The Final Fantasy set has been a huge success for so far, and it's largely due to one simple reason. You could point to the recognizability of the brand, or the collectible nature of the Golden Chocobo cards, but neither of these are unique to Final Fantasy. Both are arguably more true for Magic's Lord of the Rings crossover, as the IP is massively popular, and The One Ring card was even rarer than the Chocobos. However, Final Fantasy outsold Lord of the Rings, and Magic: The Gathering's designers helped me understand why.

At MagicCon Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to participate in a round-table interview with three of the designers behind Magic's Final Fantasy set: . During the discussion, it became very clear how Final Fantasy managed to outsell all other Magic sets, before it was even fully released. The set also proves how well Magic's design team understands their audience, and the audience of the Final Fantasy franchise.

During the round-table interview, I asked if the design team had planned for Final Fantasy to be many players' first Magic: The Gathering set. Dillon Deveney confirmed that Wizards of the Coast looks at Universes Beyond sets as "opening the door" for new players and saying "hey, Magic is for you." However, he explained that the approach to Final Fantasy was slightly different because the team knew that fans of the video games were already well-acquainted with complex gameplay mechanics. :

When it comes to Final Fantasy, like as a series, if you are a fan, regardless of if you played Magic before, you are a fan of the RPG genre, which means you are, you know, at least playing 60, 70, 80, hours deep in an RPG. You're grinding to level 99, you're doing all the super bosses, mini bosses. Even if you're a casual fan, you're still sinking 40, 30, you know, 20 hours into a game, you're leveling up. You're using, you know, potions and elixirs during battle. You are upgrading your weapons. You're getting the new armor, slotting your material, getting your bangles. You understand so many complicated, nuanced game mechanics.

, saying that Magic: The Gathering designers understood that, when approaching "an audience that has familiarity with video game mechanics, [Magic] get[s] to talk to them two or three layers deeper." It's clear that Magic's design team both understood the type of players who enjoy the Final Fantasy games, and therefore knew they could trust those players to understand more complex rules and mechanics. This allowed them to deliver a mechanically satisfying set that didn't have to sacrifice any of its nuanced gameplay in order to appeal to a wider audience.

Gordon also mentioned that the set utilized Final Fantasy narrative beats to help direct gameplay decisions. Using Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER as an example, he said that players would inherently understand that they would want to transform Sephiroth into his more powerful form, because they remembered him doing this in Final Fantasy 7. :

Sephiroth comes down... If you're familiar with the franchise, you know that he has a more powerful form. And there's a little bit of a puzzle aspect to just figure out what you specifically need to do within Magic to trigger that ability. But, the gameplay, paths you towards that payoff. So you're going to just naturally be very interested in figuring out how to do the thing.

By leveraging both the gameplay mechanics that Deveney mentioned, and the narrative beats Gordon discussed, for players crossing over from the Final Fantasy video games. These efforts were largely successful, and this set was so mechanically consistent with Final Fantasy that I was able to predict multiple card mechanics before they were previewed, based on my knowledge of characters from the games. I could see Final Fantasy players who are new to Magic having an easier transition than Spider-Man fans.

Although Magic: The Gathering's designers knew that they could trust Final Fantasy fans to understand complex game mechanics, that doesn't mean they left new players completely hanging. As Daniel Holt explained, the Commander decks for this set were strategically chosen to make sure new players could have an easier time hopping in. This included giving the more popular games, Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy XIV, the more straightforward decks. :

The Final Fantasy 7 deck is for a very popular Final Fantasy game. It's an equipment deck. It's fairly straightforward. You're trying to get to power seven or greater, as long as get to power seven or greater, as long as you can add up to seven, you kind of understand what's going on. So people are able to pick that up pretty easy. Final Fantasy XIV, is a massive online game. You pick that up, you're just casting spells. You're going to get your triggers. Your friends are going to help you with those triggers. And I think a lot of the cards in that way are designed to help players.

, because it is "more like a board game." This is because you play Commander in groups of four, and it is a more casual format, so players are able to help each other understand what their cards do, and are lenient about allowing players to undo a mistake. It's also easier for a group of friends to sit down and play Commander together than to play more competitive one-on-one formats.

Although Holt didn't mention anything about the Final Fantasy 6 and Final Fantasy 10 Commander decks in reference to new players, who don't have as much investment in Final Fantasy. Both are more powerful decks, and the graveyard strategy in the FF6 deck may be a little complex for newer players. It sometimes takes new Magic players a little bit of time to realize they want to put some cards in their graveyard.

By designing a set of Commander decks that would please both new fans coming to Final Fantasy, and ones that appealed to Magic players,. This is also why I typically grab any Universes Beyond Commander products. They can be a great way to get players who otherwise wouldn't be interested in Magic, but might like Lord of the Rings or Fallout, to give it a chance.

As Zakeel Gordon mentioned, . I wouldn't be surprised, therefore, if we continue to see sets based on video games as future Universes Beyond products. While I'm sure properties with large fan bases, like Spider-Man and Avatar: The Last Airbender, will also sell well, I'd be surprised if they manage to beat Final Fantasy's numbers.

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Additionally, it helps that the Final Fantasy series are more complex RPGs than previous Magic: The Gathering video game adaptations like Assassin's Creed. Any player who is used to managing a lot of gear, leveling characters up, and choosing the right party members and loadouts for certain fights already has many of the necessary skills to succeed at . There are likely plenty of video game fans who would love the TCG, so long as Magic manages to open the right door to entice them in.