MTG Salvation

Amongst my few EDH Decks, my favorite is probably Jhoira. She's perky, colorful, and explosive, just like the deck where she lives. And my friends love her to. They love to hate her at least. It is understandable that I get A LOT of aggro, since Jhoira is always a ticking A-Bomb. But still, my friends don't want me to take the deck appart. Problem is, I get all the aggro Jhoira deserves, and then some, since in the first few turns I am generally completely open, until that *Boom I win* moment, which is plain to see to everyone (and generates even more aggro). It's for those first few turn that I need the most help. Jhoira needs defenses, and I'd like your opinion on the deck in general (a monstly standart wipe + bomb deck), and mostly on how to set up a good defense in the early game, so I'm not dead before my big effects resolve. I'd love a few rattlesnakes (like Aurification of No Mercy) but don't know of any in Red or Blue.



I tought about replacing a few thing with early defenders, like a Fog Bank or such. I guess I should also put my Tolaria West in there, and get a Homeward Path (I once died to my own bligthsteel, after having it stolen from me twice...). In any case all suggestions are welcome. Keep in mind that my meta is aggro heavy. Once of the guys I play with has a Sliver deck, a Goblins deck and an Elf deck (he hates passive play with a passion). One other plays a very sac/recursion heavy deck. Counterspells are not common, but they do happen.

Thanks for the feedback!

Welcome to the forums!

It seems like you are dying from combat damage so it seems to me the best way to prevent this is to stop combat damage. This can be done a number of ways but recurring fogs are typically the most effective. You will need a Snow-Covered mana base for these, Sunstone and Glacial Crevasses. Glacial Chasm could be used as well however it can be difficult to support. Propaganda is effective early game and useful later on against swarms. Maze of Ith can stop 1 guy.

Next is removal. Killing their guys means they can't beat on you. Starstorm and Evacuation are your best bets for mass removal and I like Pongify, Gilded Drake & Flame Slash for spot removal. They can still beat on you with Gilded Drake but that's a lot less threatening than something huge. You can also add Mouth of Ronom if you go the snow route.

Lastly you'll need tutors. Now tutors aren't answers themselves but they find answers and that's good enough. Mystical Tutor, Gamble and Personal Tutor are all great for a Jhoira deck.

So now you need room. I think you can easily cut one of the mass wipes, 4 with tutors should be sufficient and might still be 1 too many (I believe I only ran Apocalypse, Obliterate & Jokulhaups in my build). I'd also look to cut stuff in the 4-6 mana range. This stuff is awkward in here because the keys to success are getting Jhoira in play, suspending stuff and blowing up the world which is something cards in this range don't help with very much. They are too expensive to help with early protection & ramp and they aren't expensive enough to make for exciting suspend targets. This isn't to say you should purge them, just set the bar very high for cards in this range. It's been a long time since I played Jhoira but I'd be careful to make sure you aren't running too many uber bombs. They cost a ton of mana and you typically only want stuff that will win you the game by itself when combined with a board wipe. Insurrection, as an example, is not a very good card to cast the turn after you cast Jokulhaups. Lastly equips don't seem very useful. They don't help your game plan and your bombs should be threatening enough on their own that you don't need to strap a Loxodon Warhammer on them.