Today is Thursday, June 12th, and the final day of our Final Fantasy Count-Up series! Every day for the past fifteen days, I have compiled my picks for the best and most flavorful cards from each mainline game in the series. Yesterday, we covered FFXV. Today, we wrap things up with Final Fantasy XVI!

To refresh you about the criteria I'm using to rank cards from each game subset:

• 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 just 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 finish things off by taking a good look at the best cards from FFXVI!

Honorable Mention

Our final Honorable Mention is Ultima, Origin of OblivionUltima, Origin of Oblivion. This legendary creature is a major deal in the context of Final Fantasy. The concept of the "Ultima Weapon" spans games all the way back to FFII, and has made appearances throughout the series. However, Ultima as we know it in FFXVI is a different enemy altogether. It is the final boss and main antagonist of the game. Very few Final Fantasy concepts have the distinction of being referred to as Ultima, but this is the most distinctive Ultima in modern FF.

Why is Ultima just an Honorable Mention, then? Well, the card is too niche to be Best as a Commander, nor is it Best in the 99 of a lot of the decks around. It could be a runner for Most Flavorful, but we have a better choice for that category as well. But Ultima is too important in the franchise's overall lore to ignore outright. That's why Ultima was my pick for Honorable Mention.

Best as a Commander

Joshua, Phoenix's DominantJoshua, Phoenix's Dominant is a really neat card to lead a Commander deck with. I've written a Bracket 2 deck tech about Joshua, which you can check out here. I've written pretty extensively as to why he would be a good commander in that article, my own name aside, but as a refresher, Joshua is relatively novel. He does something no other commander can do quite as well in the white-red color identity. He is arguably a better recursion commander than Hofri GhostforgeHofri Ghostforge and a better Phoenix kindred commander than Otharri, Suns' GloryOtharri, Suns' Glory. He is my pick, potentially due to bias, for Best as a Commander.

Best in the 99

Of all the Town cards in the new set, Clive's HideawayClive's Hideaway is not only the most ubiquitous but also the most useful. As a colorless land, it can be used in any Commander deck. Furthermore, its Hideaway ability isn't tied to it entering tapped. As the land doesn't enter tapped anyway, it can cast the exiled card that same turn if its conditions are met. This means that if you have at least four legendary creatures on the battlefield when you play Clive's Hideaway, you'll be able to cast that card on the same turn for 2 mana. That's absolutely nothing to sniff at and is one of the big reasons why this card is my pick for Best in the 99.

Most Flavorful

Torgal, A Fine HoundTorgal, A Fine Hound is best boy. 'Nuff said.

But in all seriousness, Torgal is a great creature for Human, Wolf, Dog, and even Werewolf kindred decks. Overall, Torgal is my pick for Most Flavorful, though, because he's a good boy. One might even suggest he's the "goodest" of boys in context.

This brings us to the Best In Show for FFXVI. Which card came out on top?

Final Fantasy XVI Best In Show

It's Clive, Ifrit's DominantClive, Ifrit's Dominant!

Clive is a strong commander for . He is a discard outlet, a draw engine, a removal spell, and a mana outlet all in one card. That's something special. Plus, you then have a 9/9 beater for a turn of destruction (more if he is given haste). And then, you get to do it all over again! That's massive for even a 6-mana creature, and is why Clive is my pick for Best In Show.

And so, the sun sets on our Final Fantasy Count-Up series! Did you like this series? What was your favorite article out of all sixteen, and what did you agree/disagree with most? Sound off in the comments! And, if you haven't yet, please feel free to read the previous entries as well. Those are 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 | Day 12: FFXII | Day 13: FFXIII | Day 14: FFXIV | Day 15: FFXV