Jodah, the Unifier | Upping the Average

[@Bimblewort]

That price on the budget deck was like a punch in the gut. Holy hell that's a big difference. Thanks for the excellent video, Joey!

[@carljones282]

I totally agree with this! Thank you so much!!

[@mykgKende]

I just started building my own Jodah deck about 3 days ago, this will be such a great guide line!

[@niXonc0x]

Odric has been finding his way into every deck with white lately for me... so fun and sneaky and good

[@LPchief]

love this take on it. i personally only put permanents in the deck with mana rocks into legendaries, just to start ASAP. i also like to add that "partner with" Legeendaries are kinda working with Jodah too, cause they search up each other so you have another Legendary to trigger Jodah with! net little "combo" if you ask me!

[@peadrianlastname]

In my jodah deck esika God of the tree has been an absolute beast. Giving your whole board vigilance and tap add a mana lets you go off way earlier for just 1GG

[@cfrydlewicz]

You definitely covered a lot of the weird quirks of this deck that I discovered testing too. Well done! My version has a design restriction that I'm not allowed to play any non-Legendaries (except for lands) :-P We'll see how it fares.

[@TheeMasterSword]

Coward, you could get all legendary lands in there too! I think? 🙃

[@jamesferguson3547]

I mean.... kamigawa jas provided plenty of legendary lands...

[@cfrydlewicz]

If I win too easily with my build I'll add that restriction too 😛

[@InfinityRift7]

There are actually lots of great legendary lands that fix the card draw issues with this deck. Not to mention that both versions of Sisay can fetch for them, which is lesser-known tech!

[@cfrydlewicz]

@@InfinityRift7 Yea, I have several in there, but 37 is a tough one 😛

[@skullkrusher-dx4kg]

I really like legends that grant your team keywords. Its like your voltroning your whole team.

[@sosukelele]

Been expecting this one, very excited!

[@onlineuser9228]

Thanks for this. I too had Jodah, Archmage Eternal in my deck and after three games I realized that it was a waste (other than a flyer) because I had no real benefit from it.

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

You are indeed correct with laelia, because the number to be Exiled is uncertain, they are done so one at a time even though it's all from one ability resolving. She would get big fast.

[@omarmuniz1497]

10:00 on this time for added buffs I will say sometimes you dont have the land colors to play other cards, especially if its basic lands, as such with my 38 Jodah deck I needed to use treasure since I lacked black and blue mana the entire, as such my options where limited. You could fix your lands but sometimes bad luck happens. At the end I won, with 5 lands an treasure. Still not black or blue. An I was only able to cascade twice. So added buffs is a welcome help, especially for trample creatures too.

[@JoshTheCondemner]

Goro-Goro is a great include in this deck due to the ability to grant all your creatures haste for one red mana.

[@adym15]

I suggest looking into the "Partner with.." mechanic as well, as one partner will search out the other from the library and into our hand. Pir and Toothy are worthy inclusions in my opinion, and the others are worth a look as well.

[@LuisCruz-wv9qc]

Love the video! Crossing my fingers for a Sheoldred video next…

[@thomasbuege8074]

Hot Damn do I love this channel!!!! Just wanted to see this one!!!

[@spudster8887]

Just for reference, any and all jodah decks should be running valki, since jodah doesn't actually have cascade, if you hit him you can have it come in as tibalt. I also really think the deck here needs more countermagic and stuff like kira greatglass spinner, since jodah is going to be a lightning rod, and if people kill him before blocks are declared your legends lose the pump, which will lead to blow outs if you aren't careful. Oh also anybody doing a budget mana base? Throw in the 5 battlebond lands in baldurs gate, they are like $5 a piece right now.

[@filippocacciotto3890]

Great suggestions as always. I'd really like to see your take on Kethis

[@Sparl486]

I'd like to see Dihada Binder of wills too, seeing them side by side at the end because of the similarities.

[@NekoValtz]

Lord of the rings REALLY shook up this deck with a ton of ads

[@InfinityRift7]

I personally feel that having Maelstrom Wanderer is a must in the deck. Haste for all and getting not 2 but 3 cascade triggers is just VERY good.

[@cjhenline]

MASSIVE LEGEND HERE.

[@Grimlocksmith]

This is great. I think I have most of the cards in the budget build sitting unused in my playables box!

[@lukeisstrange1533]

I have a 5 color shrine deck and I really want to add more legendary matters stuff in it. When we get more shrines in idk-how-many-years then I will be able to do that

[@tntkaboomsky7427]

There was a commander channel that is running Jodah with a Backgrounds style cascade strategy which I have had a blast with on a budget!!

[@OromisGlaedr]

I don't see many, if any, people mentioning her, but I absolutely love playing Delina, Wild Mage in my deck. The fact that you can have two or more Jodah's out is hilarious, honestly.

[@jessesandburg]

Only problem I see with the budget deck is the amount of cards that come in tapped. Great price though!

[@finnancahill2644]

Use pain lands instead of the tri lands

[@adri2703]

The cards that I've ordered haven't arrived yet 😮‍💨. Legendary Human Tribal !

[@jameslathem7349]

I built a legends tribal deck with Ramos at the helm and this man is 100% going in there

[@jacob510]

I just turned my Tazri party theme into Jodah Legendary party and it's a blast to play

[@cannibaletiquette5038]

Smaller creatures makes sense strategically. But if you wanna have a moment, go BIG. theres nothing like that look on the pods faces when you have abbadon the despoiler, nawbones, medomi the ageless, gisalda, jetmir, and a samut voice of dissent on the board, and thats just to name a few.

[@alvaroruiz5329]

I've just discovered the archetype of superfriends and you don't seem to have any upping the average video about it. I think that, being so different from the rest, it could be an interesting video to see.

[@ayllipkhieu8659]

Jori En, Ruin Diver is great as a second Vega. It may trigger only once a turn, but you’re casting that “cascaded” spell. Basically a Phyrexian arena here

[@Randoman590]

In case anybody's revisiting this page after the release of March of the Machine: If you decide against the Jegantha companion restriction, you now have access to *Djeru and Hazoret*. 2RRW for a Legendary 5/4 Human God. When it attacks, look at your top six, pick a legendary creature from them and cast it for free from exile. Oh, and if you're Heckbent it gets Vigilance and Haste. So it's a Legend that helps you fetch more Legends. It's not casting from hand so you don't get Jodah's cascade again, but it's still a cast so it synergises with anything that cares about that (e.g. Reki, Teshar, Jhoira etc.)

[@hannu5863]

Laelia is hilarious when you cast and cascade with your lowest cmc legend..

[@Sinfamous81]

Why does it feel like your budget version would perform better than the expensive version? Aside from the lands, the budget list seems to pack an amazing punch.

[@Slo-Mode]

Now this is a spicy brew.

[@stephenruh2474]

Would love to see some of the Warhammer 40k decks get the Joey treatment! Thanks for your awesome content :D

[@naruto28291]

Ghaltha the primal hunger is in my deck since I can cast it for 2 most of the time, Grenzo dungeon warden is also a fun add, and Goro-Goro is a good haste giver and usually easy to get since it's a 2 drop, and Marwyn the nurturer is also good to get a bunch of green mana

[@unforgivable6164]

Rograkh is a must add if you have any 1 or 2 drop legends

[@leahdavis2361]

What if I have some of the cards that you cut(like timeless lotus, or mox amber) already?

[@spades-1355]

If you like running small frys in this deck try zabaz the glimmerwasp mostly because he is a one cost legend that can be cascaded into and helps pump all the other legends and you can give him flying which can be useful

[@daneburke6592]

Original sakashima is great here as well! Can copy jodah while being a legendary so triggers jodah on cast. Who doesn’t want double the legendary pump and an additional legendary cascade trigger per legendary cast

[@kylebashkir5923]

Great video! I want to request a Kaalia Redux, Joey, please!

[@elsanto2401]

the budget version looks like a lot more fun

[@Xander44s]

Laelia says: “one or more cards…” which means one +1/+1 counter per cascade… but i could be wrong.

[@Xander44s]

I am indeed wrong, because the way cascade (and Jodah) works, each card is exiled in a sequential form, The game couldn’t know when to stop exiling them in that case; to do that we’d need to reveal them sequentially first, then exile all the revealed cards at once.

[@reconstructionmanifest7349]

I think people are sleeping on the thriving lands from jumpstart for 4 or 5 color decks. One of the best budget options imo. They are great for crafting your mana as you go. Nothing like having a thriving land in your hand when you also have a cultivate but you dont have any green. Just drop it and choose the color. Love them in 5 colors

[@Youtubeusermann]

Why does the decklist for the budget version have 101 cards?

[@shysonolmos2916]

If I’m allowed to request a deck tech I’d like to see a Yidris maelstrom wanderer one mainly cause it’s one of those older commanders that haven’t made an appearance on any recent videos!

[@Kabyk]

I know the slogan is "taking a good list to a great one", but the EDHREC Average lists that struggle to be even close to "good" are the secondary/tertiary commanders from Precons - especially popular Precons like Edgar Markov. So, the Average lists for Mathas Fiend Seeker and Licia Sanguine Tribune are downright awful as they're mostly just Edgar's list with a couple swaps. Though I suppose those kind of fixes would need longer videos and probably wouldn't fit here...

[@amaru7014]

I am Bulding a completly random 5 Colour Niv Reborne Commander with Jodah and every cool Multicoloured and Legendary card i like :D Tanks for the Inspiration. For me Jodah or cards like aragon the uniter as a Commander are just too strong to be played casual but i think that depands on the cards and playgroup.

[@alexandreroy5934]

Why using "time of need" in the budget and non-budget version? "Eladamri's call" should be use instead, you're thought 🤔?

[@gonzo8105]

Why Prosper and Laelia? You won't get the Jodahs trigger off the exiled card you cast. I get the +1s and the treasures but I'd that worth missing the Cascade?

[@onlineuser9228]

What? Why not Prosper, it does not 'override' Jodah so even if Prosper was not in the 99, you still wouldn't get a trigger off Jodah when you cast from exile, Prosper just gives you a treasure for casting from exile.

[@gonzo8105]

@@onlineuser9228 what I mean is the card you flip on endstep from Prosper and the card on attack from laelia when you cast those cards they won't trigger Jodah. Seems like a waste. Other than getting some treasures and more +1s I don't see why. You are taking away from the point of the deck.

[@daneburke6592]

I think prosper is worth playing just for the amount of treasures you’ll get off him. Ramp and it’s perfect mana fixing. Just cause you don’t get a jodah trigger doesn’t mean it’s not good

[@markbrierley6367]

You won't always flip a card Jodah cares about. You won't always have Jodah on the battlefield. Leilia can get very big and stay very big if Jodah dies. You're correct they're nonbos, but that doesn't make them weak.

[@nogard0497]

I literally just swapped Tiamat for this Jodah and swapped out some cards and is now my dragon tribal Commander

[@empurress77]

I gotta disagree with your assessment of "Day of Destiny". While Jodah may have the same ability (only better), Jodah is a definite target the instant it hits the table. Day of destiny, being an enchantment is far more likely to stick around and do some good. ( ... in general)

[@VexylObby]

I don't get the hate for Avacyn's Memorial. It is so consistently good. Are people that afraid of High CMC? This meta now has tons of way to cheat in big stuff.

[@markbrierley6367]

It's ok in Legendary tribal, but Joey is correct, the card isn't great. Most of the time you'd rather just play Avacyn. Avacyn is a little easier to interact with but she beats face and protects all your permanents. Also he would have cut the memorial in the Jagantha build anyway. If you want to play something like that play Akroma's Memorial instead. The trample and haste work incredibly well in the deck's gameplan.

[@VexylObby]

@@markbrierley6367 I meant the general hate, and not for just this deck. And Avacyn is incredibly hard to handle. By the time she is out, who knows if we will have exile creature spells on hand,

[@markbrierley6367]

@@VexylObby it's not a good card. It only protects legendary creatures and costs 8 mana 3 of which is white which limits the decks it can be played in. There are ways to get similar (or better) benefits for cheaper. The bar for commander playable cards is very, very low. Avacyn's Monument passes that bar, but there are tons of better cards people could play. I think a lot of the hate comes from the narrowness of the card. You compare Akroma to her monument and compare Avacyn to her monument and you can't help but be disappointed.

[@VexylObby]

@@markbrierley6367 Just because it fits in only some decks, doesn't make it "bad". And it makes the player less of a threat. Avacyn just speaks "try hard" to many circles., making them the target immediately. They both serve similar purposes, but it feels much more cool to use a card that specifically refers to "Legendary", and not so much the card that could fit into ANY white deck. It gets pretty boring seeing the same "most optimized" versions of cards that don't really distinguish themselves between different strategies. But people can play whatever they want, so okay. But people should be aware that some levels and groups build for uniqueness and effectiveness in tandem.

[@skullkrusher-dx4kg]

I feel like selvala and marwyn would make my final list as well.

[@andrewsparkes6275]

While Jodah flips individual cards, it is still all part of one ability. Does Laelia actually trigger for each one, or for the whole ability? Because if it's the second, it'll only get one +1/+1 counter, since it states "whenever one or more cards are put into exile from your library". Judge, please?!

[@fastydave]

Joey is correct

[@kirkwright8954]

Because of the way cascade works (or Jodah’s ability, which is not technically cascade but essentially functions the same way), you exile cards until you exile one that meets the criteria, which means you have to exile each card individually and then check to see if it meets the criteria. So each card that you exile will separately trigger Laelia.

[@andrewsparkes6275]

@@kirkwright8954 Weird. I thought "one or more" usually refers to the whole ability, when it's talking about a game action. For example, an ability that puts a counter on one creature then puts a second counter on that creature afterwards would only trigger "whenever one or more counters is put on a permanent you control" abilities once. Is cascade different because you actually need to check the quality of the card being exiled?

[@kirkwright8954]

@@andrewsparkes6275 I’m not a judge, but I’ll explain this the best way I know how. Usually, when you’re putting multiple counters on a permanent, you’re going to be putting all those counters on that permanent at once (for example, if something says “put X +1/+1 counters on,” they all go on simultaneously. Cascade (and Jodah’s ability) work differently because the ability checks each card for viability as it is exiled, so by nature it has to happen one card at a time.

[@danielgubler2595]

Valky needs to be in here, you can cascade into it from a 3 drop but instead chose to cast the planeswalker side

[@EDHRECast]

Turns out the Cascade mechanic was updated to no longer allow this effect with cards like Valki. Source: mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Cascade#Rules_update

[@adrienjeannaux3849]

@@EDHRECast Are you sure it's not working as jodah's ability is technically not cascade and doesn't specify the text line errated in cascade mechanic (You may cast that card without paying its mana cost if the resulting spell's mana value is less than this spell's mana value)?

[@danielgubler96]

@@EDHRECast Since Jodah's ability isn't actually cascade would it work? I did it on magic arena and it worked fine, so either the wording is just different enough or there is a bug on arena

[@onlineuser9228]

@@EDHRECast I don't think Jodah's ability 'cascades.' I know this sounds like someone being pretty "acshually" but it would matter for cards like Averna, the Chaos Bloom and Wild-Magic Sorcerer. Wild-Magic Sorcerer would give the first card casted from exile "cascade" so while it seems pedantic there's a slight difference in casting from exile and cascading I believe which is why Wild-Magic Sorcerer explicitly "gives" cascade to something. Otherwise there would be no point in saying that.

[@daneburke6592]

This has been proven to work since it is not cascade. Saw someone ask it on the ask a judge facebook group and they confirmed that it does by multiple judges

[@trollboy2910]

Relic of legends and Rona, herald of invasion are both broken cards in the deck

[@The_Og_Cracker]

Okay, 1. You'll need to remake a video like this after brothers war please. 2. Jodah in a jodah deck where jegantha is in us better cause now your not having to worry about extra colorless being paid aswell as keeping track of the mana

[@still09]

Amulet of legends is pretty fantastic

[@aaron3905]

Instead of the deer I bought the legendary elemental otter cause he's super cute and can copy a sorcerery or instant!

[@markbrierley6367]

Bad news. Lutri is banned in commander.

[@harrisonheppelmann7938]

What happened to “not doing commanders from the most recent set, the data hasn’t settled out yet”?

[@bathsaltcircus9630]

New sub who dis?

[@brotendo]

You probably won't see this comment, but what pre-con commander deck should I buy? I've literally only started playing 2 weeks ago and a friend said to check out your channel so that I could "build don't buy" a commander deck. Um, I barely know what any of the cards in my starter kit do! I'm coming from Apex and League of Legends... zero experience with TCGs. I just want to buy a deck to start playing. I don't care if I win or lose. Hardly anyone at my local shop plays modern or standard, it's always groups of 4 playing commander. I only have this starter deck (60 cards red/green and 60 cards white/blue).

[@kirkwright8954]

I would recommend buying the Party Time commander deck from the recent Baldur’s Gate expansion. It’s only two colors, it’s mostly creature based, and the mechanics are fairly easy to understand. But mostly, just get any deck that catches your eye and start playing and learning. Once you understand how the game goes, you’ll better know what you do or don’t want out of the game.

[@brotendo]

@@kirkwright8954 Thanks for the advice. I actually liked the artwork for the Exit From Exile box so I bought it tonight and my friends were teaching me how to play it. They told me it was a slightly more complicated deck with the exile mechanics, but I think I can get the hang of it in a few weeks.

[@akira-qr4qm]

@@brotendo get the golgari "Elven Empire" deck, it's not that old, it's super cheap, very simple and incredibly strong. There's no better choice

[@brotendo]

@@akira-qr4qm I see them around for about $35-40. I'll pick one up. Looks like they were only $20 at launch but went up in price for some reason.

[@abdalafadhil9762]

The people want Roon!!!!

[@danielsheraton5433]

Great video, I would love to see a video on the necron 40K deck from the resident necromancer!

[@alexanderhorn9419]

i thought also about prosper but he is bad cause if you cast one of his exiled cards as a legendary it wont trigger jodah so is card advantage is shit in this deck :/

[@andrewsparkes6275]

Because of course Joey is a fan of How I Met Your Mother. I was thinking which sitcoms each of the EDHreCast would fit into, and Joey was 100% my pick for that millennial sitcom. Dana? I feel like he'd be the dad of pretty much any kids-centric Nickelodeon comedy. Matt? He's harder to place, but he'd find his spot in as a straight-guy in a dramedy like Scrubs or Community, for sure!

[@wilux2469]

50% of the mtga brawl meta

[@gxantor]

13:27 for the more budget brew

[@DoylePrime]

So glad to know Joey watches "How I Met Your Mother" as much as I do LOL

[@VexylObby]

We will have to revisit this one, as the data is VERY young and undeveloped.

[@123silverslash]

while im sure the deck is fun, i feel like this Jodah just enables the worst of the Five-color "good stuff" decks. giving nearly everything in your deck cascade AND pumping them means that you can play almost anything to at least some degree of success. im interested in seeing your superfriends idea, that sounds a lot less irritating

[@DaRalf23]

The deck hasn't even been officially playable for a week and this man is already hashing at like, what? 4 dozen deck concepts? What's that? 1200+? Geeeeezzzzzz....

[@999Lucas]

Jegantha: Use it 'til its banned.

[@reconstructionmanifest7349]

You nailed it. I think Jegantha is way more powerful as a commander anyway. Jodah is meh. You either have to cast it while you also have a lot of mana to cast other stuff. Or you can cast it and pray it lives i guess. I just think Jodah is super easy to control. I farm Jodah decks in historic brawl. Granted it's not true edh but same principles

[@pillietje]

Sadly Laelia doesn't get a +1 per card exiled. Since the wording is: whenever one or more. If it would add: put a +1 counter per card exiled this way, she would have been hella strong.

[@EDHRECast]

Gatherer rulings for Laelia: 10/7/2022 If an effect instructs you to exile cards from the top of your library until some event occurs (rather than exile a set number of cards), Laelia triggers once for each card exiled this way.

[@cxsss]

The Jhoda deck you link has 99 cards, a commander, AND a companion, making a total of 101 cards.

[@maxphilippe803]

That's how it works when you have a companion

[@kirkwright8954]

Companion doesn’t count toward your deck total.

[@cxsss]

@@kirkwright8954 Woah. Okay, Awesome to know.

[@TheCommunistGamerTV]

I'm gonna be that guy and say just proxy the damn mana base!

[@nicksternyr8728]

kodama won't trigger jodah but jodahs ability will trigger kodama. so I don't agree

[@christianashcroft8298]

Jegentha definitely not worth the cuts

[@reconstructionmanifest7349]

Great video as always. I really think Jodah is just bad tho

[@jamescooley5241]

Interesting

[@reconstructionmanifest7349]

@@jamescooley5241 I'm not saying that to be mean I'm just saying all the table has to do to control it is remove on sight or counter. It doesnt do anything on ETB or on cast. If it triggered itself it would be way better

[@fastydave]

@@reconstructionmanifest7349 it clearly does make the entire team giant on etb so you're wrong. RTFC

[@reconstructionmanifest7349]

@@fastydave single anthem effect isnt good either. In response I wrath of god. Have a good day. Most powerful commander from the regular set is Soul of Windgrace and it's not close

[@kirkwright8954]

@@reconstructionmanifest7349 I really think you’re undervaluing Jodah here. If you have four legendary creatures on board when you play Jodah, they all instantly get +5/+5. Even if they wrath next turn, you get one big swing out of him.

[@sheaparkersp]

I already hate this commander

[@VexylObby]

This deck, so far, has been incredibly annoying to play against. And when wielding it, just annoys others and makes me the target.

[@moafighting1597]

I thought jodah was a girl oops

[@MachiriReviews]

This shit needs a fucking ban.

[@markbrierley6367]

Why? Imprison in the moon straight up blanks what the deck is trying to do. Drannith Magistrate doesn't even let it get off the ground. It's still just an aggro strategy. Couple wraths and the deck basically folds. Deck has no way to win around a Meren + Spore frog or Teleportation Circle + Stonehorn Dignitary. Like most decks that are one dimensional it's only strong if it's never messed with. Jodah is an incredibly narrow card with a strong synergy. There's nothing about this card that even hints of a ban.

[@frankyg821]

Get niv in this deck

[@coltonjohnson390]

I was exited for this commander but then my inner hipster saw how many other people were building this and how much of directionless “generic good stuff” deck it is

[@DoGGyPlays]

This guide is... very questionable :D

[@andreww479]

Goes over budget options and adds a Ragavan... do you even know what budget is?

[@setch1232]

No, he added Kari Zev, Skyship Raider which creates a 2/1 legendary token called Ragavan, not a Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

[@fastydave]

Try listening next time Andrew....Yikes

[@xEddyTheGr8x]

Have you tried reading the cards? That like, you know, explains them...