Barigord Gaming – 07/29/25 – Magic the Gathering
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A New Deck!
Hey Commander players! It has been a very long time since I posted anything about Magic the Gathering. I’ve been disenchanted with the game, and skipped many of my LGS’s casual EDH tournament, the Commander Challenge.
But recently my roommate and fellow Magic player Andrew pushed me to go to a Challenge, so I built a deck and went. It was fun, and I did pretty well, including winning a game where I was pushed all the way to 1 life.
I didn’t write down what happened in the games. It’s a lot, on top of very complicated gaming, and I doubt I’ll be doing that much longer. But I have a list and some thoughts, so let’s get to it.
The Deck – Jenova Vehicles
This is a a deck based around Jenova, Ancient Calamity. Jenova is from Final Fantasy 7. She’s an alien invader to the planet, and sort of mother to Sephiroth. I made sure to brag about him and how he’s in SOLDIER and the newspapers.
I’m sure there are plenty of decks out there that run powerful Mutant-type creatures alongside Jenova. Stuff like Agent Frank Horrigan, Renegade Krasis, Krosan Cloudscraper and even Vegetation Abomination. I’m not doing that. No creatures in the deck at all.
Fallout is a great source of cool Mutants if you want to do that. No wrong to build decks, and it should still be good.
But why Vehicles? Well, Jenova wants Mutants to die on our turn to draw cards, and will provide the Mutant typing herself. Vehicles are only creatures when we want them to be, like our turn, and otherwise are often proof against Commander’s main source of removal: sorcery-speed sweepers/wraths.
In addition, I like the idea of Jenova mutating some car.
My Other Car is Sephiroth
Otherworldly Card Advantage
There are other reasons to play vehicles, like a low overall cost, often generic mana, and higher stats than most creatures at that point on the curve.
Take this Sleek Schooner. Draft chaff, right? Well Jenova can easily crew it, give it a +1/+1 counter, and send it into combat. Since you want it to die, there’s likely little downside here. Either you score an unblocked hit for 5 or kill/trade with a blocker. Then you use a card like High Market post-combat to sacrifice it if it’s not already dead, and draw 5 cards. Tip of the iceberg honestly.
I’m sure with optimization this could be OP. I drew between 5 and 7 cards almost every turn after playing Jenova in all of my games. I had Reliquary Tower all 3 games, which was pretty lucky. My hands were huge.
The biggest issue was how to finish. Psychosis Crawler maybe? Berserk?
The way the deck played out made me think Giant Growth in it might be Ancestral Recall with upside, if that’s ever been a thing. If you use it to make your Mutant bigger, it’s going to draw you 3 cards, and also maybe do more damage, or maybe save a creature from death. For a single green mana.
Proliferate For the Win?
I would also stuff in a bunch of proliferate cards. I played Expand the Sphere a couple of times, once as ramp, and once to proliferate, and it was the single most powerful play I made all day.
I had just played Vault 12: The Necropolis, and 2 proliferates did these things: up each player’s rad counters to 5, making 20 total, made 20 Zombie Mutants, and finally turned all Zombie Mutants from 2/2s to 4/4s. That’s 80 power on the board. Not including whatever other Zombies/Mutants got bonuses. Try this move!
The Vault 12 proliferate trick was great, but needed haste to really get there. My 80 power was nuked by a wrath before I could attack. There aren’t enough options for the colours though. Concordant Crossroads is incredibly expensive. Crashing Drawbridge is a creature, but might be the best option. Even though the deck only attacks with a single or few creatures most of the time, haste would be a priority.
Filling Out the Garage
One Vehicle I didn’t include that I wish I had was Knight Paladin. The Enters trigger on Debris Beetle was great, and recurring abilities like these is a real way to get life totals down.
Another is Ovalchase Dragster. Crew 1 was a huge advantage on crew 2. I would also consider Vehicles like Brute Suit, Carrion Cruiser, Careening Mine Cart, Dreadmobile, Funeral Longboat, and Flywheel Racer over most of the Crew 2 vehicles I played. Clown Car and Luxurious Locomotive both underwhelmed.
Crew 1 Vehicles with haste are extra good, and should be a priority to include. The Regalia and Thundering Chariot would have fit nicely. As far as crew 2, Demonic Junker is worth trying out.
I don’t play cards that search at all, and the deck is the lowest bracket possible, so tutors, fetches and Game Changers are there if you want more raw power.
Other Tricks
I included a few Undying Malice-style cards in the deck, considering the main creature I need to protect is Jenova, and they cover almost all non-exile removal. I chose the ones that add a +1/+1 counter to Jenova to make her bonus bigger and let her be better at crewing. Vehicles were chosen by crew cost, btw, and there are a few other ways to get Jenova to 2 power or more. The Undying Malices also work well with reanimating vehicles that are going to be sacrificed.
There are 3 notable green enchantments in the deck that figured heavily into my games. First, Howling Moon was pretty strong. Getting Wolf tokens was trivial, and happened most turns. Alongside Jenova, I’d have a 5/5 (at minimum) Mutant Wolf to sacrifice every turn. That’s a 2/2 with the combat bonus from Howling Moon and the +1/+1 (or more) counter from Jenova.
Second, Paradox Zone was the reason I won the game I won, as it escalated quickly to making an 18/18 in a few turns plus a proliferate trigger. Slow for competitive games, but a real finisher if you let it sit there. I don’t think I sacrificed any Fractals for cards as my hands were overflowing at that point and I needed board presence.
Finally, Feed the Pack was probably a nonbo. Jenova is the only reliable target for sacrifice, and while she makes 5 Wolves, it’s probably best to keep her on board. Undying Malice will bring her back for ‘value’ but 2 cards to make 5 tokens once seems underpowered for this concept. You can also use it to sac Vehicles that are still creatures, but at 6 mana, and considering how much card advantage the deck already has, Feed the Pack should be swapped for something cheaper. Village Rites and friends would be a great place to start.
Conclusion
While I had a good time playing with Jenova, it was clearly powerful in a way that I kind of avoid. Drawing so many cards but struggling to finish is usually a problem for blue/green (Simic) decks, and it’s not my favourite. It pushes a combo/alpha finish of some kind.
Maybe a combat trick-style deck would work, though it might flirt with drawing itself to death. In any event, Jenova, Ancient Calamity is a real powerhouse.
Thanks for reading!
