the $20 range, that’s totally valid, as this card might not be an Ally, but Allies trigger abilities left and right, which you want more of. Denying it to your opponents is also amazing, and some decks just fold to this card. 

Yarok, the Desecrated (Halo Foil $25) – We want to double up on triggers, and Yarok is another way to do that. Halo foils, especially mythics are in short supply, so this has a chance to show big gains.

Brago, King Eternal (Rainbow Foil $8) – The best version, up $3 since May, there’s only an etched foil to compete with, and flickering Allies is a great way to get the table to concede to your greatness. 

Virtue of Knowledge (showcase foil $5) – Double the triggers, on an enchantment!

Titan of Littjara (FEA $7) – Why not draw some cards for playing Allies? 

Kindred Discovery (Anime Foil $25) – There’s not a lot of these left and just a few purchases will have this over $40. It’s good in any Kindred deck, so it’s a good spec even if you aren’t sold on Allies.

And They Shall Know No Fear (Surge foil $23) – The nonfoil is close to $10 and there’s a lot more copies of it out there. Teferi’s Protection is three mana, though, and this does a lot to save your stuff for a mere two mana. 

Maskwood Nexus/Birthing Boughs ($5/$2 foil) – There’s no special versions of either card as yet, and nothing makes Ally tokens, so you have to settle for Changeling tokens. The Boughs is down to less than fifty vendors, and only one of those is at more than six copies. All told, it’s a card that is close to popping off. 

Urza’s Incubator (borderless foil $30) – There are several lesser versions available, all near the same price, but only a handful of the special foils. That would be the best target for a deck filled with cards that want a reduction like this. 

Herald’s Horn (Buy-a-Box FIC $7) – The perfect storm of a great Kindred card and max supply with the promo versions, a wonderful time to stock up on a card. 

Blade of Selves (Rainbow Foil $10) – All the Final Fantasy lairs got cracked looking for elementals, and there’s a lot of this on the market right now. Get your copies!

Molten Echoes ($6) – There is no special version, no foil at all, just the two nonfoil Commander printings. That said, it’s a remarkably powerful card in a Kindred deck, and I would expect this to have a jump when Allies are a big thing again. 

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 an event and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

Two things have happened at the same time in Magic finance: First, the Final Fantasy Secret Lair drops have started arriving, and the phenomenon I labeled ‘Dump Week’ is happening. While those prices are going down, the premium cards from the main set are rocketing upwards and the Collector Boosters are matching the escape velocity.

What does it mean and what should you buy? Read on and find out!

First of all, let’s deal with the 8,000-gem question: What is going on with the Final Fantasy Collector Boosters? 

The simple answer is that we’re at quite a nexus for making prices go wild. All of these factors are contributing to the rise of $1,000 boxes of Collector Boosters. That’s $80 for a pack! Consider the following:

• Global collector market, especially the US and Japan
• Nostalgia through the roof, over 16 main games and oodles of other games over the last 30 years
• Iconic characters in premium treatments
• Allocations for CB boxes that weren’t as high as TDM, even though this is a Standard set

Put it all together, and you have things being scorchingly hot. We’ve seen the surge foil character cards go on a tear, especially the Commander cards that people want as the headliners. Cloud, Ex-Soldier from $150 to $600. Y’Shtola, Night’s Blessed went to $700 after being $400. Tifa, Martial Artist doubled from $200 to $400 in just a few days. The only one of the eight face commanders who is under $100 is G’raha Tia, and that has a single copy at $90, as of this writing. 

Those borderless surge foils are one in 267 packs to get a specific character, or 1/33 to get any of the eight. That is nearly three boxes of Collector Boosters, which might break $1300 before we hit July 1. There’s also lots of hits to be had at $100+, for rares and mythics, mostly for the borderless characters but there’s a Buster Sword and a little bit of Bahamut in that top tier. 

The Through the Ages foils are no better. Less than a week ago, the Stay With Me version of Rhystic Study was $350, and now it’s $650. The Sephiroth version of Atraxa, Grand Unifier went from $200 to $400. Terra Branford as Urza jumped $250, and so on. Not every one of the mythics has grown this way, but lots of the character ones definitely have. Note that the foils are Collector Booster exclusives, so stay patient on the nonfoils, which can be opened in the Play Boosters. Those will be specs when the supply has maxed out, and we aren’t there yet.

Please keep in mind that these Collector Boosters are lottery tickets. You are going to get your money back on not too many of these packs, though you will open lots of cool cards. I would advocate against buying these boxes and hoping to open some of the big cards, including the Chocobos. Just spend the money on the singles you want.

With the velocities on the rise this way, and the low drop rate, it’s hard for me to imagine that any of the chase rares go down at this point. We’re having a Pro Tour this weekend where Cori-Steel Cutter decks are more prevalent than many other boogeymen of past Pro Tours, but all the focus right now is on these meteoric risers. There’s loose boosters on sale at the Magic-Con, and there’s going to be more CB boxes coming as a result of this weekend’s Arena Direct event, but I don’t think that quantity would be enough to make a dent in the current demand. There’s something like 130 boxes/day being sold, and the total number of CB boxes sold so far (which is a WEEK of public sales!) is roughly equivalent to the number of Tarkir: Dragonstorm CB boxes sold!

Some of those CB sales are undoubtedly flipping, the same box being sold more than once, but still. This is velocity that we’ve never seen before. Lord of the Rings Holiday Edition CBs have gone up and up but it’s taken a lot longer to get rolling. Dump Week for these CBs was nonexistent here, but it started at its lowest point and it’s only gone up.

Dump Week is absolutely a thing for the Secret Lairs, though. Mine won’t arrive till next week, but they have landed for a ton of people and the undercutting is real. I don’t think we’ve quite reached max supply, but given where prices are at and how cards are selling, I’m not going to freak out if these fall another buck or two, and don’t be shocked if I pick these over the coming weeks on MTG Fast Finance.

Cyclonic Rift/Hope’s Aero Magic – $30 nonfoil/$30 foil – To me, this is an incredible bargain. A foil of one of the most powerful things to do in Commander, a Game Changer, and this is $5-$15 cheaper than the most basic versions of the card. Get in now while it’s cheap–there were versions that sold earlier today for $25 but all of those have sold out already and we’re looking at $30 tonight. 

Toxic Deluge/Merciless Poisoning – $20/$23 – The borderless from Double Masters is $32 in regular and foil, and this should climb up to match it nicely. I’ll be waiting to see if this drops any farther, but foils under $20 feel like a steal. Might not go much lower, though, with all things Final Fantasy being at max hype. 

Heroic Intervention/Aerith’s Curaga Magic – $15/$15 – The Black Panther/Marvel version is freely available for $17 in foil, but Aerith’s version, having a much more ‘magical’ feeling as well as her and Cloud on the same art, which is something that I can’t enough of with collectors going berserk. 

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 an event and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

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 an event and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.