There are so many interesting things happening MtG-wise. And I have opinions.

Happy Friday! I hope the week has been kind to you. I am going through a dry season play-wise. I can’t schedule any commander time with my group and the LGS is going through some rescheduling. Well, technically the same goes for all my hobbies currently due to work but I am trying to schedule another D&D session for the weekend. So, when it comes to Magic, all I can do now is check out stuff online and work on my Commander 32 Challenge.

Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy

I was never a huge fan of Final Fantasy. Not in a sense that they are bad games, I just never got into the franchise. I have played FFX for a couple of hours, though, and I would play some more. It’s just that it never was a thing for me. To be honest, I think this collaboration is pretty solid. I am sure a lot of FF fans will want to get their hands on some cards of their favourite characters. And who knows? Some may stay in the community as well.

However, I have two issues, well one and a half. The first one, and it’s something everyone has noticed is the price increase. The Commander decks cost $70 each. Wait, the non-collector versions. The collector versions cost $150 each. And that also goes for the rest of the products like booster boxes, which sit at a nice $210 price tag. At this point, I don’t know if I can justify the purchase of one deck, which is a shame because they look interesting, which was kinda my half issue, that the decks look really interesting and Wizards keep churning out Esper Commanders. And I love Esper Commanders. But that’s just based on my financial situation, I’m sure others can afford them. At least, I think the increase is only for the FF products because I am more excited about a different set.

Edge of Eternities

I have a thing for sci-fi art. I have a thing for GOOD sci-fi art. Well, what is considered good is subjective, but in the case of Edge of Eternities, what I saw hit the spot for me.

Those lands (at least I believe they are lands) got my heart racing. I will need a set of them. They reminded me of Stellaris, which is, in my opinion, one of the best sci-fi strategy video games. Oh, and if you haven’t listened to its soundtrack, I suggest you do that. I cannot describe the feeling it will instil in you. And with a quick search, Paradox Interactive has a Spotify account with the soundtrack. Enjoy.

And based on these three images, we will be seeing some old acquaintances. The first one gives me Elspeth vibes and the second one Phyrexia vibes. The third one doesn’t give me any vibes at all. That’s just Tezzeret and I look forward to seeing what he’s planning.

As you can guess, I am more excited about this set than the Final Fantasy, but just because it’s a theme I prefer. Oh, and maybe because the prices are a bit more normal. Well, you can basically get both Commander decks from Edge of Eternities for a bit over the price of one FF Commander deck.

A quick note about Universes Beyond

I see people complain about how the different franchise collaborations are going to ruin Magic, because we will see games where Optimus Prime fights Gandalf. At this point, I believe this has moved from actual concern (no matter how valid that was) to memes. Just like people who had never touched D&D 4th Edition were meme-ing about how bad it is. For me, playing a deck that has Ezio from Assassin’s Creed and Cloud from Final Fantasy is the same as playing a deck containing Progenitus and Heliod. It doesn’t matter. Keep in mind, this is a note about the flavour. How things will go printing and price wise is a different thing. And I don’t know if it is a hot take but I prefer it when we had 3-set blocks because it allowed us to digest the lore at a better pace. Rant over.

Commander Brackets

I woke up one day and people were talking about brackets. I didn’t pay much attention because I was busy. Then I saw more talk about it and I even saw it pop up in my Moxfield decks. It appears Wizards did something I believe had promised at some point and that’s a way to rank the power of Commander decks. The article where they introduce it is not a bad read, you should check it out. However, the infographic presented was deemed lacking, when it comes to explaining the brackets. And to be honest, if you create an infographic to summarise a pretty good (and somewhat long) article, you should make sure it summarises all the important stuff.

So, Rachel Weeks of The Commander Zone made a better one!

I highly suggest checking out that Bluesky thread because it has more images and more information in the comments. Rachel did a really good job.

Whether the brackets themselves are good enough or not is debatable but I like them. What I find interesting is that Moxfield assigns a bracket automatically to decks, if you don’t choose one. Most of my decks are bracket 2, which makes sense because most of them are untouched precons. However, Mirror Mastery was assigned to bracket 4 and I am interested in finding out why. Maybe I will reconstruct the deck just to see how it feels piloting the first commander deck I ever played with 10 years of experience.

And that’s all for now. I kinda skipped the Tarkir: Dragonstorm set because I haven’t much to say about it other than “Yay, dragons!”. Next time I’ll be back with an update to my Commander 32 Challenge. Though this one kinda spoiled the update a bit, but oh well.

And until next time, have fun!