March of the Machine, Magic: The Gathering’s latest set, is in full spoiler season swing, and Wizards of the Coast has given us one of the coolest new “Team-up” cards to spoil: Zimone and Dina! This article will explore what these Sultai students synergise with, and how to build around them with a Standard and Commander deck tech.

Having an activated ability similar to Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath’s enter the battlefield effect appears great on paper. Despite requiring a body to sacrifice, turning any chump blocker into a card and ramp is a powerful way to accrue value. Additionally, having a conditional gain and drain effect whenever you draw your second card each turn make Zimone and Dina a great stabilising creature.

Let’s explore what these Quandrix and Witherbloom students can do!

Zimone and Dina present a powerful build-around – generate value off early bodies and then sacrifice them to draw through your deck and outpace your opponent with large spells. Also, four toughness on a three-drop is especially welcome in an environment filled with Bloodtithe Harvesters and Corpse Appraisers. 

Some cheap bodies that leverage the early game and provide recursion are Malevolent Hermit, Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia, and Tenacious Underdog. Malevolent Hermit staves off an early Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and disturb helps as a flying body that can be sacrificed again and ensures our late-game plays can’t be easily countered. While the zombies Jadar creates can’t block, you can attack with them and then sacrifice them to Zimone and Dina in response to the decayed trigger. Tenacious Underdog comes back frequently and can trade up with several creatures, and can similarly be sacrificed to Zimone and Dina after blitzing them out to net some extra value. 

A card that also needs to be mentioned is Sheoldred, The Apocalypse. The current bogeyman of Standard, Sheoldred incentivises greedy draw strategies, and Zimone and Dina are very capable of exaggerating the life swings generated by this card. Jamming both inside a Sultai shell focused on outlasting the opponent’s early attacks and going over the top might have legs in any midrange or aggro dominated meta (looking at you, Grixis Midrange).

Once we’ve stabilised and have our manabase under us, there are plenty of payoffs we can leverage. Atraxa, Grand Unifier can be easily cast with a white splash from Spara’s Headquarters. The Cruelty of Gix at any stage is also a powerhouse – who doesn’t want to tutor their best card and reanimate a powerful creature? Wrenn and Seven creates massive tokens that further grow with our land count. Wrenn and Seven’s 0 loyalty ability may also come in useful when we’re quickly trying to hit eight lands to double up on our Zimone and Dina ability.

Zimone and Dina also seem promising for helming a Commander deck – so here are some ideas for you to brew with! These are roughly split into broad categories, but in general – if it’s not a card with a specific piece of your game plan in mind, aim for it to be a creature so you can sacrifice it in a pinch. For example, Sakura-Tribe Elder is better than Farseek, because compared to non-creature alternatives, you can use it to draw a card in the late-game.

We’re going to need fodder for the Strixhaven Students to experiment on. We get access to the powerful enchantment Bitterblossom, as well as Awakening Zone and Ophiomancer, and can even use recursive creatures like Bloodghast and Skyclave Shade. If you sacrifice them to Zimone and Dina, they’ll enter the graveyard in time to see you put a land down with Zimone and Dina’s activated ability. This means they’ll bring themselves back – ready to go again when you next untap Zimone and Dina!

The original Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy (and most of the Quandrix and Witherbloom cards) work well to ramp or create bodies to sacrifice. Eureka Moment increases our land count and draws two, triggering Zimone and Dina’s static effect on anyone’s turn.

Another interesting subtheme is doubling up on our commander’s activated ability using Lithoform Engine, Rings of Brighthearth, and Illusionist’s Bracers. Not only does this help you get eight lands down ASAP; once you do have them, these cards will copy the “repeat this process once” text, meaning you’ll get four separate draws and opportunities to put lands onto the battlefield tapped.

Landfall is a classic mechanic with plenty of support in Commander, and it seems like a natural way to build Zimone and Dina. You’ve got payoffs and ways to drown your opponents in value such as Tatyova, Benthic Druid, and Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, as well as some cheaper cards like Tireless Provisioner.

Combine them with Avenger of Zendikar, Roil Elemental, or any massive spells such as Villainous Wealth, Torment of Hailfire, or Finale of Devastation to close out games.

Zimone and Dina are also part of an infinite combo that wins you the game. Retreat to Coralhelm is an enchantment that allows us to untap a creature (Zimone and Dina) whenever a land enters the battlefield. If we also have a card that produces a creature whenever a land enters and another land in hand, we can sacrifice that creature to our commander and repeat the entire process again. Any number of cards enable this, such as Scute Swarm, Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer, Field of the Dead, Rampaging Baloths, Zendikar’s Roil, and even the aforementioned Bloodghast.

As long as we have a land in hand, this combo operates at instant speed for not only infinite landfall, but also infinite death triggers. Retreat to Hagra or any aristocrat-effect (Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat) wins the game if you can get the combo going – or at least goes a long way. A bounceland such as Simic Growth Chamber guarantees this combo never misses!

Thanks for making it to the end of the article! If you’re inspired or spot any combos and interactions, tag us on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with decklists, combos, and synergies – we’re excited to see what everyone creates!

Oh, and if you want to grab any March of the Machine singles - head on over to our shop! We've got great deals, fast shipping, and Australia's widest range of cards.

Happy deckbuilding!

          – Ryan