Magic: The Gathering and Final Fantasy have been living parallel lives for three decades now. 

Square Enix’s RPG juggernaut began its life as a last-resort, one-in-a-million chance for a troubled video game developer, only to morph into one of the most popular video game franchises ever. Magic, meanwhile, started out as a small trading card game steeped in high fantasy, which then cast a spell on millions of players around the world and became one of the top trading card games.

It was only a matter of time before the two came together, and now Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy—a collaboration with cards featuring characters, locations, and more from all 16 mainline Final Fantasy games—is here, and Magic: The Gathering Arena has added some nice little touches to get those card-game-curious Final Fantasy fans in on the ground floor. 
 

No longer a fantasy

For starters, every card that appears in a physical Play Booster box in the real world is playable in Magic: The Gathering Arena. This includes the two pre-constructed decks in the Starter Kit, each themed after the main hero (Cloud) and villain (Sephiroth) of Final Fantasy VII. Both physical decks come with special codes that allow you to unlock those exact decks in Magic: The Gathering Arena to use against your pals. 

New players will also have ample opportunities to collect new Final Fantasy cards right from the jump, according to Jeremy Brower, Senior Game Designer for Digital Magic: The Gathering. 

"We're setting you up for fun, fair Magic," Brower explains. "You'll be matched up with other people who are new to Magic, and you'll be getting free Final Fantasy cards just for playing the game, which you can use in every mode on Arena."

The Magic: The Gathering Arena experience won't be entirely based on Final Fantasy however—after all, this is a card game with a rich 30-year history of characters, monsters, and spells. The onboarding experience will also introduce these new players to the homegrown worlds of Magic: The Gathering. 

"Magic has a bunch of little learning curves to get through over time," says Chris Kiritz, Executive Producer for Digital Magic: The Gathering. "Some of what new players are going to see early on is going to be Magic-themed, because they are the core cards built to get them through the door. Once they've done that, they'll be able to access their collection, where Final Fantasy cards will be waiting for them."
 

Excitement grows

Magic: The Gathering Arena also packs in a few extra pieces of flair to celebrate the arrival of the Final Fantasy set on the platform. New in-game emotes include a dancing Moogle sprite, and players can unlock a new battlefield themed after the Black Mage Village in Final Fantasy IX. There's also a set of Chocobo pets dressed as main Magic: The Gathering characters Jace Beleren and Chandra Nalaar, and they can brighten up each match by reacting to the action on the battlefield in humorous ways.

Brower says that, in his 30-plus year career working on Magic: The Gathering, the buzz around the new Final Fantasy set has been unlike anything he's ever seen. "I knew this was going to be big from the start, but not like this. This has been incredible," Brower explains. "I attended the in-office prerelease event, and it was the most people I'd ever seen in our office building. There were people flying in from out of town just to be at the event, and the line to get prerelease kits wrapped around the entire floor."

That excitement isn't limited to the Wizards of the Coast team, either. Brower says that recently, Magic: The Gathering Arena streamers have talked about more than just the potential of the expansion set. "I watch a lot of Arena streamers, and a lot of them weren't familiar with Final Fantasy," Brower says. "A lot of them were asking their chat, 'What Final Fantasy games do I play? I want to get into this,' and that's been really exciting."

Kiritz says this new Final Fantasy set reminds him of another high-profile Magic: The Gathering expansion that launched two years ago—themed around The Lord of the Rings—and says that this experience will be very similar. "We did a 'Jump Into The Lord of the Rings' in-game event to get people familiar with the franchise, and we're going to do the same with Final Fantasy," Kiritz says. "Players will see the cards, characters, and more of Final Fantasy, but in a more structured, fun environment."

And as for the Final Fantasy fans coming to Magic: The Gathering Arena for the first time? The team is excited for the influx of new players and is doing their best to streamline the experience—but Kiritz says he also knows that the team can always improve. "Over time, as we continue to expand, we're going to find more ways to onboard those new players," Kiritz said. "We know that we've done good, but we're not as good as we could be yet."

Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy is available June 13 in local game stores and big box retailers, and it's available now on Magic: The Gathering Arena via the Epic Games Store.