This deck costs around $151 if you were to buy them as singles.
I thought I'd do a little animation below to show Jhoira back behind the wheel of the newly refurbished Weatherlight, where she belongs.
Almost all of the cards in the deck, besides lands and a handful of cards, are historical. Meaning that when you cast them, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain ability to draw a card will trigger.
Just by the virtue of drawing so many cards, the bottleneck for this deck is going to be mana. So we have a bunch of artifacts which produce mana, and eventually we want to cast Paradox Engine, so that these untap and we are able to play out all our cards, and draw through the deck.
There are 4 cards which allow most of your spells to cost less, and these will help the general combo turns. Foundry Inspector, Inspiring Statuary, Jhoira's Familiar and The Immortal Sun. Once we have a couple of these are in play then spells start almost becoming free to cast, if not nothing.
Inspiring Statuary will make all your colored spells, probably cost 1 or 2 mana. It must be noted that there are only 13 colored spells in the deck that can benefit. But it really shines, when you can keep casting Jhoira if she is targetted a lot and sent back to the command zone. Any land or artifact you draw can help to keep paying for her commander tax, meaning Inspiring Statuary really makes it hard to prevent you from getting your card drawing engine online.
Storm the Vault is without a doubt one of the best cards in the deck to get the mana you need. Transforming this card is the fastest way to victory.
There are a few instants for disruption, it is a combo deck, so you do not want to get stuck with too many cards that are not part of the draw engine. However, there are some cheap disruption cards, to help stop the big blowout cards that may be used in a game, and most importantly protection for some of your key cards.
Aetherflux Reservoir is the main win condition, expect to kill all opponents once you have the full setup, you can gain hundreds of life once you have Paradox Engine.
There are 23 lands in the deck, but you have Traveler's Amulet, Renegade Map, which are proxy lands. The reason we don't need a high threshold of lands, is because once you get your engine going you will always draw excess lands, so they become very superfluous very quickly.
Sequestered Stash can get artifacts back from the graveyard. There are some key unique artifacts in the deck, so the ability to get them back after potential removal is important.
I did look to fit Paradoxical Outcome into the deck, but there are just not enough really cheap artifacts to safely cast this and deploy them again. Sure you can do it once you're already have a setup, but it's a bit like more winning imo.
I'm looking at putting The Mirari Conjecture into a Muldrotha, the Gravetide as you can recast it after it finishes it's final saga (did they mean for us to say this?). But the Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain deck only has a few instants, not enough I think.
I did look to fit Paradoxical Outcome into the deck, but there are just not enough really cheap artifacts to safely cast this and deploy them again. Sure you can do it once you're already have a setup, but it's a bit like more winning imo.
I'm looking at putting The Mirari Conjecture into a Muldrotha, the Gravetide as you can recast it after it finishes it's final saga (did they mean for us to say this?). But the Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain deck only has a few instants, not enough I think.
Hmmmm fair. Just figured I would let you know as I noticed the interaction when doing my Teferi deck.
Also yes I think its funny how we are talking about the sagas.
Actually this card is pretty strong. Diving through 10 cards, is a clear way to get victory conditions. At this stage I'm going to take out Metalwork Colossus for it.
With only 22 lands and acmc ~3.5 You will have troubles casting spells in a timely manner. Unlike commander the mana rocks in T2 are very slow and inefficient. For example Mox Amber will tap for mana only if one of 5 of Your cards is in play and those start at cmc 4. Rest of the mana rocks start at cmc 3. You need to dump 6 mana into Pyramid to actualy net mana. Azor's Gateway is also too slow to serve as mana rock but I guess this deck needs as much card selection as possible.
You can't really count on the draws from Jhoira because once Your opponents realize how much You depend on Your commander she will die immediatelly and recasting her multiple times with that manabase will be challenging.
Bomat Courier and Hope of Ghirapur are cute but effectively do nothing. Hope can be of some help against control player but with 1/1 body without haste it's hard to imagine it will be able to slip through blockers. Bomat Courier is good only in opening hand because later on everyone will leave blockers. Also exile clause is not optional and You might end up exiling Your win conditions.
Planeswalkers - they are just bad in multiplayer games if You can't defend them and this list doesn't have ways to do so. Also they are major part of the cost of the deck so replacing them is not a bad idea, but by no means if You have them then test them.
Suggested replacements:
Mox Amber -> Memorial to Genius - costly draw but it's in land slot and if we add more lands then why not add more possible value
Bomat Courier -> Zhalfirin Void - more mana and some card filtering, lack of colors should not hurt with that many colorless cards
Highland Lake -> Sulfur Falls - quality of life replacement, taplands are not the best
Island -> Mountain - more red sources needed due to replacements I suggest
Karn, Scion of Urza -> Vance's Blasting Cannons - non-Jhoira card draw, cantrips with Jhoira on board (pun not intended) and if it flips provides removal
Chandra, Torch of Defiance -> Squee, the Immortal - discourage attackers with infinite blocker
Hope of Ghiraput -> Voltaic Servant - better blocker and some coincidental value with a few cards in the deck
Cards to consider:
Mishra's Self-Replicator - in a way it duplicates Locust God's ability, too bad I can't see a way to give them haste
Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp - 4 cmc 5/6 flier seems like a good deal but I'm not sure if it fits this deck gameplan enough
With only 22 lands and acmc ~3.5 You will have troubles casting spells in a timely manner. Unlike commander the mana rocks in T2 are very slow and inefficient. For example Mox Amber will tap for mana only if one of 5 of Your cards is in play and those start at cmc 4. Rest of the mana rocks start at cmc 3. You need to dump 6 mana into Pyramid to actualy net mana. Azor's Gateway is also too slow to serve as mana rock but I guess this deck needs as much card selection as possible.
You can't really count on the draws from Jhoira because once Your opponents realize how much You depend on Your commander she will die immediatelly and recasting her multiple times with that manabase will be challenging.
Bomat Courier and Hope of Ghirapur are cute but effectively do nothing. Hope can be of some help against control player but with 1/1 body without haste it's hard to imagine it will be able to slip through blockers. Bomat Courier is good only in opening hand because later on everyone will leave blockers. Also exile clause is not optional and You might end up exiling Your win conditions.
Planeswalkers - they are just bad in multiplayer games if You can't defend them and this list doesn't have ways to do so. Also they are major part of the cost of the deck so replacing them is not a bad idea, but by no means if You have them then test them.
Suggested replacements:
Mox Amber -> Memorial to Genius - costly draw but it's in land slot and if we add more lands then why not add more possible value
Bomat Courier -> Zhalfirin Void - more mana and some card filtering, lack of colors should not hurt with that many colorless cards
Highland Lake -> Sulfur Falls - quality of life replacement, taplands are not the best
Island -> Mountain - more red sources needed due to replacements I suggest
Karn, Scion of Urza -> Vance's Blasting Cannons - non-Jhoira card draw, cantrips with Jhoira on board (pun not intended) and if it flips provides removal
Chandra, Torch of Defiance -> Squee, the Immortal - discourage attackers with infinite blocker
Hope of Ghiraput -> Voltaic Servant - better blocker and some coincidental value with a few cards in the deck
Cards to consider:
Mishra's Self-Replicator - in a way it duplicates Locust God's ability, too bad I can't see a way to give them haste
Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp - 4 cmc 5/6 flier seems like a good deal but I'm not sure if it fits this deck gameplan enough
I like the suggestions here.
I do like Bomat Courier in general, I feel it's Brawls best first turn play, but the win conditions are precious in this deck, and if just one of them gets exiled and not drawn then its a big problem. Plus drawing is not the issue for this deck.
Karn, Scion of Urza is more for the X/X creatures. In theory you can make a couple of probably 6/6, etc, but I guess this isn't actually all that exciting.
Mox Amber I'm going to keep. It's part of the Paradox Engine plan, which there are only 8 mana artifacts, and this one give color. This deck lives and dies with Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain in play, so it's less about early mana, and more about combo.
I do like Memorial to Genius as a card, but I don't think I'd ever have the time for 5 mana, and going down a land in the process. It's perfect in my Nissa, Steward of Elements deck, but I think will just end up being a coming into play tapped Island here.
I'm going to go up to 23 lands. It's perfectly reasonable to assume that your game probably starts with having to cast Jhoira for 6 mana, due to removal.
I'll keep Chandra, Torch of Defiance in for the mean time, but I'll make it my first slot to go, and I'm sure Domainaria will have further cards I'll want to add. If I still had planeswalkers to protect, then Squee, the Immortal might be alright. I'm a bit worried about spending RR each time, colored mana is going to be premium each turn.
By the way I missed one thing - Immortal Sun and Chandra (and Karn) are not the best of friends. I guess making it turn off only opposing walkers was making this artifact too good.
That RR on Squee might be hard. My idea was that its cmc lower than all other legends would turn on Mox Amber quicker. I'm hoping that the last cards in Dominaria spoiler will include low cmc mana rocks, producing colored mana if possible. Those colorless ones are not the best.
By the way I missed one thing - Immortal Sun and Chandra (and Karn) are not the best of friends. I guess making it turn off only opposing walkers was making this artifact too good.
That RR on Squee might be hard. My idea was that its cmc lower than all other legends would turn on Mox Amber quicker. I'm hoping that the last cards in Dominaria spoiler will include low cmc mana rocks, producing colored mana if possible. Those colorless ones are not the best.
Great point on the Immortal Sun. For the mean time I'm going to run Baral's Expertise instead of Chandra. There is literally no other removal in the deck, and there are plenty of hosers in the format.
The good thing is that a lot of the hosers are less effective against this deck than against others - things like Spyglass are less likely to hit a card in that list than opposing walkers, gods etc.
Full spoiler is available and there is no new mana rocks. It's weird how few of those is available in standard. Anyway I found those two interesting from the last spoiled batch:
Artificer's Assistant - not really that great but its interesting as it turns Jhoira trigger into Opt
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog - this big boy could be a serious threat, untapping it a few times should not be a problem especially with Voltaic Servant in play
The good thing is that a lot of the hosers are less effective against this deck than against others - things like Spyglass are less likely to hit a card in that list than opposing walkers, gods etc.
Full spoiler is available and there is no new mana rocks. It's weird how few of those is available in standard. Anyway I found those two interesting from the last spoiled batch:
Artificer's Assistant - not really that great but its interesting as it turns Jhoira trigger into mini-Preordain
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog - this big boy could be a serious threat, untapping it a few times should not be a problem especially with Voltaic Servant in play
I was really hoping for at least one more janky mana rock from the uncommon or commons, but alas.
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog is interesting, it should be a 7/7 attacker and blocker, as you should be able to untap it post combat every turn. However for the same reasons that I cut Metalwork Colossus from my original list, the big body I don't think is what this deck wants.
It might be correct to run one more win condition however, and this guy does have trample, which should ensure damage.
Artificer's Assistant is tempting, it can help to smooth out flooded draws, but you should on average have cards to play in your hand, even in flooded games.. I'm not too worried about digging for the really combo cards, because you need to setup with mana rocks, etc before hand, so I feel if you just let the game go naturally, timing should coincide with drawing them. Famous last words as the bottom card is a Paradox Engine.
I was thinking of Traxos mainly as a blocker to buy time until actual wincons can be played and as a way to generate additional mana from Neheb (that trample is relevant).
Hangarback is not standard legal is it?
Also I'm so spoiled by good cantrips that I forgot what Opt does. I have edited my earlier post to fix this.
I was thinking of Traxos mainly as a blocker to buy time until actual wincons can be played and as a way to generate additional mana from Neheb (that trample is relevant).
Hangarback is not standard legal is it?
Oops, should have known Hangarback was too good to have "missed" it. Got a bit excited and just read the Kaladesh part
I think Traxos is definitely worth testing, I'll try some games for sure in that Vance's Cannons slot. As you say it can potentially fuel Neheb, and trample is the key part of that.
Is there a reason you're not playing the natural artifact infinite combo?
Powerstone Shard goes infinite and kills the table with Cogwork Assembler and 17 mana- which this deck seems like it could reliably generate.
Cast or Whir both Powerstone and Cogwork into play
Copy Powerstone with Cogwork (7 mana spent)
Copy Powerstone with Cogwork (14 mana spent)
Tap two Powerstones for 3, copy one with Cogwork (15 mana spent)
Tap two Powerstones for 8, copy one with Cogwork (15 mana spent, float 1)
Tap the last Powerstone for 5, copy it with Cogwork (16 mana spent)
Tap Powerstone for 6, copy it with Cogwork (17 mana spent)
Tap Powerstone for 7, copy it with Cogwork (17 mana spent)
Tap Powerstone for 8, copy it with Cogwork (17 mana spent, float 1)
You can keep doing this from here generating infinite mana until you decide to copy Cogwork with itself infinite times and attack with infinite 2/3s.
The reason I really like this combo is that all three pieces - Powerstone, Cogwork, and Mirror - can be tutored with Trophy Mage, Whir of Invention, and Inventors' Fair, which makes it very reliable. Also, not having Glint-Nest Crane in here seems like an oversight; it's a ridiculously efficient cantrip.
Is there a reason you're not playing the natural artifact infinite combo?
Powerstone Shard goes infinite and kills the table with Cogwork Assembler and 17 mana- which this deck seems like it could reliably generate.
Cast or Whir both Powerstone and Cogwork into play
Copy Powerstone with Cogwork (7 mana spent)
Copy Powerstone with Cogwork (14 mana spent)
Tap two Powerstones for 3, copy one with Cogwork (15 mana spent)
Tap two Powerstones for 8, copy one with Cogwork (15 mana spent, float 1)
Tap the last Powerstone for 5, copy it with Cogwork (16 mana spent)
Tap Powerstone for 6, copy it with Cogwork (17 mana spent)
Tap Powerstone for 7, copy it with Cogwork (17 mana spent)
Tap Powerstone for 8, copy it with Cogwork (17 mana spent, float 1)
You can keep doing this from here generating infinite mana until you decide to copy Cogwork with itself infinite times and attack with infinite 2/3s.
The reason I really like this combo is that all three pieces - Powerstone, Cogwork, and Mirror - can be tutored with Trophy Mage, Whir of Invention, and Inventors' Fair, which makes it very reliable. Also, not having Glint-Nest Crane in here seems like an oversight; it's a ridiculously efficient cantrip.
Actually Mirage Mirror has proven to be a really powerful card in multiplayer, even it's ability to copy a land at end opponents turn means you can get an additional mana that way. It's ability to copy creatures, means that it makes attacking you quite awkward for opponents as you can mirror their best attacker. The fact is that I was really hoping for more mana rocks in Dominaria to make the deck better. So I can see that coping artifacts, although not as consistent at getting you the cards, can up this threshold. Copying an artifact at end of opponents turn is the key to untapping with extra mana, rather than spending the copy ability in your own turn.
On that note, Saheeli Rai is potentially another mana rock for a Paradox Engine combo turn. At worst, with Jhoira in play it's a 3 mana cantrip. But if you can time it so it's on the combo turn, then you can get an extra mana rock or spell reducer. It's on my radar.
Saheeli's Artistry is a little less appealing believe it or not, as 6 mana is a lot. You do get to keep your artifact, but there are not a lot of targets for the creature portion; Foundry Inspector, Jhoira's Familiar, Scrap Trawler and Workshop Assistant. The rest are legendary. You can of course target an opponents creature, but this deck is all about it's own synergy.
I was thinking about Trophy Mage, it can get a number of key cards, including most of the colorless mana rocks, but also Foundry Inspector or Inspiring Statuary. The reason I didn't include it was that I'm worried about spending a turn just casting it, without other plays is a bit too slow. But this is probably incorrect, as it works as the best type of card replacement, and doesn't need Jhoira in play for value.
Alright so for the infinite combo, 17 mana is still a big deal. Even when you have Paradox Engine online, you're still spending your mana as you cast cards. So at this stage, what I will do is when playing games, actually record the number of times I can get to this mana threshold, and then evaluate whether at that spot I'm just winning anyway, which I suspect would be the case.
Glint-Nest Crane is an oversight for sure. It's ability to dig deeper, even without Jhoira in play, makes this card very good.
Note that when I say the combo is a lot cheaper with Paradox Engine or Mirage Mirror in play, I mean a *lot* cheaper. With Mirage Mirror, it's 12 mana to go infinite (10 if you EoT), with Saheeli it's 10, and with paradox engine you can probably do it from 7 with relative ease. That still might not be worth it, but once you're on 10+ artifact tutors / search effects, I really like having an infinite combo available.
That said, if you want to combo off with Cogwork, you might be better off just playing with Saheeli as your commander to ensure the free copy on demand, and then just playing a mostly-blue counterspell / cantrip deck that goes off for infinite whenever the coast is clear. Or maybe even going mono-blue with Padeem as your commander.
You want to get us many Powerstone Shard into play as you possibly can, as they tap for each copy in play. Cogwork Assembler is one of the cards that allows you to copy artifacts. If you can get at least 7 copies of Powerstone Shard into play, then you will be able to tap each one to use Cogwork Assembler ability to produce another one, Ad Infinitum.
With Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, the idea is to essentially draw a card every time you play a card. You will out resource your opponents.
Paradox Engine is key to comboing for drawing your entire deck. Aetherflux Reservoir will provide the inevitability.
This deck costs around $151 if you were to buy them as singles.
I thought I'd do a little animation below to show Jhoira back behind the wheel of the newly refurbished Weatherlight, where she belongs.
Almost all of the cards in the deck, besides lands and a handful of cards, are historical. Meaning that when you cast them, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain ability to draw a card will trigger.
Just by the virtue of drawing so many cards, the bottleneck for this deck is going to be mana. So we have a bunch of artifacts which produce mana, and eventually we want to cast Paradox Engine, so that these untap and we are able to play out all our cards, and draw through the deck.
There are 4 cards which allow most of your spells to cost less, and these will help the general combo turns. Foundry Inspector, Inspiring Statuary, Jhoira's Familiar and The Immortal Sun. Once we have a couple of these are in play then spells start almost becoming free to cast, if not nothing.
Inspiring Statuary will make all your colored spells, probably cost 1 or 2 mana. It must be noted that there are only 13 colored spells in the deck that can benefit. But it really shines, when you can keep casting Jhoira if she is targetted a lot and sent back to the command zone. Any land or artifact you draw can help to keep paying for her commander tax, meaning Inspiring Statuary really makes it hard to prevent you from getting your card drawing engine online.
Izzet has always struggled with producing extra land drops. But with Search for Azcanta, Azor's Gateway, Treasure Map and Storm the Vault, transforming these cards is a nice way to get the mana you need for turns. Azor's Gateway is a great way to filter lands away, as you will invariably flood out with them with drawing so many cards. Paradox Engine provides more value for Azor's Gateway, Sunset Pyramid and Treasure Map.
Storm the Vault is without a doubt one of the best cards in the deck to get the mana you need. Transforming this card is the fastest way to victory.
There are a few instants for disruption, it is a combo deck, so you do not want to get stuck with too many cards that are not part of the draw engine. However, there are some cheap disruption cards, to help stop the big blowout cards that may be used in a game, and most importantly protection for some of your key cards.
Aetherflux Reservoir is the main win condition, expect to kill all opponents once you have the full setup, you can gain hundreds of life once you have Paradox Engine.
Baral's Expertise and River's Rebuke can handle some big threats or hoser cards. However I often use Baral's Expertise on my own cheaper artifacts, to get value out of Jhoira. I don't have Paradoxical Outcome in the deck, it is a bit too situational, and Baral's Expertise can be used against opponents so just better for Brawl.
There are 23 lands in the deck, but you have Traveler's Amulet, Renegade Map, which are proxy lands. The reason we don't need a high threshold of lands, is because once you get your engine going you will always draw excess lands, so they become very superfluous very quickly.
Sequestered Stash can get artifacts back from the graveyard. There are some key unique artifacts in the deck, so the ability to get them back after potential removal is important.
1 Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
Artifacts (mana) (9)
1 Mox Amber
1 Pyramid of the Pantheon
1 Dragon's Hoard
1 Cultivator's Caravan
1 Powerstone Shard
1 Hierophant's Chalice
1 Orazca Relic
1 Manalith
1 Gilded Lotus
Artifacts (cost reduction) (4)
1 Foundry Inspector
1 Inspiring Statuary
1 Jhoira's Familiar
1 The Immortal Sun
Artifacts (8)
1 Traveler's Amulet
1 Renegade Map
1 Azor's Gateway
1 Sunset Pyramid
1 Treasure Map
1 Mirage Mirror
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Paradox Engine
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Storm the Vault
1 The Antiquities War
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
Non-legendary non-artifact creature (3)
1 Siren Stormtamer
1 Glint-Nest Crane
1 Trophy Mage
Instants and sorcery (7)
1 Dive Down
1 Spell Pierce
1 Negate
1 Disallow
1 Baral's Expertise
1 River's Rebuke
1 Whir of Invention
Enchantment (1)
1 Omniscience
9 Island
5 Mountain
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Spirebluff Canal
1 Highland Lake
1 Desert of the Fervent
1 Desert of the Mindful
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Sequestered Stash
1 Field of Ruin
1 Scavenger Grounds
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I'm looking at putting The Mirari Conjecture into a Muldrotha, the Gravetide as you can recast it after it finishes it's final saga (did they mean for us to say this?). But the Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain deck only has a few instants, not enough I think.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Hmmm oh yeah. Have you tried The Antiquities War.
Also yes I think its funny how we are talking about the sagas.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Added
Gilded Lotus
Removed
Search for Azcanta
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
With only 22 lands and acmc ~3.5 You will have troubles casting spells in a timely manner. Unlike commander the mana rocks in T2 are very slow and inefficient. For example Mox Amber will tap for mana only if one of 5 of Your cards is in play and those start at cmc 4. Rest of the mana rocks start at cmc 3. You need to dump 6 mana into Pyramid to actualy net mana. Azor's Gateway is also too slow to serve as mana rock but I guess this deck needs as much card selection as possible.
You can't really count on the draws from Jhoira because once Your opponents realize how much You depend on Your commander she will die immediatelly and recasting her multiple times with that manabase will be challenging.
Bomat Courier and Hope of Ghirapur are cute but effectively do nothing. Hope can be of some help against control player but with 1/1 body without haste it's hard to imagine it will be able to slip through blockers. Bomat Courier is good only in opening hand because later on everyone will leave blockers. Also exile clause is not optional and You might end up exiling Your win conditions.
Planeswalkers - they are just bad in multiplayer games if You can't defend them and this list doesn't have ways to do so. Also they are major part of the cost of the deck so replacing them is not a bad idea, but by no means if You have them then test them.
Suggested replacements:
Mox Amber -> Memorial to Genius - costly draw but it's in land slot and if we add more lands then why not add more possible value
Bomat Courier -> Zhalfirin Void - more mana and some card filtering, lack of colors should not hurt with that many colorless cards
Highland Lake -> Sulfur Falls - quality of life replacement, taplands are not the best
Island -> Mountain - more red sources needed due to replacements I suggest
Karn, Scion of Urza -> Vance's Blasting Cannons - non-Jhoira card draw, cantrips with Jhoira on board (pun not intended) and if it flips provides removal
Chandra, Torch of Defiance -> Squee, the Immortal - discourage attackers with infinite blocker
Hope of Ghiraput -> Voltaic Servant - better blocker and some coincidental value with a few cards in the deck
Cards to consider:
Mishra's Self-Replicator - in a way it duplicates Locust God's ability, too bad I can't see a way to give them haste
Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp - 4 cmc 5/6 flier seems like a good deal but I'm not sure if it fits this deck gameplan enough
I do like Bomat Courier in general, I feel it's Brawls best first turn play, but the win conditions are precious in this deck, and if just one of them gets exiled and not drawn then its a big problem. Plus drawing is not the issue for this deck.
Karn, Scion of Urza is more for the X/X creatures. In theory you can make a couple of probably 6/6, etc, but I guess this isn't actually all that exciting.
Mox Amber I'm going to keep. It's part of the Paradox Engine plan, which there are only 8 mana artifacts, and this one give color. This deck lives and dies with Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain in play, so it's less about early mana, and more about combo.
Voltaic Servant might be worth a shot, can be used with Azor's Gateway, Treasure Map and untap a Gilded Lotus for potential disruption. Not sure though, that sounds a little valued.
[edit]Can turn on Pyramid of the Pantheon more quickly, so better.
I do like Memorial to Genius as a card, but I don't think I'd ever have the time for 5 mana, and going down a land in the process. It's perfect in my Nissa, Steward of Elements deck, but I think will just end up being a coming into play tapped Island here.
I'm going to go up to 23 lands. It's perfectly reasonable to assume that your game probably starts with having to cast Jhoira for 6 mana, due to removal.
I'll keep Chandra, Torch of Defiance in for the mean time, but I'll make it my first slot to go, and I'm sure Domainaria will have further cards I'll want to add. If I still had planeswalkers to protect, then Squee, the Immortal might be alright. I'm a bit worried about spending RR each time, colored mana is going to be premium each turn.
Added
- Vance's Blasting Cannons
- Voltaic Servant
- Sulfur Falls
RemovedNiv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
That RR on Squee might be hard. My idea was that its cmc lower than all other legends would turn on Mox Amber quicker. I'm hoping that the last cards in Dominaria spoiler will include low cmc mana rocks, producing colored mana if possible. Those colorless ones are not the best.
Added
Baral's Expertise
Removed
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Full spoiler is available and there is no new mana rocks. It's weird how few of those is available in standard. Anyway I found those two interesting from the last spoiled batch:
Artificer's Assistant - not really that great but its interesting as it turns Jhoira trigger into Opt
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog - this big boy could be a serious threat, untapping it a few times should not be a problem especially with Voltaic Servant in play
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog is interesting, it should be a 7/7 attacker and blocker, as you should be able to untap it post combat every turn. However for the same reasons that I cut Metalwork Colossus from my original list, the big body I don't think is what this deck wants.
It might be correct to run one more win condition however, and this guy does have trample, which should ensure damage.
Artificer's Assistant is tempting, it can help to smooth out flooded draws, but you should on average have cards to play in your hand, even in flooded games.. I'm not too worried about digging for the really combo cards, because you need to setup with mana rocks, etc before hand, so I feel if you just let the game go naturally, timing should coincide with drawing them. Famous last words as the bottom card is a Paradox Engine.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Hangarback is not standard legal is it?
Also I'm so spoiled by good cantrips that I forgot what Opt does. I have edited my earlier post to fix this.
I think Traxos is definitely worth testing, I'll try some games for sure in that Vance's Cannons slot. As you say it can potentially fuel Neheb, and trample is the key part of that.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Powerstone Shard goes infinite and kills the table with Cogwork Assembler and 17 mana- which this deck seems like it could reliably generate.
Copy Powerstone with Cogwork (7 mana spent)
Copy Powerstone with Cogwork (14 mana spent)
Tap two Powerstones for 3, copy one with Cogwork (15 mana spent)
Tap two Powerstones for 8, copy one with Cogwork (15 mana spent, float 1)
Tap the last Powerstone for 5, copy it with Cogwork (16 mana spent)
Tap Powerstone for 6, copy it with Cogwork (17 mana spent)
Tap Powerstone for 7, copy it with Cogwork (17 mana spent)
Tap Powerstone for 8, copy it with Cogwork (17 mana spent, float 1)
You can keep doing this from here generating infinite mana until you decide to copy Cogwork with itself infinite times and attack with infinite 2/3s.
The reason I really like this combo is that all three pieces - Powerstone, Cogwork, and Mirror - can be tutored with Trophy Mage, Whir of Invention, and Inventors' Fair, which makes it very reliable. Also, not having Glint-Nest Crane in here seems like an oversight; it's a ridiculously efficient cantrip.
On that note, Saheeli Rai is potentially another mana rock for a Paradox Engine combo turn. At worst, with Jhoira in play it's a 3 mana cantrip. But if you can time it so it's on the combo turn, then you can get an extra mana rock or spell reducer. It's on my radar.
Saheeli's Artistry is a little less appealing believe it or not, as 6 mana is a lot. You do get to keep your artifact, but there are not a lot of targets for the creature portion; Foundry Inspector, Jhoira's Familiar, Scrap Trawler and Workshop Assistant. The rest are legendary. You can of course target an opponents creature, but this deck is all about it's own synergy.
I was thinking about Trophy Mage, it can get a number of key cards, including most of the colorless mana rocks, but also Foundry Inspector or Inspiring Statuary. The reason I didn't include it was that I'm worried about spending a turn just casting it, without other plays is a bit too slow. But this is probably incorrect, as it works as the best type of card replacement, and doesn't need Jhoira in play for value.
Alright so for the infinite combo, 17 mana is still a big deal. Even when you have Paradox Engine online, you're still spending your mana as you cast cards. So at this stage, what I will do is when playing games, actually record the number of times I can get to this mana threshold, and then evaluate whether at that spot I'm just winning anyway, which I suspect would be the case.
Glint-Nest Crane is an oversight for sure. It's ability to dig deeper, even without Jhoira in play, makes this card very good.
So all in all I do want Mirage Mirror, Trophy Mage and Glint-Nest Crane, but will hold off on the infinite combo. I'm going to go down a land, I do feel with Traveler's Amulet and Renegade Map, that I can get away with this number.
Added
Mirage Mirror
Glint-Nest Crane
Trophy Mage
Removed
Vance's Blasting Cannons
Opt
Mountain
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
That said, if you want to combo off with Cogwork, you might be better off just playing with Saheeli as your commander to ensure the free copy on demand, and then just playing a mostly-blue counterspell / cantrip deck that goes off for infinite whenever the coast is clear. Or maybe even going mono-blue with Padeem as your commander.
Mechanized Production is another choice for getting you to the 7x Powerstone Shard threshold.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith