Why does no one like Jon's gifts?

[llamadude]

As soon as I saw Jon Irenicus, Shattered One, I knew I needed to build that deck. So now I've almost completed it!

There are few things in particular I'd like some help with, though I'm always open to other advice too!

• Lots of ways to lose life, only 4 ways of gaining it:
  • Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Blood Artist, Revenge of Ravens, Westvale Abbey (but I don't have many options outside of its built-in mechanism for converting it in the first place), and High Market (the latter is not very repeatable)
  • ...plus stealing stuff with Gisa, Glorious Resurrector or Tergrid, God of Fright, or using Spark Double/Mocking Doppelganger/Stunt Double to copy the right thing
  • Ways to lose include... Phyrexian Reclamation, Beseech the Queen, Grim Tutor, Phyrexian Arena, Feed the Swarm, Snuff Out, Malakir Rebirth, not to mention Westvale Abbey, City of Brass (I could also include Mana Confluence...), Marsh Flats, Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs, and Watery Grave, and of course the scary option that I might play something like Wretched Anurid, Ebon Drake, Rust Elemental, or    
    Lord of the Pit... and then someone might remove my commander, meaning I will be the one to lose the life for a while.
  • Should I not worry about this too much? Or is it worth working on mitigating?
  
  
• At first I thought Bubble Matrix was great for this deck, since it would avoid my gifts dying in combat...
  • But Jon is already set up to avoid that pretty well, by tapping and goading them, not to mention buffing them.
  • Is it worth including? Maybe it will actually hurt my game plan more..?
  
  
• Homeward Path...
  • At first I thought it was an auto-include for this deck, especially as a good way of avoiding being overrun by the last opponent
  • But I don't really want almost ANY of my gifts back, ever. And I can't even sac em if I DO get them back!
  • So... should it be included or not?
  
  
• Perhaps along the same lines as Homeward Path, I should include a more traditional board wipe than All is Dust? One which actually destroys my gifts, like In Garruk's Wake or Plague Wind?
  
  
• I've got 104 cards right now-- having trouble figuring out which last four to cut

I'd love any input on any of these issues! Thank you!

https://deckstats.net/decks/149773/2641060-jon/en?revision=4

[llamadude]

I got rid of the four (main) tutors (Beseech the Queen, Grim Tutor, Mausoleum Secrets, and Profane Tutor), since the deck isn't really searching for many specific pieces. It's always nice to be able to find what you need for the moment, but it's not so necessary in a deck like this, especially in more casual settings.

So that solves the last problem, about cutting cards!

https://deckstats.net/decks/149773/2641060-jon/en?revision=6

EDIT: I decided to take out Blood Speaker (too clunky, and I'd rather just have a threat), Bubble Matrix (decided it's more worth it for my gifts to die sometimes than that damage almost never gets through), and Evil Eye of Urborg (actually turns my other gifts into blockers, and enables opponents to get rid of them via combat).

I replaced them with In Garruk's Wake (safer late-game kill-switch than Homeward Path), Ophiomancer (endless gifts which I am okay getting back with Homeward Path, as well as good blockers), and Strionic Resonator (I had taken it out a while ago because I thought it was only Win More, primarily used to copy Jon's ability-- but I realized it can also copy most of my gifts abilities).

https://deckstats.net/decks/149773/2641060-jon/en?revision=7

EDIT 2: I was tired. Strionic Resonator only works on abilities I control, so it DOESN'T work on gifts. I've replaced it with Baleful Strix for now.

https://deckstats.net/decks/149773/2641060-jon/en?revision=8

EDIT 3: Random downvotes with no explanation. Yay, thank you. Very helpful.

[Morganator 2.0]

Lots of ways to lose life, only 4 ways of gaining it.

That is quite a lot of ways to lose life, and then you still have to worry about your opponents lowering your life total. Usually life loss isn't that big of a deal; life is just another resource for you to use.

If life loss is a big deal, you could probably get away with adding a few decent lifegain cards. You already have Gray Merchant of Asphodel, but I'm not sure if you can get that devotion very high if you're always giving your permanents away. I'd use Exquisite Blood.

[llamadude]

Exactly-- since it's a normal part of the game, I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not. You seem to be implying that it might not be the biggest concern though, which is a good sign!

I agree Merchant isn't the best choice, I just wasn't finding much better in these colors in my collection. I was going to say that I would LOVE to use Exquisite Blood but it's out of my price range... but apparently I haven't checked the price in a while! Wow! Thanks for the tip!

https://deckstats.net/decks/149773/2641060-jon/en?revision=9