Lightning, Army of One – Final Fantasy
Date Reviewed: May 30, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.25
Multiplayer: 3.88
Commander [EDH]: 4.63
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Final Fantasy XIII got me back into the franchise’s fold after a hiatus, and I absolutely ate up everything about it. The game has its flaws, some of which were addressed in its sequels and some of which were not; and not all of the characters have proven to have lasting popularity. I remain a big fan of Lightning herself, though. If you look very carefully at the photo on this page, you might realize that I wear a replica of her signature pendant. As such, it’s exciting to see her get such an outrageously good card in the Magic crossover. Even on a first reading, she’s perhaps the consummate mythic Boros card. Her keywords increase the chance of staggering opponents and at other times dominate combat with creatures; and the whole package works all too serendipitously well with her Magic name-twins like the Bolt and the Helix. On subsequent readings, you find some hidden subtleties to the wording. For example, the ability stacks with itself if she ever deals combat damage more than once in a turn. It also lasts until your next turn, meaning you can get almost as much mileage out of her in hatebear decks as in all-in blitz decks (think Harsh Mentor and such).
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4 (break out your Flame Rifts and Flamebreaks and get nuts)
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
Her whole card is also a well-crafted homage to Final Fantasy XIII itself – right down to the “Army of One” high-level ability. Even with it, I wasn’t quite skilled enough at the time to complete all the side content on Gran Pulse, but maybe I’ll revisit it after Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
The main protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII, one of its sequels, and an inextricable plot piece in the one she wasn’t the lead of, Lightning Farron is certainly a lady who’s left a mark on the series. She seemed to have been designed to be a woman version of Cloud and Squall, brooding boys from the PSX era, albeit with her own unique depth. I was never the biggest fan of XIII, but Lightning herself was not the reason for that, and her card is both a clever reference to the battle system of her home game and a scary card in its own right.
If you’ve not played Final Fantasy XIII, the thing to know here is that combat revolves around you “staggering” foes by building up a meter, and then you can unload into them for maximum damage. If Lightning gets through, she’ll certainly do the job: trample and first strike mean your opponents might have to commit real resources to stopping her assault, and first strike means that, owing to the rules of combat, she’ll double the damage of all of your non-first strike party members when they land their blows in the regular strike portion of combat. This is as explosive as it sounds, and it also means that burn spells shine more brightly if you cast them after she gets her hit in.
Lightning, Army of One is quite vicious overall, and being able to get her through once will potentially crack a game wide open in short order. And, yes, this does stack if you have double strike or additional combats, and that sounds quite horrifying. She does suffer from low toughness that leaves her vulnerable to burn spells and other kill effects, and she might need a bit of help to get through a board in some states, but I suspect Lightning is going to be pretty terrifying to stare down.
Constructed: 4 (there’s definitely promise for her in Standard, since I recall there’s a red-focused deck that’s tearing up the format)
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.75 (she’ll only double against one player, but there’s definitely room for intrigue)
Commander [EDH]: 4.75 (a perfect format for a card who can threaten to end games once she starts attacking, and Soldiers do have a good bit of support)
As an aside, “Army of One” is the name of Lightning’s ultimate skill in XIII, which is rather fitting.
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