Zack Fair Demonstrates That Magic: The Gathering's Crossover Sets Are Capable of Telling Meaningful Stories.

A major part of the allure found in the *Final Fantasy* crossover release for *Magic: The Gathering* lies in the way numerous cards depict familiar tales. Consider the Tidus, Blitzball Star card, which offers a portrait of the hero at the very start of *Final Fantasy 10*: a celebrated professional athlete whose signature move is a specialized shot that pushes a defender out of the way. The gameplay rules reflect this with subtlety. This type of flavor is widespread across the entire Final Fantasy offering, and not all fun and games. Several serve as poignant callbacks of emotional events fans still mull over to this day.

"Powerful stories are a central component of the Final Fantasy franchise," wrote a lead game designer on the set. "The team established some broad guidelines, but in the end, it was mostly on a card-by-card basis."

Though the Zack Fair isn't a top-tier card, it represents one of the set's most clever instances of storytelling by way of mechanics. It skillfully captures one of *Final Fantasy 7*'s most pivotal story moments in spectacular fashion, all while utilizing some of the set's core mechanics. And although it avoids revealing anything, those familiar with the story will instantly understand the meaning behind it.

The Mechanics: Story Through Gameplay

For one mana of white (the alignment of good) in this collection, Zack Fair is a starting power and toughness of 0/1 but arrives with a +1/+1 token. For the cost of one colorless mana, you can destroy the card to give another creature you control protection from destruction and put all of Zack’s markers, along with an artifact weapon, onto that other creature.

This card paints a sequence FF fans are extremely familiar with, a moment that has been retold throughout the years — in the classic *FF7*, *Crisis Core*, and even alternate-timeline retellings in *FF7 Remake*. And yet it lands with equal force here, expressed entirely through gameplay mechanics. Zack makes the ultimate sacrifice to save Cloud, who then takes up the Buster Sword as his own.

The Context of the Scene

A bit of backstory, and here is your *FF7* warning: Years before the primary events of the game, Zack and Cloud are gravely wounded after a confrontation with Sephiroth. Following extended testing, the pair manage to escape. Throughout this period, Cloud is delirious, but Zack vows to take care of his comrade. They finally arrive at the outskirts outside Midgar before Zack is killed by Shinra soldiers. Presumed dead, Cloud subsequently grabs Zack’s Buster Sword and takes on the role of a elite SOLDIER, setting the stage for the start of *FF7*.

Reenacting the Moment on the Battlefield

In a game, the abilities in essence let you reenact this whole scene. The Buster Sword is featured as a top-tier piece of armament in the collection that requires three mana and provides the equipped creature +3/+2. Therefore, using six mana, you can turn Zack into a formidable 4/6 while the Buster Sword attached.

The Cloud, Midgar Mercenary also has intentional synergy with the Buster Sword, allowing you to search your deck for an artifact card. In combination, these pieces function as follows: You play Zack, and he gains the +1/+1 counter. Then you cast Cloud to fetch the Buster Sword out of your deck. Then you play and equip it to Zack.

Due to the manner Zack’s sacrifice ability is structured, you can actually use it in the middle of battle, meaning you can “block” an attack and activate it to cancel out the attack entirely. Therefore, you can perform this action at a key moment, transferring the +1/+1 counter *and* the Buster Sword to Cloud. He subsequently becomes a strong 6/4 that, each time he strikes a player, lets you gain card advantage and cast two cards for free. This is precisely the kind of experience alluded to when discussing “narrative impact” — not revealing the scene, but letting the mechanics evoke the memory.

More Than the Central Synergy

However, the flavor here is deeply satisfying, and it extends beyond just these cards. The Jenova card is part of the collection as a creature that, at the start of combat, places a number of +1/+1 counters on a target creature, which also becomes a Mutant. This in a way hints that Zack’s starting +1/+1 token is, figuratively, the SOLDIER conditioning he received, which included experimentation with Jenova cells. This is a tiny connection, but one that implicitly ties the entire SOLDIER program to the +1/+1 counter theme in the set.

This design doesn't show his death, or Cloud’s confusion, or the stormy bluff where it concludes. It does not need to. *Magic* lets you recreate the passing for yourself. You make the sacrifice. You hand over the legacy on. And for a brief second, while playing a trading card game, you recall why *Final Fantasy 7* is still the most impactful game in the franchise to date.