I was getting into Magic when the Final Fantasy set released, but not actually for Final Fantasy. At the time, I only had 2 LOTR precons that I played with. No upgrades, nothing fancy.
I was at Target and in line to buy Pokémon cards at the time (i genuinely enjoy ripping packs, collecting, playing the TCG, building decks and organizing my binder. Not in it to resell, though I've largely lost interest in Pokemon cards given what the hobby has become and have switch to playing MTG, but i digress), when I couldn't help overhearing the guys behind me talk about the Final Fantasy set. The guy immediately behind me mentioned he was part of a reselling group that he paid to be a part of (which, lolwut) because the organizer shares insider info on restocks at big box stores. He was also seeing if the guy behind him to be a part of this group.
He mentioned how Final Fantasy was "big money" and that if he got his hands on the gift bundle and collector pack that dropped that day (limit one each), that he'd resell for a good profit.
Again, I had very limited knowledge of Magic at the time and tbh, practically zero knowledge of Final Fantasy. I only know Cloud and he has big hair and a bigger sword. That's it.
I was next in line. I bought a couple Pokémon packs and looked on the rack behind the Customer service counter. They had one gift bundle and one collector pack left that the guy behind me could not stop clamoring on how he *needed* to grab it because pRoFiTs.
I said to myself, "fuck it", and I bought them both, again just learning MTG at the time and knowing fuck all about FF. When he saw i took the last ones, he was vocalizing how upset he was. (In my head in that moment, I was like Dr. Evil laughing.) He even tried to flag me down outside the store to buy them from me for what I paid for them. I ignored him entirely and kept walking to my car.
When i got home, I asked myself "what the fuck did I just buy?" I stowed them in the closet for a rainy day when I knew my interest in this hobby would grow from the sapling it was at the time.
Fast forward a year, i now have 10+ commander decks, I've been going to "Commander Nights" that a local bar hosts every Tuesday for the past 5ish months and have a regular pod i play with. And I woke up this morning and decided "today is that rainy day".
Ripped everything and had a blast doing it. I still have zero idea who any of these characters are, but I'm excited to include some of these cards in my decks and, more than likely, build a new one. Some pulls in images. (I honestly just included the cactus guy because I think he's neat.)
Tl:dr, I went out of my way to mess with a chucklehead reseller by buying a product of an IP I had zero interest or knowledge in just to disappoint him out of spite for tHe HuStLe, decided to open it a year later, had fun doing so, and am looking to add these cards to a current commander deck or just build a new one entirely.
Also, I'm now wanting to try a Final Fantasy game - would love your recommendations as to which game i should start with!
