Jhoira's Familiar

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Jhoira's Familiar

Artifact Creature — Bird

Historic spells you cast cost less to cast. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)

Darb_the_Bard on Buttercup: Princess Bride

4 months ago

I don't think I'm interested in Jhoira's Familiar in this deck. If you reliably cast two historic spells each turn, then it's essentially Sisay's Ring as it is providing you with two generic mana. If you reliably cast three spells each turn, then it's Thran Dynamo. I suppose it has some upside being a creature with flying, but it also has some downsides since it can't help us cast our non-historic spells. It's good in a deck where you can reliably cast two or more historic spells in a turn, especially in artifact decks where you can combine it with other similar effects and start casting artifacts for zero mana. In this deck, however, I think we are only occasionally casting more than one spell per turn. I think we are normally tutoring with Buttercup and hopefully casting one additional spell. If I decide I want another ramp piece, then I either want to bring back Deathbloom Gardener for the deathtouch synergies or another 2-mana ramp piece that can produce multiple colors. Something like a Fellwar Stone would be one of my next considerations.

Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain on the other hand would be a very good fit. It's another legendary with two colors, so it pumps Buttercup's power by 2. And more card draw is always good. My budget-minded side wants to swap this card in and take out Reki as that would save me at least $5.00. But the deck builder inside me never wants to cut card draw and knows there are weaker cards I could remove. It's a dilemma...

At this point the weakest non-Princess Bride card is Lord Skitter, Sewer King which is only included for the flavor of buffing our Rodents of Unusual Size (Pack Rat). And, yes, I absolutely plan to tutor for Lord Skitter if I draw the Rodents, even though it will never be the smartest move if my goal is to win. The ultimate goal, of course, is to have fun with Princess Bride cards, although I am trying to win some games along the way. So it's a balance between optimizing the deck for power while still "optimizing" for flavor.

All that to say I believe Jhoira deserves a slot but I'm struggling to decide what to remove! Any suggestions are welcome. Perhaps something will come to me after more playtesting...

TheBestMagicCard on Emrakul, the Promised End

6 months ago

Hey Profet93, thanks for the comment!

I do think Rings of Brighthearth is a great card, but I've excluded it mostly because, on it's own, it doesn't do anything...

Forsaken Monument, for example, = infinite mana with Basalt Monolith, but is also an incredible ramp card on it's own. This is basically the same reason that I've also excluded it from my Atraxa - Planeswalkers-Poison-Proliferate-Turns, even though it seems like an auto-include in that deck as well, in my opinion. I like Rings of Brighthearth a lot, but I really don't like looking at it on the battlefield without a combo piece, it's just a dead card then.

Aside from infinite mana, there are a bunch of other abilities that it could copy, like Planar Bridge, etc... However, the Rings only copies activated abilities, and I would sooner include cards like Lithoform Engine or Abstruse Archaic, as these cards also copy triggered abilities, like the cast triggers on Eldrazi, specifically Ulamog and Emrakrul, or Unwinding Clock's untap. Lithoform Engine and Abtruse Archaic both have somewhat more utility than the Rings, but as of yet, I still haven't squeezed them in either, again because I still feel like they just aren't good enough on their own without another combo piece.

Voltaic Construct fits into this "doesn't really do anything on it's own" category as well, and arguably is an even worse include than the Rings, Engine, or Archaic, but it's a lot easier to tutor up with cards like Eye of Ugin, Sanctum of Ugin, and especially Scrapyard Recombiner. Voltaic Construct + Metalworker and two artifacts in hand = infinite mana, which is pretty easy to assemble, and Metalworker is just a house on it's own. Voltaic Construct can also count for towards Emrakrul's casting cost in the graveyard...

Ultimately, I would like to include any of these copy-an-ability cards, if not all of them, but when I have, it just feels bad to have them sitting around doing nothing. Also, I kind of don't really need to copy abilities like that, as it turns out. I've found this deck to be pretty strong, and copying abilities often seems kind of win-more and win-less at the same time. Copying doesn't always make as big of an effect as it might seem... although copying a Planar Bridge ability could put two combo pieces in, the Bridge can also chain out anyways that with Clock of Omens, which is also a really powerful card, even though it also fits into the "doesn't really do anything on it's own" category, but I think is still better than any of the afore mentioned cards ...

I haven't included Voltaic Key either, for the same reasons basically, although I think this is really a card that should be in here. I guess I've also partly not included Rings of Brighthearth because I haven't included Voltaic Key either. I would put the Key in before the Rings, but I'm still not sure about the Rings. I think I decided to include Unwinding Clock instead of Voltaic Key, because, even though it's more expensive, it is really really REALLY powerful!!! With Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter and mana rocks, this mimics Prophet of Kruphix, which I think is rightfully banned becuase it's way too powerful for one card...

The Top trick with the Rings is cool, and more card draw is definitely welcome in this deck. This combo ultimately reads, ": Draw a card", but... I guess I've just come to the conclusion that there are already kind of a lot of "doesn't do anything on it's own" cards in here, so I've had to really pick the most powerful ones, and I guess I feel like the Rings just aren't powerful enough even when they do work, as they can only be activated once per ability. Clock of Omens, for example, can untap something a bunch of times, effectively "copying" abilities by just untapping something and activating it again. Also, Sensei's Divining Top + Jhoira's Familiar and Mystic Forge combo to draw the deck out for no mana once assembled, and these two cards are powerful on their own.

I like Wayfarer's Bauble a lot, and still want to include it. I think it is ultimately much better than Wanderer's Twig and Traveler's Amulet, which are both admittedly kind of bad cards.
The only reason I really include these at all is to get an artifact in the graveyard for Emrakrul's mana cost reduction, and to ensure land drops. Notably, multiple cards of one type still only count for , so often times it's redundant anyways. I think the reason I kept the Twig and Amulet in instead of Wayfarer's Bauble, is I kind of see the Bauble as a mana rock that adds but costs, which I do not think is acceptable. The only rock that cost and makes which is included is The Celestus because it also has card draw attached to it, and it can be tutored for with Moonsilver Key, for the card draw.

Even though the Twig and Bauble aren't technically ramp, they do help ensure a land drop every turn, which is think is important. There's already 36 lands in the deck, which is a lot for how many mana rocks are included, but I really want a land drop every turn if I can help it. I've tried to minimize high mana cost cards, even though there's so much mana in here, because it's still possible to get mana screwed if you have just a bunch of expensive cards in hand and not enought mana! Technically there's 38 lands in here currently, but I've put Eye of Ugin and City of Traitors in their own "Special" category, as I consider them to act more like artifacts then lands, as they don't always do what just a land that taps for mana does. They're unreliable for just basic mana, I guess. I'm thinking of putting Temple of the False God in, and I would also include this in the "Special" category for the same reason, being that it can't always be relied upon for mana like a regular land...

The most recent addition has been The Irencrag, which I myself think is funny to fit in over any of these other cards, but the consistency of early ramp is too important. Assuming that mana rocks will continued to be printed, I wonder what the limit to include will be! I actually took out Foundry Inspector to do this, which I don't like doing, and I might try to fit the Inspector in again first. But I think Karn, Legacy Reforged is on the top of the list for inclusions. Even though the mana he makes can't be used to cast Eldrazi, he'll be a huge beater, and will help cast and activate all those expensive artifacts.

My ideas are just what I've found to work playing the deck, and are by no means like, the way the deck should be built though!

Thanks for the comment!!! Very relevant, and totally valid. I will definitely try to fit Voltaic Key in again though, and reconsider Rings of Brighthearth, but actually I'll try Manifold Key first!

I hope that provided some interesting insight into my cards choices...

slasherturtle on Equip Me Daddy

1 year ago

This will be long, probably.

The first thing I notice is your land base. It's pretty important for this deck to reliably get Jor out on turn 2 consistently, and you may be a bit short on lands for that. To that point, you also want to limit lands that tap for colorless or enter tapped to only the ones you absolutely need. While the lands that tap for both and enter tapped (like Alpine Meadow or Sacred Peaks) are nice for fixing, they are slow and ultimately it's up to you whether to run those or not. The biggest one that pokes out to me is Reliquary Tower. Not only does it only tap for colorless, I'm also not sure you're going to be drawing enough cards for it to be any better than a basic Plains or Mountain. I'd keep an eye out for Slayers' Stronghold and Sandstone Bridge in playtesting, depending on how often they go off they might also be worse than a basic. All in all though, land base is pretty good, you just need more. Maybe 2-3 more of each basic to get started and tweak from there.

I really like the amount of nonland cards that grab you lands you have (like Wayfarer's Bauble and Navigation Orb). They're better than Evolving Wilds and cheaper than fetch lands, but if you ever do get the chance to pack some fetches in here, I think you could take one or two of those out and replace them with some more equipment or creatures that like them. You can also never go wrong with adding a Solemn Simulacrum.

I really like almost all of your nonland cards and can think of very few cards I'd want to swap for better alternatives, but I think some are pretty safe cuts if you're trying to trim down to 100 cards.

  • Some of your Living Weapon cards are really expensive and don't do much other than make an equipped creature, but their cost is so high that you should already have enough to trigger Jor by the time you can even cast them. Others just feel like they won't impact the board enough to warrant a spot in the 99. The ones that stick out to me are:

  • Mortarpod, which takes up a 2 drop spot and conflicts with casting Jor

  • Sickleslicer, which just feels a bit underwhelming
  • Skinwing, which feels exceptionally steeply priced, even for an equipment that grants flying
  • Strandwalker, which is also very steep

  • There are also some cards which I think either hurt more than they help or don't do you much at all:

  • Prophetic Prism doesn't offer you any ramp and takes up a 2-drop spot. As someone with a 2-drop commander, you want to minimize the amount of other 2CMC cards in the deck because they get really awkward, especially in the first four turns. Turn two you're forced to choose between playing your 2-drop and your commander, and then turn 3 you have to decide between whichever you didn't choose and whatever good 3-drops you may have access to. It fucks up your whole curve.

  • Shuko equips for free but basically does nothing else after that. The same is true for Leather Armor. It may or may not be worth it, up to you.
  • Invulnerability may be slightly overcosted with buyback and you may be better running retroactive protection like Norn's Annex or Ghostly Prison.
  • Keen-Eared Sentry may not do as much as it seems. Having Hexproof is nice and makes you feel safe, but I ran Aegis of the Gods in Azor for years and it almost never saved me from anything, not only because having hexproof isn't as strong as it seems but also because people will want to kill it very quickly if they do need to target you.
  • I love the amount of repeatable combat effects in this deck, but they are worse than nothing if you don't have a board state that can take advantage of it. Some of those slots may be better used on other equipment or cards that care about them. If I were to cut any, it'd probably be Relentless Assault because it's not repeatable like Akki Battle Squad, Aurelia, and Waves of Aggression. This may also apply to Response / Resurgence since you can't fetch it with Sunforger and it's other half isn't super great.
  • As wonderful as Lightning Greaves is for commander protection, it also prevents you from being able to attach any more auras or equipment to whichever creature it's attached to due to Shroud and I tend to not recommend it in Voltron decks. It's also a 2-drop. That one is just personal choice though.
  • You may have one or two too many cards that reduce the cost of your artifacts. Yours are all so cheap and you may find yourself better off having something that draws you cards or cares about equipment than a card that only helps if you're trying to cast expensive artifacts. Since it's easy to kill and doesn't do much else, Starnheim Courser may at least be worth a cut, if not also Jhoira's Familiar due to mana cost alone.
  • Quietus Spike and Scytheclaw have the same effect, which also isn't good enough to win the game on it's own since the damage cut happens after you deal damage, meaning you can literally never kill someone off of that trigger alone unless you leave them with exactly one life. Since Scytheclaw at least has Living Weapon, you may want to consider cutting Quietus Spike.
  • Sword of Feast and Famine is good, but it isn't insane. If you don't already have one it's probably not worth spending 50 bucks on.
  • The Ward you get from Amulet of Safekeeping in your Maybeboard might not be worth making all of your living weapon and Assemble the Legion tokens weaker.
  • I love Assemble the Legion so much. It is one of my favorite cards in Magic. It may be my favorite enchantment period. It is also balls ass slow, expensive to cast, and doesn't synergize with your strategy. That one is up to you. I'd run it just because I like it, but it'd be the first card I cut if I needed to trim some fat.
  • Mask of Immolation gives you an equipped creature, but it doesn't do much else for 2 mana. If it equipped for free it'd be different, but it's equip cost isn't cheap given how weak it's effect is. It's also a 2 drop.
  • Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith is much better when you can throw his rocks, which you don't want to do in this deck because you want to keep them attached to things for Jor - meaning you're spending three mana for a guy who gives you one equipment that does nothing a turn.
  • Leonin Shikari isn't something I'd say you should take out immediately, but you should keep an eye on it during playtesting. If you find you aren't taking advantage of her ability enough, cut her and replace her with something that isn't a 2-drop.
  • Wrath of God may be better than Vanquish the Horde. That's just my opinion though.

All in all, what you keep and what you cut is up to you, this is just what sticks out to me personally. The closer you get to 100, the better. If you're able to cut it down to at least 104 or 105, try just playing without 4 or 5 of the cards you aren't sure about and playtest from there, then use those 4 or 5 as your maybeboard. Also this deck is really cool and I like it a lot.

multimedia on Updated Urza Precon Upgrade

1 year ago

Hey, on a low budget well done with upgrades so far to the precon. Research, Paradise, Padeem, Glimmervoid, Ethersworn, Extinction, Wurmcoil, the mana Myrs, Fellwar, Kappa, Raffines these are all fine upgrades.

Some cards from the precon to consider adding back in.

Bident of Thassa is very good, it's another artifact repeatable mass draw effect with Constructs. Liquimetal Torque is a mana rock for ramp or it can make Urza or Padeem an artifact and doing so makes these cards much better. If Urza is an artifact he gets all bonus for being one, gains his own menace making it easier to do Commander damage to opponent with him. 4/5 Urza without menace can still do Commander damage, but he's easier to block by opponent then if he has menace. When Padeem is an artifact it gains hexproof which increases protection a lot.

Skullclamp can be nice repeatable draw for the mana cost and by adding the mana Myrs then you added fodder that can die to draw cards when not useful anymore to make mana. You have sources of 1/1 Thopters and these pair well with Skullclamp. Armix, Filigree Thrasher is a 3 drop artifact creature to help Urza affinity and with menace it can be deceptively good repeatable creature removal.


The mana curve of the precon is very high and you haven't reduced it much. Even when not counting Extinction, Monitor, Ethersworn, Kappa and Urza Commander the mana curve here is still too high. Some cards to consider cutting to reduce the mana curve.

Shimmer Dragon of these suggestions is a good card, but it's a high mana cost creature that's not an artifact and you can get better repeatable draw from less mana cost sources such as Bident of Thassa. Angel of the Ruins is another good card of these suggestions, but Meteor Golem is also a 7 drop who removes any nonland permanent. I think Meteor is better and you don't need both Angel and Meteor. You don't need Noxious Gearhulk since Necron Deathmark is a better creature removal effect for less mana. Flash is better than menace + life gain.


My favorite budget creature with blue artifact strategies is Master Transmuter. Some of best card art and has one of the most powerful repeatable effects with artifacts for it's price. Bounce any artifact you control and because Transmuter doesn't target then put that same artifact right back onto the battlefield.

This bounce interaction can give you a lot of value with artifacts that have an ETB ability for only 1 mana to bounce. Great with Monitor and Ethersworn. With Ethersworn after bouncing choose to put another artifact from your hand onto the battlefield or nothing since then you can cast Ethersworn again next turn to cascade again. Bounce Baleful or Infiltrator to put Wurmcoil onto the battlefield and then cast Baleful or Infiltrator next turn for more draw, etc.

Transmuter has many other uses too such as can save an artifact from opponent target removal or board wipe, bounce the artifact in response and then if not a board wipe put the artifact right back onto the battlefield safe. Can even bounce itself to protect itself.

Good luck with your deck.

EscapingBurger on You Dropped This

1 year ago

Thanks, Rogue's Passage definitely looks useful for a giant Broodstar or Master of Etherium.

As for combos, the big one is probably Chakram Retriever + Emry, Lurker of the Loch or Emry, Lurker of the Loch + Mirran Spy . You can tap Emry to cast an artifact from your graveyard, then immediately untap her to do it again. With a 0-cost sacrificible artifact like Urza's Bauble, you can do this as much as you want, which triggers things like Sai, Master Thopterist and Efficient Construction every time the artifact comes into play. You can also sacrifice Ornithopter to Ashnod's Altar repeatedly this way for infinite mana. Foundry Inspector, Etherium Sculptor and Jhoira's Familiar make more of your artifacts cheap or free so you can recur them more. You can even make Solemn Simulacrum cheap enough this way to sacrifice it to Ashnod's Altar and cast it again with the mana you get, repeating for as much land and card draw as you want.

The deck doesn't rely on infinite combos or anything, and even a simple trick like Aether Spellbomb + Emry, Lurker of the Loch can let you bounce a troublesome creature at least once per turn. A lot of the stuff in here is maybe more just good synergy than true combos.

Poly_raptor on Mishra, Eminent One | Artifact nonsense

1 year ago

Eowyn_0728

Good question lol.

I did forget about Top, but I’m not someone that ever really plays top, but it could be a good addition.

Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge - I’m not running a heavy amount of creatures and planeswalkers, so giving them affinity seems like it’s a bit so so, because there’s a lot of ramp anyway, the expensive cards are also some of the non-creature artifacts. His abilities are good but he is quite a lot of mana.

Jhoira's Familiar is 4 mana, Etherium Sculptor, Enthusiastic Mechanaut and Cloud Key are cheaper.

In one of the first drafts I was running Contraband Kingpin which is similar to artificers assistant but I cut it because i often found id rather cast other things in hand in the play tests.

Mystic Forge always struck me as a combo card but could be useful I suppose.

Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain is similar to the answer I gave for the Koi, Skyswimmer Koi draws off etb not cast so draws from Mishra’s tokens entering. The other 2 don’t really fit the deck I don’t think?

What would you cut for any of the suggestions?

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