My Quest to Collect All the Final Fantasy Magic Cards Part One: The Hunt Begins

This post kicks off something a little different, my newest obsession: trying to collect every single Final Fantasy Magic: The Gathering card ever printed.

If that sentence sounds a little wild to you, you’re not wrong. It’s been quite the rabbit hole already, full of nostalgia, detective work, online communities, and a dash of international trading.

But before we dive into how I started tracking down these cards, let’s rewind a bit.

Back to High School Magic Days

My relationship with Magic: The Gathering (or “MTG,” as fans call it) actually started way back in high school.

I wasn’t one of those super-competitive players who spent every dollar on the latest booster packs, my start came from a friend who decided he was “too cool” for Magic and handed me all his cards.

That one gesture kicked off a new hobby.

I taught myself how to play, built a simple white-and-blue deck (for the uninitiated, that means a mix of healing, defense, and trickery), and spent countless afternoons learning the mechanics.

Eventually, I got a few of my friends hooked too.

Of course, as teenage hobbies tend to go, it got competitive fast.

Suddenly my friends were showing up with decks full of rare, shiny, expensive cards, while I was still rocking my budget builds.

The games stopped being fun, and eventually I sold my cards and moved on.

Still, even after all these years, I’ve always admired Magic cards, the artwork, the world-building, the sheer creativity of it all.

Final Fantasy + Magic: The Gathering = Dream Combo

Fast forward to today.

I’m older, slightly wiser, and still a huge Final Fantasy fan.

So when I heard that Magic had released official Final Fantasy crossover cards, I couldn’t believe it.

It’s like two of my favorite fantasy worlds colliding,  Chocobos, Cloud Strife, and Black Mages joining forces with Planeswalkers and Goblins.

Of course, by the time I found out, the sets had already sold out everywhere.

Apparently, some of these cards are now selling for hundreds of dollars online!

That’s the collector world for you, blink once and the prices skyrocket.

Now, here’s the thing: I’ve never liked the “gacha” or gambling-style system of buying random packs hoping to get the cards you want.

It’s fun for some people, but not for me. I’d rather know exactly what I’m getting.

That’s when I had a lightbulb moment: what if I could find proxy versions of the cards, high-quality replicas made for casual collectors?

I didn’t need them for competitive play; I just wanted to fill a binder and enjoy flipping through the art.

Discovering the World of Proxies

After a little late-night Googling, I stumbled onto a subreddit called r/bootlegmtg, a surprisingly friendly community of people who talk about proxy Magic cards.

For anyone new to the term, proxies are unofficial reproductions of real Magic cards.

They’re not meant to fool anyone or be sold as authentic, but rather to let players or collectors enjoy cards that might be too rare, too expensive, or simply unavailable.

I spent hours reading through their FAQs, wikis, and guides. People there were incredibly helpful and even pointed me toward reliable proxy makers.

I also learned about the three major Final Fantasy-themed Magic sets:

• Final Fantasy (FIN) – 595 cards
• Final Fantasy Commander (FIC) – 486 cards
• Final Fantasy Through the Ages (FCA) – 65 cards

That’s over a thousand cards total! A massive quest, but hey, that’s part of the fun.

The Plan Comes Together

What I learned from the community is that most proxy makers in China don’t produce entire sets, they usually focus on the most sought-after cards.

The best approach, they said, was to buy commons and uncommons (the cheaper, easy-to-find ones) as singles, and then order proxies for the rare and ultra-rare ones.

They also taught me a few tricks for spotting authentic vs. proxy cards: things like tiny red dots hidden in the printing pattern, or the way the “T” in the word “Gathering” is shaped on the back.

I don’t mind if mine aren’t perfect, though. This project is about the art, not the authenticity.

So I started small. I found a listing on eBay selling a batch of common and uncommon FIN cards for just $20.

I had no clue what to expect, but when they arrived, I was pleasantly surprised, about a third of the full FIN set!

Next, someone on Reddit recommended picking up a Final Fantasy Commander Deck set, which includes roughly two-thirds of the FIC cards. I found it on Amazon for $200, on sale for $80 off, and couldn’t resist.

Making Friends with Proxy Makers

Once I had my commons covered, I reached out to a few well-known proxy sellers recommended by the subreddit: Ron, Gail, Villa Zheng, and Black Lotus.

Black Lotus couldn’t ship inside China (long story), but the other three were happy to help.

Each had massive Google Sheets listing thousands of available cards. A lot of them have photos as well so you know exactly what you’re going to get.

You just copy the ones you want, email your list, and they send an invoice.

• Ron & Gail charge about $2.50 per card.
• Villa Zheng charges $2.80 per card.

The more you order, the cheaper it gets per card.

Shipping within China is practically nothing, which worked out perfectly because my wife is from China and a few times a year she orders packages through her family there.

I decided to order the same ten fancy Surge Foil cards from all three sellers so I could compare their quality later, and I added one unique “extra” card to each order so I could tell whose was whose when they arrive.

Modern Magic: The Internet Era

It’s wild to see how much the Magic community has evolved since I last played in the early 2000s. Back then, finding cards meant scouring comic shops or hoping your friend would trade.

Now there’s an entire online ecosystem for collectors.

The most amazing site I’ve discovered is Scryfall.com. It’s basically a magical database that lets you:

• Search for any card by name, artist, or even specific keywords.
• Filter cards by color, type, rarity, or set.
• View high-resolution (300 DPI) artwork for printing your own casual cards.

It’s clean, powerful, and perfect for tracking which cards I’m missing.

I used Scryfall to make checklists for each Final Fantasy set and plan my collection strategy.

There are also websites like MPCFill.com or MTG-Print.com, where you can upload Scryfall art and print your own low-cost cards if you just want something casual to look at.

And for official single cards, sites like Cardmarket, TCGPlayer, and CardKingdom make it easy to find individual cards at fair prices.

Where Things Stand Now

So, as of today, I’ve got:

• A big batch of common and uncommon FIN cards from eBay.
• The Commander Deck set covering most of FIC.
• And 30 proxy cards (10 each from three different sellers in China) currently on their way.

Once they arrive, I’ll do a detailed comparison and share which seller makes the best-looking proxies, how they feel, how the colors pop, and how close they come to the real deal.

This is just the beginning of my Final Fantasy Magic adventure.

In Part Two, I’ll unbox all the proxy cards, show how they compare, and talk about the process of completing the rarer parts of the collection.

If you’ve ever wondered how deep the Magic card rabbit hole goes (or just want to see some gorgeous Final Fantasy art) stick around. This quest is far from over.

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Images in this post were photographed by the author.