Ragnarok, Divine DeliveranceRagnarok, Divine Deliverance | Art by Simon Dominic

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, Vanille, Cheerful l'CieVanille, Cheerful l'Cie.

But it's not just Vanille - you also want to get Fang, Fearless l'CieFang, Fearless l'Cie onto the battlefield so that you can meld the two into Ragnarok, Divine DeliveranceRagnarok, Divine Deliverance, because melding two cards into one big creature is a ton of fun in Commander. And once you go to the trouble of melding into Ragnarok, you get a really cool creature that is chock full of abilities!

What Does Vanille/Fang/Ragnarok Do?

When Vanille enters, you mill two cards, and then return a permanent card from your graveyard to your hand. This is a good way to hopefully ensure you find a fifth mana so you'll have enough to activate Vanille's second ability, though keep in mind that the timing is a bit tricky here if you're trying to meld right away. If you play Vanille when you only have four mana available and you can't drop a land before your turn ends, you won't have the necessary five mana to meld when the ability triggers on the first main phase of your following turn. So optimally you'll want to wait to cast Vanille until you can have five mana available on your next turn.

This of course is assuming you've already drawn and cast Fang, which is unlikely with most normal draws. So, unlike most commanders, you don't necessarily want to cast Vanille as soon as possible, and instead play other cards that can help you find Fang lurking somewhere in the 99 of your deck.

And what about Fang? The card triggers whenever one or more cards leave your graveyard, which lets you draw a card and you lose a life. This ability triggers only once each turn - but what more do you expect from an uncommon? The extra card draw is quite nice if you're going to be pulling cards out of the graveyard, and since you're in Golgari (), that's what you want to be doing anyway!

Okay, so you have Fang and Vanille on the battlefield, and it's the beginning of your first main phase. Vanille's second ability will trigger, and you pay . BOOM! Exile both legends, and then meld them into Ragnarok, Divine DeliveranceRagnarok, Divine Deliverance and now you're cooking with gas!

First of all, Ragnarok has a bunch of keywords: vigilance, menace, trample, reach, and haste. Haste means it gets to attack right away; menace and trample makes it difficult to block and soak up damage; vigilance means it can both attack and, assuming it survives, block; and finally reach means it can block flyers too. Ragnarok has seven power, so even if it gets no other buffs, three clean hits with it will defeat an opponent with commander damage.

Ragnarok is even dangerous when it dies - you get to destroy a target permanent and also return target nonlegendary permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield. That nonlegendary clause is a bit unfortunate since it means that when Vanille and Fang go to the graveyard (with Vanille likely moved to the command zone), the trigger can't pull back Fang. But that's okay - the deck I built has plenty of other ways to get back Fang, such as the trigger bringing back a card like Eternal WitnessEternal Witness.

Key Cards for Vanille/Fang/Ragnarok

The primary goal of a deck like this is to find the other creature to meld in your 99. The deck I built is considered Upgraded (Bracket 3) due to the large number of nonland tutor cards, but I'm avoiding Game Changers which includes all of the most efficient ways to tutor a creature from your deck to your hand; since the commander Vanille has the ability to return a permanent from your graveyard to hand, I've built in ways to get Fang into the graveyard to retrieve with Vanille.

Buried AliveBuried Alive and EntombEntomb are two excellent ways to tutor a creature (or three) directly into the graveyard. Both can easily be played the turn before you cast Vanille, though since Buried Alive is sorcery speed there's more of an opportunity that any of your opponents can hit Fang with graveyard removal before your next turn, so pick your spots.

Jarad's OrdersJarad's Orders is a great card for reanimation strategies, letting you put your desired reanimation target in the graveyard, and then the reanimation spell into your hand.

Since Vanille does some self-mill before getting back a permanent from your graveyard, I've leaned in that direction as well. Undead ButlerUndead Butler mills when it enters, and when it dies you can exile it to return target creature card from your graveyard back to your hand. Confession DialConfession Dial enters and lets you surveil 3, and then you can tap it to give target legendary creature card in your graveyard escape, which is another excellent way to bring Fang back from the graveyard. SixSix mills when it attacks, and nonland permanent cards in your graveyard gain the retrace ability.

World ShaperWorld Shaper also mills when it attacks, and has an awesome triggered ability when it dies. Doom WhispererDoom Whisperer lets you surveil 2 simply by paying two life, and since you're playing Commander and start with 40 life, you can dig as deep as you want! The Mending of DominariaThe Mending of Dominaria mills and lets you return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand for the first two chapters, and Chapter III returns all lands from your graveyard to the battlefield and then shuffles all your other cards back into your library.

Of course reanimating Fang or another creature from the graveyard and putting it directly onto the battlefield is much more efficient, so I've got a lot of ways to do just that. ReanimateReanimate and Animate DeadAnimate Dead are cheap to cast, and can also grab a powerful creature from one of your opponent's graveyards if you want it. Broodheart EngineBroodheart Engine is a nifty new card that both surveils and you can later cash it in at sorcery speed to reanimate a creature or Vehicle from your graveyard.

VictimizeVictimize is incredibly efficient, letting you reanimate two creatures for just three mana, but only if you have a creature available to sacrifice. Squirming EmergenceSquirming Emergence gets better and better as the game progresses (so long as nobody messes with your graveyard), but since Fang costs just three mana its requirement should be pretty easy to meet.

I've long been a fan of Blood for BonesBlood for Bones as a reanimation spell that lets you also return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand, all for the cost of sacrificing a creature to cast.

Rise of the Witch-kingRise of the Witch-king adds a little creature removal to your reanimation, and is much more effective soon after a battlefield sweeper. Meren of Clan Nel TothMeren of Clan Nel Toth will simply return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand during your end step until you accumulate enough experience counters to unlock her reanimation ability instead. Ever AfterEver After lets you reanimate two creatures and is an excellent way to follow up a Buried Alive, and I love that it shuffles back into your graveyard to potentially be drawn and cast again and again.

If Plan A of assembling Ragnarok isn't working out, I wanted to have some other great targets for reanimation spells, and Colossal Grave-ReaverColossal Grave-Reaver is the first card I'd want here. It mills when it enters or attacks, and whenever one or more creature cards are put into your graveyard from your library, you get to put one of them onto the battlefield. How awesome is that?

Hornet QueenHornet Queen is a great target when you're looking to put up a defensive shield from an aggressive opponent, while Rune-Scarred DemonRune-Scarred Demon is excellent for finding just the right card for whatever task is at hand.

Protect Ragnarok

I included a couple of ways to help protect Ragnarok from an untimely demise, with Tamiyo's SafekeepingTamiyo's Safekeeping having a little bit of life gain attached, while Revitalizing RepastRevitalizing Repast doubles as a dual color land in a pinch.

Malakir RebirthMalakir Rebirth also doubles as a land in a pinch, and if Ragnarok dies it can bring both Vanille and Fang, which will hopefully be around to meld again during your turn.

RiftsweeperRiftsweeper seems like a good card to have in the mix in case Ragnarok gets hit with an exile effect; while Vanille can be returned to your command zone, Fang will stay exiled so Riftsweeper can shuffle Fang back into your library.

How Does This Vanille/Fang/Ragnarok Commander Deck Win?

Since this is a lower power Upgraded (Bracket 3) Commander deck, the plan is to win through combat and chip damage. I've got a solid amount of removal and interaction to extend the game long enough for that to be quite viable. Assembling Ragnarok is a built-in mini-quest, and successfully doing that at least once in a game I'd consider a victory.

Ragnarok is of a size that can finish games quickly, especially given it's evasive capabilities, but I'm also running Blackblade ReforgedBlackblade Reforged to hasten that plan.

If Ragnarok or another reanimated large creature isn't enough to finish the game, I'm playing this duo to bury opponents in card advantage. Dig UpDig Up can be cast early to find a basic land, but if you get it back as your one mana card when you cast Seasons PastSeasons Past, you can then cast it for its cleave cost to search your library for Seasons PastSeasons Past (which shuffles back into your deck), and you can do that all over again. Casting Seasons Past two or more times should be enough card advantage to seal the deal.

Vanille/Fang/Ragnarok Commander Deck List

Conclusion

If you like grindy value decks with plenty of interaction and a fun mini-quest built in, this could be for you! I built this deck to thrive in lower power Upgraded (Bracket 3) Commander pods, but if you want to add some Game Changers to make it more powerful, or even push it to Optimized (Bracket 4), there are more efficient tutor cards you can add to your deck to make assembling Ragnarok much easier.

Keep in mind if you go this route you'll be playing against decks that have a much more powerful game plan than just assembling a 7/6 beatdown machine. I'd likely add in reanimation targets that are much more impactful, and more interaction like Heroic InterventionHeroic Intervention to protect your battlefield.

What cards would you include in your quest to assemble Ragnarok, Divine DeliveranceRagnarok, Divine Deliverance that I didn't include here? What cards would you add to make it a fully powered up Upgraded, or bump it up to Optimized?

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