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Yoshitaka Amano returns to the Final Fantasy series to paint his favorite video game creation of all time for the upcoming Magic: The Gathering crossover

Yoshitaka Amano returns to Final Fantasy to paint his favorite character - and this time he's drawing her more realistically than he did when he first created her.

Yoshitaka Amano is one of the founding fathers of the Final Fantasy games franchise - his lithe, energetic, and stylish artwork is in many ways the fundamental artistic style of the game franchise as a whole, even more so than the evolving graphic complexities of the latest game systems. Although he has long retired as the series' primary character designer, he was recently asked to return to paint new work for the upcoming Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy set debuting this June.

"In our Final Fantasy Artist Cards series, we've invited nine incredible artists from Square Enix to illustrate any character from the Final Fantasy franchise," says Wizards of the Coast art director Stephanie Cheung during a presentation here at PAX East 2025. "They were not limited to the series they worked on, but invited to illustrate any character, especially ones they've always wanted to paint."

While the other artists contributed one new piece each, Amano has done two - and he made a surprising choice in Terra Bradford, the lead character in 1994's Final Fantasy VI - which is actually his favorite game character he ever designed. Amano painted two versions of Terra - one in what he calls her 'normal version,' and the other in her Esper form - a style he says he hadn't chance to revisit in decades.

"In the normal version of Terra, I wanted to capture the world of Final Fantasy by drawing her holding a sword, and airships flying in the background," Amano says in a video during the presentation. "I haven't had much opportunity to draw Terra in her Esper form since I first designed it. The original design was intentionally caricatured. This time, I made it more realistic."

Amano's art will be on two versions of the new Terra, Magical Adept card in the MTG - FF set. This and all of the MTG - FF Artist Card series will be printed borderless in both foil and non-foil versions, and will be randomly placed in the Play Boosters and Collector Booster packs of the MTG - FF set.

"Although it is small in size, it is powerful," Amano says, referencing his cards in the MTG - FF set.


Here's how to play all of the Final Fantasy games in order

About PAX East 2025

PAX East is a celebration of gaming and gaming culture featuring thought-provoking panels, a massive expo hall filled with the best publishers and studios, new game demos, musical performances, tournaments, and a community experience unlike any other. No matter your preferred genre or platform, if you love games, welcome home.

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Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant: Chris Arrant is the Popverse's Editor-in-Chief. He has written about pop culture for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel, Newsarama, CBR, and more. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. (He/him)

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