MTG Salvation

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After some considerable back-and-forth between several options, and some input from the MTGS Community, I was eventually able to settle on Jalira as my mono-blue commander.

The beauty of Jalira is that her ability does not see Legendary creatures, so I was able to still run a lot of other Legends that I was debating in the maindeck without diluting the pool of cards for Jalira to polymorph into.

The deck has a bit of a Wizard sub-theme without getting too crazy (no room for Patron Wizard or Voidmage Prodigy), runs most the Polymorph variants (notable exception is Synthetic Destiny), and some token production to feed the Polymorphs.

Updated through Battlebond – 6/5/2018

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There are plenty of obvious exclusions here, including Indestructibles like Darksteel Colossus and Blightsteel Colossus, planeswalkers such as any of the Jaces, some of the more relatively expensive token producers like Trading Post or Throne of Empires, and I tried to keep my suite of non-Legendary creatures pretty tight so no Glen Elendra Archmage, Mulldrifter, or Solemn Simulacrum. Overall, I think this is just one of those decks where it could easily run 150 cards and every card is as good as the next.

Anyway, this is still a relatively new deck for me, so I’m still open to suggestions and links to other people’s Jalira lists that they run. Thanks.

EDIT:
-1 Stormtide Leviathan - I was becoming too much of a non-bo with the rest of the deck.
-1 Nuisance Engine - I started testing Throne of Empires and I like it much more.
+1 Throne of Empires - With the first token costing the same as Nuisance Enginer, but each token afterward costing one less, this is just much better. I also like that they are 1/1's instead of 0/1's.
+1 Thousand-Year Elixir - Being able to use Jalira immediately and potentially double-up her ability makes this worthwhile. It also works well with Arcanis the Omnipotent, Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, and Stitcher Geralf.

EDIT2:
-1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur - I never hardcast this, and it isn't "Jalirable"
-1 Uyo, Silent Prophet - I was rarely using this at all
+1 Ætherize - wanted another mass-bounce spell
+1 Synthetic Destiny - this is actually better than Mass Polymorph

EDIT 3:
-1 Tidespout Tyrant, +1 Galecaster Colossus - With the release of C17, I decided to give Galecaster Colossus a try. With the Wizard subtheme, it seemed like a perfect replacement for one of my other bouncers. I decided to cut Tidespout Tyrant, but I can see Tyrant coming back and something like Wash Out going out instead.

There were a couple of under-performers in the deck that I was looking to upgrade with some cool new toys from Amonket and Ixalan block.

Amonkhet
As Foretold - I expected to try this and not like it, but it was honestly pretty good. In a deck full of Instants, being able to counter something or draw some cards while tapped out on my opponent's turn was quite nice, and this deck makes the game last long enough where it can ramp up time counters to cast some of the more expensive cards in the deck.
Commit//Memory - A very useful spell to help protect my position in the mid-game or to reload my hand (and library) in the late-game.
Oketra's Monument - I obviously have no use for the first ability, but the second ability of creating free 1/1 tokens was perfect. The issue I was running into is that the deck doesn't actually cast a lot of creatures, so this doesn't trigger enough to be worth it.

Hour of Devastation
Scavenger Grounds - Having access to some graveyard hate is a nice addition.
Swarm Intelligence - I tried this and whenever it came it it was too little, too late. That 7 mana cost keeps it from being broken, but it also keeps it from being really useful.

Ixalan
Chart a Course - I like this card as another cheap way to dig to business spells.
Primal Amulet - When I started using this, I had 28 Instants/Sorceries in the deck and only 9 of them were things that I really wouldn't want or need to copy. I made sure to up the count a little bit and this earned a spot in the deck.
River's Rebuke - I tried this in place of a few of the other mass-bounce spells and I found it was pretty good (especially just before swinging with an Eldrazi).

Rivals of Ixalan
Arch of Orazca - The deck had some room to run another colorless land, so I stuck this one in there.
Golden Guardian/Gold-Forge Garrison - I like the idea of the flipside on this, but getting it to flip in this deck was just impossible.

I've just read the spoiler for the upcoming Dominaria set and I'm excited to see what cards will fit in here, but for now the deck changes were as follows:
+1 As Foretold (I decided to keep this in lieu of Primal Amulet because I'm running Amulet in a ton of decks)
+1 Commit // Memory
+1 Scavenger Grounds
+1 Chart a Course
+1 River's Rebuke
+1 Arch of Orazca
+1 Forbid - I had miscounted the number of Instants in the deck, so I added another counterspell.
-2 Island - Pulled for two colorless lands
-1 Gilded Lotus - Pulled for As Foretold
-1 Stitcher Geralf - I found that I was just never activating this.
-1 Patron of the Moon - My most expensive non-Jalirable creature
-1 Flayer Husk - I like that I get a cheap token, but it's just not good enough

There were some good cards to try out from Dominaria and some cards that I want to try from Battlebond:

Dominaria
Karn, Scion of Urza - This is a much better token sacrificial fodder creator than a lot of other things I'm running, plus it has the ability to create huge monsters itself with the various artifacts that the deck runs and/or creates. Coupled with the fact that it is also a card draw engine and it leads me to believe that this is a card that every Jalira deck should be running.

Karn's Temporal Sundering - I think that I run barely enough Legendary creatures and Planeswalkers to make this playable, but only if Karn and Naru Meha make the deck (pushing the count to 13 maindeck plus Jalira).

Naru Meha, Master Wizard - There are plenty of spells I want to copy, plenty of Wizards that will get the bonus, and it is Legendary so it doesn't affect Jalira, so it made sense to give this a whirl.

Blackblade Reforged - Not that the bigger non-Legendary monsters need to actually get bigger, but its worth noting that a deck in my configuration has plenty of the Legendary cards that can equip this on the cheap can use the boost.

Memorial to Genius - I'm not a huge fan of the Memorial lands, but his deck runs one one ETB tapped land and has plenty of space for something like this.

Battlebond
Arcane Artisan - I think this card is potentially fantastic at producing potentially huge creatures on the cheap, especially given that one of the weaknesses of the deck is when a big monster gets stuck in hand. I just have to decide whether this is worth diluting the pool of cards for Jalira.

Spellseeker - I really like the effect, but I'm adamant that I don't want to run any non-Legendary creatures that I would mind getting when I activate Jalira, so I'm unlikely going to want to play this.

Zndrsplt's Judgment - This card seems fantastic and I really want to try it out here. I'm worried that the number of Legendary creatures is too high (a lot less value copying a Legendary creature), but the threat of copying an Eldrazi and having everyone else bounce something seems really good.

For this update, I'm doing the following:
+1 Karn, Scion of Urza, -1 Druidic Satchel - I'm a big fan of Satchel, but it is less consistent than my other token generators and I didn't want to cut a Living Weapon equipment.
+1 Naru Meha, Master Wizard, -1 Compulsive Research - Trading in one sorcery-speed form of CA for another with additional upside.
+1 Karn's Temporal Sundering, -1 Ætherspouts - I'm phasing out the two mass-bounce spells that require attacking as they are a lot less effective once people know that they are coming.
+1 Zndrsplt's Judgment, -1 Ætherize - Part two of that phase out.
+1 Memorial to Genius, -1 Island - Mise

Here's some tech that I like for Jalira, Master Polymorphist

Guardian Idol - Enables a turn 3 Jalira and a turn 4 polymorph by itself.
Chronatog Totem - Not as good as Guardian Idol, but it's ramp that you can cash in for a polymorph later.
Rings of Brighthearth - Doubles up on Jalira activations. Gets much better when you're running fetchlands.
Mutavault, Inkmoth Nexus - Increases the likelihood that you draw a creature land by the time you're able to activate Jalira.
Chamber of Manipulation - Steal your opponents' creatures, block with them, and then polymorph them into a Consecrated Sphinx or something.
Myr Turbine - Very close to strictly better than Throne of Empires.