MTG Final Fantasy expansion reveals popular FF8's Zell Dincht as devastating Landfall card

Final Fantasy’s social media accounts revealed the MTG card for FF8’s Zell Dincht to celebrate his birthday. The quick-fisted, hot-headed member of SeeD will join the game when the expansion drops later this year. His card is incredibly strong, even if it may not look like it from the outset. Specifically, this red card should be most desirable for red decks and red/green decks for Landfall procs.

It will be interesting to see where FF8’s Zell Dincht fits in MTG beyond the Final Fantasy expansion — I can see him appearing in Valakut decks. He could wind up as a very popular card going forward. Here’s what we know about Zell Dincht in Magic: The Gathering.

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What does FF8’s Zell Dincht do in the MTG Final Fantasy expansion?

FF8’s Zell Dincht is such a powerful card for the upcoming MTG Final Fantasy expansion and one I see players slotting into the Cloud Commander deck. Frankly, any deck that splashes in red could take advantage of this card. Why is that? Below is the complete breakdown of what he can do.

"I have a chicken wuss and a guy who's just reached puberty in my squad!" - Seifer Almasy, Final Fantasy 8 (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Zell Dincht

• Mana Value: 2R
• Card Type: Legendary Creature — Human Monk
• Rarity: Rare
• Stats: 0/3
• Ability 1: You may play an additional land on each of your turns.
• Ability 2: Zell Dincht gets +1/+/0 for each land you control.
• Ability 3: At the beginning of your end step, return a land you control to its owner’s hand.

That means the FF8 Zell Dincht card comes into play in MTG Final Fantasy as a minimum of 3/3 creature. It could be much higher, depending on your mana ramp, and how late in the game he shows up. The ability to play an additional land every single turn is devastatingly powerful, though. You could pair it with Flubs, the Fool, or Dryad of the Ilysian Grove to suddenly play three lands each turn.

The extra land drops would certainly help Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, not to mention the guaranteed procs from returning Mountains to your hand (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Of course, you’d have to have that many lands to play, but with enough card draw, that shouldn’t be an issue. You’ll also want to give him Trample, and possibly First Strike/Double Strike, to keep him safe, as he’s got low toughness. Sure, you have to return a land to your hand every turn, but that’s also powerful in its own way.

The deck FF8’s Zell Dincht should fit into, beyond the MTG Final Fantasy expansion, would be Red, or Red/Green Landfall. That guarantees you a series of Landfall procs every single turn, no matter what.

You can return a tapped land as well, so you still get use out of it. I'm also curious to see if it will earn a spot in the Modern Valakut decks. Being such an amazing card, it makes me that much more excited for this set.

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Check out our other MTG guides and features:

• MTG Final Fantasy reveals incredible alternate Commander for ‘Revival Trance’ deck
• MTG Aetherdrift review: Going ultra-fast while simultaneously slowing things down was a good idea
• MTG Final Fantasy expansion features some of the biggest, baddest enemies of the franchise: Sin, Chaos, Tonberry, and more