“I am neither the first, nor the last.”
Art:Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might // Temple of Power
by Victor Adame Minguez
Cover Art for the Article:Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might // Temple of Power by Clint Lockwood
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Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
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Move over Purphoros! Ojer Axonil is a mono-red powerhouse who rivals one of the best mono-red commanders ever. While Ojer’s conditions are a little bit different, I found that Ojer is capable of, out of nowhere, huge damage wins, Ojer is a beast, and I can’t believe they only cost four mana. On top of that, they are quite hard to kill since they just flip into a land on death. We are a spell slinger burn deck focused on controlling the board and dealing a ton of damage to our opponent’s faces. This deck feels as mono-red as they come and is an absolute blast to pilot! I have been testing this one for a while, without further adieu lets get it!
The Deck:
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Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might Burn!
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Where does this deck fall on the Power Scale?
I would say that this deck falls on the higher end of the power scale, around seven or eight. This is not due to a high percentage of combos or anything like that, but due to the speed at which we win, this deck can put a crazy amount of pressure and easily threaten their life totals. In addition to some effects that are not great to play at lower level tables like Manabarbs
and Burning Earth
. In testing, I found wins or at least killing one or two opponents by turn five; of course, there is a lot of variance with this, and it may not always be the result, but the possibility is there. While this deck certainly is not CEDH, I would bring it out against a table full of EDH decks that are decently optimized and put together. I never play this deck at a lower power level table as it can easily pub stomp.
Why Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might?
Ojer Axonil is the primary engine card for our deck and the card we are speeding to cast every time. Every turn without Ojer is worse than a turn with him on the field. Ojer is a damage machine and our primary win condition. They only cost four mana and since we have mana rocks like Sol Ring
we can easily speed them out on turn two or three and start bringing the pain to our opponents. Ojer also has built-in protection against death since we can easily fulfill the conditions and flip them back to the big damage side. Ojer is the best card in our deck by a large margin and should be cast as soon as possible.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
To start off, we need to focus on the primary damage dealers for the deck like Erebor Flamesmith
, Kessig Flamebreather
, Guttersnipe
and Unruly Catapult
these are all great and can put a ton of pressure on opponents and generate a ton more Ojer triggers, if we can get one or two of them out together it gets out of hand very quickly. Cemetery Gatekeeper
is a huge damage dealer for the deck, and when you exile something very common, like a creature, it can be very overwhelming for our opponents since we can chain a ton of damage. Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
is a damage doubler for the deck and can make Ojer even worse and oppressive; Solphim also has built-in protection, which makes him quite the powerhouse for only four mana. Livaan, Cultist of Tiamat
is one of my favorite cards in the deck since if chained enough, we can easily take out all of our opponents in one turn.
Instants:
Depending on the deck Price of Progress
can do a ton of damage for only two mana. In some games, it can be a little flatter, but it almost always allows us to get a little damage in. [scryulink]Unleash Fury[/scrylink] is an awesome card that allows us to get a ton of damage in since we can double Ojer’s power to eight, and with even a few spells, we can half an opponent’s life total. Fall of the Titans
has a crazy mana cost, but because of our deck, we can easily cast it for its surge cost, and we don’t even need to pump a ton of mana since we can put it at X=1 and hit for four or more. Pyroblast
is the one way we can fight back against specifically blue decks; make sure to save this one for something important; I typically save it for when Ojer would get countered. We have some very cheap damage spells like Gut Shot
, Lava Dart
, and Needle Drop
, which are great ways to keep the damage going.
Sorceries:
Fiery Confluence
is an absolute bomb in this deck; for only four mana, and with Ojer out, we can do twelve damage to each opponent, just crazy! Tectonic Hazard
, End the Festivities
, and Rain of Embers
are great ways to deal damage to opponents and against small decks or token strategies, they can do a ton of work on controlling the board. We have a decent amount of cantrips and smaller spells, so Grapeshot
is a natural fit. Even if we only have a storm count of four or five, that can be twenty damage to an opponent, or we can spread the love! Mana Clash
is a hilarious card and feels like a joke card. either way, in our deck, it can equate to a ton of damage. Now, this is luck-dependent, but it is still a very fun card for only one mana.
Artifacts:
Sol Ring is our best rock since it allows us to cast Ojer on turn two, and when that happens, we are quite hard to stop. We also have Ruby Medallion
, which reduces the cost of nearly everything in our deck and is a great piece to feed to our engine. Lightning Greaves
is very strong and cheap protection for Ojer and can killing him considerably harder. Mithril Coat
is a great card to flash in, in the face of removal. Not every Ojer deck runs Throne of Eldraine
, but I like it for the mana production and the card draw.
Enchantments:
Braid of Fire
is strong mana production on the deck at any stage of the game; while it’s at its best on turn two, it can help us keep the engine going at any stage. Burning Earth and Manabarbs are great ways to get Ojer triggers and punish opponents for tapping their lands. When combined with Ojer, these can put an immense amount of pressure on opponents and, at a certain point, make them not able to tap lands! Leyline of Lightning
can be free if it’s in our opener and allows us to get additional Ojer triggers off of anything we cast for only one additional mana; extremely strong, especially when we cast our cheaper spells. Repercussion
makes us a force to be reckoned with in combat, whether attacking or blocking and we can be very strong with our cards that hit each creature on the board. Tavern Brawler
is near busted in this deck since it can greatly increase Ojer’s power and do an absolute ton of damage.
Land Base:
We don’t have a ton of nonbasics, but we do have some. Command Beacon
is arguably the most important since we can circumvent commander tax, and Ojer tends to draw a lot of removal and hate because of their explosive nature. Since we are in mono-red Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
is very important and a great mana generator for the deck. We also have lands that deal damage, like Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
, Shivan Gorge
, and Ramunap Ruins
, which are all great ways to deal some additional damage and with Ojer out we can do more damage than expected. We also have Tyrite Sanctum
which is a strong way to buff up Ojer and increase their damage and can give Ojer protection in the form of indestructible. Beyond that, we are in mono-red, so it’s all mountains here! I like this landbase a lot and found it to be efficient and effective.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We have a ton of sources to “buff” up with Ojer; this allows us to threaten opponents’ life totals often on the same turn he comes out.
- We can get some extremely fast wins, especially if we use mana rocks to cast Ojer a couple of turns early; I have had kills on turns four and five previously.
- We have a few cards to buff Ojer’s power, and when we do that, the game usually ends on that turn, especially if we have a ton of cantrips. We are speedy and deadly!
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We are very susceptible to our commander getting removed; they are the engine for our deck and our main damage dealer; we get a lot of removal coming our way and not a ton of ways to stop it.
- We do have some mana rocks/acceleration, but depending on our hand, we may be slower in the early game; We want to aggressively mulligan for some rocks, a strong six is much better than a weak seven. This is worth noting if we are playing at a table of optimized or very quick decks.
- Being in Mono-Red, outside of killing creatures, we don’t have a ton of ways to get rid of opponents’ threats; we do have some artifact removal, but not a ton.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. Our deck is entirely built around casting Ojer as early as possible and chaining a ton of damage. We have a ton of cantrips and ways to deal non-combat damage to an opponent, and in just a few turns of Ojer being out, we can put immense pressure on our opponents and easily threaten their life total. Even with no combos or loops, we are able to pick up wins pretty quickly.
Conclusion:
Ojer Axonil is a very fun and strong commander; since Ixalan came out, I was very excited to build this one! While this deck certainly requires a certain table, as it is a little pub-stompy, it is perfect for tables that are more optimized and strong. If you love mono-red and never attacking even once, this may be the deck for you! Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!