Zack FairZack Fair | Art by Yoshio Sugiura 

Welcome back to Plot Twist, the series where we build a Commander deck that looks like it's going to tell one kind of story only to throw out a twist for our opponents mid-game. Check out the previous articles in the series to get a sense of the type of stories we're looking to tell.

This week, we're continuing to go through the plethora of new legendary creatures from Final Fantasy with our first-ever one-mana commander: Zack FairZack Fair. I never beat Final Fantasy VII myself, so it's time to wildly speculate about the lore of Zack FairZack Fair! Not really. The release of Final Fantasy has made me want to go back and play some of the games in the series I never beat and FFVII will probably be the first one I pick back up.

How Does Zack Fair Work?

For the low, low price of , Zack FairZack Fair enters as a 0/1 with a +1/+1 counter on him. He also has the ability to pay and sacrifice himself in order to give another creature you control indestructible until end of turn. He's essentially a legendary Resolute WatchdogResolute Watchdog if you don't think about it too hard!

But Zack Fair's text continues, and this is where he gets really interesting: "Put Zack Fair's counters on that creature and attach an Equipment that was attached to Zack Fair to that creature." This text pulls Zack Fair Commander decks in two interesting directions at once: decks that care about counters, and Equipment decks.

Over on Zack Fair's EDHREC page, we can see that... well, we can see that not a lot of players are brewing around Zack FairZack Fair, since he only has 33 decks, including this one. But six of those lists are +1/+1 counters themed and four are Equipment-themed. Cards like Puresteel PaladinPuresteel Paladin, Sigarda's AidSigarda's Aid, and Danitha Capashen, ParagonDanitha Capashen, Paragon all show up in more than half of the (again, relatively few) Zack FairZack Fair deck lists out there so far.

But this is Plot Twist, so we're going to add our own flair to our Zack FairZack Fair (I'll see myself out) list: we're going to repeatedly sacrifice and reanimate Zack!

Doing the Twist

This week we're building a commander-centric version of Zack FairZack Fair that repeatedly sacrifices him to move around counters and Equipment. By piling up extra counters on our commander with cards like Andúril, Narsil ReforgedAndúril, Narsil Reforged, Conformer ShurikenConformer Shuriken, Lae'zel, Vlaakith's ChampionLae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion, and Valkyrie's CallValkyrie's Call, we can build up a tall army with Equipment to boot.

We're also running a suite of cards like Custodi SoulcallerCustodi Soulcaller, Guardian ScalelordGuardian Scalelord, and Sun TitanSun Titan to recur Zack, or our other valuable creatures, again and again.

We'll be able to "Jund 'em out" in mono-white, with Zack FairZack Fair acting as a cheap piece of interaction to protect our most important pieces.

A nice Equipment package headlined by BatterskullBatterskull, Kaldra CompleatKaldra Compleat, and Sword of Truth and JusticeSword of Truth and Justice helps tie the whole thing together and shore up some of our weaknesses too.

A few Equipment tutors like Cloud, Midgar MercenaryCloud, Midgar Mercenary let us get whatever we need in the moment, while Puresteel PaladinPuresteel Paladin and Sram, Senior EdificerSram, Senior Edificer ensure our hand stays full of gas.

Sacrificing (Zack-rificing?) Our Commander for Profit

Since Zack FairZack Fair's ability is relatively cheap to use as a protection spell, we're going to rely on it to be a good portion of our protection for our other creatures. We still have cards like Akroma's WillAkroma's Will, Duty Beyond DeathDuty Beyond Death, and Galadriel's DismissalGaladriel's Dismissal in our deck to help protect our entire board when needed, but we'll skip Equipment like Caduceus, Staff of HermesCaduceus, Staff of Hermes and Robe of StarsRobe of Stars as forms of protection.

Instead, we'll focus our deck this week on gaining incremental value whenever Zack FairZack Fair dies. We can pile up additional counters and Equipment on Zack and then move them over for "free" when we sacrifice him, and even double up those counters with effects like The OzolithThe Ozolith and Lae'zel, Vlaakith's ChampionLae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion. Our goal is to grind out just a little extra value every time a counter gets placed on a creature of ours or an Equipment gets attached.

Since our deck this week is extra commander-centric, we'll run enough reanimation / recursion spells so that we don't have to pay a ton of commander tax to recast Zack over the course of the game. We want to focus those spells on being repeatable and/or free since we already have to pay to sacrifice our commander and use him as a protection spell.

Reanimate Effects

If we really want to double or triple up on sacrificing Zack Fair for fun and profit, then we'll need plenty of ways to recur him.

We'll want to prioritize repeatable reanimation effects, but there's probably a different build of a Zack FairZack Fair deck that leverages cards like Call a Surprise WitnessCall a Surprise Witness or RecommissionRecommission. Luminous BroodmothLuminous Broodmoth and Valkyrie's CallValkyrie's Call lead the way here since they'll frequently, and repeatedly, recur our commander without us having to do anything extra.

Our second-tier of reanimation effects are mostly creatures that require us to attack in order to recur our commander or another valuable piece. Sun TitanSun Titan is the classic version of this effect, but our deck is running a ton of historic permanents that make triggering Teshar, Ancestor's ApostleTeshar, Ancestor's Apostle rather easy.

Don't sleep on Custodi SoulcallerCustodi Soulcaller and Guardian ScalelordGuardian Scalelord either; both can get Zack or another creature back easily.

Finally, we've got Ascend from AvernusAscend from Avernus as a mass-reanimation spell that we can pull out in the late game or if we lose our board to repeated board wipes.

While most of our reanimation effects help us grind out value one creature at a time, having a card like Ascend from AvernusAscend from Avernus up our sleeves to swing the game heavily back in our favor will be extremely useful.

Equipment for Zack Fair

Since Zack FairZack Fair allows us to also move any Equipment attached to him onto another creature, it makes sense for us to have a package of Equipment that fit our game plan as well.

Nim DeathmantleNim Deathmantle is an Equipment that also acts as a reanimation spell. And while it's pretty expensive to pay to recur our commander, there are plenty of other creatures that we'd be happy to pay that price to save.

We have a few expected pieces of Equipment like Hammer of NazahnHammer of Nazahn, SkullclampSkullclamp, and Swiftfoot BootsSwiftfoot Boots. We're less worried about having swords like Sword of Fire and IceSword of Fire and Ice than most Equipment decks because our commander is a reliable way to protect our other creatures.

That opens us up to play a few weird Equipment like Cloudsteel KirinCloudsteel Kirin, The AethersparkThe Aetherspark, and Pip-Boy 3000Pip-Boy 3000 instead. Not only do these Equipment help keep us alive, generate extra +1/+1 counters, and shore up a few weaknesses in our deck, but they also challenge our opponents to assess what the real threat on our board is.

They give us a form of "brewers advantage" over more traditional Equipment decks.

Winning the Game with Zack Fair

Our deck list this week has the ability to pivot between going wide and going tall as needed. The plethora of Equipment we're running, especially BatterskullBatterskull and Kaldra CompleatKaldra Compleat, can make Zack FairZack Fair a viable Voltron commander.

Given that Zack Fair is our best, and most reliable, way to protect our board state, this is better suited as our backup win condition. We don't want to get an opponent to 19 commander damage only to have to sacrifice Zack.

Instead, we have a trio of win conditions that can help turn our whole board into viable threats.

Cathars' CrusadeCathars' Crusade will add a +1/+1 counter to all of our creatures whenever a creature enters under our control, which will be trivial at times with our commander and Sun TitanSun Titan or Custodi SoulcallerCustodi Soulcaller in play.

Virtue of LoyaltyVirtue of Loyalty will similarly build up our army every turn while also giving our attackers pseudo-vigilance.

Heavenly BlademasterHeavenly Blademaster is an interesting way to go both wide and tall at the same time since the Blademaster will go tall by attaching all of our Equipment to itself while simultaneously buffing the rest of our team. While we're going to almost exclusively win with combat damage, this week's deck has a variety of angles to attack our opponents from.

A Few Additional Twists for Good Measure

As always, there are some real gems that Scryfall turned up in searching for cards for this week's deck. Together ForeverTogether Forever seems tailor-made for Zack FairZack Fair decks, adding more counters to our creatures and allowing us to return our commander to our hand for only .

Stone Haven OutfitterStone Haven Outfitter also allows us to draw an extra card when Zack dies, creating a nice value engine in combination with Together ForeverTogether Forever.

Two other fantastic value pieces in this week's deck: Forge AnewForge Anew and Heavenly BlademasterHeavenly Blademaster. Forge AnewForge Anew acts as ReanimateReanimate for our Equipment that get destroyed and help us cheat on equip costs, two things we'll definitely want.

Meanwhile, Heavenly BlademasterHeavenly Blademaster helps us go wide while also suiting itself up with all of our Equipment. That could be very helpful against token decks that can put a bunch of blockers in our way.

Zack Fair Commander Deck List

Here's the full deck list for you to peruse:

Roll the Credits

I hope you enjoyed reading the latest edition of Plot Twist featuring Zack FairZack Fair. Next time you sit down for a game of Commander, see what sort of twists you can add to take the game's narrative in a new direction. I'd love to hear your thoughts on today's deck in the comments below or on Archidekt. The Maybeboards of my deck lists are always filled with cards I thought could work but didn't make the final decklist.

You can check out my other articles here or see what decks I'm currently playing here. I recently put together the Kirri, Talented SproutKirri, Talented Sprout deck from Plot Twist #21 and it's been an absolute blast to play in paper. I've also started dabbling in cEDH with a relatively stock Tymna & Thrasios list; let me know in the comments below if you'd like to see a Plot Twist deck that's designed for more competitive pods.

Stay tuned to see what other twists and turns are headed your way in the next edition of Plot Twist.