Jodah, Archmage Eternal- MTG Card of the Day Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

As far as I’m aware, this card’s flavor text is mistaken, and there is in fact only one Jodah and he actually is immortal. He actually reminds me a little of Hob Gadling from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, in that he’s relatively ordinary by the standards of his setting other than being immortal – although in his case, it’s connected to the Fountain of Youth rather than simply choosing not to die like Hob. He’s also famous for helping Freyalise and Jaya Ballard in the leadup to the World Spell that ended the Ice Age; if you check out the companion novel for Planar Chaos, Freyalise is childishly offended simply by his presence, which to me paints a rather unflattering picture of pre-Mending planeswalkers.

He’s another principal character from the Ice Age who had to wait decades to get a card representing him, but I expect him to be just as popular in gameplay as he is to story fans. If I understand the rules of Commander correctly, he can be the leader of a deck with up to five colors because they appear in his text box, which means there are probably a lot of five-mana Akromas, converge spells with X equal to five despite their converted mana cost only being three, and subtle but notable distinctions on cards like Beseech the Queen. Just try not to go too nuts with Time Stretch. I mean, Magic is still not a solitaire game, at least not technically!

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

King Of
Hearts

I’m a big fan of Fist of Suns. I always thought of it as Magic universe’s Infinity Gauntlet. I suppose that would make the Bones of Ramos the Infinity Stones. Anyways, casting Progenitus or Emrakul for a fraction of the cost is awesome. 

His stats aren’t that exciting, particularly his 3 toughness makes him easy to kill. What I don’t understand is why is he Jeskai? I can see Jodah, Archmage Eternal being a popular commander in Super Friends decks or Historic Brawl decks.

Constructed: 2
Casual: 4
Limited: 1
Multiplayer: 2
Commander (EDH): 4

Fist of the Suns on a body? More likely than you think. Jodah definitely looks to be an enabler to five-color commander decks, since the wording of his ability makes him a five-color card instead of merely being Jeskai. He’s cool, but the body is utterly underwhelming outside of that particular niche.

Constructed: 2
Casual: 3
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 2.5
Commander: 3.75