Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain- MTG Card of the Day Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Oh, Jhoira. Jhoira, Jhoira. How many years have we been waiting for you? And I mean the real you, the brave, bold, and beautiful artificer we first saw on Tinker rather than the inexplicably time-touched and merely functional card from Future Sight? Don’t scare us like that again!

After Mirrodin, Esper, New Phyrexia, Kaladesh, and all the random artifacts in between, you would almost have to actively try not to get an insane advantage on everything your deck does when Jhoira is in it. And given the open nature of her ability and artifacts in general, you can support almost any endgame you like, whether it be infinite Thopter tokens, Staff of Domination shenanigans, or even just something like Urza’s Science Fair Project. That may be more true in Commander or Brawl, where she’s always on call in the command zone, but there is plenty to build around in any format of your choice. 

It would have been nice if her abilities could have had some synergy with Tinker itself other than both caring about artifacts; does that seem too greedy on my part? Either way, Jhoira is here to stay.

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5

King Of
Hearts

It was clever of Wizards to reintroduce players to Jhoira in the Mind VS Might duel decks. That version of Jhoira was a wizard and had a focus on spells. This time around she is an artificer and cares about the other Izzet archtype, artifacts. The change in creature type certainly makes sense, but it is unfortunate as Blue – Red Wizards is an archetype in Limited. 

As Izzet hardly cares about Creatures or Enchantments, and there’s only two Legendary Soceries in the colors, her ability translates to, “Cast an artifact, draw a card.” Simple but powerful. Although the dream is to run her in an Affinity deck, she is strong enough in Standard (or Brawl.) Combine her with Mox Amber, The Locust God, a plethora of cards from Kaladesh, and maybe even Strorm the Vaults for some good times.

Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3
Commander (EDH): 4

Looks like blue/red finally got an artifact-inclined Commander. Kinda.

Jhoira is not a particularly flashy card: mediocre stats, no combat abilities, but one doozy of an effect in a set packed with cards that trigger it. Cantripping on spells is a deceptively powerful ability, and Jhoira gives you an extra card regardless of whether or not the spell resolves. I don’t think she’s amazing, but she’s a solid card given extra power by the set she’s in, and she’s a solid combo piece all around.

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander: 4.5