Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept | art by Clare Wong

Welcome to a deck tech for one of the cool new legends from the Final Fantasy Magic set. If you're a fan of the acclaimed Final Fantasy video game series you're sure to be stoked by seeing so many of your favorite characters and in-game moments realized as Magic cards. But even if you don't know anything about Final Fantasy, if you're here on EDHREC you're a fan of Commander, and Final Fantasy has a ton of cool stuff for Commander fans! Today, I'm shining the spotlight on one of the legends that immediately caught my eye, Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept.

In this deck tech, I'm going to break down what Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept does, key cards you'll want for your deck, and step through how the Commander deck wins, and then present a decklist that I would build with Terra at the helm.

What Does Terra, Magical Adept Do?

Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept is a 4/2 Human Wizard Warrior for and when she enters the battlefield, you mill five cards, then put up to one enchantment milled this way into your hand. So right away we see a commander that cares about enchantments. Terra then has an activated ability called trance where you spend and tap to exile Terra, then return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control, with a timing restriction of only activating as a sorcery.

Six mana is a significant investment, but since the deck has access to green there are plenty of opportunities for mana acceleration. In this specific deck, I'm leaning towards enchantments that provide mana acceleration in order to synergize with the rest of the deck.

The transformed side is called Esper Terra, which is both a Saga enchantment as well as a 6/6 legendary creature Wizard. Chapters I, II, and III have you create a token that's a copy of target nonlegendary enchantment you control (so notably it can't copy itself). The token gains haste, and if it's a Saga, put up to three lore counters on it. Sacrifice it at the beginning of your next end step.

Chapter IV adds , , , , and . Then exile Esper Terra, and return it to the battlefield face up. This brings a few more things to consider in deckbuilding: Terra does extra stuff when copying Sagas, and it has all five colors in its color identity.

Strangely, we already have a five-color legend that cares about Sagas in Tom BombadilTom Bombadil, and I would argue that Tom is better than Terra for Sagas specifically.

For a more generic five-color enchantments deck we have other options too. There's Go-Shintai of Life's OriginGo-Shintai of Life's Origin, though you'll want a good number of your enchantments to also be Shrines, and then there's Marina VendrellMarina Vendrell, where you'll want a good number of your enchantments to be Rooms.

Which leaves me wondering: if I wanted to build a five-color enchantments deck, why would I choose Terra over these other choices?

Restriction breeds creativity, so for my money, I made my Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept Saga deck Gruul () only! The lands for Gruul are easier - and much cheaper - than a powerful five-color mana base. And the choices of good Sagas to include is much narrower than the "only the best" choices you have when building a five-color deck. A Gruul Terra Saga deck will play a lot different than a Tom BombadilTom Bombadil Saga deck, and makes for a very cool option.

The deck will slowly build up an enchantment-based battlefield presence, with early enchantment mana-ramp and "enchantress" synergies that will draw extra cards or have other effects when you cast enchantments or enchantments enter the battlefield. Deploy Terra from the command zone when you don't have an enchantment to play, with an eye for the earliest opportunity to activate the trance ability and really kick things into high gear! I've got north of 40 enchantments in the deck, so Terra's enters trigger digging five deep should definitely hit at least one enchantment.

Key Cards for Terra, Magical Adept

With so many enchantments we definitely want to take advantage of many of green's "enchantress"-style cards, with Setessan ChampionSetessan Champion and Eidolon of BlossomsEidolon of Blossoms being the best of the bunch since they'll both trigger from Esper Terra making copies of enchantments. Other cards like Enchantress's PresenceEnchantress's Presence are also worthy since we'll still be casting actual enchantment spells.

There are cards that synergize well with enchantments that we'll want to consider too. For my list, I like that Bello, Bard of the BramblesBello, Bard of the Brambles can make each of our enchantments with mana value four or greater into a 4/4 Elemental with indestructible and haste, and they'll draw you a card when they deal damage to a player. Wildsear, Scouring MawWildsear, Scouring Maw gives enchantment spells you cast from your hand cascade, providing nice card advantage, while also being a sizeable 6/6 body with trample. Sanctum WeaverSanctum Weaver can provide more and more mana as the game progresses, making it easier to activate Terra's trance ability, and being a decent target for Esper Terra's copy ability since the tokens get haste.

There are plenty of enchantments in the deck with activated or triggered abilities to copy with Weaver of HarmonyWeaver of Harmony, and I'm excited for the new Summon Saga creatures that will get a +1/+1 boost from Weaver. Creeping RenaissanceCreeping Renaissance is here to help recover from a battlefield sweeper that destroys all enchantments. Sundial of the InfiniteSundial of the Infinite is spicy tech for Esper Terra's copy ability from the first three chapters; put the sacrifice trigger on the stack at the beginning of your end step, and then end the turn to keep the copy!

While we've had Sagas before and are running a fair number of them, the new Summon Sagas are also enchantment creatures that can beat down while ticking off their various chapter abilities. Summon: BahamutSummon: Bahamut is the most exciting and powerful, but is appropriately priced at nine mana; the deck should easily be able to meet that cost, especially given Esper Terra's last chapter rush of ten mana. Note that it's a Dragon, so if you've previously cast Encroaching DragonstormEncroaching Dragonstorm you can bring that back to your hand to cast again!

Summon: Esper ValigarmandaSummon: Esper Valigarmanda gives excellent value assuming there are some juicy instant or sorcery spells in graveyards when you cast it. Summon: FenrirSummon: Fenrir offers incremental value that seems worth running, even if the Chapter III ability isn't necessarily going to be successful in this deck which doesn't have all that many huge creatures.

Summon: KujataSummon: Kujata is a damage dealing machine and will surely crack open some stalled games, especially if Esper Terra copies it. Summon: Magus SistersSummon: Magus Sisters offers fun mini-games for each of the chapters, and each effect is going to be handy no matter what the random choice is!

I really like Esper OriginsEsper Origins, even in normal green decks that might care about the graveyard. The front side is a nifty sorcery with a bit of library manipulation, and when it's flashed back you get the Summon side with three great abilities.

How Does This Terra, Magical Adept Commander Deck Win?

This is a solid Core (Bracket 2) deck with lots of interaction, grindy value, and lots of card draw with the enchantress cards keeping your hand flush with action.

It relies on creature combat and chip damage to eventually win the game. Copying Overlord of the BoilerbilgesOverlord of the Boilerbilges with Esper Terra will definitely help with that plan!

You'll want to set up turns where Esper Terra generates ten mana with the last chapter, transforms back to Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept, and has haste from one of the several haste enchantments to immediately use six of that mana to transform back to Esper Terra for more copy shenanigans. Getting Nylea's ColossusNylea's Colossus in the mix will certainly hasten victory, with its constellation trigger doubling target creature's power and toughness.

If you feel like you need another finisher, take a look at Demolisher SpawnDemolisher Spawn since delirium should be pretty easy to achieve. And there's always Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth!

Terra, Magical Adept Commander Deck List

Conclusion

I really like this approach, restricting it to a Gruul Saga deck rather than a full five-color version. It will thrive in Core Bracket Commander pods, but if you want to add some Game Changers to take it up to Upgraded (Bracket 3) I could see slotting in Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat to protect Terra, and Jeska's WillJeska's Will for a nice rush of mana and access to extra cards. Survival of the FittestSurvival of the Fittest and Worldly TutorWorldly Tutor could ensure you can go find Summon: BahamutSummon: Bahamut when you're ready!

If you're feeling spicy, you could include Leyline of the GuildpactLeyline of the Guildpact so you could win with Coalition VictoryCoalition Victory, which is easily cast from Esper Terra's final chapter!

If you want even more of the Summon Saga creatures, it would be pretty easy to add white if you have the lands to craft a solid Naya mana base. White offers some really great Summon cards, with Summon: Knights of RoundSummon: Knights of Round creating a ton of token creatures over several turns, and the final chapter Ultimate End giving all your other creatures +2/+2 until the end of the turn, and giving then an indestructible counter. Summon: Good King Mog XIISummon: Good King Mog XII makes cute Moogle tokens and continues with the copy theme of Esper Terra. Summon: YojimboSummon: Yojimbo gives you removal, some defense from attacks, and tops things off with some Treasure tokens for a big turn. White also gives access to Elspeth Conquers DeathElspeth Conquers Death, a powerful card that any Saga deck will be happy to run.

If you'd rather go with Jund for your three colors, there is only one Summon card to add to the mix - but it's a doozy! Summon: Primal OdinSummon: Primal Odin's first chapter destroys a creature, but that second chapter gives it the Zantetsuken ability, which reads "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player loses the game." This would definitely be an excellent enchantment to copy with Esper Terra!

Which direction would you take your build of Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept? Gruul, three-color, or the full five-color? Which are your favorite Sagas that you'd like to run in your Terra deck?

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