Abhorrent OculusAbhorrent Oculus | Art by Bryan Sola

Welcome back to 60 to 100, a series where I take beloved decks from 60-card formats and convert them to Commander.

Last year, I covered the Domain Overlords deck that took down Pro Tour Aetherdrift in my fourth installment of this series. Now, I'd like to take a closer look at another deck that emerged from that tournament: Jeskai() Oculus. Most notably, the deck got a top eight finish in the hands of Kenta Harane and was played by Jon Finkel, along with several Team Channel Fireball members. This deck a fascinating cross between two other Standard decks from the era and I'm really excited to get to the source material for this one.

The Source Material

Pro Tour Aetherdrift was the last Pro Tour before Izzet() decks completely overtook the Standard metagame last year. There are no Vivi OrnitierVivi Ornitiers, Cori-Steel CutterCori-Steel Cutters, or Boomerang BasicsBoomerang Basics to be found here! In its time, this deck was much more of an underdog than the Izzet decks that would come after it. So, what's Jeskai Oculus up to?

Jeskai Oculus is essentially a hybrid, mixing elements of the Azorius() Oculus and Izzet Prowess. Azorius Oculus's main plan is reanimating an Abhorrent OculusAbhorrent Oculus with a Helping HandHelping Hand or RecommissionRecommission to avoid having to pay its additional cost of exiling six cards from the graveyard. It plays a tempo game, getting ahead on mana by spending only one or two mana to reanimate potent three-mana threats and protecting them with countermagic until they run away with the game. Jeskai Oculus takes that plan and combines it with red's efficient removal spells, like Torch the TowerTorch the Tower, and borrows the Stormchaser's TalentStormchaser's Talent/This Town Ain't Big EnoughThis Town Ain't Big Enough package from the prowess decks. The result is a deck with more angles of attack that can play better through graveyard hate, like Rest in PeaceRest in Peace.

Choosing a Commander

Choosing a commander for this deck wasn't an easy task. On one hand, this strategy involves a lot of discard effects and leaning into that seems like a good role for the commanders to play. My favorite option for that strategy is the pairing of Brallin, Skyshark RiderBrallin, Skyshark Rider and Shabraz, the SkysharkShabraz, the Skyshark. However, both of these commanders are too high cost to be reanimated with a Helping HandHelping Hand effect, and I'm really not in the market for spells I have to spend more than three mana on in the first place. The finished product of this deck has just four cards that will ever realistically be cast for more than three mana.

In the end, I went with Elsha, Threefold MasterElsha, Threefold Master. This commander has been really high on my list to build since it came out last year, and she's perfect here. She's only three mana and therefore can be recurred with all of the deck's reanimation effects, and she plays similarly to Monastery MentorMonastery Mentor. If you go back even further into the history of these Helping Hand decks, you'd find variations of the deck that were looking to reanimate Monastery Mentor, and it remains one of the strongest tools in this archetype's kit.

Key Cards for Jeskai Oculus

The most important part of this deck is the creatures that Helping HandHelping Hand will be fishing out of the graveyard. The deck's namesake card, Abhorrent OculusAbhorrent Oculus, is by far the best target at this deck's disposal, being a threat that scales very well with the multiplayer nature of Commander. To build around that strategy further, I've included many other bombs that can go wide, like Cosmogrand ZenithCosmogrand Zenith and Monastery MentorMonastery Mentor. The primary game plan is sticking two of three of these token-generators and then finding some way to convert a board full of tokens and face down creatures into a win, something Jeskai decks are actually pretty good at.

To make getting these creatures into play quickly enough to overwhelm the opponents feasible, there are seven Helping HandHelping Hand-style reanimation effects, like RecommissionRecommission, Call a Surprise WitnessCall a Surprise Witness, and Scout for SurvivorsScout for Survivors. The spells that can recur multiple creatures at once, like Scout for Suvivors, Patch UpPatch Up, and Sevinne's ReclamationSevinne's Reclamation (when cast with flashback), also enable the deck to rebuild incredibly fast after board wipes, making the deck very resilient in grindy games.

Next, I need to get these juicy reanimation targets into the graveyard somehow. That's where creature that enter the battlefield, draw two, then discard two come in. A lot of creatures with that effect have been printed in the last couple years, and that means this deck gets to play the best of them. Champion of WitsChampion of Wits is a classic that's both good to play from hand and even better to eternalize from the graveyard.

Dack FaydenDack Fayden is the perfect multi-tool here. He is a repeatable source of draw and discard, can steal opposing artifacts, and is a noncreature spell for the prowess and Monastery Mentor purposes. This deck's ability to churn out dozens of chump blockers are also very adept at ensuring Dack sticks around for a few turns. The first time I get to activate Dack, I feel like I've gotten decent value for my mana; the second and third time make me feel like I'm cheating.

Lastly, I've added some other ways to take advantage of all the looting and rummaging this deck gets up to. Prismatic StrandsPrismatic Strands and Practiced OffensePracticed Offense add both offensive and defensive tools that can be accessed from the graveyard thanks to flashback. Monument to EnduranceMonument to Endurance and Spider-Man, New ChampionSpider-Man, New Champion reward the act of discarding with cards, mana, or damage. Perhaps most importantly, Proft's Eidetic MemoryProft's Eidetic Memory can put +1/+1 counters on a creature equal to the number of cards you've drawn this turn, minus one and turn any creature on the board into a threat worthy of opposing removal.

How Does Jeskai Oculus Win the Game?

The easiest way to convert a board full of tokens into a victory is turning them sideways more than once in a turn cycle. Fear of Missing OutFear of Missing Out, Overpowering AttackOverpowering Attack, and Temporal TrespassTemporal Trespass can give the deck that tiny leg up on tempo it will need to close a game. They also don't suffer from diminishing returns in the same way many other win conditions do, as chaining two or even all three of these together will just expedite the deck's victory by as many as three turns.

Knowledge Is PowerKnowledge Is Power is an anthem effect that is perfectly suited to this deck's strategy, and as a result it is one of only two cards in the deck I would ever spend five mana on. With as much card draw as this deck packs, Knowledge is Power landing on a board full of tokens should end the game on the spot, and it's an incredibly stylish way to get the job done.

Against decks that try to fend off creature based aggression with FogFogs, MoatMoats, or Ghostly PrisonGhostly Prisons, this deck can pivot to burning the table out with Impact TremorsImpact Tremors, Warleader's CallWarleader's Call, and Goblin BombardmentGoblin Bombardment. Ajani, Nacatl PariahAjani, Nacatl Pariah made it into the deck because it's fairly easy to transform him, and his planeswalker side can send a lot of damage upstairs to kill an opponent seemingly out of nowhere.

Jeskai Oculus Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Despite its single game changer, I'm putting this deck in Bracket 2 (Core). GambleGamble is here because it is both synergistic and incredibly funny; I will happily die on the hill that its inclusion was warranted. This deck can spend a lot of time spinning its wheels before ending the game, and it isn't anywhere near as interaction-dense as the decks I expect to see in Bracket 3 (Upgraded). If I played this deck at more Bracket 2 tables out in the wild and it over-performed my expectations, I could be persuaded into shifting up to Bracket 3, but I'm not there yet. I'd love to hear in the comments what all of you lovely readers think.

This deck was incredibly fun to adapt to Commander, as it presented a couple unique challenges. First, it's a mess of themes. A deck that wants a high density of noncreature spells to trigger prowess but also wants a bunch of creatures that loot when they enter left me feeling like I never had enough of either in the deck. Then there's the fact that one of the deck's reanimation targets stands head and shoulders (and eyes) above the others means that the deck will both need to maximize Abhorrent OculusAbhorrent Oculus and function alongside the other creatures like Monastery MentorMonastery Mentor that ask a different set of questions. The final product functioning at all gives me great satisfaction.