PAX East: Magic: the Gathering - Final Fantasy Reveals Cards From Each Mainline Game, Included A Serialized Gold Chocobo

Magic: The Gathering finally got its big Final Fantasy reveal today at PAX East, with the team at Wizards of the Coast pulling the curtain back on many of the cards players can soon shuffle up and play when the new set arrives on June 13th. With cards spanning the sixteen mainline games in the Final Fantasy series, we got a look at a few cards from each of the games that are coming to this massive Universe's Beyond set. 

Magic: The Gathering X Final Fantasy has the distinction of being the first of the Universe's Beyond sets to enter the rotation as legal in all formats, including Standard, so it's going to be interesting to see how things stack up, especially as MagicCon Vegas features the Final Fantasy Pro Tour. The new set will bring new mechanics, card types and a Golden Saucer's worth of flavor to the mix, each tying into the story and characters from the iconic JRPG series. 

For Fans of Magic And Final Fantasy Alike

With many of Magic's Universe's Beyond sets, it's not just about the artwork on the front of the card. It's about encapsulating the look, the feel, and the heart behind the iconic franchises the Wizards of the Coast team is collaborating with. Working alongside Square Enix, the team at Wizards largely responsible for the direction of the Final Fantasy set are some of the biggest Final Fantasy fans I've encountered. The passion each one brings exudes even through the screen during a digital press briefing ahead of today's announcement. 

It honestly reminds me of the Lord of the Rings: Tales From Middle-earth set released a few years back and how it was clear that the developers making each card, designing each piece of art and more were incredible fans of Tolkien's world. It felt like a love letter to Tolkien's subcreation, and from what I've seen in Final Fantasy's UB treatment, the same is happening here.

It is difficult, obviously, to encapsulate every character, every story beat, and every iconic reference across all sixteen mainline games without leaving something out. It's a reason why we are only seeing the mainline games portrayed across the main set and its Commander decks and not the sequels or special entries, meaning we won't see cards from Final Fantasy Tactics or Final Fantasy X-2 portrayed. But there is still plenty to pull from across the sixteen games in the series, from characters, moments, weapons, and more.

Job Select

Jobs are central to many Final Fantasy experiences, most notably recently with Final Fantasy XIV. The team at Wizards wanted to make sure that selecting your Job was still something that was portrayed in the Magic set, so we see a set of equipment cards with this keyword associated with them. 

Described by Gavin Verhey, lead designer on the Final Fantasy set, as a riff on the For Mirrodin! keyword from a few sets ago, Job Select creates a creature when the equipment enters, Hero tokens, which is a brand new token creature type in Magic: The Gathering debuting with this set. 

What makes this different from either For Mirrodin! or Living Weapon is that the Job Select creature gains some sort of bonus while weilding the weapon that is associated with the Job Archetype in Final Fantasy. 

White Mage's Staff, for example, turns your Hero creature token (or any creature it's attached to) into a Cleric, gives the creature +1/+1 and gains you one life whenever the creature attacks. Black Mage's Rod, however, turns your creature into a Wizard in addition to its other types, gives the creature +1/+0 and deals 1 damage whenever it attacks, fully on theme with a Black Mage in Final Fantasy. 

Powerful Summons

Final Fantasy is known for its powerful Summon creatures, from Bahamut to Shiva. Magic's set brings those to bear as Enchantment Creature Summons that operate much like Sagas do, but are also creatures you can attack and block with. 

The Saga playstyle is pretty flavorful since Summons don't stick around long on the battlefield in Final Fantasy, and as a result, these Summons won't stick around long either, whether they become the target of removal and interaction all their own, or they count down their Sagas till they are complete. 

Additionally, some creatures can turn into Summons, mirroring their own stories from within their games. Final Fantasy VI's Terra can transform into Esper Terra, while Clive, Ifrit's Dominant can transform into Ifrit himself - and both will return to the battlefield (barring removal) as their creature forms, ready to do it all over again. 

Meld

Meld is making a return with one Melded creature available thanks to two characters from Final Fantasy XIII. Vanille, Cheerful I'Cie and Fang, Fearless I'Cie find themselves able to Meld into Ragnarok, Devine Deliverance - and since they are uncommons this will be something that pops off in limited formats like Sealed and Draft. So look forward to the giant 7/6 terrorizing your battlefield at an FNM near you. 

Cid, Reincarnated

Cid is a mainstay in Final Fantasy, with pretty much every major game in the series having a character named Cid. Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy is paying homage to this by releasing fifteen different artworks for Cid (though they are all mechanically identical), each one representing a Cid from the games.

An almost, Oops, All Cid's situation going on here.

Samba de Chocobo!

What would a Final Fantasy set be without its Chocobos? Traveling Chocobo represents this iconic creature, and it's getting the collector's treatment in a big way, highlighting the various types of Chocobos you can catch and breed in Final Fantasy VII. The pinnacle of these is the Golden Traveling Chocobo, of which only 77 are made and is the only serialized card in the set. 

So Much More

There is still a ton to be revealed with Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy, and the next few weeks will see cards showcased from creators and websites across the internet (including us and our sister site, MTG Salvation). The set itself releases on June 13th with pre-release happening the weekend before. Check out the full card gallery below to see if your favorite character was revealed during today's panel.