Everything Shown During the Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy First Look

Posted on February 18, 2025

It's finally here. At long last, years after being initially announced as a Secret Lair, we're finally getting a full-scale Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy set. Releasing on June 13, players will get to experience their favorite Final Fantasy characters and moments within Magic: The Gathering. Today, Blake Rasmussen, Gavin Verhey, and Zakeel Gordon came onto the Weekly MTG stream to give us our first look at several cards from the set.

Before the First Look even kicked off, we got a surprising article dropped by IGN on Monday. This article showed off all four of the set's Commander decks and their face cards. Players and fans all over discussed the cards in detail, from the mechanics to the cards' colors, to the Commander set symbol being a freaking chocobo. Needless to say, the excitement was very real, but more important was the fact that we also learned all four decks will receive special collector treatments as well.

Additionally on Monday, Wizards dropped a short video revealing that legendary Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano would be involved with the set. Many speculated as to whether or not he would have art in the set, but it was confirmed that he does indeed have art.

Finally, Tuesday rolled around and the stream began with a video showing off tons of new cards. Once the video finished, Blake, Gavin, and Zakeel took their time to break down several of the cards shown and talked about them at length.

Right off the bat, we got shown several beloved Final Fantasy creatures to kick things off. We got a Jumbo Cactuar - with the famous 10,000 Needles ability as well - as well as our first chocobo, moogle, and the one and only Tonberry. Each of these represents some of the most iconic and recognizable mascots exclusive to the legendary video game franchise.

Just as soon as we saw those cards, we were also introduced to several iconic characters from throughout the games. Since we were shown so many of the heroes yesterday, the focus seemed to be much more on the villains this time around. Garland, Knight of Cornelia // Chaos, the Endless represents the main antagonist from the first game while Sin, Spira's Punishment and Emet-Selch, Unsundered // Hades, Sorcerer of Eld represent the tenth and fourteenth entries, respectively.

One new hero card that's available in the main set was shown with Cecil, Dark Knight // Cecil, Redeemed Paladin. This card represents the main character of Final Fantasy IV's transformation from dark knight to paladin following his crisis of conscience that makes up one of the most pivotal story moments in the game. It certainly helps that this card looks quite playable too, making it a real standout from the set.

Summons were also revealed, showcasing the version of Shiva from Final Fantasy X here. These summons act as creatures that are also sagas, reflecting how they join the battle for limited amounts of time and dealing out powerful damage and effects before going away. Summons were noted to be in the set ranging from common all the way to mythic rare, showing how important they are to the game series as a whole.

In continuing to represent the various sidequests and mini-games present in the Final Fantasy series, they also revealed the card Sidequest: Catch a Fish // Cooking Campsite. This depicts the fishing mini-game in Final Fantasy XV that then allows you to cook meals for your group. Hints were dropped during the stream about a possible Blitzball Sidequest card, and so many players will have their own guesses for what may show up as a result (Triple Triad, anyone?).

One of the last things they showed off was the additional introduction of the upcoming bonus sheet that will be in the set, titled "Final Fantasy Through the Ages." This will play similarly to the likes of the Strixhaven: Mystical Archives, Wilds of Eldraine: Enchanting Tales, and The Brothers' War: Retro Frame Artifacts. Each pack will include a classic Magic: The Gathering card featuring classic artwork from Final Fantasy's rich history and reskinned to match the name of what's being depicted ala the Godzilla treatments. These cards will not be Standard legal but will be legal in whatever format they were already legal in.

During a recap of the Commander decks during the stream proper, we also got special borderless treatments of the four face cards. Each of these - along with other cards utilizing this treatment - features Roman numerals behind them notating which game the characters came from. While not explicitly stated during the stream, speculation at this time suggests these will likely only be available in collector boosters - which are already proving to be an extremely hot commodity.

Finally, we got one last product look, showing off the upcoming Starter kit, featuring our second Cloud Strife card as well as our first Sephiroth one. These will be Standard legal as well, as they're included as part of the main set, however they'll only be available in this set much like with Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings - Tales of Middle-earth and Bloomburrow.

With so much coming down the line, the hype for Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy is real. Preorders are live now wherever you find Magic cards. You can check out the CoolStuffInc.com page now to find whatever you're looking for as well as check out the latest cards revealed today.

For additional details, be sure to check out these official links as well: