Magic: The Gathering is already planning three Universes Beyond sets based on Marvel heroes. The first one, Spider-Man, will be released this year, with more coming some time in the future. While Marvel certainly has enough characters to sustain several Magic: The Gathering sets, I can't help but feel it wasn't the best choice for an extended crossover, at least from a game design standpoint. I'm sure Marvel's popularity played a big role in it getting a larger crossover than other IPs, but I still think another Universes Beyond crossover deserves extra sets more than the comic book behemoth.

Part of my concerns regarding Marvel's extended Magic: The Gathering crossover is based on what we've seen so far. The Spider-Man previews we've seen so far have some flavor issues, and the brief glimpse we've gotten at the wider Marvel Universe through Secret Lairs hasn't done much to quell my fears. While many of the individual cards have been interesting, there are some patterns that make me wonder what kind of impact the Marvel sets will have on Magic: The Gathering. My thoughts here aren't just guided by trepidations regarding Marvel, but also how well this other crossover worked.

Final Fantasy Deserves More MTG Sets

There Is More Final Fantasy Content To Cover

Magic: The Gathering's Final Fantasy set is easily one of my favorite Universes Beyond products so far, but I do have one issue with it: The set feels a little unbalanced in of how many cards are given to each Final Fantasy game. This isn't terribly surprising, as I always expected fan-favorite games like Final Fantasy 7 to get a bit of extra attention. Still, it leaves the set feeling a little unfinished as a representation of all 16 mainline Final Fantasy games.

Looking at Final Fantasy 4, there are only 21 cards representing the game in the main set, one of which is just a basic Mountain. Meanwhile, there are nearly double that many unique cards for Final Fantasy XIV in the main set, not to mention the additional 100 cards from the FFXIV Commander deck. It would be nice to see FF4 characters like Porom and Palom also get their own MTG cards, as well as other significant characters who had to be left out throughout the entire franchise.

Even Final Fantasy 7, which has 139 Magic: The Gathering cards including lands and tokens, still has some characters absent from the crossover. While these are minor characters like Johnny or Cissnei, it's worth noting that even with as many cards as the game has, there is still room to include more. Games like FF4 or FF13 which have far fewer cards have even more untapped potential. A second Final Fantasy set could help tie up any loose ends from the first one, and there's at least one other good reason why Wizards of the Coast should consider making more.

MTG X Final Fantasy Is Already A Huge Success

Final Fantasy Is Reportedly Magic's Best Selling Set

According to an earnings call from Hasbro back in April, Final Fantasy had already become Magic: The Gathering's best-selling set based on pre-orders alone. This record had previously been held by Magic's Lord of the Rings crossover set, and I think it's telling that Final Fantasy was able to beat out a set based on one of the most popular fantasy series of all time. Part of this is likely that there's a strong crossover between gaming audiences, whereas Lord of the Rings fans may not be as inclined to get into a trading card game.

Still, Final Fantasy's massive success as a Magic: The Gathering set isn't something Wizards of the Coast should ignore, especially when Universes Beyond products have previously been a point of contention among players. I seeing a lot of skepticism about the idea of Universes Beyond sets becoming Standard legal, and some players were seemingly unhappy that outside IPs would be such a large part of Magic going forward. For Final Fantasy to not only overcome this hesitation from players, but to also break sales records is a testament to how well the crossover between these two franchises worked.

While this is purely anecdotal evidence, I also don't the last time I saw so much enthusiasm at a pre-release event for the flavor of a set. Some hardcore Magic fans were pretty excited about our return to Tarkir earlier this year, but sets like Aetherdrift and Duskmourn didn't spark a lot of discussions at my store beyond just the mechanics. In contrast, I saw a ton of players wearing Final Fantasy ​​​​​​​apparel, and had discussions with players about their favorite FF games. I even saw players excited to pull inexpensive cards simply because they featured a specific character.

Final Fantasy Fits Better With MTG Than Marvel

Final Fantasy's Setting Is A Closer Fit To MTG's Universe

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Although things may change when the set is actually released, I have yet to see the same level of enthusiasm for Magic: The Gathering's Marvel sets. This could just be the general over-saturation of Marvel products, mixed with a somewhat steady decline in the quality of MCU projects following Avengers: Endgame. However, it may also be because Marvel doesn't feel like as good of a fit for a Magic: The Gathering adaptation as Final Fantasy.

For one thing, Final Fantasy's high-fantasy setting feels much more in-line with the world of Magic: The Gathering than the Marvel Universe does. Marvel has always strived to make its comics feel like "the world outside your window" to some degree, something that feels a bit jarring when combined with Magic: The Gathering. Even the in-universe Duskmourn set felt a bit off when it included modern objects like TV sets or cheerleading uniforms. While Final Fantasy also has advanced technology, its design feels more in line with the style of Magic's artifacts than real-life modern technology.

I'm also a bit worried about how the Marvel sets are going to handle nonlegendary creatures. We already saw an overabundance of legendary creatures in Final Fantasy, and the franchise has a lot more potential for nonlegendary creatures, like Cactuars and Chocobos, than Marvel does. Sure, you could have a generic Skrull or SHIELD agent, but it still feels like Magic: The Gathering's Marvel sets are going to have to lean even further into having legendary creatures since there aren't as many recognizable generic monsters as in Final Fantasy​​​​​​​.

From what we've seen so far, I'm also concerned that the Marvel sets will be very heavy on Human and Mutant creatures, since that's what most of the company's most popular characters are. While Humans aren't as overpowered as they once were in Magic: The Gathering, it would still be disappointing to see just a few creature types over-represented in these sets. Of course, the Green Goblin card has already shown that Wizards of the Coast are willing to stretch creature types, so maybe they'll solve this issue by making Falcon a bird or something.

I'm not about to dismiss Magic: The Gathering's Marvel sets until I've had a chance to see at least one full one printed. That said, I have a hard time believing they will be as good a fit as Final Fantasy was. Luckily, Square Enix is reportedly on board for more crossover sets, according to Games Radar, so we might be getting more Final Fantasy at some point in the future.

Sources: Hasbro, Games Radar