When I start exploring Classic Commander and thinking about cool characters to talk about, there's always a sense of nostalgia that's deeply prevalent throughout. If you've read a lot of my works in this sort of series, you'll notice that it's largely a fairly consistent theme. Geth was a character I read about in the Mirrodin books, Korlash and Jedit harkened back to memories of characters I saw in Chronicles cards I'd find in my uncle's collection, and Ertai was someone I'd see time and time again throughout the Weatherlight Saga. This is true of a number of characters and is why I often end up wanting to talk about them, so that I can not only discuss how cool the decks themselves are but the story that surrounds the character.

One character I can say this about the most, though, is Jhoira of the Ghitu. Jhoira is a character who has kind of come to mean quite a bit to me and I guess that's weird given her story never resonated with me. I never read most of the Urza block story - even though I own several of the books - and never read the Time Spiral books either. I only got her backstory through blurbs on the MTG Salvation Wiki and skimming through the Dominaria story. Where I came to love her, though, was in her design and in my memories.

I love talking about my history with the game and, more specifically, where I started. I talk a lot about things like the Starter 99 instructional video I used to learn the game or how my friends would introduce me to cards like the original Elder Dragon Legends that blew my nine-year-old mind. One of my favorite things, though, were those first couple booster packs that I would open from a little set called Urza's Legacy. It was in this set that we saw a lot of Jhoira, who was featured in the story of Time Streams, the third or fourth book of the Urza story (depending on if you include The Thran as part of it). It was here I first saw Jhoira, who was one of the first real characters I became acquainted with thanks to these packs.

I still remember opening Tinker and seeing her on it - not knowing the card's power at the time - and also Slow Motion and Jhoira's Toolbox, which either depicted or represented her. At this time, there were very few others that I can even somewhat remember. Urza was an obvious one, as were the likes of Radiant and Multani. Teferi also showed up a little here, but I wouldn't know about him nearly as much until I started opening packs of Mirage and Visions from my local shop. Of these, Jhoira was the first I remember actually seeing, and as such was one of the first characters in Magic to truly resonate with me.

Then she got a card in Future Sight and wow what a banger that card is! She was a neat oddity at the time; a great card with a cool effect that - at least to my knowledge, and I may be wrong here - never really made it in tournament play. On the casual side of things, though, it was a very different story. Casuals sure love playing their big flashy spells, and as the prevalence of Commander grew, so too did the love for Jhoira who could put into play the biggest cards and effects for a fraction of their usual cost. This created some wild and truly powerful play patterns and... well... I'll let a decklist do the talking for me.

Sneak n' Jhoira | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Jhoira of the Ghitu

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Aeon Chronicler
• 1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Artisan of Kozilek
• 1 Bogardan Hellkite
• 1 Consecrated Sphinx
• 1 Darksteel Colossus
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Ertai, Wizard Adept
• 1 Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1 Inferno Titan
• 1 It That Betrays
• 1 Jhoira's Timebug
• 1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
• 1 Keiga, the Tide Star
• 1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1 Pathrazer of Ulamog
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1 Platinum Emperion
• 1 Riftwing Cloudskate
• 1 Ryusei, the Falling Star
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Steel Hellkite
• 1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
• 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Jace Beleren
• 1 Karn Liberated

• Instants (10)
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Desertion
• 1 Dismiss
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Frantic Search
• 1 Fury Charm
• 1 Negate
• 1 Pongify

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Ancestral Vision
• 1 Beacon of Tomorrows
• 1 Blatant Thievery
• 1 Mind's Desire
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Preordain
• 1 Time Warp
• 1 Warp World

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Future Sight
• 1 Leyline of Anticipation
• 1 Paradox Haze
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 Sneak Attack

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Coalition Relic
• 1 Coldsteel Heart
• 1 Crawlspace
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Gilded Lotus
• 1 Izzet Signet
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Sensei's Divining Top
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Worn Powerstone

• Lands (38)
• 15 Island
• 7 Mountain
• 1 Ancient Tomb
• 1 Caldera Lake
• 1 Cascade Bluffs
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Forgotten Cave
• 1 Halimar Depths
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Kher Keep
• 1 Lonely Sandbar
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Shivan Reef
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Vivid Crag
• 1 Vivid Creek
• 1 Wasteland

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We're not just here to play some big things. No, no, no - we're here to play ALL the big things! Right around when Commander was really starting to pick up speed at the start of the 2010s, we just saw the eldrazi drop in Rise of the Eldrazi and boy did they ever make a splash. It didn't take long before they were everywhere, made all the worse by the fact that they were in a Standard legal set that you could open from a pack at your local shop. The titans, and even the smaller ones, became regular top ends in almost every game. I played through the Emrakul days and let me just say, it's a very good thing she's banned; especially considering when you could cast her for the small price of two whole mana with the aid of Jhoira.

That's what made Jhoira such a feared commander. If you saw one staring you down across the table, you pretty much knew exactly what to expect. Think about the biggest, craziest, and flashiest cards you can imagine. Then imagine several of them being suspended in rapid succession to Jhoira in the first couple of turns. Then the Jhoira player holds the board while simultaneously suspending even more powerhouse cards. Soon enough you have numerous giants swarming the board ready to kill everyone while you take extra turns, wipe out board states, and control your opponents' every move.

Now, normally when I write a lot of articles and make decks, I try and do what I can to try to minimize the more expensive cards. I drop reserved list cards, make cuts with the pricier cards first where possible, and tend to go with the assumption that even if I post a good mana base with all the duals players will make adjustments as needed based on their own budget. There're sometimes exceptions to be had, for sure, but generally that's the case. By and large, it's not so much the case with this deck.

This is Jhoira. You're casting the biggest, most badass things that you have access to. You want to go big or go home. You want to be casting your eldrazi. You want to be dropping giant dragons. You want to be slinging the most bombastic spells that you can whip out from your spellbook. New Phyrexia praetors? We've got 'em. Titans? Yep, got them also. Want to cast a Karn Liberated? You do that. How about a Warp World or a Beacon of Tomorrows? Absolutely. Name a spell that you want to cast and you can do it. It's like a Timmy, Johnny, and Spike's ultimate fantasy wrapped up into one tight package - and that's what makes it awesome.

I did make a small handful of concessions here and there, but kept them to a minimum. Darksteel Colossus works just fine as a cheaper option compared to Blightsteel Colossus - not to mention a few less feel bads in the process as well. There's also a lot of mana rocks - something you need to either get the suspend train rolling fast or else just cast them outright. But there's none of the crazy fast and expensive ones here. That means no Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Mox Diamond, Grim Monolith, etc. Nor is there anything like, say, Force of Will, Intuition, or Time Spiral. Even though I'm saying go all in, there's still limits, and I'm not out here trying to make this into some hyper competitive cEDH deck or anything.

Instead, here's a list for you to simply play as many spells as you can with one of the most iconic characters in Magic's long and storied history. It's not something that I'd recommend playing all the time as the thrill of it will wear off quickly, but every now and then you just really need to cut loose and play all of the things. And that's what makes Jhoira so great, so fun, and so iconic. Your opponents may not have a good time while you're smothering them in a landslide of powerful cards, but I promise you'll have an absolute blast if you take this to your next Commander night. Just maybe make sure you have some time water on hand as well.

Paige Smith

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