New Hyper-Aggressive Ixalan Card is the Perfect Budget Commander!

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has officially released, and as a result, players can finally start building around their favorite cards from the new set.

Part of what makes The Lost Caverns of Ixalan such a cool set is the emphasis on big haymakers for EDH. Cards like Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant Trample
When Ghalta enters, put any number of creature cards from your hand onto the battlefield. have Commander players eager to build around them or simply upgrade their Dinosaur decks. For players longing to build around Dinosaurs, Pirates, Merfolk, or Vampires, now’s your chance, as there’s more support than ever.

Of course, there are plenty of other legendary Creatures from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan to focus on as well. For instance, there’s a cycle of legendary God Creatures that each have something intriguing to offer players that utilize them as their generals. Today, we are going to focus on one in particular with a rather aggressive theme to it. This card is none other than MTG Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might Trample
If a red source you control would deal an amount of noncombat damage less than Ojer Axonil's power to an opponent, that source deals damage equal to Ojer Axonil's power instead.
When Ojer Axonil dies, return it to the battlefield tapped and transformed under its owner's control. .

Ojer Axonil is a surprisingly strong Commander, assuming you are willing to put in the work. It’s a relatively efficient card that pairs nicely with burn spells and other ways to consistently deal non-combat damage to the opponent. Fortunately, many of these types of cards are quite cheap, making Ojer Axonil a great budget-friendly Commander option. In order to maximize its effects, let’s start by taking a look at some of the ways to repeatedly deal each opponent non-combat damage.

MTG Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might

As you might expect, given that the goal is to deal damage to each opponent specifically outside of combat, a large percentage of the cards in an Ojer Axonil deck are going to be non-Creature spells. That being said, as a result, there are a handful of Creatures that absolutely thrive in this strategy. This is because there is a plethora of cheap Creatures that deal one damage to each opponent each time you cast an Instant or Sorcery spell.

At two mana, effects like Erebor Flamesmith Erebor Flamesmith Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. and Electrostatic Field Electrostatic Field Defender
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. , Guttersnipe Guttersnipe Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, this creature deals 2 damage to each opponent. , and Fiery Confluence Fiery Confluence Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once.
• Fiery Confluence deals 1 damage to each creature.
• Fiery Confluence deals 2 damage to each opponent.
• Destroy target artifact. each deal one damage to each opponent whenever you cast an Instant or Sorcery spell. One damage per spell may not sound like much, but with Ojer Axonil in play, you will actually be dealing four damage to each opponent per spell, which is a huge difference. Firebrand Archer Firebrand Archer Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. and Kessig Flamebreather Kessig Flamebreather Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. are even better, since they count any non-Creature spell.

Additionally, Unruly Catapult Unruly Catapult Defender
{T}: This creature deals 1 damage to each opponent.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, untap this creature. and Thermo-Alchemist Thermo-Alchemist Defender
{T}: This creature deals 1 damage to each opponent.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, untap this creature. can naturally deal damage to each opponent by tapping but become untapped whenever you cast Instants or Sorceries. All of these cards are very similar, and with Ojer Axonil in play, can threaten to end the game rather quickly. The key is to make sure that you have enough non-Creature spells to take advantage.

Read More: Two-Card Ixalan Death Combo Takes Over MTG Format!

High Non-Creature Spell Density

Given the sheer number of cards that ping each opponent whenever you cast non-Creature spells, it’s important to make sure your hand remains stocked with spells to cast. For this reason, spells that draw extra cards in an efficient manner are at a premium. Both Wheel of Fortune Wheel of Fortune Each player discards their hand, then draws seven cards. and Reforge the Soul Reforge the Soul Each player discards their hand, then draws seven cards.
Miracle {1}{R} (You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it's the first card you drew this turn.) are excellent additions, completely refueling your hand. Virtue of Courage Virtue of Courage Whenever a source you control deals noncombat damage to an opponent, you may exile that many cards from the top of your library. You may play those cards this turn. in particular can provide a consistent flow of card advantage for the rest of the game.

Watch Out for This Ruling

Interestingly, despite EDHREC (a big inspiration for the article)’s Ojer Axonil section having City on Fire in it, it may not work as you intend it to.

Because your opponent is getting dealt the damage that both Ojer Axonil and City On Fire care about, they get to choose the order in which these replacement effects (they are both replacement effects) apply. This means they can simply choose to have City on Fire apply first, tripling the damage. Ojer Axonil then swoops in and modifies the damage to its power, effectively rendering City on Fire mute. Still, the card can do work if your Commander is being kept off the battlefield.

One card that can deal 12 damage to each opponent with Ojer Axonil in play is Fiery Confluence Fiery Confluence Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once.
• Fiery Confluence deals 1 damage to each creature.
• Fiery Confluence deals 2 damage to each opponent.
• Destroy target artifact. . This is because each mode of Fiery Confluence counts damage separately.

Read More: These Lost Caverns of Ixalan Reprints are Dirt Cheap!

High Synergy Additions

Some of the absolute best and most synergistic additions to an Ojer Axonil Commander deck are cards that punish opponents each time they take specific game actions. Cards like Rampaging Ferocidon Rampaging Ferocidon Menace
Players can't gain life.
Whenever another creature enters, this creature deals 1 damage to that creature's controller. and Aether Sting Aether Sting Whenever an opponent casts a creature spell, this enchantment deals 1 damage to that player. punish opponents for playing Creatures. Similarly, Eidolon of the Great Revel Eidolon of the Great Revel Whenever a player casts a spell with mana value 3 or less, this creature deals 2 damage to that player. and Pyrostatic Pillar Pyrostatic Pillar Whenever a player casts a spell with mana value 3 or less, this enchantment deals 2 damage to that player. deal damage whenever your opponents cast cheap spells. Even though many of these types of cards are symmetrical, Ojer Axonil completely breaks the symmetry by causing your opponents to take way more damage than you.

Perhaps no card threatens to take over the game alongside Ojer Axonil more than Manabarbs Manabarbs Whenever a player taps a land for mana, this enchantment deals 1 damage to that player. . With both cards on the battlefield, any time an opponent taps a Land for mana, they will take four damage. If no one can remove Manabarbs in short order, this may result in your opponents being completely unable to cast spells. There are other similar effects to Manabarbs as well, allowing you to take a unique direction with the deck.

Pyrohemia Pyrohemia At the beginning of the end step, if no creatures are on the battlefield, sacrifice this enchantment.
{R}: This enchantment deals 1 damage to each creature and each player. is another example of a card that can take over the game. While you will only take one damage from each activation, your opponents will each take four damage.

Read More: Early Ixalan Limited Data Reveals Concerning Number of Overpowered Bombs

Buffing Ojer Axonil

It should also be mentioned that, while we’ve stated that cards like Pyrohemia would specifically deal four damage per activation to each opponent with Ojer Axonil, this is under the assumption that Ojer Axonil’s power is still four. If you have ways to buff Ojer Axonil’s power, all of your other cards that deal non-combat damage now threaten to hurt your opponents even more.

In this sense, ways to keep Ojer Axonil’s power high over multiple turns to help maximize all of your other cards can be quite impactful. These types of effects aren’t overly abundant in red, but there are a few Equipment that can help in this regard.

Cards like Blackblade Reforged Blackblade Reforged Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each land you control.
Equip legendary creature {3}
Equip {7} and Commander’s Plate Commander’s Plate Equipped creature gets +3/+3 and has protection from each color that's not in your commander's color identity.
Equip commander {3}
Equip {5} can be Equipped to your Commander for relatively cheap, while providing substantial power buffs. Tavern Brawler Tavern Brawler Commander creatures you own have "At the beginning of your upkeep, exile the top card of your library. This creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that card's mana value. You may play that card this turn." , while not an Equipment, does provide a buff to your Commander every single turn as well.

If you really want to go all in, Colossus Hammer Colossus Hammer Equipped creature gets +10/+10 and loses flying.
Equip {8} ({8}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.) is an amusing addition, but it does require either a massive mana investment or an effect such as Magnetic Theft Magnetic Theft Attach target Equipment to target creature. (Control of the Equipment doesn't change.) to make work. Blazing Shoal Blazing Shoal You may exile a red card with mana value X from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn. can be cast with no mana investment on your part, but its effect only lasts one turn and ideally should be paired with big red spells like Blasphemopus Act to maximize it.

What’s nice about building a deck around Ojer Axonil is that a high percentage of the cards in the deck are efficient and budget-friendly. As a mono-colored Commander, you don’t need to invest heavily in your manabase. Meanwhile, tons of the best cards in the deck, especially the Creatures that ping your opponents, are commons or uncommons. If you’re looking to build a cheap, hyperaggressive EDH deck, Ojer Axonil is a perfect choice.

Read More: MTG Discover Clone Combo Wins the Game Out of Nowhere!