In 2003, I saved up every penny I could scrounge up to buy a video game. It was the first time I bought a game with my own money that wasn't gifted to me by a family member. I worked for it, toiled and sweated it out, and eventually found myself at an Electronics Botique at a nearby mall with cash in hand. There, sitting on the shelf, was the game I'd been seeking out for weeks, if not months: Final Fantasy VII.

Following some time playing Kingdom Hearts, which released the year prior, I was introduced to several characters from throughout the game. Realizing that they came from other games made me want to seek out the title they originally came from, which is where I stumbled onto Final Fantasy VII for the first time. I poured over the early internet, looking up character backgrounds, screenshots, reviews, fan sites, and more. It became a game that I built up and had created an intense amount of hype for.

When I finally got my hands on it at that store, I excitedly paid for it and eagerly popped disc one into my PS2 the moment I got home. The game not only lived up to that hype - it surpassed it, going places I couldn't have imagined. Final Fantasy VII became a game that thrilled me, made me laugh, and even made me weep. It was the greatest game I had ever played, and it changed my life. I've run Final Fantasy VII fan sites, drawn the game's characters extensively, and even once tried to make my own custom Magic: The Gathering set based around the game. I fell head over heels for this game.

Now, with Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy we're getting a whole Commander deck and players like me can live out our fantasies of this masterpiece in Magic form. Limit Break spans the entirety of Final Fantasy VII's sprawling story. Just like last week when I covered Final Fantasy VI's story in my Revival Trance lore breakdown, I'm going to explain all of the story the cards in this deck tell.

Naturally, if you've never played Final Fantasy VII but intend to, I encourage you to turn back now. We're going into full-blown spoiler territory, so tread lightly, but please come back once you finish the game. For anyone simply looking for a quick and easy explanation on what certain cards represent without playing the game, read on. There's a ton of ground to cover, so let's get right to it.

Final Fantasy VII begins with a starry sky fading into the face of a young woman, bathed in green light. She steps back, and walks out onto the streets of a bustling city with a basket of flowers in her arm. The camera pans out as cars bustle by, a large sign for the play Loveless can be seen, and before you know it, we see a massive tower at the center of a sprawling metropolis.

Welcome to Midgar, a thriving metropolis run by the powerful Shinra Electric Company. The city is powered by a series of mako reactors that utilize mako - a fantastical oil equivalent - to power the city and the world around it. Things appear calm on the surface, but soon after the game's logo appears and fades away from the city's landscape, a train suddenly cuts in and out. As it does, the screen zooms into a different section of the city as the train rolls into a station.

Suddenly, a group of two bandana-wearing men and a woman leap off the train and knock out a set of station guards. Right behind them is a man with a machine gun grafted onto his right arm. This is Avalanche, a group of eco-terrorists seeking to stop Shinra's mako reactors for the survival of the planet. The initial group consists of Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie while the man with the gun arm is Barret. Barret yells for the new recruit to come down and join them.

A young man with spiky blonde hair, clad in a blue outfit with a massive sword on his back leaps from the train. This is Cloud, a mercenary and former member of SOLDIER - Shinra's elite military branch. Cloud teams up with Barret as Avalanche plows through Shinra's forces on their way to Mako Reactor 1. After defeating a powerful scorpion-like robot, the group successfully detonates a bomb, blows up the reactor, and escapes back to their home in the Sector 7 slums.

Here we arrive at Avalanche's base, located in the bar known as Seventh Heaven. Tifa Lockhart, a young woman and childhood friend of Cloud is there waiting for the group along with Barret's adopted daughter Marlene. Tifa and Cloud reminisce a little over a promise made in their childhood where Cloud would come to her aid if ever she was in trouble. They reconvene with the rest of the group and Cloud agrees to join them for the next mission.

Before leaving, we're introduced to materia. Materia are equippable orbs that provide the wielder with magic capabilities, special actions, or supportive abilities. Generally, this isn't anything particularly notable for the story at this point, however it's good to understand what materia is during certain sections.

Now that you understand materia, you join up with Tifa and Barret to get ready to destroy another reactor. A failure in bypassing the train security system forces the group to exit the train early and get to the next reactor - reactor 5 - to set another bomb. Once the bomb is set, though, the group is ambushed by Shinra, led by President Shinra himself. Shinra sics a huge robot called the Air Buster on the party, and while they're able to deal with it, the explosion from the robot and the reactor sends Cloud falling to the surface below.

By some miracle, Cloud survives, his fall broken by the roof of a building and then a bed of flowers. This flower bed in the middle of a church is being tended to by a young woman in pink garb with long hair tied in a ponytail with a ribbon. It's the girl from the game's opening cinematic, the two reconnecting after having met briefly after the destruction of mako reactor 1. Their introductions are cut short, however, when one of the Shinra Turks - an elite black ops group - tries to capture Aerith. The pair escape and make their way to Aerith's home in the sector 6 slums.

Aerith points Cloud in the direction of how to get back to Sector 7 through the Sector 6 slums where they're currently located. Cloud insists she stay behind due to the danger. Aerith forces him to take her along and they soon find themselves at the gate to Sector 7. However, before Cloud can return, the pair see Tifa on a carriage heading towards the seedy Wall Market still in Sector 6.

Here she seeks an audience with Don Corneo, a sleezy mob-like figure who seeks a bride. Tifa wants to squeeze information out of him after his goons were caught acting suspiciously around Seventh Heaven. To ensure they get seen, the team presents themselves to Corneo - with Cloud humorously dressing as a woman - and they discover that Shinra plans to destroy Avalanche by dropping the entire upper plate on the Sector 7 slums.

The trio rush to the aid of Avalanche only to find the plate pillar already under siege. Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge all lay dying with Barret at the top. Tifa sends Aerith to rescue Marlene while the group meets with Barret. They battle the red-haired Turk from the church - Reno - but the damage is done. The pillar is destroyed, the plate falls, and Sector 7 is wiped out with only Cloud, Tifa, and Barret surviving.

But all hope isn't lost. Before the plate fell, Aerith was seen on a helicopter with the Turks' leader, Tseng. Aerith went with them in order to guarantee Marlene's safety at her mother's home. Aerith's mother reveals that she's not Aerith's true parent and that she's the world's last remaining Ancient, a mystical group of beings. Shinra wants her so they can reach new levels of power and glory.

The group vows to save Aerith and decide to storm the massive Shinra Tower at the center of Midgar. They scale the wreckage of the Sector 7 plate, reach the top, and begin their raid on Shinra Tower. The group opts to either take the long way with the stairs, or go right in through the front entrance.

Regardless of which way is chosen, the team sneaks their way through the tower, battling through the occasional enemy along the way. They eventually find themselves in the lab of the mad Professor Hojo, who attempts to perform experiments involving Aerith and a red dog-like being. This being reveals he can speak and introduces himself as Red XIII.

Following the rescue, the team is captured by the Turks and imprisoned. It doesn't take long before they find their cell doors open and a trail of blood through the hall outside. The party discovers the body of Jenova, a headless entity in Hojo's lab, is missing, and make their way to the top of the tower only to find President Shinra dead - the sword of Sephiroth jammed into his back.

The president's son, Rufus, appears and claims himself the new President Shinra. The group battles for their escape and makes their way out of the tower, hijacking a pair of vehicles and crashing them through the building's windows onto the highway. After a lengthy chase, the party escapes, and leaves Midgar behind.

They regroup in the town of Kalm, where Cloud tells the story of Sephiroth and the incident at Nibelheim 5 years prior. Sephiroth was the pride and joy of SOLDIER, the greatest of them all. During a mission to Nibelheim to investigate the appearance of monsters, Sephiroth learns that his mother - Jenova, an ancient alien calamity from the stars - is locked away in the Nibel Reactor. He learns of his heritage, of the Jenova project meant to create the ultimate warrior, and goes insane. He burns Nibelheim to the ground, goes to the reactor, attacks a young Tifa and her father, and enters Jenova's chamber. Cloud confronts Sephiroth there and the flashback ends.

After this bit of lore exposition, the team stops at the nearby Chocobo Ranch. Here, they're sold a chocobo lure to enable them to catch a chocobo - a big, yellow, mostly flightless bird. In doing so, they're able to cross the swamplands and avoid the Midgardsormr, a giant serpent that inhabits the swamps. When they reach the other side, though, they're greeted to a grisly sight: a Midgardsormr impaled on a tree, with the implication that it was caused by Sephiroth.

The crew presses on, and once they cross over the mountain paths - and a brief interruption by the Turks - they stumble onto a young female ninja. This is Yuffie, a girl from the far-off land of Wutai, on a quest for materia to help restore her nation's former glory that was lost in a great war with Shinra.

The party heads for Junon, a prosperous militarized city famous for its massive cannon stationed against it. Here, the party sneaks into the city from the slums below it and disguises themselves as Shinra soldiers. They're forced to participate in a parade for the new president Rufus, and stowaway on a ship heading for the resort town Costa Del Sol. Aboard the ship, the crew is attacked by Sephiroth and Jenova, who the party are able to defeat.

After arriving in Costa Del Sol, the group heads for the mountains of Corel. Barret becomes standoffish, and when they reach the town after crossing a labyrinth of train tracks, it becomes clear why. Corel is Barret's hometown and it's in ruins thanks to a mistake he made in his past.

The group makes for the Gold Saucer, a great amusement park linked to Corel. There, they meet the goofy Cait Sith, a talking cat who rides atop a large stuffed mog (aka moogle). It's not long before they discover someone has gone around shooting people, and it's claimed the perpetrator was someone with a gun on his arm. The party is blamed due to Barret and they're sent to a prison below.

There, Barret reveals he encouraged the construction of a mako reactor to replace the town's famous coal mines. The reactor exploded, and it caused Shinra to go after him and his friend Dyne. Dyne falls into a crevice and Barret loses his arm. However, Dyne survived and also got a gun arm graft. Barret and Dyne fight, ending with Dyne dying. With proof of Barret's innocence in hand, the party moves on.

(card pics: Bugenhagen, Wise Elder; Nature's Lore, and Path of Ancestry)

Thanks to a vehicle breakdown, the party stops at Cosmo Canyon. This turns out to be Red XIII's home and a center of spiritual enlightenment in the world. They meet Red XIII's adoptive grandfather Bugenhagen, who teaches them about the planet and the lifestream - the spiritual force that emerges as mako. Red XIII - revealed to be named Nanaki - also reveals his hatred of his father, Seto, until he learns Seto was a great warrior who saved their village.

From here, the party continues onto... Nibelheim?! Cloud and Tifa are stunned, with both vividly recalling the town burning to the ground. Yet here it is, rebuilt. They group enters the Shinra mansion where they encounter Sephiroth, who eggs them on. They also meet Vincent Valentine, a former Turk who was heavily experimented on by Professor Hojo. Vincent joins the party for both revenge and for atonement, and the group crosses over Mt. Nibel toward Rocket Town.

There, they find a large, rusty, moss-covered rocket tilting on the launchpad. Inside they meet Cid Highwind, a foul-mouthed, chain smoking curmudgeon who lost his chance to go to space due to a failed launch several years prior. Shinra appears to try taking his plane, the Tiny Bronco, before chaos ensues. The party - with Cid in tow - fly away on the Tiny Bronco before it's gunned down, no longer able to fly but can still cross the seas.

The team tries figuring out where to go next and learns of the Temple of the Ancients and the keystone to gain access to it. The keystone is in Gold Saucer so the group returns once more to Gold Saucer where they spend a night of fun. Cloud takes one person on a date - canonically supposed to be Aerith, but you can have others join instead. Cait Sith steals the keystone shortly after the team acquires it and hands it off to Shinra, revealing his treachery as a spy. He blackmails the team to continue on with them.

At the Temple of the Ancients, the party finds Tseng bleeding against the altar to enter the Temple. He gives them the keystone and they enter to face the trials and tribulations to gain access to the powerful black materia before Sephiroth can. They learn that the black materia can summon Meteor, capable of destroying the world. It also happens to be the temple itself, and Cait Sith - a remote controlled toy - redeems himself with a sacrifice to remake the temple into the black materia. Cloud loses control of himself and gives the materia to Sephiroth before blacking out as a replacement Cait Sith appears.

Aerith appears to Cloud in his dreams in the Sleeping Forest, saying she must go to the City of the Ancients to stop Sephiroth. The party follows her there (Kujata is found in the forest) and make their way to the City of the Ancients. They wait until nightfall where they discover Aerith stationed at its center.

Cloud approaches Aerith at a special altar and loses control once again, nearly striking Aerith down with his sword before regaining control. Suddenly, Sephiroth leaps down from above and stabs Aerith with his sword. The party lashes out in a rage, where they're attacked by another Jenova incarnation. When this monster is defeated, the party grieves the loss of Aerith. Cloud sets her adrift in a nearby lake where she sinks to the bottom as the party continues on.

On their way to the Northern Crater, the party passes through Icicle Inn - where they run into Elena of the Turks - and then the Great Glacier. At the Crater, the party finds several black-robed people marching to the center to meet Sephiroth. Sephiroth himself appears before Cloud and the party, only to reveal Cloud isn't who he thinks he is and the person who was in Nibelheim five years prior was Zack Fair, not Cloud. Cloud, destitute, gives the true Sephiroth the black materia as the party and Shinra forces look on. The ground collapses, the party barely escapes, and the game fades to black.

Tifa and Barret awaken in Junon, with Cloud having vanished. Barret, who awoke first, reveals to Tifa that Meteor has been summoned and is visible in the sky. They're to be executed by Shinra as a scapegoat, but the execution is interrupted by a Weapon - a ferocious monster created by the planet to protect it in times of critical danger. Sapphire Weapon attacks Junon, allowing the party to escape on the airship Highwind, but not before Junon destroys Weapon with their mighty canon.

From here, the party travels the world in search of Cloud, only to find him in the small town of Mideel. There, he suffers from mako poisoning and is in a vegetative state. Tifa leaves the party to stay with Cloud and the rest of the group goes on to search for the huge materia, which Shinra is gathering together.

The group confronts Shinra at Fort Condor - a preservation for a massive endangered bird that nests atop a mako reactor - and the former reactor at Corel. The team acquires the huge materia, then returns to Mideel to check up on Cloud.

Upon their return, Ultimate Weapon - a giant dragon-like monstrosity attacks the town. The party fights it off, only to discover the lifestream is erupting from beneath the town. The lifestream swallows the town whole, and while most of the party gets away, Tifa and Cloud fall into the depths below.

Here, the two are able to explore Cloud's subconscious. Here, they determine Cloud is the real Cloud and not a fake after all because of a critical memory involving Tifa as a child. It's then revealed that Cloud was at Nibelheim after all, along with Zack and Sephiroth, but remained disguised in uniform to hide the shame of not actually making the cut for SOLDIER. He confronts Sephiroth, and sends into the reactor below. It's later revealed that Shinra captured the survivors of the Nibelheim incident - including Cloud - and experimented on them with Jenova cells. This caused Cloud's personality to merge with Zack and explained how Sephiroth controlled him.

Now whole and returned to the surface, the party recovers the final two pieces of huge materia. The first is in an underwater reactor below Junon, the other is taken from elsewhere and placed into the spaceship at Rocket Town, set on a crash course to Meteor. The group hijacks the shuttle and launches into space, fulfilling Cid's dream before they eject out in a life pod. The ship collides with Meteor but fails to destroy it.

With the huge materia recovered, Cloud and the party drop it off at Cosmo Canyon with Bugenhagen. There, Bugenhagen agrees to join the party to figure out what Aerith was attempting to do to stop Sephiroth. At the City of the Ancients, they learn that she had been praying to Holy, the ultimate magic that could counteract Meteor. They discover that she had activated her White Materia - which she previously perceived to be useless - to cast the spell, but Sephiroth is hindering its activation. Just then, the team gets an urgent call.

Shinra is planning to blast open the barrier around the Northern Crater with the cannon from Junon - now transferred to Midgar - to gain access to Sephiroth. As Shinra preps the cannon, Diamond Weapon emerges from the ocean nearby and begins an assault on Midgar. The party slows the Weapon down, but it's eventually taken down by the cannon's strike, which also dissipates the barrier. In its death throes, the Weapon fires several shots at Midgar, blowing up the Shinra tower and seemingly killing Rufus.

The group starts to fly off to the Northern Crater until they're stopped. Cait Sith, revealed to be controlled by Shinra executive Reeve, tells the party someone's preparing to fire the cannon again. Realizing how catastrophic this could be with the city having yet to recover, they return to Midgar where they face off once more with the Turks. From there, they run into Shinra executives Heidegger and Scarlet atop a massive mech weapon called the Proud Clod.

The party defeats the Proud Clod and advances onward, discovering Hojo preparing to set off the cannon. He reveals he is Sephiroth's father and the one behind the Jenova project that has doomed the planet. His goal is to fire the cannon and send enough mako energy to his son so that he can truly ascend to godhood, as is his plan for why he has summoned Meteor in the first place. The party defeats Hojo and prepares for the final assault.

After a few days of rest, the team goes after Sephiroth. At the center of the Crater - as seen in Lifestream's Blessing - they find the true Sephiroth waiting. The team undergoes a grueling series of battles, eventually taking Sephiroth down. Cloud has one final vision, where he defeats Sephiroth once and for all in the lifestream with his signature Omnislash limit break.

The party escapes the Crater as Holy emerges to combat Meteor. However, Meteor is too strong, and continues to break through Holy and crashes through atop Midgar, tearing the city apart. The Lifestream ultimately gathers, empowering Holy, and the party is bathed in a bright light as Meteor is wiped out. The screen cuts to the opening shot of Aerith, bathed in green light, and fades to black.

As the credits finish rolling, the words "500 years later" appear on the screen. An older Red XIII appears on screen with two young cubs at his heels. He looks over at Midgar, now in ruins and covered in moss showing that the planet has recovered from Shinra's crimes. Red XIII roars triumphantly, and the game reaches its true and final conclusion.

In addition to these numerous story beats, it's also worth mentioning that this preconstructed deck also features several other elements of the game. Several pieces of equipment are shown off that various characters are able to acquire. A few sidequests are also hinted at, like the Wooded Ridgeline depicting the Ancient Forest or Trailblazer's Boots hinting at the discovery of Lucrecia, Vincent's love and Sephiroth's true mother.

I'm so thrilled that we now have a version of the Final Fantasy VII experience in Magic: The Gathering. I've dreamed of what it might look like since those early days over 20 years ago, and now at long last we're here. The game changed my life and swept me away in its timeless story that influenced me as a person for years to come. To this day, it remains one of the greatest and most special game experiences of my life. Check it out if you haven't already, it's available on just about every gaming platform today. Maybe it'll change your life too.

Paige Smith

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