Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation – Lost Caverns of Ixalan
Date Reviewed: November 13, 2023
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.00
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 4.75
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander [EDH]: 4.13
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
I subscribe to email updates from some local game stores here in Melbourne, and one of them sent out a Lost Caverns of Ixalan release newsletter which included the top three cards of the moment, as assessed by whoever wrote it. You might not be surprised to learn that this was one of them; you might not be surprised to learn that the writer described it as the card they were “least looking forward to playing against”. Honestly, I see why. Apart from ensuring that you will run out of tokens at some point during the session, Ojer Taq lets you effortlessly outnumber anything except the most hardcore Doubling Season deck, gets particularly deadly with perennial favorite Blade Splicer, has a re-flip condition that’s easy to meet in white, and is actually even super-efficient to boot. That still puts enough constraints on the rest of the deck that Standard might not be a great fit for it; but in an appropriate theme deck, this card is beyond the status of a menace, and is a strong argument for running cards like The End from Wilds of Eldraine. I seem to be referring to that card a lot lately.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.5 (possibly at least as much for the recurring curve-topping threat as for the ability)
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
there is no god
The second of the gods we’re covering from Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation has actually jumped out to be the set’s most valuable card. And it’s not too had to see why, when you look at it…tripling creature token generation is one of those effects that plays just as well as it reads like on paper, particularly when doublers are often head-turners on their own. Ojer Taq is even legendary, which plays well with Commander, and its land reversion lets it come back in due time. Flipping Ojer Taq requires three attacking creatures on the same turn, which plays into white’s going wide, but it might be a bit of an obstacle…not insurmountable, but still.
Ojer Taq doesn’t feel like a great Constructed card, to be frank. Tripling tokens isn’t unattractive, but the issues it has are that it costs six mana to come out normally, and getting it back would ask for three mana and three attackers. A threat that won’t ever stay dead (usually) is solid, to be sure, but it’s just a 6/6 with vigilance who turbo-charges other parts of your board. I do think it’s powerful, but not in a “sees Standard play” way…I could be wrong, of course, but it just feels a bit too ponderous and fiddly to really make it. But seeing as how Commander will love this, I suppose it balances out.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
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