cEDH's B-Side - Okaun, Eye of Chaos & Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom

Hey guys. We are back with the third article of the cEDH's B-Side series, where we will analyze decklists aimed at the competitive commander, but only "off-meta" lists.

In the first article, we commented a little on the composition of the most present decks in the meta, so let's go straight to this week's commanders: Okaun, Eye of Chaos and Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom! We saw the list straight from cEDH's database.

Okaun e Zndrsplt

Commander, Kaylani

29 commons, 15 uncommons, 51 rares and 5 mythics

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Land28

1

Riverglide Pathway

55.58

1

Training Center

108.89

1

Fiery Islet

4.51

1

Prismatic Vista

325.39

1

Cephalid Coliseum

1.26

5

Island

17.09

1

Ancient Tomb

996.45

1

City of Brass

183.46

1

Mountain

3.42

1

Volcanic Island

3130.76

1

Exotic Orchard

1.55

1

Bloodstained Mire

120.2

1

Polluted Delta

129.01

1

Mana Confluence

392.36

1

Arid Mesa

238.85

1

Steam Vents

138.21

1

Command Tower

1.85

1

Flooded Strand

97.81

1

Wooded Foothills

114.33

1

Gemstone Caverns

487.82

1

Barbarian Ring

1.26

1

Misty Rainforest

249.71

1

Scalding Tarn

235.92

1

Shivan Reef

3.33

Creature8

1

Dockside Extortionist

126.76

1

Phantasmal Image

30.11

1

Hullbreacher

32.22

1

Frenetic Efreet

68.37

1

Dualcaster Mage

11.29

1

Imperial Recruiter

84.74

1

Simian Spirit Guide

12.66

1

Drift of Phantasms

1.47

Planeswalker1

1

Teferi, Master of Time

116.72

Artifact16

1

Jeweled Lotus

407.85

1

Lion's Eye Diamond

5379.53

1

Chrome Mox

962.51

1

Lotus Petal

222.12

1

Mana Crypt

682.39

1

Mox Diamond

8313.87

1

Mox Opal

1507.46

1

Sol Ring

11.76

1

Mana Vault

665.92

1

Arcane Signet

2.54

1

Talisman of Creativity

8.63

1

Grim Monolith

3423.3

1

Izzet Signet

1.66

1

Grinding Station

127.45

1

Krark's Thumb

117.65

1

Fellwar Stone

5.68

Enchantment4

1

Mystic Remora

75.83

1

Underworld Breach

71.43

1

Copy Artifact

553.76

1

Rhystic Study

545.32

Sorcery16

1

Gamble

67.37

1

Faithless Looting

1.17

1

Rite of Flame

33.44

1

Shatterskull Smashing

45.77

1

Twinflame

46.31

1

Wheel of Misfortune

48.65

1

Jeska's Will

233.52

1

Wheel of Fortune

2223.48

1

Timetwister

12264.4

1

Windfall

28.35

1

Heat Shimmer

86.03

1

Mizzix's Mastery

17.51

1

Bribery

55.03

1

Time Spiral

1173.65

1

Sea Gate Restoration

340.56

1

Knowledge Exploitation

53.7

Instant25

1

Pact of Negation

145.83

1

Miscast

10.12

1

Flusterstorm

62.05

1

Pyroblast

48.55

1

Mystical Tutor

103.09

1

Red Elemental Blast

39.02

1

Brainstorm

12.36

1

Chain of Vapor

107.82

1

Swan Song

106.05

1

Dispel

5.77

1

Mental Misstep

78.39

1

Cyclonic Rift

353

1

Snap

16.18

1

Brain Freeze

98.02

1

Mana Drain

391.53

1

Winds of Rebuke

3.42

1

Muddle the Mixture

15.78

1

Snapback

0.88

1

Abrade

0.59

1

Fierce Guardianship

395.49

1

Deflecting Swat

396.66

1

Force of Negation

526.19

1

Frantic Search

0.48

1

Misdirection

46.05

1

Force of Will

505.09

98 cards maindeck

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On the previous decks, we could have a strong discussion about the strengths of each deck and how they attack the current metagame. There were positive points that could be used to justify one deck use over tier decks. We then came to an almost undoubtedly inferior deck to popular decks of the format, which is inevitable when looking at "B" decks. So, why would anyone pilot this Izzet deck?

• You like tossing coins.

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• Você like having some victories based solely on luck.
• You have a Frenetic Efreet and wants to use it
• Combat damage with a bit of luck is attractive for you.

Okaun, Eye of Chaos is the least important partner. His ability can be used to put some pressure on the life points of decks that run Ad Nauseam.

As for the good partner, Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom is our combo piece and card advantage engine. At the beginning of the combat, we can draw many cards, especially if both commanders are in play.

To those who are unaware, both Commanders check every coin you toss, including those tossed by another commander's trigger and/or by Mana Crypt.

So, you'll usually invest five mana on this blue Ad Nauseam that never truly draws as many cards as Ad Nauseam could. But, Zndrsplt is the second piece of a combo that is always accessible on the command zone.

This deck has two combos, but the main combo uses Frenetic Efreet:

Board State: Zndrsplt and Efreet on the battlefield.

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1. Activate Frenetic Efreet's ability, hold priority and activate it again.
2. Repeat the process over and over and as much as you like
3. Let Zndrsplt's trigger resolve and draw your entire deck.
4. Bounce Zndrsplt (usually with Snapback so you don't deck yourself out)
5. Resolve all of the Efreet's triggers

There is an argument about the non-deterministic nature of the combo; if it happens at a table, solve the Zndrsplt triggers manually with a smile on your face. The combo cannot be considered slow play because the triggers are previously placed on the stack and their resolution no longer depends on the player's action. It is usually understood that the chance of you putting 10 ^ 10 activations on the stack and not drawing your deck is approximately 0 and the combo can be solved at once.

So the idea is simple, activate Efreet and draw the deck. Now how to win the game?

The deck runs Thassa's Oracle Bribery to fetch the Oracle from one of the other 3 decks on the board. Bribery is a little less dead than Oracle. After drawing the deck, use the positive rocks to generate enough mana and finish the game. What if there is no deck running Oracle on the table? Check your calendar; you must have returned to 2019. But realistically, if Oracle is in your opponent's hand and not on the deck, we have another combo.

Since we are at Izzet colors, we cannot use Oracle + Consultation, so which other Izzet Combo works on this deck? TwinMage!

There are some variations on how to use it, but let's see one of the ways to play this combo:

Initial State: Dualcaster Mage and Twinflame in hand. Five mana available, of which three are red.

1. Cast Twinflame and hold priority.

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2. Cast Dualcaster Mage and target Twinflame with its ETB effect.
3. Mage's trigger resolves and it copies Twinflame
4. Twinflame's copy targets Dualcaster Mage
5. Repeat the process an arbitrary number of times
6. Attack with an absurd number of Dualcaster Mage copies

The combo can also be played with Heat Shimmer rather than Twinflame, but with one additional mana. Heat Shimmer also requires at least one creature on the battlefield.

Note that there is no point in casting the Dualcaster Mage before because if you cast the creature copying spell with Mage in the field, the copied trigger goes to the stack when the original spell has resolved.

Some lists, including this one, runs Grinding Station, Brain Freeze and Underworld Breach to go off with Lotus Petal and use the Bribery setup mentioned before.

Let's not waste time with Izzet's boring interaction package or its traditional mana rocks. We have all the usual package: Force of Will, Mana Drain, Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus...

But we can also see some cards that fit particularly well with this deck.

Krark's Thumb

Before we met Krark, the Thumbless, his thumb was already very well used on this deck. It has an obvious synergy since we'll probably draw more cards and probably boost Okaum's power more often. It's also a good way to grind games with our commander, but it's not mandatory to win the matchup.

Additional Tutors

Drift of Phantasms tutors Frenetic Efreet, Dualcaster Mage and Heat Shimmer.

Imperial Recruiter serves the same role, except for Heat Shimmer

Muddle the Mixture has been disappearing from the most popular lists due to the power creep, but it's still a good counter and tutors our combo pieces alongside Underworld Breach.

Flex Slots

The presented list runs wheel effects alongside Hullbreacher (which is no longer optional) as a disruption. Mizzix's Mastery helps with this deck's weakness of having too few recursion effects and can recover some combo pieces, and it synergizes well with a deck that runs fewer creatures.

Knowledge Exploitation is usually a 7 mana Ad Nauseam, but it gives us access to some of the best cards of the format, which we cannot use because we are an Izzet deck.

Weaknesses

Our commanders having the same mana value makes its curve a bit weird, especially since both cost 5 mana.

Also, having a card advantage engine that relies on your luck can lead to some frustrating matchups.

Strengths

Although some frustrating matchups might happen, your commanders can draw an absurd amount of cards, especially with Krark's Thumb on the battlefield.

The pressure that Okaun can put on your opponent's life totals cannot be ignored since three victorious coin flips are enough to make him hit for lethal.

Furthermore, the "meme" quality of the deck causes even experienced players to underestimate the list. The threat assessment forces us to focus on more aggressive decks, so our partners can go under the radar and steal some victories.

This ends the third article of the series, soon we will come back with another deck for you who got tired of piloting the same decks.