What is your Jhoira deck trying to do to win the game?
Maybe it is just the difference in decks, since Jhoira can be built in a few ways. I run a Jhoira time warp deck (decklist here), and am exposed to two different Meren decks. Neither of them can keep up once I can start hard-casting spells around turn-6 to 8, and I hardly care if they kill Jhoira since she is just an early enabler to cheat a few spells out.
Most Meren decks just try to temp you out with grave pact effects and repeated utility removal (fleshbag marauder/caustic caterpillar/spore frogs). Most Meren decks don't actually put up an offensive until much later in a game, which should give you time to keep playing lands. I don't run any large creatures or land-destruction, and since I can just toss out any random time warp and treat it like explore, I can end up casting larger spells by the time a Meren deck starts casting their scary game-enders, without jhoira.
If your deck is tuned to have giant creatures resolve off Jhoira, then the grave pact effects are going to wreck you. You will need to counter them, or you may want to toss in a few generic fillers for board-bounce (crush of tentacles/devastation tide/wash out/cyclonic rifts). I would absolutely focus on playing out your lands (since artifacts are vulnerable to repeatable destruction) over ramping Jhoira out asap since she is likely to die very quickly, and the Meren deck really doesn't threaten your life total for quite some time.
edit; possibly the best two cards you could add to Jhoira to screw with Meren is time reversal and time spiral. The best play is if you cast one of those after a board-wipe/bounce, like an EOT cyclonic rift or stack devistation tide ontop of your deck and flip/miracle it EOT with sensei's top or some cantrip. They will need to put out quite a bit of effort to reestablish any sort of threatening presence.
temporal cascade is another possibility here, but unlikely to be hard-cast, so you will need Jhoira to suspend it. You can choose to have everyone (including yourself) go hell-bent, while still removing their graveyard. Pretty good if you can get a mass-bounce off beforehand. You can entwine off Jhoira if you need/want the cards, but if you already have a fattie coming off suspend as well, then you probably don't want to do that.
Your in red blue, so you have plenty of card draw and access to exarch twin. That's your answer to everything.
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Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Keep Meren off the board, that should be easiest for UR to do. You also have options like Torpor Orb to shut down most of Meren's answers to things, or Grafdigger's Cage to slow her down dramatically (forcing her to send the creatures to her hand, instead of reanimating them directly).
also, things like temporal cascade as mentioned above are a good idea. though it took me a long time to realise, the entwine cost is actually a trap. i dont think i ever use both sides anymore; i almost always use it as GY hate.
Meren has no counterspells. If you get a Jokulhaups and some big threat to resolve in the same upkeep with Jokulhaps first, then they will have nothing to sacrifice to Grave Pact like effects. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir will prevent your opponent from doing anything during your turn, so you are sure to resolve your spells. Denying Wind will allow you to exile all gravepact effects from their library, preventing them ever hitting the table in the first place.
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My opponent's Meren deck is very resilient towards all threats thrown at it, Birthing Pod for answers
Leyline of the Void? Rest in Peace?Reclamation Sage.
Withered Wretch? Phyrexian Plaguelord
Untargetable creatures? [card]Bloodwitch of Malakir [card]or something like that (when his creature dies, you sack a creature also).
I need some answers for my Jhoira deck without diluting its strategy (the usual suspend fatty and board wipe route). I need ideas, please!
Salt is part of the game. Deal with it.
Maybe it is just the difference in decks, since Jhoira can be built in a few ways. I run a Jhoira time warp deck (decklist here), and am exposed to two different Meren decks. Neither of them can keep up once I can start hard-casting spells around turn-6 to 8, and I hardly care if they kill Jhoira since she is just an early enabler to cheat a few spells out.
Most Meren decks just try to temp you out with grave pact effects and repeated utility removal (fleshbag marauder/caustic caterpillar/spore frogs). Most Meren decks don't actually put up an offensive until much later in a game, which should give you time to keep playing lands. I don't run any large creatures or land-destruction, and since I can just toss out any random time warp and treat it like explore, I can end up casting larger spells by the time a Meren deck starts casting their scary game-enders, without jhoira.
If your deck is tuned to have giant creatures resolve off Jhoira, then the grave pact effects are going to wreck you. You will need to counter them, or you may want to toss in a few generic fillers for board-bounce (crush of tentacles/devastation tide/wash out/cyclonic rifts). I would absolutely focus on playing out your lands (since artifacts are vulnerable to repeatable destruction) over ramping Jhoira out asap since she is likely to die very quickly, and the Meren deck really doesn't threaten your life total for quite some time.
edit; possibly the best two cards you could add to Jhoira to screw with Meren is time reversal and time spiral. The best play is if you cast one of those after a board-wipe/bounce, like an EOT cyclonic rift or stack devistation tide ontop of your deck and flip/miracle it EOT with sensei's top or some cantrip. They will need to put out quite a bit of effort to reestablish any sort of threatening presence.
temporal cascade is another possibility here, but unlikely to be hard-cast, so you will need Jhoira to suspend it. You can choose to have everyone (including yourself) go hell-bent, while still removing their graveyard. Pretty good if you can get a mass-bounce off beforehand. You can entwine off Jhoira if you need/want the cards, but if you already have a fattie coming off suspend as well, then you probably don't want to do that.
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Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
UR also has some grave hate, such as:
- Bazaar of Wonders
- Burn Away
- Day's Undoing
- Decree of Annihilation
- Diminishing Returns
- Time Reversal
- Time Spiral
- Timetwister
(Plus the colorless options, like Tormod's Crypt and Relic of Progenitus.)Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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also, things like temporal cascade as mentioned above are a good idea. though it took me a long time to realise, the entwine cost is actually a trap. i dont think i ever use both sides anymore; i almost always use it as GY hate.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir will prevent your opponent from doing anything during your turn, so you are sure to resolve your spells.
Denying Wind will allow you to exile all gravepact effects from their library, preventing them ever hitting the table in the first place.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.