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A significant part of the appeal found in the Final Fantasy crossover collection for *Magic: The Gathering* lies in the fashion numerous cards tell well-known stories. Take for instance the Tidus, Blitzball Star card, which provides a glimpse of the hero at the beginning of *Final Fantasy 10*: a renowned professional athlete whose key technique is a unique shot that pushes a defender out of the way. The gameplay rules represent this in nuanced ways. These kinds of flavor is prevalent across the entire Final Fantasy offering, and they aren't all joyful stories. Several serve as poignant echoes of sad moments fans remember vividly decades later.

"Moving stories are a key element of the Final Fantasy franchise," explained a lead game designer on the project. "The team established some overarching principles, but finally, it was mostly on a card-by-card basis."

Though the Zack Fair card is not a top-tier card, it stands as one of the collection's most clever pieces of storytelling through mechanics. It skillfully captures one of *Final Fantasy 7*'s most important story moments brilliantly, all while capitalizing on some of the set's central systems. And while it avoids revealing anything, those who know the saga will instantly understand the meaning behind it.

The Mechanics: A Narrative in Play

For one white mana (the alignment of good) in this collection, Zack Fair enters with a base stat line of 0/1 but enters with a +1/+1 token. By paying one colorless mana, you can remove from play the card to give another creature you control protection from destruction and put all of Zack’s bonuses, plus an Equipment, onto that target creature.

This card paints a moment FF fans are all too familiar with, a moment that has been revisited multiple times — in the first *FF7*, *Crisis Core*, and even new iterations in *FF7 Remake*. Yet it resonates just as hard here, communicated entirely through gameplay mechanics. Zack sacrifices himself to save Cloud, who then takes up the Buster Sword as his own.

The Context of the Moment

A bit of context, and here is your *FF7* spoiler alert: Years before the primary events of the game, Zack and Cloud are left for dead after a clash with Sephiroth. After years of imprisonment, the duo break free. During their ordeal, Cloud is comatose, but Zack ensures to protect his comrade. They finally reach the outskirts outside Midgar before Zack is gunned down by forces. Abandoned, Cloud subsequently grabs Zack’s Buster Sword and takes on the role of a elite SOLDIER, setting the stage for the start of *FF7*.

Simulating the Passing of the Torch on the Tabletop

On the tabletop, the rules effectively let you relive this entire sequence. The Buster Sword is featured as a powerful piece of armament in the set that costs three mana and gives the equipped creature +3/+2. Therefore, using six mana, you can turn Zack into a formidable 4/6 while the Buster Sword wielded.

The Cloud, Midgar Mercenary also has clear combo potential with the Buster Sword, enabling you to find for an equipment card. Together, these pieces function in this way: You summon Zack, and he gains the +1/+1 counter. Then you play Cloud to retrieve the Buster Sword out of your deck. Then you cast and attach it to Zack.

Owing to the manner Zack’s signature action is structured, you can technically use it in the middle of battle, meaning you can “intercept” an assault and activate it to negate the damage altogether. This allows you to make this play at a key moment, moving the +1/+1 counter *and* the Buster Sword to Cloud. He is transformed into a formidable 6/4 that, each time he strikes a player, lets you draw two cards and play two spells without paying their mana cost. This is precisely the kind of interaction referred to when discussing “flavorful design” — not revealing the scene, but letting the gameplay trigger the recollection.

More Than the Central Synergy

And the thematic here is deeply satisfying, and it reaches past just these cards. The Jenova card is part of the set as a creature that, at the start of combat, places a number of +1/+1 counters on a target creature, which additionally gains the type of a Mutant. This sort of hints that Zack’s starting +1/+1 token is, in a way, the SOLDIER conditioning he received, which included modification with Jenova cells. This is a small nod, but one that cleverly ties the whole SOLDIER program to the +1/+1 counter mechanic in the expansion.

Zack’s card avoids showing his demise, or Cloud’s confusion, or the stormy bluff where it all ends. It does not need to. *Magic* allows you to recreate the passing yourself. You make the ultimate play. You pass the weapon on. And for a short instant, while enjoying a strategy game, you are reminded of why *Final Fantasy 7* is still the most impactful game in the series to date.