The article argues that Bone Shredder, a 1999 Magic: The Gathering card, can turn Squall, SeeD Mercenary into a far stronger Commander than he initially appears. Rather than relying solely on a conventional “Voltron” strategy of boosting Squall to defeat opponents with Commander damage, the deck uses his combat-damage recursion to repeatedly return cheap permanents from the graveyard. This makes Squall a recurring-value commander capable of removing threats over successive turns.

Bone Shredder destroys a nonartifact, nonblack creature when it enters play, then normally requires its controller to pay three mana on the next upkeep or sacrifice it through echo. Squall can return the sacrificed creature whenever he deals combat damage to a player, potentially providing creature removal every round. The pairing is thematically notable because Final Fantasy VIII launched in Japan on 11 February 1999, four days before Bone Shredder was released in Urza’s Legacy.