MTG Salvation

After multiple teases – including a few brief glimpses at card art at MagicCon Las Vegas back in October, the Final Fantasy expansion for Magic: The Gathering will launch on June 13, 2025. Ever since that date was announced, my gears have been turning: The new card designs will be exciting, but what about reprints?

The Lord Of The Rings featured a few key reprints in the Commander decks, including Combat Celebrant, Heroic Intervention, and Swan Song, though the main set only featured three nonland reprints: Knight of the Keep, Goblin Assailant, and Trailblazer's Boots. We're hoping Final Fantasy has a few more, and these are a few ideas of what we'd like to see. 

Also, since there are 16 total Final Fantasy games represented in the set, we're going to list one reprint for each of the 16 games. Let's begin!

Final Fantasy: Mother of Runes

• Mother of Runes (Creature - Human Cleric)
• Costs one white mana to cast
• 1 power/1 toughness
• Tap Mother of Runes: Target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. 

The original Final Fantasy will likely see more of its focus on the Warrior Of Light and the main villain, Garland, but the rest of the heroic party deserves some love too, even if it's not always in the form of a legendary creature or spell. The White Mage, the archetypal healer, would work wonderfully as Mother of Runes. 

Summon the mage, then tap her to protect any of your other creatures until the end of the turn, as if tapping the creature makes her cast Protect on an ally. There are other cards that make sense to represent the White Mage, but Mother of Runes hasn't been printed since Battle for Baldur's Gate, so why not show her some love now?

Final Fantasy II: Ancestral Memories

• Ancestral Memories (Sorcery)

• Costs two generic and three blue mana to cast
• Look at the top seven cards of your library. Put two of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.

This card could fit multiple Final Fantasy games, if we're being honest, but it's particularly appropriate for Final Fantasy II for one key reason: FF2 introduced a "Memorize" mechanic that allowed you to pick phrases and words spoken by NPCs. You could then use those chosen words with other NPCs and gain new information. 

Ancestral Memories works similarly: You gain a whole hand's worth of information, choose the two most important parts of it, and discard the rest. What's more, this card hasn't seen a printing outside of The List since Seventh Edition! It may be time to bring this one back.

Final Fantasy III: Earthquake

• Earthquake (Sorcery)

• Costs X generic and one red mana to cast
• Earthquake deals X damage to each creature without flying and each player.

This one was recently reprinted in a commander deck for The Lord Of The Rings, so it's not as forgotten as our previous entry, but Earthquake fits the bill for Final Fantasy III. After all, the game begins with an earthquake that our hero/heroes (depending on which version you're playing) investigate, and the adventure against Xande begins from there. 

The previous LOTR reprint of Earthquake was relegated to the Commander format, but we're curious what this would look like imported to Standard. Would it send shockwaves through the format? We don't know, but we want to find out.

Final Fantasy IV: Uncontrollable Anger

• Uncontrollable Anger (Enchantment - Aura)

• Costs 2 generic and two red mana to cast
• Flash (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.)
• Enchant creature
• Enchanted creature gains +2/+2 and attacks each turn if able.

This Aura enchantment hasn't seen a reprint in a decade, and it's only featured in three MTG sets since its original inclusion in Champions of Kamigawa. Why, then, should Wizards dig Uncontrollable Anger out of the vault to represent Final Fantasy IV? The answer is easy, you spoony bard. 

FF4 is where the meme-worthy insult originates, as Tellah flies into a rage and attacks Edward upon seeing him in Damcyan. It must find its way onto a card somehow, and if that should be via reprint, representing the anger that caused Tellah to blurt this out in the first place makes a lot of sense.

Final Fantasy V: Fleetfoot Dancer

• Fleetfoot Dancer (Creature - Elf Druid)

• Costs one generic, one white, one red, and one green mana to cast.
• 4 power/4 toughness
• Trample, lifelink, haste

While it wasn't the first Final Fantasy game to involve a job system of some kind, it was the first game to expand it to the level we know now. Over 20 Jobs were available to Bartz and his crew, and one of them was simply called "Dancer."

The Dancer job came with a randomized ability called Dance, which would either confuse an enemy, steal their HP, steal their MP, or attack for four times the standard damage. Fleetfoot Dancer here hits for four damage, and it can "steal" life based on how much damage it does, so it reflects the ways of the Dancer job pretty well.

Final Fantasy VI: Toxic Deluge

• Toxic Deluge (Sorcery)

• Costs two generic and one black mana to cast
• As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay X life.
• All creatures get -X/-X until end of turn.

Of all the cards on this list, this is one I think we may have already seen some art for. Back during MagicCon: Las Vegas, one of the images showed Kefka pouring poison into the river of Doma, one of his most nefarious acts. Toxic Deluge would be a great card to represent not only the act, but the artwork. 

This card recently appeared in Modern Horizons 3, as well as a few Commander decks of late, so it should be familiar to current players. However, it is not currently legal in Standard or Pioneer, and Kefka here could be the harbinger of that change. 

Final Fantasy VII: Enlightened Tutor

• Enlightened Tutor (Instant)

• Costs one white mana to cast
• Search your library for an artifact or enchantment card, reveal it, then shuffle and put that card on top.

Once everyone saw the Sephiroth art during that MagicCon panel, predictions flew in from left and right about which card that art would land on. Doom Blade? Stab? Murder perhaps? There are multiple possibilities, and we don't have any guesses that haven't already been heard. 

Instead, we're going to focus on Aerith, the other person in that equation. In our research, we realized that there are no tutors legal in Standard at the moment. Wouldn't it be apropos to feature Aerith as an Enlightened Tutor and bring a tutor back into the fold? Or, if you don't like the idea of a tutor in Standard, let's put one in a Commander deck then!

Final Fantasy VIII: Cast Through Time

• Cast Through Time (Enchantment)

• Costs four generic and three blue mana to cast.
• Instant and sorcery spells you control have rebound. (Exile the spell as it resolves if you cast it from your hand. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast that card from exile without paying its mana cost.)

Ultimecia, the main villainess of Final Fantasy VIII, starts wreaking havoc by possessing the sorceress Edea from the future. If that's not an appropriate flavor use of a card called Cast Through Time, we don't know what is. 

This little-known enchantment has only been printed once – in 2010's Rise Of The Eldrazi – and while it requires a high mana investment, being able to cast a deluge of spells on your next upkeep for free is worth the mana. Pair this with something like Omniscience, and you are off to the races. 

Final Fantasy IX: Jester's Cap

• Jester's Cap (Artifact)

• Costs four generic mana to cast
• Pay two generic mana, tap Jester's Cap, and sacrifice it: Sacrifice Jester’s Cap: Search target player’s library for three cards and exile them. Then that player shuffles.

Much of the focus in the Final Fantasy set will likely be on the main heroes and villains of the franchise, and with good reason: They're the most recognizable faces, after all, and they're the reason fans keep coming back. However, there are a few notable side characters that ought to see some love, and whenever we think of FF9, we think of Zorn and Thorn.

These two mischief-making jesters pop up multiple times throughout the adventure, acting as a thorn (pun intended) in the side of Zidane and his crew. Why not represent them with a double-sided Jester's Cap, a card that allows you to annoy your opponent by removing three cards in their deck from the game? It makes a ton of sense!

Final Fantasy X: Tasha's Hideous Laughter

• Tasha's Hideous Laughter (Sorcery)

• Costs one generic and two blue mana to cast.
• Each opponent exiles cards from the top of their library until that player has exiled cards with total mana value 20 or more.

There were a lot of ways we could have gone with this entry. The artwork of Tidus and Yuna from MagicCon made us think of Catharic Reunion, but we think that card is better served elsewhere (wink). We thought of maybe representing the quicktime events of the Thunder Plains, but the idea of bringing Lightning Bolt back into Standard scared the crap out of us. 

Then, we remembered the most infamous scene in the game, where Tidus tries to comfort Yuna with the silliest laugh you've ever heard. We might need to rename Tasha's Hideous Laughter to Tidus's Hideous Laughter, but this needs to be a part of this set somewhere.

Final Fantasy XI: Dreadful Apathy

• Dreadful Apathy (Enchantment - Aura)

• Costs two generic and one white mana to cast.
• Enchant creature
• Enchanted creature can’t attack or block.
• Pay two generic and one white mana: Exile enchanted creature. 

The first MMO in the core Final Fantasy series. FFXI follows the story of five key races, each with their own fatal flaw bestowed upon them by the gods. These fatal flaws are easily represented through MTG cards: Galkan rage can be shown through Anger or Fury, Mithran envy would work as Covetous Urge, and in this example, the apathetic Humes will be represented by Dreadful Apathy.

This unique enchantment with a side of removal was just reprinted in Foundations Jumpstart, but that does not make it legal in Standard. Reprinting it again here, with the Humes at the forefront, would be a neat reference.

Final Fantasy XII: Summary Judgment

• Summary Judgment (Instant)

• Costs one generic and one white mana to cast.
• Summary Judgment deals 3 damage to target tapped creature.
• Addendum - If you cast this spell during your main phase, it deals 5 damage instead.

A few of the picks on this list come from the question, "what's the first thing I think of when I think of this game?" For Final Fantasy XII, it's the imposing Judges in their menacing armor, led by Gabranth, and Summary Judgment would make a great way to show them off. 

This instant damage dealer also requires a bit of planning, which plays into the calculating nature of Gabranth, and it can quickly remove a big threat when used correctly. The judges are a terrifying group, and they should be represented as such.

Final Fantasy XIII: Fevered Visions

• Fevered Visions (Enchantment)

• Costs one generic, one blue, and one red mana to cast. 
• At the beginning of each player’s end step, that player draws a card. If the player is your opponent and has four or more cards in hand, Fevered Visions deals 2 damage to that player.

In Final Fantasy XIII, the crew is plagued with visions of a terrifying monster, Ragnarok, which will bring the end of the world. In Shadows Over Innistrad, Fevered Visions depicts a human being besieged by visions of the monstrous Eldrazi, world enders in their own right. This, for us, is a match in a very scary heaven. 

Fevered Visions hasn't been seen since Shadows Over Innistrad in 2016, though that could change with Innistrad Remastered in January. Still, inserting the card into the Final Fantasy set would also bring it to Standard, and the L'Cie people are prime candidates for the art.

Final Fantasy XIV: Remember The Fallen

• Remember The Fallen (Sorcery)

• Costs two generic and one white mana to cast.
• Choose one or both:
• Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
• Return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.

Final Fantasy XIV is bursting with possibilities, as it's a massive game with a ton of characters, locations, weapons, etc. However, no one is talked about more than Emet-Selch, the main villain of the Shadowbringers expansion and one of the most tragic characters in FF history. 

Remember The Fallen might seem like a weird choice to represent a bad guy like Emet-Selch, but if we're being honest, we chose this for the flavor text potential. Seeing Emet-Selch in the card art, and reading "Remember...remember us... Remember...that we once lived…" would bring a rush of feelings that's hard to describe.

Final Fantasy XV: Cathartic Reunion

• Cathartic Reunion (Sorcery)

• Costs one generic and one red mana to cast.
• As an additional cost to cast this spell, discard two cards.
• Draw three cards.

Earlier, we mentioned that the Tidus and Yuna art from MagicCon might be on Cathartic Reunion, but we had a better idea for that card. That idea is Noctis and Lunafreya from the after-credits scene in Final Fantasy XV; that reunion was definitely cathartic. 

Cathartic Reunion was recently featured in the Assassin's Creed set, but it's not currently available to Standard players. Final Fantasy seems like a good place to fix that, and this scene is a perfect choice to show it off. 

Final Fantasy XVI: Beast Within

• Beast Within (Instant)

• Costs two generic and one green mana to cast.
• Destroy target permanent. Its controller creates a 3/3 green Beast creature token.

Granted, Beast Within isn't a perfect one-to-one representation of what's going on in Final Fantasy XVI, but there's enough here that the card works. Dominants in Valisthea, after all, contain a beastly Eikon within them, so bringing this classic removal spell in to show it off would be cool. 

There are plenty of Eikons to choose from for the art too, though Titan and his Earth-based attacks make the most sense. Regardless, Beast Within would be a cool addition to the FF set, with the Eikons featured on the front.