MTG Final Fantasy expansion's Jumbo Cactuar creates some truly ridiculous ways to end games (and friendships)

I adore MTG Final Fantasy’s Jumbo Cactuar, I won’t lie to you, but it’s a ridiculous card that probably shouldn’t have been greenlit. Sure, it dies to removal, and of course, it doesn’t have Trample. Both of these can be fixed, though. The instant I saw the card, I immediately began brewing some vile combos to use in a variety of formats — Standard, Commander, you name it! I’m so excited for this card, and so I want to talk about it in particular.

You can defeat a whole table of players in one shot with Jumbo Cactuar, thanks to the upcoming MTG Final Fantasy expansion, and many of them aren’t that hard to do. Here are a few of my favorite bonkers combos you’ll be able to pull off when the expansion officially launches.

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What kinds of crazy combos can be created starring Jumbo Cactuar in MTG’s Final Fantasy expansion?

There are so many amazing Jumbo Cactuar combos out there, now that MTG Final Fantasy is starting to see reveals and spoilers. Most of these combos require cards that are not in this expansion, but that’s not a big deal. Perhaps the one I’ve seen the most — and has been sent to me the most — was the one I thought of first: Jumbo Cactuar, Swords to Plowshares, Aetherflux Reservoir.

This is a simple, but devastating combo if it pops off (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

That’s the one that was sent to me the most by my friends and loved ones. It’s incredibly easy and doesn’t even require your attack to go through. You declare attack with Jumbo Cactuar, and then once it gains +9999 attack, you cast Swords to Plowshares on it. That exiles the creature and gives you 10,000 life. Then, you just use Aetherflux Reservoir to delete as many people as you want — for every 50 life you use, you deal 50 damage to that target.

The next MTG Final Fantasy combo for Jumbo Cactuar is specifically for all of you Commander fans — or people who like to play large tables full of casual matches — I don’t judge either way. Jumbo Cactuar, Blade of Selves, and Audacity. This is probably for a little later in the game, because it’s mana intensive.

He's just a silly little guy that can defeat a whole table at once (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

But you need to cast Blade of Selves, and equip it to Jumbo Cactuar. That grants him Myriad - whenever it attacks, for each opponent other than the defending player, you may create a token that’s a copy of that creature that’s tapped and attacking that player or a planeswalker they control. Now, cast Audacity on Jumbo Cactuar, or Cartouche of Strength, Castle of the Trampled Garden, or any flavor of “Trample” effect you’d like. Now attack, and end the game!

Here’s another one that doesn’t rely on any attacks going through — Jumbo Cactuar, Tanuki Transplanter, and Helix Pinnacle. Helix Pinnacle is a card I used to use in Elfball decks to get a sneaky win; there weren’t, and still aren’t, a lot of ways to remove those tower counters.

This one just feels disrespectful, to be honest (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

You attack with Jumbo Cactuar, with both Tanuki Transplanter and Helix Pinnacle in play. You need to equip the Transplanter onto the Jumbo Cactuar, using Reconfigure, its ability. Now, when you declare attack, you gain 10,000 green mana.

It wont’ go away as steps and phases end. Now tap 100 mana to put 100 tower counters on Helix Pinnacle. You could choose to play Helix Pinnacle during your second main phase too, I imagine. Then, just wait until your next upkeep, and win the game! It’s even better in a BG deck where you can take an extra turn, such as Alrund’s Epiphany.

Either of these red spells works, frankly (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Then there’s the classic Jumbo Cactuar + Fling! All you do is attack with the Jumbo Cactuar, and in response, cast Fling to sacrifice him and deal 10,000 damage to any one player. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it’s disrespectful. It’s a classic MTG combo and Final Fantasy has made it better, thanks to the Jumbo Cactuar.

You could also choose Chandra’s Ignition to kill an entire table of players, since it makes a creature you control deal damage equal to its power to each other creature and each opponent. Heck, you could Sneak Attack it into play and attack on turn 4 (or earlier)!

While there are simply so many amazing MTG combos that can be done thanks to Final Fantasy's Jumbo Cactuar, I want to wrap it up with a very silly one: Mirkwood Bats, Ruthless Technomancer, and Jumbo Cactuar. This one I saw while scrolling Twitter — I completely forgot about the Technomancer/Mirkwood combo — so shoutout to YawgGoth and Jamoke__.

This MTG Final Fantasy combination requires you to sacrifice Jumbo Cactuar on the second main phase. You need to have already declared an attack with it, so it has 10,000 Attack Power. Then, sacrifice it to create 10,000 Treasure tokens. With Mirkwood Bats in play, each time a token is created or sacrificed, each opponent loses 1 life. It’s an immediate victory.

I’m fairly convinced this MTG x Final Fantasy card is going to be banned around launch, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a hilariously powerful card, with some very silly combos. There are, of course, plenty of ways to counter or negate it, too. That’s the nature of Magic: The Gathering!

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Check out our other MTG guides and features

• MTG Final Fantasy expansion features some of the biggest, baddest enemies of the franchise: Sin, Chaos, Tonberry and more
• Final Fantasy x MTG Expansion reveals starter kit, with alternate Cloud and Sephiroth cards
• MTG reveals Commander deckleaders for Final Fantasy expansion