The Finest ‘Remaining Fantasy̵...

At this time one of many largest units in Magic: The Gathering‘s current historical past makes its grand arrival finally: Final Fantasy, the primary of Magic‘s at-times-controversial “Universes Past” crossovers with different franchises to be given the total standard-legal remedy. It’s a wedding of two of gaming’s most beloved fantasy realms, and with absolute legions of followers of each Magic and Remaining Fantasy to please, it has to hit the highlights and mechanical flavoring of 16 mainline sport’s value of viable playing cards. From every thing we’ve seen of the set within the run as much as at present’s launch, it seems like Wizards of the Coast and Sq. Enix helped construct a match made in (seventh) heaven—however right here’s a few of our favorite nods to Remaining Fantasy‘s huge legacy that we love most from the set.

Naturally, a few of these references are about key main story factors of their respective Remaining Fantasy titles. When you’re not caught up with the 16 mainline video games which have launched over the previous 4 a long time, properly, think about your self very evenly spoiler warned right here.

Tiered Spells Are a Good Mix of Remaining Fantasy and Magic

One of many new mechanical additions the Remaining Fantasy set brings to Magic is the “Tiered” rule: if a participant pays an extra value to the cardboard’s preliminary mana value, they will choose from one in every of three tiers of energy. Extra mana means extra results—identical to how in Remaining Fantasy quite a lot of magic spells have three evolutionary steps: their base kind, a stronger model of that kind with the suffix -ara, after which its strongest kind with the suffix -aga.

The tiered spells within the set are unfold throughout two completely different varieties: some are given to characterize numerous restrict break assaults from Remaining Fantasy VII, reflecting the social gathering’s means to develop stronger particular assaults over the course of the sport. However the ones that characterize a few of Remaining Fantasy‘s elemental and restorative magics are every well attuned to the colour identities they’re assigned to in Magic. Aggressive fireplace and thunder magics are assigned to purple; ice, which as a substitute of doing injury bounces playing cards again into an opponents fingers or libraries, is assigned to blue, which displays that coloration’s archetypal concentrate on interruption and management mechanics. It’s a really neat option to mechanically marry a Remaining Fantasy participant’s understanding of the collection’ base magic system to a Magic participant’s understanding of its personal colours’ archetypes and escalatory results.

Suplex the Prepare, Dammit

Suplex, renamed to Meteor Strike in later variations of Remaining Fantasy VI, is likely one of the many martial skills of Sabin the Monk, letting him… properly, choose an enemy up and flip them within the air to slam them straight again down. However whereas Sabin can use the transfer on a large number of VI‘s massive creatures, essentially the most notorious sufferer of the assault—spurring years of web meme historical past—is the truth that he can use it when the social gathering encounters the Phantom Prepare after Sabin, Cyan, and Shadow flee the Empire’s invasion of Doma. The Phantom Prepare is, after all, a spectral haunted steam practice, so it’s very absurd that Sabin can simply choose it up and suplex it prefer it’s no massive deal.

Suplex will get its personal card as a sorcery in Magic, which helps you to do three injury to a creature—fairly fundamental. Besides, a participant who performs Suplex may as a substitute use its second means, which permits it to particularly exile an artifact card. what’s an artifact within the Remaining Fantasy set? The Phantom Prepare.

Lightning’s Stagger

FF XIII‘s protagonist has a number of playing cards to her title within the set, however Lightning, Military of One has a number of cool mechanical nods to XIII‘s battle system. The primary is that “Military of One” suffix, a reference to Lightning’s highly effective combo assault of that title within the sport—an aggression that’s symbolically matched within the card by giving her a number of offensive key phrases like Trample (which lets her deal extra injury from fight on to a participant) and First Strike (which lets her deal injury earlier than anybody else resolves injury in fight).

However it’s Lightning, Military of One’s different rule that’s the neater reference: she has Stagger, a nod to the mechanic of the identical title in XIII that lets the social gathering deal bonus injury to an opponent as soon as they’ve maxed out its stagger gauge via regular, repeated assaults for a quick time frame. In Magic, it lets another creature that assaults Lightning’s goal, whether or not it’s one other creature or a participant, take double injury for the remainder of the flip. Identical hat!

Sephiroth Yearns to Kill Aerith

One of many most infamous moments within the authentic Remaining Fantasy VII is Sephiroth’s homicide of Aerith as she prays within the Metropolis of Ancients. Just like the synergy between Suplex and Phantom Prepare earlier than it, Sephiroth, Fabled Soldier and Aerith have a synergy that grimly displays his fated killing: Aerith’s guidelines let her acquire +1/+1 counters each time you acquire life, and Sephiroth, Fabled Soldier provides you life each time one other creature dies. The fourth time that impact occurs, you’ll be able to flip Sephiroth over, remodeling him into his highly effective One Winged Angel kind.

However he can even sacrifice any card, together with one in every of your personal, each time he assaults. Which, most of the time, triggers “dies” as a mechanic, advancing Sephiroth nearer to his transformation… and Aerith herself has a particular rule that, when she dies, her accrued +1/+1 tokens may be given to all Legendary Creatures you may have in play. So, when you’ve got them each in play, Sephiroth can sacrifice Aerith for his fourth set off, remodeling, and then reap the advantages of all of the +1/+1 tokens Aerith had constructed up from his attacking. It’s imply! And really flavorful.

Or you can simply play Sephiroth’s Intervention, a black On the spot that destroys any goal creature, if you happen to simply wish to kill an Aerith for funsies.

Remaining Fantasy XIV‘s Remaining Days

One of many largest items of background lore within the critically acclaimed MMORPG Remaining Fantasy XIV is the “Remaining Days,” a cataclysmic apocalypse that occurred hundreds of years prior to now that noticed the world of Etheirys, the realm of a precursor race referred to as the Ancients, break into 14 shards throughout a battle between the gods Zodiark and Hydaelyn in an try to stall the Remaining Days’ arrival. A lot of Remaining Fantasy XIV takes place on the first of these reflective shards, the Supply, whereas a few of its expansions have seen gamers journey to the worlds of different shards, like Shadowbringers.

This occasion comes up in a number of poignantly thematic playing cards within the Magic set. Zodiark, Umbral God sees a participant sacrifice half of the creatures they management, as a reference to the sacrifice the Ancients made to summon Zodiark and delay the Remaining Days within the first place. In the meantime, Emet-Selch, Unsundered—one of many few surviving Ancients, haunted by his want to revive the world to what it was in his lifetime—can remodel into his godlike type of Hades as soon as 14 playing cards enter your graveyard, and may play playing cards out of your graveyard as soon as he’s achieved so.

Phoenix Down Can Heal… and Hurt

Phoenix Down is an iconic merchandise from throughout Remaining Fantasy, the straightforward revival medication that allows you to carry again a lifeless social gathering member in battle. In Magic, it could actually solely carry again playing cards out of your graveyard with a mana worth of 4 or much less, reflective of its comparatively fundamental type of restorative magic. However even higher is the truth that it has a second means: you should utilize it to exile undead creatures, a nod to the truth that therapeutic objects in Remaining Fantasy can be utilized on undead enemies to do injury as a substitute.

Worry the Tonberry

Tonberries could look oddly cute with the dainty little knife and their massive yellow eyes, however each Remaining Fantasy participant is aware of that these inexperienced critters imply enterprise as soon as they get near you. In most of their appearances, Tonberries take a number of turns of fight to slowly inch in the direction of your social gathering—and as soon as they do, they immediately kill you in a single assault with their chef’s knife. That is splendidly translated into Magic with a mixture of two mechanics: a Tonberry enters play tapped and with a stun counter on it, which implies it takes two participant turns to be able to assault. As soon as it does assault although, it has First Strike and Deathtouch, which means irrespective of how a lot injury it does to a creature, it is going to at all times do deadly injury.

Galuf’s Sacrifice

Galuf’s dying combating Exdeath in Remaining Fantasy V is likely one of the sport’s most iconic moments, made all of the extra bittersweet by the actual fact his skills are handed onto his granddaughter Krile, who joins the social gathering in his stead. That inheritance is of course mirrored in Galuf’s Remaining Act, which not solely briefly boosts a creature’s energy (a nod to Galuf going all out as he takes on Exdeath 1v1), however lets it move on +1/+1 tokens equal to its energy when it dies.

Combat or Flight

An notorious gag second in Remaining Fantasy VII comes when the social gathering goes to rescue Aerith from Shinra’s HQ forward of the climactic escape from Midgar. You’re given a easy alternative, in each the unique sport and in Remake: take the elevator as much as the sixtieth ground, which stops a number of occasions for a collection of fights, or the “quiet” route… having to manage Cloud as he runs up 59 flights of stairs.

The Magic card Aerith Rescue Mission encapsulates that alternative completely: you’ll be able to both take the elevator, providing you with three 1/1 Hero Tokens (representing Cloud, Tifa, and Barrett being able to combat), or you’ll be able to take the steps, which helps you to faucet and stun as much as three creatures (representing their cardio-induced duress).

The Cycle of Sin

Remaining Fantasy X is constructed across the cycle of Sin, an enormous creature that rises to cull civilizations that develop too massive or too superior—however whose slaughter may be paused for a interval of “Calm” years when a Summoner sacrifices themselves in a ultimate battle in opposition to Sin to summon a ultimate aeon able to defeating Sin… albeit solely quickly, locking the world in a cycle of destruction.

That will get a fairly spot-on mirror within the card Sin, Never-ending Cataclysm; it not solely removes counters from any variety of creatures on the battlefield (to characterize Sin’s limitation of technological development), but additionally returns to your library when it dies relatively than dying, which means it could actually’t be conventionally defeated. Its personal bonus counters created from eradicating counters may be given to one in every of your different creatures… you realize, so Sin can inherit them twice over when it returns.

Champions From Past the Rift, Heed My Name!

Champions From Past is a multilayered reference for Remaining Fantasy XIV gamers: the title and the artwork represents the climactic moments of the Shadowbringers enlargement, when the participant is aided by Iconic Catboy G’raha Tia, who summons heroes (aka, different gamers) from throughout the 14 shards of the world to battle Emet-Selch. That group-content focus is mirrored in its guidelines, which helps you to create any variety of Hero tokens whereas additionally providing bonuses for attacking in both teams of 4 or eight creatures.  These are references to the 2 customary group sizes for FF XIV‘s multiplayer content material: Gentle Events, teams of 4 for traditional dungeon content material; and Full Events, teams of eight usually utilized in tougher boss fights or endgame raids.

Quistis’ Blue Magic

Remaining Fantasy has all kinds of various magical archetypes throughout the collection, however Blue Magic is one in every of its most arcane emblems within the numerous faculties of color-themed magics. Black Magic is primarily damaging elemental spells, White Magic is therapeutic and help, Pink Magic blends the 2, whereas Blue represents a capability to soak up and be taught the talents of an enemy opponent. Blue Mages exist throughout a number of Remaining Fantasy video games, however FF VIII‘s Quistis it maybe some of the well-known. It’s becoming then that not solely is she slotted into Magic‘s blue coloration archetype, however that her Blue Magic means lets her solid spells from any participant’s graveyard, be it yours or your opponent: and that she solid them with any mana, no matter their authentic value.

Kain’s Thoughts Management

Kain Highwind is an enchanting foil in Remaining Fantasy IV, his lingering jealousy in the direction of FF IV‘s principal character Cecil making him a straightforward goal for the sport’s antagonist, Golbez, to deprave him and brainwash him a number of occasions over the course of the story. Kain’s almost-comical means to be pressured into betraying you is delightfully woven into Magic along with his card, Kain, Traitorous Dragoon—every time Kain does injury to a different participant, they will select to take management of him and he does mirrored injury to his authentic proprietor, which means that Kain can bounce backwards and forwards between possession over the course of the sport!

Ashe’s Temptation

A serious turning level in Remaining Fantasy XII comes when Ashe, the exiled princess of the dominion of Dalmasca, finds herself confronted with a harmful temptation: fulfill her future as Ivalice’s generational ruler and use the facility of the almighty crystal referred to as the Solar-Cryst to destroy the Archadian Empire that attacked Dalmasca initially of the sport, or destroy the Solar-Cryst and free Ivalice from the machinations of its creators.

On the floor, the On the spot Destiny of the Solar-Cryst is a fairly typical Magic card, paying 5 mana to destroy any non-land everlasting. However it has a bonus twist: it solely prices three mana if you happen to goal a tapped creature, ie… a creature that’s already attacked you. It’s a really flavorful option to incorporate Ashe’s temptation in the direction of revenge.

Of Course Ignis Cooks

Ignis’ card simply wouldn’t be Ignis if it didn’t embrace a capability primarily based round cooking. “I’ve Come Up With a New Recipe!” lets a participant faucet Ignis and pay some mana to exile a card out of your graveyard—and if it was a creature, you’ll be able to create a meals token, letting a participant regain well being. It’s named, after all, for Ignis’ meme-worthy repeated catchphrase from Remaining Fantasy XV: the social gathering’s prepare dinner every time they camped, Ignis may be taught numerous recipes all through XV to grant the social gathering numerous buffs and standing results once they rested. Specifying the bonus for exiling a creature is itself a cute reference to the truth that Ignis can prepare dinner numerous meals from the supplies you get from killing creatures throughout XV‘s world, besides.

A Smile Higher Fits a Hero

A number of playing cards all through the Remaining Fantasy set give new themed artwork to already established Magic playing cards. Relic of Legends, a easy mana-generating artifact launched in Dominaria United, is one in every of them, however its inclusion within the Remaining Fantasy XIV-themed Commander Deck, Scions & Spellcraft, is given a painful twist. The relic of legend within the new artwork refers to a traumatic sacrifice from Heavensward, XIV‘s first enlargement, when one in every of your allies within the kingdom of Ishgard, Haurchefant Greystone, makes an attempt to deflect a magical assault supposed to strike the hero… just for his defend to buckle and for the strike to run him via as a substitute, killing him. Cue the waterworks!

Ifrit vs. Titan

Conflict of the Eikons refers to one of many standout moments of the latest mainline Final Fantasy, XVI, through which protagonist Clive Rosfield, remodeled into the almighty summon Ifrit, scraps with rival summon Titan in an epic battle. Other than trying as cool because the combat in XVI does, this sorcery enables you to manipulate the quantity of lore counters on a Saga card below your management: the cardboard archetype that represents Remaining Fantasy‘s numerous summon creatures throughout the video games within the set to mirror their standing as highly effective, however limited-time forces in battle.

It’s not solely flavorful in that sense, it’s notably flavorful to Remaining Fantasy XVI. The combat between Ifrit and Titan is actually the primary time that Clive really comes into his personal as Ifrit’s “Dominant”, embracing his transformation and pulling out all of the stops to defeat Titan—so it’s solely becoming that that conflict represents the power to govern Sagas on this means!

The Warrior of Gentle Unites All

The Warrior of Gentle is the title of the character created to characterize the generic social gathering members of the very first Remaining Fantasy, who had no set characters and might be given any of the collection’ iconic jobs over the course of the sport. Now a quasi-mascot of Remaining Fantasy as a complete, oddly sufficient the Warrior of Gentle doesn’t even have a novel card representing him within the Magic set (he seems on some, however none are particularly centered round him as a personality).

He’s represented, nonetheless, on the “Via The Ages” bonus sheet, a collection of playing cards that reprints traditional Magic playing cards with paintings drawn from throughout Remaining Fantasy historical past, from character idea work to promotional imagery from every sport. The Warrior of Gentle is represented on this set of playing cards with a reprint of Jodah the Unifier, an iconic card that’s fashionable in Magic‘s Commander as a “WURBG” archetype: having a value that makes use of one mana from every of Magic‘s 5 colours, a deck with Jodah as its Commander may be constructed out of playing cards from each coloration in flip.

On high of that, Jodah the Unifier’s skills are constructed round synergies with Legendary Creatures and spells, buffing the extra of them you may have in play and getting extra of them in play as rapidly as doable. Throughout the Remaining Fantasy set most principal characters are represented as Legendary Creatures, so it’s becoming that the Warrior of Gentle can carry collectively heroes and villains from throughout the entire collection to face collectively!

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