Final Fantasy is looking like one of the stand out sets of Magic: The Gathering releasing this year

Over the past couple of days, Wizards of the Coast has begun pulling back the curtains on 2025’s first Universes Beyond release for Magic: The Gathering featuring Final Fantasy, beginning with a large reveal on IGN of the four Commander preconstructed decks, followed the next day by a new Weekly MTG stream showcasing additional spoilers for other cards that players can look forward to. As someone deeply familiar with both Final Fantasy and Magic, everything I have seen so far has impressed me and made me even more excited—an achievement I honestly didn’t think was possible. But the wizards at Wizards of the Coast (pun intended) have done it.

First revealed on IGN, along with an interview featuring the set’s lead designer, Daniel Holt, each of the four precon decks focuses on a different memorable entry from Square’s long-running franchise, with that game’s respective hero serving as the deck’s commander. These decks include ‘Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER’ (Red, Green, White) for FF7, FF6’s ‘Terra, Herald of Hope’ (Red, White, Black), ‘Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian’ (Green, White, Blue) on behalf of FFX, and, lastly, ‘Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed’ (White, Blue, Black) representing FF14—the critically acclaimed MMORPG with an expanded free trial, allowing players to experience the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award-winning Stormblood expansion up to level 70 for free with no restrictions on playtime.

Each character has unique abilities or mechanics that I find to be on point in representing who they are in the games, such as Tidus being able to pass around various counters to other creatures you control as though they were blitzballs or Cloud wanting to be equipped with the biggest swords (or other equipment) you’ve got, letting you draw more cards with additional bonuses if his strength is seven or greater. Clever—very clever.

Perhaps my only critique of Wizards’ choice of decks is that they focus exclusively on the heroes of the games, with a distinct lack of representation of the series’ equally memorable villains. While we already know that foes such as Sephiroth, Kefka, and Emet-Selch have been turned into cardboard, thanks to both the initial art reveal and the subsequent trailer released as part of the latest Weekly MTG, the absence of even a single villain-focused deck is disappointing. With as much creativity as Wizards has managed with the existing commanders, I would have loved to see what they could have concocted with a baddie-focused option as well.

It isn’t just the Commander decks that fans have been teased with as Wizards released the first trailer for the set, showcasing cards featuring brand-new mechanics and even a whole new card type—Summons. After watching the trailer a few dozen times, I feel confident that this will be the strongest Universes Beyond offering so far. I also believe the team at Wizards has truly nailed it, creating cards that feel like Final Fantasy. Two wonderful examples of this would be the previously mentioned Summon cards and a card that has the potential to become my favorite in the entire set—the Jumbo Cactuar.

Summons have been a staple in Final Fantasy since the early days on the Famicom, first being introduced in Final Fantasy III. These creatures of elemental power would appear when called, dish out heavy damage, and then disappear from combat. Later entries fleshed them out further, allowing them to stick around longer, be used for large set-piece events, and, on rare occasions, be manually controlled by the player. Wizards has adapted and altered their Saga-type enchantments—spells that persist for a set number of turns, bestowing different effects each turn before disappearing—to create brand-new Saga Creatures. This new type of card combines a traditional creature card with the ticking clock of a Saga countdown, resulting in the perfect representation of a Final Fantasy Summon in the Magic ecosystem—a creature that’s powerful but departs once its purpose is fulfilled. It will be exciting to see how Wizards utilizes this new type of creature going forward in future sets.

But the real star of the show has to be the big mustache itself, hailing from the criminally underrated Final Fantasy 8—the Jumbo Cactuar. This mean machine, with artwork featuring not only the creature itself but also Irvine and Rinoa, comes in as a 1/7 power and toughness creature, costing 2 Green and 5 generic mana. This lumbering cactus comes complete with its signature ‘10,000 Needles’ ability from the game, which grants it an additional 9,999 attack power whenever it attacks until the end of that turn. The fact that Wizards went through with allowing a creature to naturally have 10,000 power is hilarious. Paired with cards that let a player gain life equal to a creature’s power, among other effects triggered by sacrificing a creature, this card will no doubt lead to amazing moments in the year to come.

I love this card with my whole heart and soul, both for its effect and for what it represents—the care the designers have taken to capture the essence of Final Fantasy within Magic: The Gathering.

From Tonberries to Chocobo chicks, from Garland and Chaos to Cecil Harvey, there was a lot to see in this small sampling from the set. Everything shown so far has me thrilled. There is still some time yet before Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy releases on June 13, with another set, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, coming out first, so fans can expect more reveals in the coming months. However, players can reserve their own boxes and decks now over on Amazon.