Summary
- MTG x FF set drops June 13 and includes Commander decks, Play Boosters, and Collector Boosters.
- Cards like The Gold Saucer, The Lunar Whale, and Vayne's Treachery are faithful adaptations.
- The Gold Saucer, inspired by FF7: Rebirth, serves as a valuable Land with unique effects.
June 13 is going to be a massive day for Magic: The Gathering, as the highly anticipated crossover with Final Fantasy will finally become available for purchase, and its cards will be playable across all formats - including Standard. Despite the controversy surrounding Universes Beyond sets due to concerns that this dilutes the MTG IP, something that became even more prominent within the community after the announcement that UB sets in 2025 would be Standard-legal, the Final Fantasy set holds great promise in terms of cards and how faithful the adaptation is.
MTG x Final Fantasy will include Commander decks dedicated to four of the 16 mainline games as well as regular Play Boosters, Collector Boosters (from which fans can get the rare, serialized golden Chocobo card), and other products. The Best War Games has the privilege of revealing three new MTG x FF cards, whose inspirations span three different entries in the mainline series. These cards are as follows:
- The Gold Saucer
- The Lunar Whale
- Vayne's Treachery
Why Now is the Perfect Time to Play Four Specific Final Fantasy Games
Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming Universes Beyond crossover with Final Fantasy gives four entries some extra attention, and fans should follow suit.
The Gold Saucer - The Beating Heart of Gaia
Most recently seen in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, the Gold Saucer is an area dedicated to easing away from the tension of the story and having some fun through mini-games, like Chocobo racing, and also winning some prizes in the meantime. In Magic: The Gathering, this iconic location is a Land that adds one Colorless mana, but it also has additional effects that reflect the nature of the place in the Square Enix series.
For two mana of any color and by tapping The Gold Saucer, players can flip a coin and create a Treasure token if they win the flip. This can pair nicely with the new Edgar, King of Figaro FF card, which guarantees that the first time its owner flips one or more coins on a turn, they all come out as heads. The second ability The Gold Saucer has requires three mana of any color and tapping the Land, then players can sacrifice two Artifacts and draw a card, tying in with the previous Treasure token effect.
There are many good Artifact-based decks in Magic: The Gathering, so this card is likely to see some play in at least one or two formats. Commander would be ideal for it, too.
The Lunar Whale - The Ultimate Mount For Map Night
First introduced as one of Final Fantasy 4's ships, notably the one that allows players to go to the Moon, it made its glorious return in Final Fantasy 14 as an 8-seater mount. This is particularly useful for running a smooth treasure map night with friends in Final Fantasy 14, as it's easier to coordinate things with a full party in one place.
In terms of its card game version, The Lunar Whale is a vehicle card in Magic: The Gathering, as it makes perfect sense considering the ship's history and how it can be translated into gameplay mechanics. This is a 4-CMC (3 mana of any color, 1 Blue) Legendary Artifact card with 3 power and 5 toughness, Flying, Crew 1, and some additional abilities. The first is that it allows players to look at the top card of their libraries, and the second makes that card playable if The Lunar Whale attacked that turn.
Vayne's Treachery - Overturning an Empire With Schemes
Fully inspired by the events of Final Fantasy 12, Vayne's Treachery is a representation of the main villain of the game killing his father and making it seem like an orchestrated case of regicide by other characters. Ever the mastermind, Vayne uses his influence and manipulation techniques to get what he wants.
The collab between Final Fantasy and MTG allows Vayne's Treachery to make for a potentially great Instant card that is relatively cheap. Costing one mana of any color and one Black mana, Vayne's Treachery gives -2/-2 to a chosen Creature, but it also has the Kicker keyword, requiring players to sacrifice an Artifact or Creature if they want to pay the extra cost. In this case, the instant makes the target Creature get -6/-6 until the end of the turn, which in most cases equals that creature being destroyed.
Magic: The Gathering
- Original Release Date
- August 5, 1993
- Publisher
- Wizards of the Coast
- Designer
- Richard Garfield
- Player Count
- 2+
- Age Recommendation
- 13+