Deck Strategies
Terra, Herald of Hope
Focuses on milling cards into the graveyard to enable reanimation and graveyard synergies, bringing back powerful creatures for a sustained board presence.
Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER
Utilizes equipment and creature pump effects to increase power, triggering Limit Break for card advantage and mana, aiming for a large creature assault to reduce opponents’ life totals.
Tidus, Yuna's Guardian
Spreads +1/+1 counters across creatures and uses proliferate to grow his team, generating incremental advantages and creating a formidable board to overwhelm opponents.
Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed
Casts multiple non-creature spells to create tokens and trigger token payoffs, draining opponents’ life while building a wide board presence to dominate the battlefield.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Terra’s milling ability early in combat allowed strategic selection of graveyard targets for reanimation, accelerating her board development.
- 2
Cloud’s missed land drop significantly hindered his ramp and delayed his ability to equip and pump creatures effectively, giving opponents a tempo advantage.
- 3
Tidus leveraged his commander’s proliferate ability to distribute counters efficiently, enabling rapid growth of his creatures and increasing combat threat.
- 4
Y’shtola’s strategy to combine spellcasting with token creation created multiple layers of board presence and incremental life drain, pressuring opponents consistently.
- 5
The interaction between board ramp and immediate board presence created a dynamic tension between players focusing on growth versus those playing aggressively early.
Notable Cards

Terra, Herald of Hope

Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER

Tidus, Yuna's Guardian

Vincent, Vengeful Atoner
Summary
The game featured a dynamic four-player Commander match using the new Final Fantasy-themed preconstructed decks. Early turns saw players establishing their board presence and ramping mana, with Terra, Herald of Hope milling cards into the graveyard to support her reanimation strategy. Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER focused on equipment and creature power boosts to capitalize on his Limit Break mechanic, while Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian spread +1/+1 counters to grow his team through proliferate effects. Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed aimed to cast numerous non-creature spells to generate tokens and drain life, setting up a wide board.
Key moments included Terra successfully milling and reanimating threats, putting pressure on opponents, and Cloud’s ramp enabling aggressive swings with growing creatures. Tidus’s board development with counters started threatening a significant growth in damage output, while Y’shtola’s token generation began to overwhelm the table. A pivotal point was Jimmy’s missed land drop, which impeded Cloud’s ramp and slowed his tempo, giving others a chance to advance their plans. The game intensified as players leveraged their unique synergies, with combat phases and targeted attacks influencing life totals and board states, culminating in a tense battle for dominance.
Description
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Show Notes:
You can stop fantasizing, because it’s finally here! The long-awaited FINAL FANTASY episode of Game Knights, featuring fantastic fan-favorite guest Jacob Bertrand (Cobra Kai), is hitting your screen for the ultimate turn-based battle.
Watch him face-off against Jimmy, JLK, and Rachel in a boss fight of AAA-game proportions using commanders from Magic’s latest Universes Beyond set, FINAL FANTASY. So put your airship in park and summon your favorite snack – this is one cutscene you do NOT want to skip.
It’s Tidus vs. Cloud vs. Y’shtola vs. Terra
Hope they all saved their games, because ONLY ONE MAY STAND!
FINAL FANTASY:
Find out more info about the set, the story, and see all of the card images at:
mtg.social/FinalFantasyGK
MAGICCON LAS VEGAS:
Game Knights Live returns to MagicCon Vegas on June 20th! Don’t miss a second of the epic Commander action. Badges are on sale NOW, so get yours today at:
mtg.social/MCVegasTixGKL
ZOCDOC:
Stop putting off those doctors appointments! Find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today by going to www.zocdoc.com/command
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Don’t miss out on watching us LIVE on Whatnot, June 13th at 2pm Pacific! To get $15 FREE to use anywhere on the platform, sign up at: www.whatnot.com/invite/command
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ARCHIDEKT:
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ULTRA PRO:
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Where to find our guest online:
Jacob Bertrand
Instagram: @thejacobbertrand
Twitter: @jb_mixmatch
TikTok: @jacob.bertrand
Deck Lists:
Jacob’s Tidus:
archidekt.com/decks/13551115/jacobs_tidus_games_knights_78
Jimmy’s Cloud:
archidekt.com/decks/13551080/jimmys_cloud_game_knights_78
JLK’s Y’shtola:
archidekt.com/decks/13551104/jlks_yshtola_game_knights_78
Rachel’s Terra:
archidekt.com/decks/13551005/rachels_terra_game_knights_78
Credits:
Directed By: Jake Boss & Josh Murphy
Executive Producer: Josh Lee Kwai
Co-Producer: Jimmy Wong
Lead Editor: Josh Murphy
Editor: Josh Lee Kwai & Manson Leung
Assistant Editor: Eric Lem
Lead VFX: Sam Waldow
VFX Artist: Evan Limberger
Post Production Supervisor: Jake Boss
Art Department: Beky Bell
Director of Photography: Jake Boss
Sound Mix: Jake Boss & Josh Murphy
Rules Expert: Jamie Block
Production Assistant: Sebastian Salazar
Writers: Jamie Block and Jordan Pridgen
Theme Music: Post Malone
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magic.wizards.com/en/banned-restricted-list
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