Wizards of the Coast is collaborating with Square Enix for Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy, a full expansion to the decades-old trading card game themed completely around the 16 mainline Final Fantasy games. Included within the main set is a small “bonus sheet”–a set within the set–called Final Fantasy: Through The Ages.
Through The Ages features 64 cards from MTG history and reskins them with official artwork from the Square Enix archives in Japan. Over 5,000 pieces of art were considered for the project, but 64 cards–four for each of the 16 mainline games–have been created, and we have an exclusive look at three of them; two from Final Fantasy VIII, and one from the newest game in the franchise, Final Fantasy XVI.
Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy launches June 13 in local game stores and big box retailers. Cards from the Through The Ages bonus sheet can be found in one out of every three Play Booster packs, as well as one in every Collector Booster pack.
First up, let’s take a look at the Final Fantasy XVI card: Hugo Kupka!
- Hugo Kupka (reprint of Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder)
- Legendary Creature – Human Ally
- Costs two generic, one red, and one white mana to cast
- 3 power/3 toughness
- Whenever Hugo Kupka enters or attacks, target creature you control gains double strike and lifelink until end of turn.
- Partner (You can have two commanders if both have Partner.)
Bruse Tarl–or for our purposes, Hugo Kupka–is a powerful creature that enables any creature on your board to have a big turn–and gains you some life in the process. The best Bruse Tarl decks in Commander see him partnered with cards like Thrasios, Triton Hero or Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper for four-color beatdown decks, so Hugo has a few new friends to make.
Next up is one of our two exclusive reveals of a card from Final Fantasy VIII, and it’s the hero himself, Squall Leonhart!
- Squall Leonhart (reprint of Danitha Capashen, Paragon)
- Legendary Creature – Human Knight
- Costs two generic and one white mana to cast
- 2 power/2 toughness
- First strike, vigilance, lifelink
- Aura and Equipment spells you cast cost one generic mana less to cast.
Squall will immediately provide a boost to your tron builds, as he will discount any Aura and Equipment spells that you cast while he’s on the battlefield. Of course, you could always cast those discounted spells for Squall himself, in which case he becomes a very powerful creature that also gains you life.
Finally, we have the cornerstone of the SeeD mercenary force in FFVIII, Balamb Garden!
- Balamb Garden (reprint of Command Beacon)
- Land
- Ability 1: Tap this land to create one colorless mana.
- Ability 2: Tap and sacrifice this land to put your commander into your hand from the command zone.
Balamb Garden enters Magic: The Gathering as a solid “utility land,” or a land that doesn’t act like a normal land, but still provides a boost to your Commander deck. Late in the game, if your commander has been removed a few times and you’ve piled up the commander tax*, Balamb Garden can sacrifice itself to place your commander in your hand–and commander tax doesn’t apply to commanders cast from your hand.
*Cards designated as your commander cost two additional generic mana to cast for every time after the first time they’ve been cast; second cast of the game costs two extra generic mana, third card costs four extra, etc.
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