🔗 Share this article

A major part of the appeal found in the Final Fantasy crossover collection for *Magic: The Gathering* lies in the manner so many cards tell iconic tales. Cards like the Tidus, Blitzball Star card, which provides a portrait of the protagonist at the outset of *Final Fantasy 10*: a renowned sports star whose signature move is a specialized shot that knocks a defender aside. The gameplay rules reflect this perfectly. These kinds of storytelling is prevalent across the complete Final Fantasy set, and not all lighthearted tales. Some act as poignant callbacks of tragedies fans remember vividly decades later.

"Powerful stories are a vital element of the Final Fantasy series," noted a senior game designer on the set. "They created some broad guidelines, but finally, it was primarily on a individual basis."

Even though the Zack Fair isn't a competitive powerhouse, it stands as one of the set's most elegant pieces of flavor through mechanics. It skillfully reflects one of *Final Fantasy 7*'s most pivotal cinematic moments with great effect, all while capitalizing on some of the set's core gameplay elements. And although it doesn't spoil anything, those familiar with the story will quickly recognize the significance behind it.

How It Works: Flavor in Rules

At a cost of one mana of white (the color of good) in this collection, Zack Fair has a base stat line of 0/1 but arrives with a +1/+1 counter. For the cost of one colorless mana, you can remove from play the card to bestow another creature you control indestructible and move all of Zack’s markers, along with an Equipment, onto that chosen creature.

These mechanics paints a sequence FF fans are extremely know well, a moment that has been retold multiple times — in the original *FF7*, *Crisis Core*, and even alternate-timeline retellings in *FF7 Remake*. But somehow it hits powerfully here, communicated solely through card abilities. Zack gives his life to save Cloud, who then inherits the Buster Sword as his own.

The Story Behind the Moment

A bit of backstory, and take this as your *FF7* spoiler alert: Prior to the primary events of the game, Zack and Cloud are severely injured after a confrontation with Sephiroth. Following extended experimentation, the pair break free. The entire time, Cloud is comatose, but Zack makes sure to look after his comrade. They eventually make it the edge outside Midgar before Zack is fatally wounded by forces. Presumed dead, Cloud then takes up Zack’s Buster Sword and takes on the persona of a first-class SOLDIER, setting the stage for the start of *FF7*.

Playing Out the Legacy on the Battlefield

Through gameplay, the abilities in essence let you reenact this entire scene. The Buster Sword is featured as a powerful piece of armament in the set that requires three mana and gives the wielding creature +3/+2. Therefore, using six mana, you can make Zack into a solid 4/6 while the Buster Sword wielded.

The Cloud Strife card also has intentional combo potential with the Buster Sword, enabling you to look through your library for an artifact card. Together, these three cards function in this way: You play Zack, and he gains the +1/+1 counter. Then you play Cloud to pull the Buster Sword from your deck. Then you play and equip it to Zack.

Owing to the way Zack’s key mechanic is worded, you can actually use it during combat, meaning you can “block” an assault and trigger it to negate the damage entirely. Therefore, you can perform this action at any time, moving the +1/+1 counter *and* the Buster Sword to Cloud. He subsequently becomes a formidable 6/4 that, whenever he strikes a player, lets you pull extra cards and cast two spells without paying their mana cost. This is just the kind of moment meant when talking about “emotional resonance” — not spoiling the scene, but letting the card design evoke the memory.

Beyond the Obvious Synergy

But the flavor here is oh-so-delicious, and it reaches beyond just Zack and Cloud. The Jenova card appears in the collection as a creature that, at the start of combat, places a number of +1/+1 counters on a chosen creature, which additionally gains the type of a Mutant. This kind of suggests that Zack’s initial +1/+1 token is, in a way, the SOLDIER conditioning he received, which included genetic manipulation with Jenova cells. This is a small connection, but one that cleverly links the whole SOLDIER program to the +1/+1 counter theme in the set.

Zack’s card does not depict his end, or Cloud’s trauma, or the stormy location where it concludes. It does not need to. *Magic* lets you recreate the moment for yourself. You choose the sacrifice. You transfer the sword on. And for a brief second, while engaged in a trading card game, you remember why *Final Fantasy 7* remains the most influential game in the series ever made.