In War of the Spark there are one or two card cycles. Cycles are a group of cards one in each of the five colours of MtG that have a similar name and theme.

I want to look at the Finale and God cycles in my unique uniformed way.

Let’s start with the Finale cycle.

In my opinion (which we have already established is not very well informed) these are at best ok cards in Standard. But put them in Commander and they become really good.

In Standard it’s really the first part of the ability of the card we are looking at for getting any value. Rarely in Standard will you be casting these cards with an X of 10 or greater. Which means you have 12 mana to cast it. That’s a lot. Almost unplayable if that was the only effect we were looking at. However in Commander casting the card for that mana cost is a possibility.

I like Finale of Devastation and will be adding that to my Big Green Stompy Commander deck. Fetching a card and putting it on the battlefield for free (not really because we have paid for it in the casting), and then being able to swing in with it and any other creatures, and they are all bigger for this turn also. That could be the killing blow needed.

Finale of Promise is a card I don’t like. I’m not big on this type of effect, although it might go well in my wizards deck. So this is a card that I love the art, but not what it does.

Finale of Glory. I need this in my life. At the moment I don’t have a copy. But boy do my mono white Angel Commander deck and the Trostani token spam Commander decks what a copy of this in them? I’m just imagining 10 4/4 Angels out on the field, and if timed right double that with Doubling Season.

Finale of Revelation Horrors from the Deep, and anything I have with blue in will love this. Card draw, and unlimited handsize. Do I need to say more? Just refilling your hand mid to late game is game changing. While others are top decking, you have just drawn 10 cards! You have options, solutions, and you don’t have to discard down.

Finale of Eternity. I have mixed feelings about. The removal part is ok. But I do really like returning all my creatures from the graveyard back to the battlefield. Playing that after a board wipe would be particularly sweet.

The God cycle as I call it is soooo annoying. Each of the Gods in this cycle is nigh on impossible to get rid of. Kill it, exile it, and three turns (or less) and it’s back.

In Commander that’s really powerful if you use them as a mono colour Commander. It gets around Commander tax.

So far I have only really found two of these useful for Standard. The first of those is Oketra in my Orzhov deck. Getting a 4/4 zombie for 1 mana when I cast one of the 1 drops is insane. Sadly my Scarab God Commander deck would love Oketra to join it’s ranks but it doesn’t have white.

I don’t have Bontu and it’s a card I’d like to try in my Orzhov deck. Played at the right time and board state, I’d get card draw, damage to my opponent and life gain that would pump up one or two other creatures.

Ilharg is the other card I’ve found really useful in Standard and I want to try him with my mono red aggro Commander deck. I do like the idea of using him as the Commander. Multiple attack phases and a handful of creatures he becomes insane.

Rhonas I’m undecided on. He’s in my Simic standard deck. But I’m not sure how good a fit he is. I think he is better as one of the 99 in my big green stompy Commander deck.

For me the weaker cards in this God cycle are the ones that have an ETB. The two with the repeatable on going ability are the more powerful and useful ones in my eyes. Unless you can find a way to blink out the ones with the ETB and make use of that that way. But that seems a lot of effort. I prefer having to avoid all of that, unless I’m already doing that within the deck.

That’s my look at these two cycles. It’s been through my lense and how useful they are to me and decks I play. Your mileage from these cards especially the ones I’m not keen on may differ.