After back-to-back game demos during Summer Game Fest 2025, I looked forward to one appointment all day today and that is the new Magic The Gathering set with an all too familiar Universes Beyond set that even non-MTG players would appreciate: The Final Fantasy set.

From the countless previews that kept running non-stop leading to the preview, to all the countless memes involving the Giant Cactuar and the undying Phantom Train Suplex meme that has made its way to the Magic The Gathering canon; crossing over Final Fantasy and Magic The Gathering is a match made in gaming heaven.

And while we were not able to see the infamous Suplex being used on the Phantom Train or, better yet, the Omega Weapon, we were able to check out the iconic Cloud and Sephiroth starter decks in action using the Magic The Gathering Arena app. Unlike my experience with the Assassin’s Creed set last year, where we played the actual physical cards, the Magic Arena was just as fun.

The event was filled with enthusiastic fans of both fandoms, and the energy was just wild. While we spent one round playing on Magic Arena, the energy was still present, and lapsed players such as myself and my opponent were able to play on even ground with the iconic sets! So, how did it go down? Let The Battles Begin!

Magic The Gathering: Let The Battles Begin!

The starter kit that we played with during the demo featured a different Cloud and Sephiroth that’s making the rounds in the spoiler previews. I played with the black and blue-themed Sephiroth deck, which involved cycling through the graveyard while taking control of the board with creature destruction. My opponent had a red and white themed equipment deck that swarmed the board with hero tokens and exploitable artifacts.

While in our round, we were not able to summon either of the legendary characters, however we were able to play with the cards featured in both starter decks. It would’ve been so much fun to have had the iconic match-up between the iconic rivals during this match, but we still had a lot of fun nonetheless.

Light Versus Darkness

The match started out as you would expect from a typical MTG game. We each laid down our lands, and my opponent took his time selecting his hand, whether or not he would mulligan it for a better set of cards. I had a pretty good curve with my starting hand, having enough spells available to cast all the way up to my fourth turn. I kept my hand and passed it to my opponent.

By the fifth turn, he already had a pretty good advantage against me with a board filled with small creatures doing chip damage to me. I couldn’t wait to get Sephiroth in play, who would sweep my opponents’ board of these small fries, having a small set of creatures under a toughness score of 2 and below, including Final Fantasy IX’s Freya Crescent.

I was able to turn the tide of battle by destroying some of my opponent’s creatures equipped with powerful equipment artifacts that increase the size of his hero tokens to deal substantial damage. While we did not see the Giant Cactuar in action in this demo, I was able to use Overkill, which gives a creature -9999 toughness until the end of the turn. As the creature had 4 toughness, it really feels like overkill (heh).

By turn six, I was able to clear his board, giving me a clear advantage. My life was still above 15, and I was slowly chipping away at his life, headed towards certain victory. However, my luck turned over to his side when I was drawing dead by the ninth and tenth turns. He may have no creatures, but the equipment cards remained in play. At this point, I was wishing for a Suplex card to remove these pesky tools in play.

By turn 12, he was able to equip his characters with his many artifacts to potentially defeat me in two turns as he now has a character with a power of 7 with flying, rendering him unblockable. As with everything in Magic The Gathering, at this point, I was not able to draw a card to turn the tide, thus sealing my fate. Just as with most Final Fantasy plots, light ultimately prevailed over darkness.

With every Magic The Gathering Final Fantasy Starter Kit, you will receive the physical set as well as product codes you can redeem to play digitally with Magic The Gathering Arena. Now you don’t have to find any players in your area, you can find them online!

Magic The Gathering Final Fantasy set is now available for play in Magic The Gathering Arena!