Welcome back, Loreseekers! Today we're here for another Building with Flavor (renamed Flavor Builds starting now for brevity), where I tackle a Commander deck where we emphasize the flavor of the Commander over an optimized decklist. I haven't written one in a while, but where better to start again than with Dominaria United, perhaps one of the most lore dense Magic sets of all time. If you want to read more Flavor Builds, check out my previous articles:

• Sisay, Weatherlight Captain
• Tahngarth, First Mate
• Greven, Predator Captain
• Akiri, Fearless Voyager
• Atraxa, Praetors' Voice

Today we're here to talk about Jedit Ojanen, Mercenary!

The Legend of Jedit Ojanen

Jedit Ojanen, Mercenary by Ilse Gort

The original Jedit Ojanen was one of Magic's first catfolk, and way back in the armada comics was the subject of a two part comic entitled "Legend of Jedit Ojanen", which brought in a few other of the Legends from Legends. Years later, these two issues would form the basis for the Legends I cycle, a trilogy of novels that retold and expanded Jedit's story. So, what is that story?

The core of it is rather simple. A wizard named Johan (who did not get a Legends Retold update) wants to conquer the leonin oasis of Efrava on Jamuraa. Jedit ends up on an adventure with the Robaran Mercenaries, led by characters named Adira Strongheart and Hazezon Tamar. There's a lot of side adventures, including a battle with Shauku, Endbringer. It culminates with Johan's skyship fleet invading Efrava, only for Johan and Jedit to battle on one of the ships, fall over the side, and land in the desert, where Johan is eaten by a sand wurm.

While I haven't written my own summaries of Jedit's story, Berend Boer has on his website, Multiverse in Review. You can read all about these adventures below:

• Jedit Ojanen #1-2
• Johan
• Jedit
• Hazezon

The Legends of Jedit's Deck

Jasmine Boreal of the Seven by Bastien L Deharme

Right off the bat for Jedit's deck, we have three versions of Jedit to include: the original Jedit Ojanen, the Planar Chaos alternate universe Jedit Ojanen of Efrava, and of course our Commander, Jedit Ojanen, Mercenary. For cards that reference Jedit, we're going to add his descendant Zar Ojanen, Scion of Efrava, as well as Jedit's Dragoons. I'm also going to throw in cards where Jedit appears, which are surprisingly few: Nine Lives and (possibly) Kismet (a kismet spell is at one point cast on Jedit).

Now we need to talk about the other legends in the deck. While there are a bunch of characters in Jedit's story, only a handful actually had cards, and fewer still have cards that fit into Jedit's Bant-aligned color identity.

Hunding Gjornersen is one such character, as he's the former leader of the Robaran Mercenaries, the crew that Jedit finds himself with on his adventures, although in truth, his card is so bad I couldn't even justify it here, and cut it. Jasmine Boreal, aka Jasmine Boreal of the Seven, is another Robaran Mercenary, a part of the Circle of Seven - the elite Robaran fighters. Jasmine 2.0, I should note, is incredible with creature tokens. While Jedit's cat tokens don't benefit because they have Forestwalk, the other cat tokens you'll be making with this deck do. Niambi, Esteemed Speaker is here because of her relationship with Zar, and also her bounce effect pairs nicely with Jedit.

While it's never specified what tribe Mirri, Cat Warrior is from, as the only other legendary leonin from Dominaria, I'm going to include her too. We're going to throw Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist and Mirri's Guile in here for fun, too.

The Flavor Bends

Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist by Magali Villeneuve

Aaaand that's where our direct flavor adds stop. As a novel based on a set from a decade prior, there weren't new cards to go along with the story until years later in Dominaria United. But that doesn't mean we have to stop there! Since Jedit makes cat tokens and cares about Legends, it makes a lot of sense to stuff the deck with Legendary Cats from across the multiverse.

The good news is: Jedit fits right in with the usual go-wide strategy of White-Green. There are 19 Legendary cats with a White-Blue-Green color identity, and I'm throwing them all in here. Some of them focus on tokens, some pump up your creatures, and some are mostly there to look pretty. Regarding Kaheera, if you'd rather have her as a companion instead of in the 99, that's easily achieved by replacing Hunding and Jasmine 1.0 and 2.0. The purpose of this decklist isn't to optimize like that, though.

The Decklist

I'm running a lot of creatures in this deck, with the intent that Qasali Slingers, Qasali Pridemage, and Feline Sovereign are going to be doing a lot of the removal work for you. Otherwise, the strategy is to go wide: most Commander decks will have a forest of some sort, and lots of Commander players can't help but include as many double or triple-typed lands as they can. All it takes is one 'Forest' among those types and all of your tokens are unblockable. Just in case you're playing someone who doesn't have a forest, there are a handful of cards that will let you make one when needed. Good hunting!

Jedit Ojanen, Meowcenary | Commander | Jay Annelli

• Commander (1)
• 1 Jedit Ojanen, Mercenary

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Arahbo, Roar of the World
• 1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
• 1 Denry Klin, Editor in Chief
• 1 Displacer Kitten
• 1 Dream Thrush
• 1 Enlightened Ascetic
• 1 Felidar Guardian
• 1 Feline Sovereign
• 1 Jasmine Boreal
• 1 Jasmine Boreal of the Seven
• 1 Jazal Goldmane
• 1 Jedit's Dragoons
• 1 Jedit Ojanen
• 1 Jedit Ojanen of Efrava
• 1 Kaheera, the Orphanguard
• 1 King of the Pride
• 1 Kros, Defense Contractor
• 1 Mirri, Cat Warrior
• 1 Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
• 1 Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
• 1 Niambi, Esteemed Speaker
• 1 Prava of the Steel Legion
• 1 Pride Sovereign
• 1 Qasali Pridemage
• 1 Qasali Slingers
• 1 Reef Shaman
• 1 Regal Caracal
• 1 Rigo, Streetwise Mentor
• 1 Skyhunter Skirmisher
• 1 Tabaxi Toucaneers
• 1 Zar Ojanen, Scion of Efrava

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
• 1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride

• Instants (3)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Second Harvest
• 1 White Sun's Zenith

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Time of Need
• 1 Waiting in the Weeds

• Enchantments (12)
• 1 Anointed Procession
• 1 Colossification
• 1 Day of Destiny
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Felidar Retreat
• 1 Inspiring Leader
• 1 Kismet
• 1 Mirri's Guile
• 1 Nine Lives
• 1 Parallel Lives
• 1 Song of the Dryads
• 1 Teleportation Circle

• Artifacts (3)
• 1 Esika's Chariot
• 1 Hammer of Nazahn
• 1 Panharmonicon

• Lands (42)
• 14 Forest
• 15 Plains
• 9 Island
• 1 Brokers Hideout
• 1 Seaside Citadel
• 1 Spara's Headquarters
• 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

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Next Time

Jedit's deck isn't the strongest here, but it's meant to be a flavorful. Next time, fun, power and flavor will combine with Tetsuo, Imperial Champion. But first... Sagas?