Tifa OTK

# TIFA LOCKHART

Cali Commander — Beginner's Deck Primer

Strategy: Mono-Green Landfall / Commander Damage / Infect

Main goal: Make Tifa incredibly powerful with pump spells and landfall, then defeat our opponent with one enormous attack.

1. How Does This Deck Work?

Tifa Lockhart is a two-mana commander with trample and an incredible ability:

Whenever a land enters under our control, Tifa's power doubles until the end of the turn!

She starts as a 1/2 creature, but one or two lands can turn her into a powerful attacker.

Our main strategies are:

• Landfall: Make lands enter to double Tifa's power.
• Pump Spells: Increase her power before doubling it.
• Commander Damage: Deal 21 combat damage with Tifa to win.
• Protection: Stop our opponent from removing Tifa.
• Infect: Use Glistener Elf or Inkmoth Nexus to win with ten poison counters.

The secret is simple:

The order we play our cards can make the difference between dealing six damage and winning the game immediately!

Important Words

Landfall: An ability that triggers when a land enters under our control.

Pump Spell: A spell that makes a creature bigger.

Fetch Land: A land we can sacrifice to search for another land.

Trample: Extra combat damage can go through blockers to the defending player.

Commander Damage: Dealing 21 combat damage with Tifa to one opponent wins the game.

Infect: Deals poison counters instead of normal damage to players. Ten poison counters wins.

Haste: A creature can attack immediately.

2. How to Start the Game

We want to cast Tifa quickly, then prepare one devastating attack.

What makes a good opening hand?

Look for three things:

1. Mana: Forests, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Jeweled Lotus, or mana creatures like Llanowar Elves.
2. Landfall: Fetch lands, Crop Rotation, Harrow, or extra land plays.
3. Pump and Protection: Scale Up, Giant Growth, Invigorate, or a spell that protects Tifa.

Consider a mulligan if we have very little mana, no way to trigger landfall, or too many pump spells without a realistic plan.

Example of a strong opening

Turn 1: Play a Forest and cast Llanowar Elves.

Turn 2: Play another land and cast Tifa.

Turn 3: Cast Scale Up, play a fetch land, sacrifice it to find a Forest, and attack with a 24-power Tifa!

With the right acceleration and haste, we can sometimes win even earlier.

Beginner tip: Before keeping, ask ourselves: "How quickly can I cast Tifa, and how many landfall triggers can I create?"

3. Understanding Tifa's Power

Tifa begins with one power.

Every landfall trigger doubles her power.

Without any other bonuses:

• One landfall trigger: 2 power
• Two triggers: 4 power
• Three triggers: 8 power
• Four triggers: 16 power
• Five triggers: 32 power

However, pump spells make this much more dangerous.

Scale Up + a fetch land

This is our most important one-hit combination.

1. Cast Scale Up. Tifa's base power becomes 6.
2. Play a fetch land. Tifa doubles from 6 to 12.
3. Sacrifice the fetch land to find a Forest. Tifa doubles from 12 to 24.
4. Attack!

Twenty-four commander damage is enough to win in one hit!

Tifa keeps trample when Scale Up changes her into a Wurm.

Giant Growth + Mutagenic Growth

Another excellent combination:

1. Tifa starts with one power.
2. Cast Giant Growth, making her power 4.
3. Cast Mutagenic Growth, making her power 6.
4. Play a fetch land and sacrifice it.
5. Two landfall triggers double her power to 12, then 24.

Again, that's enough for a one-hit win.

The golden rule

Pump first, double afterward!

Tifa's landfall ability gives her a power bonus based on her power when that ability resolves.

Increasing her power before the doubling happens makes every trigger stronger.

Remember blockers!

Tifa has trample, but blockers still absorb damage.

If Tifa has 24 power and the opponent blocks with a creature that requires four damage to defeat, only 20 damage may reach the opponent.

That's not enough for a one-hit commander-damage win!

Beginner tip: Count the damage that actually reaches the opponent, not just Tifa's total power.

4. Winning With Fetch Lands

Fetch lands are the most important lands in this deck.

Why?

One fetch land can create two landfall triggers!

Example: Verdant Catacombs

1. Play Verdant Catacombs. Tifa triggers.
2. Sacrifice it to find a Forest.
3. The Forest enters. Tifa triggers again!

One land card has doubled Tifa's power twice.

Our important fetch lands

Traditional fetch lands: Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills, Prismatic Vista, and Fabled Passage.

Other land-searching lands: Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Brokers Hideout, Cabaretti Courtyard, Riveteers Overlook, Hobbit Hole, Elven Passage, and Vibrant Cityscape.

Some of these lands find basic Forests that enter tapped.

That's fine!

Tifa triggers whether the new land enters tapped or untapped.

Crop Rotation — Surprise landfall

Crop Rotation costs one green mana and can be cast at instant speed.

We sacrifice one land, then search for any land and put it onto the battlefield.

That gives us another landfall trigger, sometimes during combat!

We can also find a fetch land for an additional trigger.

Harrow — Two triggers at once

Harrow sacrifices a land and searches for two basic lands.

Both enter untapped, giving Tifa two landfall triggers.

Harrow is an instant, so we can use it during combat.

If Tifa already has six power, Harrow can double her to 12, then 24.

Swell of Growth

Swell of Growth gives a creature +2/+2 and lets us put a land from our hand onto the battlefield.

It both pumps Tifa and creates landfall.

Exploration and Lotus Cobra

Exploration: Lets us play an additional land each turn, creating more opportunities for landfall.

Lotus Cobra: Produces mana whenever a land enters. A fetch land can trigger Cobra twice, helping us cast more pump spells.

Beginner tip: Don't sacrifice every fetch land immediately. Keeping one available can make our next attack much more dangerous.

5. Our Best Pump Spells

Pump spells make Tifa powerful before her landfall triggers multiply that power.

Cheap power boosts

Giant Growth: +3/+3 for one green mana.

Groundswell: +4/+4 if a land entered under our control this turn.

Might of Old Krosa: +4/+4 during our main phase, or +2/+2 otherwise.

Mutagenic Growth: +2/+2, often for two life instead of mana.

Titanic Growth, Feral Ferocity, and Grow Extra Arms: Additional large power boosts.

Phytoburst and Larger Than Life: Powerful sorcery-speed boosts for preparing an attack.

Free pump spells

Invigorate

If we control a Forest, we can let our opponent gain three life instead of paying its mana cost.

Tifa gets +4/+4!

Giving the opponent three life usually doesn't matter when we're winning with commander damage.

Bounty of the Hunt

We can exile another green card instead of paying mana.

Put all three temporary +1/+1 counters on Tifa, then multiply that power with landfall.

Embiggen

Embiggen gives +1/+1 for each supertype, card type, and subtype a creature has.

Tifa is a legendary creature with the subtypes Human and Monk.

That's normally +4/+4 for one green mana!

If Scale Up has turned her into a Wurm, the number changes because her creature subtypes change.

Berserk — Double our finishing attack

Berserk effectively doubles a creature's power.

For example:

1. Tifa reaches 16 power.
2. Cast Berserk.
3. Tifa becomes 32 power!

Berserk also gives trample, although Tifa already has it.

Warning: If Tifa attacks that turn, Berserk destroys her at the beginning of the next end step.

Usually that doesn't matter because we're trying to win immediately!

Tifa's Limit Break

This instant has three modes:

Somersault: One green mana total for +2/+2.

Meteor Strikes: Three mana total to double a creature's power and toughness.

Final Heaven: Eight mana total to triple its power and toughness.

The cheapest mode is useful early. Meteor Strikes is an excellent finisher, while Final Heaven can create enormous attacks in longer games.

Beginner tip: Two cheap pump spells plus a fetch land can be stronger than one expensive spell.

6. Haste and Unblockable Attacks

Normally, Tifa cannot attack on the turn we cast her.

Haste changes that.

Concordant Crossroads

Gives all creatures haste, including the opponent's.

It's excellent for attacking immediately with Tifa.

However, don't give our opponent haste without considering what they might do with it.

Lavaspur Boots

Gives the equipped creature haste and ward, making Tifa harder to target.

Skateboard

Gives the equipped creature +1/+0 and haste.

When Skateboard enters, it also taps an opposing permanent.

This can tap a blocker or an important artifact before our attack.

Escape Tunnel — Make Tifa unblockable!

This is one of our strongest tricks.

Escape Tunnel can make a creature with power two or less unblockable for the turn.

The important part is using it before Tifa becomes enormous.

1. Tifa starts as a 1/2 creature.
2. Activate Escape Tunnel targeting Tifa.
3. Let the ability resolve while her power is still two or less.
4. Now cast pump spells and create landfall triggers.
5. Attack with an enormous unblockable Tifa!

Even if Tifa reaches 24 or 32 power afterward, she remains unblockable that turn.

Important: Don't increase Tifa's power above two before Escape Tunnel's ability resolves, or the ability won't work.

Escape Tunnel can alternatively search for a basic land, creating landfall. We must choose which ability we're using when we sacrifice it.

Beginner tip: An unblockable 21-power Tifa is usually more dangerous than a 40-power Tifa facing several blockers.

7. How to Protect Tifa

Our opponent knows how dangerous Tifa is.

They'll often try to remove her before she attacks.

That's why protection is so important.

Hexproof protection

These cards help stop targeted removal:

• Blossoming Defense
• Ranger's Guile
• Snakeskin Veil
• Vines of Vastwood
• Royal Treatment
• Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• Gaea's Gift
• Overprotect
• Tyvar's Stand

Many of these also increase Tifa's power, making them useful for both protection and attacking.

Our strongest protection spells

Overprotect: Gives +3/+3, hexproof, and indestructible.

Tyvar's Stand: Gives hexproof and indestructible, with additional power if we pay extra mana.

Tamiyo's Safekeeping: Gives hexproof and indestructible while gaining two life.

Gaea's Gift: Gives a permanent +1/+1 counter alongside temporary protection and combat abilities.

Vines of Vastwood: Stops opponents from targeting Tifa. If kicked, it also gives +4/+4.

Legolas's Quick Reflexes

This is one of our most powerful tricks.

It has split second, meaning opponents usually cannot respond with spells or ordinary activated abilities while it's on the stack.

It untaps Tifa and gives her hexproof and a special ability.

Whenever Tifa becomes tapped, she can deal damage equal to her power to another creature.

Here's the trick:

1. Cast Legolas's Quick Reflexes before declaring attackers.
2. Make Tifa enormous with pump spells and landfall.
3. Attack with Tifa, tapping her.
4. Her new ability triggers and can destroy an opposing creature before blockers are declared!

If we cast Quick Reflexes after Tifa is already tapped from attacking, that earlier tap won't trigger the damage ability.

Talon Gates of Madara

Talon Gates can phase out a creature when it enters.

We can even put it onto the battlefield from our hand for four mana.

This can save Tifa from removal, but a phased-out Tifa won't deal combat damage that turn.

Wild Shape

Wild Shape provides several useful creature transformations, including a mode that gives hexproof.

It's another way to protect Tifa when necessary, although changing her base power and toughness may affect our damage calculations.

Beginner tip: Before attempting a winning attack, ask ourselves: "Can I protect Tifa from one removal spell?"

8. Our Backup Win: Infect

Sometimes our opponent repeatedly removes Tifa or makes commander damage difficult.

We can still win using infect.

Infect creatures give opponents poison counters instead of reducing their life total.

Ten poison counters wins the game!

Glistener Elf

Glistener Elf is a 1/1 creature with infect.

Here's a simple combination:

1. Attack with Glistener Elf.
2. Cast Invigorate, making it 5/5.
3. Cast Berserk, doubling its power to 10.
4. If the attack connects, the opponent receives ten poison counters and loses!

We don't need Tifa for this win.

Inkmoth Nexus

Inkmoth Nexus is a land that can become a 1/1 flying infect creature.

Once it's a creature, we can increase its power using our pump spells.

A flying infect attacker can be difficult to block.

Finding our infect creatures

Green Sun's Zenith can find Glistener Elf.

Summoner's Pact can also find Glistener Elf.

Crop Rotation can search for Inkmoth Nexus.

Beginner tip: Tifa wins with 21 commander damage. Glistener Elf and Inkmoth Nexus win with ten poison counters. Don't confuse the two!

9. Our Most Useful Artifacts

Urza's Saga

Urza's Saga can search for an artifact with mana cost zero or one and put it directly onto the battlefield.

Our best choices include:

Lavaspur Boots: Give Tifa haste and protection.

Skateboard: Give haste and tap an opposing permanent.

Skyclave Pick-Axe: Extra power from landfall.

Adventuring Gear: More power from landfall.

Mox Amber: Produce green mana while we control Tifa.

Sol Ring: Produce extra mana.

Jeweled Lotus: Help cast Tifa.

Chaos Emerald: Provide a burst of mana.

Remember that putting an artifact onto the battlefield with Saga isn't the same as casting it.

Secret trick: Skateboard turns off Trinisphere!

Trinisphere makes inexpensive spells cost at least three mana.

That's extremely dangerous for our deck because we rely on cheap pump and protection spells.

But Trinisphere only works while it's untapped!

Here's our surprise play:

1. Urza's Saga reaches its third chapter.
2. Search for Skateboard and put it directly onto the battlefield.
3. Skateboard's enter-the-battlefield ability targets the opponent's Trinisphere.
4. Tap Trinisphere.
5. While Trinisphere remains tapped, its cost restriction doesn't apply!

Now we can cast our cheap spells at their normal costs and attempt our winning attack before Trinisphere untaps.

Because Saga puts Skateboard directly onto the battlefield, we don't need to cast Skateboard through Trinisphere.

Skyclave Pick-Axe and Adventuring Gear

Both Equipment cards give the equipped creature +2/+2 whenever a land enters under our control.

They work incredibly well with Tifa!

Here's the important trick:

If an Equipment and Tifa both trigger from the same land, we can make the Equipment's bonus resolve first.

Then Tifa doubles her newly increased power.

With a fetch land, the bonuses and doubling triggers can create an enormous attacker.

Seal of Strength and Briar Shield

These cards let us prepare pump effects ahead of time.

Seal of Strength: Sacrifice it to give Tifa +3/+3.

Briar Shield: Gives +1/+1 while attached. We can sacrifice it for a larger temporary boost, although we lose its original +1/+1 bonus when it leaves.

Both help us prepare a big attack without holding every pump spell in our hand.

10. Other Powerful Tricks

Green Sun's Zenith

Searches for a green creature and puts it directly onto the battlefield.

Useful choices include:

Dryad Arbor: A creature that's also a Forest. It triggers Tifa's landfall when it enters.

Glistener Elf: Our infect backup plan.

Lotus Cobra: Generates mana from landfall.

Allosaurus Shepherd: Makes green spells harder to stop with counterspells.

Haywire Mite: Can remove a troublesome artifact or enchantment.

Allosaurus Shepherd

Allosaurus Shepherd makes our green spells unable to be countered.

That includes Tifa and most of our pump spells.

This is especially useful against blue decks.

Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Yavimaya makes all lands Forests in addition to their other types.

That makes several of our cards better:

Arbor Elf: Can untap more of our lands.

Utopia Sprawl: Can enchant more of our lands.

Invigorate: Its alternate casting cost is easier to use.

Remember that Yavimaya also helps our opponent's lands produce green mana.

Strip Mine, Ghost Quarter, and Boseiju

These help stop opposing lands and other troublesome permanents.

Strip Mine: Destroys a land.

Ghost Quarter: Destroys a land, although its controller may find a basic land.

Boseiju, Who Endures: Can remove certain artifacts, enchantments, and nonbasic lands.

These give us useful interaction without taking up too many slots that could be pump spells.

11. Common Mistakes to Avoid

Pumping after landfall: We often get much more power by casting pump spells before the doubling abilities resolve.

Sacrificing fetch lands too early: Save landfall triggers for the turn we're attacking.

Ignoring blockers: A 24-power Tifa isn't necessarily lethal through a blocker that absorbs four damage.

Using Escape Tunnel too late: Its ability must resolve while Tifa's power is two or less.

Forgetting summoning sickness: Tifa cannot normally attack on the turn she enters without haste.

Wasting protection: One saved protection spell can be more valuable than another pump spell.

Confusing poison and commander damage: Infect needs ten poison counters; Tifa needs 21 commander damage.

Forgetting Berserk's drawback: Tifa may be destroyed at the next end step if she attacked.

12. Ten Tips to Become a Better Tifa Player

1. Plan our opening hand. Look for mana, landfall, and pump spells.
2. Pump first, then double. This makes Tifa grow much faster.
3. Remember fetch lands often trigger twice. One from entering, another from the land they find.
4. Save surprise landfall. Crop Rotation and Harrow can change combat unexpectedly.
5. Count commander damage correctly. We need 21 damage to reach the opponent.
6. Protect Tifa. Don't risk a winning attack unnecessarily.
7. Use haste intelligently. Concordant Crossroads and our Equipment can help win immediately.
8. Remember Escape Tunnel. Make Tifa unblockable before increasing her power.
9. Keep infect in mind. Glistener Elf and Inkmoth Nexus offer another route to victory.
10. Practice the damage math. Recognizing lethal attacks is the most important skill in this deck.

Final Advice

The most important lesson about Tifa is simple:

We don't need to attack many times. We need to make one attack count!

Sometimes a fetch land doubles Tifa's power twice.

Sometimes Scale Up creates a 24-power attacker.

Sometimes Escape Tunnel makes her impossible to block.

Sometimes Urza's Saga finds Skateboard and turns off Trinisphere.

And sometimes our opponent stops Tifa, so we win with infect instead.

Start by practicing Scale Up plus a fetch land, learning when to protect Tifa, and counting how much damage gets through blockers.

The goal is to play quickly, calculate carefully, protect our winning attack, and deliver one enormous knockout punch!