Final Fantasy Preview Weekend: Reinventing All-Time Favorite Magic Cards

Last updated on May 12, 2025

Dark Confidant | Illustrations by Immanuela Crovius & Livia Prima

MTG's Final Fantasy crossover is the perfect mix of new and familiar. People know these games, they love these characters and locations, and Magic's capturing them in ways that only Magic can. And yet, the first major wave of official spoilers made the set look even more familiar than people might have expected, with several classic cards providing inspiration for the new Final Fantasy set.

Dark Confidant

If Wizards were practicing wedding vows for Final Fantasy, Dark Confidant would definitely be the “something old” from the set. This is the first Standard printing of the card since 2005, and while it's far from its competitive heyday, it certainly has a pedigree.

Confidant was the card advantage tool of its time, persisting all the way into the late 2010s as a premier card in Legacy and Modern. This new Final Fantasy printing isn't exactly the “Bob” everyone's come to know and love, but it's a nice way to squeeze a classic into a Universes Beyond set.

Of course, there's skepticism surrounding Confidant's viability in Standard, given that power crept versions like Caustic Bronco exist, and aren't exactly top tier anyway. Though who knows? Maybe a low-curve Rakdos deck featuring Confidant and the ubiquitous Cori-Steel Cutter might crop up.

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary

So many Clouds in this set it's starting to look like a thunderstorm. Cloud, Midgar Mercenary is the main-set Cloud (at least the one we know about so far), and it looks suspiciously like Stoneforge Mystic. They're both 2-drops that tutor for equipment, though Cloud has a more restrictive casting cost and a less broken secondary ability.

Doubling up on any of the Sword of X&Y cards sounds tantalizing, as does Argentum Armor for people looking to go over the top. Overall, this is a nice callback to Stoneforge Mystic that feels referential while being a fresh, new design at the same time.

Starting Town

Starting Town is the latest 5-color land, though these rarely grace Standard formats. Mana Confluence was never all that big of a player, and City of Brass/Grand Coliseum are reaching pretty far back.

Starting Town has one thing going for it that similar “rainbow lands” from Magic's past didn't have: the new “Town” subtype. There hasn't been anything revealed thus far that makes the town land type seem all that important, but if they end up previewing some sort of Maze's End or Gates Ablaze analog for towns, rest assured Starting Town will be at the forefront of that strategy. Of course, the card type could end up being a total flop like caves from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, or it could just be in the set solely for flavor reasons.

Ignoring the township altogether, Starting Town is still just a multicolor fixer that comes into play untapped for the first three turns of the game.

Kefka, Court Mage

There was a lot of anticipating for Final Fantasy VI‘s Kefka, and the Magic version doesn't disappoint! There's some clear inspiration from Nicol Bolas, the Ravager, all the way down to being a double-faced Grixis legend. Kefka's bumped up the curve a little, but maintains that hand disruption ability, while even filtering your own hand in the process.

Kefka, Ruler of Ruin is altogether different than Nicol Bolas, the Arisen, but the wow factor's on full display, with Kefka's transformation converting all damage dealt to opponents into card draw for you. Pro tip: If Kefka's front side didn't have summoning sickness, neither will the back half when it transforms, meaning you can probably get in immediately and draw a new grip of cards.

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER

The mono-black version of Sephiroth was a show-stopper at PAX East, partly due to an astonishing piece of art depicting the character in all its different forms, but also because… well, just read the card!

Blood Artist has been a Commander staple forever, and Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER looks like the next evolution of that card. And this is a true Blood Artist, triggering on every creature death, not just your own. It can also cash in a creature for a card each turn, and transforming it is just overkill, making it a giant evasive threat that quite literally goes Super Nova with a Blood Artist emblem. These aristocrats cards rarely contribute much to combat, but Sephiroth's no coward; this card's getting into combat, and it'll be scary when it does.

A Realm Reborn

Bootleggers' Stash ended up being one of the most overhyped cards of all time, but don't let that detract from how absolutely degenerate A Realm Reborn might end up being. It's Cryptolith Rite at its base, but for three times the cost. Of course, it spreads the ability to all your permanents, not just creatures. If nothing else this will give you perfect mana-fixing, but it'll do so much more in the right deck.

First off, it lets tchotchke tokens like Clues and Blood tap for mana, which Jaheira, Friend of the Forest has demonstrated is completely broken. It also lets planeswalkers, battles, and all sorts of other permanents contribute to your mana generation, similar to the way Honor-Worn Shaku can squeeze mana out of your planeswalkers and other legendary permanents.

Six seems like an exorbitant amount of mana for something that just makes more mana, but the trick is to land this on a turn where you can immediately recoup the cost by tapping a bunch of permanents for mana right away.

That's Just the Beginning!

Starting Town | Illustration by Hristo D. Chukov

With spoiler season officially under way, there are plenty more towns, summons, and Sephiroths to come, which likely means more Final Fantasy retrains of popular Magic cards. There's still a lot of open-ended questions concerning the set, but the full gallery will be posted by May 30th, and all will be revealed. Until then, soak in the Final Fantasy flavor, and don't forget to save your progress!