Jhoira's Familiar MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityUncommon
TypeArtifact Creature — Bird
Abilities Flying
Power 2
Toughness 2

Key Takeaways

  1. The Familiar’s mana cost reduction for historic spells enables quicker, more efficient gameplay.
  2. Its four mana value could be costly, favoring decks with strong mana bases or artifact synergy.
  3. Strategic removal and resource denial are effective counters to Jhoira’s Familiar’s advantages.

Text of card

Flying Historic spells you cast cost less to cast. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)

"You could say it was my pet project." —Jhoira


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Jhoira’s Familiar can be a solid component in generating card advantage with its ability to reduce the mana cost of historic spells, potentially setting up powerful draw engines when used with cards that allow you to draw when historic spells are played.

Resource Acceleration: This artifact creature helps in resource acceleration by making your historic spells—Artifacts, Legendaries, and Sagas—cost one less to cast. This reduction in mana costs enables you to deploy more threats or answers onto the battlefield at a quicker rate.

Instant Speed: While Jhoira’s Familiar itself doesn’t function at instant speed, the cost reduction it provides can effectively grant you more flexibility to play at instant speed by freeing up mana that would otherwise be tied up in casting your spells, thus allowing more responsive play.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Jhoira’s Familiar doesn’t force a discard directly, it potentially impacts your hand indirectly. If this artifact creature is removed from the battlefield, the resources you might have pooled to cast it are lost without return, leaving you effectively down a card.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring four mana, two of which must be generic, means you need a well-established mana base to cast Jhoira’s Familiar efficiently, potentially constraining its inclusion to specific artifact-friendly decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Clocking in at a four mana value might feel steep for a card that primarily reduces the cost of historic spells. In a fast-paced game, players might prefer lower-cost creatures or other forms of mana acceleration to get ahead more quickly.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Jhoira’s Familiar offers an immediate cost reduction for your historic spells, making it a flexible addition to decks built around artifacts, legendary, and Saga cards. Its inherent ability to make a wide array of cards cheaper to cast can allow for a variety of strategic plays in different game scenarios.

Combo Potential: The Familiar’s universal cost reduction can be a building block for combos, enabling faster execution of strategies where casting multiple historic spells in a single turn can overwhelm opponents or set up winning conditions.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where artifact and legendary synergies are prevalent, Jhoira’s Familiar can be crucial in outpacing opponents. Integrating this card into your lineup can help you keep up with or gain an advantage over decks that rely on similar mechanics.


How to beat Jhoira’s Familiar

Jhoira’s Familiar, a creature card from Magic: The Gathering, offers players historic spell cost reduction, making it a key component in artifact and legendary-heavy decks. To effectively combat this, consider utilizing removal spells that can bypass the card’s cost-reducing ability. Cards like Fatal Push or Abrupt Decay serve as an efficient way to eliminate Jhoira’s Familiar from the battlefield without being hindered by its cost reduction benefits.

Another strategy involves countering the play of Jhoira’s Familiar itself using spells like Negate or Counterspell. Strategic timing and anticipation of your opponent’s plays become crucial. When playing against a deck that leverages Jhoira’s Familiar, focus on resource denial. Putting pressure on their mana base with cards such as Blood Moon or Stone Rain can disrupt your opponent’s strategy and delay or prevent the casting of Jhoira’s Familiar entirely.

Ultimately, understanding the deck mechanics that incorporate Jhoira’s Familiar and applying targeted disruption are key factors in gaining the upper hand. Quick reaction to its deployment or destabilizing your opponent’s game plan upfront can significantly diminish the impact of Jhoira’s Familiar on the game’s outcome.


BurnMana Recommendations

Dive deeper into the strategies that make Jhoira’s Familiar an asset in MTG. Whether you’re looking to craft a new artifact-heavy deck or optimize your existing build, understanding the nuances of card synergy is vital. Learn how this cost-reducing artifact creature can enable faster, more powerful plays and find out which deck archetypes benefit the most from its inclusion. If you’re aiming to outmaneuver your opponents with historic spell cost reductions or you want to explore new combo horizons, analyzing Jhoira’s Familiar’s potential is your next move. Elevate your game with in-depth insights and tips from our knowledge base.


Cards like Jhoira's Familiar

Jhoira’s Familiar is an intriguing artifact creature card offering a cost-reduction benefit for historic spells in MTG. Its nearest relatives in terms of cost reduction mechanics are cards like Foundry Inspector and Etherium Sculptor. Both these cards also reduce the mana cost of artifact spells, yet Jhoira’s Familiar extends this advantage to encompass not only artifacts but also legendary spells and Sagas, which makes it a potentially more versatile choice in decks focusing on historic themes.

Another card that shares a semblance with Jhoira’s Familiar is Herald of Kozilek. While it reduces colorless spell costs, it doesn’t share the Familiar’s breadth, only catering to a more targeted deck build. Conversely, Cloud Key, though offering broader options for cost reduction across creature types, is noncreature and does not offer the additional board presence that the familiar does.

The uniqueness of Jhoira’s Familiar lies in its dual role of cutting mana costs while being a formidable artifact creature itself, providing players with both an offensive and supportive utility. This blend of attributes solidifies Jhoira’s Familiar as a notable inclusion in decks seeking to exploit the historic synergies to their fullest.

Jhoira's Familiar - MTG Card versions
Foundry Inspector - MTG Card versions
Etherium Sculptor - MTG Card versions
Herald of Kozilek - MTG Card versions
Cloud Key - MTG Card versions
Jhoira's Familiar - MTG Card versions
Foundry Inspector - MTG Card versions
Etherium Sculptor - MTG Card versions
Herald of Kozilek - MTG Card versions
Cloud Key - MTG Card versions

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Grinning Totem - MTG Card versions
Phyrexian Processor - MTG Card versions
Patagia Golem - MTG Card versions
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Krark-Clan Ironworks - MTG Card versions
Jade Idol - MTG Card versions
Ur-Golem's Eye - MTG Card versions
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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Jhoira's Familiar MTG card by a specific set like Dominaria and Double Masters, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Jhoira's Familiar and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Jhoira's Familiar Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2018-04-27 and 2020-08-07. Illustrated by Kev Walker.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12018-04-27DominariaDOM 2202015NormalBlackKev Walker
22020-08-07Double Masters2XM 2652015NormalBlackKev Walker

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Jhoira's Familiar has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderRestricted
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Jhoira's Familiar card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2020-08-07 A spell is historic if it has the legendary supertype, the artifact card type, or the Saga enchantment subtype. Having two of those qualities doesn't make a spell more historic than another or provide an additional bonus—a spell either is historic or it isn't.
2020-08-07 The last ability of Jhoira's Familiar doesn't reduce its own cost while you're casting it.

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