Magic: The Gatheringis already planning threeUniverses Beyondsets based on Marvel heroes. The first one,Spider-Man, will be released this year, with more coming some time in the future. While Marvel certainly has enough characters to sustain severalMagic: The Gatheringsets, I can’t help but feel it wasn’t the best choice for an extended crossover, at least from a game design standpoint. I’m sure Marvel’s popularity played a big role in it getting a larger crossover than other IPs, but I still think anotherUniverses Beyondcrossover deserves extra sets more than the comic book behemoth.
Part of my concerns regarding Marvel’s extendedMagic: The Gatheringcrossover is based on what we’ve seen so far. TheSpider-Manpreviews we’ve seen so farhave some flavor issues, and the brief glimpse we’ve gotten at the wider Marvel Universe throughSecret Lairshasn’t done much to quell my fears. While many of the individual cards have been interesting,there are some patterns that make me wonder what kind of impact the Marvel sets will have onMagic: The Gathering. My thoughts here aren’t just guided by trepidations regarding Marvel, but also how well this other crossover worked.
Final Fantasy Deserves More MTG Sets
There Is More Final Fantasy Content To Cover
Magic: The Gathering’sFinal Fantasysetis easily one of my favoriteUniverses Beyondproducts so far, but I do have one issue with it:The set feels a little unbalanced in terms of how many cards are given to eachFinal Fantasygame. This isn’t terribly surprising, as I always expected fan-favorite games likeFinal Fantasy 7to get a bit of extra attention. Still, it leaves the set feeling a little unfinished as a representation of all 16 mainlineFinal Fantasygames.
Looking atFinal Fantasy 4, there are only 21 cards representing the game in the main set, one of which is just a basic Mountain. Meanwhile, there are nearly double that many unique cards forFinal Fantasy XIVin the main set, not to mention the additional 100 cards from theFFXIVCommander deck. It would be nice to seeFF4characters like Porom and Palom also get their ownMTGcards, as well as other significant characters who had to be left out throughout the entire franchise.
EvenFinal Fantasy 7, which has 139Magic: The Gatheringcards including lands and tokens, still has some characters absent from the crossover. While these are minor characters like Johnny or Cissnei, it’s worth noting that even with as many cards as the game has, there is still room to include more. Games likeFF4orFF13which have far fewer cards have even more untapped potential. A secondFinal Fantasyset could help tie up any loose ends from the first one, and there’s at least one other good reason why Wizards of the Coast should consider making more.
MTG X Final Fantasy Is Already A Huge Success
Final Fantasy Is Reportedly Magic’s Best Selling Set
According to an earnings call fromHasbroback in April,Final Fantasyhad already becomeMagic: The Gathering’s best-selling set based on pre-orders alone. This record had previously been held byMagic’sLord of the Ringscrossover set, and I think it’s telling thatFinal Fantasywas able to beat out a set based on one of the most popular fantasy series of all time. Part of this is likely that there’s a strong crossover between gaming audiences, whereasLord of the Ringsfans may not be as inclined to get into a trading card game.
Still,Final Fantasy’s massive success as aMagic: The Gatheringset isn’t something Wizards of the Coast should ignore, especially whenUniverses Beyondproducts have previously been a point of contention among players. I remember seeing a lot of skepticism about the idea ofUniverses Beyondsets becoming Standard legal, and some players were seemingly unhappy that outside IPs would be such a large part ofMagicgoing forward. ForFinal Fantasyto not only overcome this hesitation from players, but to also break sales records isa testament to how well the crossover between these two franchises worked.
While this is purely anecdotal evidence,I also don’t remember the last time I saw so much enthusiasm at a pre-release event for the flavor of a set. Some hardcoreMagicfans were pretty excited about our return to Tarkir earlier this year, but sets likeAetherdriftandDuskmourndidn’t spark a lot of discussions at my store beyond just the mechanics. In contrast, I saw a ton of players wearingFinal Fantasyapparel, and had discussions with players about their favoriteFFgames. I even saw players excited to pull inexpensive cards simply because they featured a specific character.
Final Fantasy’s Setting Is A Closer Fit To MTG’s Universe
Although things may change when the set is actually released,I have yet to see the same level of enthusiasm forMagic: The Gathering’s Marvel sets. This could just be the general over-saturation of Marvel products, mixed with a somewhat steady decline in the quality of MCU projects followingAvengers: Endgame. However, it may also be because Marvel doesn’t feel like as good of a fit for aMagic: The Gatheringadaptation asFinal Fantasy.
For one thing,Final Fantasy’s high-fantasy setting feels much more in-line with the world ofMagic: The Gatheringthan the Marvel Universe does. Marvel has always strived to make its comics feel like “the world outside your window” to some degree, something that feels a bit jarring when combined withMagic: The Gathering. Even the in-universeDuskmournset felt a bit off when it included modern objects like TV sets or cheerleading uniforms. WhileFinal Fantasyalso has advanced technology, its design feels more in line with the style ofMagic’s artifacts than real-life modern technology.
I’m also a bit worried about how the Marvel sets are going to handle nonlegendary creatures. We already saw an overabundance of legendary creatures inFinal Fantasy, and the franchise has a lot more potential for nonlegendary creatures, like Cactuars and Chocobos, than Marvel does. Sure, you could have a generic Skrull or SHIELD agent, but it still feels likeMagic: The Gathering’s Marvel sets are going to have to lean even further into having legendary creaturessince there aren’t as many recognizable generic monsters as inFinal Fantasy.
From what we’ve seen so far,I’m also concerned that the Marvel sets will be very heavy on Human and Mutant creatures, since that’s what most of the company’s most popular characters are. While Humans aren’t as overpowered as they once were inMagic: The Gathering, it would still be disappointing to see just a few creature types over-represented in these sets. Of course, the Green Goblin card has already shown that Wizards of the Coast are willing to stretch creature types, so maybe they’ll solve this issue by making Falcon a bird or something.
I’m not about to dismissMagic: The Gathering’s Marvel sets until I’ve had a chance to see at least one full one printed. That said, I have a hard time believing they will be as good a fit asFinal Fantasywas. Luckily, Square Enix is reportedly on board for more crossover sets, according toGames Radar, so we might be getting moreFinal Fantasyat some point in the future.
