Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER | Art by Wisnu Tan

Hello fellow brewer and welcome back to Brew For Your Buck, where we swap out the top 10 most expensive cards in a deck with 10 budget cards that add a unique twist. We're deep into Final Fantasy spoilers, and that means we're looking at some of the most popular commanders from the set (so far). The most popular according to the site is Vivi OrnitierVivi Ornitier, and taking even a cursory glance at the average list shows that the cEDH crowd is all over it. Nothing wrong with that, but pulling out $2000 from a $3000 deck to make a $1000 deck might not be of interest to most readers (but if it is, let me know in the comments). Which means we move on to the second most popular:

I've never played any of the Final Fantasy games or even watched them being played, so I have no comments on the flavor of Sephiroth or any other card in the set, but when I see a card that can give me a Blood ArtistBlood Artist emblem, I get pretty excited. Most of these Blood ArtistBlood Artist-type effects are stapled to fairly fragile creatures, so having a way to get one that can't be interacted with at all is pretty awesome.

Sephiroth's average list so far clocks in at $576.70. Let's cut the top ten most expensive cards and see what we can save:

Total Value of Cuts: $214.76

As usual, a mono-black deck comes with a surprisingly expensive mana base for a mono-colored deck. Replacing the ones in question (UrborgUrborg, NykthosNykthos, and friends) leads to an additional $121.31 in savings, for a total of $336.07.

Sephiroth very clearly wants us to do one thing: sacrifice creatures. To get that sweet emblem, we specifically need four creatures to die in one turn. You know what's convenient? We can do that very simply by using Fleshbag MarauderFleshbag Marauder and all of its variants. We have most of those in the list already, along with some combo cards and other Blood ArtistBlood Artist effects. Honestly it's a pretty great build even without the expensive cards, so our budget package is aiming for more generic improvements than a specific theme.

Additions for Sephiroth

Redundant Sacrifice

Ideally our army of Fleshbag MarauderFleshbag Marauders will enable Sephiroth to flip easily - if each opponent has a creature out, just casting one of them hits that four creature threshold, since you can sacrifice it to its own ability. But there are some decks and playstyles that don't rely too heavily on creatures, or maybe it's just early enough in the game and a few opponents haven't played them. Whatever the case, it's important to have some ways to hit that magic number of four.

Pawn of UlamogPawn of Ulamog is in the deck already. It's especially potent, since any of our non-token creatures will die into a self-sacrificing creature that can also give us mana. Well, it's not the only one. Sifter of SkullsSifter of Skulls ($0.37) is essentially a second copy, with all the same benefits as the Vampire.

Nightmare ShepherdNightmare Shepherd does a similar thing, only this time we get a 1/1 copy of the creature that dies (if we choose to exile the original) which let's us re-trigger any enters or dies triggers over again (looking at you, GaryGary).

I also looked at some "army in a can" type cards that can hit the four creatures threshold all on their own. Sengir AutocratSengir Autocrat ($0.25) fit the bill perfectly. Imagine a curve of Viscera SeerViscera Seer into Sephiroth into Autocrat. On turn four you've got a flipped Sephiroth (a card-drawing, 5/5 flying commander), and the emblem online. Just need to make sure you sacrifice the Autocrat last or he's taking his Serfs with him.

Mana Acceleration

If all is going right, Sephiroth will be drawing us a lot of cards. Card velocity is always a useful thing to have tied to a commander, but we need to balance it out with a lot of mana in order to make use of everything we're drawing. To that end, we're throwing in Crypt of AgadeemCrypt of Agadeem ($1.67). You know what this deck is going to have a lot of? Black creatures in the graveyard. This is a fantastic replacement for Cabal CoffersCabal Coffers on a budget, and I'm surprised it doesn't show up in more decks.

With Crypt alongside Cabal StrongholdCabal Stronghold, throwing in Expedition MapExpedition Map ($0.96) isn't the craziest idea. As I said before, the big mana lands can really accelerate us past our opponents, and having a way to find them at such a low opportunity cost is pretty useful. Those two lands are our juiciest targets, but we can go snag Bojuka BogBojuka Bog or TakenumaTakenuma as the situation calls for it. If you decide to upgrade the deck in the future by adding back Cabal CoffersCabal Coffers and/or UrborgUrborg, it only gets better.

Recursion

Another glaring issue I noticed with this average list is that we have no recursion outside of a few creatures that bring themselves back. This is a big issue if we're planning on attacking with Sephiroth's flipped side multiple times, or if we need to recover quickly from a board wipe. Living DeathLiving Death ($1.87) has never been cheaper, thanks to it's recent printing in a precon, and is exactly what we're hoping for. It pulls double duty as a board wipe and as recursion.

Another recursion card that's amazing for this deck is Thrilling EncoreThrilling Encore ($0.45). We can cause a lot of creatures to be put into graveyards all at once, so in addition to being some board wipe protection this can give us a huge amount of value, grabbing not only our creatures that were sacrificed, but all of our opponents' as well.

Combo-rrific

We do have an infinite combo in the deck, so here's Commander Spellbook to break it down:

Keep in mind that we need to use a drain effect that targets an opponent for the "commit a crime" clause to trigger. So Blood ArtistBlood Artist works, and more importantly, Sephiroth's emblem.

Here's a few ways to help us find the pieces, should we want to go that direction to win the game. And of course, we're starting off with BFYB's most added card: Mausoleum SecretsMausoleum Secrets ($0.80). Yep, still dying on this hill. It's perfect here: we're putting a bunch of creatures in the graveyard, and the "black card" clause doesn't really matter in a mono-black deck. Did I mention it's instant speed?

This also looks like a perfect place for Into the PitInto the Pit ($0.53). I tried this in my own RatadrabikRatadrabik deck and it was awesome. We want to be sacrificing stuff anyway, and this can let us dig down into our library for whatever we might need at the moment. Just remember to sing "The Pit" from Parks and Recreation while you do it. Also, if you want to remove Bolas's CitadelBolas's Citadel from the deck for Bracket reasons, this could be a good substitute.

Finally, we have underrated mono-black card SanguimancySanguimancy ($0.07). Sephiroth will draw us a lot of cards but commanders tend to be killed, so having another backup way to draw a burst of cards is always useful. I wouldn't cast this unless my devotion to black was four or greater, but we've 35 black permanents that can help fuel this. The lifegain from our many Blood ArtistBlood Artists should help offset the downside if we're drawing a truly huge amount of cards, but as any black mage knows, your life total is just a resource anyways.

Wrap Up & Savings

Let's see what we saved:

A savings of 57% is actually kind of low compared to our usual. Our budget package isn't very expensive (that's kinda the point), but there are some leftover cards that are pricey, even after removing the top ten. Diabolic IntentDiabolic Intent, Bolas's CitadelBolas's Citadel, Culling the WeakCulling the Weak, just to name a few. If you want to save more, those are where I would start. It also doesn't help that Sephiroth himself is currently $66, but I'm hoping that'll drop upon the set's release. Otherwise, I'm really happy with the final list; I think this is a great starting point.

Quick series news before we wrap up: My wife and I are expecting our first kid any day now, so the series will be on a brief hiatus while I adjust to fatherhood. Check out the work of my very talented colleagues in the meantime, and I'll see you in a month or so when we brew for your buck!

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER Commander Deck List

If you want to send your personal deck through the Brew For Your Buck process, send an email to [email protected] with an Archidekt link and a few sentences about what your goals for the deck are, and your deck could be featured in a future article!

Please note: card prices listed in this article are accurate at the time of writing, but prices can vary over time and between locations.