While MTG Avatar’s release wasn’t quite as grand as Final Fantasy, it’s a lot bigger than many MTG players may give it credit for. A lack of Commander precons was made up for by a main set that has impacted both Commander and constructed formats. This, accompanied by a surprisingly powerful Jumpstart set, has made MTG Avatar one of the highlights of 2025.
Thanks to both the main Avatar set and Jumpstart producing lots of powerful legends, a few promising Commanders have slipped through the cracks. Fire Lord Ozai, an infinite mana outlet that can exile all of your opponent’s decks, seems like one of Avatar’s many Commanders that deserves a bit more love.
Fire Lord Ozai MTG
For four mana, Fire Lord Ozai is an extremely scary Commander that leverages the power of your opponents’ decks by stealing their spells. As Etali, Primal Conqueror has proven time and time again, casting your opponent’s spells for free is extremely powerful. While Fire Lord Ozai’s activated ability is quite expensive, it goes hand-in-hand with his triggered ability, helping Ozai generate tons of mana.
Since Fire Lord Ozai’s attack trigger cares about a creature’s power, there’s a lot of room to play overstatted creatures with downsides in this deck. Shakedown Heavy, for example, wouldn’t be played in a normal Commander deck, but Ozai will sacrifice it before its downside even comes into play. This also means that a lot of the recent Warp creatures from Edge of Eternities, like Bygone Colossus and Anticausal Vestige, can be turned into massive rituals by Ozai. As long as the creature has at least six power, Ozai can turn it into an ability activation.
Notably, because the red color pip is in Ozai’s activated ability, this card technically counts as a Rakdos Commander. Considering that Ozai’s triggered ability is an aristocratic one, this is a big deal. This grants access to repeatable Act of Treason effects like Captivating Crew that can steal, then sacrifice, your opponent’s creatures. You can even use copy effects like Strionic Resonator to sacrifice multiple of your opponent’s stolen creatures at the same time.
These themes create a sweet spot where a few specific creatures can shine through, helping both sides of Ozai’s value machine. The Beast, Deathless Prince offers a slightly overpriced Act of Treason attached to an overstatted creature with a downside. You can sacrifice the stolen creature to Ozai and, on the following turn, turn The Beast into a free Ozai activation. Phyrexian Soulgorger can do something similar, sacrificing extra creatures stolen at instant speed to its Cumulative Upkeep trigger.
If you want these rituals to create mana that’s a little more permanent, there are a series of cards that can let you keep your Ozai mana after combat ends. Cards like Electro, Assaulting Battery, Ozai, the Phoenix King, and Leyline Tyrant will all keep your red mana sticking around long term. These can also unlock some atypical mana producers like Braid of Fire that Ozai could otherwise use for an extra activated ability.
A Very Distinct and Succinct Gameplan
Thanks to the various directions you can take Fire Lord Ozai, this Commander deck can basically build itself. If infinite combos aren’t your cup of tea, you can choose to build Ozai as a quirky artistocrat deck that steals your opponent’s cards. Otherwise, just add a reanimation package, and you’re ready to exile your opponent’s decks. This will grant access to a classic Commander infinite mana combo in Worldgorger Dragon and Animate Dead. Otherwise, you can use the package to reanimate your overstatted creatures for more mana.
Notably, because of Ozai’s color identity, you’ll have access to the best tutors in MTG, making assembling these combos trivial. You can even use Scheming Symmetry to your advantage since Fire Lord Ozai will threaten to steal whatever your opponent searches for.
Since many of the cards needed to make this Commander work don’t commonly appear in other decks, the non-reanimation Fire Lord Ozai decks can be surprisingly cheap to build. Sadly, some of the generic Firebending cards are expensive right now thanks to Fire Lord Azula, but with Lorwyn Eclipsed on the horizon, there’s a chance they will become a bit cheaper soon.
Either way, if you want to play MTG Avatar’s big bad villain, this is a pretty flavorful and devastating way to do it.
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