Jhoira, Thopter Architect

Commander / EDH Artifact Artificer Storm Thopter UR (Izzet)

Zenterous

Artifact (34)

• 1x Claws of Gix
• 1x Dark Sphere
• 1x Jeweled Amulet
• 1x Mishra's Bauble
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Spellbook
• 1x Tormod's Crypt
• 1x Urza's Bauble
• 1x Welding Jar
• 1x Aether Spellbomb
• 1x Retrofitter Foundry
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Springleaf Drum
• 1x Stone of Erech
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Fractured Powerstone
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Liquimetal Torque
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Cloud Key
• 1x Sculpting Steel
• 1x Semblance Anvil
• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Mystic Forge
• 1x Unwinding Clock
• 1x Forsaken Monument

Land (30)

• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Glimmervoid
• 1x Great Furnace
• 6x Island
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 6x Mountain
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Silverbluff Bridge
• 1x Spirebluff Canal
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Zhalfirin Void

Instant (9)

• 1x An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Galvanic Blast
• 1x Opt
• 1x Slip Out the Back
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Fire Prophecy
• 1x Whir of Invention
• 1x Paradoxical Outcome

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• 1x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Words of Wind
• 1x Efficient Construction

Commander (1)

Creature (16)

• 1x Memnite
• 1x Ornithopter
• 1x Phyrexian Walker
• 1x Shield Sphere
• 1x Stonecoil Serpent
• 1x Hope of Ghirapur
• 1x Enthusiastic Mechanaut
• 1x Etherium Sculptor
• 1x Ornithopter of Paradise
• 1x Reckless Fireweaver
• 1x Riddlesmith
• 1x Foundry Inspector
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Master of Etherium
• 1x Sai, Master Thopterist
• 1x Urza, Lord High Artificer

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Mana Severance
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Chain Reaction
• 1x Reverse Engineer
• 1x Thoughtcast
• 1x Blasphemous Act

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Synopsis

This is my stab at a Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain deck. The goal is to combine card draw with Thopter 1/1 C production. I was hoping to keep the price down as much as possible. I think it is reasonable, not cheap but not outrageous. If you had unlimited funds I would also add a lot of the Moxes especially Mox Opal, and interaction spells like Deflecting Swat, Fierce Guardianship, and Cyclonic Rift. I've also contemplated adding Basalt Monolith to have the Basalt Monolith + Forsaken Monument infinite mana loop but that seems very situational so it doesn't feel worth it but you might want to try it.

There are two versions of this deck. I mostly play with friends so I don't want to be too competitive and would rather have more of a fun experience. If you want a more competitive deck, swap out five cards (I usually go with Saheeli, Filigree Master, Metallic Mimic, Chief of the Foundry, Whir of Invention, and Tezzeret, Artifice Master) for the side board.

I based this deck heavily off of Mortiganil's deck: Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain: Brave the Storm so some credit should go to her.

Win Conditions

The win conditions are to either get so many thopters with Sai, Master Thopterist, Thopter Spy Network, Etherium Spinner, Loyal Apprentice, and/or Efficient Construction that your opponents can't keep up with the token production, or to defeat your opponents with direct damage from Reckless Fireweaver, Ingenious Artillerist, or Impact Tremors.

However, the better more surefire win condition is, as stated above, to add Sensei's Divining Top to set up the Mystic Forge + Sensei's Divining Top infinite card draw loop and combine that with Jace, Wielder of Mysteries or Laboratory Maniac to win instantly when your whole library is drawn. Or with Aetherflux Reservoir and all the spells you will cast you can gain enough life that you can deal 50 damage directly to the opponent and win that way. I took these out of the normal version of the deck only because I personally don't like winning that way but it is more along the lines of what this deck is intended to do and more competitive.

Play Style

This is a deck is a storm-style deck, even though I excluded storm cards like Grapeshot. Some might even call this a "solitaire" deck. Your turns could last a while as you continue to draw cards and play cheap artifacts, combo-ing thopters or other artifact triggers. It should get off to a fast start, make sure to get Jhoira out as fast as possible. Mulligan aggressively until you are confident you can get her out on ideally the third or at the very latest fourth turn. Once you have her out watch as your turns last forever playing tons of artifacts, activating tons of triggers. If you prefer creature-heavy decks this is not for you. If you like seeing combos and artifact synergy and playing a ton of cards really fast then this is exactly your style.

Pros/Cons

The pros are that this deck can get going really fast and overwhelm the board. It is entirely possible to have over half of your deck on the board by turn 7. You can create an insane amount of thopters with a bunch of buffs. There is also a ton of mana ramp.

However a lot of this hinges on Jhoira being on the field. If you can't get a good enough opening hand to get her out early that might slow your strategy down or if your opponent removes her, that can be difficult to recover from. That is why I added some counterspells. They are exclusively to protect Jhoira. There also isn't a lot of board control or removal in the deck so you can get set back pretty easily.

In the more competitive version of the deck, there is a pretty silly board wipe you can use if you can set it up. You play Words of Wind with a couple of artifact cost reduction spells and two mana rocks to infinitely play, pick them up, and replay them and have everyone else clear their board while you keep everything out there. It takes a bit to set up but can be really effective.

I Have an Unhealthy Obsession with Thopters

So I made a couple thopter art pieces. These are to go along with my two thopter decks because I'm extra like that. This is a thopter-based card sleeve design. It's based on the diagram art like in Ornithopter. If anyone wants to use it for anything you're more than welcome to. It could also probably work as a custom token if you want. If anyone is interested in using this as a token let me know and I can add "Thopter" to the top and "Flying" and "1/1" at the bottom.

The other thing I made is a 3D model of this thopter design. I used it to glue to a deck box but it can be used as a token or just have a thopter buddy chilling. Or whatever really.

3D Thopter Model

Date added	1 year
Last updated	5 months
Key combos	Mystic Forge + Sensei's Divining Top Basalt Monolith + Forsaken Monument
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 29 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.06
Tokens	Construct 0/0 C, Construct 4/4 C, Servo 1/1 C, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure