Give Peace a Chance | Building Your Jodah, the Unifier Commander Deck

Greg Montique
Jun 18
3 min read

What's better than a boatload of legendary creatures, cascading value, and five-color chaos that somehow always seems to work? If you answered "nothing", a Jodah, the Unifier commander deck is right up your alley. As a longtime Magic player who enjoys explosive midgames and ridiculous turns where five legends hit the board at once, I can confidently say Jodah is one of the most satisfying decks to pilot.

What Jodah, the Unifier Does

Jodah is a 5-color 5/5 Human Wizard with two game-breaking abilities:

Each other legendary creature you control gets +X/+X, where X is the number of legendary creatures you control.
Whenever you cast a legendary spell, you cascade into another legendary spell with lesser mana value.

A card titled "Jodah, the Unifier," depicting a wizard in purple surrounded by armored figures in a forest setting, exuding a commanding presence.

This deck is all about building a board of powerful legends and chaining one into the next for free spells, massive buffs, and sometimes game-winning turns.

Early Game: Fix, Ramp, and Survive

Jodah decks are high curve and five-color, so early turns are about mana fixing, ramping, and setting up your mana base. You want to hit Jodah on curve and follow up with legendary creatures immediately.

Early Game Goals:

Play mana rocks and ramp spells to reach 5 mana quickly.
Fix your colors so you can reliably cast Jodah and your legends.
Get a couple of early legends out if possible.

Key cards for this phase:

Arcane Signet, Chromatic Lantern, and Farseek – Recommended for mana stability.
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer or Thalia, Heretic Cathar – Cheap legends that help control tempo or generate early value.
Dryad of the Ilysian Grove – Fixes your mana and ramps you into Jodah cleanly.

In short, you are preparing the engine. You don't care about threats yet—you care about getting online.

Mid Game: Turn the Engine On

Once Jodah hits the battlefield, everything changes. Now every legendary creature you play turns into two creatures, and your board starts scaling with every new legend. Your creatures are now huge threats that demand answers.

Mid Game Plan:

Cast legendary creatures to cascade into more legends.
Protect Jodah or rebuild quickly if he’s removed.
Use haste enablers and card advantage to keep up pressure.

Cards that shine in mid game:

Captain Sisay – Tutors for any legendary permanent, setting up combos or fixing your hand.
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain – Gives you draw power to keep going.
Samut, Voice of Dissent – Grants haste, which is crucial to capitalize on huge cascades.
Rhythm of the Wild – Makes your legends uncounterable and gives them haste or buffs.

This is the phase where the deck feels like it's doing what it was built to do—play big legends, go wide, and smash.

Late Game: Overwhelm or Combo Out

By now, you've got a huge board, maybe a dozen legendary creatures, and you are either snowballing toward victory or about to cast one of your win conditions.

Late Game Paths:

Swing wide with a massive, buffed legendary army.
Combo off with infinite ETBs, damage, or combat steps.
Protect the board with hexproof or indestructible legends and win through resilience.

Example finishers:

God-Eternal Rhonas – Doubles power of your board and gives vigilance. Often lethal.
Kethis, the Hidden Hand – Lets you cast legends from the graveyard, keeping the value flowing.
Jegantha, the Wellspring or Esika, God of the Tree – Legendary mana engines that help you cast half your hand in one turn.

If your opponents don’t stop you here, they probably can’t stop you at all.

5 Must-Include Cards

These five cards bring out the full potential of Jodah and should be in almost every version of the deck.

Ancient ruins interior with a glowing artifact on a podium. Three figures in historical attire observe. Text: "Heroes' Podium," "Legendary Artifact."

1. Heroes' Podium

A legendary anthem that also lets you dig for more legends. It doubles down on Jodah’s buff effect.

A warrior in red armor stands on a ship, pointing forward. The setting is sky-themed with a dramatic pose. Text reads Captain Sisay.

2. Captain Sisay

Tutors any key card—combo piece, protection, removal. The deck’s MVP in many games.

A robed figure stands arms outstretched amid a glowing blast, surrounded by clouds. Text: Urza's Ruinous Blast, Legendary Sorcery.

3. Urza's ruinous blast

A one-sided board wipe that leaves your legendary creatures intact. It’s devastating and hard to recover from.

Five dragons soar above radiant beams on a Magic: The Gathering card titled "Primevals' Glorious Rebirth," surrounded by dramatic clouds.

4. Primevals’ Glorious Rebirth

Reanimates every legendary permanent in your graveyard. It’s a late-game nuke disguised as recursion.

A figure stands in a glowing blue light beam, surrounded by grand domes and waterfalls. Text reads "Leyline of Singularity, Enchantment."

5. Leyline of Singularity

You are going to have cards in your deck that are not legendary but allow you to keep your engine running. Now, all non-land permanents are legendary. Easy peasy.

Is a Jodah, The Unifier Commander Deck For You?

Jodah, the Unifier, is one of the most rewarding five-color commanders in the format. He’s powerful without being broken, flexible enough to build competitively or casually, and incredibly fun to pilot.

If you enjoy decks that scale explosively, reward smart sequencing, and feel like you’re leading an army of legendary heroes, Jodah is your guy.

Whether you're tutoring up combos, curving out into Eldrazi, or swinging with 12/12 legends, Jodah gives you the tools—and the power—to take over the game.