At long last, Wizards of the Coast have pulled back the curtain on Magic: The Gathering—Final Fantasy, a full-fledged set for the world’s premier trading card game based entirely on the prestigious video game franchise. Since PAX East last weekend, fans have been marvelling at each new card and piece of artwork trickling out each day, depicting beloved characters and moments from the series’ 16 main entries.
And today, CGMagazine is fortunate to be able to show you not one, not two, but three new cards from Magic: The Gathering—Final Fantasy.
To preface these exciting reveals, let’s quickly go over the different groups of cards included in this sweeping crossover. There are three “subsets” that new cards fall into, and you can identify which is which by the 3-letter abbreviation in the bottom left of the card. The main set (FIN) contains 309 cards total; the 4 premade Commander decks (FIC) contain 25 original cards; and “FINAL FANTASY Through The Ages” (FCA) has a total of 64 cards.
The Through the Ages represent the “bonus sheet” reprints for this set; you’ll find one non-foil Through the Ages card in every three Play Boosters, and one in every Collector Booster in either non-foil or traditional foil. What separates these from the rest is that they feature iconic, existing artwork from the master illustrators who have defined Final Fantasy‘s aesthetic over the years.
And as it happens, our three preview cards today all fall within the FINAL FANTASY Through the Ages line! So without further ado, let’s stroll down memory lane…
Vayne Carudas Solidor (Fynn, the Fangbearer)
Ivalice fans, rejoice! Archadia’s would-be Dynast King, Vayne Carudas Solidor, appears as in FINAL FANTASY Through the Ages, depicted in his promotional artwork from Final Fantasy XII. The main antagonist of this underappreciated PS2 classic lurks behind his younger (and more benevolent) brother, Larsa.
Like other cards on this “bonus sheet,” Vayne is a reskin of an existing card—in this case, Fynn, the Fangbearer from Kaldheim. As such, he brings yet another returning mechanic into Magic: The Gathering—Final Fantasy, poison counters. For the uninitiated, poison counters offer an alternate way to win (or lose) the game. A player can take up to ten poison counters, and upon receiving the last one, they lose the game. Worse, there’s no way to remove them from players.
Since the mechanic harkens back to MTG‘s greatest villains, the Phyrexians, it’s fitting that Final Fantasy XII‘s ultimate antagonist should bear their signature mechanic in this crossover. Those who’ve beaten the original game may even see a deeper connection between these two forces—like the Phyrexians, Vayne’s final boss form melds mechanical and organic matter together.
Orphan, Cocoon fal’Cie (Muldrotha, the Gravetide)
Continuing in the theme of final antagonists, our second FINAL FANTASY Through The Ages preview card is Orphan, Cocoon fal’Cie from Final Fantasy XIII. Chikako Nakano’s concept artwork shows the terrifying first phase of his fight, the final battle of the game and a scourge to many players. You can even see the inscription on the blade part of his eldritch form on the card.
Orphan is a reskin of Muldrotha, the Gravetide from Dominaria. 6 mana (3BGU) for a beefy 6/6 is a fair enough trade, but its real value comes from its ability to play a land and a permanent spell of each permanent type from your graveyard on each turn. (There are 5 types of permanent spells: Creature, Artifact, Enchantment, Planeswalker, and Battle; Lands are technically permanents, but they aren’t spells.)
This is invaluable for decks that want to dump a lot of cards into the graveyard and sneak them onto the battlefield a different way, or even for recovering cards that your opponent has already removed from play. It is worth noting, however, that you still have to cast spells this way at the appropriate times. If you’ve already played a land from your hand, for instance, you can’t play a second land with Orphan/Muldrotha, and the timing for Instants and Sorceries still applies.
(And while we’re discussing its final boss, how about a Final Fantasy XIII remaster, Square Enix? Eh?)
Baron Rivalry (Deadly Dispute)
Our final card today doesn’t feature a main antagonist, but it does feature a prominent character who’s known for temporarily betraying the heroes. It also happens to be one of my favourite pieces of artwork from Final Fantasy IV‘s 3D remake, illustrated by Airi Yoshioka.
Baron Rivalry depicts Cecil and Kain aboard one of Baron’s renowned airships, squaring off with Floating Eyes like those Cecil encounters in the game’s intro. For 1B mana, the caster sacrifices an artifact or creature to draw two cards and create a Treasure token. This sort of trick is useful in the early game for drawing the cards you need to get running, so it’s fitting that this FINAL FANTASY Through The Ages rendition illustrates it with the combat tutorial from the classic 16-bit adventure.
The original Deadly Dispute depicted a classic Dungeons & Dragons rogue doing roguely things, so the “new” artwork is a very fresh take on the card’s flavour. Coincidentally, the original version was first printed in MTG‘s first wildly popular crossover set, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. There would be no Final Fantasy without the influence of D&D, so not only does Baron Rivalry feature two beloved heroes from FFIV, it also helps this set come full circle and pay some homage to the proto-RPG that inspired it all.
And there you have it! Stay tuned to CGMagazine for more coverage of Magic: The Gathering—Final Fantasy ahead of its full release on June 13.
