Magic: The Gathering's Final Fantasy set has a bit of a problem on its hands, but I think its latest preview has shown us how it will be solved. The main issue for the set will be trying to print cards for all the major characters from Final Fantasy's 16 mainline games. Between extensive parties - like in Final Fantasy 6 - and plenty of iconic villains, I wasn't sure how every character was going to get a card without unbalancing the set.

Magic: The Gathering sets, like all Trading Card Games, are made up of cards from across a spectrum of rarities. In the original crop of Final Fantasy spoilers, and with the couple previews that followed, every major party member was printed as either a rare or mythic rare card, with lower rarities being reserved for villains or creatures like Tonberry. However, the latest Final Fantasy preview card has shown that this isn't the case for the entire set.

Magic's Latest Final Fantasy Preview Shows The Set Will Include Legendary Uncommons For Party

Previously, Party Member Cards Were Are Rares Or Mythics

In celebration of his birthday, Final Fantasy's Facebook page posted a preview of a card featuring Gladio from Final Fantasy 15. The card, Gladioulus Amicitia, is the first party member we've seen in the set who is being printed at uncommon. I honestly didn't think this was going to happen after seeing Final Fantasy 8's Zell printed as a rare card, but I'm happy to see it.

Now that I know party can be printed at lower rarities, I'm less worried that we aren't going to get some of the series' best characters. While I figured main characters, like Clive or Squall, would show up, I was worried about less-popular party who might not get a card. Now I'm optimistic we will see less popular characters like FF6's Gau or characters from underappreciated games in the series like FF13's Snow.

Party being printed at lower rarities also means that they are more common to show up in Drafts and Prerelease events. I'm now extra excited to crack open my Final Fantasy Prerelease pack and see which characters I end up with for my deck. It's also nice to know that Final Fantasy fans who may just want to collect the cards will likely be able to snag some of their favorite characters for a lower price.

The New Gladiolus Card Is Another Flavor Win For Magic's Final Fantasy Set

The Gladioulus Amicitia Card Capture's The Character's Talents

Aside from being a nice confirmation that uncommon - and possibly even common - party are on the way, Gladio's card also feels like another flavor win for this set's mechanics. Gladio loves the outdoors and was the best at tracking and scavenging in Final Fantasy 15's party. Trackers in Magic: The Gathering typically have abilities like Gladio's that let you search your deck, so his first ability feels like a good fit.

Gladio's landfall ability does feel a bit more like a stretch, but that's because landfall is a tricky ability to try and picture in of its narrative meaning. That said, landfall abilities are typically found on creatures that have some connection to nature, so I still think it's a pretty decent fit. I don't think it's nearly as big of a stretch as Magic's Spider-Man cards depicting Green Goblin as a literal goblin just because it's in his code name.

In general, I've been mostly happy with Magic: The Gathering's Final Fantasy cards in of flavor. While there are some that excite me less than others - I'm a little bummed Cloud is relegated to being an Equipment Commander - the set mostly has me eager to try it out. With Tarkir: Dragonstorm releasing soon, I expect we'll get even more Final Fantasy previews shortly thereafter.

Source: Final Fantasy/Facebook