There are lots of little moments hidden in these cards that remind me of days plonked in front of the PlayStation.
The very first video game I ever owned was Final Fantasy VII. My uncle, against the wishes of my parents I might add, bought us a PlayStation with FFVII and it set me on a journey to writing this right now.
I was enamoured with the world, technological, magical and vast. It was on three discs, that meant it was at least as big as three games, at least that's what my brothers and I told ourselves.
Games were these incredible journeys you could go on, right from the comfort of your home.
The worlds of the Final Fantasy series are varied, there is almost one for every type of player, but you'll always remember your first.
These games are almost perfectly suited for planeswalkers journeying through Magic The Gathering: Final Fantasy with hundreds of characters and locations for your favourite cards and every pack I opened felt like a tiny spike of fond nostalgia in my brain, which I'm sure is the point.
I spent the better part of the afternoon just pulling cards and enjoying each moment.
When I found the Suplex card I couldn't help but crack a smile as Sabin stairs down the train. There are excellent new cards like Phoenix Down with a dual use of returning dispatched creatures from the graveyard or damaging undead creatures, which mimics the video game mechanic. Battle Menu gives you four different choices based on the classic turn based FF menu, offering heaps of utility.
I looked pretty desperately through my packs for Jumbo Cactaur card, that pretty much breaks the game entirely when it unleashes 10,000 needles on your foes giving you +9999/+0 on every attack. Combine that with Blitzball Shot a relatively cheap card that would sit nicely in a green deck and which bestows Trample on a target creature and you've found the instant win combo. It's costly to pull off you need at least 7 mana to summon the Jumbo Cactuar but if you can get it to survive a turn with Blitzball Shot in your hand it's game over for your foe. I haven't found a Jumbo yet, but I'm still on the look out.
But hey, maybe you want to stock your deck with Sephiroth's Intervention instead which immediately kills a target creature and gives you two life. You'd be a monster but you could do it.
If you can get yourself a Starter Kit or a Commander Deck you'll have some excellent themed cards to play with, perfect for the more casual Magic players but hardcore FF fans. I say IF because it's fair to say demand for this particular series has been absolutely red hot. Good luck.
Keep an eye on SIFTER for more coverage of this set soon.
MAGIC: THE GATHERING FINAL FANTASY cards were provided to SIFTER for the purposes of this review.
