In the frigid winter of 2001, my family gave my siblings and I an amazing gift: a Playstation 2 video game console. We had never had an original Playstation, and we were thrilled and excited to play a variety of new gaming experiences. I remember early games that would become favorites like Jak and Daxter: the Precursor Legacy and Digimon World 3, but what I also remember is the title that my sibling picked up to try out: a little game known as Final Fantasy X.

At the time, I paid it little mind and was admittedly somewhat disinterested. However, the images of the early ruins, the blitzers on a little island, and more remained etched in my brain. A few years later, after my experiences with Final Fantasy VII, I finally found myself checking out this game and I was utterly blown away. It's a masterclass in both gameplay and storytelling and showed the Final Fantasy series at its peak.

Now with Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy releasing, there's a whole Commander deck releasing that's themed around the game. Much like before with the Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII decks, I'm going to help break down the story card by card! This way, if you've never played the game before, you too can understand what's going on as you play with the deck.

As usual, a heavy spoiler warning is in effect, so if you're looking to play the game, check it out first and then come back later. For everyone else: grab your blitzball and let's dive right in!

The game opens with a soft and somber piano melody as an image emerges of several weapons placed into the ground before a deep sunset. In the background lies some ancient ruins that litter the skyline.

The image fades over to a group of people settled around a campfire. One of the men, dressed in yellow and blue, stands up and walks over to a young woman. He puts his hand on her shoulder before he climbs atop a nearby hill to gaze upon the ruins.

As he looks, he says two simple lines: "Listen to my story. This may be our last chance." The screen fades to black, revealing the title of Final Fantasy X, before unveils a bright city.

This is Zanarkand, a glowing metropolis that acts as the home of main character Tidus. Tidus is the, as the flavor text for Arcane Signet suggests, the star player of the Zanarkand Abes - a blitzball team for the city. Blitzball is a beloved and popular sport played in a large floating sphere of water, and after mingling with some fans, heads to a game. During the game, however, disaster strikes, as a large orb comes through the city and strikes, dealing massive damage.

As the blitzball stadium crumbles, Tidus escapes safely and finds his friend Auron waiting for him outside the stadium. Auron leads Tidus through the streets of Zanarkand where Auron introduces the threat as Sin, a devastating force of nature. Entities known as sinspawn shoot off from the monster and land before the pair, who battle their way through wave after wave of beasts.

On one final wave, they blow up a gas tank that destroys the road they're running across. Tidus is saved by Auron, but held up as Sin hovers over them. Auron looks up and asks, "You're sure?" He tells Tidus this is his story as they are both sucked up and away by Sin into a new unknown world.

Tidus awakens in the waters of an unknown ruin, later revealed to be the Baaj Temple where you can obtain the powerful Summon: Anima. After wading through the waters to the main ruin, Tidus is attacked by a monster known as the Geosgaeno but escapes and finds himself within the temple ruins. After starting a fire to keep him warm, he's attacked by a monster and rescued by a group of people known as the Al Bhed.

The Al Bhed mistake him for a fiend but bring him aboard their vessel. Despite being initially distrustful - in part due to a language barrier between them and Tidus - they eventually allow Tidus to assist them. One of the group, a young woman named Rikku, is the only one among them who can communicate with Tidus. She guides him through a ruin where they uncover an airship and recover it to repair. Suddenly, Sin attacks their boat and sucks Tidus away once again.

He then finds himself washed up on a beach that he would soon come to know as Besaid Island. As he comes to, he finds himself near the local blitzball team training, catches a foul ball, and performs one of his signature moves - sending the ball flying past the team. This catches the attention of team captain Wakka, a Besaid native who pushes to get Tidus to join their team for an upcoming blitzball tournament.

Wakka brings Tidus back to the village to recover. The villagers welcome him as he interacts with them, though he's looked upon as a bit funny for being clueless about this new world he's in. The locals attribute this to him being too close to Sin's toxins, which can mess with your head. They also refuse to believe his claims he's from Zanarkand - as they say the city has been in ruins for 1000 years

Wakka informs him that they are in the world of Spira, a place governed by the religion of Yevon that is constantly under attack from the monstrous Sin. Here, Tidus also is introduced to two of Yevon's Crusaders - Gatta and Luzzu - who give Tidus a bit more background on the world he's found himself in. As Tidus goes to bed for the night, Luzzu pulls Wakka aside to tell him to check in on the summoner at the temple.

Tidus goes to check it out with Wakka once he wakes up. There he's told of the dangerous trials the summoner is to endure within. Despite the warnings from the temple priest, he runs in recklessly after the summoner. After undergoing the Cloister of Trials, he meets with Wakka and the guardians Lulu and Kimahri. Wakka is also a guardian, meant to protect the summoner on the pilgrimage.

The summoner, a young woman named Yuna, then emerges from the Chamber of the Fayth and announces that she has become a summoner. In Spira, summoners go on a pilgrimage to attain the Final Aeon and defeat Sin. When the group emerges, Tidus is chastised for committing a forbidden action by entering the Cloister of Trials by the community. Yuna shares her newfound abilities and summons the mighty Valefor to her side. She and Tidus meet and speak during the evening celebrations.

The next day, the party sets out on a boat heading towards the town of Luca, where the blitzball tournament will be taking place. They plan to stop at Kilika Island along the way to pray at the temple. While Tidus and Yuna chat a bit more on the boat, they're suddenly attacked by Sin.

The party does their best to fight it back but are largely unsuccessful. It breaks free of the bindings and begins one sweeping assault on Kilika Village, wiping out homes and many residents on the island. It wanders off, a spiral of debris following in its wake.

When they arrive, the party is quick to help the village. Wakka and the blitzers aid the villagers in repair work while Yuna offers to perform the Sending. Lulu explains to Tidus (for us, the audience) that the Sending sends the souls of the dead to the Farplane. If they aren't sent, they grow resentful of the living and eventually become fiends. Tidus watches in awe, and with sadness, as Yuna dances and performs the ritual to send the souls of those lost in Sin's attack.

Finally, the party is ready to move on to Kilika Temple. They're warned as they reach the path to avoid the main walkway due to the monstrous Ochu blocking the way. The group sneaks around it and reach the temple when - suddenly - a Sinspawn attacks them! The party defeats it, makes their way into the temple, and Yuna communes with the Fayth, obtaining the summon, Ifrit.

The side ventures out of the way, the crew makes their way to Luca. Here, the world's various blitzball teams gather at Spira's one and only blitzball stadium! Several of the teams are seen coming off the boats but the real attention is the maester boat coming into a different dock.

Here we see Maester Seymour, the half-guado, half-human maester - one of the four leaders of Yevon. Accompanying him is Grand Maester Mika, the great leader of Yevon. The tournament is being held to honor him holding this title for a long 50 years.

The tournament kicks off with thunderous applause and excitement. Wakka's team, the Besaid Aurochs, is seeded, meaning they only need one win to make it to the finals. They engage in the game against the Al Bhed Psyches only to sense something is amiss.

The Al Bhed have kidnapped Yuna! They're holding her captive aboard their ship and using her as a hostage to have the Besaid Aurochs throw the match. Tidus joins Lulu and Kimahri who fight their way to the Al Bhed ship and destroy their blitzball-spitting robot in order to save Yuna. Yuna emerges from the boat unharmed and the Aurochs win the match.

They then go up against the Luca Goers for the finals. The winner or loser depends on you, the player, but the outcome matters little as the stadium is attacked by fiends! Auron appears and joins the party to help them battle the fiends before they're taken down with ease by Seymour's mighty summon, Anima.

The party splits. Tidus joins with Auron who explains that his father, Jecht, became Sin and brought Tidus to Spira. The rest of the party continues on, but not before Tidus and Auron meet up with them. Auron is revealed to be a legendary guardian and offers his services to Yuna, on the condition that Tidus also join as a guardian.

Seeing Tidus moping and depressed at the revelation he just experienced, she encourages Tidus to smile and laugh. This leads to the infamous laughing scene, which isn't just some awkward laugh but rather a forced attempt at joy through a moment of sorrow. Yuna joins him in this awkward laughter where they share a moment. Tidus and Auron officially join as guardians and the party continues onward.

Here they find themselves on the Mi'ihen Highroad, named for the founder of the Crusaders.

Along this road we run into numerous new enemies as well as a host of NPCs. Maechen, a wisened scholar of Spira, is the one who introduces them to the statue of Lord Mi'ihen felling a mighty behemoth. They also encounter the Chocobo Knights, a band of Crusaders who, as their name implies, ride on the backs of their chocobo mounts into battle.

The group stops off at an inn run by the Al Bhed, Rin. They catch a breather overnight and Tidus once again talks with Yuna, who seems to be fiddling with something. When the morning comes around, the group helps fight off the monstrous Chocobo Eater before continuing onwards.

Along the way they meet one other new face, the clumsy Shelinda, a young devout follower of Yevon. She is trying to stop the Crusaders from their upcoming operation ahead, as they plan to use forbidden machina to try battling against Sin. Yuna encourages her and they part ways, with Shelinda appearing from time to time throughout the story. They press onwards, but are stopped when they reach the mission point.

The scheming Seymour grants them passage. The Crusaders are hoarding Sinspawn to attract Sin so they can battle with it. The mission is an utter disaster, with the Sinspawn getting loose and Sin absolutely obliterating the Crusader forces. Explaining it in a few short sentences doesn't do it justice. This is an especially harrowing moment.

From here, the party collects themselves and - after grappling with the terrors they just witnessed - continue onwards. A fork in the road takes them on a brief segue to Djose Temple where Yuna gains the lightning summon, Ixion. This brief stop out of the way, they continue toward their next destination: the Moonflow.

Here, the party pauses to reflect on the beauty of the landscape. They then prepare to board a large creature known as a shoopuf to cross the Moonflow. Auron, who was guardian to Yuna's father High Summoner Braska, tells Tidus of how fellow guardian Jecht swore off alcohol after attacking a shoopuf there.

As the party crosses, they're attacked by another Al Bhed blitzball machine attempting to kidnap Yuna. Tidus and Wakka destroy the machine and, when they arrive on land, Tidus discovers Rikku on the coast. It turns out she was piloting the machine in an attempt to steal Yuna away to safety and get her to quit her pilgrimage. Yuna asks to bring Rikku on as a guardian, and she accepts.

The Moonglow crossed, the group comes to the wooded town of Guadosalam, home to the plant-like guado. Here resides Maester Seymour who invites them to his manor and has them tended to by his butler, Tromell. Seymour converses with the party and ends up proposing to Yuna to bring the people of Spira together.

Needing time to think on this, she visits the Farplane, which resides as a part of Guadosalam. Here the party engages with the souls of those who they'd lost, with Wakka confiding in his dead brother Chappu and Yuna engaging with her parents. As they leave, though, they are greeted by a ghastly sight: the soul of Lord Jyscal Guado, Seymour's father, is trying to escape the Farplane. Yuna sends him and he drops something, which she picks up. After giving Seymour her answer to accept his offer, the group presses on with Yuna's pilgrimage.

The next stop-off point is Macalania Temple (or, as Tidus humorously calls it, Macarena Temple). To reach there, the party goes through the treacherous Thunder Plains, which Rikku is terrified to make it through, and then Macalania Woods.

After making it through these areas, Auron asks the group to pause for a moment, cutting a path way into a special pool. Here, spheres - essentially magical cameras of water that record memories - are made. After fighting a fiend born from this pool, Auron shows Tidus a sphere that Jecht left behind for him. This not only proves to Tidus that the Jecht in Spira is his father, but encourages him to press onward as well.

The group stops off at an inn before Macalania Temple in a frozen wasteland where they're set upon by another Al Bhed trap. Beating the enemies behind this trap, Yuna continues on ahead with Seymour and her guardians make their way to the temple separately. When they get there, a temple acolyte runs out to meet them, exclaiming there is a distressing sphere in Yuna's belongings.

This sphere is revealed to be what Lord Jyscal Guado dropped earlier. It depicts him revealing that Seymour had murdered him and that Yuna was going to lead him on and make him answer for his crime. The guardians meet Yuna and confront Seymour together, eventually defeating and killing him. Tromell is aghast at the scene and destroys Jyscal's sphere to get rid of the evidence against Seymour. The group is chased by the guado and eventually fall through the ice after a fierce battle. Sin is there, causing the group to black out as it takes them elsewhere.

They awaken in the middle of a desert, which turns out to be Bikanel Island - the home of the Al Bhed. Yuna, however, is nowhere to be found. The party arrives at the eponymous Home only to find it under attack by Yevon and go in to battle them and seek the Summoner's Sanctum with the hopes of finding Yuna there. She isn't there, however, and with the help of Rikku's father, Cid, they escape on the refurbished airship salvaged at the start of the game. They blow up Home and depart for where they suspect Yuna to be: Bevelle.

Bevelle is the religious capital of Spira, where Grand Maester Mika resides. Here, they are to wed Yuna and Seymour, who now exists as an unsent who remains on Spira after death. After a savage battle with the guardian beast of Bevelle, Evrae, they go after Seymour and are set upon by Maester Kinoc and the Crusaders. Yuna escapes Seymour's clutches and heads for the temple.

The guardians then follow her to the temple, where after making their way through the Cloister of Trials, they find her praying to the Fayth of Summon: Bahamut. Tidus forces his way into the chamber to make sure Yuna is fine and encounters a familiar sight: the apparition of a young child. Tidus had seen this young boy at various points throughout the journey and it's here that he's revealed to be a fayth.

Once the party gains Bahamut, they are captured by the forces of Yevon and put on trial. It's here that Mika is revealed to be an unsent as well, and the party is cast into the Via Purifico where they are to undergo trials if they are to survive. They make it through, only to find Kinoc killed by Seymour. After a grueling battle against the Maester, they flee for their lives to Macalania Woods.

After being branded traitors of Yevon, Yuna questions her faith in Yevon's teachings and debates if she should continue on with her pilgrimage. Tidus embraces and comforts her at one of the sphere pools, and they kiss, sharing a moment of passion as they give into their feelings for one another. Yuna, comforted and able to think more clearly about her situation, opts to press on.

Here, they make it to the Calm Lands - a vast and empty plain where a great battle once took place against Sin. It also marks the final stopping point before the harsh final steps to Zanarkand, the end of the journey. At this point the party can engage in certain sidequests, such as training at the Monster Arena.

Also open at this point are the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, where the hidden Summon: Yojimbo resides. There is also Remiem Temple, which can only be reached via chocobo, where the unsent summoner Belgemine resides. Belgemine offered training opportunities and tests for Yuna along her journey, and now tests her one final time, eventually granting her access to the mighty Summon: Magus Sisters.

As the main journey continues, the party - being attacked for their status as traitors - reaches the mighty Mt. Gagazet. The mighty Ronso allow Yuna passage, however Kimahri must battle in a test of strength against fellow tribesmen Biran and Yenke. Kimahri proves his worth and the party presses onwards, encountering mighty foes such as Seymour and the fearsome Sanctuary Keeper along the way.

As the party nears Zanarkand, they are greeted to an astounding sight: walls of people encased in stone: hundreds of fayth in one place. Tidus touches them, where he once more encounters the spirit of Bahamut's fayth. This child reveals that he and Jecht are from a dream Zanarkand that these numerous fayth use to keep the destroyed city alive. They want to end their dreaming, encouraging Tidus to find a way to save them, and Tidus learns that if they achieve this, he too will disappear.

Tidus returns to his senses and the party continues. As they walk Tidus finds Yuna dropped a sphere she'd been keeping of her travels, including the time at Mi'ihen Highroad where Yuna was fiddling with something. The group stops for camp before reaching the Zanarkand ruins, which returns us to the scene from the start of the game. Following their break, they reach the heart of Zanarkand: the ruins of the blitzball arena. Here, they meet Lady Yunalesca - the first High Summoner who used the Final Summoning to defeat Sin. However, it's revealed that the Final Summoning involves sacrificing a guardian to become the Final Aeon, which after defeating Sin eventually is possessed by Yu Yevon and becomes Sin anew. Yuna declares this a false tradition and the party battles Yunalesca and, upon defeating her, sends her - ending the Final Summoning for good.

At this point, the party gains full access to the airship, allowing them to go where they please and opening up several more sidequests such as the mighty Omega Ruins. Once they're ready to continue on, they meet with Mika in Bevelle. The Grand Maester is distraught at the party's actions and, learning that the Final Summoning is no more, sends himself so as to not bear witness to the ultimate destruction of Spira.

The group battles against Sin and finally defeats it, with Tidus destroying Yuna's sphere to encourage her. In its death throes, Sin opens a portal to the inside of the beast. Seymour awaits them within, seeking to merge with Sin and become Spira's savior by destroying it - freeing everyone from the pain of life. The party defeats him one last time and Yuna finally sends him.

The party races toward the heart of Sin where they find the one and only Jecht, who confronts Tidus and they briefly exchange words. He tells the party to destroy him once he becomes the Final Aeon once more, which they manage to do. Yu Yevon emerges from the aeon's dying body and Yuna summons the other aeons for Yu Yevon to possess. After going through multiple aeons, Yu Yevon is ultimately destroyed, bringing an end to Sin and the dream Zanarkand.

As Yuna sends the souls of the fayth and Sin, Tidus reveals that he too will soon disappear. Yuna lunges into Tidus's embrace, but falls through him, as he has already begun to fade away. Tidus embraces Yuna as best he can one last time, before she confesses her love to him. He acknowledges this and races off the airship where he finds his father and Auron in the Farplane and celebrates their victory.

Yuna is then seen on a pier at Luca, whistling as Tidus had taught her to do - saying he would come running for her when she did. Yuna, the final summoner, addresses the people of Spira, and encourages them to continue onward beyond the pain they'd been forced to live through for so long as the game fades to black and the story ends.

In addition, there are a handful of odds and ends in this deck, much like the others before this. The above cards, for example, depict a number of denizens of Spira. Many of these are fairly generic and, unlike the decks for Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII, don't represent specific beings.

Additionally, these three cards depict certain elements of the game. Protection Magic is what it sounds like: Yuna casting the spell Protect on party members to prevent them from taking as much physical damage. The Sol Ring represents a save sphere, where players can save, heal, and later call the airship. Finally, the Sphere Grid represents the manner by which party members level up and gain new abilities, which is a humorous thing to see make it onto a card.

That wraps things up for my Commander write-ups for this set! While I would love to cover the Final Fantasy XIV deck Scions & Spellcraft, I'm unfortunately not very well-versed in that game, having only gotten through part of A Realm Reborn. Seeing as how there are several more expansions past that, it's a bit tough for me to address many of those moments.

Thanks for reading along with these. It's been a genuine treat to get to retell such fantastic stories in detail. I'll have more lore articles coming in the future so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them. Just don't expect them to be quite as in-depth as these last few.

Paige Smith

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