Put a little MoJho(Sto) into your Magic Online experience

Is M13 drafting dull? Tired of a stale Standard format? Well, I’ve got the solution for you! There’s an “underground” format waiting for you! It has several names, depending on the variation played – the most common being Momir Basic. There’s also Momir/Jhoira Basic, or “MoJho,” and Momir/Jhoira/Stonehewer Basic, or “MoJhoSto.”

The names sound bizarre, and so is the format; but trust me, you’ll have boatloads of fun with this stuff. The format is based on the old Vanguard game variation, and uses the Magic Online versions of Momir Vig (“Mo”), Jhoira of the Ghitu (“Jho”), and Stonehewer Giant (“Sto”) Avatar cards. You can easily pick all of these up from a MTGO vendor bot or from other players – Momir Vig runs about 8 tickets, while Jhoira and Stonehewer each cost less than a ticket.

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As you can see from reading the Avatars, everything is random. During gameplay you have the Avatars’ abilities at your disposal to create random creatures, spells, and equipment, depending on which format you play. When the Avatars’ abilities resolve, Magic Online pulls a random card from the pool of all cards available on MTGO and creates a token (creatures and equipment) or copy (instants and sorceries) of it. Note that everything that isn’t a basic land is a token, so bounce spells are essentially Vindicates.

You never know what you’re going to get outside of the converted mana cost for Momir or whether you picked a Sorcery or Instant. The action gets pretty crazy, with the tables turning with every randomization, especially when playing with all three Avatars. Just imagine getting a late game Time Stretch for 3 mana, then going nuts on your opponent with your team of randomly created and equipped creatures!

The game is played with the above Avatars and a deck of 60 basic lands (of any combination, I just use 12 of each type). The Avatar(s) you use determines what format you are playing. Momir Basic only uses the Momir Vig avatar, MoJho uses both the Momir Vig and Jhoira of the Ghitu avatar, and MoJhoSto uses all three. Just save a deck with 60 basic lands and the appropriate Avatars and you’re ready to go.

When the game begins, you’ll see your Avatar(s) in the “My Command Zone” box. You can click on them at any time to activate their abilities, just like any other card. Just remember that you must discard a card to activate either the Momir or Jhoira abilities, so look for opportunities to refill your hand (hint: there are generally more sorcery draw spells than instants).

When playing MoJho or MoJhoSto, as a general rule it’s usually advantageous to make creatures first, then sling spells, unless you’re really hurting on board and need to “dig” for a wrath effect (and there are ALOT of those). But then again, blowing up all your opponent’s lands or forcing a whole hand discard is too awesome to pass up the chance. Just roll the proverbial dice and see what happens!

The best way to find an opponent is to jump into the “Just for Fun” room in the Casual Play menu, and chat “looking for MoJhoSto” game (or MoJho, Momir Basic, etc. depending on what you want to do). When you challenge an opponent, select “Freeform Vanguard” under the Constructed Type, and be sure to give yourself enough time to play a whole game/match – games take about the same time as an EDH/Commander game, and more clock time allows for a more casual play pace.

Momir Basic (just the Momir Vig Avatar) is actually a “sanctioned” format, and you can find 4-round tournaments in the Scheduled Events room, so as such it will be the easiest and quickest to find a match. It isn’t hard to find people for Jhoira Basic (just the Jhoira Avatar) and MoJho, but you may have to wait a few minutes (depending on the time of day) to find an opponent for MoJhoSto (many people have never heard of it).

You can also find me online frequently, and I’m almost always up for a game. Add ‘badmagicplayer’ to your buddy list! Good luck, and may all your random generations not be whiffs!