As Final Fantasy is on the horizon, and everyone looks to get ready for prerelease, one card is on the lips of every Constructed and Commander player. It’s the beloved mage from Final Fantasy IX, Vivi Ornitier!
Since his reveal, he’s been the talk of the town, with his powerful effect putting him a cut above the rest in Final Fantasy. After all, when it comes to Constructed, Final Fantasy hasn’t had a lot to write home about at all, with a heavy focus on interesting Commander cards instead of pushing up the power level directly.
So, to see a card like Vivi among them is interesting and has definitely drummed up a ton of hype over the grapevine. But, is he worth all of the hype and drama? Is he going to take over metagames and completely break the game? Let’s find out.
Overview
Vivi Ornitier is an Izzet Legendary Creature that’s designed around spellslinging and storming off. He’s essentially the end-form of a Guttersnipe, and provides both damage and mana at once. Which is quite powerful, especially compared to the rest of the set he comes from.
The most interesting thing is that Vivi provides both a payoff and a fuel for a Spell-heavy strategy, something which is quite uncommon even for current card design standards. He also provides inevitability, in that if your Storm turn whiffs, you still have a massive creature that not only adds mana each turn, but gets to keep its counters to do so.
The only real downside here is the mana cost. For older formats, three mana is a lot to ask for, so it’s going to be harder to find a home for Vivi. But, never say never — we’ll take a look at Pioneer and Modern, and see if the beloved mage has any potential spots there too. First of all, let’s take a look at Standard.
Standard
Final Fantasy drummed up a lot of hype for being the first Universes Beyond set to make its way to Standard. And, while there isn’t much to talk about for this set, Vivi is one of the cards that at least needs to be considered for Standard. After all, Izzet Prowess is the top deck in the format, and he’d have to be a consideration to take it further, right?
Well, the answer is a little more complicated than that. While Izzet Prowess is the highest metashare deck in the format, and Vivi is perfect for the theme, Vivi’s mana value makes him an awkward inclusion for what is already an incredibly tight list. But that doesn’t necessarily make him unplayable.
To me, he fills a similar role to Crackling Drake in Guilds of Ravnica-era Standard and early Pioneer Izzet phoenix. A slightly more expensive card that provides an alternative to the main game plan, which needs to be dealt with on the spot. But, the problem is that all-star Cori-Steel Cutter provides a similar kind of inevitability, with one less mana. So, essentially, the answer here is ‘We’ll see how the format shapes up’.
There is a possibility that a storm or combo-centric Vivi deck pops up, but the card pool currently doesn’t have much for that kind of game plan. There are Plot cards which can work decently well, but Standard doesn’t fare well for powerful Storm plans. I’d be surprised if Vivi doesn’t show up at some point in the format, though, with such a powerful text box.
Pioneer
In Pioneer, Vivi does have a potential home, though, once again, it’s dependent on whether there’s space for him in the list. Izzet Phoenix is a deck that casts a lot of spells, and Vivi would be able to go absolutely haywire in. But, the same problems of three mana value, deck space, and Cori-Steel Cutter apply.
In the Modern Arclight Phoenix of old, decks used to run Pyromancer Ascension and Aria of Flame as a sort of alternate gameplan if the Phoenix plan didn’t work out. But, Cori-Steel Cutter provides the same kind of value, for one mana cheaper.
Interestingly, though, I do think there’s an argument that this replaces Proft’s Eidetic Memory, as it is not only much more flexible but also essentially does double the work through an extra damage ping for each non-creature spell on top of the +1/+1. This does cost one more mana, but I think when sequenced correctly, Vivi can definitely work.
Modern
In Modern, Vivi sadly has a lot more to contend with. Firstly, he has 3 toughness, which means he’ll likely get instantly bolted with no real value, which is something that needs to be considered for such a high investment. On top of this, he simply costs three mana, which is above where the format wants to be for a card that does nothing on that third turn.
However, there is a possibility that Ruby Medallion Storm decks can accommodate him, as an alternative game plan. After all, Ruby Medallion does make him cost two mana, meaning that you can play him on turn 3 and hold a spell to grow him.
He could make a great sideboard target off of Wish, where he can provide a way back into the game through hate or interaction, by creating a big creature (especially if your opponent boards out or just simply disregards their removal due to your low creature count). This is definitely hypothetical, though, as that list is already very tight.
Commander
Commander, and especially cEDH, is the real place that Vivi Ornitier shines. As a Legendary Creature, he can go right into the command zone and provides a powerful effect on demand, especially considering that you can just replay him with his own mana when he dies if he gets big enough. Sure, it’ll be a bit of a reset, but especially in higher-powered decks with a lot of combo potential, he’s a resilient combo piece with a lot of potential.
Firstly, Vivi works incredibly well with Curiosity and other similar effects to keep his hand full. He can use this to dig for combo pieces or interaction, depending on what he needs to be able to win the game, while being in good colours for a combo deck.
In cEDH, you can use Displacer Kitten and Haze of Rage to blink Vivi and loop him, giving you a great combo with a card that combos with a lot of other pieces. On top of this, you can easily slot an Underworld Breach combo into the deck to be able to have more combo potential that gets better with Vivi’s insane card draw potential.
Even if you’re not opting for cEDH, though, using the combo of Curiosity in your deck will mean that you have access to a great spellslinger deck that will allow you to spiral out of control, if your playgroup is okay with that kind of power. Otherwise, in lower power, Vivi does kind of get worse — with his ability to grow infinitely, it does seem like he’s made to be broken, and that’s okay.
Closing Time
Final Fantasy is almost here, and Vivi Ornitier is looking to be one of the most exciting cards of the set. Everyone is hyped to try him everywhere they can, and as we’ve explored, there is a potential place for him to be used in all of the main formats — whether those places are good, only time can tell.
If you’re looking for more information on all of the constructed formats, check out our tier lists! We’ve got a tier list for every main format, as well as a best-of-one tier list for all of you Magic Arena players. Otherwise, keep an eye out for more reviews, guides, and other great content.
In any case, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in the stars.
