Ever since Final Fantasy VIII’s Triple Triad sank its hooks in me at a young age, the desire for a properly compelling Final Fantasy trading card game in the real world has occupied an unreasonable amount of space in my mind. The launch of the very aptly-named Final Fantasy Trading Card Game back in the early 2010s was certainly a step toward that, but between a just-okay table game and inconsistent (generous term) card art, it wasn’t a critical hit.
So, when Magic the Gathering announced that its next big crossover set would feature Square Enix’ eclectic RPG behemoth, well, my hopes rose from the ashes like a summoned Phoenix. And after being sent a sample kit of card packs in various forms, and semi-reluctantly bolstering that with some purchases of my own, I can confirm that Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond – Final Fantasy is the commercially-motivated medley of IP that my heart desires and my wallet dreads.
There are a number of reasons to call this massive new set a success, and the most obvious one for someone like myself that doesn’t always have time to play TCGs but is perfectly happy filling binders up with shiny cardboard – the art. The almost-600 cards contained within (inclusive of variants) are universally wonderful visual pieces that make for compelling collecting whether you’re a Magic veteran or a visiting FF fan.
With cards spanning every mainline game from the original Final Fantasy through 2023’s stellar Final Fantasy XVI, the art in this set benefits greatly from decades of shifts and evolutions in visual direction, contemporary style and technology. It shows in hand-drawn portraits, painterly scenes, fresh interpretations, iconic CG images and of course a healthy catalogue of Amano pieces. If you have a favourite character from across the franchise, there’s a decent chance you’ll have multiple original works that depict them to collect.
As to be expected, there’s a heavy lean towards some specific entries in the series (I’ll let you guess which) but even as a Final Fantasy VIII tragic I’ve managed to find myself with dozens of fantastic-looking cards to strive for.
More than just hundreds of pretty faces though, MtG’s Final Fantasy foray is a formidable entry into the game proper and one that absolutely earns its spot as the inaugural all-format-legal Universes Beyond release. Once again, the winners here are Final Fantasy diehards looking to see the long and storied history of the franchise woven anew into the rich tapestry of Magic: The Gathering. It could have been an easy dunk given how much both properties owe to classical tabletop role-playing, but the set’s designers have gone above and (Universes) beyond to work Final Fantasy’s familiar idiosyncrasies into the game’s feature set.
Unique new mechanics abound in this set, drawing inspiration from ideas seen across Final Fantasy’s decades of mainline entries. Most are elegant remixes of traditional MtG functions, like Tiered instant spells that allow players to choose higher costs for more powerful flavours of magic (eg. Fire, Fira, Firaga), or the merging of Sagas and Creatures to create the set’s “Summons,” temporary invocations with multi-turn boons that can also help out in a scrap.
The new Job Select mechanic is especially neat, arriving in the form of Equipment cards that generate Hero tokens as they enter, essentially giving the casting player a free (albeit low-powered) creature and skipping the equip cost. These pieces of equipment are based on iconic Final Fantasy jobs, from the entries that had those, and so pass the inherent properties onto the generated Hero token – it’s a great bit of theming that’s also an interesting wrinkle on a mainstay Magic mechanic in its own right.
To play with a Magic: The Gathering x Final Fantasy deck is to play with serious power, too. There are some truly devious and gleefully fun individual cards on offer here, including some ripper potential commanders. Commander players are already worshipping cards like Vivi Ornitier and the transforming, double-sided Kefka, Court Mage / Kefka, Ruler of Ruin, which bodes well for me and my fellow Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy VI sickos.
As far as product offering goes, entrenching itself as a totally legal set means that Universes Beyond – Final Fantasy is launching with the full gamut of SKUs. New players can pick up a tidy Starter Kit that includes a pair of Cloud and Sephiroth-themed beginner decks, there’s a standard Bundle and a fancier Gift Bundle, four unique precon Commander Decks based on Final Fantasy VI, VII, X and XIV, and of course your choice of Play and Collector Boosters. That is to say, there are myriad ways to blow way too much money on this thing.
But I think that’s where this set impresses me. This, more than any other Magic: The Gathering IP crossover effort in recent memory, feels like more than just an exercise in branding and revenue generation. It’d be foolish to suggest it was anything but those two things, but the facade is that much more convincing when it’s clear the thing was made with genuine reverence for the subject. This is undoubtedly a Magic set by Final Fantasy fans, for Final Fantasy fans, and specifically for Final Fantasy fans who actually want to play a darn good TCG.
Review kit for Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond – Final Fantasy supplied by the publisher
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