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Jodah, Eternally Forgetful

Commander / EDH* Casual

adym


Maybeboard


The Big Idea

The basic idea behind the deck is something that represents Jodah's magical knowledge accumulated from over the 4,000 years that he has been alive. Jodah, the Archmage Eternal that legends speak of, is capable of any sort of magic in existence; however, being the human that he is, he cannot recall each and every spell at any given time (he IS an old man, after all). He does have some spells that he can recall without effort since he uses them very often, but everything else comes and goes.

In practice, this translates to a deck that has two main categories which are i) the main shell, and ii) the spellbook. The main shell is the part of the deck that either doesn't change or changes very infrequently, representing Jodah's core magic (i.e. mana base, ramp + "signature magic").

The spellbook, which represents Jodah's accumulated magical knowledge, is the part that changes all the time (sometimes in between games) to suit the gameplay experience that the player wants to create. This is the part where the deck can switch from big legendary creatures tribal to crazy, powerful spellslinger and so on.

Jodah's Core Magic

Mana base + Fixing - For budget purposes, I am adopting the mana base suggested by The Commander's Brew in this decklist. I have played a number of games with this mana base and I have found that most games I am able to get Jodah out by turn 4 followed by WUBRG mana by turn 5.

This is my mana base of choice because Blood Moon and Back to Basics are frequent occurrences in my meta. Also, I'd like to see how far I can go with a budget mana base for a 5c deck. I do see myself upgrading the mana base after a while.

Signature Magic - I will consider any spell that works well in any version or build of Jodah as his signature (e.g. Conflux and Fist of Suns), so tutors fit this category like a glove. Personally, though, I would limit to tutors that fit with Jodah's lore so Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor doesn't fit for me whereas Mystical Tutor and Enlightened Tutor are fair game (one might also make a case for Worldly Tutor).

Value Engine - A new category I added as part of the 1st update. After playing a number of games, I noticed that this deck runs out of gas fast once it gets going. For this reason, I included legendary creatures that either draw me cards or allow me to reuse cards in my graveyard.

Jodah's Spellbook

Card selection - All I did for this part is to go through my entire collection and choose the biggest, flashiest spells that I want to play. For the first version of this deck, I went with legendary creatures tribal.

Maybeboard

These are the cards I have that will be swapped in and out of the Spellbook from time to time, representing all the magic in Jodah's arsenal (and sometimes allies) that he just can't recall at present. This list will only grow with time, just like how Jodah will continue to learn and acquire new magical knowledge for as long as he lives.

Notable Exclusions

Spellbook and similiar effects - There's a reason Jodah forgets stuff.

Chromatic Lantern, Prismatic Omen, Joiner Adept and similiar effects - My only copy of Lantern is in a different 4c deck, while I may choose to slot in Omen and Adept in a future build.

Suggestions

Updates Add

After playing 10 games with this deck, I have made the following changes to the deck:

CARDS OUT:

Arvad the Cursed

Gonti, Lord of Luxury

Urabrask the Hidden

Artisan of Kozilek

Cascading Cataracts

Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder

Storm the Vault  Flip

It That Betrays

Void Winnower

Quicksilver Gargantuan

Mirage Mirror

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

CARDS IN:

Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain - the deck sorely needed more card draw. The high number of historic spells in this deck means Jhoira will draw a ton of cards.

Demonlord Belzenlok - at worst, it's ETB trigger replaces itself but this has potential to draw a lot of cards (and deal a lot of damage too).

Muldrotha, the Gravetide - Muldrotha allows us to reuse the many land-fetching artifacts, creatures and lands.

Kess, Dissident Mage - Similiar to Muldrotha, Kess allows us to reuse of instants and sorceries which is a very powerful effect.

Damia, Sage of Stone - You'll learn to love saying "Untap. Upkeep. Draw to seven." Every single time.

Path of Ancestry - I'm testing this in place of Cascading Cataracts, so far the occasional scry has been helpful.

The Ur-Dragon - I put The Ur-Dragon in this deck solely for its attack trigger. Even though its attack trigger will only draw us 2 cards at most, it is still worth including given the many big legendary creatures this deck plays.

Progenitus - It's Progenitus and this is a 5c deck. You have Progenitus, you play Progenitus.

Intet, the Dreamer - more free spells.

Fist of Suns - redundancy for Jodah.

Conflux - this is just really good in Jodah.

Elvish Pioneer - A way to accelerate on Turn 1 that is not Sol Ring/Mana Crypt.

Heroes' Podium - A strictly better upgrade to Arvad. Its anthem effect and ability to dig for legendary creatures is particularly good for a deck that runs this many legendary creatures.

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Date added 5 years
Last updated 5 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

17 - 0 Mythic Rares

22 - 0 Rares

8 - 0 Uncommons

23 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 5.05
Tokens Treasure
Folders Commander, Stuff I like, ideas, make it, EDH
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