Sift Through Sands - Kibo, Uktabi Prince & Vazi, Keen Negotiator
The Banana - A Treasure Trove of Potassium
Hello, and welcome to Sift Through Sands, an article series focused on looking at the functionality of a similar group of cards in two different commander decks, helping us utilize them to their full potential.
With everyone recovering from New Years Eve festivities and 2022 in general, I've been slowly looking at Jumpstart 2022. And as much as I'd like to build the plethora of interesting commanders that Jumpstart is known for, all I have is bananas on the brain. Kibo, Uktabi Prince (the spawn of Uktabi Orangutan, no doubt) is extremely goofy, but it presents a fascinating opportunity for jank building that draws me in like a moth to flame. Let's get to it!
Our Picks
Kibo, Uktabi Prince and Vazi share a strange, similar niche. Both of them give opponents mana advantage with the caveat of beefing up creatures when they're used. There's lots of ways to build around these two, and none of them are simple. A benevolent, grindy stax deck where you give your opponents the resources they need to deal with Winter Orb? Mycosynth Lattice shenanigans? Ape tribal??? The correct answer, of course, is a bit of all of them. These decks work with a subtle granting of bananas and the subtle encouragement to use it. Let's start with the lord of potassium.
Check the deck out on Archidekt!
Playing Kibo
Kibo, Uktabi Prince starts off innocuous. Dropping Tree Monkey will hardly make your opponents sweat immediately. Establishing a handful of primates early, like Gorilla Shaman, Kird Ape, and Zodiac Monkey, will help us benefit from our opponents eating their bananas and get us the most value out of playing Kibo. Liquimetal Torque, Invigorating Hot Spring, and Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant all come as helpful plays at this stage of the game.
Once we get Kibo, Uktabi Prince going, we have to play a careful game. If Kibo starts to become threatening, he'll be assassinated, but if we're generous with Banana tokens we can play a longer game. Helm of Awakening, Jolene, the Plunder Queen, and Ancient Runes encourage our opponents to cast spells and use the tokens, while protective cards like Sporeback Troll and Saryth, the Viper's Fang keep our monarch around. If we aren't that lucky, Descent into Avernus, Marching Duodrone, Tempting Contract, and Curse of Opulence all get mana flowing as well.
To close the game out, Arcbound Ravager, Taurean Mauler, Sardian Avenger, and Fractal Harness get us damage and even still benefit from our opponents having Bananas. Kogla, the Titan Ape, Gorilla Berserkers, and Grunn, the Lonely King are threatening enough on their own, and more so when Damping Engine gets our opponents sacrificing Bananas with the prince in play.
Kibo, Uktabi Prince plays a slow, weird, and silly game. Giving our opponents Bananas becomes less of an issue if we're able to restrict the ways in which they can use them, and we can get away with it by playing cautiously and incrementally increasing our primates' might. Vazi plays similarly, with a more political bend. Let's check out the list!
Check the deck out on Archidekt!
Playing Vazi
Vazi is a friendly lady. As we begin the game, beneficial symmetrical effects, like Well of Knowledge, Howling Golem, Temple Bell, and Master of the Feast, start filling up hands and garner favor with our opponents. Treasure-creation is a must, with a decent amount of it coming tacked on to draw and removal spells, like Big Score and Crack Open. Some low-mana-value creatures, like Juri, Master of the Revue, Kalain, Reclusive Painter, and Moriok Rigger, will be welcome sights, as they scale as the game progresses.
When Vazi hits play, we start playing politics. Granting Treasure tokens ad nauseam will make us lose, but providing options for use helps us manipulate the way they're used to ensure we keep the advantage. Elkin Lair and our wheels, like Reforge the Soul, encourages impulsive "use it or lose it" casting, while Saproling Cluster, Task Mage Assembly, Wandering Archaic, and Xantcha, Sleeper Agent give our opponents abilities to pay for. This in turn provides us card advantage and more threatening creatures with Vazi.
Closing out the game will come in a variety of ways, mostly dependent on how opponents treat us. Mer-Ek Nightblade lets us go wide if we distribute our counters, Kulrath Knight shuts down our opponents' threats, and Marionette Master lets us ping the table to death with our Treasures. On the other hand, Shard of the Void Dragon provides a huge danger for our opponents to deal with. And who knows, maybe Fan Favorite will gain us victory!
Inside the Treasure Chest
Creation of Treasure tokens and artifact hate are central to these decks. The following cards appear in both lists:
The overlap in these decks comes especially from cards like Big Score. Tacking Treasure-creation on to average draw and removal spells is a reliable way to generate the tokens and much more reliable than hoping that cards like Smothering Tithe stick around against a table of kill spells. Treasure-production is seen as a threat for a reason, but using cards to even the playing field (like Jolene, the Plunder Queen) and reaping the rewards from increased spellcasting (with Taurean Mauler) can be quite powerful. Descent into Avernus makes games go fast, with entertaining results. If you find yourself falling behind because your Treasure-production makes you the table's target, more subtle or equitable cards can help with this.
I hope you found the ape and advisor to be as fun as I did to build. Kibo and Vazi provide a challenge, and I hope to see more builds of both! In the meantime, enjoy the start of 2023 and I will see you soon.
