Fang, Fearless l'CieFang, Fearless l'Cie | Art by Simon Dominic

A New Meld Commander?

Final Fantasy's release date is coming up and I'm quite eager to write about some of these new commanders. There's so much neat stuff for Pauper in here! I haven't even looked at the whole list, but I've already got a few I want to write about, the first of which are Fang, Fearless l'CieFang, Fearless l'Cie and Vanille, Cheerful l'CieVanille, Cheerful l'Cie.

The last time we saw the meld mechanic was in The Brother's War, and we got some of the coolest commanders we've ever had in Titania, Voice of GaeaTitania, Voice of Gaea, Urza, Lord ProtectorUrza, Lord Protector, and Mishra, Claimed by GixMishra, Claimed by Gix. So does this new pair of melding legends live up to the hype of the past set?

Well, they're not quite as cool. Unfortunately, the flip side of this meld pair is just a big avatar with some keywords and a death trigger. Ragnarok, Divine DeliveranceRagnarok, Divine Deliverance is mostly just a beat stick. It doesn't do a whole lot, but hey, it is cool, and we're gonna try and make something fun with it.

Rule Zero

But first, I need to establish a few ground rules about this deck. Mainly the fact that I'm going to rule zero Fang, Fearless l'CieFang, Fearless l'Cie into the command zone, along with Vanille, as if they were partners with each other.

I'm not doing this because of color identity issues preventing us from running both otherwise; Vanille has both a black and green pip in her textbox, and could lead the deck by herself legally. But the problem is that we'd never be able to find Fang if we did that. And trust me, I've tried everything. Generic tutors? They just don't exist in pauper. Transmute cards? None of them can find creatures with mana value three. Milling our deck until we mill Fang, then Dread ReturnDread Returning her? I couldn't find a way to mill the whole deck without just losing. Cascading for a mana value of three? We can't afford to play no other three-, two-, or one-drops.

I swear I tried to figure this one out, but I came to the conclusion that even if there were some convoluted way of pulling Fang out of our deck like a rabbit out of a hat, it would take up way too much deck space anyways. And all I really wanted to do was build a cool graveyard deck with the opportunity to meld. So because this deck isn't gonna be great either way, I decided to go with the more fun route, and treat them like they have partner.

The Game Plan With Fang and Vanille

Now for the actual strategy of the deck. We have a few things to consider: our commanders on the front, and our commander on the back. On the front, we've got Vanille, who doesn't do anything more than a Grapple with the PastGrapple with the Past, and a fairly potent card advantage engine in Fang. On the back, we've got a big monster. So our strategy shapes itself pretty well: we use Fang to sculpt our hand and collect assets for the first half of the game, then we merge our two commanders together and beat face, taking advantage of the cards we've hoarded.

So how are we gonna get that card advantage out of Fang? Fang is phrased really similarly to a card I wrote about a week ago; Kheru GoldkeeperKheru Goldkeeper makes a Treasure every time a card leaves our graveyard, and Fang draws us a card whenever the same happens. So many of the cards that worked there will be just as good here. Relic of ProgenitusRelic of Progenitus and Merrow BonegnawerMerrow Bonegnawer in particular are spectacular, giving us a card every turn for the low cost of a tap.

But while those are the best, there's plenty more that'll put in work. For instance, any card that returns something from the graveyard. Tortured ExistenceTortured Existence, Revive the ShireRevive the Shire, and Evolution CharmEvolution Charm are all great ways to get back lost pieces, and they draw us a card with Fang. Or, cards like Grisly SalvageGrisly Salvage will have a similar effect, milling, then snatching something out of the graveyard. MulchMulch, Winding WayWinding Way, Cache GrabCache Grab, Commune with the GodsCommune with the Gods, and plenty more are card advantage fountains. Some grab a land, some grab a creature, some even grab enchantments, but they all draw cards with our commander.

And because we've got all this card advantage, we might as well throw in Thought VesselThought Vessel and Decanter of Endless WaterDecanter of Endless Water to preserve it while we move to the next stage of our plan.

Which is, of course, just beating face with Ragnarok, Divine DeliveranceRagnarok, Divine Deliverance. I won't lie, there's not a whole lot special going on here, just the typical Auras and Equipment to add things that aren't already covered by our commander's keywords. (I was briefly running Haunted CloakHaunted Cloak before I realized that Ragnaraok already has all three keywords that the Cloak grants.) We'll take some flying from Cliffhaven KitesailCliffhaven Kitesail, some double strike from Brass KnucklesBrass Knuckles, and some shroud from Whispersilk CloakWhispersilk Cloak. Vampiric LinkVampiric Link gives lifelink, and Snake UmbraSnake Umbra gives umbra armor. Everything has something to help.

And then, because we don't want our really cool, awesome commander to die, we're gonna run a bunch of stuff to keep Ragnarok safe: Tamiyo's SafekeepingTamiyo's Safekeeping kinda stuff that'll grant indestructible. There are a good amount of cards to choose from, which range from Gaea's GiftGaea's Gift to Armor of ShadowsArmor of Shadows. We can also use Undying EvilUndying Evil and Not Dead After AllNot Dead After All, although those cards have the downside of returning our commanders to the battlefield split up. But hey, in that case, we can just pay five mana and meld them again. Or alternatively, Undying EvilUndying Evil can be used to trigger Fang early in the game.

Fang and Vanille Pauper Commander Deck List

That's pretty much the whole deck, minus a bit of ramp and removal. There are just two phases to our game plan: get ready to fight, and fight! While this deck isn't legal, it is a lot of fun, and I doubt I'd have any trouble playing with it in a pod. One thing I'm curious about, however, is how lore accurate these commanders are. Final Fantasy players, do these two seem right? And if not, how would you have designed them? Let me know in the comments.