Pete's Expert Summary
My human has brought home yet another collection of stiff, flat rectangles. They call it "Magic: The Gathering," but this time it is infested with characters from something named "Final Fantasy." From what I can gather, it's a starter kit, meaning it's designed to teach two slow-witted humans how to stare at cardboard for hours instead of attending to my needs. It contains two decks of these cards, two boxes for them, and a rulebook. The potential appeal is obvious: the sheer quantity of small, lightweight objects to bat under the furniture is immense, and I am told some of the cards are "foil," which means they are shiny. Shiny things are, objectively, superior. However, the risk is that the humans become so engrossed in their "epic 2-player battles" that they forget the far more epic battle of my food bowl versus the forces of emptiness. A risky proposition, but the promise of shininess is tempting.
Key Features
- EXPERIENCE FINAL FANTASY IN A WHOLE NEW WAY—Step into unforgettable stories from FINAL FANTASY games brought to your tabletop with the strategic gameplay of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game
- LEARN TO PLAY MAGIC—Everything you need to play your first games of Magic is here. Enter the fray with two pre-built 60-card decks and learn the essentials with the included guide booklet. You’ll be ready to play in no time.
- 2 FINAL FANTASY-THEMED DECKS—Cast powerful spells, meet iconic characters, and visit familiar locales; each deck contains 60 cards featuring FINAL FANTASY-themed art, including 10 cards entirely new to Magic (5 in each deck)
- ARE YOU A HERO OR A VILLAIN?—Challenge a friend, choose your deck, and face off in epic 2-player battles; will you join Cloud, the beloved hero, or side with his nemesis, Sephiroth?
- KICK OFF YOUR COLLECTION—Start your collection with Rare cards and shiny foils; each deck includes 5 Rare cards and 1 Mythic Rare Legendary Creature card with a shiny Traditional Foil treatment
- PLAY IN PERSON and ONLINE—Battle with your decks in person or use the 2 included codes to unlock both decks for two people to play online in Magic: The Gathering Arena (available on desktop or mobile)
- STARTER KIT CONTENTS—2 ready-to-play 60-card decks, 2 boxes to store them in, 1 Magic play guide booklet, and codes to unlock both decks in MTG Arena
A Tale from Pete the Cat
The scent hit me first, a crisp, clean aroma of freshly printed ink and processed wood pulp that cut through the usual household smells of dust motes and my human’s decaying ambitions. They placed the box on the low table in the sunbeam—*my* sunbeam—and unsealed it with a reverence I typically reserve for a freshly opened can of tuna. Inside were two smaller boxes, which were promptly ignored in favor of the colorful paper rectangles within. The human laid them out, not for me, but for a guest. They called it a game of heroes and villains, gesturing to one deck as "Cloud" and the other as "Sephiroth." To me, it looked like a formal negotiation over territory, a ritual I understood perfectly. I leaped silently onto the table, my gray tuxedo immaculate against the dark wood, and surveyed the scene. The humans were so absorbed in their little rulebook, their fingers tracing lines of text, that they didn't notice my inspection. I saw the so-called villain, a figure with long silver hair and an absurdly long sword, captured on a card that shimmered with a captivating iridescence. It caught the sunbeam, casting a tiny, dancing rainbow on the wall. This, I decided, was the only piece of any real value. The hero, with his spiky blond hair, was on a similar shiny card, but he lacked a certain... panache. He looked like he needed a good grooming. While their backs were turned, I made my move. It was not a chaotic swipe, as a lesser feline might attempt, but a calculated act of curation. I extended a single, perfect claw and hooked it under the edge of the shiny Sephiroth card. With a flick of my paw, I slid it off the table. It fluttered, a silver-winged moth, before landing silently on the rug below. I then nudged a far less interesting card, one depicting some sort of giant bird, into its place. The guest human eventually looked up. "Hey, where'd the foil Sephiroth go?" My human just sighed, looking at me with a familiar expression of loving exasperation. I, of course, remained impassive, a silent king upon my throne, having already improved their little game. The pieces have potential, especially the shiny ones, but the system clearly requires my superior oversight to achieve true elegance.
