Featured Art Jumbo Cactuar by Jason Kiantoro
Article By Matt Morgan
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If you’re already a fan of Final Fantasy, then while I catch others up on it here, please imagine a slowly-spinning crystal – radiant with light – pulling away from a camera while a particular musical scale plays up and down in the background.
Now, for those of you who may not be as steeped in this nearly 40 year old series of roleplaying video games, let’s look at just why this crossover works so well!
Magic: the Gathering (for just over 30 years) has always contained an element of roleplaying in it. Its developers made it as something to do between their sessions of Dungeons & Dragons, after all. In this game you take on the role of a mighty planeswalker who traverses myriad worlds, interacting with the locals, taking notes, and sampling its sources of magical energy known as mana. These Magic worlds known as planes are filled with moral and physical conflict, individual plight, and even existential dread. Each is at risk if brave its native dwellers or visiting planeswalkers do nothing to save it.
Final Fantasy is very much the same in terms of its epic stories, intense personal moments, fierce battles, and all through compelling art. I suppose that the one area that Wizards of the Coast can’t see SquareEnix as a peer would be in terms of its music. Step it up, WotC!
These two roleplaying and storytelling platforms have ushered in at least two generations of hobbyists and gaming enthusiasts around the world. Now, this June, two multiverses of creativity and boundary-pushing themes collide and The POP! Shop is happy to welcome you to its epicenter!
Most games of Magic are open invitations to tell your own stories and connect with others through shared interests and passions. We invite you to our tables to do the same as you share your own facts and experiences with tabletop friends that you may not have gotten to when sitting in front of your TV with a controller in your hand. Pull your favorite character from a pack? Share the reason why!
Does a lost round remind you of a certain random overworld or boss battle in the video game? Talk about it with your opponent. It may not guarantee mercy next round, but you can find some joy in remembering that moment again even if it was one of defeat! Choose “Continue” and press on!
Stop by for a draft during our Chocobo Racing event to not only win some neat prizes and fill out your collection of this Standard-legal Universes Beyond set, but think of some other neat way you might be able to use these cards. How could you make Chocobo Hot and Cold into a special format? Will you be the one to invent a new meta deck called The Golden Saucer? Chocobo Racing Drafts are available daily from June 12 to June 30 (Starting at 5pm).
Oh no… we left those original readers above staring at the hypnotic mcguffin while being entranced by a lilting intro song and/or menu music! Are you with us, nostalgia-dwellers? Great! Now that we’re all on the same page, I can let you know that we’re going to stay as fully stocked with this set as any Human, Esper, Ronso, or Tarutaru could possibly be.
There are a large variety of new products associated with Magic: The Gathering Universes Unbound, Final Fantasy. Let’s take a quick look. Initially we will receive all the regular products.
Play Booster
Play boosters are the basic entry point into new collecting for any set. Each pack contains 14 cards, and 30 packs fill a booster box. The entire Final Fantasy Saga is here, search for your favorite heroes as shining foil cards, one in every pack.
Collector Boosters
Just like Play Boosters, but with a ton more excitement. Collect Borderless cards featuring beautiful alternate art or Extended-Art cards that put a card’s art on full display; every Collector Booster is packed with special alternate-frame FINAL FANTASY-themed cards. Plus get a chance at receiving a serialized card printed with a unique limited edition number.
Commander DecksBattle your friends with FINAL FANTASY iconic heroes, villains, and spells with the strategic gameplay of the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. Magic: The Gathering’s most popular play format, Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue for 3–5 players.
Bundle Boxes
Each Bundle includes 9 Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY Play Boosters, 2 Traditional Foil Extended-Art cards, 32 Full-Art Land cards (16 foil, 16 nonfoil), 1 Spindown life counter, 1 card storage box, and 2 reference cards.
Two Player Starter Deck
Everything you need to play your first games of Magic is here. Enter the fray with two pre-built 60-card decks and learn the essentials with the included guide booklet. You’ll be ready to play in no time. Cast powerful spells, meet iconic characters, and visit familiar locales. You’ll get two decks, each contains 60 cards featuring FINAL FANTASY-themed art, including 10 cards entirely new to Magic (5 in each deck).
There are some exciting products to see a little later this month, like Collector Decks, and Gift Bundles.
Collector Edition Commander Decks
Just like the original Commander Decks, except every card has a foil treatment.
Gift Bundle Boxes
The Gift Bundle includes 1 Collector Booster, 9 Play Boosters, 2 Traditional Foil Extended-Art cards, 32 Full-Art Land cards (16 foil, 16 nonfoil), 1 Spindown life counter, 1 special foil FINAL FANTASY card storage box, and 2 reference cards
Keep an eye on our website for all the events we have planned around this momentous marriage of seismic storytelling games. Beyond the usual weekly fare there are several special events which will offer even more prizes to win and ways to test your turn-based combat at the table. If “THE BRAVE DON’T FEAR THE GRAVE” in Final Fantasy 7, then neither should your creatures fear the graveyard as you discover awesome new tech and letting your wombo-combo send you into an overpowered Trance mode.
This is a roleplaying game, after all. Get into it. Have fun.
You are always our hero at The POP! Shop.
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Article By Matt Morgan
Featured Art Jumbo Cactuar by Jason Kiantoro
