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

318.32

1

Training Center

571.78

1

Fiery Islet

21.76

1

Prismatic Vista

2072.02

1

Cephalid Coliseum

14.83

5

Island

56.86

1

Ancient Tomb

5121.96

1

City of Brass

1005.9

1

Mountain

20.07

1

Volcanic Island

17729.34

1

Exotic Orchard

0.49

1

Bloodstained Mire

661.17

1

Polluted Delta

817.81

1

Mana Confluence

2465.5

1

Arid Mesa

1252.53

1

Steam Vents

786.76

1

Command Tower

11.37

1

Flooded Strand

648.61

1

Wooded Foothills

684.71

1

Gemstone Caverns

2741.9

1

Barbarian Ring

6.82

1

Misty Rainforest

1227.21

1

Scalding Tarn

1308.7

1

Shivan Reef

22.84

Creature8

1

Dockside Extortionist

1258.76

1

Phantasmal Image

194.42

1

Hullbreacher

334.84

1

Frenetic Efreet

429.57

1

Dualcaster Mage

59.63

1

Imperial Recruiter

502.36

1

Simian Spirit Guide

102.65

1

Drift of Phantasms

4.55

Planeswalker1

1

Teferi, Master of Time

630.32

Artifact16

1

Jeweled Lotus

2704.03

1

Lion's Eye Diamond

31542.18

1

Chrome Mox

5507.93

1

Lotus Petal

1191.71

1

Mana Crypt

4386.72

1

Mox Diamond

45879.82

1

Mox Opal

8363.95

1

Sol Ring

81.98

1

Mana Vault

3760.95

1

Arcane Signet

10.28

1

Talisman of Creativity

69.91

1

Grim Monolith

25807.1

1

Izzet Signet

8.01

1

Grinding Station

1378.61

1

Krark's Thumb

630.32

1

Fellwar Stone

53.3

Enchantment4

1

Mystic Remora

458.75

1

Underworld Breach

469.03

1

Copy Artifact

3411.77

1

Rhystic Study

2959.26

Sorcery16

1

Gamble

376.77

1

Faithless Looting

11.97

1

Rite of Flame

279.86

1

Shatterskull Smashing

262.16

1

Twinflame

214.99

1

Wheel of Misfortune

278.08

1

Jeska's Will

1433.2

1

Wheel of Fortune

13405.02

1

Timetwister

51614.8

1

Windfall

126.08

1

Heat Shimmer

203.02

1

Mizzix's Mastery

114.12

1

Bribery

320.01

1

Time Spiral

5734.48

1

Sea Gate Restoration

1950.59

1

Knowledge Exploitation

314.86

Instant25

1

Pact of Negation

696.77

1

Miscast

114.12

1

Flusterstorm

314.86

1

Pyroblast

342.95

1

Mystical Tutor

572.86

1

Red Elemental Blast

228.83

1

Brainstorm

88.31

1

Chain of Vapor

630.32

1

Swan Song

585.52

1

Dispel

28.08

1

Mental Misstep

430.46

1

Cyclonic Rift

2023.27

1

Snap

77.33

1

Brain Freeze

545.37

1

Mana Drain

2062.83

1

Winds of Rebuke

20.07

1

Muddle the Mixture

85.44

1

Snapback

5.64

1

Abrade

4.55

1

Fierce Guardianship

2094.97

1

Deflecting Swat

2347.93

1

Force of Negation

2998.22

1

Frantic Search

2.77

1

Misdirection

313.08

1

Force of Will

2995.95

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.
• 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.

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.
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.