I have not done much work with the C88 recently, but the concept of the EZ printing approach is one that I'm using at this very moment.
My Epson "Workforce" 1100 with an EZ-type setup is my main office printer. With 2 black ink carts it is very fast with text printing, which I do a lot of. Being my main office printer, it is used enough such that it does not clog with any inks I've used -- which includes quite a variety.
I profiled an "EZ" inkset for it at one time using MIS (as well as other) inks -- see, e.g., http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/1100.pdf
At the moment I'm printing with HP gray on metallic paper, using MIS PK for the black.
The 1100 is similar to lots of Epson printers that serve the business and home environments with the 3-color plus K or two K positions. In my experience they can be quite easily profiled with QTR's Create ICC-RGB. For testing the HP gray + MIS PK printing I made an Epson driver compatible ICC in probably less than 15 minutes this morning.
So, the 1100 or that type of printer is my standard for office, testing, and backup printer for all the inks I usually use. The only thing I can't do well on this format printer is Arches watercolor paper.
I don't know what the current letter-size version is, and those going this route might need to be able to read a 21-step test strip and linearize their own setups. On the other hand, the prints made with the EZ approach and the Epson driver's built-in controls might just find that with no custom profile at all, the prints are not that far off from the monitors.
Paul