Magic: The Gathering's Final Fantasy set will include Emet-Selch from FF14 and Kefka from FF6 as well as the more obvious choices
When I imagined the kind of cards we'd get in Magic's crossover with the Final Fantasy series I figured we'd see a lot of Cloud and Tifa as well as leads from the more recent games, like Clive and Noctis. For some reason I didn't expect them to go deep into the FF14 well, despite its popularity, and yet two pieces of art revealed in a first look at next year's set are just that, while another represents a memorable moment from the true fan's pick, FF6. (Which is basically the Morrowind of the Final Fantasy series.)
As part of a wholesome video in which Square Enix producer Shoichi Ichikawa and Wizards of the Coast product architect Zakeel Gordon fanboy at each other over their respective games, we saw artwork from six of the cards in the set. Unsurprisingly, they look a lot nicer than the cards from the official Final Fantasy CCG, which used blurry in-game assets to represent several characters.
One depicts Kefka Palazzo, the flamboyant final boss of FF6, poisoning Doma's water supply. I wouldn't be surprised if Kefka returns in another card, with this one being used to represent a way of dropping poison tokens on your opponent and the other presenting him as a summonable legendary. Emet-Selch, a villain from FF14 beloved by the people who have 1,000 hours spare to sink into it, also appears, as does a Postmoogle from the same game. It's easy to forget FF14 is a rare success in the MMO world, and one that essentially funds Square Enix's less successful releases.
Other artwork includes Lightning from FF13, and a kiss being shared between Tidus and Yuna from FF10. According to the official website that picture will illustrate a reprint of the Together Forever card introduced in 2018's Battlebond set. Finally, there's predictably a picture of Sephiroth from FF7, though given the action pose he's in I wouldn't be surprised if this artwork accompanies a reprint as well. Perhaps of the classic Murder card?
The Final Fantasy Magic set will be released on June 13, 2025 in paper form and digitally in Arena. It'll be the first of Magic's Universes Beyond sets to be legal in the standard format, as will subsequent crossovers like the Spider-Man set that's scheduled to follow it next year.