I need some suggestions to make my deck more efficient. I play in casual multiplayer games, nothing cEdh but most decks are quite fine-tuned, making for a somehow competitive environment. I almost always face a playing with a Dragon deck. My deck link is below.
1- Creating Thopter token via various means.
2- Damage my opponents whenever an artifact comes into play.
While building my deck, I have seen during my research a majority of decks which use strategy #2 to kill everyone through Aetherflux Reservoir and Paradox Engine. Although I see that combo as being very good, I find this idea too linear and making the commander too much of a glass cannon.
My deck is quite new (only 2 games played) and so far it makes me draw very well, but I seem to durdle most of the time until I find something scary (such as Tidespout Tyrant, for example). I just added coat of arms so I think it will help my thopters become a real threat once I play it.
As you can see, I am playing zero control. I made this choice since instants/sorceries don't play well with the deck's historic plan. I am aware that I am exposed to whatever comes my way, which probably isn't very smart.
I have several legendary creatures which trigger Jhoira's ability, but they may not be that great; I am wondering if some could be replaced or substituted for other cards.
Maybe I should concentrate on only one strategy, but my reflection on the matter was that the deck could win in different ways in its current form, thus making it more fun to play. I still think, however, that there is a better route that some of you could suggest. My hesitation with strategy #2 is that it will definitely draw attention when I start poking everyone with Reckless Fireweaver, Firebrand Archer and/or Psychosis Crawler.
You will find in the sideboard, at the bottom of my decklist, the cards which did not make the cut or that I am usure of using. Note that I chose to remove 2 great cards (namely Sensei's Divining Top and Rings of Brighthearth due to complaints from my group after my 1st game. I am not closed to using them again, but I have to admit that the stack triggers got quite complicated at one point, making my turns last way too long. So for the moment, I will prefer if you did not suggest adding them back just yet. Finally, my land base is ok for the moment, no help needed there unless you think of a truly amazing land to add.
Too be honest it's just super hard to comment when somebody posts a sort of casual deck list, because really it's hard to say "oh well you shouldn't play this..", because at the end of the day you've designed it to be a little bit janky
But I appreciate the integrity of keeping a theme. But your durdling because you don't have much artifact mana, and are simply running out of mana each turn.
You will definitely draw more land than you can play at 37 lands. So go down to 33 and play 4 artifact mana instead.
On that note, a little tech card I love playing in Izzet draw decks is Walking Atlas. Because playing extra lands is a restriction in Izzet this is a nice one to be able to play two lands a turn.
Thanks Darren, this is exactly what I need, a few pointers to help me find something great. I know my deck is more of a goodstuff build, so I understand it is not easy to make a thorough analysis of what works or not.
I would truly appreciate similar feedback from other players! If I can be more precise, I would like suggestions on game breaking cards which can potentially win you the game when they resolve. One example (although I hate that card) would be expropriate.
I realize that little feedback has been received so far... Can you suggest another web site where I could get more ideas? I don't want to annoy anyone by reposting, I just need some criticism and helpful comments to make my deck better. I used to be on Essential Magic where such feedback was rapid and plenty, but that site has gone into oblivion for many years (it still exists, but there's absolutely no one one the forums).
My 12 year old daughter destroys people at our LGS with Jhoira. She has gone through a decent evolution with the deck from a more Cheerios deck to what she has now. She explored a stax iteration that was great, but she decided that this was mean and unfun, and took out the stax pieces. She went all in on the Paraxox Engine plan for some time, and people adapted, and she started losing when we all just surgically removed anything related to the Engine plan. When she saw this, she realized she needed a more robust game plan. We added a bunch of other things besides Engine/Reservoir. Locust God, Sai, Reckless Fireweaver, etc... All started to appear. Now her deck still wrecks people, and Engine/Reservoir are only a part of how she beats them. It does Engine/Reservoir, but it is not a glass cannon that is dependent on it.
Some things that we learned about Jhoira as we worked to make her deck powerful and consistent:
1. Every card matters. No weak cards were included just because they were 0 CMC. Cute is not good enough. Moxen and Petal are great, Bone Saw is a completely wasted slot.
2. Rocks rule, especially 2 CMC rocks. With a couple of mana reducers, a strong card like Mind Stone becomes amazing. You would need more rocks simply as ramp to make your deck explosive, even with the cost reducers. From your list, you need more rocks.
3. The token theme can be very strong in a deck that can trigger token creation a lot. Jhoira can trigger them a TON. This also gives you some defense when needed in the form of blockers. Locust God, Sai, any thopter producer, especially with an artifact cast trigger.
4. Normal interaction is important for every deck. For Jhoira, Karn and Ugin are great for their legendary status. Limited counterspells are good, even when focusing on historic spells. Instant speed removal can make or break a game. Pongify and Rapid Hybridization can save your butt. You need enough historic to make Jhoira good, but when every spell is historic, she is actually worse than when enough are.
5. Jhoira is an accumulated value commander, not a wincon by herself, and not actually a combo piece. You can have a small suite of wincons that also give value, and can get wins even if you are not hitting the splashy Engine/Reservoir combo. Play to her strengths.
I need some suggestions to make my deck more efficient. I play in casual multiplayer games, nothing cEdh but most decks are quite fine-tuned, making for a somehow competitive environment. I almost always face a playing with a Dragon deck. My deck link is below.
https://deckbox.org/sets/2160217
I have two main things going on at the moment:
1- Creating Thopter token via various means.
2- Damage my opponents whenever an artifact comes into play.
While building my deck, I have seen during my research a majority of decks which use strategy #2 to kill everyone through Aetherflux Reservoir and Paradox Engine. Although I see that combo as being very good, I find this idea too linear and making the commander too much of a glass cannon.
My deck is quite new (only 2 games played) and so far it makes me draw very well, but I seem to durdle most of the time until I find something scary (such as Tidespout Tyrant, for example). I just added coat of arms so I think it will help my thopters become a real threat once I play it.
As you can see, I am playing zero control. I made this choice since instants/sorceries don't play well with the deck's historic plan. I am aware that I am exposed to whatever comes my way, which probably isn't very smart.
I have several legendary creatures which trigger Jhoira's ability, but they may not be that great; I am wondering if some could be replaced or substituted for other cards.
Maybe I should concentrate on only one strategy, but my reflection on the matter was that the deck could win in different ways in its current form, thus making it more fun to play. I still think, however, that there is a better route that some of you could suggest. My hesitation with strategy #2 is that it will definitely draw attention when I start poking everyone with Reckless Fireweaver, Firebrand Archer and/or Psychosis Crawler.
You will find in the sideboard, at the bottom of my decklist, the cards which did not make the cut or that I am usure of using. Note that I chose to remove 2 great cards (namely Sensei's Divining Top and Rings of Brighthearth due to complaints from my group after my 1st game. I am not closed to using them again, but I have to admit that the stack triggers got quite complicated at one point, making my turns last way too long. So for the moment, I will prefer if you did not suggest adding them back just yet. Finally, my land base is ok for the moment, no help needed there unless you think of a truly amazing land to add.
Thanks for your insight!
PS: No infinite combos please...
Thanks for advising.
By far the best way to win is through Paradox Engine and artifact mana, with a number of finishers like Aetherflux Reservoir.
But I appreciate the integrity of keeping a theme. But your durdling because you don't have much artifact mana, and are simply running out of mana each turn.
Trade in some lands for artifact mana like; Izzet Signet, Fellwar Stone, Coalition Relic, Chromatic Lantern.
You will definitely draw more land than you can play at 37 lands. So go down to 33 and play 4 artifact mana instead.
On that note, a little tech card I love playing in Izzet draw decks is Walking Atlas. Because playing extra lands is a restriction in Izzet this is a nice one to be able to play two lands a turn.
I do think that The Locust God is on theme with what you're trying to do, and goes nice with Opposition and Storm the Vault. You could easily take out Hellkite Igniter for it.
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I would truly appreciate similar feedback from other players! If I can be more precise, I would like suggestions on game breaking cards which can potentially win you the game when they resolve. One example (although I hate that card) would be expropriate.
Thanks all.
I realize that little feedback has been received so far... Can you suggest another web site where I could get more ideas? I don't want to annoy anyone by reposting, I just need some criticism and helpful comments to make my deck better. I used to be on Essential Magic where such feedback was rapid and plenty, but that site has gone into oblivion for many years (it still exists, but there's absolutely no one one the forums).
Thank you for advising!
Some things that we learned about Jhoira as we worked to make her deck powerful and consistent:
1. Every card matters. No weak cards were included just because they were 0 CMC. Cute is not good enough. Moxen and Petal are great, Bone Saw is a completely wasted slot.
2. Rocks rule, especially 2 CMC rocks. With a couple of mana reducers, a strong card like Mind Stone becomes amazing. You would need more rocks simply as ramp to make your deck explosive, even with the cost reducers. From your list, you need more rocks.
3. The token theme can be very strong in a deck that can trigger token creation a lot. Jhoira can trigger them a TON. This also gives you some defense when needed in the form of blockers. Locust God, Sai, any thopter producer, especially with an artifact cast trigger.
4. Normal interaction is important for every deck. For Jhoira, Karn and Ugin are great for their legendary status. Limited counterspells are good, even when focusing on historic spells. Instant speed removal can make or break a game. Pongify and Rapid Hybridization can save your butt. You need enough historic to make Jhoira good, but when every spell is historic, she is actually worse than when enough are.
5. Jhoira is an accumulated value commander, not a wincon by herself, and not actually a combo piece. You can have a small suite of wincons that also give value, and can get wins even if you are not hitting the splashy Engine/Reservoir combo. Play to her strengths.
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