Y'shtola, Night's BlessedY'shtola, Night's Blessed | Art by Magali Villeneuve

It's finally happened; Kenrith has been dethroned! Y'shtola, Night's BlessedY'shtola, Night's Blessed, a legendary creature from the Final Fantasy precons, has overtaken Kenrith, the Returned KingKenrith, the Returned King's spot as the 10th most popular commander.

But how did this happen, and what's so special about this new card on the list? Read on, and we'll elaborate!

What's Going On?

Before last night, Kenrith, the Returned KingKenrith, the Returned King was the 10th most popular commander in the entire format, according to EDHREC. However, this esteemed position has since been overtaken by none other than Y'shtola, Night's BlessedY'shtola, Night's Blessed.

Y'shtola is currently the only legendary creature from 2025 to reach our Top 10. With only two weeks remaining in December, it's highly unlikely that any other legend printed in 2025 will reach that height.

Y'shtola, and Her Surge in Popularity

But what does this all mean, and why Y'shtola of all legends?

The answer could be practically anything, honestly. For one, Y'shtola's iconic art, illustrated by the incomparable Magali Villeneuve, has captivated many Magic: The Gathering and Final Fantasy fans alike. Villeneuve's iconic illustration style, in recent years, has allowed her work to skyrocket her in terms of popularity among Magic art connoisseurs.

Pairing Villeneuve's style with the iconic FFXIV character Y'shtola RhulY'shtola Rhul was clearly a recipe for aesthetic success.

Looks Aren't Everything

Y'shtola's art has now become extremely intertwined with the Final Fantasy set and franchise. However, it's not the only reason that this legendary Cat Warlock is so popular in the command zone.

Mechanically, Y'shtola, Night's Blessed is an absolute home run of a commander. Final Fantasy's main set had a very devoted noncreature spell theme to it, and this card, the face of the Scions & Spellcraft precon, suited that theme perfectly. This, in turn, lent itself well to running Y'shtola as not only a ubiquitous Spellslinger in Esper decks (), but also a great thematic commander for Final Fantasy XIV-centric builds.

Not to mention, the Cat Warlock is also an extremely potent card overall.

Those are some of the major factors that pulled Y'shtola, Night's Blessed into the Top 10. But what about the factors that pushed Kenrith, the Returned King out?

Age After Beauty, Apparently

From the estimates that I've noticed as to why some trending commanders surge in popularity more than others, a lot of it has to do with zeitgeist. Zeitgeist, as defined by the latest version of the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is "the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era." In other terms, the zeitgeist is also referred to as the "spirit of the times."

Kenrith, a commander from 2019's Throne of Eldraine, captured the zeitgeist of, well, 2019. He was an extremely popular commander then, and don't get me wrong, he is still remarkably in vogue for certain niches of the community.

However, all this to say, it's 2025, and the end of it at that. Six years of Magic: The Gathering is only just a larger slice than one-quarter of the game's life so far. 2026 marks the 33rd year of the game, with 2019 being only 26 years in.

So, by such a token, let's look at the not-so-arbitrary tail-end of 2028, Magic's 35th year. That year, Kenrith won't even be in the most recent fifth of the cards newly printed. By contrast, Y'shtola will only be about three years old, a relative baby even then.

There's Always a Caveat

However, all of this hubbub over how cool this Final Fantasy commander is doesn't change the fact that her ascent is really quite fresh. Any day now, Kenrith might regrow in popularity. This may allow him to potentially overtake that #10 rank among the Top Commanders on the site. That said, by then, Y'shtola might be out of range to be usurped in turn. We estimate that it's entirely plausible that she might even make it as a 5th-ranked commander on the list.

That will obviously take some time, but it's a distinct possibility.

Other Final Fantasy Giants

Amid all this talk of Y'shtola, Night's Blessed's popularity, we don't want to overshadow the other great cards from the release that are in the Top 100. At Rank #20 is Vivi OrnitierVivi Ornitier, a fantastic and potent commander from Final Fantasy IX. As of December 16th, Vivi had a formidable 22,709 decks at players' disposal.

Meanwhile, Cloud, Ex-SOLDIERCloud, Ex-SOLDIER and Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER are continuously vying for superiority in the 60s of the list. Right now, Sephiroth is winning that conflict, proving that multicolor identities aren't all there is to format popularity.

It's not clear whether any of these legendary creatures will ever reach Y'shtola's level of appeal. Truth be told, they missed the mark on being the spirit of the times, albeit just barely.

So now, let's hear from you, dear readers! How many of you reading this have an Y'shtola, Night's BlessedY'shtola, Night's Blessed Commander deck? Do you like playing with that commander? If so, why? Sound off in the comments below!