Looking less like a fantasy rogue from Ulgrotha and more like a slightly dorky metal fan trying their best to seem tough, Joven couldn’t help but become a beloved Magic: The Gathering meme. It helps (or doesn’t help) that his effect is so specific and unhelpful.
Even back in 1995, five mana for a creature that taps (and pays more mana) to destroy a non-creature artifact seemed steep. Nowadays it’s laughable. There are technically worse vanilla legend cards from the early days of Magic: The Gathering, but few are as weird and specific.
But Wizards has thrown Joven fans a bone with the upcoming Mystery Booster Commander product. Because guess what? One of only two revealed cards right now is a new Joven!
Actually it’s Joven and Chandler – Chandler being Joven’s partner in crime, a near identical card that hits only artifact creatures. As he looks marginally less funny (only marginally; what is that headgear?), he’s not as famous.
The new Joven and Chandler card matches the old as closely as possible, with the same statline, mana cost, and ability cost. However, that’s where the similarities end.
Joven and Chandler can’t destroy artifacts. But they do synergize with artifact destruction. They gain +1/+1 counters each time an artifact is blown up, which can quickly turn them into absolute monsters.
And their activated ability is pretty great. Instead of blowing up an artifact, you get to nick it for a turn. Obviously it’s highly dependent on what’s on the board, but I’m happy in the knowledge that someone is going to use Joven and Chandler to knock someone out with their own Darksteel Colossus.
The card art has some fun nods to other cards from the Homelands set such as Ebony Rhino and Joven’s Ferret, too. While we don’t know if we will ever go back to Ulgrotha for a full set (and lets be honest, it seems doubtful) it’s nice that they’re paid homage to here.
Source: Wargamer
