Ragnarok, Divine Deliverance
– Final Fantasy
Date Reviewed: July 7, 2025
Ratings:
See Below
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
It took me a surprisingly long time to understand just how aptly named Ragnarok, Fang and Vanille’s story climax from Final Fantasy XIII, really is. The floating habitat of Cocoon comes to an end, but their actions make it possible for survivors to migrate to Gran Pulse and create a new world. I think I forgot to analyze it; there’s a lot going on in the later parts of XIII‘s story.
For meld cards in Magic, you do have to consider how each part plays on their own: variance being what it is, you’ll have games where you only draw one of them. In that light, Vanille is probably slightly easier to just plug into a deck of the appropriate color – there’s lots of cards that incidentally like having things in the graveyard, and even more than that, a Regrowth variant of any kind is always welcome. Fang requires slightly more specific effects, although it’s not the most difficult condition to meet with so many generally-good flashback cards to choose from. It also plays quite well with Bloomburrow‘s forage action. Neither one is the most powerful option on their own, and thus a lot of decks will be hoping to get to Ragnarok mode, or at least have that in their back pocket. It’s a powerful thing to look towards, because the melded form is very much in the style of Urza and Mishra’s meld cards from The Brothers’ War – it’s hard to lose when it’s active. It might technically be above rate in some way, but I never criticize meld cards for that. You have to meet very specific conditions and deserve a payoff, and it’s just an awful lot cooler when your characters shift phase like a Final Fantasy endgame boss.
Constructed: Fang – 3; Vanille – 3; Ragnarok – 4 (standard caveat about meld cards being disruptable, etc)
Casual: Fang – 3.5; Vanille – 3.5; Ragnarok – 4.5
Limited: Fang – 3.5; Vanille – 3.5; Ragnarok – 4.5
Multiplayer: Fang – 3; Vanille – 3; Ragnarok – 4
Commander [EDH]: Fang – 3; Vanille – 3; Ragnarok – 4 (I’m fine with you playing them at my table as though they had partner)
Fang and Vanille becoming Ragnarok reminds me a little not only of Brisela from Eldritch Moon, but also Karona forming out of Akroma, Phage, and Zagorka all the way back in Scourge. There are three different occasions in Magic sets where powerful women melded into devastating keyword monsters. Across all of Magic’s history, that’s not that many, but it’s curious that it happened three times.
I’m going to score Fang and Vanille separately, though in most cases you’d want to play them together.
Two cards, one meld pair, one divine presence, or something. Fang and Vanille are two of Final Fantasy XIII‘s party members, and they have quite an interesting role, tasked with destroying Cocoon (a floating city that lives separate from the rest of the world). The particulars of XIII‘s plot are kinda crazy, but I will say that, broadly, this is lore accurate.
First, the two halves. Neither Fang nor Vanille inspire much confidence on their own, but they do have synergy, and they’re not bad. Fang is solid if you have a way to manipulate your graveyard, and Vanille…does a bit of that, as well as functioning like a limited, legendary Eternal Witness. Their stats aren’t anything inspiring, and they lack keywords…until they meld together, in which case they get a lot of keywords and have a fun death trigger that may discourage removal all the same. Ragnarok is certainly powerful…whether or not it’s worth it is a separate question, but for the overall investment, it’s not terrible.
That said, the other obstacle is that you need both creatures in play at the start of your first main phase and 5 mana, meaning that (on curve) this probably will struggle to take to the field before turn 6. While this is not a terrible turn-six investment payoff, it is definitely a bit of an investment to get going. Ragnarok is certainly tempting, but Fang and Vanille can be a bit of an investment to get there, and while you can make them work, I feel like they’re in that weird intersection of being a bit too weak on their own and a bit too clunky to flip.
Constructed: 3.25 (Fang); 3.25 (Vanille)
Casual: 4 (Fang), 3.75 (Vanille)
Limited: 3.25 (Fang); 4 (Vanille)
Multiplayer: 3.75 (Fang); 3.5 (Vanille)
Commander [EDH]: 3.5 (Fang); 3.75 (Vanille)
Thijs
This is a complicated review, because it basically reviews three cards in one. Therefore I will provide three scores: one for Fang, the second for Vanille and the third for Ragnarok.
First of all: who are Vanille and Fang? They’re two playable characters from FFXIII who eventually team up in FFXIII-2. It has been said that the two were based on Líf and LífÞrasir, the two humans who will survive Ragnarök, the foretold ending of the world (in Norse mythology). Hence the melding of the two cards into, you guessed it, Ragnarok.
Vanille.
Up first is Vanille, the cheerful one. The statline unfortunately is not spectacular, but a 3/2 with a reclamate ability is not half bad. Of course you mill two cards first, so put your deck full of useful permanents and you will always find a killer.
It costs you 4 mana though, so it takes some time to cast, but players who devote themselves to green usually find plenty of ramp to go along with it. That won’t be an issue. A decent card with a decent ability.
Fang.
Next is Fang, the fearless one. She costs one less mana, is a 2/3 and has a card draw ability when cards are removed from your graveyard. Again, not terrible. An extra card every turn at the cost of only one life is a powerful ability that adds tempo to your deck. All you have to do is exile or reanimate something and you’re good to go.
And now for the fun stuff.
Ragnarok, Divine Deliverance.
When, at the beginning of your first main, you have both ladies on the battlefield and you have five mana open (which you probably will at this point), you may pay that cost and meld the two into Ragnarok.
And that’s when you bring forth a 7/6 creature with 5 static abilities and a triggered ability! It doesn’t tap, it can get going right away, it’s a really really nice addition to any Golgari deck.
I don’t know about you, dear readers, but I would add it. Just for the sheer fun of melding two cards.
Constructed: 3; 3; 3 (won’t see much play)
Casual: 4; 4; 4,5
Limited: 3; 3; 3,5
Multiplayer: 3,5; 3,5; 4
Commander [EDH]: 3; 3; 4,5 (unfortunately, Ragnarok cannot be Commander..)
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