Playing Unfair with Jodah, Archmage Eternal
Do you like to cheat in Magic and not be called a cheater? If so, this deck is for you! Hello, and welcome to our commander deck tech series! This week, we’re dragging out Jodah, Archmage Eternal, who was brought to us by my close friend that has played the deck a ton, Tristen. Jodah provides a lot of fun, at unfortunately, a steep price. With Jodah we are able to cash Eldrazis and other broken cards for UBWRG, and who doesn’t want to do that?
Early Game
Early game, we are looking to ramp a lot, and I mean a lot. We need to find ways to get all 5 colors down as soon as possible.Explosive Vegetation, Oracle of Mul Daya, Cultivate, and Kodama's Reach all offer us ways to get our needed colors down in order to cast Jodah, and use his key ability as soon as possible. Cards like Chromatic Lantern and Prismatic Omen give us all five. We also rock some mana rocks, such as Sol Ring, and Darksteel Ingot, to help pay for Jodah’s commander tax or casting our fatties the fair way.
To keep cards flowing, the deck runs Sensei's Divining Top, Rhystic Study, Rush of Knowledge and Sylvan Library in order to keep his hand size as a abundant amount during the early game, as well as providing for good draw filtering.
Our action spells in the deck are power-packed and can end the game quickly. The deck can be dropping an early Show and Tell after tutoring with Mystical Tutor or Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor, to drop a very early Omniscience or a key creature such as Avacyn, Angel of Hope, or Bringer of the Black Dawn, setting himself up perfectly for late game.
Gameplan
Of course, these perfect games will not always happen with a turn 2 or 3 Show and Tell into an Omniscience, which is why we have established a more reasonable gameplan. Our early game plan still applies, we still want to ramp into our different colored lands and key mana rocks. We want to play protection spells with Jodah, such as Lightning Greaves, or having counterspells in hand to protect Jodah such as Counterspell and Force of Will. Once we have gotten ourself to a board position where we have a good amount of mana, and Jodah on the battlefield with some sort of protection, we want to cast a mana doubler such as Mirari's Wake or Zendikar Resurgence. These will allow us to fire off Jodah’s ability multiple times a turn, providing us with a better chance of locking out our opponents.
Our lockdown all stars are no joke. Iona, Shield of Emeria locks down mono colored decks and can end a game quickly. Void Winnower can lock out a different swath of spells. Archetype of Endurance and Avacyn, Angel of Hope provide protection. Zacama, Primal Calamity works especially with Jodah's ability as a way to net mana. Zacama can devastate a board and snipe annoying enchantments and small creatures. Emrakul, the Promised End locks an opponent out of their next turn and shatters a game.
Drawbacks
Spot removal on Jodah can really slow the deck down, as with any commander focused deck, which is why we run Fist of Suns, which is a little baby Jodah on a stick. Another drawback that Tristen encountered is that he often found himself as a target to the table when playing with people who are familiar with the deck and how it runs, and he often found himself playing politics to allow his playgroup to let him keep playing Jodah and use his ability.
Win Conditions
Tristen found that one of his most successful board states was late game, when he manages to have Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and Blazing Archon on the battlefield. This sets himself up with a bubble that is very, very hard to pop. Overwhelming Splendor, with a good board state, also manages to take out an opponent fairly easily if it resolves. However, Tristen’s ideal win condition is establishing a good board state, with Najeela, the Blade-Blossom on the board. This allows Tristen to take multiple combats a turn, often killing an opponent if they do not have the answers to Najeela’s ability. Iona, Shield of Emeria also is able to shut down a mono colored deck, often leaving the player waiting for another player to take out Iona, which sometimes may never happen.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Tristen and I both agree that this deck is very strong when piloted by an experienced commander player. Tristen will always find himself, at some point during gameplay, to be the highest target at the table, which can more often than not, be a really big bummer. Tristen agrees that playing politics with this deck is often very fun, especially when you have one of the best board states among the pod. When Tristen has an amazing board state compared to his pod, he calls the politics he creates “playing God”, insisting that he is able to control what most people do and not do, and how most decisions in the game are made, relying on the fear of his opponents making a wrong move, and Tristen taking them out of the game. But overall, this deck is very fun to pilot, and very fun to play against in my opinion, and offers a challenge to the pod when trying to balance all players. This deck is one of Tristen’s favorites, and might be one of yours too! I hope you all enjoyed this commander deck on Jodah, Archmage Eternal, and I look forward to seeing you all next week!
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