<h6 style="text-align: right;">Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and Square Enix</h6>
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It's Tuesday, June 10th, and we are still three days away from the release of the Final Fantasy Magic set! Meanwhile, I've been hard at work covering the best and most flavorful cards from every mainline game in the series for our 16-day Count-Up! Yesterday I covered FFXIII; today, I'm looking at Final Fantasy XIV!
To reiterate, here is the criteria I'm looking at:
<ul>
<li>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 have one card in this category.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>Most Flavorful - The most fun to play card in a storytelling context will be deemed Most Flavorful. For example, we covered <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Town Greeter" href="#" target="_blank">Town Greeter</a> in our FFI list for its fun lore synergies with Towns, especially those with specific Final Fantasy town names.</li>
<li>Best In Show - The very best of these cards in a balance of the above categories.</li>
</ul>
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 look at some amazing FFXIV cards!
<h2>Honorable Mention</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Matoya, Archon Elder"></div></div>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Matoya, Archon Elder" href="#" target="_blank">Matoya, Archon Elder</a> is a deceptively strong creature. She puts in more work as a good imitation of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Eligeth, Crossroads Augur" href="#" target="_blank">Eligeth, Crossroads Augur</a>, but somehow her ability is even better. While she doesn't draw quite as many cards as Eligeth does, she allows you to improve the quality of the draw she provides. What's more, she also triggers off of surveilling, which is a big part of Magic these days.
The primary reason Matoya is only an Honorable Mention for this subset of cards is that she's outclassed by a ton of cards that are even better than she is. Let's take a look at some of them!
<h2>Best as a Commander</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Emet-Selch, Unsundered"></div></div>
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a copy of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Yawgmoth&#039;s Will" href="#" target="_blank">Yawgmoth&#039;s Will</a> in your command zone? If you've never owned a copy of Yawgmoth's Will but can appreciate the value it provides, chances are good that you have. Well, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Emet-Selch, Unsundered" href="#" target="_blank">Emet-Selch, Unsundered</a> is very much that card. While rather unassuming on its front face, Emet-Selch eventually transforms into a permanent version of Yawgmoth's Will on its rear face. While this version only works on your turns, it's still a fantastic iteration of an arguably broken effect. As such, Emet-Selch is my pick for Best as a Commander for Final Fantasy XIV.
<h2>Best in the 99</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dark Confidant"></div></div>
"Bob" is back! Designed by Magic Invitational winner Bob Maher back for the original Ravnica: City of Guilds, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dark Confidant" href="#" target="_blank">Dark Confidant</a> has finally come home to Standard. However, that doesn't mean he's out of place in Commander! For a simple and low cost of and some life, you can have all the comforts of extra card advantage at each of your upkeep steps. Maher's elegant design shines through this card even today, providing "greatness, at any cost" (to quote the original Ravnica flavor text).
<h2>Most Flavorful</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Summon: Primal Odin"></div></div>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Summon: Primal Odin" href="#" target="_blank">Summon: Primal Odin</a> is a card that, understandably, evokes Primal Odin, a figure in Final Fantasy XIV that you must face at a given point in the game. He does, in fact, take a party member out of the game with his might during that portion of combat, I'm told, and as such, his Zantetsuken ability on the card aligns well with the things the game's iteration is capable of. With that in mind, Summon: Primal Odin is my pick for Most Flavorful.
With that, we come to Final Fantasy XIV's Best In Show. There are 43 eligible entries in the entire subset and 39 cards left after the above. So, what won out? Well...
<h2>Final Fantasy XIV Best In Show</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Wandering Minstrel"></div></div>
It's <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Wandering Minstrel" href="#" target="_blank">The Wandering Minstrel</a>!
The Wandering Minstrel is nothing short of amazing. His basic affinities for Town lands mean it's easier to build around those kinds of nonbasic lands with him. Plus, as a 2-cost, five-color commander he can be used with <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lurrus of the Dream-Den" href="#" target="_blank">Lurrus of the Dream-Den</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zirda, the Dawnwaker" href="#" target="_blank">Zirda, the Dawnwaker</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gyruda, Doom of Depths" href="#" target="_blank">Gyruda, Doom of Depths</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Umori, the Collector" href="#" target="_blank">Umori, the Collector</a>, or <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jegantha, the Wellspring" href="#" target="_blank">Jegantha, the Wellspring</a> as companions. That's assuming you build The Wandering Minstrel around them, but all are technically eligible companions for him.
Lorewise, The Wandering Minstrel is, in the game, a self-insert by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoki_Yoshida">Naoki Yoshida</a>. Also known as "Yoshi-P", Yoshida is a major game producer, director, and designer for Square Enix. Most notably, he produced Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn! As such, he needed to be our Best In Show for the subset - I accept no substitutions here.
With that, we wrap up our coverage of Final Fantasy XIV. This set has a lot of FFXIV representation compared to many other games in the series. How did you feel we fared with this list? Do you think we missed anything of note? Sound off in the comments! And, please feel free to look at our entries for previous games in the various links below!
<a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-one-ffi?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 1: FFI</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-two-ffii?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 2: FFII</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-three-ffiii?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 3: FFIII</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-four-ffiv?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 4: FFIV</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-five-ffv?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 5: FFV</a>
<a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-six-ffvi?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 6: FFVI</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-seven-ffvii?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 7: FFVII</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-eight-ffviii/?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 8: </a><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-eight-ffviii/?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">FFVIII</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-nine-ffix?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 9: FFIX</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-ten-ffx/?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 10: FFX</a>
<a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-eleven-ffxi?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 11: FFXI</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-twelve-ffxii?utm_source=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Day 12: FFXII</a> | <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-day-count-up-day-thirteen-ffxiii">Day 13: FFXIII</a>

final fantasy xiv

Final Fantasy 16-Day Count-Up, Day Fourteen: FFXIV