During the debut stream for Magic: the Gathering - Final Fantasy, the team of panelists went through game by game and revealed a handful of cards representing each title. Then, after getting through all sixteen games, they had one more thing to reveal: the character of Cid. Cid is a mainstay of the Final Fantasy series and there's one - or more - Cids in just about every title. How did they solve this? By making fifteen versions of the same card!

That's right, there are fifteen versions of Cid, Timeless Artificer in this set - a fantastic way to represent a classic and iconic set of characters. While I'd have loved to cover them all in my Preview Panel Lore article, there's enough to talk about with this card that I've instead opted to give it the full length treatment. I'm going to cover each version of this sweet uncommon and talk a bit about their respective characters.

As with last week's article discussing basic lands, I want to mention that there are still a handful of titles in the series that I haven't finished to completion. As such, I'm not 100% on characterizations and have done some reading online to fill in the knowledge gaps. As such, there may be some minor inaccuracies for a few lore tidbits, but I hope this still provides you with a better understanding of these characters and the games they represent.

With that little disclaimer out of the way, let's get right to the Cids!

Final Fantasy I

Wait, there isn't a Cid for Final Fantasy I? Why not? The simple answer is that Cid wasn't introduced into the series until the second game, much like with chocobos. Certain later rereleases and remakes added in a brief mention of a Cid character from the story's past, but it's much more of a throwaway as opposed to a major story element. Thus, there is no card representing this title.

Final Fantasy II

Cid of Final Fantasy II is the first true Cid of the series. This iteration of Cid was once a knight of Fynn, the capital of the kingdom of the same name. At some point, though - unclear if it's before the Palamecian invasion or not - Cid leaves to focus on his airship. For a decent chunk of the game's earlier runtime, Cid provides players travel around the world for a fee, acting as an early instance of fast travel.

Cid's knowledge of airships later proves valuable to the party, who are tasked to destroy the mighty Palamecian airship Dreadnought. Despite taking out this airship, the Palamecia Empire manages to create another monumental force of destruction known as the Cyclone. This mighty fortress destroys several towns, completely changing the texture of the world. Among the casualties of this attack is Cid, who - after the defeat of the Emperor - bestows upon the party his airship so that they can strike at Palamecia to stop Leon from taking over as the new Emperor.

Final Fantasy III

I'd argue that the Cid of Final Fantasy III has the smallest role of the entire series. He's held up in the town of Kazus thanks to a curse by an evil djinn and tells the party how to access the airship so they can take down this djinn. Once they do so, Cid asks to be taken home to his wife in Canaan. Once the party does so (and aids his sick wife), Cid remains here for the rest of the game outside of one more brief appearance towards the game's finale, and has little further story relevance outside of upgrading the party's ship into an airship that allows them to escape the floating continent that makes up the early part of the game.

Final Fantasy IV

Cid Pollendina is the head engineer of the Baron empire, who designs the airships that have made them such a powerful military force. He's a friend of Cecil Harvey, the leader of the Red Wings of Baron - the kingdom's airship-based military squad - and looks after Cecil's love interest, Rosa.

Cid comes to help the party at various points throughout the game, joining as a playable party member himself at times. As depicted on this card, when the party travels to the Underworld to stop the evil Golbez from obtaining the Dark Crystals, he sacrifices himself by throwing himself off the airship to throw bombs at the ships that pursue them.

It's later revealed that he survived the ordeal and is healing with the aid of the dwarves. He eventually fortifies the ship the group is using to get around and enables them to reach new areas into the endgame.

Final Fantasy V

Cid in this game - Cid Previa - is a resident scholar of the Library of the Ancients, which is a place littered with an immeasurable number of books as its name might imply. These volumes span long lengths of time from thousands of years ago to the present and even feature some books that are possessed. Deep in the library, Cid finds a tome that allows him to create machines that amplify the power of the crystals. This sets the core story into motion as it overloads the crystals and causes them to shatter.

Once the party meets Cid, he helps them obtain a boat that can sail without wind (formerly the Fire-Powered Ship). Later on, he also helps them acquire an airship and also aids the party in upgrading it when needed, enabling the airship to go higher in the skies or convert into a submarine. He is frequently aided in these efforts by his grandson, Mid, who would later become a recurring character in future entries. Mid can be seen in the background of this art.

Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VI's Cid is well known for his goofy-looking lab suit that's often been affectionately referred to as "the banana suit." Despite this silly appearance, Cid plays a pivotal story character for the game in a number of ways. In this game, he's the chief engineer of the Magitek Research Facility that seeks to utilize the powers of espers for the Gestahlian Empire.

Cid has a fatherly (or perhaps grandfatherly, as it's referred to later in the game) relationship with the character Celes. When Celes turns traitor on the Empire, he also has a change of heart and aids the party as they sneak into the facility. Notably, his art depicts him in this facility standing in front of the esper Maduin, the father of Terra who later is turned into magicite. Cid later also helps to engage in discussions with the Empire to cease the atrocities caused by the empire.

After Kefka destroys the world, Celes awakens a year later on a small, isolated island to find the elderly Cid has been taking care of her comatose self for a year. After she awakens, though, she finds Cid extremely sickly and finds him fish in nearby waters to help his recovery. If she does well enough, Cid recovers, but if not then he'll die. If he dies, Celes becomes despondent and attempts to throw herself off a cliff, though she survives. Regardless of the outcome, Cid encourages her to go to sea and seek out her lost comrades to save the world.

Final Fantasy VII

Cid Highwind - a name he shares with his signature airship as well as IV's Kain Highwind - is without question the most popular and most beloved Cid of them all. Final Fantasy VII was a landmark title not just for the series but for gaming as a whole. That certainly helped make this iteration of Cid a popular character, but really set him apart was his characterization.

Cid lives in the remote area known as Rocket Town which, as the name would suggest, is home to a massive rocket ship. The ship rests at an angle on the launch pad, overrun with moss due to a botched launch with Cid as its pilot caused by engineer Shera to still be on the ship which would've killed her if the launch went through. The failed launch and the destruction of his hopes and dreams left Cid a bitter man, and his grouchy old personality makes him surprisingly lovable as players engage with him throughout the game.

Eventually, during the quest for the Huge Materia, Cid finally achieves his dream of going to space. The evil corporation Shinra repairs the rocket, sets it for launch, and sends it into space aimed straight for the Ultimate Magic: Meteor. The party escapes from the rocket before it collides with Meteor and Cid happily celebrates the completion of his dreams.

Final Fantasy VIII

In Final Fantasy VIII, Cid Kramer is the headmaster of Balamb Garden and the SeeD Academy. Cid married the sorceress Edea and together they ran an orphanage at their home. Eventually, an older Squall - one of the orphanage's children - shows up before her with a defeated sorceress and tells her to establish SeeD. She tells Cid that they must do so, which leads to them splitting but Cid goes through with the Balamb Garden efforts in order to train Squall and the other party members who would join him in their later battles against the previously mentioned sorceress, Ultimecia.

While Cid primarily plays the role of headmaster here, he does show some affiliations to the airship connection of past Cids still. This becomes apparent when the Balamb Garden transforms into a mobile airship of sorts, as depicted on the card that you can find in the Magic: the Gathering - Final Fantasy main set.

Final Fantasy IX

Cid Fabool IX (get it? Because it's the 9th game?) is the ruler of Lindblum who sends the Tantalus Theatre Troupe to kidnap Princess Garnet from Alexandria. When the party returns, they find Cid has been turned into an oglop by his wife, Hilda. What's an oglop? They're sort of roach-like critter, only in this form he remains recognizable by his majestic signature mustache.

Cid aids the party throughout their journey, helping to provide them transportations and getting them out of sticky situations. He also continues to provide great comic relief thanks to his various transformations, such as changing into a frog in an attempt to turn back into a human.

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X's Cid is one of the Al Bhed, a group of people who don't belong to Spira's main religion of Yevon. Branded heathens and traitors, they're frequently at odds with the greater populations of Spira and utilize the ancient machina (or machines) forbidden by Yevon. His daughter, Rikku, conscripts main character Tidus into salvaging an airship - the Farenheit - which Cid and the other Al Bhed repair.

When the Al Bhed homeland, simply titled Home, is attacked by followers of Yevon, Cid scrambles as many survivors as possible onto the Farenheit. He then orders the demolition of Home as its leader and aids the party in their travels and even in certain battles such as with Evrae and Sin. He worries especially about the party's summoner, Yuna, who just so happens to be his niece. He's extremely memorable for his gruff and serious yet often lighthearted personality.

Final Fantasy XI

Cid from Final Fantasy XI is always one I love in almost a joking kind of way. Cid is the chief engineer for the Republic of Bastok, an extremely industrial nation that players can start in. Cid gives you various missions throughout the game and helps to move the story along in several spots.

Why, then, do I love him in a joking way? Because thanks to the character models present in XI, Cid has a wide grin that looks downright terrifying - especially once he starts talking. As such, he ends up looking extremely goofy in-game as a result. The card art by David Astruga still manages to capture Cid's trademark smile, albeit in a way that doesn't look quite so horrific.

Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XII's Cid is a little different from the rest. By now, you've likely gathered that most Cids help the character out and lead to innovations that enable the party to advance further in their respective games. Not Cidolfus Demen Bunansa of Final Fantasy XII.

Dr. Cid is a bona fide villain, a scientist of the Arcadian Empire driven mad by the rogue Occuria, Venat. The god-like being whispers into his ear to aid the Arcadian Empire in taking history into their own hands away from the other Occuria, though at the cost of Cid's sanity. This leads his son, Ffamran mied Bunansa aka the charismatic sky pirate Balthier, to denounce him and eventually do battle with him.

After chasing him throughout the story, the party finally does battle with Cid at the Pharos Lighthouse. There he uses an artifact known as nethicite to summon the esper Famfrit and engages with the party after using the power of nethicite to activate the sky fortress Bahamut. The party defeats him and goes on to take down the Bahamut and stop it from its devastating onslaught it aims to unleash upon the world.

In addition, it should be noted that there's a second Cid in the game known as Al-Cid Margrace, a member of the royal family of Rozarria. He's a much more minor character and thus Dr. Cid is considered the game's true Cid.

Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII onwards is where things tend to get a bit murkier for me. For each of these games, I've never finished them. As such I've either never run into the Cids of their respective titles or maybe had only minimal interactions instead. The Cid of this title, Cid Raines, is one such character. I played a few hours of this game, but unfortunately never ran into him or at least don't remember doing so.

From what I can tell reading around, Cid is a member of the Cocoon military who helms the mighty airship Lindblum (you may recognize this as a nod to FFIX's Cid). He is branded a l'Cie by Galenth Dysley, whose real identity is the Fal'cie Barthandelus. He goes against this branding and turns into a monstrous Cie'th and attacks the party. After being defeated, he turns into a crystal, though is later revived by Galenth to be used as a useful tool, before he is ultimately killed by his former compatriot Rygdea to free him from this fate.

Final Fantasy XIV

Unlike Final Fantasy XI's Cid, who is largely a minor background character through most quest and mission lines, Final Fantasy XIV's Cid is a much bigger player in an MMORPG. As a result, this is one I'm going to have to simply admit I don't know too much about. Final Fantasy XIV is a game I loved the time I spent with it, however I didn't spend nearly enough time to meet with Cid and experience his story.

As I understand it, he aids the Eorzean forces in utilizing magitek technology to battle with the Garlean Empire. Following Meteorfall and the rise of Bahamut at the end of the original 1.0 run of Final Fantasy XIV, he loses his memory and later gains it back in A Realm Reborn. From there he aids you, the Warrior of Light, as well as the other Eorzean Forces such as the Scions of the Seventh Dawn in a variety of quests across the many adventures of the game and its many expansions.

Final Fantasy XV

I haven't spent too much time with Final Fantasy XV, but I have gotten to know Cid Sophiar, this game's rendition of the Cid character. Cid is a close personal friend of King Regis prior to his assassination. When the main party's car breaks down at the start of the game as they get going on their road trip, Cid helps to repair The Regalia at his shop Hammerhead and gets them back on their way. Additionally, he helps provide a means of upgrading the party's weapons should they have the resources to do so.

It also wouldn't feel right if I didn't mention his assistant and granddaughter, Cindy. As you can probably tell by the name, she's basically a female Cid in her own right and boasts a wonderfully bubbly attitude. She helps give the party quests early on and gives them something to do, and later joins the party to aid them in quests as well. Both versions of Cid in this game absolutely make for a wonderfully delightful experience.

Final Fantasy XVI

Admittedly the game I know the least about overall, Final Fantasy XVI's Cid is the dominant of the thunder eikon, Ramuh. He teams up with Clive but is killed off by the game's villain, Ultima, and passes on the powers of Ramuh to Clive. In addition, he passes on the name "Cid the Outlaw" to Clive, who inadvertently becomes the game's second Cid.

As I noted at the top, I'm not super on the up and up with this game and couldn't find too much info on the character so, there you go. He seems like a really cool character and one I'm eager to run into more as I eventually get around to playing this game.

Final Fantasy has become home to many things that have become iconic about it. Chocobos, Tonberries, Malboro, Cactuars, and more are all mainstays, yet few feel so uniquely Final Fantasy as Cid. There's plenty of Cids I didn't even touch on here, such as the spinoff Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Type-0 games. There was even a Cid in the famous flop movie, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, where he was perhaps one of the only true ties to the core series that movie contained.

It's extremely cool to have the many Cids of the series get the royal treatment, even if only on a series of uncommons. I loved seeing them here and all the little stories each one tells. I hope this article has helped provide a little bit of insight into each of these characters' backstories and lets you know just a bit more about what makes Final Fantasy such an amazing series.

Paige Smith

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