Buster Sword – Final Fantasy
Date Reviewed: June 3, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4.13
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
I daresay Cloud’s sword is one of the most famous in gaming, so it would have to get a powerful card in the Magic crossover. A lot of the design space for damage triggers has been used, but they found an interesting one for this card, with a potentially major reward for not only attacking successfully but also getting the equipped creature’s power as high as you can. They obviously know that a lot of people like to pile as much equipment on one creature as they physically can, but I note that it’s also pretty good in a “small” deck. After all, if all your cards cost three mana or less, the Buster Sword’s boost ensures that you will be able to cast any of them when you hit. The only wrinkle is that it doesn’t grant any combat keywords or evasive abilities, but that would probably be excessive – and there are also plenty of other ways around it.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4 (read it as another source of card advantage for aggro decks in a context where they often fall behind)
Commander [EDH]: 4
s t a b
Cloud Strife’s iconic weapon, the Buster Sword is as inextricable to his identity as anything can be. That said, it’s actually his first weapon and one that falls off almost immediately into a playthrough, though you actually cannot remove it from your inventory (at least in the original). All the same, it’s his weapon, as shown in his many crossover appearances, and it’s fitting that the Sword of Unusual Size shows up here and in spectacular form.
The Buster Sword we got is, to be blunt, pretty interesting. It lets you cast from your hand when you hit things, and it even draws a card for your troubles. The additional 3 power is enough to, if you get through, make this hurt in terms of what you get out of ti, and it even pairs with trample to at least get you an additional card on contact. The stat buff isn’t the greatest in the world (but it is enough), though an additional _3/+2 can help you to get out of range of various things or take down key priority targets.
The abundant equipment support of the set does make the Buster Sword, and most other equipments, feel a lot more menacing than it might in another set; there’s a lot of cards that either let you tutor equipment or bypass their equip costs, and the Buster Sword is a pretty solid beneficiary. The effect is potent, and it’s in a perfect set to support it, so I suppose it’s time to appoint your favorite lhurgoyf as the hero of Midgar and get your stab on after all.
Constructed: 4 (it is five mana to get going, but there’s enough support to maybe make this rarely full price if you know what you’re doing)
Casual: 5
Limited: 4 (probably more used here for the stat buff, but the free spell also counts for a fair bit)
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
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