Quick Links
As the most famous protagonist in the Final Fantasy series, there are several versions of Cloud Strife available inMagic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy set. Each one has a different color identity and ability, but sometimes it’s fun to build in a single color. That’s where Cloud, Midgar Mercenary comes in.
The mono-white version of Cloud focuses on Equipment, triggering his own and his Equipments' abilities an extra time, allowing you to double-up on benefits and build Cloud into an unstoppable behemoth. If you’re ready to go big and swing tall, this is the guide you need!
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Hearth and Home
Sword of the Animist
Mantle of the Ancient
The Mycosynth Gardens
War Room
This decklist is intended forBracket 3 (Optimized), butit does include one incidental infinite combo. Puresteel Paladin allows you to equip for free as long as you control at least three artifacts, while Crackdown Construct gets +1/+1 until the end of turn whenever you activate an artifact’s non-mana ability.
With both cards in play,you still need an Equipment and one other artifactin order to set up this combo, plus a way to give Crackdown Construct evasion. Whilethis technically makes a four-card combo, the requirements are easy to meet by the time Crackdown Construct enters.
Make sure tomention this at your Bracket 3 table, and be prepared to swap out Crackdown Constructif the rest of the pod objects.
The Commander
Cloud, Midgar Mercenary isa legendary 2/1 Human Soldier Mercenary that costs two white mana and who tutors for an Equipmentcard when he enters.
The ability to find any equipment you want on turn two and be ready to play and attach it on turn three is already great, but Cloud has another ability: As long as he’s equipped,all triggered abilities of his equipment and himself trigger an extra time.
Those extra triggered abilities can add up fast. Take Sword of Fire and Ice, for example.
While equipped to Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Sword of Fire and Ice allows you todeal two damage to two targets and draw two cardswhenever Cloud deals combat damage to a player. Adding additional triggers, or giving Cloud double strike, allows him to turn into a serious threat.
Cloud’s ability doesn’t specify specific triggers or actions, like being triggered by attacking or dealing combat damage. So abilities triggered by an opponent’s actions, such as ward, also trigger an extra time.
The combination of search and trigger enhancement means thatCloud can solve a lot of problems. If you need to destroy creatures, look for Sword of Fire and Ice. If you need more lands, look for Sword of the Animist.
Building the Deck
Both of Cloud’s abilities revolve around Equipment, so that will be the focus of the deck: a low-to-the-ground mono-whiteVoltrondeck with multiple ways to fetch and attach Equipment.
Cloud, Midgar Mercenary doesn’t have any built-in protection, and a lousy one toughness, soyou’ll need a handful of ways to protect him. You’ll also want to include a couple of alternate attackers, so that you aren’t entirely reliant on your commander.
Since Cloud only costs two mana, there are alsoseveral Equipment cards he can fetch on turn two for you to cast and equip on turn three. This can help you get a head start on damage before your opponents can establish defenses.
The emphasis on Equipment doesn’t leave much room for creatures, so you’ll often have a single creature against the world.The decklist includes several boardwipes that remove everything except one creature per player, allowing you to make the most out of Cloud’s growing arsenal.
While the deck has a tight mana curve,there’s enough ramp to ensure Cloud can keep coming backand that you can keep reequipping him in order to keep the pressure on.
Ramp
In addition to a standard ramp package of Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and a few other mana rocks,Cloud, Midgar Mercenary has a handful of Equipments that he can make exceptionally effective.
Sword of the Animist only costs two mana to cast and equip, andeach time Cloud attacks while equipped it will search for two basic lands and put them into playtapped. Each time Cloud attacks with this Equipment, you’ll get enough land to pay his commander the next time he dies!
Sword of Hearth and Home also searches for basic lands, but only when Cloud deals combat damage to an opponent. But if you give him double strike, that can translate intofour basic lands each time Cloud attacksunopposed.
The Aetherspark is incredible in Cloud’s hands. It gains loyalty counters as the creature it’s equipped to deals damage, andCloud, Midgar Mercenary causes it to trigger twice. If you use the plus-one ability to equip it, it will get six counters when Cloud attacks, allowing you to remove ten loyalty for ten mana the next turn.
As low as the mana curve is for this deck,Land Tax can be a great first-turn spell. It will all but guarantee that you don’t miss a land drop, which gives you the freedom to use Cloud’s tutor ability to find another Equipment instead of worrying about something to ramp with.
Knight of the White Orchid also gives you the ability todrop an extra land when it comes into play, as long as you’re already behind on land. If you’re using Sword of Hearth and Home, you can also flicker your Knight for yet another land if someone else is ramping hard.
Cast Knight of White Orchid before playing your land for the turnto avoid catching up on land and cutting off your ramp.
A great inclusion for any mono-colored deck with a lot of basic lands is Extraplanar Lens. This cardeffectively doubles the mana produced by your basic landsin a mono-colored deck. It gives your opponents using the same lands the same benefit, butusing Snow-Covered Plains usually makes it one-sided in your favor.
Draw
White has a lot of solid draw options, and a lot of them fit well in Cloud, Midgar Mercenary’s Equipment theme. For example,Esper Sentinelcan be dropped on turn one, andas you attach Equipment later you’ll be more and more likely to draw cardsevery turn.
Sram, Senior Edificer is a solid option because heallows you to draw a card each time you cast an Equipmentor Aura. Since about one-fifth of the deck meets those criteria, you’ll get a card to replace most of the ones you want to play anyway.
Puresteel Paladin does almost the same thing as Sram, Senior Edificerin terms of drawing cards, but it looks for Equipment coming into play, not being cast. This allows it to become a major draw engine with Bloodforged Battle-Axe.
Bloodforged Battle-Axe duplicates itself whenever the equipped creature deals combat damage. Since the copy also has the duplication effect, this can quickly turn intoa situation where you get four or eight new Equipment each turn.
Bloodforged Battle-Axe is great on any creature, butSword of Fire and Ice is amazing on Cloud, Midgar Mercenary. Each time Cloud deals combat damage to a player while holding it, you’ll get to draw two cards and potentially kill two creatures. If you can give him double strike, you’ll get that twice per turn!
One of the best synergies in the deck is Cloud, Midgar Mercenary with Buster Sword. Cloud’s ability allows Buster Sword to be triggered twice, allowing you todraw two cards and cast two spells from your hand for free.
With only Buster Sword equipped on Cloud,you’ll be able to cast spells with a mana value of five or less for free, and there are only a couple spells in the deck with a higher cost than that!
War Room is a great addition to any mono-color (or colorless) Commander deck, since it allows you topay three mana and one life to draw a card, plus it produces colorless mana without coming into play tapped.
One-On-One Combat
This deck isn’t heavy on creatures, andthe Voltron theme tends to favor controlling a single creature. To that effect, this de contains several partial boardwipes that will only leave each player with a single creature.
Divine Reckoning destroys every creature for four mana, but allows each player to choose a single survivor. It also has flashback, allowing you to reuse it later if an opponent starts building up too much board presence again.
Lion Sash is not a creature when it’s equipped, so it can survive boardwipes and give you an extra attacker or blocker. It can also eliminate problematic cards in your opponents' graveyards.
Slash the Ranks doesn’t allow anyone to pick the survivors:only the commanders survive this one. If your opponents' commanders aren’t in play, you’ll be left with the only creature. On the other hand, if they have multiple commanders, you may end up at a disadvantage.
Single Combat is the gold standard: it leaves everyone with a single creature or planeswalker of their choice, butwipes out everything else and prevents anyone from casting creature spellsfor the next turn.
You’ll usually only attack with one or two creatures, soSilent Arbiter can give you a few turns of freedom to play the game your way. This is especially true if your opponents don’t consider you to be the major threat, and spend their attacks swinging at each other.
