We built some general rules, but in the end, it was mostly on a card-by-card, moment-by-moment basis. Though the Zack Fair card isnt a competitive powerhouse, its one of the sets most elegant pieces of storytelling through mechanics
As a character in the series he actually predates summoning as a mechanic, appearing in the original game as a quest-giver
There are plenty of ways to make great use out of a card like Jumbo Cactuar, so long as an opponent doesn't immediately take it out of the game, and even then, it's a great way to reduce the amount of counterpla y at their disposal
You also don't get the draw immediately, you have to play him and wait a turn for his ink to dry first
Its pretty common to lead with a Thoughtseize and crack a fetch, which makes it easy to flip Cecil quickly in the early turns
With a 4 Ink cost, this Steel type card has 0 (yes, zero!) Strength and only 1 Willpower, so it already feels like a very weak proposition