Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and Square Enix

It's Wednesday, June 4th, which means it's time for the next entry in our Final Fantasy count-up series! Each day leading up to the release of the new Universes Beyond set, I'm denoting my picks for the most powerful and flavorful cards from each game in the main series. Yesterday, we went over FFVII, and today marks Day 8 of our count-up, so naturally, we're covering Final Fantasy VIII today.

The criteria we're working with for this superlative list is as follows:

• Honorable Mention - These usually will be a cycle or group of cards that are great but don't quite measure up to the "best" in the categories we have chosen to cover. (Today's list will only have one card.)
• Best as a Commander - This category covers, as advertised, the best commander to lead a deck in Commander, but may also look briefly at other Command Zone-driven formats.
• Best in the 99 - This section discusses my choice for the best card in a given 99 of a deck. It may be a ubiquitous card, but it might also just be a card with a fair amount of utility.
• Most Flavorful - The most fun to play card in a storytelling context will be deemed Most Flavorful. For example, we covered Town GreeterTown Greeter in our FFI list for its fun lore synergies with Towns, especially those with specific Final Fantasy town names.
• Best In Show - The very best of these cards in a balance of the above categories.

Furthermore, cards from the Commander precons, Through the Ages, and promotional/Secret Lair cards are ineligible for consideration. We want to keep this strictly from the main set.

With that, let's begin!

Honorable Mention

Rinoa HeartillyRinoa Heartilly is our Honorable Mention in this list. She has a lot of cool, flavorful applications to her. Namely, Rinoa can create Angelo and then essentially launch him at opponents. This is more of a case for Angelo than Rinoa, as Angelo is the bestest boy in this game. However, as Angelo is a token and linked to Rinoa, we have to give this superlative to her.

Best as a Commander

I've noticed that Squall, SeeD MercenarySquall, SeeD Mercenary is practically identical to Seifer AlmasySeifer Almasy in many ways. Both are 4-mana 3/4 legendary creatures that can give double strike to a lone attacker. Plus, both have a trigger on dealing combat damage that recurs a card with a mana value of 3 or less. However, with this stiff competition, Squall beats out Seifer here in that Squall doesn't give the creature cards he recurs finality of any sort. Seifer effectively does, since he exiles the instants and sorceries he allows you to cast from your graveyard. Both are very powerful recursion engines, but Squall is a stronger card in this way. To this end, Squall, SeeD Mercenary is my pick for Best as a Commander.

Best in the 99

I'm a fan of Walking AtlasWalking Atlas effects. I think they're fantastic and have a lot of useful utility. As such, I will be giving the Best in the 99 superlative to PuPu UFOPuPu UFO, an even better Walking Atlas effect than Walking Atlas itself. Sure, Atlas has one more power in any normal situation, but PuPu UFO is a 0/4 flyer that can get huge in Limited. There are even some Commander decks that will synergize well with PuPu UFO, such as The Wandering MinstrelThe Wandering Minstrel. Obviously, by the strictest definitions, it's not strictly better than Atlas, but it's certainly pushed and power crept.

Most Flavorful

I've covered Triple TriadTriple Triad in the past. I truly like the card. Put simply, it's a minigame that is heavily based on the card game minigame from FFVIII and beyond. There are a bunch of layers to this that we can unpack, but at the end of the day, it's just a really fun card that's bursting with flavor.

With that, we've gotten to our Best In Show for Final Fantasy VIII. Which card earned this superlative?

Final Fantasy VIII Best In Show

It's Jumbo CactuarJumbo Cactuar!

Jumbo Cactuar is a strong card with humorous flavor implications. It's probably the most memetic card in the set right now on social media. Since its reveal, people have been trying to find ways to adequately break the giant cactus monster, and many have succeeded. It's essentially the new "Congratulations, we finally broke _____" card, always funny to a fault.

Additionally, the card itself is disgustingly powerful. Give this thing trample, flying, or even haste against an unsuspecting board, and you have a card that will defeat opponents quickly and easily. 10,000 power is no joke, dear reader, but FlingFlinging 10,000 power is itself a power move. And let's not even talk about Rite of ConsumptionRite of Consumption. Defeating one opponent and gaining an unreasonably high amount of life is usually a way to end games outright. Plays like that are why Jumbo Cactuar is our Best In Show for this game.

That wraps up our coverage of Final Fantasy VIII for this count-up series! Do you think we missed any important points here? What are your picks for any of these superlatives? Sound off below! And, in the meantime, if you want to look at any of our previous entries, you can find them below as well.

Day 1: FFI | Day 2: FFII | Day 3: FFIII | Day 4: FFIV | Day 5: FFV |

Day 6: FFVI | Day 7: FFVII