A Pair Between 'Em - Zndrsplt & Okaun Eyeball Partners (EDH / Commander)

A Pair Between ‘Em!

The eyes of Wisdom and Chaos are upon you.

I’m running Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom and Okaun, Eye of Chaos partners! Don’t be fooled, there’s a whole pair of eyes between this pair!

Introduction

Background and Brainstorm:
Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom and Okaun, Eye of Chaos seemed really fun and unique when they were spoiled. I started brainstorming and realized they’re very flexible in the type of strategy to build around them: the focus can be on drawing a bunch of cards and playing control/defense with Zndrsplt a la Laboratory Maniac endings, or the focus can be on Okaun with the things you do with really big creatures –quasi-voltron with evasion or, as you’ll see I decided to run with, Flings! Both of the latter strategies benefit from damage doublers too. The triggers are on the beginning of combat, so extra combat cards like Seize the Day and Relentless Assault seemed good. No matter what strategy would be adopted, though, it was obvious that coin flip enablers was going to be a key part since each part of the Eyeball pair triggers whenever I win a coin flip no matter when or how many. Thus, I dived into all the coin flipping goodness!

Flipping Coins and Taking Nmes:
Okay, there’s a decent amount of “coin flip” cards to work with in this color pair, but we do have to pay attention to ones that particularly allow a “win/loss” of a coin flip since that is how Zndrsplt and Okaun are worded. This means cards like Goblin Assassin and Mana Clash don’t trigger those abilities since those don’t specify whether a player wins or loses the coin flip (as specified in the Gatherer Oracle text), just that any that land on tails forces the player to sacrifice a creature or take damage – despite how much of a “loss” someone might feel that outcome is. Two-Headed Giant is the same case. I decided not to include Ral Zarek for this reason as well, as I am of the opinion that a planeswalker shouldn’t be included in a deck based on the ultimate ability anyway.

So, I know I want cards that enable wins/losses of coin flips. Of those, there are some good ones, and some relatively bad ones. I stayed away from ones that had really bad downsides with not-so-great upsides as well, such as Planar Chaos, Goblin Archaeologist, Goblin Kaboomist, Boompile, Goblin Bangchuckers, and Mogg Assassin since they all sac or kill themselves, or could have a detrimental effect to me from a single coin flip loss. Also, I realized that coin flip “volume” was essential since the more coins are flipped, then the higher chance there is to increase the number of those flips that are “win” to trigger Zndrsplt and Okaun. Narrowing the coin flipping cards with these soft parameters, it seems we would want to eliminate stuff like Chaotic Strike, Molten Sentry, and Sorcerer’s Strongbox since these are essentially considered very one-of coin flippers.
A few cards that could enable multiple coin flips in a single instance or turn stood out, namely: Impulsive Maneuvers, Risky Move, and Tide of War. In analyzing each of these cards, it seemed that the more creatures were on the battlefield, then the more likely and the greater volume of coins I can flip from them. This naturally led me to tokens as a sub-theme. Even if my opponents aren’t enabling these cards to allow me to flip a handful of coins each turn, then I can build around them a bit to enable them myself, and in the particular case of Risky Move donating a 1/1 goblin token isn’t that big a detriment to get an extra coin flip off.

The Gist:
Okay, so I had an idea! Flip a lot of coins, particularly enabled from the commanders and a few select cards that synergize with a high volume of creatures and combat, build Okaun, Eye of Chaos to a big dude, and then Fling him at an opponent’s face! Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom would be playing a supporting role of card draw and a few other things blue can do. As the list formed, it leaned heavily on instants and sorceries, so we’ll see some synergies there too.

STRATEGY
Getting Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom and Okaun, Eye of Chaos out early is essential. They naturally, as partners, enable each other and I can stack their triggers to either have a greater chance of drawing cards or pumping Okaun depending on what I need more at that time. I’ll likely be getting some tokens out early with lower CMC stuff in Krenko’s Command, Molten Birth (which enables coin flips!), Goblin Rally, and Hordeling Outburst. These tokens will come into play to enable a higher volume of coin flips, and thus possible coin flip wins and Zndrsplt/Okaun triggers, through cards like Impulsive Maneuvers, Tide of War, and passing tokens around for an additional coin flip and some disruption to opponents with Risky Move.

Krark’s Thumb is an indispensable piece in this deck, greatly increasing the likelihood of coin flip wins. It cannot be emphasized enough how much of a powerhouse this card is with just the commanders alone, not to mention all the other coin flipping going on. As such, I’ve included ways to tutor it up and get it back to the field if removed. Muddle the Mixture can transmute for the Thumb (and a lot of other cards including the Fling win condition), and Fabricate and Whir of Invention dig it up as well – these also get Loxodon Warhammer and Whispersilk Cloak to get Okaun through with lethal commander damage if he’s big enough and we don’t have a way to Fling him over. Buried Ruin will get it back from the yard. I feel like I may need to add more ways to tutor and recur Thumb, but will see once I get some games in.

Fling and it’s variants is also important as our main win condition, so I’ve included ways to tutor this up an recur it as well with Mystical Tutor, Muddle the Mixture, and Mystic Retrieval.

Having the tokens out feeding into coin flip enabling cards like Impulsive Maneuvers and Tide of War, preferably with Krark’s Thumb out, creates a formidable coin flip winning engine for Zndrsplt and Okaun. Once Okaun has gotten pretty swole, I can Fling him away! Yes, of course we’re gonna try to shortcut all the coin flip shenanigans with Frenetic Efreet. Again, without a fling effect, I can attempt lethal commander damage with Loxodon Warhammer or Whispersilk Cloak, although that is certainly plan B.

WIN CONDITIONS

1. Fling, Grab the Reins, Soul’s Fire, Soulblast, and Chandra’s Ignition all hit opponents in the face with a giant cyclops berserker, backed-up with Fatal Frenzy and Insult // Injury, and we can make sure multiple opponents are hit by copying the flings with Reiterate, Reverberate, Twincast, Howl of the Horde, and Wild Ricochet.
   Fling effects get around a lot of the pillowfort pieces like Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Norn’s Annex, Dissipation Field, No Mercy, etc. Fling is probably the best way to get this effect - as is it’s namesake - because it can most easily be tutored for, it has the cheapest casting cost of this effect, it can be done at instant-speed, and sacrificing the creature is part of the casting cost, so opponents cannot target Okaun, Eye of Chaos with removal like Path to Exile once Fling is cast. Fling can indeed be countered, but that’s one of the reasons all the copy spell effects are included. In fact, if I suspect an opponent has a counterspell, then I can just copy the [c]Fling[/c] in response, and if they don’t, then I can copy the Fling to hit another opponent! I like the flexibility that the copy spell effects afford the deck, since I don’t have to copy Fling, but can instead use them on really good spells that opponents use like Boundless Realms or something. I originally went with a Fling effect that paired with damage doubling effects like Dictate of the Twin Gods and Gratuitous Violence, but those seemed not as great or consistent considering Dictate of the Twin Gods is damage from all sources (so can get me knocked out if left out a couple turns) and Gratuitous Violence is only damage from creatures, so doesn’t synergize with Fling or Grab the Reins. Instead, I felt things like Fatal Frenzy and Insult // Injury were more controllable and packed more of a surprise to push Okaun over the top if damage is needed.

2. If Fling effects aren’t working out, or if the opportunity presents itself to keep Okaun on the field and get him through with evasion, then Loxodon Warhammer or Whispersilk Cloak will do the job. Or Rogue’s Passage.

3. If coin flips aren’t working out, but token generation is still kicking, then I’ll aim to get an opponent to Burn at the Stake, or Flinging a token with Betrothed of Fire (Betrothed can also be put on Okaun, and with a bunch of tokens sac them before some coin flips for some real quick lethal power). I initially threw in a lot more token enabler win conditions like Impact Tremors, Dogpile, Throne of the God-Pharaoh, Raid Bombardment, Goblin Bombardment, Kyren Negotiations, etc., but I really had to cut them to get the deck down to size and the tokens themselves aren’t supposed to be the focus, but the coin flip enabling they’re doing. So, if they’re enabling the coin flipping, then I’m likely to find another win condition other than the tokens like the aforementioned Fling, Loxodon Warhammer, etc. I kept Purphoros, God of the Forge because I can pump Okaun with his ability and, although the token production in this deck probably isn’t as high as more dedicated token decks, provides some nice residual damage from an indestructible source.

The token generation is mostly through instants and sorceries (Dragon Fodder, Empty the Warrens, Goblin Rally, Hordeling Outburst, Krenko’s Command, Molten Birth, Tempt with Vengeance) and are mostly of the goblin variety soKrenko, Mob Boss is also included. Goblinslide, Talrand, Sky Summoner, and Young Pyromancer all trigger on casting these kinds of spells as well. The Locust God provides tokens, and can make an alternate win condition with Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom.

Great honorable mentions in this category are Elemental Mastery and Notorious Throng. Elemental Mastery on Okaun, Eye of Chaos seems great when he’s really big and could have decent synergy if this and Betrothed of Fire are both on Okaun, making a very big army of elementals very fast. Notorious Throng can be a nice lead-up after a giant-pumped Okaun has been Flinged, creating enough flying power to take out an additional opponent by the next turn.

Some of the last cuts of the deck included Beetleback Chief and Siege-Gang Commander since, while extremely mana efficient for the amount of bodies they produce, I needed to cut down to size and thus favored the spell based token producers and not the creature ones.

4. Chance Encounter. We all want this. I actually think this is quite possible with Krark’s Thumb and I can see it being an accidental win condition in the normal course of me trying to really strike up the coin flip volume if not answered within a couple turns.

OTHER CARD CHOICES
Helm of the Host seems great by copying either Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom or in particular Okaun, Eye of Chaos since, despite the flavor fail of partner and all the eyes going around now, enables another trigger of a line of coin flips each turn that just compounds each turn.

NOTABLE OMISSIONS/CUTS
So, so many. I’ll try to keep this to the most notable omissions and/or cuts.

Coin Flippers:
Stitch in Time is probably the most noticeable missing one. I feel it’s a bit overrated. Am I wrong? I cut it because it is technically a one-of flip effect, barring any recurring loops with Deadeye Navigator + Archeomancer, etc. (of which, none are in this deck), and because an extra turn doesn’t exactly enable a win itself – unlike how additional combat phases can so as to stack all the coin flips in a single turn. I didn’t particularly like it for this strategy.

Desperate Gambit seems like it certainly fits here, being an instant-speed damage doubler that essentially quadruples since you have to win a flip to get it to go off, but upon closer inspection the downside isn’t something I’m willing to live with if I’m all set up to Fling away and already have a big Okaun. It feels more like what the namesake implies, a desperate way to knock someone out with a flinging Okaun, but I think there’s better options in here to guarantee the doubling of damage.

Damage doublers:
As mentioned before, an earlier version had Dictate of the Twin Gods and Gratuitous Violence to make the Flings even more deadly, but decided to cut them to keep with the instant/sorcery synergy and because of the particular conditionality of these – Violence only working for damage from creatures (so not for Fling) and Twin Gods working against me if I can’t win the game when I play it.

Multiple combat phases:
The “beginning of combat” trigger initially had me thinking of all the extra combat phase cards to stack up on coin flips to grow Okaun more and more while also getting more opportunities to attack with him – Aggravated Assault, Combat Celebrant, Fury of the Horde, Relentless Assault, Savage Beating, Seize the Day, etc. Ultimately, these mainly enable additional lines of coin flips from the commanders and not really from other sources, so I chose not to run them and instead focus on the Fling strategy. I think these cards are perfectly fine in a more combat orientated build with more equipment and so, and I have half a mind to take this deck in this direction actually if the token, flips, fling thing isn’t working out as I envision it.

More token win enablers:
As also previously mentioned, I had to cut a lot of the traditional token win conditions to keep the fling strategy consistent. Things like Dogpile, Goblin Bombardment, Raid Bombardment, Impact Tremors, Kyren Negotiations, and Throne of the God-Pharaoh.

CURRENT CONSIDERATIONS
I feel like this deck is definitely still rough around the edges and can definitely use some help in tuning.
For starters, there isn’t a whole lot of interaction, which is odd for a blue deck, but to really fit in cards for the general strategy and include enough redundancy, this area I feel had to be sacrificed a bit. Really only running Chaos Warp, Reality Shift, Blasphemous Act, and River’s Rebuke for removal (and Nin, the Pain Artist if it’s so threatening that I’d rather they have cards than the creature). I passed up a lot of options here that would add some more blue support like Imprisoned in the Moon, Aetherspouts, Aetherize, Pongify, and Rapid Hybridization.

I’ll have to wait and see maybe after some games once these two eyeballs are released, but I feel like it’s going to be a totally different deck with Krark’s Thumb on the field so even more ways to tutor and protect/recur it might be nice. I had Reshape, Tezzeret the Seeker Long-Term Plans, and Argivian Find all on the short list of adding to this.

Despite the blue, it’s really playing a minor support role here, and so I passed up a lot of more traditional blue draw spells that I’m used to playing mostly reasoning that I have a way to draw cards in the command zone. Of course, this is conditional draw and it may prove that I actually do need more traditional draw routes on top of that. I hope not though, because I’m really at wits end with cuts.

I really like this idea because it may be a bit different than packing in a ton of control stuff, tutoring and protecting just Krark’s Thumb and profiting from that and calling it a day. I’d like a bit more “stuff” going on, but am weary, if just a little, if this will actually work out.

Sooooo, what do you all think?! Thanks for viewing my deck and feel free to leave a discussion comment or like!