{"ops":[{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Ozai Loves Mana"},{"attributes":{"align":"center"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nOzai is probably my favorite deck at this point and is the most Voltrony commander I play without really being the typical fill the board with equipment or auras one one dude and kill. Ozai's main job is to both be a threat and a mana generator, keeping all the mana you generate or make, while turning it red, is an extremely strong tool in commander and should never be looked down upon in any stage of the game. Ozai has the possibility of coming out turn 4 and ending one person's game with a perfect hand or set of draws right before. I confidently call him bracket 3 and have been told he could be bracket 4, but since the intentions of the deck were bracket 3 that’s where I think he deserves to be. This deck does not have a lot of protection for Ozai, the two main pieces of protection are lightning grieves and his intrinsic indestructible with 6 unspent mana, which isn’t that hard to get to. This little amount of protection does come back to bite you occasionally but if you are doing everything correctly in the deck there are much more potent threats than just Ozai so it makes people have to think about what to use their removal on.\n\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"THE MANA AND THE THINGS YOU USE IT ON"},{"attributes":{"align":"center"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nThis entire deck is extremely cmc heavy and it can’t be understated that if your opening hand doesn’t have a ramp piece you will be waiting a bit before playing anything on board. But if you have even a single piece of good ramp in your hand you will instantly feel farther ahead in mana than you will ever need.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"The mana Rocks"},{"attributes":{"align":"center"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Felwar Stone"},{"insert":", Do I even need to cover these? The only thing with these is that arcane sig and felwar can give you access to black mana which is something you will struggle with in the early game with this deck.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"The Elevator"},{"insert":". Amazing. I can’t believe that some people don’t like the elevator, it’s a 5 cost for 3 colorless, sure that sucks but once you get to 20 station counters on it it’s over. If someone somehow hasn’t removed it before you get to 20 you should win the game. 20 mana in a single color SHOULD get you ozai out and any other big creature in you hand on the board or even a crackle with power or a fated firepower, it should be game once you start counting mana in the 20s\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Benders Waterskin"},{"insert":". An amazing addition to Ozai once he is out. The ability to get three mana from a turn cycle while not on your turn can’t be understated in this deck. You won’t have to worry about not giving Ozai indestructible on your turn if you have it out. Always just tap it as soon as you can, people will stop staring at Ozai or anything on board and stare at the waterskin.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Glittering Stockpile"},{"insert":". Another amazing card. This is really only in the deck to make sure that Rain of Riches never goes offline. Rain of Riches gives you cascade if any amount of a mana cost is spent with mana from a treasure. And with Glittering Stockpile being a treasure that does not sack you will never run out of one cascade on your turn. It does suck that it can only be triggered once per turn though.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Tempting Contract"},{"insert":". A very funny card in the deck. It can be good if you politic with some people to always take it, some bribery might be needed but getting at least one treasure is better than none.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"The Pump"},{"attributes":{"align":"center"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nOzai is basically a voltron commander, and as such needs a bit of pumping up to truly be a single turn threat, and what better way to do that than to use some of your hard won mana into some small spells or discounted spells to make everyone really annoyed\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Hard-Won Jitte"},{"insert":". Easy, double strike, who doesn’t love a 2 drop equip 2 only with double strike, easy 14 commander damage. \n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Improvised Arsenal"},{"insert":". This is truly a throw the closet at them and win artifact. Once again a 2 drop with equip 1 this time, it gives +1/+0 per artifact you control, so it’s already +1 as soon as it’s equipped, but the second ability is where this artifact shines, 4 generic and 1 red to make a copy of the artifact, if you ever get stuck in a spot and don’t know what to do with mana, just start making more gold clubs, at 2 Arsenals you are at +4 and at three you are at +9 and that’s with only the Arsenal on board.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Excalibur"},{"insert":". This is a classic Voltron staple: a 12 cmc card that gets discounted by the cmc of your artifacts, legendaries or sagas, the amount of times I’ve just had a free Excalibur come out is insane. Easy +10/+0 and Vigilance while you can only equip it to legendary creatures it’s not that big of a restriction.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Bulk Up"},{"insert":". The key piece of this deck to win on turn 4. Bulk Up doubles a creature's power at instant speed for only 2 mana. It has flashback for 4 generic and 2 red mana. So at the worst if you have 8 floating red mana you can remove one person from the game with 28 commander damage. But the reason you can win with this on turn 4 is if you copy the spell while you cast it. Ozai has firebending 4 which, when he attacks, gives you 4 red mana which is just enough to play Bulk Up then play Reverberate, which copy’s an instant or sorcery that is being cast. \n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Fated Firepower"},{"insert":". This card is a wincon. Getting Fated Firepower down is amazing at almost any cost above 5, what I usually aim for is around 10-15 on the X cost. It adds damage onto whatever damage is dealt to enemies so Ozai dealing damage getting pumped by Fated is still commander damage so 14 on the X cost for Fated is a kill.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Avatar Roku, Firebender"},{"insert":". Avatar Roku is annoying to play around for other people if Ozai is out. Anyone attacking gives you a free 6 red mana, easy, quick ramp. But he also has an ability for 3 red mana you can give target creature +3/+0 and it is not a tap ability so you can spend as much as you want into it. I like giving it to other people attacking each other occasionally if they are just trying to get attack triggers and have politiced for no blockers since it’s just a measly little 1/1. All of a sudden getting hit for 10 is just not that cool. It of course also pumps Ozai up but it is so much funnier to do it to other peoples creatures.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"The Threats Besides Ozai"},{"attributes":{"align":"center"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Ancient Copper/Brass Dragon"},{"insert":". I have noticed that both of these take up people's attention the same way. Either one of them is just an engine for more annoyance. Copper gives you more mana, while Brass gives you creatures back, not just from your graveyard either. Both of them aren’t legendary either so using the Fire Crystal or Reflection of Kiki-Jiki does give you two of them for a turn.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Etali, Primal Storm."},{"insert":" While not as good as his C/EDH counterpart, having this Dino on the board annoys people to no end when you could just start casting your own stuff at least for free.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Brash Taunter."},{"insert":" An easy blocker for anyone having one big dude on the board but also very useful for a win combo with chain lightning and Fated Firepower. Chain lightning targeting people isn’t that great of an idea since you don’t get to control if it gets copied, but if you target Brash Taunter you can keep going with it until you run out of red mana. And since Fated Firepower increase that damage a source you control deals to an enemy, each time Brash takes damage he will be increasing it towards each opponent you choose to send it at.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Electro, Assaulting Battery."},{"insert":" Electro is a threat to everyone on board. Once you build up a nice little amount of red mana that turns into a nice little bit of damage if someone chooses to remove everything on your board. He pairs well with Kiki-Jiki or Fire Crystal to make a nice little forced removal due to the legend rule.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Pyrohemia."},{"insert":" A classic for red, an anti small guy play and a great way to end the game if you are above everyone in health. This also, of course, pairs well with Fated Firepower to get around bigger dudes or if your life total is less that your opponents since Fated affects only the damage you deal to enemies not yourself.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"The True Game Enders"},{"attributes":{"align":"center"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Crackle With Power."},{"insert":" Normally too expensive for most decks to run with game ending potential. But eight the ability to get to an easy X equals 5 to deal a quick 25 damage to each opponent and if needed to two more sources this is a great win con for this deck.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Aggravated Assault."},{"insert":" Easy, just use Ozai and Fire Nation Place, or Ozai and Avatar Roku, or Ozai and Ancient Copper Dragon, or Ozai and Neheb, or if you have it, Ozai and Avatar Roku from the flip side of The Legend of Avatar Roku. Infinite combats for the small small price of being able to generate one more mana per combat then Ozai comes with naturally. Even if you can’t get pure infinite with generating enough mana per attack to go infinitely you should be able to do more than 3 or 4 in a single turn and if you somehow don’t get stopped by your next turn you definitely win then.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"The Rest"},{"attributes":{"align":"center"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nOzai is an amazing deck I have been building with cards I find in LGS’ and I know some of the cards definitely aren’t perfect in slot things but that’s what I’ve had and what I think were needed at the time for Ozai. Thanks for reading this ramble of a primer, this is my first time writing one and I hope it’s worth it for you to look at this and run Ozai yourself. Also if you have any suggestions please let me know.\n\n\n\n"}]}