Hello Everyone! I am Levi of The Thought Vessel, and this is Commander Kryptonite, the series that looks at some of the strongest commanders in the format, how they work, their strengths, weaknesses, and finally, how to beat them. This week we are looking at a commander that I think might be on the rise in the coming months with some new cards that have been spoiled from the Final Fantasy set. Of course, I am talking about the flinging crime boss from Streets of New Capenna, Ziatora, the Incinerator. Before we get too far into the details, let's take a look at this legendary creature.

The Commander: Ziatora, the Incinerator

Ziatora is a fling commander from New Capenna. Unlike other popular commanders in the flinging archetype like Brion Stoutarm and Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes, Ziatora comes with a Jund color combination, which allows for some interesting graveyard synergies. The fling effect is on the end step rather than on demand like its counterparts, but Ziatora makes up for this by gifting three treasure tokens each time, allowing for a good amount of ramp to get the next creature into play. On top of this, Ziatora is also a 6/6 flying dragon, so commander damage could be potentially viable depending on how the deck is built. Speaking of builds, let's look at how the deck actually operates.

The Deck

A fling deck typically wants to get creatures with disproportionately high power compared to their mana value. A good example of a card like this could be Yargle and Multani, which is an 18/6 creature for only six total mana. Using Ziatora's ability or other fling effects in the 99, you can start throwing large amounts of damage at important creatures on the opponent's board or even directly at a player. If it comes to a plan B, this deck can easily slip into a more stompy strategy by keeping these big creatures around and putting their large power stats to good use. Here is an example of a Ziatora deck you might run into at your LGS.

Ziatora, the Incinerator | Commander

• Commander (1)
• 1 Ziatora, the Incinerator

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Academy Manufactor
• 1 Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Daemogoth Titan
• 1 Daemogoth Woe-Eater
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Feldon of the Third Path
• 1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 1 Goldspan Dragon
• 1 Honest Rutstein
• 1 Ignoble Hierarch
• 1 Junji, the Midnight Sky
• 1 Juri, Master of the Revue
• 1 Kalain, Reclusive Painter
• 1 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
• 1 Kresh the Bloodbraided
• 1 Malignus
• 1 Mayhem Devil
• 1 Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder
• 1 Old Gnawbone
• 1 Phytotitan
• 1 Professional Face-Breaker
• 1 Ruthless Technomancer
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
• 1 Stalking Vengeance
• 1 Vat of Rebirth
• 1 Xenagos, God of Revels
• 1 Xorn
• 1 Yargle and Multani
• 1 Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus

• Spells (18)
• 1 Assassin's Trophy
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Terminate
• 1 Riveteers Charm
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Victimize

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bootleggers' Stash
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 The Skullspore Nexus

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Garruk's Uprising
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Rain of Riches
• 1 Revel in Riches
• 1 Rhythm of the Wild
• 1 Riveteers Ascendancy
• 1 Unnatural Growth

• Lands (36)
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 6 Forest
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 1 Luxury Suite
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Riveteers Overlook
• 1 Rockfall Vale
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Savage Lands
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Spire Garden
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 4 Mountain
• 1 Twisted Landscape
• 1 Undergrowth Stadium
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Woodland Cemetery
• 4 Swamp
• 1 Ziatora's Proving Ground

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Strengths

The strength of this deck is in the grind and control. This deck is going to be able to pick off key creatures and add massive amounts of non-combat damage to get past blockers. Since Ziatora is in that Jund color combination, they will be able to get back any sacrificed creature pretty easily--whether it's through a copy effect like Feldon of the Third Path or even a classic reanimation like Meren of Clan Nel Toth. This deck can almost feel like a spin-off of an aristocrats deck. Since Ziatora is the damage producer, something like lifelink could be provided to push the lifegain, or even infect to add some extra wrinkles to worry about. I think the strongest aspect is the staying power of the deck. The longer the game goes on, the easier it will be to pull out a win for Ziatora, especially with a new spiky addition to this deck from Final Fantasy.

Weaknesses

As resilient as this deck is, it can also be pretty slow to build up, leaving it vulnerable in the early game. The deck wants to play large creatures and also a six-mana commander. In a format that is speeding up with power creep, getting everything in line could be a tall order. Jund, as colors go, isn't as known for protection as Blue and White are, as Jund tends to keep pushing with additional resources. Usually that is fine, but there are key pieces that could really hurt to lose to something simple like Swords to Plowshares. Since this deck cares mostly about stats, some of these large creatures are not going to come with a ton of special effects or utility, so if the value engines are disrupted, this deck is going to be clunky when playing.

Cards to Look Out For

1. Jumbo Cactuar - THIS is what I am worried about. This is the card that I think could raise the popularity of Ziatora to the point that it becomes a household name. Normally, it is going to require two or three creatures being sacrificed to take a player out in a good game script. Jumbo Cactuar is simply going to take someone out every single time. Even if a player goes to remove it before the end step, this deck can simply run Fling and kill the player in response. I think this deck is perfect for Jumbo Cactuar, and honestly, I am tempted to try it out myself.
2. Riveteers Ascendancy - We don't want to see reanimation with this deck if we can avoid it. This card lets Ziatora get a creature back of lesser mana value once per turn whenever a creature is sacrificed. With the right sac outlets in play, this could be a headache for the rest of the table to deal with.
3. Feldon of the Third Path - Feldon is a machine in this deck. Since Ziatora doesn't say he has to sacrifice a non-token creature, Feldon can throw a token of a big creature from our grave right into play, swing with that big creature for bonus damage, and then let Ziatora sacrifice it to fling more damage. Feldon is a remove-on-sight without question.
4. Terror of the Peaks - There are going to be a lot of big creatures being sacrificed to send out damage. Terror of the Peaks allows Ziatora to deliver hits as they come into play too, making things twice as bad.

How to Beat This Deck

The first thing we need to do is determine if we will be perceived as a threat to the Ziatora player more than the rest of the table. If there is a hatebear or Stax deck in play, Ziatora might be more of an ally than an enemy in the early game, allowing you to develop in peace. If you are going to be the target, Ziatora is going to be the key. Since the commander costs six mana, they will likely play it out as soon as possible when they get to six mana. They have to move to their end step before using Ziatora's ability, so there is a window to remove it before any damage can occur. If successful, this will give a two-turn window to either politic or find more removal. The more mana that the Ziatora player has to waste on recasting their commander over and over, the better. Though a lot of creatures in their deck are big, evasion is usually left out, so token chump blockers are going to be our best friend. If the game comes down to one-on-one, we want to try to leverage any advantage we can. This could look like using lifelink to outpace the flinging damage, overrunning the Ziatora player with a wide board, or simply redirecting or preventing the damage outright. Either way, relying on synergy with the right threat assessment can lead to a defeated Dragon.

Commander Kryptonite

If we are still having problems defeating this commander, consider adding these cards to the 99.

1. Yasharn, Implacable Earth - Ziatora relies on being able to sacrifice creatures and treasure tokens for advantage. Yasharn has the impressive ability to shut down both. You'll also get two lands to your hand. That'll do, pig, that'll do.
2. Deflecting Palm - If I told you that using a Deflecting Palm on a Jumbo Cactuar would return 10,000 damage back to the sender, I would be lying to you. But this damage effect is not death by a thousand cuts--it's a meat cleaver--so Deflecting Swat or other redirect effects are going to have quite a large impact, possibly even lethal.
3. Rest in Peace - One main issue we have with Ziatora is their ability to get things back from the grave to reuse, putting the rest of the table at a card disadvantage. Rest in Peace will ensure that anything that hits the grave will be gone for good, which should hopefully slow Ziatora down.

And there you have it! It's good to be prepared ahead of the curve for a powerful commander that is getting new toys. If you have a commander you would like to see on Commander Kryptonite, send us an email at thoughtvesselshow@gmail.com. Until next time, happy gaming.