Tiered in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Fire Magic | Illustration by Toni Infante

MTG’s mana system lends itself well to flexible cards, and while it's important to play plenty of cheap spells, many times we want our spells to have a little more oomph in the late game. Next in a long line of “kicker-style” mechanics is tiered, a way to increase the impact of your spells and feel like you're developing your own JRPG Final Fantasy mage character. Or healer. Or support character. Let’s see how tiered works and how we can best develop our different magic tiers!

How Does Tiered Work in MTG?

Cloud's Limit Break | Illustration by Billy Christian

Tiered is a mechanic that allows a spell's caster to amplify its effect by paying more mana, like how kicker works (insert the obligatory every mechanic is just kicker joke). When you cast a tiered spell, you choose one effect and pay the obligatory extra costs. The first one is always , so that’s the default mode.

A tiered spell always has three similar modes, varying in power level depending on how much mana you spend on it, effectively mimicking how spellcasters in RPG games get stronger and evolve their signature magic spells. It’s quite different than cards like charms, where you always pay the same amount of mana and choose between three or more different effects.

The History of Tiered in MTG

Tiered is a mechanic found on instant cards only, and the first sets to have it were Final Fantasy (FIN) and Final Fantasy Commander (FIC) in 2025. There are seven tiered spells across all colors, representing common effects found in RPGs like damage spells, ice spells, special attacks, and summon spells. Tiered is similar to many mechanics from Magic's past that let you pay extra mana for a great effect, such as kicker, escalate, and spree. Tiered gets very close to a mix of kicker and multikicker on instants.

What Is the Mana Value of a Tiered Spell?

According to WotC’s official FAQ: “a spell's mana value is always based on that spell's mana cost.” A tiered card will always have a mana value based on the mana cost printed in the upper right corner. A card’s mana value is different from how much mana was paid to cast the spell.

When Do You Pay the Additional Cost?

The mode you choose is announced as soon as you put the spell on the stack, and you pay the costs immediately after. With Thunder Magic, you can pay to do 2 damage, or to do 4 damage, or to deal 8 damage to a creature. You can't switch the mode or put extra mana into it once you've already selected another mode.

Are Tiered Cards Modal Spells?

Yes, tiered spells count as modal spells. They have a bulleted list with reminder text that instructs you to “choose one.” This distinction really only matters for the purposes of Riku of Many Paths.

Can You Pay Extra Mana to Add Additional Modes?

You can’t. With tiered, you can only choose one version of the spell and pay that additional cost. It’s slightly different from the mechanic spree in that regard, where you can choose all modes if you have the necessary mana.

Can You Use Tiered Modes if You Cast it Without Paying its Mana Cost?

You can, but you have to pay the additional cost separately. For example, if something instructs you to cast Ice Magic “without paying its mana cost,” you could cast the Blizzard mode for free, though the other two modes are available if you pay the additional costs.

Does the Name of a Tiered Spell Change?

No, the name of a tiered spell is always the printed name on the card. For example, Ice Magic will always have that name, regardless of whether you use the Blizzard, Blizzara, or Blizzaga mode. The text in italics are flavor words that expand the card’s design.

What Happens if You Copy a Tiered Spell?

If you copy a tiered spell, you’ll copy the same mode chosen when you cast it. You can’t pay more mana to choose a different tier, but you also don't have to pay the additional cost again, either. You can, of course, choose new targets for the copy.

Tiered vs. Spree

Tiered and spree are very similar mechanics with key differences. With spree, you can choose all the spell’s modes if you pay enough mana for all of them, while tiered cards only let you choose one mode. So even if you have a lot of mana, at most you can choose the most expensive mode on a tiered spell. Another small difference is that the additional cost for the first mode of tiered cards is always free, while spree cards always cost at least for their cheapest mode.

What’s the Importance of Tiered in Final Fantasy?

Tiered demonstrates the skill progression in spellcasting characters, showing different tiers of the same magic. For example, the card Restoration Magic shows that healer characters often learn cure first, which is a light healing spell, then after a few levels they learn cura, and later at higher levels, they learn curaga, a more powerful version (which usually offers full heal).

Employing MTG’s mana system, you can have the same card work as the different skill tiers, whether you use less or more mana. Mage characters in RPGs usually spend more mana (magic points) to cast more powerful magic, so there’s another parallel to MTG’s mana system.

Tiered was also used to represent a few limit breaks from Final Fantasy VII characters. There are progressively stronger ultimate attacks, which were represented by paying extra mana for their more powerful limit breaks.

Gallery and List of Tiered Cards

• Cloud's Limit Break
• Fire Magic
• Ice Magic
• Tifa's Limit Break
• Thunder Magic
• Restoration Magic
• Vincent's Limit Break

Best Tiered Cards

#3. Tifa’s Limit Break

Tifa's Limit Break works wonders with Tifa themself, be it the Tifa Lockhart version or the Tifa, Martial Artist one. It’s going to be an interesting combat trick to watch in RG decks that already use cards like Heartfire Hero with Monstrous Rage.

#2. Restoration Magic

Restoration Magic offers a playable mode right away, protecting a key creature such as your commander for a single . This card should see play in Constructed formats like Standard and EDH. The fact that you can get a bunch of life later is just a little plus. It doesn’t hurt that you can protect your whole team for 5 mana, very relevant in EDH to survive your opponent’s wrath effects.

#1. Cloud’s Limit Break

Cloud's Limit Break offers removal at instant speed, an effect that’s always relevant. This one is tailor-made for EDH, considering that you can get up to three tapped creatures in a regular Commander pod for just 3 mana, making it a possible format staple. Plus, you get a wrath variant in the last mode.

Wrap Up

Thunder Magic | Illustration by Josephine Chang

Tiered is a mechanic that fits Limited environments very well, with the potential to blend into Constructed here and there. Having Shock and Electrify mixed together in the same card is valuable, considering that both cards should see regular play in Draft and Sealed. We have a few low-power cards with the mechanic, considering that there’s not a whole lot of different magic types in Final Fantasy, so they even adapted Limit Breaks using this mechanic.

Considering that MTG's Avatar: The Last Airbender releases in 2025, I bet we’ll see more tiered cards in MTG, although the flavor really fits RPGs and their skill progression trees. In any case, WotC designers are probably opting for more flexible mechanics when they need this kind of effect.

What are your takes on tiered, guys? Are you playing any of these in your decks? Let me know in the comments section below, or drop us a message over our Draftsim Twitter/X.

Thanks for reading, and good luck on your FF booster openings!