Image credit: Wizards of the Coast and Square Enix

It's Saturday, May 31st, and the entire Final Fantasy set is now public knowledge! Today, we're continuing our count-up of the best and most flavorful cards in the series by game. We went over FFIII yesterday, and so today, we're covering Final Fantasy IV.

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.

So, without further ado, let's take a look at my picks for the best cards in Final Fantasy IV!

Honorable Mention

Cecil, Dark KnightCecil, Dark Knight is a pretty interesting card, but it's not quite up to snuff for a given Commander deck. Death's ShadowDeath's Shadow-style effects are often interesting, but it's a tricky effect to build around properly. Granted, the Redeemed Paladin side of Cecil is nice, but going down to 20 life or less in Commander is putting oneself into a red zone that many players may not be comfortable with being in. It's still a neat card for flavor, but for what it's worth, there's better flavor in other cards. Cecil is our Honorable Mention, though, because he's almost good enough for a few categories.

Best as a Commander

This card ranks as our Best to lead a Commander deck because he's a fantastic midrange value engine. Drawing two cards from casting something for four or more mana is going to do wonders for your card advantage output. Plus, the potential to do a massive amount of damage with this commander is nothing to sniff at. Tellah, Great SageTellah, Great Sage is a card that needs some amount of build around to be a formidable commander, especially at a mana value of 5. Still, when you manage to keep him protected and pivot into a strong, moderate to high-MV spell, you're going to get amazing value out of him.

Best in the 99

I'll be real with you all; I seriously like the Black Mage synergies in the Final Fantasy set. I wouldn't call myself biased, per se, but I do like how they interact and swarm upon the opposition when you cast noncreature spells. Mysidian ElderMysidian Elder is one of those cards you'll want to add to a deck that cares about noncreature interaction. A given white-blue-red deck, any number of blue-black-red decks, and, let's face it, any number of blue-red decks in general, all want this sort of effect. This is a great card, especially if you can flicker it repeatedly.

Most Flavorful

Kain is a character that many either love or hate in Final Fantasy IV. He is a supreme backstabber and this is a trait that is encapsulated perfectly in Kain, Traitorous DragoonKain, Traitorous Dragoon. It's clear that his loyalties are anything but clear, and the card swaps controllers more than you do with your older siblings at your childhood home. I digress; the card is chock-full of flavor and it is our Most Flavorful for that reason.

And that brings us to the Best In Show category. Which FFIV card made the cut?

Final Fantasy IV Best In Show

You may be surprised to learn that my Best In Show is The Lunar WhaleThe Lunar Whale. This card is a strong card that gives me flashbacks to The Reality ChipThe Reality Chip. However, it offers more overall damage output potential. I've played enough with The Reality Chip to know a strong Future SightFuture Sight-style effect when I see one, and The Lunar Whale is one. With the evasion it has plus the low crew cost (just tap a Hero token or something!), this card is something very neat. Its design is extremely elegant, too.

So that does it for Final Fantasy IV! Tomorrow, we seek to delve into FFV and all the subset offers us in Magic. Are you following along with this series? Do you agree with my picks? Sound off below!

Day 1: FFI | Day 2: FFII | Day 3: FFIII