Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and Square Enix

Today is Sunday, June 8th! Prerelease weekend may be winding down to a close, but we are still going strong with our Count-Up series for Final Fantasy! Each day until the set fully officially releases, I'm picking the best and most flavorful cards in the main set. Yesterday, we covered FFXI; today, we will look at Final Fantasy XII!

Criteria And Notable Omissions

Notably, the FFXI subset had only thirteen cards in it, just eleven of which are at all applicable to this series. This was fine, but FFXII has even less. The subset has just twelve cards, ten of which can be used in this article's superlatives. Therefore, we will be eschewing an Honorable Mention for this section. Other subsets from here have a few more cards than that. However, the overall 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, like yesterday's, not have a card for this category.)
• 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 dive right in!

Best as a Commander

This duo of characters from Final Fantasy XII are collectively a fantastic Vehicle commander. There aren't a ton of pre-Aetherdrift red-green Vehicle-centered cards, but Balthier and FranBalthier and Fran will make many players rethink overlooking the set for its "racing-helmet" aesthetic. Plus, giving Vehicles vigilance, reach, and a ton of combat steps to run over opponents seems incredibly powerful.

Best in the 99

Enchantments that destroy permanents are some of my favorite kinds of enchantments. They're typically super-versatile and will often open up a power vacuum that the caster often has the first opportunity to fill in. Sidequest: Hunt the MarkSidequest: Hunt the Mark is not only an enchantment that destroys a creature, but it can also fill the void left behind in its wake with its rear face. This card is fantastic for that reason, even if its mana cost is a tad steep.

Most Flavorful

Choco-CometChoco-Comet evokes an amazing, and frankly hilarious, piece of mental imagery. A flightless red bird summoning a ton of comets to rain death and destruction upon its hapless victims? Sign me up! This card does exactly what it advertises in its flavor, and that's always great to see in a card like this.

And that brings us to the Best In Show for Final Fantasy XII. Which card of the seven remaining eligible cards got this prestige? Well...

Final Fantasy XII Best In Show

If you guessed it'd be Vaan, Street ThiefVaan, Street Thief, a) I didn't think I was that predictable, and b) you're absolutely right!

Vaan is a strong Commander card for outlaws-matter styled decks as well as decks that like Rogues or Pirates. While Scout is a fairly uncommon creature type at this time, Vaan himself is a Scout and seems remarkably strong for that kindred archetype as well.

As for the flavor of this character, Vaan has that in spades as well. As a Pirate (judging by the Captain Lannery StormCaptain Lannery Storm reskin from Through the Ages), and as a thief, Vaan is adept at stealing opponents' cards pretty handily. This first ability he has is a good one to link to that flavor. All of this combined makes Vaan, Street Thief my Best In Show for FFXII.

With that, we conclude today's Count-Up article! Are you reading them and do you have any thoughts on how it's turning out? Sound off in the comments! Meanwhile, you can read the series thus far in the links below!

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

Day 6: FFVI | Day 7: FFVII | Day 8: FFVIII | Day 9: FFIX | Day 10: FFX

Day 11: FFXI