Jenova, Ancient CalamityJenova, Ancient Calamity | Art by Ignatius Budi

Welcome to a deck tech for one of the cool new legends from the Final Fantasy Magic set. If you're a fan of the acclaimed Final Fantasy video game series you're sure to be stoked by seeing so many of your favorite characters and in-game moments realized as Magic cards. But don't worry if you don't know anything about Final Fantasy, if you're here on EDHREC you're a fan of Commander, and Final Fantasy has a ton of cool stuff for Commander fans! I've got a few links to other cool Final Fantasy deck techs below, so be sure to check them out. Today, I'm shining the spotlight on a nifty new Golgari legend, Jenova, Ancient CalamityJenova, Ancient Calamity!

I've loved Golgari decks for years, but all too often the abilities attached to Golgari legends tend to run counter to the sort of Commander games I like to play. Jenova's abilities aren't oppressive, and can fluctuate between grindy value and explosive card draw, which sounds like a ton of fun! In this deck tech I'll break down what Jenova, Ancient CalamityJenova, Ancient Calamity does, key cards you'll want for your deck, and step through how the deck wins. I will then present a full deck list with Jenova at the helm.

Let's take a walk through a Golgari good time.

What Does Jenova, Ancient Calamity Do?

Assuming Jenova is cast during your precombat main phase, it's ability has "haste" in that it will trigger the same turn you cast it and you have another creature available to receive the +1/+1 counters. At the beginning of combat on your turn, you'll put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to Jenova's power on up to one other target creature. That creature becomes a Mutant in addition to its other types. Since Jenova only has one power, you'll want ways to boost its power to make the trigger more, shall we say, powerful.

Jenova also has a static ability where whenever a Mutant you control dies during your turn, you draw cards equal to its power. So you'll want to have Mutants dying during your turn so you can draw a bunch of cards.

There wasn't any Mutant typal commander available until the Fallout expansion, where there are three potential leaders of this fringe creature type. Hancock, Ghoulish MayorHancock, Ghoulish Mayor and Jason Bright, Glowing ProphetJason Bright, Glowing Prophet straddle the line of caring about Zombie or Mutant cards, while The Master, TranscendentThe Master, Transcendent doesn't really care specifically about Mutants, but makes Mutants and covers a Sultai swath of potential Mutant inclusions.

Jenova still works without a bunch of Mutant creatures, since its ability turns a creature into a Mutant that you can then sacrifice and get the benefit. But it's a good idea to include a good number of quality Mutant creatures that you want to attack with so if they die in combat you can get paid for it. I'm also going to include creatures that naturally sacrifice for a profitable effect, since Jenova can turn them into a Mutant for added value.

Key Cards for Jenova, Ancient Calamity

I'm including cards that increase Jenova's power so that triggered ability will be even stronger. Blackblade ReforgedBlackblade Reforged is a Commander all-star and does even more work here, scaling better and better as the game goes on. I'm always looking for a reason to play ColossificationColossification in a deck, and it does serious work here - even though it taps Jenova when you enchant it, Jenova gets to add a whopping 21 +1/+1 counters to another creature you control! Assuming your opponents deal with that creature, they're still facing down Jenova during your next turn, untapped and ready to rock. Stack your triggers right and Hand of VecnaHand of Vecna is a decent way to boost Jenova's power too.

The scavenge ability that Young DeathclawsYoung Deathclaws gives creatures in your graveyard is a cool way to add +1/+1 counters to Jenova, and it's even a Mutant. Host of the HereafterHost of the Hereafter is an awesome way to move all the +1/+1 counters from a Mutant that died this turn back onto Jenova.

For sacrifice outlets, I always love Greater GoodGreater Good when you have large creatures to sacrifice, and if it's a Mutant on your turn with Jenova on the battlefield you're basically double-dipping on the card draw. Evolutionary LeapEvolutionary Leap only costs a single green mana to sacrifice, and let's you "draw" a creature from your deck too. Rise of the Witch-kingRise of the Witch-king is a sacrifice outlet that forces your opponents to get in on the fun, and lets you bring back a key creature from your graveyard.

Insidious FungusInsidious Fungus and CankerbloomCankerbloom are some of my favorite self-sacrificing creatures, providing flexible options in addition to the card draw that Jenova can enable. And of course Sakura-Tribe ElderSakura-Tribe Elder is always good for ramping, so why not add a little card draw too?

I was pleasantly surprised by the good number of quality Mutants in the deck, with Evolution WitnessEvolution Witness being at the top of the list - each time you target it with Jenova you'll get to return a permanent from your graveyard to your hand! Who doesn't like that sort of grindy value? Hancock, Ghoulish MayorHancock, Ghoulish Mayor is a great recipient of +1/+1 counters from Jenova, bestowing that boost to all your other Mutants and any Zombies you might have. Just keep in mind that if Hancock has +1/+1 counters on it, it negates the undying ability. Cytoplast Root-KinCytoplast Root-Kin has a handful of abilities that leverage all the +1/+1 counter stuff that's going on.

The evolve ability of Watchful RadstagWatchful Radstag is a neat way to keep a constant supply of Mutant sacrificial fodder, and since Jenova's toughness is so high it should be easy to trigger evolve. Vegetation AbominationVegetation Abomination is a self-sacrificing Mutant that can gain you a little life, but in a pinch it makes a solid blocker with deathtouch. Alpha DeathclawAlpha Deathclaw is just an incredible creature that happens to be a Mutant, and can crash into opponents' life totals until you want to cash it in for cards.

Since Jenova's ability tosses +1/+1 counters on creatures to sacrifice, The OzolithThe Ozolith makes perfect sense since you can take the counters that accumulate on the artifact and move it onto Jenova. Ozolith, the Shattered SpireOzolith, the Shattered Spire and Hardened ScalesHardened Scales help boost the placing of counters on creatures even more.

How Does This Jenova, Ancient Calamity Commander Deck Win?

The primary way to win is to boost Jenova's power enough so that its trigger will pile a huge amount of +1/+1 counters on a creature that will dramatically impact the battlefield. One such creature is Champion of LambholtChampion of Lambholt, which, if large enough, makes your creatures practically unblockable. Another option is to put a bunch of those counters on a creature that saddles The Gitrog, Ravenous RideThe Gitrog, Ravenous Ride, and a way to attack and deal at least one point of trampling damage to an opponent, getting Gitrog's trigger, sacrificing the saddling creature to draw a bunch of cards, put a bunch of lands onto the battlefield, and then drawing a bunch of cards from the sacrificed Mutant.

Big draws means that Psychosis CrawlerPsychosis Crawler can drain opponents of life for each card you draw, which can finish off one or more players depending on the state of the battlefield. Skirge FamiliarSkirge Familiar is a way to turn extra cards in your hand into mana so you can play more spells in a turn than you'd otherwise be able to do.

In decks where I get a burst of extra card draw, I love to play ExplorationExploration to help deploy an extra land each turn. BurgeoningBurgeoning can help with that too, though it happens on your opponents' turns. And since the deck draws a bunch of cards, you want to hit your land drops each and every turn. Make sure you don't scrimp on lands or else the power of these enchantments diminish considerably; my decklist runs 39 lands.

RancorRancor deserves a special shout-out: you can play it early to boost the power of Jenova so that its trigger is throwing around three +1/+1 counters, and if you have it in your hand later on you can throw it on a huge creature to push enough damage through to kill off an opponent or two.

Jenova, Ancient Calamity Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Like most of my decks, I built this to play in Core (Bracket 2) Commander pods. Its initial grindy value with the potential for a big, explosive turn lends itself well for casual games that go on a while. The Golgari color identity lends itself well to plenty of interaction and mana ramp, which you can find in my decklist. Another approach I considered was having more reanimation in the deck than just Rise of the Witch-kingRise of the Witch-king, where creatures you sacrificed can be brought back over and over.

If you want to play the deck in a higher bracket, you can pepper in a few Game Changers to make it Modified (Bracket 3). Natural OrderNatural Order is a sacrifice outlet, though the timing of Jenova putting counters on something to make it a Mutant means you probably don't want to be hunting up a Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth. Still, Alpha DeathclawAlpha Deathclaw is green and makes an excellent post-combat target to put onto the battlefield. The always useful Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor can go snag a needed removal spell in a pinch, or to reliably grab one of your more powerful cards like The OzolithThe Ozolith.

Speaking of tutors, the drawback of Vampiric TutorVampiric Tutor and Worldly TutorWorldly Tutor waiting a turn to get your searched up card doesn't really apply when you're planning on drawing extra cards from Jenova during your turn.

Seedborn MuseSeedborn Muse's power to untap all your permanents during each opponent's untap step would be quite useful in this deck since a lot of what you're doing is happening on your own turn and will often tap you out. Seedborn will let you untap and have mana available to react to whatever shenanigans your Upgraded bracket opponents might be up to.

If you want to play in the Optimized bracket, Jenova won't be the right deck for you. It takes a while for this deck to get to the "big explosive turn" stage, and the combo, as it were, is just drawing a bunch of cards. But if you like Core or Upgraded, take a look at building a Jenova deck close to what I've presented here, assemble your Mutant team, and have fun!

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