A Quick Look at the Final Fantasy Debut Stream

Posted on May 12, 2025

This past Saturday saw the official debut and kick off stream for Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy at PAX East in Boston. Hosted by Ben Starr, the voice actor for Final Fantasy XVI's lead character Clive Rosfield, the panel showed off dozens of cards from throughout the series' long line of titles. All sixteen core Final Fantasy titles were represented in the show:

The celebrations started somewhat early, with a host of cards showing up Friday and early Saturday ahead of the stream. Here we got our first glimpses at the remaining backup commanders for the four precons, the goofy Hildibrand Manderville, and even a version of Atraxa, Grand Unifier depicting the final boss Safer Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. Perhaps most surprising was the return of MTG classic Dark Confidant printed once again into Standard for the first time in nearly 20 years!

But that was just a taste of what was to come. The crew spent two hours covering cards from every single Final Fantasy game, giving some love to every title and showing off over 50 brand new cards.

Several beloved characters made their card debuts, showing off the first MTG cards for the likes of Squall, Kain, Vivi, and Lightning. Many major villains also got their first card depictions, such as Ultimecia, Kuja, and even a melded Ragnarok from XIII.

While the most obvious options definitely got their share of the spotlight, the team also showed they were dedicated to show off the deeper cuts as well. Commune with Beavers was noted as being perhaps the most obvious of these, depicting the moment in Final Fantasy II when party member Guy speaks to beavers to help unlock the next part of your quest. This extends to the likes of secret super bosses the series is known for, with the extreme case of Absolute Virtue from Final Fantasy XI getting a card. Could this indicate the likes of other famously powerful enemies like Emerald Weapon, Penance, and Yiazmat?

Several cards were also revealed to feature all-new art by a variety of beloved Final Fantasy artists. Naturally, this includes the long famous names of Yoshitaka Amano and Tetsuya Nomura providing stunning art on the likes of Terra, Magical Adept // Esper Terra and Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel. However, this also extends to other major artists for the series, with Akihiko Yoshida, Isamu Kamikokuryo, Roberto Ferrari, and Kazuya Takahashi all presenting special treatments to select cards.

The show also revealed several of the set's major mechanics. While we were previously shown the summon mechanic during the First Look back in February with Summon: Shiva, three other major pieces were shown off. The first were towns, noted as being a new riff on gates that is much more in line with the flavor of Final Fantasy. We also get shown tiered magic, which is a stellar way of providing the varied levels of magic in the games themselves. Additionally, Final Fantasy is well known for its job system, with jobs basically being classes in Final Fantasy terms. These are represented by equipment that create 1/1 creature tokens and give specific types to those creatures.

In addition to these cool new cards, Wizards also showed off this set's special chase cards for the most determined collectors. Chocobos are known for their various colors, particularly in Final Fantasy VII where it relates to the breeding sidequest many players go through in the game. To represent this, the new card Traveling Chocobo comes in a variety of neon ink color treatments, as well as a special gold serialized card limited to 77 copies depicting FFVII's ultimate chocobo: the Gold Chocobo. The Black Chocobo is exclusively in Japanese, as a tribute to the series' creative director Tetsuya Nomura.

Finally, the show ended with the special revelation of Cid, Timeless Artificer. Cid is a mainstay of the Final Fantasy series, with a new one introduced every game since Final Fantasy II. To honor this, the card boasts 15 different unique versions and features the text that players can have as many copies of it as they want in their decks.

Magic: the Gathering - Final Fantasy is poised to be one of the most popular sets of all time. Check with your local shop to see about preordering or signing up for prerelease events. Additionally, you can find sealed product and singles right here on CoolStuffInc.com. We're just getting started with preview season, so it's going to be exciting to see what comes next. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled and pick up all the cards you're looking for!

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