So I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering for years now, mostly Commander format with my buddies every Friday night. When I heard Wizards was releasing a Final Fantasy crossover set, I straight up laughed. Video game stuff in Magic? Sounded like a cash grab to me.
Grabbing the starter pack
Walked into my local game store last month and saw the FF display boxes staring at me. Figured what the hell, bought the starter pack just to see. Ripped open the packaging – dude, the card art hit me right in the nostalgia. That Bahamut dragon card? Chills. Printed a Sephiroth card that actually made sense with flying and haste.
Testing with Commander pods
Took the cards to game night thinking we’d just joke around. Built my deck around Cloud Strife as commander, threw in some materia tokens as artifacts. Didn’t expect it to actually work but holy crap:
- Summon mechanic felt like playing FF in card form
- Party system cards synced perfectly with Commander’s multiplayer vibe
- Everyone kept asking to see my Tidus card mid-game
By turn 5 we weren’t even joking anymore – this was legit fun.
Why Commander players love it
Started chatting with folks at tournaments. Realized why this set clicks:
Commander players are story junkies. We don’t just want good cards – we want cards that make our boards tell cool stories. FF characters bring instant narrative to the table. Saw three different people building Moogle tribal decks last week! That relic equipment card? Every black deck wants it now.
Biggest realization? This isn’t just some gimmick. Wizards actually made the mechanics matter for our format. FF fans are buying Magic product for the first time, and Commander lifers are suddenly geeking out over Chocobos. Game stores can’t keep booster boxes in stock. Honestly? This crossover stuff is changing how we’ll think about future sets. Might even see more video game mashups if they keep this quality up.