Before it was ever officially revealed to players, Wizards of the Coast knew that it had something special on its hands with theFinal FantasyUniverses Beyond set forMagic: The Gathering. While it was only just released on June 13, Wizards of the Coast and Square Enix began working on theFinal Fantasyset roughly 5 years ago, which means it predates the very first official Universes Beyond set forWarhammer: 40,000.That level of care and attention to detail in both the design of the cards and their place as the first Standard Legal set in the Universes Beyond line has resulted inFinal Fantasybeing an unprecedented success, and it stands to serve as a benchmark for futureMagic: The Gatheringcrossovers.
To date, there have been plenty of hugely successful Universes Beyond sets andcollabs inMagic: The Gathering, from film and television crossovers likeLord of the RingsandDoctor Who, to video game-themed sets like the ones forFalloutandAssassin’s Creed. But almost none of them have achieved the same kind of instantaneous success as theFinal FantasyMagicset, which begs the question of what the future of Universes Beyond stands to learn from the collaboration between Square Enix and Wizards of the Coast. Ultimately, the lessons theFinal Fantasyset has to teach communicate some important truths about whatMagic: The Gatheringplayers want to see from IP crossovers.
Final Fantasy’s Success as a Magic: The Gathering Set Comes Down to the Cards Themselves
As the saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding”, and in the case of theFinal FantasyMagic: The Gatheringset, the pudding is the cards themselves. From purely an aesthetic perspective, the artistry and design on display in theFinal Fantasyset are top quality, especially when looking at the Through The Ages reprints of classicMagic: The Gatheringcards that feature art from longtime series mainstays like Yoshitaka Amano orTetsuya Nomura. But the significance ofFinal Fantasy’sMagic: The Gatheringcards goes well beyond just looks.
The determining factor in the success of theFinal FantasyMagicset seems to be the sheer number of mechanically unique cards, especially when looking at the staggering 162 new commanders introduced in the set. Commander continues to be one of the most popularformats forMagic: The Gathering, especially among casual players at lower power brackets, and the sheer variety of commanders on offer to playtest with and build around is a dream come true for both newcomers looking to get into the hobby and for longtime veterans hoping to see if any of the new commanders are viable in cEDH.
It helps that many of the new cards are also thematically appropriate, tying in important stories and character development arcs from theFinal Fantasygamesthemselves as much as they are fun to play. Vivi is still one of the most popular new commanders, thanks to how broken his power potential is for anyone looking to build an Izzet spellslinger deck, but commanders with thematically appropriate abilities, like Tellah — who sacrifices himself to deal massive damage a la his fatal casting of Meteor inFinal Fantasy 4 —are arguably just as cool, and one of the set’s main draws.
Future Universes Beyond Sets Would Do Well to Follow in Final Fantasy’s Footsteps
Put another way,Final Fantasysucceeds as an IP for aMagic: The GatheringUniverses Beyond set because it both fits within the context of the rest of the widerMagicuniverse and brings something unique to the table that honors the source material without being meme-y. It’s bringing thousands of new and lapsed players back intoMagic: The Gatheringwhile also illustrating the importance of giving players high-value reprints along with new, mechanically unique cards, and one can only hope that futurevideo game IP crossovers, like potentialElder ScrollsorDark Soulssets, would tread a similar path.
