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MTG Final Fantasy Scions & Spellcraft Deck: Should You Use Y'shtola Or G'raha Tia As The Commander
Choosing between Y’shtola and G’raha Tia in Magic: The Gathering’s Scions and Spellcraft Final Fantasy precon commander deck should be easy, as long as you know how each of the possible commanders works and how they interact with the rest of the cards in the deck. Scions and Spellcraft is one of the four new commander decks for the MTG: Final Fantasy collaboration event. The deck is centered around the world and characters of FFXIV, the critically acclaimed MMORPG in the series. With its cards, players can reencounter several key characters from the game, as well as locations and events.
The precon deck features cards like the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, including Alisaie and Alphinaud Leveilleur, Estinien Varlineau, Krile Baldesion, Lyse Hext, Tataru Taru, Thancred Waters, and Urianger Augurelt. It also features other characters like Ardbert, Emet-Selch, and Hermes. The art for several reprints is also thematic, with the Command Tower card showcasing Final Fantasy XIV: Shadobringers’ Crystarium, for example. Scions and Spellcraft is an Esper deck, meaning it uses Black, White, and Blue mana cards, and cards with any combination of those colors in Magic: The Gathering. Before running it, however, you’ll have to choose a commander card.
What Y’shtola & G’raha Tia Do In MTG: Final Fantasy’s Scions & Spellcraft Deck
Everything About Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed & G’raha Tia, Scion Reborn
The Scions and Spellcraft precon deck comes with two possible commander cards. The face commander is Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed. The deck’s secondary possible commander is G’raha Tia, Scion Reborn. These are the only two Legendary Creature cards in the deck with the Esper combination, which allows them to run as the deck’s commander – for reference, a Creature card like Emet-Selch of the Third Seat is a Dimir card, which would disable the usage of all White cards in the deck – though he would make a great Commander deck in Magic: The Gathering.
The table below highlights the details about Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed, and G’raha Tia, Scion Reborn from the Scions and Spellcraft precon deck, including their mana costs, abilities, and more:
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Scions & Spellcraft Commander Cards |
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|---|---|---|
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Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed |
G’raha Tia, Scion Reborn |
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1, White, Blue, Black |
White, Blue, Black |
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Cat Warlock |
Cat Wizard |
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2/4 |
2/3 |
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Vigilance At the beginning of each end step, if a player lost 4 or more life this turn, you draw a card. Whenever you cast a noncreature spell with mana value 3 or greater, Y’shtola deals 2 damage to each opponent, and you gain 2 life. |
Lifelink Throw Wide the Gates – Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may pay X life, where X is that spell’s mana value. If you do, create a 1/1 colorless Hero creature token and put X +1/+1 counters on it. Do this only once each turn. |
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Both of the possible commander cards for MTG: Final Fantasy’s Scions and Spellcraft deck revolve around the usage of noncreature spells, locking the product in a spellslinger deck archetype. Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed, and G’raha Tia, Scion Reborn, each have their own set of pros and cons, as they operate differently and change the flow of gameplay. Understanding this can help make an adequate decision when choosing between these two Final Fantasy XIV characters to lead your deck.
Pros & Cons Of Y’shtola In MTG: Final Fantasy’s Scions & Spellcraft Deck
Y’shtola Is A Noteworthy Spellslinger With Great Card Draw Value
Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed, is the face commander for the Scions and Spellcraft deck, and it’s not a coincidence. The Legendary Creature card’s main focus is to ensure that at least 4 damage is dealt to any player each turn to draw a card, since the effect triggers at the end of every end step, not just yours. Furthermore, if damage is not being dealt through combat in the opponent’s turns, the player can also ping 2 damage by casting a spell with mana value 3 or greater, possibly accelerating the card draw in this Magic: The Gathering precon deck.
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The great thing about Y’shtola is that she can prompt card draw when opponents attack each other and even you. Oftentimes, you may want to allow incoming combat damage to hit you to activate the card draw during the attacking opponent’s end step. It’s a risky maneuver, but Y’shtola also has a way of mitigating life loss, since she can recover 2 life whenever you cast noncreature spells with mana value 3 or greater. Most of the cards in the Scions and Spellcraft deck synergize well with Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed in Magic: The Gathering.
In this Final Fantasy precon deck, you’ll find several noncreature spells with mana value 3 or greater, which will allow you to effectively use Y’shtola’s powers. The downside is that there are some cards placed in the deck for the flavor, meaning they don’t interact too well with Y’shtola’s purpose as a commander and can slow down your gameplay flow. Y’shtola’s Vigilance is also great, especially during the early stages of a game, when opponents can’t or aren’t willing to defend her, and you can still have her up as a defender in MTG.
You can mix up the damage sources to trigger Y’shtola’s card draw. For example, during your turn, you can cast one noncreature spell with mana value 3 or greater to deal 2 damage to each opponent, and then use Y’shtola to attack an opponent to complete the 4 life loss requirement to activate her card draw.
One of Y’shtola’s downsides, however, is that she is a fairly costly commander card to use. With a cost of 4 mana, it can take you some time to pull her from the command zone, especially if you aren’t able to draw any ramp cards in the first few turns. This could put you at risk, as you struggle to find ways to play without being targeted, holding onto noncreature spells for when she finally enters the field. This is especially true if you’re also struggling with lands in Magic: The Gathering. The payoff is great, but it’s risky.
Pros & Cons Of G’raha Tia In MTG: Final Fantasy’s Scions & Spellcraft Deck
G’raha Can Create An Army Of Tokens
Alternatively, G’raha Tia, Scion Reborn, is the secondary possible commander card in Scions and Spellcraft. Like Y’shtola, G’raha also revolves around the usage of noncreature spells, though he is not restricted by their mana value. Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may pay life equivalent to the spell’s mana value. If you do, you create a 1/1 colorless Hero creature token and put the +1/+1 counters equivalent to the amount of life you paid, an effect that can be replicated once per turn. The big deal with G’raha Tia is sacrificing life to create an army of tokens.
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Depending on your mana management, you can create one Hero token per player turn, as long as you are willing to lose life for it. While the life loss would be a downside, G’raha Tia has a way of mitigating that with his Lifelink. The issue is that G’raha would only recover 2 life per combat, which would likely not match the amount of life lost per round. As such, G’raha is a risky commander to play, as you’ll be constantly losing life to create Hero tokens. Arguably, these Hero tokens can help defend you in Magic: The Gathering.
The problem with G’raha’s Hero token is that they don’t have Flying, Reach, Lifelink, or Trample to make them truly relevant. Surely, you’ll populate your board, but you won’t be able to defend against Flying Creature cards, and they won’t help you restore the life you lose. Furthermore, because a lot of the noncreature spells in the deck have low costs, you won’t have massive Hero tokens that truly scare opponents – and, even if you do, they likely won’t have a way of getting that damage to strike opponents in MTG.
Without Trample, these Hero tokens will likely just be blocked and never really damage defending players.
One of G’raha Tia’s positive aspects is that he is one mana cheaper than Y’shtola, meaning he can be put on the field much quicker than his Scion companion. This can allow you to start populating your board much faster than your opponents, especially when considering how a little life loss in the early turns is seemingly irrelevant and can put you at an advantage.
Is Y’shtola Or G’raha Tia Better As A Commander In MTG: Final Fantasy’s Scions & Spellcraft Deck
One Of The Cards Can Even Be Removed From The Deck Once You Start Upgrading It
Without a doubt, Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed is the better commander card for the Scions and Spellcraft Final Fantasy precon deck. Her abilities will continue to work throughout the entire match, even if she takes a little longer to enter the battlefield. The good thing about Y’shtola is that you’ll always be using her ability, even when you’re not the one causing damage, which can help you not be considered a threat for quite some time. G’raha Tia doesn’t really stand out as a commander and, in the deck, can even be removed to make way for better spells.
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Y’shtola is easily one of the coolest Final Fantasy MTG cards, as it allows for a great level of control, without becoming too much of an obvious threat. The Scions and Spellcraft precon deck does need some upgrades to make it more menacing and finish off opponents, but it can carry you through matches. If you make it to the later stages of a game, you can defeat your opponents by slinging several noncreature spells in sequence and using Y’shtola to deal damage, making her the perfect commander for this Magic: The Gathering deck.
- Release Date
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August 5, 1993
- Created by
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Richard Garfield
- Video Game(s)
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Magic: The Gathering, Magic the Gathering Commander, Magic: The Gathering – Battlegrounds, Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014, Magic: The Gathering Arena
- Character(s)
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Jace Beleren, Chandra Nalaar, Liliana Vess, Garruk Wildspeaker, Nissa Revane, Ajani Goldmane, Nicol Bolas, Teferi, Gideon Jura, Sorin Markov, Ral Zarek
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