Everything you need to know about Magic the Gathering x Final Fantasy
Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Final Fantasy is one of the most anticipated sets of 2025. In this article, we dive into the details of everything you need to know about this beloved franchise. From practical information like prereleases and different types of product, to notable cards for various constructed formats, and even some personal favorites of the Fanfinity Team!
Let’s dive in together!
Thijs Weytens
Thijs Weytens
A little background info
Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy is a booster set in the Universes Beyond series. A series that has already expanded to universes like Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, Doctor Who and many more. Now, for the first time, Magic is expanding to the immense universe and history of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy franchise.
This set has been years and years in the making, as the design team started working on Final Fantasy back in 2021. Gavin Verhey, Principal Game Designer of Magic and Lead Designer of this set, has been a Final Fantasy player his whole life and branded this set as “the most special Magic set he ever worked on.”
The set is designed to be drafted, and is also the first Universes Beyond set to be Standard legal, making it the 105th expansion of Magic: the Gathering.
Where and when to play?
Prereleases run worldwide in the weekend of June 7-8
Set release for MTG Arena on June 10
Set release for tabletop on June 13
What can you expect from this set?
Different products
Play Boosters
The “foundation product” of this set. Each Play Booster contains 14 Magic: the Gathering cards and 1 Non-foil token or art card.
Collector Boosters
Collector Boosters are booster packs targeted at collectors. Unlike Play Boosters, which optimise the Draft experience, Collector Boosters are maximised for more diversity in content, with more rares, foils, borderless, and showcase cards. Each Collector Booster contains 15 Magic: The Gathering cards and 1 foil double-sided token.
4 Commander decks, both in Regular or Collector’s Edition
Each Commander deck contains 1 Ready-to-play 100-card Commander deck, 10 Double-sided tokens, a Collector Booster Sample Pack, 1 Reference card, and 1 Deck box. The difference is that the Regular edition has most cards in Non-foil, while the Collector’s Edition has all cards in Surge foil.
Bundle and Gift Bundle
The bundle is a special product, consisting of several different products. The bundle is useful to both beginners and collectors alike, and contains Play Boosters, foil extended-art cards, full-art basic lands, 1 Spindown die, and a Final Fantasy card-store box.
The gift Bundle also includes an extra Final Fantasy Collector Booster, and releases on June 27.
Starter Kit
A Starter Kit is a 2-Player Starter Set that is designed as a learn-to-play product aimed at new players. It includes instructional materials that guide two players through their first games of Magic: the Gathering.
This Final Fantasy Starter Kit includes 2 preconstructed decks, featuring Cloud, Planet’s Champion and Sepiroth, Planet’s Heir to face off against each other. Also included are 4 double-sided tokens, MTG Arena code cards and 2 Deck boxes.
Different artworks
1) Serialised and colourful Chocobo Cards
77 serialised Traveling Chocobo cards symbolise the “Golden Ticket” of this set. The Black Chocobo is printed exclusively in Japanese and features a special print treatment. This is a special nod to Final Fantasy VII Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura, who has the black chocobo as his favorite one.
4 different coloured Chocobo’s can be found in Neon Ink Foil and finally, you can also open borderless copies of Traveling Chocobo in Collector Boosters.The regular version of Traveling Chocobo, alongside the non-foil borderless one can be found in Play Boosters.
2) Final Fantasy Through The Ages
Final Fantasy Through the Ages showcases iconic Magic cards with Final Fantasy artwork. These cards form a bonus sheet for the set, which can be found in Play Boosters and Collector Boosters.
3) Borderless Final Fantasy Artist Card
10 borderless Final Fantasy artist cards can be found in Play Boosters and Collector Boosters. These cards are contributions of beloved artists who have created some glorious contributions to the Final Fantasy series over the years.
4) Borderless Character Cards
Borderless Character cards show many fan-favorite characters from the Final Fantasy series depicted with a background correlating to each character’s first game appearance. You can find these in Play Boosters and Collector Boosters
5) Borderless Woodblock Cards
Inspired by the Woodblock painting technique, the artwork on these 50 cards shows the Final Fantasy series in a whole new light. Borderless Woodblock cards can be found in Play Boosters and Collector Boosters.
6) All fifteen iterations of Cid, Timeless Artificer
Cid, The Mechanically minded artificer, is a mainstay of the Final Fantasy series. To honor the many forms that he takes, there are fifteen alternate artworks, each depicting a different version of Cid across the Final Fantasy games.
7) Final Fantasy VII Date Cards
In Final Fantasy VII, the Gold Saucer amusement park is a world famous tourist attraction, most notable for being home to a number of minigames. Based upon the player’s dialogue choices and actions throughout the game, you go on a date with different characters. This moment is captured on 4 different versions of Secret Rendezvous.
Now, with the practical details out of the way, let’s dive into some cards that are likely to shake up the various constructed formats.
5 Picks for Standard
Ultima is a board sweeper that is unique in the fact that it ends the turn. This denies your opponent to flash in creatures after you wiped their board, and also makes sure all “when it dies” triggers simply don’t happen. It also cleanly wipes the board of all Cori Steel-Cutters that are running rampant in Izzet Prowess right now.
Speaking about Izzet Prowess, Astrologian’s Planisphere is a solid addition to the deck. It effectively adds copies five through eight of Cori Steel-Cutter, though it only generates a single token. That said, the low equip cost and the permanent power boost via +1/+1 counters make it feel like it grants the equipped creature ‘Super Prowess’.
Tifa Lockhart enables a potential turn 3 kill in Standard. The game plan is straightforward: play Tifa on turn 2. On turn 3, cast Titanic Growth to make her a 5/5. Next, play Fabled Passage, boosting her to 10. Crack the fetchland to reach 20 power and simply swing in for lethal.
Of course, the combo is fragile and folds to removal, but the explosive potential is undeniably there.
After fifteen years, Dark Confidant is once again legal in Standard. In the time since its last appearance, the overall power level of Magic has increased significantly, meaning ‘Bob’ will now have to prove himself in a much fiercer environment. Still, as one of the most iconic staples in the game’s history, there’s a strong chance he’ll leave his mark.
With Dark Confidant and The Last Ride in the mix, there’s potential for a Mono-Black Aggro deck in standard with Cecil at the center of it. Add in Deep-Cavern Bats, Cut Down and Qarsi Revenant and you have the foundation for a solid low-curve strategy.
5 Picks for Modern
Sephiroth slides perfectly in decks like Golgari Yawgmoth, Soultrader Combo or Samwise Combo. It functions as a card advantage engine, allowing you to trade your small critters in for cards and the drain ability can straight up win you the game.
Sin, Spira’s Punishment is a great reanimator target that also pitches to Force of Negation and Force of Vigor. Because you get the trigger both on enter and attacks, it is an ideal fit with Goryo’s Vengeance, allowing you to get some massive card advantage.
Emet-Selch is also a powerful option in Reanimator strategies. While Kiora, the Rising Tide sees play in Esper Goryo’s Vengeance, Emet-Selch can potentially replace her as a stronger alternative. It serves both as a discard outlet and a potent reanimation target once your graveyard hits 14 cards. Reanimating it at your opponent’s end step with Goryo’s Vengeance and flipping it on your upkeep can easily seal the game.
Vivi Ornitier, just like Ral, Monsoon Mage is a rare blend of enabler and win condition in Storm Combo decks. Its activated ability acts like a Ritual effect, generating mana to extend your storm sequence with cards like Wrenn’s Resolve and Reckless Impulse. On top of that, it deals damage to your opponent each time you cast a noncreature spell.
Fire Magic is a powerful sideboard card against the various creature decks in Modern. For just one mana you can sweep a board full of tokens – perfect against Boros Energy. At three it handles larger threats efficiently. While the six-mana mode will rarely be used, it’s a valuable option to have in grindy matchups.
Fun fact: this is the first ever Magic card that deals 1 damage to each creature for a single red mana and is an instant.
5 Picks for Commander
It might be included for the meme value, but Jumbo Cactuar has the power to one-shot any opponent in Commander. In a green-based stompy deck that can give it trample or another form of evasion, Jumbo Cactuar becomes a serious threat, capable of taking over the board the moment it lands.
A powerful card advantage engine for any red-based Commander deck, Triple Triad ensures you’ll always have options at your fingertips.
Fun fact: if you’re looking for a shorthand for ‘exile the top card of your library, you may play it this turn,’ designer Gavin Verhey refers to this effect as ‘Bottling.’ A callback to Elkin Bottle from Ice Age, the first time this effect appeared on a Magic card.
Matoya, Archon Elder is a fantastic mono-blue Commander that, with the right build, can generate an absurd amount of card draw. Staples like Consider, Opt, and Preordain are already strong includes, and Matoya makes them even more powerful. Pair those with surveil lands and you’ve got a deck that hums. With around 48 mono-blue cards that let you surveil and 153 that let you scry, there’s no shortage of synergy to explore when building around Matoya.
A natural inclusion in any colourless Commander deck, Ultima effectively transforms every land into a Wastes when it attacks. While you can use this to disrupt your opponents’ mana, its true strength lies in doubling the output of your own colourless lands. This explosive ramp makes it easy to follow up with a massive threat like Ulamog, the Defiler shortly after Ultima hits the board.
One of the standout white cards in the set for Commander, this creature draws you and an opponent a card when it enters the battlefield—immediately triggering its ability to create a Treasure token. From there, it simply stays in play, quietly building value. Given how often cards are drawn outside of players’ own turns in Commander, this can quickly snowball into a mountain of Treasures. Rhystic Study, anyone?
Some of our Fanfinity team members are just as hyped about this Magic set as you are—so we asked them to share their favorite new cards from the Final Fantasy release!
Personal favorites of the Fanfinity Team
Wouter Maenhaut – CEO
“I played Final Fantasy X over and over—I had the game guides, the statues, everything. Even though I haven’t played Magic in a long time, Summoner’s Sending is my favorite card from the set; the artwork is just stunning!”
Gerardo De Clercq – Project Manager
“Whatever”
Robbe De Vylder – Branding Expert
“I just started playing Magic and got into Commander, but I would love to build a deck around Vincent Valentine. The reason for this is that I just love the vibe and will always love this character because of who voices it!”
Emma Mangodt – Community Expert
“During Covid I explored the MMO world of FF14 and it remains one of my favourite games of all time. Picking a favourite is a difficult choice as there are so many amazing cards tied to the game and I am beyond excited to get my hands on these cards! As my top pick I will go with Zenos yae Galvus as he is my pick for my next Commander. I’ll subject my friends to plenty “A test of your reflexes” during those games!”
Get ready to explore this epic crossover and make your mark in the world of Magic x Final Fantasy!
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