This is the first EDH deck I've built. The format is on the rise with my local playgroup, so I decided to take a stab at the format. Using a lot of left over cards from years gone by, I decided to throw together a chaotic deck with the goal of messing around with the board state rather than just win. I settled on Jhoira as my general because of all of the fun, high costing cards in my colors. Jhoira is there to counter the little ramp in UR. This is the result of my work, and overall I have been happy with how the deck has played out, but it definitely does need some tweaking. Lands and consistency have All constructive criticism and suggestions are more than welcome, but remember, I do sadly have a finite budget, so please not $15+ cards. Thanks in advance!
Hi there! Welcome to EDH I have never played with Jhoira of the Ghitu as my commander, but I have used her in a deck or two. I've also had a chaos deck built around Zedruu the Greathearted. I love cards like Timesifter but my play group hates them so be careful when playing chaos. Check out some of the other Zedruu deck lists for some more chaos ideas.
A lot will depend on who you play against. For instance my playgroup isn't a huge fan of overall chaos so cards like In general here are some things about your card list that I've noticed:
Get more dual lands. I realize that duals can be a bit expensive, but Theros UR land shouldn't be too bad. Also, I'd take out Caldera Lake. Pinging yourself for colored mana can be alright at times, but it can be dangerous if your life gets low.
I would also look into more expensive creatures since Jhoira can potentially let you cheat them into play. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind is a good example. Plus, it adds card draw.
Some cards you have as well such as Shock and Rite of Flame are a bit underwhelming in EDH. I know that in most other formats one mana cards are amazing. In EDH, they're good, but only for combing. Also, I've found that board wipe cards tend to do better than spot removal. Evacuation or an overloaded Cyclonic Rift work wonders. I'll add more ideas later. Good luck!
Thanks for the suggestions. I know that caldera lake is pretty bad, and I'm trading with some friends for better duals whenever I can. The painlands are only intended to hold me over until I get better lands. Thank you for the tips on spot removal vs. mass removal. EDH is new territory and I need a little bit of time to really get the hang of EDH card evaluation. I'll probably take out shock and some of the rituals for some higher costing cards like Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and cyclonic rift. As to my play group disliking chaos decks in general, I talked to them about and they're okay with it. They all are pretty casual, and it is some nice variance to their decks (Oloro pillow-fort, Kaalia, etc.).
I was convinced that the mass bounce of cyclonic rift was much better than the, albiet less mana intensive, shock. I also decided that the rituals have little place in an EDH deck, as they affect very little. I chose to replace them with the Niv-Mizzets because they function as both large fliers, and draw engines
Possibility Storm (my absolute favorite chaos card; the things that ensue are crazy especially if Hive Mind and Eye of the Storm are out... HOWEVER, it will not trigger with Jhoira's ability sadly)
Palinchron (Deadeye and Palinchron make an infinite mana combo; Palinchron is expensive but I finally broke down and picked one up as just about any blue deck I run now has this combo
Overall, I'd say use the Gatherer to search for cards by color etc... While I haven't played Jhoira much the big things I'd say would be to play a few high cost spells to cheat out with her, but overall don't rely to heavily on it. If someone tucks your general or constantly kills her then that's bad. For that matter some auto-include cards in any EDH deck are:
A final word of warning with Jhoira is that when the suspended cards loses it's last counter it is cast as is. You cannot overload the spell nor can you pay X mana if that's in the cost. At least that's the way I interpret the rule. Just a heads up so you don't have a misplay. Good luck!
Notable changes - Despite the great quality of counterspells that tuck in this format, this deck pushes the limits of what my playgroup will accept, and I wish to keep the deck mounted squarely in the "acceptable" range. Regarding teferi's puzzle box, while it is great fun and always immensely interesting for me, it can both annoy my opponents my than I am comfortable with, the same reason I am avoiding windfall, as well as hurt the already few tutors I have. With legerdemain, I found I was able to cast it far too inconsistently for my liking. Despite that, I have no wish to loosen up on the donation subtheme of this deck, and so new suggestions would be much appreciated here. As to the cards I added in, most are simply on theme, while a couple of them (chromatic lantern, swiftfoot boots) are just universally great in EDH. As always, the deck still needs more work, and I am doing my best to trade for a better manabase, so I am very open to lots of ideas.
1 Jhoira of the Ghitu
Lands
1 Caldera Lake
1 Command Tower
17 Island
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Izzet Guildgate
14 Mountain
1 Shivan Reef
Creatures
1 Bazaar Trader
1 Braids, Conjurer Adept
1 Bronze Bombshell
1 Dominus of Fealty
1 Ethereal Usher
1 Grinning Ignus
1 Magus of the Future
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
1 Rust Elemental
1 Steel Golem
1 Taniwha
1 Walking Atlas
Instants
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Echoing Truth
1 Fact or Fiction
1 High Tide
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Long-Term Plans
1 Mana Leak
1 Radiate
1 Redirect
1 Riddle of Lightning
1 Seething Song
1 Split Decision
1 Cultural Exchange
1 Donate
1 Foresee
1 Goblin Game
1 Illicit Auction
1 Jokulhaups
1 Knowledge Exploitation
1 Mana Clash
1 Plea for Power
1 Recurring Insight
1 Retraced Image
1 Scrambleverse
1 Thieves' Auction
1 Warp World
Enchantments
1 Confusion in the Ranks
1 Curse of Echoes
1 Eye of the Storm
1 Future Sight
1 Grip of Chaos
1 Hive Mind
1 Mind Unbound
1 Paradox Haze
1 Planar Chaos
1 Possibility Storm
1 Puca's Mischief
1 Spellweaver Volute
1 Thought Lash
1 Wild Evocation
1 Zur's Weirding
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Izzet Signet
1 Knowledge Pool
1 Planar Portal
1 Skyship Weatherlight
1 Sol Ring
1 Swiftfoot Boots
A lot will depend on who you play against. For instance my playgroup isn't a huge fan of overall chaos so cards like In general here are some things about your card list that I've noticed:
Get more dual lands. I realize that duals can be a bit expensive, but Theros UR land shouldn't be too bad. Also, I'd take out Caldera Lake. Pinging yourself for colored mana can be alright at times, but it can be dangerous if your life gets low.
I would also look into more expensive creatures since Jhoira can potentially let you cheat them into play. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind is a good example. Plus, it adds card draw.
Some cards you have as well such as Shock and Rite of Flame are a bit underwhelming in EDH. I know that in most other formats one mana cards are amazing. In EDH, they're good, but only for combing. Also, I've found that board wipe cards tend to do better than spot removal. Evacuation or an overloaded Cyclonic Rift work wonders. I'll add more ideas later. Good luck!
Out:
Desperate Ritual
Rite of Flame
Shock
In:
Cyclonic Rift
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
I was convinced that the mass bounce of cyclonic rift was much better than the, albiet less mana intensive, shock. I also decided that the rituals have little place in an EDH deck, as they affect very little. I chose to replace them with the Niv-Mizzets because they function as both large fliers, and draw engines
Land and Mana Rocks
Chaos Inducers
Some other cards I might recommend:
Overall, I'd say use the Gatherer to search for cards by color etc... While I haven't played Jhoira much the big things I'd say would be to play a few high cost spells to cheat out with her, but overall don't rely to heavily on it. If someone tucks your general or constantly kills her then that's bad. For that matter some auto-include cards in any EDH deck are:
A final word of warning with Jhoira is that when the suspended cards loses it's last counter it is cast as is. You cannot overload the spell nor can you pay X mana if that's in the cost. At least that's the way I interpret the rule. Just a heads up so you don't have a misplay. Good luck!
Changes
pyretic ritual -> chromatic lantern
confiscate -> taniwha
legerdemain -> knowledge pool
teferi's puzzle box -> swiftfoot boots
hinder -> paradox haze
tidal influence -> zur's weirding
basalt monolith -> possibility storm
Notable changes - Despite the great quality of counterspells that tuck in this format, this deck pushes the limits of what my playgroup will accept, and I wish to keep the deck mounted squarely in the "acceptable" range. Regarding teferi's puzzle box, while it is great fun and always immensely interesting for me, it can both annoy my opponents my than I am comfortable with, the same reason I am avoiding windfall, as well as hurt the already few tutors I have. With legerdemain, I found I was able to cast it far too inconsistently for my liking. Despite that, I have no wish to loosen up on the donation subtheme of this deck, and so new suggestions would be much appreciated here. As to the cards I added in, most are simply on theme, while a couple of them (chromatic lantern, swiftfoot boots) are just universally great in EDH. As always, the deck still needs more work, and I am doing my best to trade for a better manabase, so I am very open to lots of ideas.