Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER | Art by Wisnu Tan

Hello friends, your friendly neighborhood Jesguy here, back this time with a deck tech with one of video game's most iconic villains, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER!

I don't know much about Final Fantasy, I'll be honest, but even the most out of the loop person knows who the big man with the long sword is. Sephiroth has a number of cards between this set, the commander decks, and the starter decks, but I think this one is undoubtedly the most powerful.

Let's not get too ahead of ourselves though, first let's talk about what each side of Sephiroth does, and look at some staple cards that go into his deck!

What Does Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER Do?

So what do we get for ?

A 3/3, the ability to immediately replace itself with a card, a Blood ArtistBlood Artist effect, and the ability to flip into another powerful card. He really does have it all, doesn't he?

While the goal of any Sephiroth deck is going to be flipping him to Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel (and trust me, we'll get to his absurd back half soon), his front side is no joke. Having a sacrifice outlet in the command zone is excellent, and we all know how good drawing cards and draining life is. Even if this was all he did, he'd be quite the strong commander. But he has a surprise in store for us once four creatures die...

The One-Winged Angel

Okay, now queue the music. This is where things get really wacky.

Sephiroth is one of the only non-planeswalker cards to create an emblem - and what an emblem it is. A permanent, uninteractable Blood ArtistBlood Artist effect is absolutely absurd, and it only gets better once you realize these emblems can stack! On top of this, he also has the ability to draw you an immense amount of cards whenever he attacks. He does everything an Aristocrats deck wants!

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is a force to be reckoned with, whether it's in the 99 or at the helm of a deck. That said, the latter is what we'll be looking at today, so let's go over some key pieces that go into a Sephiroth deck!

Key Cards for Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER

Sacrifice Fodder

First up we have to talk about the stuff we want to feed Sephiroth to fuel his abilities.

We're keeping things low to the ground with this deck. All the creatures that we want to get rid of should cost one or two mana, that way when Sephiroth comes down, you can immediately recoup some value. The goal will be to cast Sephiroth on turn three most of the time, but there will be games where you'll want to save him for the mid-game, but we'll get to that in our next section.

Our fodder suite consists of the best of the best:

• Bloodsoaked ChampionBloodsoaked Champion
• Nezumi LinkbreakerNezumi Linkbreaker
• BloodghastBloodghast
• Reassembling SkeletonReassembling Skeleton

Anything that can either come back multiple times, or at least leave a body behind when it dies. On top of that, we have consistent token generators like [e]lBitterblossom[/el], Dreadhorde InvasionDreadhorde Invasion, and OphiomancerOphiomancer to make sure we're stocked up on creatures to get rid of every turn.

In particular, Forsaken MinerForsaken Miner is a standout in the deck. It's either an incredibly recursive threat when Sephiroth is out, or can go infinite when you add Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar or Warren SoultraderWarren Soultrader to the mix, giving you an easy win-con.

You also could go with higher costed things, like Grave TitanGrave Titan and Abhorrent OverlordAbhorrent Overlord if you wanted to play a slower game with our Fabled SOLDIER, but I much prefer being on the board quickly and early, that way we have the highest chance of flipping ASAP.

Sacrifice Outlets

Sephiroth is an excellent sac outlet, but even he needs a little help for his ability to trigger four times, and these cards are here to help with that.

First up is the suite of spells that asks each player to sacrifice a creature. Accursed MarauderAccursed Marauder, PlaguecrafterPlaguecrafter, and Slum ReaperSlum Reaper will immediately flip Sephiroth in a four person game, provided each player has a creature of course! To go along with these creatures are some spells that function similarly; Vona's HungerVona's Hunger, Soul ShatterSoul Shatter, and the best one: Flare of MaliceFlare of Malice. FlareFlare in particular is a standout, as you have the potential to flip Sephiroth the turn he comes out provided that all the conditions are correct.

I've included around eight or so of these effects, which may be too much. So if you were to look into adapting my list into your own style, this might be the first place you look to cut a card or two.

The second bit of sacrifice comes from consistent sac outlets.

I had already mentioned Phyrexian AltarPhyrexian Altar and Warren SoultraderWarren Soultrader above, but that isn't all the juice we're packing. Viscera SeerViscera Seer and Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar are more free sac outlets, while Village RitesVillage Rites and Deadly DisputeDeadly Dispute are lovely one-shot effects that will nab you a few cards. Ayara, First of LocthwainAyara, First of Locthwain is also a standout here, letting you drain and draw cards all in one neat little bundle!

The Drain Game

This isn't a deck that's going to win with overwhelming numbers, high stats, or milling. It's going to nick and cut slowly but often, draining out the table with tons of little life losses. Sometimes those life losses will happen multiple times a turn, but overall we're in it for the long haul.

Like our other sections, the life drain is split into two categories, and first up is our aristocrats:

• The Meathook MassacreThe Meathook Massacre
• Bastion of RemembranceBastion of Remembrance
• Vengeful BloodwitchVengeful Bloodwitch
• Zulaport CutthroatZulaport Cutthroat
• Blood ArtistBlood Artist

These will help with the slow whittling of your opponent's life totals, all the while buffering yours. There are other variants available as well, such as Vengeful VampireVengeful Vampire and Falkenrath NobleFalkenrath Noble, but they were a bit too pricey for my tastes, so I opted to leave them in the maybeboard.

The second category we have cares about life gain, and turns it into life pain. Cards like Marauding Blight-PriestMarauding Blight-Priest, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk RoseVito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, and Starscape ClericStarscape Cleric all spread the hurt to all of your opponents once Sephiroth pings any of them. This is excellent for draining the table and knocking down all opponents' life totals extremely quickly.

Bringing it all together is Wound ReflectionWound Reflection, an excellent enchantment that works with both kinds of our drainers, essentially doubling all of our life-losing pings. Archfiend of DespairArchfiend of Despair was another consideration, as it's the same effect on a body, but considering how low to the ground I wanted to keep the deck, eight mana seemed out of reach.

The Nuts and Bolts

Up to this point we've talked about the fun stuff that makes up the deck, but now I want to take the time to go over and highlight some other synergies of the deck and other cards that makes it tick.

Anyone who knows me knows I love MDFCs, and as such, this deck includes five:

• Fell the ProfaneFell the Profane
• Agadeem's AwakeningAgadeem's Awakening
• Boggart TrawlerBoggart Trawler
• Hagra MaulingHagra Mauling
• Malakir RebirthMalakir Rebirth

All of these do wonders in smoothing the deck out and making sure you can hit your land drops on time. Due to the fact that the deck has an average MV of 2.75, I'm running 33 lands, an absurdly low amount normally. But with these MDFCs, it bumps the land count up to 38; don't be afraid to play them as lands when necessary! It's always better to make sure you hit your land per turn than it is to fall behind because you want to cast the spell half of it later.

Normally I dislike cards like Grave PactGrave Pact and Dictate of ErebosDictate of Erebos, but in this deck, I think they are must-haves. My distaste for these two cards come from the fact that you can easily lock the entire table out of the game without actually having a game plan while doing it. Conversely, I think it's totally fine if you deny people creatures and show them that they're going to die within a few turns. You need to be responsible with these cards, and I think Sephiroth can do that. Not many tables are going to be able to handle the One-Winged Angel swinging at them turn after turn. They can be mean pieces, so I'd understand if you'd want to cut them. I just think they're an integral piece to help Sephiroth flip and keep the game moving closer towards its conclusion.

Lastly, we have the "blink" effects. The point of these is to flip Sephiroth back to his front side, that way you can trigger him again and stack another emblem once he transforms. The best option here is Conjurer's ClosetConjurer's Closet, a true, blue blink effect. This will let you (hopefully) flip Sephiroth once a turn, giving you plenty of draining emblems to close out games.

Following the ClosetCloset is Malakir RebirthMalakir Rebirth and Not Dead After AllNot Dead After All. While these don't flip Sephiroth on their own, you can combine them with sacrifice outlets, or just use them as removal protection. Either way, they'll get the job done and flip Sephiroth back to his front face so he can transform all over again!

The Game Plan for Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER

Like I mentioned earlier, the idea of this deck is to get on the board early and never let your foot off the gas. You always want to be casting something, or taking a game action, or resolving a trigger. The goal is to eventually be the table's villain, channeling your inner Sephiroth.

Below are some sample hands I kept while goldfishing the deck, and each of them worked out really well, or at least, as well as they can when playing solitaire.

Each of these hands have exactly what I want: mainly early sacrifice fodder combined either with ways to progress the plan of draining our opponents' life totals or having ways to flip Sephiroth early.

From there we just want to spend our mana every turn. This deck isn't looking to have answers to our opponents' decks; we are the deck that is asking the questions. We want our opponents to have to warp their plans around us, not the other way around.

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER Commander Deck List

I Will Never Be a Memory

And there we have it! A fun, straightforward Aristocrats deck, with everyone's favorite villain at the helm!

Aristocrats is one of my favorite deck strategies, so being able to create with Sephiroth, of all characters, is awesome! I did my best to play to his strengths, keeping the deck as smooth and sleek as possible, but there are plenty of other ways you can build him.

I saw some talk about Agatha's Soul CauldronAgatha's Soul Cauldron in combination with cards like Bloodline KeeperBloodline Keeper in order to easily flip him back and forth and stack emblems, but that seemed like too fragile of a combo to put together, unless I put in a bunch of tutors, which I didn't feel like doing. With sacrifice decks, raw card advantage trumps tutors.

I'm sure there's also a slower, midrange-y build to Sephiroth as well. This would slowly build an army over time and always flip him the turn he comes down once it's late into the game. This style of deck would include a bunch of ramp like Crypt GhastCrypt Ghast as well as things that would help you go over the top, like Grave TitanGrave Titan or Plague of VerminPlague of Vermin.

Regardless of how you build him, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is an absolute house, and is excellent in every regard. He will easily be one of, if not the most popular commander in the set, and I look forward to seeing how other people build him! He's straightforward, knows what he wants to do, and he does it well.

You can reach me on Twitter and Bluesky (@thejesguy), where you can always hit me up for Magic- or Jeskai-related shenanigans 24/7. Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Please don’t hesitate to leave them below or get in touch!

Stay safe, wash your hands, and keep fighting the good fight. Stay safe in these wild times. I support you. No justice, no peace.