Zell Dincht Thoughts

I am excited to discuss my favorite Final Fantasy 8 character Zell Dincht.

Zell is a new and interesting design space for red impulse ramp he lets you play an extra land from your hand each turn, but you have to return it to your hand in your end step. I think this is really powerful and can be used in fun and interesting ways. I don’t think Zell is a great commander, but I think he will be really powerful in the 99 of decks. Let’s talk about some strong cards we can play with Zell to get max value from his land bounce effect.

Arena of Glory is a powerful land that lets you get creatures out a turn earlier for the drawback of not being able to untap it on your next turn. You can also split the two red mana that is produced to give more than one creature haste. So why am I mentioning this with Zell well, you can exert Arena of Glory for the extra mana and haste, and then at the end of turn, return it to your hand to get around the drawback altogether. This, combined with Zell is a repeatable extra mana and haste every turn.

When Talon Gates of Madara enters, you can phase out a creature. You can pay 4 mana to do this at instant speed on your opponent’s turns, or you can just play it on your turn to phase out a pesky blocker. I am sure you can guess where I am going with this, but with Zell you can return it to your hand and get the effect repeatedly. This is really powerful and can help you push through damage or protect yourself from getting attacked.

The hideaway lands are also a great way to get some use out of Zell’s bounce at end of turn effect. Mosswort, Spinerock, and Windbrisk are the better of the five to combine with our boy Zell getting to cast something for free and then bounce and get a new thing next turn is a really great way to maximize his strengths.

Wrapping Up

So, to wrap up my thoughts, I think Zell Dincht is a really great new card to add to the 99 of your commander decks. He has a unique design space I hope Wizards uses more often for red impusle ramp. Look for lands with enters effects to get the most out of this new card. I look forward to throwing him into my decks when he comes out let me know what you think of my thoughts.