January 22, 2019: This deck has actually been built for several years at this point, and I have greatly enjoyed playing it over time. It has adapted somewhat as new cards have come out, embracing a more spell-slinging approach, adding more clones, and so on. The goal of this deck is to remain focused on the big beats, primarily around the Titans and other 6 drops, which remain quite nicely effective on the 75% tables. The spells added in are to add a bit of zing, unpredictability, and adaptiveness to keep games fresh and opponents on their toes.
Concept and Commander Analysis
Many Jori En, Ruin Diver decks focus on a very low curve, and lots of instants. The general idea being that the more you can trigger Jori En, the more value you get from her, making her a better investment. In order to trigger her on every turn, you need to have a dense count of instants, and a low cost to afford casting 6-8 sets of spells every round of turns.
I knew right away that I wanted to do something different. The main issue I had with this strategy was that in order to trigger Jori En so often, you would have to build your deck with a very high density of cheap instants - this meant that when you did trigger Jori En, all you could readily expect to get was more cheap instants. You've increased the quantity of triggers, but at a cost of the quality of triggers. This also compounded on a reliance on Jori En - if she wasn't out, then these otherwise weak spells lost their synergy and have relatively low impact on their own. The other issue was that I had already gone down the mass spell casting with my Tibor and Lumia deck of old, and even revisited the theme with Riku, Purraj, and Toshiro, so I was in the market for something new.
Instead, I decided to look at Jori En as a way to keep the hand count higher while committing to the board - a way to offset commitment, since each piece put to the board should hopefully be replacing itself. If I was committing two cards to the board per turn, then Jori En and my natural turn draw would naturally replace that. A few cards to offset lands, and to make the deck not reliant on Jori En, and you had a good place to start building a somewhat aggro, midrange, tempo shell of something.
Core deck idea
I've played a ton with Sun Titan and even Primeval Titan back when it was legal. Grave Titan is still seen in a number of lists, as it puts out a sizable amount of pure body in a single card. This deck then, is the chance for the two lesser seen Titans to shine. Having played this deck, it's quite impressive still how annoying it is to remove Frost Titan - especially if you have several copies of him, as the increased mana costs on removal typically mean one can survive in order to be cloned again. Both Frost Titan and Inferno Titan are also quite scary in multiple copies.
From that point, I expanded into other well known cycles of fatties, trying to find good additions. Combustible Gearhulk was a solid addition for this deck. Often he'll net me cards, and the decent number of high cost cards in the deck make people have to think twice before taking the damage. Torrential Gearhulk made a brief appearance as snapcaster 2.0, but ended up being cut as really just being a slightly bigger mystic snake effect, and didn't have that sparkle or pizzaz I was looking for.
Chasm Skulker - The cheapest of our copy targets, the Skulker gets large fast, and is annoying to remove.
Crimson Honor Guard - A new addition, the idea of multiple copies of this out is interesting.
Mesmerizing Benthid - A new threat that while not as large as I would like, is difficult to remove and adds extra versatile bodies.
Scourge of Valkas - This deck has a shortage of Dragons at the moment, but the scourge doesn't need a critical mass to be effective, especially with the copy spells we run.
Combustible Gearhulk - A solid addition to our lineup, he has an impressive body and a nice amount of immediate value.
Dream Eater - Testing out. Very small compared to his cost, but the insane amount of filteration, coupled with a bounce effect make him interesting.
Soul of Shandalar - A solid body, with a decent ability to provide value, and still provides options from the grave.
Frost Titan - So far the all star, the Titans have powerful abilities, and Frost titan is annoying to remove. His ability gets even better when copied, locking down players and opening up paths of combat.
Wurmcoil Engine - Another big body that is a pain to remove.
Utvara Hellkite - Solid enough on his own, this is a must answer threat, that gets crazy with even only a single copy (or none).
Vance's Blasting Cannons, Search for Azcanta - The transforming enchantments function as additional draw and filtration, while serving double duty as mana ramp. This cycle, as well as the transforming artifacts gave a lot of ramp potential to non-green decks.
Mirrorpool - Mirrorpool has been one of my favorite cards since its release. It copies both our spells, and our creatures, and sometimes even our spells that copy our creatures. How great is that?!
Hour of Eternity, God-Pharaoh's Gift - This adds some much needed recursion into the deck in case we lose any of our beaters. Both of these add a large amount of immediate value.
Potential Additions
Toothy, Imaginary Friend - It feels sad to run Toothy without Pir, but he adds such value in such a small card. Taurean Mauler - Left out to try newer cards, this original beatstick gets quite large, and would be a fine clone target.
Foreward:
Concept and Commander Analysis
I knew right away that I wanted to do something different. The main issue I had with this strategy was that in order to trigger Jori En so often, you would have to build your deck with a very high density of cheap instants - this meant that when you did trigger Jori En, all you could readily expect to get was more cheap instants. You've increased the quantity of triggers, but at a cost of the quality of triggers. This also compounded on a reliance on Jori En - if she wasn't out, then these otherwise weak spells lost their synergy and have relatively low impact on their own. The other issue was that I had already gone down the mass spell casting with my Tibor and Lumia deck of old, and even revisited the theme with Riku, Purraj, and Toshiro, so I was in the market for something new.
Instead, I decided to look at Jori En as a way to keep the hand count higher while committing to the board - a way to offset commitment, since each piece put to the board should hopefully be replacing itself. If I was committing two cards to the board per turn, then Jori En and my natural turn draw would naturally replace that. A few cards to offset lands, and to make the deck not reliant on Jori En, and you had a good place to start building a somewhat aggro, midrange, tempo shell of something.
Core deck idea
From that point, I expanded into other well known cycles of fatties, trying to find good additions. Combustible Gearhulk was a solid addition for this deck. Often he'll net me cards, and the decent number of high cost cards in the deck make people have to think twice before taking the damage. Torrential Gearhulk made a brief appearance as snapcaster 2.0, but ended up being cut as really just being a slightly bigger mystic snake effect, and didn't have that sparkle or pizzaz I was looking for.
The Deck:
3 Jori En, Ruin Diver
Creature
3 Burnished Hart
3 Scab-Clan Berserker
3 Chasm Skulker
4 Archaeomancer
4 Crafty Cutpurse
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Vizier of Many Faces
5 Crimson Honor Guard
5 Mesmerizing Benthid
5 Scourge of Valkas
6 Combustible Gearhulk
6 Dream Eater
6 Soul of Shandalar
6 Frost Titan
6 Inferno Titan
6 Wurmcoil Engine
8 Utvara Hellkite
Enchantment
1 Mystic Remora
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Copy Artifact
4 Vance's Blasting Cannons
4 Pyromancer's Assault
6 Sunbird's Invocation
7 Form of the Dragon
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
2 Mind Stone
2 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Treasure Map
2 Thaumatic Compass
2 Fellwar Stone
3 Cultivator's Caravan
3 Worn Powerstone
3 Sculpting Steel
3 Mirage Mirror
4 Darksteel Ingot
7 God-Pharaoh's Gift
Instant
1 Quicken
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Arcane Denial
2 Fumble
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Twincast
2 Reverberate
3 Cackling Counterpart
3 Chaos Warp
3 Geistblast
4 Rewind
5 Mystic Confluence
5 Turn // Burn
5 Volcanic Offering
1 Flame Jab
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Fiery Confluence
4 Rite of Replication
6 Insult // Injury
6 Stolen Identity
9 Blasphemous Act
7 All is Dust
3x Hour of Eternity
Land
13 Island
12 Mountain
1 Buried Ruin
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Homeward Path
1 Mirrorpool
1 Opal Palace
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Strip Mine
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Winding Canyons
1 Jori En, Ruin Diver
Creature
1 Vizier of Many Faces
1 Chasm Skulker
1 Archaeomancer
1 Scab-Clan Berserker
1 Crafty Cutpurse
1 Crimson Honor Guard
1 Scourge of Valkas
1 Dream Eater
1 Mesmerizing Benthid
1 Soul of Shandalar
1 Frost Titan
1 Utvara Hellkite
1 Inferno Titan
Enchantment
1 Copy Artifact
1 Mystic Remora
1 Form of the Dragon
1 Pyromancer's Assault
1 Sunbird's Invocation
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Vance's Blasting Cannons
Land
1 Winding Canyons
1 Strip Mine
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Mirrorpool
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Buried Ruin
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Opal Palace
1 Temple of the False God
1 Homeward Path
13 Island
12 Mountain
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Mirage Mirror
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
1 Treasure Map
1 Thaumatic Compass
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Mind Stone
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Burnished Hart
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Cultivator's Caravan
1 Combustible Gearhulk
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Instant
1 Twincast
1 Reverberate
1 Turn // Burn
1 Volcanic Offering
1 Geistblast
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Rewind
1 Cackling Counterpart
1 Chaos Warp
1 Quicken
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Arcane Denial
1 Fumble
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Stolen Identity
1 Fiery Confluence
1 Rite of Replication
1 Flame Jab
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Insult // Injury
1 Hour of Eternity
1 Blasphemous Act
1 All is Dust
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/9202-jori-en-ruin-diver-big-beats
Notable Card Choices
Chasm Skulker - The cheapest of our copy targets, the Skulker gets large fast, and is annoying to remove.
Crimson Honor Guard - A new addition, the idea of multiple copies of this out is interesting.
Mesmerizing Benthid - A new threat that while not as large as I would like, is difficult to remove and adds extra versatile bodies.
Scourge of Valkas - This deck has a shortage of Dragons at the moment, but the scourge doesn't need a critical mass to be effective, especially with the copy spells we run.
Combustible Gearhulk - A solid addition to our lineup, he has an impressive body and a nice amount of immediate value.
Dream Eater - Testing out. Very small compared to his cost, but the insane amount of filteration, coupled with a bounce effect make him interesting.
Soul of Shandalar - A solid body, with a decent ability to provide value, and still provides options from the grave.
Frost Titan - So far the all star, the Titans have powerful abilities, and Frost titan is annoying to remove. His ability gets even better when copied, locking down players and opening up paths of combat.
Inferno Titan - Immediate value on a sizable body.
Wurmcoil Engine - Another big body that is a pain to remove.
Utvara Hellkite - Solid enough on his own, this is a must answer threat, that gets crazy with even only a single copy (or none).
Vance's Blasting Cannons, Search for Azcanta - The transforming enchantments function as additional draw and filtration, while serving double duty as mana ramp. This cycle, as well as the transforming artifacts gave a lot of ramp potential to non-green decks.
Rite of Replication, Stolen Identity, Cackling Counterpart, Vizier of Many Faces - Once our beaters are on the ground, the only thing that's better is having more of them!
Mirrorpool - Mirrorpool has been one of my favorite cards since its release. It copies both our spells, and our creatures, and sometimes even our spells that copy our creatures. How great is that?!
Hour of Eternity, God-Pharaoh's Gift - This adds some much needed recursion into the deck in case we lose any of our beaters. Both of these add a large amount of immediate value.
Potential Additions
Toothy, Imaginary Friend - It feels sad to run Toothy without Pir, but he adds such value in such a small card.
Taurean Mauler - Left out to try newer cards, this original beatstick gets quite large, and would be a fine clone target.
note: During the creation of this post, I discovered that I in fact had posted a version of this deck previously, but for some reason had not linked it in my signature and had lost it. Here is the old version of this deck:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/757353-jori-en-building-casual
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
It also makes triggering Jori stupid easy on your turn.
EDIT: Also, do not discount the beating that Mindwrack Liege and Dominus of Fealty can provide.
3 very nice suggestions! I'll have to give them a try!
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek