"3 things you might want to consider before playing Jeweled Lotus"

 "3 things you might want to consider before playing Jeweled Lotus"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

One of the hottest things that Magic players have been after is this priced artifact. The Jeweled Lotus or JLo as some have been calling it.

If you have been watching those box opening videos on youtube  Wizards of the coast had made getting this artifact almost near to impossible even on multiple boxes. 

So what should you consider if and when you get one of these babies?

1) It only produces 1 mana of a given color.

What does this mean? At best 2 colored commanders can benefit from this but in order to maximize this you would be putting it on a mono colored commander. 

It is still a strong card. For example I have a favorite Sai , Master Thopterist deck that can already produce a million tokens without this things help but to be able to power out Sai on turn 1 and then drop a land , Sol ring , Arcane Signet and Mox Opal. Not only am I ahead on the mana department I have manage to create 3 Thopters right there. It sounds great of course.

But there are some decks that cannot use this mana as it is only intended for your commander. Sure in the late game it can be used to pay commander tax but that it basically it.

2) It becomes irrelevant in the mid to end games

Yes. It does tend to point into that direction. It is great when you get it in the early parts of the game where a Commander landing on your side of the battlefield is going to be your advantage. Turn one is ideal or even turn 2 but the longer the games go and in EDH games they seem to go on forever Jeweled Lotus becomes less and less effective and might not even be relevant to draw later on even if you are paying for Commander tax with it. 

3) Do you really need the aggravation?

Aside from the difficulty in acquiring it and the price still at a high some players don't really like it when you have that edge over them and make you the target of early game disruption just because. You might not even have a board state yet or not even be a threat but in their mind you are already that threat. So are you ready for that kind of aggravation? I know I am but I am also fine with this card. If I can acquire it down the line when it is much cheaper then I can still wait. My EDH decks. All 116 of them well run just fine without it.