Izzet control shell, choosing to opt into interaction and removal over stax that are typically seen in low-color red+ builds. With an infinite mana outlet in the command zone, this deck is able to expertly layer compact wincons alongside strong value engines. Assembling game-winning conditions through either Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal or Barrin, Master Wizard + Dockside Extortionist is the bread and butter of this list. You will find that you're able to approach each game at any angle you chose.
Introduction / Philosophy / History
The release of Commander Legends was accompanied by the hype and celebration of a new mono-red partner: Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh. New Turbo Naus lists were swiftly and skillfully brewed. Previously "good" cards like Diabolic Intent and Culling the Weak became great cards. Right behind him, however, maybe even a few places down the line, was Jeska, Thrice Reborn.
Jeska is unique in that she is a partner, a planeswalker, an infinite mana outlet, and overlooked. After all, there is no real reason to notice her. When compared to Thrasios, Triton Hero, she neither gives access to the amazing colors of Green and Blue nor is her infinite mana outlet also doubling as a form of card advantage. Thrasios checks off all the boxes. Regardless of these comparisons, I needed to brew an Izzet list. Izzet is a strong combination of colors. With red, over the past few years, getting cards like Dockside Extortionist and Underworld Breach, it is gaining traction in the world of cEDH. Blue does not need an explanation. With the decision to remain in Izzet colors, I approached the construction of this list with a goal in mind. My commander(s) needed to serve as both the win condition and be playable throughout the course of the match to my advantage.
At the time of my search, the commander that fit my requirements the most was Niv-Mizzet, Parun. Niv serves as an immensely potent engine and was the primary win condition in each of the lists I looked into. However, the daunting wall of threw up red flags in my mind as I realized that card quality of 99 was being sacrificed to compensate for trying to climb that wall.
Kraum, Ludevic’s Opus had been on my radar for a while, serving as an excellent source of card advantage and even placing a pseudo Rule of Law effect on your opponents. All I needed now was an outlet in either mono-blue, mono-red, or Izzet. Jeska succeeded in fulfilling not only that order but many others.
While Niv could also double as an outlet for Dramatic Scepter, there was one two-card combo that no existing Izzet commander could take advantage of: Dockside Extortionist and Barrin, Master Wizard. Jeska not only lets you take advantage of that line but has other unique functions we will discuss further on in the primer.
A true cEDH player seeks value and combos in their card selection, I hope this can serve as proof and reasoning that the combination of Jeska + Kraum in the command zone will satisfy my Izzet itch for an effective and strong cEDH experience.
Winning the Game, an Honorary Degree in Geometry.
In the short summary for this deck, I mentioned that, after some experience with the list, you would be able to pursue your wins from "any angle you chose". In this portion of the primer, we will go over the more straightforward angles to approach your wins from.
Dramatic Scepter
Dramatic Scepter
By this point, the potent power of Dramatic Reversal and Isochron Scepter should be well-known by all who have frequented cEDH. However, for the sake of education, we will review the basics.
Isochron Scepter
Dramatic Reversal
Enough mana producing non-land permanents to create, at minimum, . If step 1 is already satisfied, it does matter whether these non-land permanents are tapped or untapped (for this example, we will use Mana Crypt and Mox Diamond
After casting Isochron Scepter, you will imprint Dramatic Reversal under it. Activating Isochron Scepter allows you to cast a copy of Dramatic Reversal. Doing so will untap not only Isorchron Scepter, but your artifacts as well. With your mana rocks and the scepter now untapped, you can reactivate Isochron Scepter using the freshly untapped Mana Crypt. At the same time, you will float a single from your Mox Diamond and allow the new copy of Dramatic Reversal to resolve.
You have just demonstrated a repeatable loop, netting either or with each iteration until you feel you have an arbitrarily large amount (you will need to win the game).
Cast Jeska, Thrice Reborn from the command zone. She will enter the battlefield with 'X' loyalty, where 'X' is the number of times you have cast your commander from the command zone this game. You may then activate her second ability, remove all her loyalty, and target your three opponents. She will die due to having no loyalty and return to the command zone. You are then free to cast her again and again, pinging your opponents until the game ends with you as the victor.
Vanishing Extortionists
Vanishing Extortionists
Barrin, Master Wizard and Dockside Extortionist are, again, not new to cEDH, but this would be the first Izzet list I'm aware of that can run both of them effectively.
Dockside Extortionist
Barrin, Master Wizard
Your opponents control a combination of six artifacts/enchantments (for the example, we will assume there is exactly six)
With each cast of Dockside Extortionist producing six treasures, you are able to create a loop. Three treasures will be used to activate Barrin, Master Wizard's activated ability (two to pay the cost, one to sacrifice). Two treasures will be used to recast Dockside Extortionist from your hand, leaving you one extra treasure to net positive mana from.
After repeating this loop an arbitrarily large number of times, and just as in your Dramatic Scepter win condition, cast Jeska, Thrice Reborn as many times as necessary to kill your opponents (probably 9 times, but we'll get to that in a moment).
Underworld Breach
Underworld Breach: The Big Section There are a few different Underworld Breach applications that I want to go over, starting with the easiest and well-known.
Brain Freeze
Lion's Eye Diamond
Underworld Breach
In this set-up, after resolving both Underworld Breach and Lion's Eye Diamond, you will cast Brain Freeze, targeting yourself. Brain Freeze's storm trigger will go off and you'll mill yourself 3x cards. Underworld Breach now allows you to recast both Brain Freeze and Lion's Eye Diamond (to pay for Brain FreezeUnderworld Breach and an additional cost to cast Lion's Eye Diamond and Brain Freeze. Depending on the win condition you are striving for and the board state, you must be careful as to what cards you are exiling. You may need them later.
New Game State: No Library, Big Storm
From here, you have some options. I'll go over my favorites.
Brain Freeze never ends.
During the previous loop, you were netting blue mana and creating a large storm count. By the time your library has been milled out, you should have plenty of cards left to get several more casts out of Brain Freeze. Taking the now large storm count into consideration, you can now turn Brain Freeze towards your opponents, milling out their libraries and passing the turn. Each opponent will be forced to draw on an empty library and lose the game. It would be good to note that some lists, like The Gitrog Monster, will not fold to this Game Plan.
You are now playing mono-black.
As you were milling your library and exiling cards, you should have, hopefully, chosen to not exile Dockside Extortionist and Barrin, Master Wizard. Assuming the board state supports that win-con (opponents control 6+ artifacts/enchantments), you can resurrect both of these creatures, perform your infinite mana loop, and win the game by recasting Jeska, Thrice Reborn as many times as necessary.
Logic Ends Here. You are now playing Doomsday.
At the beginning of this section, I mentioned five win cons. The following two are not part of the five. These win cons are conditional, weird, and I probably shouldn't have even thought about them if I wasn't backed into a mental corner late one night. They should probably never be used either, unless, for some weird reason, the board state has devolved into chaos.
...The Timetwister Sculpt... The biggest reason behind this route is you have lost either Dockside Extortionist or Barrin, Master Wizard to exile. Once entering the state of "Empty Library, Big Storm", Isochron Scepter may not be a possible win route because the Dramatic Reversal is now in your graveyard and cannot be imprinted.
I Drive a Manual
Someone asked me how much mana it would cost to kill an entire table by casting Jeska without going infinite. I decided to do some basic math, crunch some numbers, and developed a case solution.
Without ever casting Kraum, Ludevic's Opus, you will need to resolve Jeska, Thrice Reborn 9 times to kill an entire table where each opponent is at 40 life. Jeska's damage ramps up each cast as follows.
1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8 -> 9
Totals: 1 -> 3 -> 6 -> 10 -> 15 -> 21 ->28 ->35 ->45
Casting Jeska, Thrice Reborn nine times does not sound like a lot, but the mana cost really adds up. The base cost alone is 27 mana. Once we add commander tax, which ramps up by for each cast, that total reaches 99 mana to kill an entire table. Again, this base case does not take into account that, if you have cast Kraum, Ludevic's Opus once this game, Jeska skips stage one and can be cast one less time.
Now, the ultimate question:
Is it possible to produce enough mana manually to kill an entire table without going "infinite"?
Yes..
Battlecruiser Go Brrrr
Jeska, Thrive Reborn, outside of her usefulness as an outlet, has a fascinating 0-cost ability. She can target a creature and the next time that creature would deal combat damage to a player, they deal triple that damage instead. Combine that with a 4/4 flyer with Haste, Kraum, Ludevic Opus can two-shot any opponent without flying blockers. This ability also serves as a fascinating political tool, but I would never suggest it be used that way. As silly as it is to suggest that combat damage is ever an option to close out cEDH games, the potential of inflicting 12 points of damage to a single opponent is not something that should be sniffed at.
As I said back in the beginning, you can really take games from any and all directions.
Getting to the Win
Mulligans
I will only touch on this briefly, but you must make accurate mulligans if you wish to succeed with this list. Seek hands that already give access to one side of your combos while also giving you access to card advantage or a way to advance your own board-state.
Imperial Recruiter
Imperial Recruiter has a line for every single missing piece of your combo. Barrin, Master Wizard and Dockside Extortionist are obvious.
Need: Isochron Scepter
Imperial Recruiter -> Spellseeker -> Transmute Artifact / Reshape / Muddle in the Mixture -> Isochron Scepter
Need: Dramatic Reversal
Imperial Recruiter -> Spellseeker -> Dramatic Reversal
Need: Brainfreeze
Imperial Recruiter -> Spellseeker -> Brainfreeze
Need: Underworld Breach
Imperial Recruiter -> Spellseeker -> Muddle in the Mixture -> Underworld Breach
Need: Lion's Eye Diamond
Imperial Recruiter -> Spellseeker -> Transmute Artifact / Reshape -> Lion's Eye Diamond
You'll notice that Spellseeker is also a star player in getting your pieces ready.
Deck Management
Flex Slots
Wheel of Misfortune
On the outside, it's a one-sided 3 mana draw seven. On the inside, people may not want to draw into this after already tutoring one of the combo-pieces.
Thieving Skydiver
Stealing a mox or other artifact may make-or-break your plan to win through Isochron Scepter. It would also ruin your plan to win through Barrin, Master Wizard and Dockside Extortionist.
Notable Excludes
Dockside Extortionist Farm Cards
Winds of Rebuke
Submerge
Blink of an Eye
Into the Roil
Even though Jeska, Thrice Reborn is an infinite mana outlet, she is not the best mana sink. There is not much trade-off for attempting to farm mass treasures out of a Dockside Extortionist other than just casting our commanders and passing. I'm willing to test these cards and invite other players to do the same, but the first edition of this build omitted them.
Cursed Totem
Since our outlet is a Planeswalker, we actually should be playing Cursed Totem and you still could. However, it shuts off any lines with Barrin, Master Wizard. Losing that single line may not make-it-or-break-it for some people, but with Izzet's tutor density being rather low, I didn't want to stay pursuing a line only to draw an immensely dead Cursed Totem or realize that my own game-plan was getting shut off by it.
Back to Basics, Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon
I am only omitting the Moon Package to test out a more control-oriented build. If, after testing, I feel like the deck can operate under them, I'll re-include them in the list.
