It’s only Monday, and this week is already shaping up to be a treat for Magic: The Gathering players. Tarkir: Dragonstorm previews begin in earnest with the debut tomorrow, after a one-off story preview today. On top of that, it’s very likely we’ll be seeing more Secret Lair previews to accompany the Spongebob Squarepants drops in the next Superdrop. As if that wasn’t enough, Wizards has decided to reveal a new card from the MTG x Final Fantasy set as well, in the form of Zell Dincht.
We certainly weren’t expecting more news from Final Fantasy this week, but we’re not going to look a gift Chocobo in the mouth. Zell seems like an interesting addition to land-focused decks in both Standard and Commander.
Zell Dincht MTG
- Mana Value: 2R
- Rarity: Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Monk
- Stats: 0/3
- Card Text: You may play an additional land on each of your turns.
Zell Dincht gets +1/+0 for each land you control.
At the beginning of your end step, return a land you control, to its owner’s hand.
Despite hailing from Final Fantasy VIII, Zell Dincht has a much stronger affinity with the number three in his MTG form. He costs three mana, has three toughness, and packs three different abilities. All three make him an excellent choice for any kind of land-based deck.
First of all, getting to play an additional land each turn is a very handy ability to have. It’s not particularly uncommon these days, with the likes of Loot, Exuberant Explorer and Hugs, Grisly Guardian offering the option in Standard currently. More redundancy is always good, however, and Zell comes down early enough to make the extra ramp useful.
Zell’s other two abilities tie in neatly with the first. The fact that his power scales with the number of lands you control is very nice indeed. He becomes an above-rate creature as soon as you have more than three lands out, which is easily done thanks to the first ability. The lack of evasion hurts here, but he can still trade up like a champ.
Zell saved his spiciest ability ’till last. At the end of your turn, you have to bounce a land you control back to your hand. This reads like a massive downside, and it certainly can be. In theory, you can balance out the mana loss by playing two lands on the following turn, but if Zell gets removed you’ll be left down a land and in a very nasty spot.
On the other hand, if Zell sticks around he essentially creates his own engine. Bouncing your lands and replaying them each turn can lead to some huge value plays, especially if you run lands with enters abilities like Echoing Deeps or the Surveil lands. Basically, it’s high-risk, high-reward.
Coming In To Land
As a lands-matter legend, Zell Dincht has a number of pre-built homes in a number of MTG formats. Current Standard actually has a surprising amount of support for a card like this. We just got a Bloodghast reprint in Aetherdrift, and Bloomburrow’s Iridescent Vinelasher is as efficient as ever. Pair the two with Zell and you have the makings of an aggressive Rakdos Landfall deck. You could even throw in Spitfire Lagac as a top-end threat.
As you’d expect, it’s looking like Final Fantasy itself will support Zell nicely too. We’ve seen a strong one drop for the deck already in Sazh’s Chocobo, which is a 0/1 that gains a counter for each land you drop. With Zell out, it can rapidly outgrow every creature in play over just a couple of turns. Gavin Verhey, during the Final Fantasy First Look stream, mentioned that “the Chocobos in this set have a bit of a Landfall theme going on.” Sazh’s Chocobo likely represents the low end of this group in terms of power level, so Zell should have plenty to work with on launch.
Standard aside, Zell is also going to be a slam-dunk addition to plenty of Commander decks. Some of the best Landfall Commanders, like Omnath, Locus of Creation and Lord Windgrace, give you access to red. Zell is an easy add to both of those decks and, honestly, any red deck running a decent package of utility lands.
Getting multiple uses out of a Bojuka Bog, or just getting more Field of the Dead triggers, is very powerful stuff. Zell will also be a valid Commander pick in his own right, too, though only giving access to red cards will limit his potential compared to other options. I’d expect him to do his best work in the 99.
Birthday Bash
- Mana Value: 1RWB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Wizard Knight
- Stats: 4/4
- Card Text: When Celes enters, discard any number of cards, then draw that many cards plus one.
Whenever one or more other creatures you control enter, if one or more of them entered from a graveyard or was cast from a graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
While it may seem arbitrary that Zell Dincht was spoiled today, there is a logic at play here. In the official reveal tweet, it’s mentioned that today is Zell’s in-universe birthday. This was also the case for Celes, Rune Knight, previewed last week on her in-universe birthday, March 10th. Perhaps this is a preview strategy that will continue throughout the lead-up to the full set release.
If so, there are a number of options for who we might see next. The set will be releasing on June 13th, which means previews will likely begin in full around May 20th. This means any date between now and then is fair game for a birthday preview.
The Final Fantasy Wiki has a handy list of main character birthdays, which we can use to work out some likely preview candidates. The next two I’d expect to see are Eiko Carol and her pet Moogle Mog, both of which have their birthday this Friday, March 21st. These characters hail from Final Fantasy IX, which we haven’t seen any cards from so far, so this would make a lot of sense.
April is fairly sparse as far as big birthdays go, but we could see Gladiolus Amicitia (Final Fantasy XV) on the 2nd, Gau (Final Fantasy VI) on the 5th, and Ardyn Izunia (Final Fantasy XV) on the 30th. May only really has Tifa Lockhart (Final Fantasy VII) on the 3rd, but she’s a popular enough character that I’d expect her to get a birthday preview like this.
Overall these birthday previews are just a bit of fun, but it’s a nice way to get players more invested in unfamiliar characters while giving us new cards to chew over in the process.