A MTG Noobs Review
The first thing I need to caveat my Magic the Gathering Final Fantasy Starter Kit Review with is, I am not a Magic player. I had never played it, from bits I had seen never understood it, and in all honesty, had never been particularly interested in Magic.
My TCG experience had started with Pokemon and an obsessive love of Yu-Gi-Oh cards when I was young and into my teens, died down considerably, and only recently had redeveloped slightly with Star Wars Unlimited, a game my brother loves and I have occasionally dipped my card collecting toes into.
So why then am I reviewing this new starter kit from Magic the Gathering? Because while I’m no Magic fan, I am a MASSIVE fanboy of Final Fantasy, and when I heard this crossover announced, I had to check it out.
A MTG Noobs Review
The first thing I need to caveat my Magic the Gathering Final Fantasy Starter Kit Review with is, I am not a Magic player. I had never played it, from bits I had seen never understood it, and in all honesty, had never been particularly interested in Magic.
My TCG experience had started with Pokemon and an obsessive love of Yu-Gi-Oh cards when I was young and into my teens, died down considerably, and only recently had redeveloped slightly with Star Wars Unlimited, a game my brother loves and I have occasionally dipped my card collecting toes into.
So why then am I reviewing this new starter kit from Magic the Gathering? Because while I’m no Magic fan, I am a MASSIVE fanboy of Final Fantasy, and when I heard this crossover announced, I had to check it out.
This review won’t be filled with knowledge and experience of Magic the Gathering, but rather discuss if this starter kit did what it was probably intended to do. Turn a Final Fantasy fan, into a Magic the Gathering aficionado.
Your Newest Magic Enthusiast
I won’t leave you in utter suspense, the short answer is yes, the mission statement of this starter kit has worked on me like a treat.
Since my purchase I have bought four booster packs, downloaded and religiously played the Magic app, and done research and digging into other packs and cards that are available, not just the Final Fantasy series.
While I am no expert (I still can’t figure out what legal decks are/mean and some of the gameplay terms have gone right over my head), I now understand my first strike from my double strike, my trample from my haste, and I have been loving it.
After years of never engaging with Magic, I have been enjoying the intricacies and strategies that come with the game. The way you can build your deck to create incredible combos that allow moments of feeling like a card wielding legend while your opponent can only watch on in horror.
I’ve loved the up and down nature of matches that allow great comebacks, which I think is less possible in other TCGs like Star Wars Unlimited or Pokemon TCG.
The tight 10-15 minute games that always make you want to play one more match, especially if you were defeated!
The Final Fantasy Starter Kit has worked on me like a charm, drawing me into the brilliant world of Magic the Gathering, one that I now find myself fully immersed in. Sadly for my wife and my bank balance, it’s a world I feel I’ll keep going back to again and again, whether that’s sticking to the Final Fantasy decks, or branching out into new worlds. (What’s that Edge of Eternities, you’re release window is on the horizon….)
And all of this new love for it is before I even get into the Final Fantasy theming of it all.
Those Who Magic Further
I have been a lover of Final Fantasy since the age of five and the release of Final Fantasy 7. Watching my brother struggle through the world of Chocobos, Shinra and Materia was an eye opening experience to me, one which I have carried throughout my life as a lover of video games, fantasy worlds and the Final Fantasy series as a whole.
As true FF fans would know, some of the best parts of the series is the minigames that you can invest pretty much all of your time in. Whether its Queens Blood, Tetra Master, or the Ultima one of all Triple Triad, card games have always had a lifeblood in the series, so cards and Final Fantasy already have a history of going hand in hand, and this Magic the Gathering set just feels like the perfect combination, the merging of two worlds who always belonged together.
I have adored the Magic the Gathering Final Fantasy Starter Kit. It was an event between me and my brother as we opened it up and went through each card in the deck. We studied the cards meticulously as we inspected the artwork, which series it was from, how it played.
We deliberated over who should play with the Cloud focused deck and whom should get the beloved villain Sephiroth (I got Cloud by the way, its all about equipment for me!).
Just looking and admiring at them engulfed us for an evening, even before we got to actually trying to play and understand the rules of Magic!
It was such a wonderful experience that took me back to my days as a child opening packs from Pokemon or Football stickers, particularly felt now whenever I open the booster packs that I am sure my money will be sunk into.
The artwork is stunning as well. While I might have appreciated a bit of old school flair on some cards, particularly that of FF7, I can see why they have avoided it in place of some truly beautiful art that immediately engulfs you into the picturesque world of Final Fantasy.
And while I started this blog posting admitting I was by no stretch of the imagine a Magic the Gathering professional, I can appreciate now after a bit of experience with the app, the starter kit alone allows for really close, hard fought matches that brilliantly capture the excellence of the Magic gameplay. (The starter kit wonderfully comes with a QR code to download your packs onto the Magic App for use online!).
The starter decks slowly eases you into the complexities of Magic. It features nothing too complicated, but has enough to help your understanding while guiding you into some great combos and manoeuvres with the starter deck alone.
The Magic rulebook it comes with could probably do with more padding (it kind of just relies on you checking out their website), but ultimately this set did a wonderful job helping me to understand the game, while simultaneously loving a match, making me immediately want to download the app to fully come to grips with the more complicated aspects of it.
Final Thoughts
If with just one simple starter kit, a game can evoke someone’s childhood while also making them become a new stalwart fan of a TCG that they might accidentally sink their life into, I think you can say that game has done its job.
Magic the Gathering Final Fantasy Starter Kit has shown a whole new fandom for me I didn’t think would ever be there. I’ve gone from someone who almost actively avoided Magic to a guy who wants to deeply invest into its many mechanics.
As a Final Fantasy fan first I think its done an amazing job harmonising the two IPs, and I would recommend any FF fan to give it a go. Even if you found you didn’t totally vibe with the Magic gameplay, as collector items the cards themselves are so beautiful they are worth the investment.
And while I might not be a Magic the Gathering superfan, I would think even those who have been playing since its inception in 1993 would think this crossover isn’t just another heartless cash grab, but a worthy addition to the Magic universe.
Paul Websell is a freelance contributor for Zatu who spends his time either playing board and video games or talking about them. While he’s not on social media, you can view his other blogs right here on Zatu!
Zatu Review Summary
Zatu Score
90%
