After the absolute deluge of major MTG news last Friday at MagicCon, we’re now back to business as usual for Foundations spoiler season. Well, almost usual. Foundations is still something new for Magic, being four different products each with its own goals and card pool. Foundations Jumpstart, for example, is not Standard-legal, instead offering new treats for Commander, Legacy, and Vintage players. Treats like Ozox, the Clattering King; a new MTG legend with serious potential in combo brews.
Ozox, The Clattering King MTG
- Mana Value: 2B
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 3/2
- Card Text: Ozox, the Clattering King can’t block. When Ozox dies, create Jumblebones, a legendary 2/1 black Skeleton creature token with “This creature can’t block” and “When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card named Ozox, the Clattering King from your graveyard to your hand.”
This card was unofficially revealed by PleasantKenobi and Tomer Abramovici, via a Foundations Jumpstart pack distributed at MagicCon: Las Vegas this weekend. He’s one of the new anime art legends coming in Foundations Jumpstart. As a reminder, you’ll find one of these in every pack. The question is, is Ozox, the Clattering King one you want to see in this slot?
First impressions say no. Three mana for a 3/2 that can’t block is an atrocious rate in modern Magic. Sure you get a 2/1 token when it dies, but the token can’t block either. This makes it fairly difficult for this card to loop back into your hand organically. Your opponents will likely prefer to let a small chunk of damage through than let you get value from trades. Even at uncommon, this feels like a bit of a bum deal.
Of course, there are ways to get creatures into the graveyard outside of combat. With a good sacrifice outlet, Ozox becomes a very potent fuel source. You can immediately sacrifice him and the (adorably-named) Jumblebones token he leaves behind to an outlet, getting Ozox back into your hand for free. Three mana for two warm bodies a turn, more if you have the mana, is something many Aristocrats decks will take.
We’ve seen other cards like this in the past: Gravecrawler, Reassembling Skeleton, etc. What sets Ozox apart is the fact that he’s legendary. This means you can run him as your Commander, which gives sacrifice decks consistent access to a looping fuel source. It can also, very easily it turns out, serve as a potent combo enabler.
Eternal Torment
The key to taking Ozox, the Clattering King from a clunky attacker to an MTG combo monster is simple. All you need is a sacrifice engine that also produces mana. Since Ozox goes back to your hand naturally when you sacrifice Jumblebones, mana is the only thing standing between you and infinite enters/dies triggers.
Ashnod’s Altar and Phyrexian Altar both work for this but with caveats. Ashnod’s needs a means of filtering colorless mana into black (e.g. Bog Initiate), while Phyrexian Altar needs a way to produce additional mana or tokens. You can use cards like Desecrated Tomb or Pitiless Plunderer to achieve this while staying in mono-black. If you don’t mind switching Commander Ratadrabik of Urborg doubles both Ozox and Jumblebones, making an infinite loop trivial.
Once you’ve got the loop going, all you need to do is throw in a win condition. Blood Artist-type effects like Zulaport Cutthroat work well, or you can use Altar of the Brood or Scavenger’s Talent for a similar effect. If you go down the Ashnod’s Altar route this combo can actually net you infinite mana, which you can then sink into a huge finisher like Torment of Hailfire.
These kinds of sacrifice loops are nothing new for MTG. Ozox is still very exciting for a number of reasons, however. Firstly, because he’s a possible Commander. All the tools you need to pull off a combo win with Ozox are available in Mono-Black. Running him as a Commander, then, lets you start the game with one of your combo pieces already in hand. Second, he provides additional redundancy. Decks that aim to win with a combo like this anyway now have another great option, either in the command zone or the 99.