One Magic: The Gathering x Final Fantasy Card is Not For…

There are around 1,000 cards one could collect from the Final Fantasy set for Magic: The Gathering when it comes to just the raw numbers for unique IDs, including the main set and its products, the Eternal cards (both new and reprints with Final Fantasy-themed alt art), the bonus sheet, and so on. Considering how big the set is in terms of new cards or cards with new versions, and considering how successful it has already been so far, it's not a surprise that some of the most expensive MTG cards are from Final Fantasy. Among the expensive FF cards is one that shows an iconic moment from the games, but it's not for everyone.

Magic: The Gathering is by no means easily accessible for new players in monetary terms, even though Wizards of the Coast is trying to create new products that bridge that gap, such as Welcome Decks or precon Commander decks. Yet, there are cards that realistically not a lot of players will ever own, be it because of print restrictions or simply their price. Final Fantasy is not immune to this, unfortunately, and its Stay with Me card, which is a reprint of Rhystic Study, has been mostly inaccessible since its release.

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Magic: The Gathering's Final Fantasy Set Created a Bubble That May Be About to Burst

The unprecedented success of the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set in Magic: The Gathering is already causing some inflation that could backfire.

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By Matt Karoglou

Magic: The Gathering's Rhystic Study Explained

Magic: The Gathering's Commander often produces some of the nastiest decks when it comes to the so-called "stax pieces," meaning those cards that dey resources for the opponents while slowing the game for them, and Rhystic Study falls right into that definition. It's a 3-CMC enchantment (2 generic and 1 Blue) that requires opponents to either pay one mana whenever they cast a spell or allow Rhystic Study's owner to draw a card. In a Commander game, getting Rhystic Study down early can make all the difference between winning and losing, and the same holds true for other formats this card is legal in.

Why MTG's Rhystic Study Final Fantasy Reprint is Hard to Get

In the case of MTG's Final Fantasy set, Rhystic Study was reprinted as Stay with Me in a showcase mythic rare to be found in Collector Booster Packs. The card is not legal in Standard, unlike most other Final Fantasy cards, and it depicts a scene from Final Fantasy 10 that most of those who played the game will remember, as it's the so-called "water scene" where Tidus and Yuna are in Lake Macalania and share a kiss. The card's art is arguably beautiful regardless of whether one has memories attached to that game or scene, and Rhystic Study is a powerful card, but Stay with Me is very difficult to come by due to its rarity, price, and the price of Collector products.

It's worth noting that Rhystic Study is legal in Pauper thanks to a common-rarity print from the past, but the card has since been reprinted as mythic.

Ever since the release of the Final Fantasy set, Stay with Me/Rhystic Study has only dropped below the $100 mark twice on TCGPlayer, the first time at $98.36 and the second at $99.21. The card's peak was at around $117 toward the end of June, and it currently goes for around $100-105. However, since it doesn't appear in the regular Play Boosters, purchasing Collector Booster Packs to get the card is not a good investment, with Collector Boosters for MTG's FF set going for around $130 per pack and displays going for over $1,330 each.

MTG's Final Fantasy set has expensive cards to find in all boosters, and several cards in their regular versions go for around $40-50.

What follows is that most Magic: The Gathering players either need to already have a copy of Stay with Me or fork over $100 for a single one. This doesn't even take the foil version into account, as it costs well over $400, and can get around $500. As such, with Rhystic Study being such a pricey card on its own, and with existing, available copies of Stay with Me mostly declining in numbers over time, getting the card is not going to be easy or accessible to the general public. Magic: The Gathering's UB sets will likely keep doing this with other popular cards, and it's one of the reasons why Collector packs always become so expensive.

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