Partnering with Square Enix
The story of Final Fantasy joining Magic: The Gathering begins, according to Shepard, back in 2021, when the world was still in the quarantine times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation of the relationship between Wizards and Square Enix, she says, was built over Zoom–with calls sometimes happening weekly, and other times happening multiple times a week.
The relationship may be four years in, but there’s still plenty to discuss even this close to launch. “It takes so much time and conversation, from the first reveal like we did recently, to the set’s launch, and then to any post-launch plans like reprints and everything else,” Shepard says. “Universes Beyond partnerships can be five-, six-, sometimes seven-year relationships depending on the pipeline.”
One key element in getting the deal done, as Verhey tells it, was Square Enix Japan’s love for Magic. “I hopped onto a weekly call for the first time, and one guy from Square Enix hops on and says, ‘I played four prereleases last weekend and I have new questions about my Modern deck,'” Verhey says. “[Final Fantasy producer Shoichi] Ichikawa-san is so into it. One of the team members over there owns a Black Lotus. These are serious Magic players.”
Shepard says this is a common occurrence. “Almost every relationship we’ve had has been that way; Bethesda, for example, has weekly games,” Shepard explained. “We didn’t even know about it until we were in negotiation and one of them said, ‘You know I’m a big player, right?’ Well no, you didn’t tell me, but that’s awesome!”
Working so closely with Square Enix meant speaking with some of the games’ original creators, which led to some memorable moments for the team at Wizards. “I got to speak to one of the original designers of Final Fantasy 9–my favorite Final Fantasy–who still works there,” Verhey recounts. “This designer mentioned that while he loved the cards and that FF9 was represented, there was one specific character he wished would be included. Right then, I flipped through one of the decks and showed him a card with art of this character, and he immediately lit up. Seeing them geek out as much as we were geeking out to be there was incredible.”
Verhey says Square Enix’s excitement for Magic echoes WotC’s excitement for Final Fantasy, with many members of the team wanting to come and help work on some of the cards. “People will come out of the woodwork asking, ‘Hey, are we working on this?’ and we suddenly have someone who can help,” Verhey says. “Even if they’re not in the game design space, they can tag in.”
16 games, one set
The Final Fantasy expansion encompasses the 16 mainline Final Fantasy games–no spin-offs like Final Fantasy X-2, no remakes like FF7 Remake or Rebirth, and no offshoots like Final Fantasy Tactics are included. One key challenge for the team was making sure each of the 16 games were represented fairly throughout the set. Verhey notes they were trying to avoid a situation where “Final Fantasy 7 gets 200 cards, while Final Fantasy 2 only gets two,” but he does note that while the more popular games have more cards, all 16 have “plenty of cards.”
Square Enix, as Shepard says, was very interested in that kind of balanced approach. “In [Square Enix’s] eyes, no one installment is more important than the other,” she says. Working with a video game company on a set like this, as opposed to a broader entertainment firm, brings with it more nuanced comments as well. “It’s a different level of feedback because they’re gamers, right? They build games too,” Shepard says. “They’ll dig into mechanics and understand at a deeper level than someone whose background is just entertainment.”
Even within those specific parameters and pinpoint feedback, however, distilling 16 full-length RPGs into one card game expansion takes a lot of work; as Verhey explains, “a ‘short’ Final Fantasy game is like 12 hours long, and then you have Final Fantasy XIV which can be played for hundreds of hours. There’s a ton of content to consider.”
One game posed a unique challenge: Final Fantasy XVI, which launched in 2023, was going through active development at the same time as the Magic set. While the team at Wizards was able to see some concepts and art in advance to help with planning, they didn’t actually get their hands on the game until launch. “When [FFXVI] finally launched,” Verhey says, “there was a week when the four main designers agreed we wouldn’t spoil anything for each other, but we’d post what was happening in our chat as we’re going saying, ‘This should be a card!'”
