Earlier today, Screen Rant shared an exclusive preview of some Magic: The Gathering cards from the game's Final Fantasy set. One of the cards previewed was a Final Fantasy 16 character that may indicate a pattern in the Final Fantasy: Through the Ages set. This set is an offshoot of the main set which includes Final Fantasy versions of existing Magic: The Gathering cards, instead of the mechanically unique cards.

Magic's Final Fantasy crossover has already proven to be one of the more thematically sound Universes Beyond products. I wouldn't be surprised if Wizards of the Coast put in some extra effort to make this set special, since it's the first time a Universes Beyond set will be Standard legal, and the company likely wants players to embrace this crossover as outside IPs become a larger part of the game. The strong thematic coherence of the Final Fantasy set has also made it possible to predict what cards are coming next.

Barnabas Tharmr Continues An FF16 Villain Trend

Barnabas Tharmr Is The Second FF16 Villain To Get A Partner Printing

One of the Final Fantasy cards that Screen Rant previewed earlier today featured Final Fantasy 16 antagonist Barnabas Tharmr. Barnabas' Magic: The Gathering card is a reprint of the Partner commander, Kraum, Ludevic's Opus. Now, thematically, there doesn't seem to be a super strong of a connection between Barnabas in FF16 and Kraum, though this isn't that uncommon for the Final Fantasy: Through the Ages cards. For instance, Tidus from FF10 is a Merfolk creature on his Final Fantasy: Through the Ages card, so there were clearly some concessions made when adapting FF characters for Magic reprints.

However, there is one bit of theming that could indicate a possible pattern for future Final Fantasy 16 cards in this spin-off set. Another FF16 villain, Hugo Kupka, was also printed as a Partner commander in Final Fantasy: Through the Ages. Hugo is a reprint of the Magic card Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder. Initially, I thought this was a little strange since, although the FF16 characters are allies, Bruse Tarl and Kraum don't typically get paired together in decks. However, this decision would make more sense if we got more Partner commanders representing other antagonists from Final Fantasy 16.

More FF16 Villains Could Get Partner Printings

Benedikta Harman Seems Like A Shoo-In For An MTG Card

Although there likely won't be many decks using both Hugo and Barnabas, I can see at least one other Final Fantasy 16 villain getting a Magic: The Gathering Partner card. Benedikta Harman was in a relationship with both Hugo and Barnabas at different points during Final Fantasy 16's timeline. This could be represented by her also getting a Final Fantasy: Through the Ages ​​​​​​​printing as a Partner commander, allowing her to be paired with either of them. This treatment could even be extended further to other Final Fantasy 16 villains, though I think it might be restricted to just a few.

My main thought behind us not seeing too many Final Fantasy 16 villains as Partner commanders is that we already have some other Partner commanders in the set that seem to be waiting for their own thematic pairings. For instance, both Tidus and Cecil have been revealed as reprints for Thrasios, Triton Hero and Tymna the Weaver respectively. Both are romantically linked to other characters in their Final Fantasy games, so I wouldn't be surprised if we got Partner versions of Yuna and Rosa too.

Given that each of the Partner commanders revealed so far is one half of a romantic pairing, I expect that we'll see Benedikta show up to be partnered with either Hugo or Barnabas. This could also mean we could see a Partner card for Cid Telamon from Final Fantasy 16, since he also had a romantic relationship with Benedikta at one point. Although we'll have to wait for more Magic: The Gathering ​​​​​​​previews to be sure, I'd find it strange if the other halves of these couples didn't show up as potential Partners for them.