I can seldom think of a transmedia cross-over more appropriate than the emergence of Magic: The Gathering X Final Fantasy, an imminent expansion to the beloved card collecting and battling tabletop title that brings the worlds of Final Fantasy into Magic’s mechanics.
Fans are still eagerly waiting to get their hands on the sets, but over the course of the last several days Wizards of the Coast has steadily begun revealing more and more of the contents of the expansion. This is all a hearty promotional exercise, but it practically isn’t needed: so eager are the fans and so perfect is this cross-over conceptually that FF is already the best-selling Magic set in history.
Nevertheless, people are thrilled to see the cards that’ll be emerging from booster packs in June – learning in turn which characters, locations, and classic FF iconography will make the cut. Seeing this, and myself being one of the people excitingly tabbing through reveals despite already having pre-orders running into the hundreds in place, I’ve realized one thing: no matter how many cards this set encompasses, it’ll never be enough. Wizards of the Coast has opened a proverbial Pandora’s Box.
Final Fantasy is rich, wide, and its predilection for throwing everything out and starting over for each numbered entry means that it is far too deep to be summarized in just a few hundred cards. Already, I can see the discourse shifting among fans. Some hope for more cards from 12, or from the less immediately iconic NES classics. People with love and light in their hearts hope Final Fantasy 9 is particularly well-represented.
A curious paradigm has emerged in the nature of the FF expansion, which is simply put that there are four games that are particularly well-represented. Final Fantasies 6, 7, 10, and 14 are all featured as the games driving the four ‘Commander Decks’ that make up a major component of the release. Commander is a unique MTG format that supports larger decks, and has formed a major part of most spin-off ‘universes beyond’ sets so far. But for FF, these four decks end up feeling strangely insufficient.
With Fallout, for instance, four commander decks did indeed feel sufficient. Two decks channeled Fallout 4 and Fallout 3, offering different gameplay styles that evoked the themes of each game. A third was all about New Vegas, and the final set revered the original two CRPGs. Broadly speaking, the whole series was represented.
Wizards of the Coast has obviously chosen carefully for FF. You have the most beloved 2D FF, the most important 3D FF, and the on-going concern MMO with a huge fanbase. And 10, which is wildly beloved. I respect it – but I also begrudgingly look at this release slate and conclude Wizards of the Coast is going to leave this expansion with unfinished business as far as Final Fantasy goes.
While every other FF is represented in the general boosters and the general set of cards, the sprawling nature of Commander Decks means that the four FFs that have a Commander Deck themed around them naturally have a huge advantage – their characters, stories, and worlds are far more heavily represented than the others.
Part of the problem is of WOTC’s own making, of course. This is such a fabulous synergistic fit, the card art and game design so carefully and wonderfully crafted, that fans can’t resist. This is clearly no cash-in, it’s a damn good product. People want more good stuff! Who knew?
But the door is now open – people are going to want more of this. Rabid FF fans are going to want more of this. These people won’t be satisfied with this one expansion. Certainly, if you consider raising the representation level across the numbered series and fold in a few spin-offs, there is ample scope for a second FF expansion. And with this first drop already set to be its best-ever selling expansion pack, WOTC should be well-minded to deliver that, in time.
For now, I await my pre-order and further card reveals, praying for better FF9 representation than we’ve seen so far, and also hoping that the generally maligned 13 and 15 don’t get completely shafted. And I wonder how the people behind the aggressively-mid FF Trading Card Game from Square Enix must be feeling. Those poor guys.
