Jon Irenicus, Shattered One Budget EDH Build: NOT Bad Gifts

Power level: Somewhere above a 2 and below a 3, even with one game changer (that’s only a game changer when its your commander).

Estimated cost: My version is worth around $90, but by replacing Helm of the Host and No Mercy, the cost is lowered to ~$66. The most expensive card is Homeward Path at ~$13, a land that can tap to regain control of your donations.

Find the full deck on Moxfield.

The Commander: Jon Irenicus, Shattered One

Jon Irenicus, Shattered One as a commander makes games chaotic. You’re donating creatures you control, giving them +2/+2, goading them, making them unsacrificable, and every time they swing you get to draw a card.

Run those politics and watch as your opponents are forced to swing every turn.

Plus built in card draw? Sign me up. Not once since I started playing this deck have I been empty handed.

Deck Archetypes: Discard & Theft, Unblockables, and Ninjutsu

Now I know bad gifts is the typical archetype for these kind of decks, and there are a few in here. Mostly because that’s what I found in my bulk boxes.

But most of the cards have discard or theft mechanic, are unblockable, or have a ninjutsu effect. I want my opponents hands empty so all they have on the board are my donations.

Discard ETB Creatures

Burglar Rat – A simple creatures that forces every opponent to discard one card. Then, I give them a 3/3 rat to play with.
Elderfang Disciple – Same as Burglar Rat.
Plaguecrafter – Dual purpose ETB, each player (including you) sacs a creature or planeswalker, and everyone who can’t discards a card.

Player Damage Discard Creatures

Abyssal Specter – Giving someone a 2/3 flyer that forces their opponent to discard a card when it deals combat damage? Good to go.
Dreamstealer – 1/2 with menace and they’ll have to discard the combat damage amount of cards from their hand … which would be 3 with the Jon boost.
Headhunter – Little 1/1 with the effect.
Needle Specter – A 1/1 with the same effect as Dreamstealer but with flying and it deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.
Okiba-Gang Shinobi – A 3/2 with ninjutsu that force discards 2 cards. Couple that with the few unblockable creatures in the deck and you get to dictate a bit of the card discard.

Unblockable Creatures

Changeling Outcast
Duskmantle Operative – Interesting gift because the 2/2 turns into a 4/4 and can’t be blocked by creatures with power 4 or greater.
Ghostly Pilferer – A few effects. When it becomes tapped, they owner may pay 2 to draw a card. They can discard a card to make it unblockable. Additionally, when opponents cast cards from anywhere but their hand, the owner can draw a card.
Silent Hallcreeper – Can’t be blocked and you get to pick from a few effects like adding more +1/+1 counters on it, drawing cards, and making it into a copy of another creature you control.
Slither Blade
Triton Shorestalker

Theft Creatures

Fallen Shinobi – One of my ninjutsu creatures, when it deals combat damage you exile the top two cards of that opponents library and can play them without paying their mana costs. Something juicy to hold onto, or gift them a 7/6 so they piss off your opponents.
Kheru Mind-Eater – Combat damage to a player means they pick a card out of their hand and exile it face down and you get to play it. Menace!
Nashi, Moon Sage’s Scion – Damage to player = exile the top of everyone’s deck and you can pay life to cast those spells.
Nightveil Specter – Same as Kheru Mind-Eater, but with flying.
Orochi Soul-Reaver – This on the board means if any you control does damage to a player, you create a treasure token and manifest the top card of their library.
Silent-Blade Oni – Look at the damage receiving player’s hand and cast a card without paying its mana cost.
Smirking Spelljacker – Interesting counter-spell + theft, taking the countered spell and casting it for free later when Spelljacker attacks.
Thief of Sanity – Flying theft, looking at the top 3 cards of the opponents deck, putting one in exile and the other in the graveyard, then being able to cast the exiled card.
Thieving Skydiver – Flying with a kicker to gain control of target artifact. Go ahead, steal that Sol Ring or Arcane Signet. If the artifact is an equipment, you immediately attach it to the Skydiver. Nice!

Other Creatures

Demonic taskmaster – Classic bad gift, force the gifted opponent to sac a creature at the begining of their upkeep.
Dire Fleet Ravanger – Menace, deathtouch, and game acceleration by forcing all players to lose a third of their life. Great for those pesky lifegain decks, and the less life you have the less life you lose.
Infernal Vessel – Gift them a 2/1, turning it into a 4/3. When it dies, you get it back as a 4/3, and now you can regift it as a 6/5!
Unstoppable Slasher – It’s fun to keep this around, swinging with deathtouch until it dies, then gift it if you have no other viable gifts on the table. Let someone else party with the Slasher for a bit.

Sorceries I Have Included

This isn’t a spellslinger deck by any means, but it does have a few little spells that can cause some chaos.

Arcane Heist is included to keep up with the theft theme. I included Back in Town to return a few of the 11 outlaw creatures in the deck if they end up dead. Dutiful Return for 2 other creatures in the graveyard. Hex was included instead of a board wipe so I could keep my gifts alive and attacking.

I included Modify Memory because it’s a chaos inducing card. One game I used it on two of my opponents’ commanders and they had to figure out the best way to get them back, ignoring me for two turns as they swung on each other. Stolen by the Fae can be used for targeted removal as well and generating a few flyers to gift at the end of the turn.

Finally, there is Victimize, which I would consider one of my pet cards. Like, alright, let’s sac one of those 1/1 faeries I created with Stolen by the Fae to bring back some beefier creatures to gift or keep around.

Only 2 Instants

Yep, just two. An Offer You Can’t Refuse and Slip Out the Back. One to counter a potential board wipe or some other detrimental spell and the other to protect either my commander or another creature that’s benefiting me.

Artifacts Included

Beyond the usuals (Arcane Signet and Sol Ring), I included 6 artifacts.

I’ve always wanted to include Bounty Board in a deck, and I think this is a great one to include it in. A 3 drop to tap and add mana, or pay 1 and tap it to put a bounty counter on a creature. When that creature dies, everyone else besides the controller gets to draw a card and gain 2 life. Another great politic play.

Helm of the Host was sitting in my binder for a while, not really having a home. A bit expensive, but it can be thrown onto Jon for a copy every turn for more donations and more card draw, or on any other creature that’s providing immediate value.

Lightning Greaves are Lightning Greaves.

Tithing Blade simply to cause more sacrifices on the board.

I Admit, I’m an Enchantment Kinda Guy

There are a whopping 11 enchantments in the deck. Some are for theft, some are more pillowforting, some generate creatures to donate.

Pillowfort

Cunning Rhetoric – If you attack me, I’m going to steal the top card of your deck
No Mercy – If you do damage to me, your creature will get destroyed. Also helps because it doesn’t specify combat damage, so your little wizards and otters that deal 1 damage when you cast a noncreature spell get 1 shot.
Propaganda – You want to attack me? Pay the tax! This is one of my pet cards, 100%!

Creature Generation

Ghoulish Procession – Once per turn, when a nontoken creature dies, I create a 2/2 zombie with decayed. I gift those zombies, they don’t get sac’d at the end of combat because of Jon and they can’t block each other. Win win.
Rooftop Bypass – Couple this with my crew of unblockables, now I’m creating a 1/1 with menace when I do damage to your face.
Thopter Spy Network – Create a flying 1/1 each turn, and either gift it or keep it to chump block or deal damage to opponents, giving me card draw.

Other Enchantments

Fortune Teller’s Talent – If I’m exiling a ton of cards from opponents, at level 3 those spells cost 2 less to cast. Otherwise, I can look at the top of my deck and plan according.
Larceny – Keep up the discard game.
Momentum Breaker – You all sac a creature or discard a card.
Oversold Cemetery – More graveyard recursion if my gifted or held creatures get murdered.
Unstoppable Plan – Now all of my creatures have vigilance and my artifacts can be reused. 2 bounties per turn? Yes please.

37 Lands, Pretty Normal

With 26 of them being basic lands, the land department is very boring. One land is crucial to the deck, however: Homeward Path. You don’t want to end up in a 1-on-1 and all of your creatures are coming you way. Nope, one tap and you get all of your guys back.

Reliquary Tower also helps out a ton with all the card draw from the gifted creatures swinging. Although, a full graveyard can help out if you have Oversold Cemetery on the board.

Beyond those two lands, there are a handful of dual lands and a Bojuka Bog for some graveyard hate.

Opening hand dynamics

I will say, the commander being on the field makes this deck function, so 4 lands or the ramp to get him out early makes all the difference. A swamp and island + Sol Ring, 4 lands, 3 lands and an Arcane Signet, whatever it takes to get him out on turn 3 or 4 will quickly set your plan in motion.

This right here is a juicy starting hand, getting Jon out on turn 2 and hopefully topdecking some weaker creatures to gift.

I would hold onto Homeward Path unless it’s vital to get Jon out, keeping that “win-con” (if you can call it that) in your hand until it’s needed.

Remember, once you start gifting, you’re at least getting 1 additional card draw per round, and if opponents don’t take care of your gifts, you’re going to reducing down to hand size without Reliquary Tower out. That’s a great problem to have!

Why This Deck is So Fun to Play

It can turn every creature into a political bribe. Imagine the combo player doesn’t have flyers or reach. Gift your Needle Specter to the next player and let them be the bad guy.
You get card draw galore from other players’ combat. When they don’t remove your gifts, you get massive advantage through pulling more and more from your deck, giving you options every turn.
With the theft mechanics in play, strategies become dynamic. Suddenly you have an Impact Tremors on your board causing chip damage and the Krenko, Mob Boss player isn’t benefiting from their win-con. Those mono-red tears taste good.
Since your gifting creatures that don’t hurt the player you’re gifting (in most cases), you’re not seen as the enemy. You’re just playing your cards, having some fun. Until you drop that Homeward Path and start swinging away!

…But Don’t Expect to Win Much

Honestly, this deck is not a win generating machine. There are no game ending combos. There is no Craterhoof Behemoth to trample over your enemies. The only thing you could consider a win-con is a land you might draw.

You’re there to cause chaos and party. And that’s just as fun as winning. Being able to identify a clear leader on the board and gifting creatures to your weaker opponents who can hurt that leader is cool.

Early in the game, its best to spread out the gifts so you don’t get hard targeted by players. Don’t try to kingmake, that’s not what we’re here for. Typically, the first 3 turns after Jon is out and I have creatures to give away, I’ll start with the player who’s turn is next so I can benefit quicker from the card draw.

Then, move to the 2nd, then 3rd. After that, assess the board state and play accordingly.

Silly Mistakes I’ve Made While Playing

Since this deck has theft mechanics, don’t make the foolish play I did once by stealing someone’s [[Voice of Victory]] and gifting it to another player. Laugh at me, please, but you don’t own the card, so you don’t benefit from it attacking on that players turn.

However! What I should have done was attacked with it, mobilized the two warrior creature tokens, then gifted them at the end step before they get sacrificed. Because, you know, the whole can’t be sacrificed mechanic via Jon. Those little guys will stay in play and I do own those because they’re were created by me.

Alternative Deck Archetypes to Explore (Beyond Bad Gifts)

Infect & Toxic – There are a ton of Dimir infect creatures out there, to force your opponents to give each other poison counters while you build up your board and finish off whoever’s left over. Blighted Agent could be added for the unblockable creature, while Phyrexian Vatmother hands out poison counters to both the controller and whoever it hits. Double the trouble.
Zombies – Create an army of decayed zombies that you donate since they can’t be sacrificed. Once a nontoken zombie dies, you simply bring them back from the graveyard to get back into the fight. Drop a Falcon Abomination onto the battlefield and immediately have a zombie to donate. Once you have the field full of your undead babies, pay and tap Lord of the Accursed so someone can swing and end one of your opponents.
Morph – Surprise gifts! Your opponents won’t know what you’re giving away until your 2nd main phase, when you turn them face up and give them away at your end step. Plus all the handy effects from morphed creatures being turned up.

Either way, Jon is a very fun commander to play with a ton of different archetypes to choose from. Hell, even a token generation deck where you keep all of your creatures but give away tokens or token copies would keep your board state ready to defend against attackers.

Do you like the idea of this deck? Do you play for fun or strictly to put the smackdown on your opponents? Let me know!