To say that the group behind Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming Final Fantasy collaboration set is happy to launch can be an understatement.”As we drove up to the convention center, there’s this giant hotel-sized screen that says ‘Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy on it,” principal designer and set design lead Gavin Verhey stated throughout a press preview occasion for the upcoming set. “We all just looked at each other and said, ‘This is it, this is what we’ve been waiting for. It’s finally happening.'”Moments like this are what Verhey, govt producer Zakeel Gordon, principal recreation designer Dillon Deveney, and senior recreation designer Daniel Holt have dreamed of all through the four-year historical past of the set’s improvement. As the group reminisces about their time engaged on the enlargement, each in Square Enix’s places of work in Japan and the Wizards of the Coast headquarters in Renton, Washington, our Zoom name lights up with smiles and laughter on the easy point out of playing cards like Summon: Bahamut, names like Yoshitaka Amano, and numerous different references.For these 4 individuals, the discharge of Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy is a end result of arduous work, a celebration of each Magic and Final Fantasy, and in the end, a declaration of victory. GameSpot sat down with the panel for a prolonged chat about Final Fantasy’s foray into Magic: The Gathering, which begins on June 13.Absolute VirtueThe design course of”I was designing cards at 2 AM” is a typical phrase out of Verhey’s mouth. In this specific case, he is speaking about Absolute Virtue, the highly effective boss from Final Fantasy XI, and the cardboard that appeared in the course of the panel. Gordon, Deveney, and Holt knowingly nod alongside, anticipating the place the story goes.”I was trying to design Absolute Virtue, and I could not figure out what to do,” Verhey says, “and I fell asleep at my desk–like an adult. Suddenly, I woke up and thought, ‘Ah! Protection from everything! It literally popped in my head as I was waking up from sleeping. I typed it into the file and thought, ‘Well, that’s probably not going to stick,’ but then I showed it to everyone, and they just loved it. They thought it was amazing.”That’s to not say each dialog went so swimmingly; Deveney used the phrase “spirited” to explain a few of the conversations between himself and Holt. “We only have so many design slots in the [pre-constructed Commander] deck for new cards,” Deveney describes. “Who gets that? Who makes the cut?”Deveney particularly recollects a dialogue across the Final Fantasy XIV pre-constructed deck, which in itself was a Herculean activity to create. “Truth be told, this is a game that’s been running for 10-plus years, with 14 years of content; we could probably make a whole set of just that one game,” Deveney says. “I’ve been playing the game since launch, and Daniel said he was playing it, so our perspectives were different.”Deveney says that distinction in perspective helped the 2 of them nice tune the FF14 Commander deck to be as genuine to the sport as potential. Sometimes Deveney would need a character that Holt did not suppose was all that necessary; different occasions Deveney would not take no for a solution. “One character specifically, I needed to say ‘Daniel, if they do not make it in, I can be very upset, as a result of somebody will get very upset with me if they do not make it in.”Summon: BahamutA concentrate on CommanderWith a lot historical past to parse by way of, and solely a lot area to go round in an enlargement set, selecting what merchandise obtained which playing cards or designs led to some extra “spirited” dialogue. “We take a look at the entire product as one expertise, however then we have now to take a look at every particular person piece–main set, Commander, and so forth,” Deveney says. “Sometimes I ask myself ‘If that is the one factor a fan buys, what do they anticipate to see?'”For Commander specifically, which Daniel Holt was primarily focused on, it allows him to explore the four games receiving pre-constructed decks–FF6, FF7, FF10, and FF14–as their own unique stories. As Holt puts it, “within the Commander decks we obtained to go tremendous deep.””The Commander decks had been virtually every their very own Universes Beyond product in the best way we approached them,” Holt continued. “Final Fantasy VI is its personal world, FFVII’s its personal world. They do not cross. Each permits us so as to add various things; for instance, elves solely seem in sure video games however not in others, so we did some elf reprints within the deck for the sport the place they’re discovered.”With Final Fantasy VI, we had a graveyard recursion theme, but it’s not from death, it’s ‘lifting your allies up.’ We twisted some of the reprints to be a little more themed that way. There were a lot of creative restrictions, but also we were able to create really cool things because of it.”Kefka, Court Mage // Kefka, Ruler of RuinWorks of artworkOne fascinating truth talked about in the course of the press preview was in regard to a few of the artists who contributed to the cardboard’s artwork: Nine of them, well-known for drawing Final Fantasy artwork all through historical past, got the choice to attract whoever or no matter they wished. This opened up some fascinating alternatives; although Amano has drawn Kefka earlier than, he’d by no means drawn Kefka’s last kind in his total career–until now.This led to what Verhey describes as one of many coolest moments of his life. “We’re in Japan, and we occurred to be on the Square Enix workplace when Amano’s Kefka piece arrived. No one had seen it but, and it got here on this black artwork briefcase supplied by Amano himself.””They set it on the desk, and all of us simply went silent, watching an unique Amano work…however at a distance, as a result of none of us wished to get too shut and threat messing it up one way or the other,” Verhey continues. “Nobody sneeze, no one do anything that could put a mark on this.”Deveney says that many of the artists drew characters they’d been conversant in, however a couple of took the chance to department out and take a look at one thing new. “There were a few artists that were just like, ‘Oh, I would love an opportunity to play with this other game’s toy, because I didn’t work on it and that sounds really fun,'” Deveney explains. “They were like, ‘Oh, I’ve always wanted to draw this character!'”As iconic as Final Fantasy paintings is, the soundtracks to every of those video games is simply as well-known. Implementing music right into a bodily card recreation, after all, could be very arduous to do, however the group did attempt to make it work. As Deveney places it, “these discussions completely occurred.””I’ll say that there are two or three playing cards that you just could be blissful to see have ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge’ references to well-known track titles–or moments the place you’ll be able to hear these songs playing–that we had been in a position to get into the set,” Deveney says. “There’s a bigger dialogue about music rights and the way it’s a little bit bit completely different with each business, however sure, we had been in a position to get a couple of issues in there which are very deliberately referential.”Traveling Chocobo (Gold Serialized)Choosing a HeadlinerCurrent Magic units have integrated a Headliner–one particular card that acts as a “chase” card, with a restricted variety of printings and every one individually numbered. The final set, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, used Mox Jasper–the dragon-focused Mox gem–as the Headliner, with particular artwork from unique Mox artist Dan Frazier.For Final Fantasy, the group knew it wished to choose one thing each FF fan is aware of. Sure, they might have made the Headliner a personality like Cloud or Sephiroth, however followers of FF7 would respect it to the fullest; followers of different video games won’t get pleasure from it as a lot. That’s why, for Zakeel Gordon, the selection was easy: a chocobo, particularly Traveling Chocobo.”The Chocobo was the flagship character that we wanted to push to the forefront, because it’s represented in the vast majority of games,” Gordon stated. “If you are a fan of the franchise, but you only have a connection to certain games, you will recognize a Chocobo no matter what.” The group did pull from a particular recreation for the card–multiple variants depict a number of coloured Chocobos from Final Fantasy VII–but even when a participant is not conversant in chocobo racing, they will know what the hen is.What is odd about this serialized Chocobo, nevertheless, is the variety of printings–where earlier Headliners noticed 500 copies made, the golden Traveling Chocobo will solely see 77 printings. This was intentional, because the group wished the cardboard to really feel much more particular. “77 is, I think, the perfect medium for where we’ve been doing serialization recently, Gordon explains, “the place it is a little bit bit much less uncommon than the “one-of-One Ring,” nevertheless it’s a little bit bit extra uncommon than an “X of 500.” And, within the spirit of Final Fantasy 7, two sevens simply felt like the proper quantity.”Zidane Tribal as Ragavan, Nimble PilfererThrough The AgesOne final big feature in this new expansion is Final Fantasy: Through The Ages, a bonus sheet of 64 cards–four cards for each of the 16 mainline FF games. All 64 cards are reprints of previously-released Magic cards, but the art depicted on each card comes from the authentic Square Enix archives. It’s a history lesson in cardboard form, and Dillon Deveney says they had a lot of material to parse through–over 5,000 pieces of art, to be precise.”We’d ask all types of questions,” Deveney said, “What do we predict is probably the most bespoke factor that somebody would need to see about this recreation? What’s the very best model of this artwork? What’s the very best model of this character? Should we go along with a sketchy idea or absolutely completed illustration? Would this be a very good land or an enchantment or an artifact? We went by way of all the things.”Multiple cards from the bonus sheet were shown during the PAX East panel, including FF9’s Zidane Tribal as Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and FF2’s Firion, Swordmaster as Sram, Senior Edificer. Previously, FF7’s Yuffie Kisaragi was unveiled as a reskin of Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow.”The bonus sheet was a spot the place we may steadiness every recreation completely,” Gordon said. “We allotted a ‘finances’ to every recreation: There can be 4 playing cards, we will have a protagonist and an antagonist, after which we’ll discover two moments; one perhaps is extra story-driven, and the opposite could also be a little bit bit extra mechanically pushed.”–As the panel signed off on the preview, host and former MTG broadcaster Richard Hagon said that even though this is still Magic: The Gathering, there’s something about the Final Fantasy set that feels different. “You can completely play great video games of Magic with this set, the playing cards are there, the designs are there. But, the sentiments are distinctive and particular, and that’s what persons are going to recollect for a really very long time.” As the panel enthusiastically nodded, that feeling undoubtedly got here by way of from the minds behind the set. Now, all that is left is for the gamers to choose up and play.Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy can be obtainable June 13 at native recreation shops and large field retailers.
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