Breaking Down the Sidequests From Final Fantasy

Sidequest: Catch a Fish | Art by Gal Or

Hey everyone! It's Final Fantasy (FIN) week on EDHREC, so instead of a Back to Basics breakdown of most played cards from a particular set or of a certain type or color identity, I'll be looking at the five Sidequest enchantments from FIN.

Much like the game mechanics they represent, the Sidequests reward you for completing a task. But, these cards also helpfully nudge you in the right direction by providing a a boost that helps you complete the quest a little easier. These are very flavorful cards that are evocative not just of Final Fantasy, but of role-playing games in general, and they've been translated beautifully to Magic: The Gathering. How good are they, though? Let's find out!

I've ranked them roughly by how well they can contribute to existing themes and decks. Let me know if you disagree with my very loose ranking in the comments!

5. Sidequest: Card Collection

While Sidequest: Card Collection would be first on my list of best in-jokes from the set (Magicked Card!!!!), I just don't see this making a huge impact in the format. The ability on its face is a useful one as players are always looking for redundancy in their decks and a lot of builds also want to be filling the graveyard. The effect you get is just too expensive at four mana when cards like Thirst for Knowledge and Frantic Search exist.

But, what about the back half? I mean, it seems like a good Limited card, but a 4/4 flyer that still needs to be crewed isn't going to get the job done in the vast majority of games. Search for Azcanta or Treasure Map this is not!

4. Sidequest: Hunt the Mark

The black Sidequest is also expensive and clunky, but at least it affects the board and makes additional pieces of cardboard in the form of Treasure tokens before you flip it. Both halves can cohesively contribute to a Sacrifice theme deck (although Treasures only happen if your opponents' things die), with the legendary creature on the back half giving you a sacrifice outlet and a beefy body.

The problem is, it's still expensive and clunky, even down to the two-mana activation cost for Yizamat's sacrifice ability. Affecting the board and making tokens does help you win games of Magic though, and a 5/6 can brawl, so this definitely edges Card Collection.

3. Sidequest: Play Blitzball

Blitzball is a very focused tool in a deck that would like to deal a lot of damage in one go, which makes me think of Boros-based () Equipment decks and Gruul () Xenagos, God of Revels or Anzrag, the Quake-Mole-style builds.

Being an uncommon, it certainly doesn't quite measure to double strike staple Embercleave, but not many cards do. It still puts a good amount of damage potential on the table and synergizes with commanders like Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale, Nahiri, Forged in Fury, and more. Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER is also a shiny new option that gives you access to green as well.

2. Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo

This is an interesting one because it powers up Bird kindred decks, but it's also in a tertiary color for that creature type, green. Most of the commanders that really enhance other Birds are in Azorius (), like Kastral, the Windcrested, Kangee, Aerie Keeper, and (more loosely) Errant and Giada.

Diversity in Commander is great though, so having this as a Bird payoff in Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Falco Spara, Pactweaver, or even Tawnos, the Toymaker could be great.

Being cheap helps a ton, as does giving you a body upfront that can also brawl. Getting a 2/2 on the backside isn't busted or anything, but being easy enough to get there in a dedicated Birds deck and also spotting you the first landfall trigger by searching up a land can lead to a surprising power spike and a chunk of damage.

It's important to mention that Bant () Birds is getting a new commander from FIN in the form of Choco, Seeker of Paradise, as well as a few new creatures and enablers/payoffs, helping green Birds decks with more options.

1. Sidequest: Catch a Fish

Raise a Chocobo is more powerful in the right deck, but Sidequest: Catch a Fish is a simply a more flexible card that provides a little bit of a lot of things for a reasonable three mana: you draw a card, you make an artifact token, you get more mana (which is so, so powerful), and you can buff your whole team by sacrificing the "free" token you already received!

Of course, you'll want to slot this into a deck with a lot of creatures, but that's a trivial side quest in a white deck. Tyler Bucks writes more about this card here, including the great call that this is an excellent option in Alela, Artful Provocateur.

I'm a simple person; I think of how this card meshes well with Thraben Inspector and I get excited. Watch out for this in Hatebears too!

End of the Line, Punk!

Five sidequests aren't that many, but figuring out how to maximize them should provide ample distraction from the main quest of playing with all the other fantastic FIN cards!