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Strategy Spotlight: When to prioritize a nine-mana Bahamut in draft
In limited formats, there are few cards that land with the sheer presence of Summon: Bahamut. This Enchantment Creature — Saga Dragon is a mythic rarity from the Final Fantasy crossover set, a colorless leviathan that doesn’t demand a specific color partnership to shine. With a towering 9/9 silhouette and the unmistakable flight of a dragon, Bahamut isn’t just a pack-opening spectacle; it’s a long-game engine that can turn a game in your favor when you engineer the late turns just right 🧙♂️🔥. Its Saga frame guides you through four powerful chapters, each one a step toward domination, but you’ll need to plan your mana curve and play pressure accordingly.
The card’s text reads like a mini-game of chess wrapped in a spectacle. As the Saga enters the battlefield and after your draw step, you add a lore counter and proceed through four chapters before you must sacrifice it after the fourth counter:
- I, II — Destroy up to one target nonland permanent.
- III — Draw two cards.
- IV — Mega Flare — This creature deals damage equal to the total mana value of other permanents you control to each opponent.
Flying helps Bahamut avoid ground blockers while you assemble the board to maximize Mega Flare’s impact. In practice, this means timing your attacks and your removal sequences to ensure your opponent doesn’t simply stabilize while you’re busy gathering mana and card advantage. Mega Flare isn’t just end-game damage—it’s a cunning finisher that punishes boards cluttered with permanents, especially if you’ve laid a chain of accelerants and value engines behind Bahamut 🧙♂️💎.
Draft timing: when to pull the trigger
- Early pick considerations: Bahamut is a late-game bomb, but in a pack that already has ramp or ramp-ready artifact support (mana rocks, colorless fixing, and powerful draw), you can justify prioritizing Bahamut earlier in the draft. If you’re in a colorless or adjacent deck that can reliably hit 9 mana, Bahamut becomes a carrot that keeps your table honest. In a vacuum, you’re betting on a long game—so look for signals that you’ll be able to reach the fourth turn and keep Bahamut alive long enough to flip through its chapters 🧙♂️.
- Ramp and synergies: The more mana you can generate leading into the saga, the more damage you can deal with Mega Flare and the more consistently you’ll draw into the later chapters. Decks that lean into colorless ramp and fixing tend to maximize Bahamut’s impact, turning a mere 9-mana investment into a multi-turn inevitability.
- Board presence and removal: Chapter I and II give you insurance against removal-heavy boards by destroying a nonland permanent. If your deck can leverage these early removals while Bahamut posts on the battlefield, you’re amplifying both the survivability and tempo of your plan.
- Late-game inevitability: The III chapter’s card draw solidifies Bahamut as a value engine. If you’re seeing a healthy density of card draw and recursion elsewhere in your deck, Bahamut becomes not just a bomb but a card-drawing engine that keeps your options open as the game unfolds 🧲.
- When not to push it: If your deck is thin on mana sources or you’re in a meta with aggressive creatures that can end games before you reach nine mana, Bahamut risks becoming an expensive liability. In those games, you’ll want a plan that either accelerates quickly or pivots to a more proactive finite plan rather than stalling for a late-effect that might not land in time ⚔️.
From a design perspective, Bahamut embodies a bold “you win if you get to the end” arc, a hallmark of Universe Beyond crossovers. Its top-end power level sits comfortably for draft environments that reward long games and big formulas. The trading of tempo for raw inevitability is a deliberate risk—one that pays off when you’ve engineered your mana base and removal suite to survive until the Dragon finally roars. The result is a card that can anchor a deck, spur draft conversations, and occasionally become a game’s defining moment, especially in four-player matches where Mega Flare punishes multiple opponents at once 🎨🎲.
From a value and collectability lens, Summon: Bahamut carries mythic status and a price tag that reflects its status as a marquee cross-set piece. Current market data points to a USD value around $24, with foil variants climbing higher. In EDH circles, the card’s influence is less about legendary command economy and more about the collectible thrill of owning a bona fide Final Fantasy crossover dragon, a talking point at tables and on forums alike. The artwork by Arif Wijaya channels classic dragon-lord vibes, and the set’s presentation leans into the epic scale that modern MTG collectors crave. If you’re chasing a standout piece that also plays well in limited, Bahamut sits at a fascinating intersection of nostalgia and battlefield impact 🧙♂️.
For players who want to keep their strategy humane and their game plans flavorful, drafting Bahamut means balancing dream-weaving with practical pacing. It isn’t a card you slam into a deck simply because it’s cool; it’s a card you slot into a plan that can reach nine mana, maintain pressure, and punish opponents for overextending. When you pull it off, the room will fill with awe—and maybe a little fear—as you unleash Mega Flare on turn four or five of a well-tuned board state 🔥💎.
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