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A significant aspect of the appeal of the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond collection for *Magic: The Gathering* is the fashion numerous cards narrate well-known narratives. Consider the Tidus, Blitzball Star card, which offers a portrait of the hero at the very start of *Final Fantasy 10*: a wildly famous Blitzball pro whose key technique is a unique shot that knocks a defender out of the way. The gameplay rules represent this in nuanced ways. This type of flavor is widespread throughout the complete Final Fantasy offering, and some are not fun and games. A number act as poignant callbacks of emotional events fans remember vividly decades later.

"Powerful stories are a central element of the Final Fantasy series," wrote a senior game designer on the collaboration. "We built some general rules, but ultimately, it was primarily on a card-by-card level."

While the Zack Fair card is not a top-tier card, it is one of the collection's most elegant instances of storytelling via mechanics. It skillfully captures one of *Final Fantasy 7*'s most crucial cinematic moments in spectacular fashion, all while leveraging some of the product's key gameplay elements. And although it avoids revealing anything, those acquainted with the story will quickly recognize the significance embedded in it.

The Mechanics: Flavor in Rules

At a cost of one white mana (the hue of heroes) in this collection, Zack Fair enters with a base power and toughness of 0/1 but comes into play with a +1/+1 marker. By spending one generic mana, you can destroy the card to give another creature you control indestructible and transfer all of Zack’s bonuses, along with an artifact weapon, onto that chosen creature.

These mechanics portrays a scene FF fans are extremely know well, a moment that has been reimagined again and again — in the first *FF7*, *Crisis Core*, and even new retellings in *FF7 Remake*. And yet it lands just as hard here, expressed entirely through rules text. Zack sacrifices himself to save Cloud, who then takes up the Buster Sword as his own.

The Context of the Scene

A bit of context, and consider this your *FF7* spoiler alert: Prior to the primary events of the game, Zack and Cloud are left for dead after a clash with Sephiroth. After extended testing, the duo break free. The entire time, Cloud is comatose, but Zack vows to look after his comrade. They finally reach the outskirts outside Midgar before Zack is fatally wounded by Shinra soldiers. Abandoned, Cloud subsequently grabs Zack’s Buster Sword and takes on the persona of a elite SOLDIER, setting the stage for the start of *FF7*.

Simulating the Legacy on the Battlefield

On the tabletop, the rules essentially let you relive this iconic sequence. The Buster Sword appears as a top-tier piece of gear in the collection that requires three mana and grants the wielding creature +3/+2. Thus, with an investment of six mana, you can make Zack into a formidable 4/6 while the Buster Sword equipped.

The Cloud, Midgar Mercenary also has deliberate interaction with the Buster Sword, letting you to look through your library for an equipment card. In combination, these pieces function in this way: You cast Zack, and he gets the +1/+1 counter. Then you summon Cloud to fetch the Buster Sword from your deck. Then you cast and attach it to Zack.

Because of the way Zack’s signature action is structured, you can potentially use it in the middle of battle, meaning you can “intercept” an attack and trigger it to cancel out the damage completely. This allows you to do this at a key moment, moving the +1/+1 counter *and* the Buster Sword to Cloud. He subsequently becomes a formidable 6/4 that, each time he strikes a player, lets you gain card advantage and cast two spells for free. This is just the kind of moment referred to when talking about “flavorful design” — not explaining the scene, but letting the card design trigger the recollection.

Extending Past the Main Combo

However, the narrative here is incredibly rich, and it reaches beyond just Zack and Cloud. The Jenova card appears in the set as a creature that, at the start of combat, puts a number of +1/+1 counters on a chosen creature, which additionally gains the type of a Mutant. This kind of implies that Zack’s starting +1/+1 token is, in a way, the SOLDIER conditioning he received, which included genetic manipulation with Jenova cells. It's a subtle connection, but one that implicitly links the entire SOLDIER program to the +1/+1 counter ecosystem in the set.

Zack’s card does not depict his death, or Cloud’s breakdown, or the rain-soaked bluff where it concludes. It doesn't have to. *Magic* enables you to relive the moment yourself. You perform the sacrifice. You hand over the sword on. And for a short instant, while playing a card battle, you remember why *Final Fantasy 7* is still the most influential game in the franchise to date.