Golbez, Crystal CollectorGolbez, Crystal Collector | Art By: Tetsu Kurosawa

This card looks so cool, it's unfair to other cards in the game. Golbez, Crystal CollectorGolbez, Crystal Collector is one of the big baddies in Final Fantasy IV. Having never finaled a fantasy, I hope this magical man became a fan favorite and saved the universe. If that's not the fate of Golbez, we can always fall back on the extremely cool abilities of their Magic: The Gathering card. 

Like the sequels to the Final Fantasy games, I have once again returned as Nick, and this is Tech The Deck - Golbez, Crystal CollectorGolbez, Crystal Collector. Let's get into it.

Go Go Golbez

Golbez has my favorite combination of stats on a card that can be your Commander: it's cheap to cast at only , small damage board wipes won't affect his four toughness, and pesky creatures won't swing your way.

While the flavor of this card goes over my head, the abilities are right up my alley. One of the best things about Golbez is that the card feeds itself. Every time that an artifact enters, we get to surveil 1. Then, if we have four artifacts on the board, we get a free Raise DeadRaise Dead, and if we control eight artifacts, we get to drain opponents for the returned creature's power.

There're many routes that this commander can take. We could go heavy on the artifacts to fill our graveyard at lightning speed and cast Living DeathLiving Death. Or maybe we care about a specific creature that we want to ReanimateReanimate; Golbez, Crystal CollectorGolbez, Crystal Collector can help us put them into the graveyard.

My take on the deck is to focus more on Golbez's life drain and getting value from constantly returning cards to our hand.

Key Cards for Golbez, Crystal Collector

Star Power

What's the best way to burn out the table with Golbez? Creatures that have * as their power.

We're choosing these three from the small list available in this color combo. BroodstarBroodstar has the added benefit of being a massive flyer that we'll often cast for just thanks to affinity.

Filigree AttendantFiligree Attendant also can fly through the air for tons of damage, but it has the downside of only three toughness. Shambling SuitShambling Suit, like the Attendant, only comes in with three toughness, but thanks to it being colorless, we never have to worry about having double blue mana to cast it.

The real reason any of these cards are here is to move from the graveyard to the hand repeatedly, burning out the table for hopefully double-digit damage every time.

Pulling Strings

One thing our deck is good at is putting artifacts onto the battlefield. But sometimes our opponents won't let our commander stick around. Unfortunately for them, we have plans for this.

The Master and Apprentice allow us to cash in any artifacts to chip away at our opponents. They can also bring a 1/1 Servo if we need to up our artifact count.

We also get the OG themselves, Disciple of the VaultDisciple of the Vault, and newcomer Pactdoll TerrorPactdoll Terror. While Disciple does lose out a bit on not being an artifact and having to target one player, there was no chance it wasn't making it into the deck.

Terror is the most expensive of the bunch outside of Marionette MasterMarionette Master, but it also might be the best. It triggers itself, helps keep you alive, and is an artifact.

One planeswalker made the cut in the deck, and it's one of my all-time favorites.

The passive effect on Tezzeret, Master of the BridgeTezzeret, Master of the Bridge can help when we want to cast some of our bigger creatures, like Phyrexian TriniformPhyrexian Triniform or Triplicate TitanTriplicate Titan. The part that interests me the most is the +2 ability. If you've never activated this card, you would be surprised by how much life drain it can produce. On top of being a favorite character in terms of the different cards, Master of the Bridge is right at home beside Golbez.

Sorcery Speed

Other card types sometimes become forgotten when playing a deck based around artifacts. The sorceries in this deck should not be overlooked.

Monumental CorruptionMonumental Corruption can be one of the funniest ways to kill a player at the table. But, if you are not stealing a win for , you can draw somewhere in the realm of seven or more cards without much work.

Many cards from this deck come from the Warhammer 40,000 Commander Necron Dynasties deck. One of those cards is Their Number Is LegionTheir Number Is Legion. Whether this card is in our hand or put into the graveyard off of Golbez's surveil 1, all we want to do is pump mana into this card. The 2/2 Necrons come into play tapped, but they up our artifact count and give us life as a trade-off.

I've been very excited about Haunt the NetworkHaunt the Network since it was spoiled with Aetherdrift. It's a baby version of Monumental CorruptionMonumental Corruption, and I love to have redundancy built into a deck.

Lastly, we have ThoughtcastThoughtcast and Universal SurveillanceUniversal Surveillance. The first fills any player with joy when they can cast it for a single , while the second can turn any artifact on the board into another card, thanks to the improvise mechanic.

Protecting Golbez

Golbez, Crystal CollectorGolbez, Crystal Collector will eventually annoy one or more of our opponents enough that they need to remove it. So we have to pack some protection.

Access DeniedAccess Denied is an expensive counterspell at five mana. It won't always feel great if we have to use it to counter a card like Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares or even a TerminateTerminate, but using it on a spell like Wrath of GodWrath of God or FarewellFarewell will make your average CounterspellCounterspell look like CancelCancel. Alternatively, Spell SwindleSpell Swindle can fill this slot if you prefer Treasures over Thopters.

Our last counterspell is OverrideOverride. I usually don't like "soft counters," but even as early as turn three, there aren't many times when an opponent will pay for this.

The Artifacts of Our Golbez Deck

This is a deck about artifacts, so let's talk about the artifacts.

A classic card across multiple competitive formats, Cranial PlatingCranial Plating finds a home in this deck so that we can punch extra hard.

Demonic JunkerDemonic Junker offers us a one-mana way to kill a creature, thanks to it having affinity for artifacts.

An all-time great card, Trading PostTrading Post becomes a jack-of-all-trades in this deck. It offers card draw, life gain, a way to fill the graveyard, and even a way to recover something if needed. Plus, it makes one of the best tokens in the game, GoatGoat.

Lastly, Simulacrum SynthesizerSimulacrum Synthesizer can help us fill the board with some of the most overpowered tokens in the game to take out an entire table, ConstructConstruct.

Other Ways to Win With Golbez

Some of the player base frowns on extra turns and alternative win conditions. Our deck runs each of these.

Mechanized ProductionMechanized Production is one of the "fairest" ways to alternatively win a game. While it's cool that if we can sit around long enough, dropping this down can win us the game after one time around the table, but I'm more interested in it making a copy of something like Thought MonitorThought Monitor for some card draw. Or an Auton SoldierAuton Soldier for massive shenanigans. Or maybe something as simple as Baleful StrixBaleful Strix to slowly fill the sky with deathtouch flyers.

I've mentioned that we want to fill our graveyard and move artifacts in and out to drain our opponents. Surveil 1 is an okay way to do that, but what if we could put five artifacts into the grave every turn? Welcome Time SieveTime Sieve to the table. This is an extra turn card that can give us another way to win the game. It might get a sigh from the table, but it'll be fine if you play within the right expectations.

One Last Trick

One last synergy that some might miss out on with the enormous amount of cards released in the Final Fantasy set is Y'shtola RhulY'shtola Rhul. This is the first card in the game to give you an extra end step, and it also has synergy with Golbez. Double the end steps means we get double the triggers. It's a bit expensive at six mana and doesn't work great with every card in the deck, but it does enough good things that it deserves to be included.

Wrap Up

Something about Golbez, Crystal CollectorGolbez, Crystal Collector clicked with me when I saw it—a unique but straightforward effect on a card with great art. I took a lot of inspiration from Logan (Seraph Six) and The Spike Feeders for this deck. I might not know anything about Final Fantasy, but I know a deck I like when I see it.

If you like a value engine that deals with artifacts and you're a fan of Final Fantasy IX, try sleeving up Golbez, Crystal CollectorGolbez, Crystal Collector. If you want to see more Final Fantasy content, check out our Deck Tech page here, or our Set Reviews page here.

Once again, I have been Nick, and this has been Tech The Deck - Golbez, Crystal Collector.

Golbez, Crystal Collecter Commander Deck List