Final Fantasy x Magic: The Gathering hands-on preview — It just makes sense, plus Chocobos

I have played Magic: The Gathering a handful of times throughout my life in person and some through the app, but I would always call myself a collector of the cards more than a player. That being said, as a Final Fantasy fan, everything just worked with this new collaboration allowing for an easy road to learn how this new set of decks worked and led to a fun match.

As you can see in our video for the match, Gavin Verhey, the lead designer for the Final Fantasy collaboration, walked me through relearning the game for the first time in a while. He also instructed me in learning these new cards, and how they impact each other.

At the start of the match, I thought I was done for as I quickly lost health with only a few creatures and a lot of land. However, things got wild as Cloud entered the battle. Cloud is a 4/4 card with a five total Red and White land cost. His ability allows him to do double damage. If you add a Katana, which has its own set of rules including the new job mechanic, he was a 6/6. All the modifiers meant Cloud did 12 damage. This put Gavin on the defense.

As a side note, the new job mechanic allows for a 1/1 hero to take an artifact making the holder of the Katana a 3/3 hero. 

When Gavin was on the defense, I got him down to six health. That’s when the thing that just makes sense happened. The one-winged angel, Sephiroth fell from the sky and killed Cloud with an ability that took him out in one fatal swoop. It was a race to the end at that stage with me having seven and Gavin having six health. Sadly, Sephiroth was too much for me and I fell to his blade. 

Everything in these decks makes sense, from Cloud vs Sephiroth to a trader and dwarf. I unfortunately didn’t see a Chocobo in a deck, but I did see one in real life!

Alongside that, I was able to meet Steve Sunu, who took me through a tour of everything Secret Lair, which as a collector, was amazing to see. 

From SpongeBob to Karlach, from old school animation style to traditional Japanese art, Secret Lair has it all. While everything is extremely short run, it’s worth it for many collectors out there. 

The Final Fantasy x Magic the Gathering collaboration is out now and the Secret Lair drop for Final Fantasy will be available for preorder on Monday.