This year’s main Magic: The Gathering (MTG) crossover event features the characters and world of the Final Fantasy franchise.
Characters across classic and beloved video game series will feature on all-new cards for the popular tabletop card game.
Final Fantasy adds to the list of MTG’s Universes Beyond series, which has previously featured Marvel, Assassin’s Creed, Doctor Who, Dungeons & Dragons, and more.
Final Fantasy headlines Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond
Similar to last year’s The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, this set of cards, decks, and promotions will be MTG’s main crossover event of the year.
The set was originally announced at MTG’s 30th Anniversary Panel at GenCon in Indianapolis, USA.
Since then, the hype has been building with MTG owners, Wizards of the Coast pushing hard on promotion for the past month.
The cards from this mainline set will be legal in all formats of MTG, including the popular Standard and Commander formats.
Alongside the regular Final Fantasy set, MTG will also release bonus Through the Ages cards.
These special cards will feature Final Fantasy-themed designs for existing MTG cards.
Characters from each game in the Final Fantasy series will make an appearance, giving every fan a chase card to try to pull.
There are 64 of these Through the Ages cards in total, four for each Final Fantasy game.
Along the way, players can hunt for the adorable Travelling Chocobo, which are available in four colours of pink, green, yellow, and blue.
A special black Japanese language Travelling Chocobo can be found in all packs, whilst the extremely rare serialised golden Travelling Chocobo can only be found in collector boosters.
How to play Final Fantasy in Magic: The Gathering?
The latest set for MTG will feature new ways how cards work and affect the game, known as mechanics.
There’ll be three new mechanics introduced for MTG x Final Fantasy for players to learn and enjoy.
A mechanic familiar to Final Fantasy fans, Tiered is a new way to cast spells in the game.
Giving extra bonuses on spells to those who can afford the cost, whilst surpassing certain penalties to converted mana costs.
Saga Creatures are the new kid on the block, a variation of the permanent type Saga.
These cards can deal out damage whilst giving passive bonuses at the start of the player’s turn.
Job Select might not be the escapism that players were looking for, but this mechanic makes sure that there’s a body to attach your equipment to.
Retuning MTG mechanics include:
- Transforming Double-Faced Cards- creatures and other permanents can transform to reveal a nasty surprise for opponents
- Adventures- these cheerful cards can go on an adventure after their first cast before returning one again, giving double the value in a single card
- Landcycling- for when you have too many options and not enough mana, players can effectively swap out useless cards to give themselves more mana for the rest of the game.
How much are the Final Fantasy cards?
As is tradition, players can buy booster packs, which work in the same way as loot boxes, just in physical form.
Play boosters offer the standard set of 14 cards with a guaranteed slot of one being either Rare or Mythic at £8.
Collector Boosters offer 15 cards with a high chance of Rare and Mythic cards, alongside special card variations, but at a steeper price tag of around £30.
To help new players jump on board, they can buy pre-made (aka precon) decks, which can be played right out of the box.
The Starter Kit features Cloud battling against Sephiroth with two precon 60-card decks headlined by the aforementioned main characters to lead them into battle.
Currently, the Starter Kit is selling at £15.99, however, prices may vary depending on your local game store.
In addition to this, there are four new precon Commander decks alongside a collector’s edition version for each.
The decks feature Cloud (again, but a different version), Terra, Tidus, and Y’shtola as the ‘Commander’ or main theme of the deck.
Included with the precon deck is a deckbox, a how-to-play reference card, and a collector booster sample pack.
Standard Commander decks are sold at roughly £60, whilst their Collector’s Edition counterparts are at £160 for shiny foil versions of the decks.
Finally, for the collectors, you can buy various bundles which include multiple packs.
The Gift Bundle offers nine play boosters with two traditional foil extended-art cards, alongside mana, known as lands, and a spindown d20.
At roughly £65, this bundle is designed for players who want to start building a collection to eventually make a deck of their own.
Alternatively, fans can buy a lot of packs, either from booster boxes or separately.
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