@GofyTomcat1 Regarding your last posted deck... I don't want to sound like the kind of person I hate but, where are your early threats? I ask this because you title your deck as "now with more tempo", but one of the keys of tempo is landing an early threat and protecting it while disrupting your opponent, and your build seems more midrange. I insist a lot in this kind of thing because I think we really need to clarify the deck's objective or strategy so we can better focus in discussing it and optimizing, otherwise the conversation gets diluted. Also, your maindeck has 62 cards... is it the right number or is there a mistake in the number of lands?
Can you share recent result with your lists? you say you run 2 (at least), I would like to know which one has worked better for you, so we can focus in making it even better.
Edit: One thing I like about your deck is the Keranos, God of Storms in the sideboard, think it can really help in the games this deck struggles the most
I meant to say "midrange" on that last list lol. The Delver deck is actually my "tempo" list. The "midrange" build is literally a ported over "Jeskai Wins" list from KTK- THS Standard, and it seems pretty consistent. Also, I am running 62 cards main deck. I think I can shave a Jeskai Charm if I find consistency to be an issue.
As far as results, so far the Delver list is the more tested of the two. As in the new list is literally untested. I'll let you know how it goes
@GofyTomcat1 Regarding your last posted deck... I don't want to sound like the kind of person I hate but, where are your early threats? I ask this because you title your deck as "now with more tempo", but one of the keys of tempo is landing an early threat and protecting it while disrupting your opponent, and your build seems more midrange. I insist a lot in this kind of thing because I think we really need to clarify the deck's objective or strategy so we can better focus in discussing it and optimizing, otherwise the conversation gets diluted. Also, your maindeck has 62 cards... is it the right number or is there a mistake in the number of lands?
Can you share recent result with your lists? you say you run 2 (at least), I would like to know which one has worked better for you, so we can focus in making it even better.
Edit: One thing I like about your deck is the Keranos, God of Storms in the sideboard, think it can really help in the games this deck struggles the most
I do agree with you here Ronyx. t's never fun to be the devil's advocate, but it is always necessary. Constructive criticism is a must to get the best results. That's why we are all here anyways- to have other like minded players help us make the best deck we can and to just to talk to other fun people. We definitely need to make sure that we maintain focus on making the best lists we can and getting results. That's part of the reason I started to play online. I can't travel for tournaments or anything so the only chance I have to get the deck out there is online. Hopefully I can play a bit more online than I have and maybe get lucky enough to 5-0 someday soon.
I haven't had a ton of time lately but hopefully I can share some results soon from online and from local play. As always I would love to see how everyone's else's decks are doing. One thing I did find out online is that I have a terrible matchup against mill :). I have actually played UB mill twice in 10 total games. I beat them once, but it was from god hands. The other time I was crushed. I don't think I am going to worry too much about mill right now because I don't think it makes up 20% of the meta as my testing as shown so far
Alright ladies and gents, with the new meta comes a new shift in our sideboard plan! It's a ton of fun and I sorely needed a new sideboard. I noticed that I was siding in more cards in my good matchups then I was in my bad matchups. That's not a good thing :). My new sideboard plan puts more emphasis on the midrange decks that we can struggle against. Here is my new sideboard:
I noticed that I was boarding in a lot of cards against affinity and infect and not very many against abzan and jund. We are already favored post board against affinity and infect given that we run bolts, helix, path, and counter magic with a clock. I also noticed that I was normally only boarding in one wear/tear when I did board it in (except against affinity and lantern control) and that deflecting palm was great when I had it, but wasn't as proactive as I wanted so one copy will do. In addition, I felt that the stony silences were just overkill and never felt like I needed them against tron (because we already have a ton of counter magic and spreading seas and against affinity (already favored). The additional negate was fine, but I recently added an additional spell pierce and a izzet charm to my main deck so I don't need as many counterspells in the sideboard.
The cards I added help to sure up our worst matchups. As many of you know, Abzan Company and Jund are everywhere right now. I have also been running into a lot of BW Eldrazi taxes. I wanted to make sure what I could board into more impactful spells post board when games go a bit longer.
Nahiri. The Harbinger- She is awesome at filtering and getting us to action spells late in the game. I use her -2 a ton to kill a creature or a random enchantment like chock. I have also used it on a vedelkan shackles. The last game I played last night I ultimated her to get a snapcaster to cast a boros charm for exactly lethal.
Monastery Mentor- I wanted a creature I could side in to have greater impact on the late game and longer games that are typical in gridy matchups and post boarded matchups. He fits perfectly into our mainboard plan while still offering late game power.
Anger of the Gods- I have never been a huge fan of running sweepers in our sideboard, but with all of the abzan decks, death and taxes decks, and zoo decks running around and with our new sideboard plan of being able to transition into a more controlling/midrange build, this was a perfect fit.
Celestial Purge- This is a must and is a great all around card. It hits so many cards I can't list them but some big ones are Liliana of the Veil, Bloodmoon, Tasigur, Kalitas, Pyromancer's ascension, jeskai ascendancy,
Hallowed Moonlight- This is my favorite addition because it's one I haven't seen in any sideboard yet. I have seen an uptick in Dredgevine decks, goryo's vengeance, titan shift and company style decks and this puppy is amazing in those games. It has already proven to be awesome against abzan company in the few games I have played it. It is so good I may go up to two copies. The pluses are that is a cantrip and, unlike most hate for these decks, it doesn't affect our graveyard and our snapcasters and lavamancers.
Other Considerations
Flashfreeze- This is a very versatile counter magic spell and is always valuable.
Leyline of Sanctity- For about a week I had two of these in the sideboard and they were great, but I think you have to run three to be consistent. I simply couldn't find enough room for three, but this card is underplayed.
Wheel of Sun and Moon- As I stated before, there has been a recent increase in graveyard based decks. In addition, I have played against mill twice online already :). This card doesn't affect our snapcasters and lavamancers while hitting their graveyard which is very rare for graveyard hate.
Aven Mindcensor- I have used this in the past when scapeshift is popular, but it has always seemed lackluster. Maybe I am wrong.
Timely Reinforcements, Jeskai Charm, Lightning Helix- I am a bit concerned that I don't have any sideboard life gain and only two main deck lightning helix. If I get run over too much by aggro/burn I will consider adding some life gain.
Batterskull- This was the other option I was thinking about in Mentor's place. It's lifegain and something to target with a nahiri ultimate.
That's if for now. What did I miss? What do you think? What should I add and/or remove?
I think ALL the cards are good options even the cards that are being 'cycled' out of the sideboard (but have to be still considered options in your local meta). Here are my thoughts about a few of the cards in particular....
Aven Mindcensor: its an card that i never got fond of. i am sure it has its applications but i find learning how to play against those match-ups that require this card or finding another angle is better. 3 cc flash creature for the effect borders on unplayable to me to combat those decks. =(
Batterskull: its a very powerful card especially in control shells. its a great 1 of in most decks! play them conservatively if your meta has lots of Kolaghan's Command!
Some other cards that i either keep in my sideboard or mainboard:
Izzet Staticaster: anti tokens! becomes sick if you maindeck Grim Lavamancer.
Pyroclasm: A low to the ground sweeper that is brutal against Affinity.
Stony Silence: Useful against Tron and Affinity, both are common over here so I won't cut them.
I think there might be some cards that i might have forgot (caffeine not kicking in yet)... will update if i do remember.
Addendum:
Volcanic Fallout: A very useful sideboard card if you face control heavy token type decks. They usually fold with a well timed sweeper and a hard swing but its something worth looking at if blue shell thopter decks are the rage in your area.
So I tested the list I posted above against the earlier, more aggro version and came to the following conclusions:
1. If I have the option to play Snapcaster, PLAY SNAPCASTER!!
2. The aggro list (early version with Swiftspear, Mantis,Stormchaser etc) was fine, it just needed a proper sideboard and a better pilot
3. the Lightning Rider list is better with main deck countermagic as a midrange tempo list than a slow burn with Pyromancer.
4. Chandra and Ellie are awesome and I will never cut them from my 75 of either list ever!!
5. Goblin Dank Dwellers is... dank, but is better alongside Snapcaster thsn replacing him.
6. Hindering Light in the aggro-burn SB counters exactly the type of cards that cause me problems.
7. I now have 3 deck lists (but Delver is likely going to be decommissioned in favor of "lightning Rider" and the Jeskai Fireworks build since I like their playstyle better
So I tested the list I posted above against the earlier, more aggro version and came to the following conclusions:
1. If I have the option to play Snapcaster, PLAY SNAPCASTER!!
2. The aggro list (early version with Swiftspear, Mantis,Stormchaser etc) was fine, it just needed a proper sideboard and a better pilot
3. the Lightning Rider list is better with main deck countermagic as a midrange tempo list than a slow burn with Pyromancer.
4. Chandra and Ellie are awesome and I will never cut them from my 75 of either list ever!!
5. Goblin Dank Dwellers is... dank, but is better alongside Snapcaster thsn replacing him.
6. Hindering Light in the aggro-burn SB counters exactly the type of cards that cause me problems.
7. I now have 3 deck lists (but Delver is likely going to be decommissioned in favor of "lightning Rider" and the Jeskai Fireworks build since I like their playstyle better
Very cool lists. I was not impressed with Goblin Dark Dwellers myself either. He is fine and is a good card, but I think there are better options at the five drop slot. Its funny that you bring up Hindering Light. We were playing cube last night and I drafted that card in my jeskai list (of course) and we talked about running it in modern. It seems good enough, just not maindeck playable. In the sideboard that card could be a really beating to your opponent and is a two for one every time you cast it. It's great against burn, discard, and all of the bolts running around right now. It probably fits best in a tempo or aggro version of the deck where the opponent is forced to target our threats. Very cool tech.
I think I prefer the Chandra's Rifles over the Lightning Rider list, but that's without playing either list so I can't be sure. Both look like fun lists. I just feel that this style works best when it's closer to a tempo deck. Great lists as always. I would probably cut one remand for a spell pierce to have the one mana counter magic early in the game to help protect your threats/board and possibly a lightning angel for a spell snare. Other than that I think your good to go and I can't wait to hear how it goes.
I am off to FNM and will post how I do when I get back. I do know that Jeskai Nahiri is all the rage right now!
I actually prefer the Rifles list too. Lightning Rider is in its prototype stage, but I feel like proactive tempo is stronger than semi controlling midrange. Lightning Rider feels a but too much like the Team Geist list for my tastes, if you understand my meaning.
Kira in the Rifles list was an experiment, but I think I want a Deflecting Palm in her slot (either that or Nahiri)
So I tested the list I posted above against the earlier, more aggro version and came to the following conclusions:
1. If I have the option to play Snapcaster, PLAY SNAPCASTER!!
2. The aggro list (early version with Swiftspear, Mantis,Stormchaser etc) was fine, it just needed a proper sideboard and a better pilot
3. the Lightning Rider list is better with main deck countermagic as a midrange tempo list than a slow burn with Pyromancer.
4. Chandra and Ellie are awesome and I will never cut them from my 75 of either list ever!!
5. Goblin Dank Dwellers is... dank, but is better alongside Snapcaster thsn replacing him.
6. Hindering Light in the aggro-burn SB counters exactly the type of cards that cause me problems.
7. I now have 3 deck lists (but Delver is likely going to be decommissioned in favor of "lightning Rider" and the Jeskai Fireworks build since I like their playstyle better
1. Yes. Snapcaster Mage is one of the glue that makes the deck work.
2. Yes. The aggressive variant have a good chance to watch opponents off balance especially if they make the wrong choices. The deck is relatively unpopular enough to do that.
3. Yes. Stormchaser Mage is a slow pinger that annoys most opponents which is a good thing.
4. Yes. I play them in other decks and I never cut them.
5. Yes. GDD cannot replace Snapcaster but is a good card to supplement and work with Snapcaster.
6. Good catch. i can see how it works.
7. I can understand why. I recently am running a build that resembles Ezra Guttierrez's. I have Path of Exile in the SB just in case I run into Wurmcoil Engine type decks or Melira/Anafenza combo decks.
The new sideboard did not disappoint. I went 4-0. My opponents were Zoo, Jeskai Nahiri Control, Merfolk, and Abzan Melira. It's a little late so I will do the tournament wrap-up tomorrow.
The planewalkers were gas as was a spicy new card I added to the sideboard to pair with Nahiri..........Inferno Titan. I will explain that choice tomorrow as well, but I basically wanted something highly impactful that I could search for while ultimating Nahiri, the Harbinger, but also something I could cast without Nahiri. Obviously I am back up to 20 lands. as well. Here is the deck that I ran
I made a few changes and I am super happy with the deck right now. It's running more smoothly than it has in a long time and I think the board is much better. I added Izzet Charm and removed Cerebral Vortex (although I love this card, especially if Ancestral Vision becomes popular). I also added two Gitaxian Probes and removed an Emerge Unscathed and the Titan Strength. The information and the prowess trigger are super valuable right now as more control is seeing play. I have seen an uptick in Choke in the green decks so I added another seachrome coast when Ronyx talked some sense into me and had me remove the wandering fumarole. Finally, I removed the one of spell snare and added a second copy of spell pierce. I have plenty of creature removal and I have found that an early spell pierce almost always leads to me running away with the game. I still think snare is great right now, but pierce just works better for my personal list. I can land a threat and then I can protect with emerge, boros charm, and/or pierce. It's also been very good against liliana and nahiri. As I said, I am really happy with where the list is right now and will probably just run a tons of games with this build for awhile unless someone breaks open some new amazing tech.
I will do the tournament write-up/wrap-up tomorrow with notes about how the games played out.
Game 2- This game went long with lots of removal. I ended up landing Chandra and Nahiri and they took over the game. Nahiri killed two different attackers that were forced to attack and chandra buried the opponent in card advantage. When I cast the Inferno Titan he conceded.
Game 3- I mulled to six here after starting on a one lander. Nahiri carried this game as well. She dropped in on her minus two ability killing a scooge that was growing. I was able to keep the board fairly clean with removal and counter magic and was able to ultimate Nahiri for Inferno Titan which won the game.
Analysis- I didn't expect the Inferno Titan addition to pay off so soon, but he was a beast in this matchup along with Nahiri. This matchup seems very favored post board, especially now that Nahiri hits random chokes that may land. Post board I more aggressively fetch for red and white rather than blue. My mainboard is very blue based, but my sideboard is very white/red based. I thought we were favored before in this matchup, but now I feel that I am heavily favored.
Match 2- Jeskai Nahiri
Won the die roll this time and was on the play.
Game1- This game was also not close. I landed two early delvers which naturally flipped. I saved one with a spell pierce and the other with an emerge unscathed. He was able to remove both delvers with a path, snap, path, but I was able to burn his remaining life.
Side board
-This is a tough one for me because tempo is actually a great game one matchup against control. I figure on the play the game will likely go longer so I want more impactful late game spells. However, I do want to keep my advantage of having a lower curve and cheaper counter magic.
Game 2- This was a very interesting game. We went back and forth for about ten turns. I finally broke the game open when I end of turn electrolyzed and was able to cast a delver and a swiftspear through a mana leak (which I could pay for). He was able to cast two nahiri during the game, one of which I countered with a spell pierce an the other was killed by bolt, snap, bolt. We really can't let Nahiri stick in this matchup. Without Nahiri he didn't have much else he could do. I pathed a celestial colonnade and won the game with a geist of saint traft in two attacks. I basically won this game because I simply cast more spells than he did. He runs 26 lands and I run 20. We ended up going through about half of our decks, but he had 3-4 more lands. With distortion strike rebounding, electrolyze drawing a card and snapcaster/abbot we just played a lot more spells than the opponent. It was still a fairly close game, but I won because he basically ran out of removal.
Analysis- This is another matchup I feel comfortable with and do think we are favored pre and post board. That played out with a 2-0 win. It's a rare matchup where I actually think we are more favored pre board. Tempo is the name of the game here. Against control I want to land a threat and protect it with cheaper counter magic.
I will have the next two rounds up shortly. Let me know if you would side differently or if you found the matchups to be similar.
PS- I noticed today that Jeff Hoogland added a Hallowed Moonlight to his sideboard! Hopefully he saw it here first, but I highly doubt it. It makes me feel I'm on the right track though.
Hey gang! I missed you guys! Went to my fnm... first Friday playing modern! I usually have to go on a Tuesday lol
overall everything went great!
I'm on the hard midrange/control but I'd thought I'd stop in just to talk shop with peeps and see how everyone is doing!
Record was 2-1-1 with this list!
G1: He starts off with Blackleave cliffs, Inqusition of Kozliek, takes my geist, thats fine
I draw a spell snare, and see his dark confidant go right to the graveyard! good start for me. It turns out he really needed that. because he is stuck with that cliffs and a forest. on his t4 after draw i flash in my drawn v clique, reveal a lot of good stuff but he only has 2 lands, so i dont take anything (Iok, K command, Liliana of the V, terminate and bolt).
He bolts it, then i draw my other one, then i repeat and get his goyf out of his hand, and answer a bob on the board with a path before his turn started. I play Elspeth next turn and he takes 7, then i basically ride her to victory. he has a split second of hope when he tops a scavenging ooze, but i top deck an electrolyze and he is pretty upset at this point lol He answers my tokens for a few turns, but i draw a Colonnade and ride that with the elspeth to my g1 win. He was stuck on 3 lands the whole game.
G2: This game, was a lot more back and forth. I got rid of 2 dark confidants, and honestly thats the most significant i can remember of it. It was a lot of back and forth on resources, he was flooding out pretty hardcore and my resources were lining up perfectly. A 'from the hand' bonfire takes care of huntmaster, a zombie left over from a Geth, and a wolf, which felt pretty amazing but horrible to pay 7 mana for lol ride elspeth (4 drop) and colonnade both to the win for this round as well
Beat Lantern Control 2-1
G1: Nothing special here gang, he gets an early ensnaring bridge, and chills until he hits an Ghirapur Æther Grid. i am drawing ok here, and get him down to 5 life with the burn until he kills me. Oh well! first time ever playing against this so.. lets see whats up lol
Sideboard: -2 resto, -1 thundermaw, -1 bonfire, -2 path, +2 stony silence, +1 EE +1 Wear/Tear, +1 negate, +1 dispel, +1 pithing needle (kept 2 in because of spellskite coming in redirecting my burn spells)
G2: turn 1 serum visions, t2 stony silence, hells yeah so he just plays a lot of 1 drop artifacts, but no Ensnaring Bridge! so i lay a V Clique on his draw step t4, and i take an ancient stirings.
i attack with that a few times, i spell snare a Sun Droplet to keep on the pressure and the burn, then start attacking with a colonnade that i drew into. our libraries are revealed, i see he has a ghost quarter coming up, so i ask a judge to be sure, but i pithing needle, naming ghost quarter, so my Colonnade is safe! and he cracks up when i do it lol So i WIN THIS ONE! WHOOP!
G3: so he keeps a no lander, for some reason... i guess his hand was the nuts if he had land, anyways. i go t2 lightning helix, then a t3 geist. t4 i land a clique, then t5 i lay elspeth and a colonnade tapped. he hits his first land on his t3, and doesn't really do much. I wreck him this game. and it feels great lol
Loss Abzan Company 1-2 (flooded out last game and he hit back to back collected company, but I'll explain more when I post tomorrow)
i didn't take the same amount of notes. with this deck... there would be like 5 pages lol im stuck on a steam vents and a ghost quarter for the longest time, but he eats both spell snares that i draw. Long story short, i get down to 6, and I swing for 14 from a geist, an on board elsepth, and a thundermaw hellkite for the win!
Sideboard: I honestly have no idea what i brought out, but i brought in a dispel, 2 negate, EE, supreme verdict,
G2: very fast and bad., NO counter magic was drawn, and he infinite life pretty early lol
G3: grindy as hell, but he kills me creature style in combat, in turn 3 of turns. i was flooding out hardcore this game, and no celestial colonnades.
Intentional draw for the last round, the guy had to leave and I was nice.
Thoughts:
-Bonfire is gone. It's very not good lol
-Thundermaw hellkite is amazeballs.
-I changed Gideon to elspeth knight errant and she was fantastic. Wanting another mainboard. Seriously. She kicked ass.
-electrolyze seems great, I want to put another mainboard if I can.
-Vendilion Clique was awesome. I loved seeing it, 2 mainboard seems great for my build.
-spell snare is the BEEZE-MOTHA-FREAKIN-NEEZE
i played a bunch of casual games last night with friends (who play pushed decks) and generally did well too. will post my deck-list and reflections here later. =)
1) Delver flipped all night on turn 2. There was a game when Delver dealt 18 damage all by itself because when I yolo-ed and snap kept a 1 island hander and my opponent couldn't find his removal. i was mana screwed all the way and all i needed was to draw 1 fetchland or mountain for 1 red mana to lightning bolt for the win when delver finally died.
2) Rift Bolt is awsome for game 1. depending on what i am facing against, i then side in path to exiles only when necessary.
3) Vapor Snag is till my favorite number 1 utility blue spell.
4) Seeker of the Way forces your opponent to make choices. Its a difficult card to cut.
5) Play of the night: I had only 2 Swiftspears in play. I needed to finish the game with the opponent being at 8 life. I cast Serum Visions, chained into 2 more Serum Visions swung in for the win for 8 damage with a lightning helix in hand.
Hey gang! I missed you guys! Went to my fnm... first Friday playing modern! I usually have to go on a Tuesday lol
overall everything went great!
I'm on the hard midrange/control but I'd thought I'd stop in just to talk shop with peeps and see how everyone is doing!
Record was 2-1-1 with this list!
G1: He starts off with Blackleave cliffs, Inqusition of Kozliek, takes my geist, thats fine
I draw a spell snare, and see his dark confidant go right to the graveyard! good start for me. It turns out he really needed that. because he is stuck with that cliffs and a forest. on his t4 after draw i flash in my drawn v clique, reveal a lot of good stuff but he only has 2 lands, so i dont take anything (Iok, K command, Liliana of the V, terminate and bolt).
He bolts it, then i draw my other one, then i repeat and get his goyf out of his hand, and answer a bob on the board with a path before his turn started. I play Elspeth next turn and he takes 7, then i basically ride her to victory. he has a split second of hope when he tops a scavenging ooze, but i top deck an electrolyze and he is pretty upset at this point lol He answers my tokens for a few turns, but i draw a Colonnade and ride that with the elspeth to my g1 win. He was stuck on 3 lands the whole game.
G2: This game, was a lot more back and forth. I got rid of 2 dark confidants, and honestly thats the most significant i can remember of it. It was a lot of back and forth on resources, he was flooding out pretty hardcore and my resources were lining up perfectly. A 'from the hand' bonfire takes care of huntmaster, a zombie left over from a Geth, and a wolf, which felt pretty amazing but horrible to pay 7 mana for lol ride elspeth (4 drop) and colonnade both to the win for this round as well
Beat Lantern Control 2-1
G1: Nothing special here gang, he gets an early ensnaring bridge, and chills until he hits an Ghirapur Æther Grid. i am drawing ok here, and get him down to 5 life with the burn until he kills me. Oh well! first time ever playing against this so.. lets see whats up lol
Sideboard: -2 resto, -1 thundermaw, -1 bonfire, -2 path, +2 stony silence, +1 EE +1 Wear/Tear, +1 negate, +1 dispel, +1 pithing needle (kept 2 in because of spellskite coming in redirecting my burn spells)
G2: turn 1 serum visions, t2 stony silence, hells yeah so he just plays a lot of 1 drop artifacts, but no Ensnaring Bridge! so i lay a V Clique on his draw step t4, and i take an ancient stirings.
i attack with that a few times, i spell snare a Sun Droplet to keep on the pressure and the burn, then start attacking with a colonnade that i drew into. our libraries are revealed, i see he has a ghost quarter coming up, so i ask a judge to be sure, but i pithing needle, naming ghost quarter, so my Colonnade is safe! and he cracks up when i do it lol So i WIN THIS ONE! WHOOP!
G3: so he keeps a no lander, for some reason... i guess his hand was the nuts if he had land, anyways. i go t2 lightning helix, then a t3 geist. t4 i land a clique, then t5 i lay elspeth and a colonnade tapped. he hits his first land on his t3, and doesn't really do much. I wreck him this game. and it feels great lol
Loss Abzan Company 1-2 (flooded out last game and he hit back to back collected company, but I'll explain more when I post tomorrow)
i didn't take the same amount of notes. with this deck... there would be like 5 pages lol im stuck on a steam vents and a ghost quarter for the longest time, but he eats both spell snares that i draw. Long story short, i get down to 6, and I swing for 14 from a geist, an on board elsepth, and a thundermaw hellkite for the win!
Sideboard: I honestly have no idea what i brought out, but i brought in a dispel, 2 negate, EE, supreme verdict,
G2: very fast and bad., NO counter magic was drawn, and he infinite life pretty early lol
G3: grindy as hell, but he kills me creature style in combat, in turn 3 of turns. i was flooding out hardcore this game, and no celestial colonnades.
Intentional draw for the last round, the guy had to leave and I was nice.
Thoughts:
-Bonfire is gone. It's very not good lol
-Thundermaw hellkite is amazeballs.
-I changed Gideon to elspeth knight errant and she was fantastic. Wanting another mainboard. Seriously. She kicked ass.
-electrolyze seems great, I want to put another mainboard if I can.
-Vendilion Clique was awesome. I loved seeing it, 2 mainboard seems great for my build.
-spell snare is the BEEZE-MOTHA-FREAKIN-NEEZE
Cardboard I love that inferno titan!!!
Hey Ruther! Good to hear from you! I'm glad to hear your still kicking butt with a jeskai deck. With the new Jeskai Nahiri deck and jeskai brain the jar (It's really a thing) going around jeskai is on the upswing. I do miss playing some of the 3-5 drops sometimes, but I just love my delvers
Thanks for the awesome write-up. These are my favorite types of posts to read and are super informative. I was a huge fan of miracles when they were in standard and I remember bonfire hitting the $60 mark! It's a great card, but it's really tough to play. My brother plays it in his Green Devotion deck splashing red because he often has 10 plus mana quickly so he can hard cast it as well. I agree with you removing it. [a]Anger of the Gods[/c] will probably do most of the time. Speaking of old standard, Thundermaw Hellkite probably caused my opponent to scoop his cards more than any other card back then. I love when the opponent plays lingering souls only to have them killed immediately by a 5/5 flying haste dragon. Thundermaw is definitely underplayed.
You just made my decisions a lot harder. I cut my Spell Snare for another Spell Pierce and now I'm questioning if I should run it back I'm always tinkering. I'm sure GofyTomCat will be happy to hear that you love Elspeth. He also loves that card and swears by it. It turns any threat into a monster.
I'm glad to hear your doing well. It's good to hear from you again. Feel free to post in here whenever you want. We all like to talk about jeskai cards regardless of if you are playing an exact style of deck.
i played a bunch of casual games last night with friends (who play pushed decks) and generally did well too. will post my deck-list and reflections here later. =)
1) Delver flipped all night on turn 2. There was a game when Delver dealt 18 damage all by itself because when I yolo-ed and snap kept a 1 island hander and my opponent couldn't find his removal. i was mana screwed all the way and all i needed was to draw 1 fetchland or mountain for 1 red mana to lightning bolt for the win when delver finally died.
2) Rift Bolt is awsome for game 1. depending on what i am facing against, i then side in path to exiles only when necessary.
3) Vapor Snag is till my favorite number 1 utility blue spell.
4) Seeker of the Way forces your opponent to make choices. Its a difficult card to cut.
5) Play of the night: I had only 2 Swiftspears in play. I needed to finish the game with the opponent being at 8 life. I cast Serum Visions, chained into 2 more Serum Visions swung in for the win for 8 damage with a lightning helix in hand.
i only lost 2 games the whole night.
i love the deck.
That's a great night. It's always awesome when your delvers are flipping. Some days it feels like they flip with ease and other days it feels like you can never flip them.
Vapor snag is sweet. I wish I had room for more. It's very underrated as a defensive spell to bounce our own creatures. Bouncing and re-casting a snapcaster always feels awesome.
Seeker of the way is very interesting to me. I have been looking for a way to have some life gain in the main deck beyond Lightning Helix. I am going to cut one Abbot of Keral Keep for a Seeker of the Way for a bit and see how that goes.
I love that last play. It reminds me of when I top deck a distortion strike for lethal on an otherwise unwinnable board. Every deck has to have some free wins!
I just love the build of your deck. Logic Knot and Deprive are both great in our deck and you have access to both. Very cool list. Thanks for posting.
This is what I am currently running online and testing. I kinda like the new Nahiri, the Harbringer with Thundermaw Hellkite because it allows me to continue to be at 19 lands while still being able to get to a 4 drop eventually. I have considered adding another land to the sideboard instead of the Izzet Charm.
From what I have in paper, I run two Abbot of Keral Keep and Kiln Fiend, but I haven't been super impressed by the Abbot in the early game as I always fear I will get one of my few counters or removals when I do not want it. Of course, this is sort of negated by the Serums, but they can't always be there.
Also, I love Kiln Fiend sooooo much that I had to run him in the online version. I could never cut him after the fun things I have done (20 damage on a control player through a colonnade after a little help from an emerge unscathed, a double striking boros charm with a countered path to exile with my spell pierce
Any thoughts/ concerns would be awesome to hear (semi-new modern player that loves seeing new ideas)
Thundermaw Hellkite is extremely underplayed in Modern (partially due to the meta being obsessed with 4 cc and below cards lol). Another card that is Thundermaw's brethren is Stormbreath Dragon.
You look very comfortable with your mainboard and sideboard because I do not see Wrath of God or Supreme Verdict. When a deck and pilot is at that level of comfort and confidence it is very good.
The main reason I do not run wrath effects is because it takes away all the progress I tried to achieve. If I remove a Goyf or something similar, that's great, but considering I only run a few super fast creatures, then rely on the prowess/burn effects helping me to victory, I really don't want to kill of my own things.
The reasoning behind the thundermaw is because it says that it comes back. That means I kind of get a flicker effect. possibly tapping down annoying fliers (or killing spirits) twice when needed. Also, I am already prioritizing double red mana because of Chandra. I just thought he was a nice fit (I also just super love the card )
Thanks for the kind words! It makes me feel like I am on the right track, hopefully time to start playing FNMs and other things, not just group kitchen table shenanigans.
This is what I am currently running online and testing. I kinda like the new Nahiri, the Harbringer with Thundermaw Hellkite because it allows me to continue to be at 19 lands while still being able to get to a 4 drop eventually. I have considered adding another land to the sideboard instead of the Izzet Charm.
From what I have in paper, I run two Abbot of Keral Keep and Kiln Fiend, but I haven't been super impressed by the Abbot in the early game as I always fear I will get one of my few counters or removals when I do not want it. Of course, this is sort of negated by the Serums, but they can't always be there.
Also, I love Kiln Fiend sooooo much that I had to run him in the online version. I could never cut him after the fun things I have done (20 damage on a control player through a colonnade after a little help from an emerge unscathed, a double striking boros charm with a countered path to exile with my spell pierce
Any thoughts/ concerns would be awesome to hear (semi-new modern player that loves seeing new ideas)
Welcome Modern Wenzey! You found the right place for your deck. It looks sweet. I too have a place in my heart for Kiln Fiend.
I am in the same boat as you right now. I have not been super impressed with Abbot outside of midrange matchups. I will probably cutting mine down to 1 as well. So I think your on the right track.
I am also in the same boat in terms of Nahiri. I love Nahiri, but want to make sure that I have a good option for her ultimate. I have been running Inferno Titan, but it has been stuck in my hand a couple of times and I run 20 lands so I will probably need to get it back down to a 4 CMC or 5 CMC creature or just stick with getting a snapcaster or geist.
I love your list and look forward to seeing how it plays for you. Welcome to the topic!
You just made my decisions a lot harder. I cut my Spell Snare for another Spell Pierce and now I'm questioning if I should run it back I'm always tinkering. I'm sure GofyTomCat will be happy to hear that you love Elspeth. He also loves that card and swears by it. It turns any threat into a monster.
Spell Snare is an excellent counter in the current meta.
However, it highly depends on your decklist and style of play. If you are on a more midrange/counter heavy version i would run a 2/2 split of both pierce and snare, alongside Mana Leak/Remand or Deprive. In a more aggressiv shell, i would jost go with those 2 copies of pierce.
Greetings
Thanks Jonny_Tempel. Your right about Spell Snare. I'm not sure it has ever been better than it is right now. I'm thinking about cutting an abott so I may be able to squeeze one back into the main deck.
I think your analysis is spot on and is very important. The deck style really dictates the counter magic in the deck. I have seen many players jam the "correct number" from the jeskai midrange deck into their jeskai delver decks.
OK guys. I just got the new avacyn for 27 bucks! So now I must use it. Main or side?
And this is my updated list with sideboard
I have been wanting to play the new Avacyn for awhile now. I just can't make if fit in my 20 land deck. I might put it in my sideboard for grindy/creature based matchups and for a Nahiri ultimate target. She definitely works very well in a Geist deck making him indestructible.
In your deck you would probably be forced to cut one Resto, Hellkite, or one Clique. I would probably go with the Hellkite because it's the five drop, but with resto and hellkite you may be better off without Avacyn. Flash is a very much underrated keyword so if you were to cut the hellkite all of your creatures with the exception of Geist would have flash enabling you to play almost your entire deck at instant speed. That would be awesome. Two resto's and an Avacyn would make your Geists almost always indestructible.
Love the deck by the way. Jeskai has made a huge comback lately and people have been streaming it like crazy on Twitch. Especially the Jeskai Nahiri deck.
On another positive note, a Jeskai Geist deck won a PTQ this weekend on Twitch TV at Geek Fortress Gaming. I don't know the list yet, but I will try to find it.
OK guys. I just got the new avacyn for 27 bucks! So now I must use it. Main or side?
And this is my updated list with sideboard
Also, little fun interaction I hope you could try is use the restoration angel to flash the hellkite to tap all the things again. I reaaalllly wish that you could flash the avacyn (probably in purifier form) to flash the invincible trigger again. Sadly, the non angel clause ruins all the fun.. I would say sideboard the avacyn for creature heavy things like zoo. (This could be totally wrong because I don't play sideboarded games often), but thinking that you could wrath your own clique or geist makes me hesitant to play it.
After much discussion on this forum topic I have reached the final "tuned" list that I will try to run on MTGO. I would also run it at the upcoming SGC Modern Open in Indianapolis, however, I have a wedding to attend that weekend so the one time a modern tournament comes to Indiana I can't play. Life gets in the way sometime. Here is the list I will be running for the foreseeable future.
I have "trimmed the fat" as I like to say and got the deck focused into one idea. The main deck is more tempo based now with more counter magic. I have cut the restoration angel and one abbot of keral keep and added a Chandra, Pyromaster and Stormchaser Mage or Grim Lavamancer. I wanted to cut the curve down a bit and add a bit more versatility to the deck. While abbot is a two drop, it really costs three+ to be valuable. Stormchaser is a more aggressive and cheaper threat and Grim Lavamancer is cheap and extra value. I will decide on which one soon. Restoration Angel is a great card, but is not impactful enough in this style deck to run as a 4 CMC card. I have added Chandra, Pyromaster as the one 4 CMC card because if we are ahead she fits the decks plan by pinging for 1 damage and removing blockers and/or adding additional card advantage and if we are behind or even on the board she can break stalls by killing things and/or giving us card advantage.
As for the mana base I cleaned it up a bit too. I cut the Glacial Fortress and added a second copy of Seachrome Coast. This way I have four copies of blue sources that are not affected by Choke and also have 4 duals that can come into play untapped at some point in the game (two fast lands for early untapped duals & two buddy lands for late untapped sources). I have no come into play tapped lands because we need our mana because we often will only get to 3-4 mana or possibly 5-6 mana if the game goes long. 6-7 fetches seems to be correct from my testing. This number gives us a good chance to fix our mana early, but doesn't cut too many mana cards from the deck so we can cast our later spells.
As for the sideboard, I cut that down a bit too. I cut Engineered Explosives because, although it's a great card, it's a bit slow for a tempo build. I added a Detention Sphere to get a similar affect only quicker. I also cut the Anger of the Gods as it doesn't work well with my deck. I added Grafdigger's Cage to deal with Abzan Company and the uptick in graveyard based strategies. I added the Stony Silences back into the deck and cut the Timely Reinforcements and Inferno Titan again because they are just to expensive to be reliable now that I cut from 20 lands to 19 lands now.
This is the last deck list I will post for a little while as I think you guys have helped me get to my optimal build. So thank you all for the help! I will probably be posting a lot of testing notes from MTGO, testing sessions, and FNM's/random tournaments now that I have the deck where I want it to be. Let me know what you guys think of the list and if you have any suggestions. Thanks again.
Your list looks REALLY sweet. As a more burn-focused Jeskai player it's kinda hard for me to look at this list and truly understand its playstyle without saying "needs more firepower" but that's just me. I really like the protection package. My list brings in additional support spells to complement my primary burn plan, but your list plays out more like my Delver in that you want to land a threat and protect it however you can. The protection and counter package really works well to complement this primary approach and it is really evident what you are trying to do: land a Delver or Swiftspear, protect it til you can land a Traft or additional 1-drop threats, then continue to force your creatures through until Chandra or Snap Bolt can end the game for you. Your mainboard is very versatile and seems well equipped to answer a variety of meta-based strategies. (whereas mine is "kill it with fire and mantises and pray I can Snap-Bolt ") You trimmed a lot of fat from your list and it is very clear you know what you're trying to accomplish. I may tune my own Delver list (not the burn one) to incorporate a few of your ideas, (although being me I will probably run more burn and removal over protection spells based on personal playstyle.)
I really like the MB Chandra (although she is my girl and I love her to death so this is also a biased opinion ) The Seachrome Coast decision seems correct.
As far as your sideboard, I am going to quote you and ask the following question: What is your meta like? I can help a little bit more if I know what you're up against (and it may help if I understand both your LGS meta and the meta on MTGO since I hear they are a bit different)
Overall, I really like this cleaned up deck list. It's good that you can tell when your list is trying to do too many things at once and "trim the fat" for efficiency's sake, something I struggle with. I wish you luck and may Geist and Chandra guide your list to victory! Draw well and smash face.
-Gofy
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Can you share recent result with your lists? you say you run 2 (at least), I would like to know which one has worked better for you, so we can focus in making it even better.
Edit: One thing I like about your deck is the Keranos, God of Storms in the sideboard, think it can really help in the games this deck struggles the most
Flipping Delvers since 2011
MY DECKS
Modern: UR Izzet Delver
Pauper: U Delver Faeries | R Red Burn | GInfect
Commander: WB Athreos, God of Passage | UR Keranos Spellslinger | GWU Derevi, Tempo Tactician | BGU Tasigur, the Golden Fang | RW Feather, the Redeemed
As far as results, so far the Delver list is the more tested of the two. As in the new list is literally untested. I'll let you know how it goes
I do agree with you here Ronyx. t's never fun to be the devil's advocate, but it is always necessary. Constructive criticism is a must to get the best results. That's why we are all here anyways- to have other like minded players help us make the best deck we can and to just to talk to other fun people. We definitely need to make sure that we maintain focus on making the best lists we can and getting results. That's part of the reason I started to play online. I can't travel for tournaments or anything so the only chance I have to get the deck out there is online. Hopefully I can play a bit more online than I have and maybe get lucky enough to 5-0 someday soon.
I haven't had a ton of time lately but hopefully I can share some results soon from online and from local play. As always I would love to see how everyone's else's decks are doing. One thing I did find out online is that I have a terrible matchup against mill :). I have actually played UB mill twice in 10 total games. I beat them once, but it was from god hands. The other time I was crushed. I don't think I am going to worry too much about mill right now because I don't think it makes up 20% of the meta as my testing as shown so far
The Ol' Faithfuls
1x Wear // Tear
1x Deflecting Palm
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Spreading Seas
1x Negate
1x Dispel
1x Chandra, Pryomaster
1x Spellskite
1x Grim Lavamancer
The Newcomers
1x Monastery Mentor out Wear // Tear
1x Nahiri, the Harbinger out Deflecting Palm
1x Hallowed Moonlight out Stony Silence
1x Celestial Purge out Stony Silence
1x Anger of the Gods out Negate
Reasoning for Changes
I noticed that I was boarding in a lot of cards against affinity and infect and not very many against abzan and jund. We are already favored post board against affinity and infect given that we run bolts, helix, path, and counter magic with a clock. I also noticed that I was normally only boarding in one wear/tear when I did board it in (except against affinity and lantern control) and that deflecting palm was great when I had it, but wasn't as proactive as I wanted so one copy will do. In addition, I felt that the stony silences were just overkill and never felt like I needed them against tron (because we already have a ton of counter magic and spreading seas and against affinity (already favored). The additional negate was fine, but I recently added an additional spell pierce and a izzet charm to my main deck so I don't need as many counterspells in the sideboard.
The cards I added help to sure up our worst matchups. As many of you know, Abzan Company and Jund are everywhere right now. I have also been running into a lot of BW Eldrazi taxes. I wanted to make sure what I could board into more impactful spells post board when games go a bit longer.
Nahiri. The Harbinger- She is awesome at filtering and getting us to action spells late in the game. I use her -2 a ton to kill a creature or a random enchantment like chock. I have also used it on a vedelkan shackles. The last game I played last night I ultimated her to get a snapcaster to cast a boros charm for exactly lethal.
Monastery Mentor- I wanted a creature I could side in to have greater impact on the late game and longer games that are typical in gridy matchups and post boarded matchups. He fits perfectly into our mainboard plan while still offering late game power.
Anger of the Gods- I have never been a huge fan of running sweepers in our sideboard, but with all of the abzan decks, death and taxes decks, and zoo decks running around and with our new sideboard plan of being able to transition into a more controlling/midrange build, this was a perfect fit.
Celestial Purge- This is a must and is a great all around card. It hits so many cards I can't list them but some big ones are Liliana of the Veil, Bloodmoon, Tasigur, Kalitas, Pyromancer's ascension, jeskai ascendancy,
Hallowed Moonlight- This is my favorite addition because it's one I haven't seen in any sideboard yet. I have seen an uptick in Dredgevine decks, goryo's vengeance, titan shift and company style decks and this puppy is amazing in those games. It has already proven to be awesome against abzan company in the few games I have played it. It is so good I may go up to two copies. The pluses are that is a cantrip and, unlike most hate for these decks, it doesn't affect our graveyard and our snapcasters and lavamancers.
Other Considerations
Flashfreeze- This is a very versatile counter magic spell and is always valuable.
Leyline of Sanctity- For about a week I had two of these in the sideboard and they were great, but I think you have to run three to be consistent. I simply couldn't find enough room for three, but this card is underplayed.
Wheel of Sun and Moon- As I stated before, there has been a recent increase in graveyard based decks. In addition, I have played against mill twice online already :). This card doesn't affect our snapcasters and lavamancers while hitting their graveyard which is very rare for graveyard hate.
Aven Mindcensor- I have used this in the past when scapeshift is popular, but it has always seemed lackluster. Maybe I am wrong.
Timely Reinforcements, Jeskai Charm, Lightning Helix- I am a bit concerned that I don't have any sideboard life gain and only two main deck lightning helix. If I get run over too much by aggro/burn I will consider adding some life gain.
Batterskull- This was the other option I was thinking about in Mentor's place. It's lifegain and something to target with a nahiri ultimate.
That's if for now. What did I miss? What do you think? What should I add and/or remove?
I think ALL the cards are good options even the cards that are being 'cycled' out of the sideboard (but have to be still considered options in your local meta). Here are my thoughts about a few of the cards in particular....
Aven Mindcensor: its an card that i never got fond of. i am sure it has its applications but i find learning how to play against those match-ups that require this card or finding another angle is better. 3 cc flash creature for the effect borders on unplayable to me to combat those decks. =(
Batterskull: its a very powerful card especially in control shells. its a great 1 of in most decks! play them conservatively if your meta has lots of Kolaghan's Command!
Some other cards that i either keep in my sideboard or mainboard:
Izzet Staticaster: anti tokens! becomes sick if you maindeck Grim Lavamancer.
Pyroclasm: A low to the ground sweeper that is brutal against Affinity.
Stony Silence: Useful against Tron and Affinity, both are common over here so I won't cut them.
I think there might be some cards that i might have forgot (caffeine not kicking in yet)... will update if i do remember.
Addendum:
Volcanic Fallout: A very useful sideboard card if you face control heavy token type decks. They usually fold with a well timed sweeper and a hard swing but its something worth looking at if blue shell thopter decks are the rage in your area.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
1. If I have the option to play Snapcaster, PLAY SNAPCASTER!!
2. The aggro list (early version with Swiftspear, Mantis,Stormchaser etc) was fine, it just needed a proper sideboard and a better pilot
3. the Lightning Rider list is better with main deck countermagic as a midrange tempo list than a slow burn with Pyromancer.
4. Chandra and Ellie are awesome and I will never cut them from my 75 of either list ever!!
5. Goblin Dank Dwellers is... dank, but is better alongside Snapcaster thsn replacing him.
6. Hindering Light in the aggro-burn SB counters exactly the type of cards that cause me problems.
7. I now have 3 deck lists (but Delver is likely going to be decommissioned in favor of "lightning Rider" and the Jeskai Fireworks build since I like their playstyle better
So now to the updated decklists:
4x Stormchaser Mage
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Mantis Rider
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Boros Charm
4x Jeskai Charm
4x Path to Exile
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Flooded Strand
2x Steam Vents
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Clifftop Retreat
1x Shivan Reef
2x Island
2x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Exquisite Firecraft
2x Dispel
2x Hindering Light
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Kira, Great-Glass Spinner (If I have a fast start I prefer my repeatable sources of damage to stick around)
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Wear// Tear
2x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Rest in Peace
4x Mantis Rider
4x Lightning Angel
2x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
2x Jeskai Charm
2x Electrolyze
4x Remand
4x Path to Exile
2x Arid Mesa
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Wandering Fumarole
2x Steam Vents
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Hallowed fountain
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Clifftop Retreat
2x Island
2x Mountain
2x Plains
Very cool lists. I was not impressed with Goblin Dark Dwellers myself either. He is fine and is a good card, but I think there are better options at the five drop slot. Its funny that you bring up Hindering Light. We were playing cube last night and I drafted that card in my jeskai list (of course) and we talked about running it in modern. It seems good enough, just not maindeck playable. In the sideboard that card could be a really beating to your opponent and is a two for one every time you cast it. It's great against burn, discard, and all of the bolts running around right now. It probably fits best in a tempo or aggro version of the deck where the opponent is forced to target our threats. Very cool tech.
I think I prefer the Chandra's Rifles over the Lightning Rider list, but that's without playing either list so I can't be sure. Both look like fun lists. I just feel that this style works best when it's closer to a tempo deck. Great lists as always. I would probably cut one remand for a spell pierce to have the one mana counter magic early in the game to help protect your threats/board and possibly a lightning angel for a spell snare. Other than that I think your good to go and I can't wait to hear how it goes.
I am off to FNM and will post how I do when I get back. I do know that Jeskai Nahiri is all the rage right now!
Kira in the Rifles list was an experiment, but I think I want a Deflecting Palm in her slot (either that or Nahiri)
1. Yes. Snapcaster Mage is one of the glue that makes the deck work.
2. Yes. The aggressive variant have a good chance to watch opponents off balance especially if they make the wrong choices. The deck is relatively unpopular enough to do that.
3. Yes. Stormchaser Mage is a slow pinger that annoys most opponents which is a good thing.
4. Yes. I play them in other decks and I never cut them.
5. Yes. GDD cannot replace Snapcaster but is a good card to supplement and work with Snapcaster.
6. Good catch. i can see how it works.
7. I can understand why. I recently am running a build that resembles Ezra Guttierrez's. I have Path of Exile in the SB just in case I run into Wurmcoil Engine type decks or Melira/Anafenza combo decks.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
The planewalkers were gas as was a spicy new card I added to the sideboard to pair with Nahiri..........Inferno Titan. I will explain that choice tomorrow as well, but I basically wanted something highly impactful that I could search for while ultimating Nahiri, the Harbinger, but also something I could cast without Nahiri. Obviously I am back up to 20 lands. as well. Here is the deck that I ran
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Abbot of Keral Keep
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Restoration Angel
Instant/Sorcery
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
1 Electrolyze
4 Serum Visions
2 Distortion Strike
1 Emerge Unscathed
1 Boros Charm
3 Path to Exile
1 Vapor Snag
2 Remand
2 Spell Pierce
2 Gitaxian Probe
1 Izzet Charm
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Seachrome Coast
1 Deflecting Palm
1 Wear // Tear
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Celestial Purge
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Inferno Titan
1 Spellskite
2 Spreading Seas
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
I made a few changes and I am super happy with the deck right now. It's running more smoothly than it has in a long time and I think the board is much better. I added Izzet Charm and removed Cerebral Vortex (although I love this card, especially if Ancestral Vision becomes popular). I also added two Gitaxian Probes and removed an Emerge Unscathed and the Titan Strength. The information and the prowess trigger are super valuable right now as more control is seeing play. I have seen an uptick in Choke in the green decks so I added another seachrome coast when Ronyx talked some sense into me and had me remove the wandering fumarole. Finally, I removed the one of spell snare and added a second copy of spell pierce. I have plenty of creature removal and I have found that an early spell pierce almost always leads to me running away with the game. I still think snare is great right now, but pierce just works better for my personal list. I can land a threat and then I can protect with emerge, boros charm, and/or pierce. It's also been very good against liliana and nahiri. As I said, I am really happy with where the list is right now and will probably just run a tons of games with this build for awhile unless someone breaks open some new amazing tech.
I will do the tournament write-up/wrap-up tomorrow with notes about how the games played out.
Match 1- Naya Zoo
Lots the die roll and was on the draw.
Game1- This game was not close. He had a basic god hand with two burning-tree emissary and Reckless Bushwacker. He ran me over by turn 4.
Side board
-I want to become the control player here and run the game longer so I side accordingly.
IN- Anger of the Gods, Nahiri the Harbinger, Chandra, Pyromaster, Celestial Purge, Negate, Dispel, Deflecting Palm, Inferno Titan, Spellskite, Grim Lavamancer[. You could also side in EE and the spreading seas but I was already siding in so many cards I chose not to.
OUT- 2x Gitaxian Probe, 2x Remand, 2x Distortion Strike, Electrolyze, Abbot of Keral Keep, Monastery Swiftspear, Serum Visions. If I were to side in the other cards I would likely side out more serum visions.
Game 2- This game went long with lots of removal. I ended up landing Chandra and Nahiri and they took over the game. Nahiri killed two different attackers that were forced to attack and chandra buried the opponent in card advantage. When I cast the Inferno Titan he conceded.
Game 3- I mulled to six here after starting on a one lander. Nahiri carried this game as well. She dropped in on her minus two ability killing a scooge that was growing. I was able to keep the board fairly clean with removal and counter magic and was able to ultimate Nahiri for Inferno Titan which won the game.
Analysis- I didn't expect the Inferno Titan addition to pay off so soon, but he was a beast in this matchup along with Nahiri. This matchup seems very favored post board, especially now that Nahiri hits random chokes that may land. Post board I more aggressively fetch for red and white rather than blue. My mainboard is very blue based, but my sideboard is very white/red based. I thought we were favored before in this matchup, but now I feel that I am heavily favored.
Match 2- Jeskai Nahiri
Won the die roll this time and was on the play.
Game1- This game was also not close. I landed two early delvers which naturally flipped. I saved one with a spell pierce and the other with an emerge unscathed. He was able to remove both delvers with a path, snap, path, but I was able to burn his remaining life.
Side board
-This is a tough one for me because tempo is actually a great game one matchup against control. I figure on the play the game will likely go longer so I want more impactful late game spells. However, I do want to keep my advantage of having a lower curve and cheaper counter magic.
IN- Nahiri the Harbinger, Chandra, Pyromaster, Celestial Purge, Negate, Dispel, Inferno Titan, Grim Lavamancer[.
OUT- 2x Remand, 1x Distortion Strike, Spell Pierce, Abbot of Keral Keep, Monastery Swiftspear, Serum Visions.
Game 2- This was a very interesting game. We went back and forth for about ten turns. I finally broke the game open when I end of turn electrolyzed and was able to cast a delver and a swiftspear through a mana leak (which I could pay for). He was able to cast two nahiri during the game, one of which I countered with a spell pierce an the other was killed by bolt, snap, bolt. We really can't let Nahiri stick in this matchup. Without Nahiri he didn't have much else he could do. I pathed a celestial colonnade and won the game with a geist of saint traft in two attacks. I basically won this game because I simply cast more spells than he did. He runs 26 lands and I run 20. We ended up going through about half of our decks, but he had 3-4 more lands. With distortion strike rebounding, electrolyze drawing a card and snapcaster/abbot we just played a lot more spells than the opponent. It was still a fairly close game, but I won because he basically ran out of removal.
Analysis- This is another matchup I feel comfortable with and do think we are favored pre and post board. That played out with a 2-0 win. It's a rare matchup where I actually think we are more favored pre board. Tempo is the name of the game here. Against control I want to land a threat and protect it with cheaper counter magic.
I will have the next two rounds up shortly. Let me know if you would side differently or if you found the matchups to be similar.
PS- I noticed today that Jeff Hoogland added a Hallowed Moonlight to his sideboard! Hopefully he saw it here first, but I highly doubt it. It makes me feel I'm on the right track though.
overall everything went great!
I'm on the hard midrange/control but I'd thought I'd stop in just to talk shop with peeps and see how everyone is doing!
Record was 2-1-1 with this list!
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Restoration Angel
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Electrolyze
1x Cryptic Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
1x Mana Leak
4x Path to Exile
2x Remand
2x Spell Snare
3x Serum Visions
1x Elspeth, Knight Errant
4x Arid Mesa
4x Celestial Colonnade
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Tectonic Edge
4x Flooded Strand
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Plains
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Steam Vents
2x Sulfur Falls
Sideboard (15)
1x Dispel
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Negate
1x Pithing Needle
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Wear / Tear
Beat Jund 2-0
G1: He starts off with Blackleave cliffs, Inqusition of Kozliek, takes my geist, thats fine
I draw a spell snare, and see his dark confidant go right to the graveyard! good start for me. It turns out he really needed that. because he is stuck with that cliffs and a forest. on his t4 after draw i flash in my drawn v clique, reveal a lot of good stuff but he only has 2 lands, so i dont take anything (Iok, K command, Liliana of the V, terminate and bolt).
He bolts it, then i draw my other one, then i repeat and get his goyf out of his hand, and answer a bob on the board with a path before his turn started. I play Elspeth next turn and he takes 7, then i basically ride her to victory. he has a split second of hope when he tops a scavenging ooze, but i top deck an electrolyze and he is pretty upset at this point lol He answers my tokens for a few turns, but i draw a Colonnade and ride that with the elspeth to my g1 win. He was stuck on 3 lands the whole game.
Sideboard- -3 geist, -2 bolt. +2 Rest in peace, +1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Pithing Needle
G2: This game, was a lot more back and forth. I got rid of 2 dark confidants, and honestly thats the most significant i can remember of it. It was a lot of back and forth on resources, he was flooding out pretty hardcore and my resources were lining up perfectly. A 'from the hand' bonfire takes care of huntmaster, a zombie left over from a Geth, and a wolf, which felt pretty amazing but horrible to pay 7 mana for lol ride elspeth (4 drop) and colonnade both to the win for this round as well
G1: Nothing special here gang, he gets an early ensnaring bridge, and chills until he hits an Ghirapur Æther Grid. i am drawing ok here, and get him down to 5 life with the burn until he kills me. Oh well! first time ever playing against this so.. lets see whats up lol
Sideboard: -2 resto, -1 thundermaw, -1 bonfire, -2 path, +2 stony silence, +1 EE +1 Wear/Tear, +1 negate, +1 dispel, +1 pithing needle (kept 2 in because of spellskite coming in redirecting my burn spells)
G2: turn 1 serum visions, t2 stony silence, hells yeah so he just plays a lot of 1 drop artifacts, but no Ensnaring Bridge! so i lay a V Clique on his draw step t4, and i take an ancient stirings.
i attack with that a few times, i spell snare a Sun Droplet to keep on the pressure and the burn, then start attacking with a colonnade that i drew into. our libraries are revealed, i see he has a ghost quarter coming up, so i ask a judge to be sure, but i pithing needle, naming ghost quarter, so my Colonnade is safe! and he cracks up when i do it lol So i WIN THIS ONE! WHOOP!
G3: so he keeps a no lander, for some reason... i guess his hand was the nuts if he had land, anyways. i go t2 lightning helix, then a t3 geist. t4 i land a clique, then t5 i lay elspeth and a colonnade tapped. he hits his first land on his t3, and doesn't really do much. I wreck him this game. and it feels great lol
Loss Abzan Company 1-2 (flooded out last game and he hit back to back collected company, but I'll explain more when I post tomorrow)
Sideboard: I honestly have no idea what i brought out, but i brought in a dispel, 2 negate, EE, supreme verdict,
G2: very fast and bad., NO counter magic was drawn, and he infinite life pretty early lol
G3: grindy as hell, but he kills me creature style in combat, in turn 3 of turns. i was flooding out hardcore this game, and no celestial colonnades.
Thoughts:
-Bonfire is gone. It's very not good lol
-Thundermaw hellkite is amazeballs.
-I changed Gideon to elspeth knight errant and she was fantastic. Wanting another mainboard. Seriously. She kicked ass.
-electrolyze seems great, I want to put another mainboard if I can.
-Vendilion Clique was awesome. I loved seeing it, 2 mainboard seems great for my build.
-spell snare is the BEEZE-MOTHA-FREAKIN-NEEZE
Cardboard I love that inferno titan!!!
Thanks you very much DarkNightCavalier for the Sig.
i played a bunch of casual games last night with friends (who play pushed decks) and generally did well too. will post my deck-list and reflections here later. =)
3x Young Pyromancer
4x Monastery Swiftspear
3x Seeker of the Way
1x Stormchaser Mage
1x Grim Lavamancer
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Electrolyze
2x Lightning Helix
2x Remand
3x Rift Bolt
4x Serum Visions
3x Vapor Snag
1x Logic Knot
1x Deprive
4x Polluted Delta
1x Steam Vents
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Plains
2x Mountain
3x Island
1) Delver flipped all night on turn 2. There was a game when Delver dealt 18 damage all by itself because when I yolo-ed and snap kept a 1 island hander and my opponent couldn't find his removal. i was mana screwed all the way and all i needed was to draw 1 fetchland or mountain for 1 red mana to lightning bolt for the win when delver finally died.
2) Rift Bolt is awsome for game 1. depending on what i am facing against, i then side in path to exiles only when necessary.
3) Vapor Snag is till my favorite number 1 utility blue spell.
4) Seeker of the Way forces your opponent to make choices. Its a difficult card to cut.
5) Play of the night: I had only 2 Swiftspears in play. I needed to finish the game with the opponent being at 8 life. I cast Serum Visions, chained into 2 more Serum Visions swung in for the win for 8 damage with a lightning helix in hand.
i only lost 2 games the whole night.
i love the deck.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Hey Ruther! Good to hear from you! I'm glad to hear your still kicking butt with a jeskai deck. With the new Jeskai Nahiri deck and jeskai brain the jar (It's really a thing) going around jeskai is on the upswing. I do miss playing some of the 3-5 drops sometimes, but I just love my delvers
Thanks for the awesome write-up. These are my favorite types of posts to read and are super informative. I was a huge fan of miracles when they were in standard and I remember bonfire hitting the $60 mark! It's a great card, but it's really tough to play. My brother plays it in his Green Devotion deck splashing red because he often has 10 plus mana quickly so he can hard cast it as well. I agree with you removing it. [a]Anger of the Gods[/c] will probably do most of the time. Speaking of old standard, Thundermaw Hellkite probably caused my opponent to scoop his cards more than any other card back then. I love when the opponent plays lingering souls only to have them killed immediately by a 5/5 flying haste dragon. Thundermaw is definitely underplayed.
You just made my decisions a lot harder. I cut my Spell Snare for another Spell Pierce and now I'm questioning if I should run it back I'm always tinkering. I'm sure GofyTomCat will be happy to hear that you love Elspeth. He also loves that card and swears by it. It turns any threat into a monster.
I'm glad to hear your doing well. It's good to hear from you again. Feel free to post in here whenever you want. We all like to talk about jeskai cards regardless of if you are playing an exact style of deck.
That's a great night. It's always awesome when your delvers are flipping. Some days it feels like they flip with ease and other days it feels like you can never flip them.
Vapor snag is sweet. I wish I had room for more. It's very underrated as a defensive spell to bounce our own creatures. Bouncing and re-casting a snapcaster always feels awesome.
Seeker of the way is very interesting to me. I have been looking for a way to have some life gain in the main deck beyond Lightning Helix. I am going to cut one Abbot of Keral Keep for a Seeker of the Way for a bit and see how that goes.
I love that last play. It reminds me of when I top deck a distortion strike for lethal on an otherwise unwinnable board. Every deck has to have some free wins!
I just love the build of your deck. Logic Knot and Deprive are both great in our deck and you have access to both. Very cool list. Thanks for posting.
3x Flooded Strand
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Seachrome Coast
2x Steam Vents
2x Sulfur Falls
Sorcery (8)
2x Distortion Strike
2x Gitaxian Probe
4x Serum Visions
Planeswalker (1)
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Boros Charm
2x Emerge Unscathed
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
1x Ojutai's Command
3x Path to Exile
2x Remand
1x Spell Pierce
2x Spell Snare
1x Vapor Snag
Creature (13)
1x Abbot of Keral Keep
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Kiln Fiend
3x Monastery Swiftspear
2x Snapcaster Mage
1x Celestial Purge
2x Deflecting Palm
1x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Grim Lavamancer
2x Hallowed Moonlight
1x Izzet Charm
1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Negate
1x Spellskite
1x Spreading Seas
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
1x Wear / Tear
This is what I am currently running online and testing. I kinda like the new Nahiri, the Harbringer with Thundermaw Hellkite because it allows me to continue to be at 19 lands while still being able to get to a 4 drop eventually. I have considered adding another land to the sideboard instead of the Izzet Charm.
From what I have in paper, I run two Abbot of Keral Keep and Kiln Fiend, but I haven't been super impressed by the Abbot in the early game as I always fear I will get one of my few counters or removals when I do not want it. Of course, this is sort of negated by the Serums, but they can't always be there.
Also, I love Kiln Fiend sooooo much that I had to run him in the online version. I could never cut him after the fun things I have done (20 damage on a control player through a colonnade after a little help from an emerge unscathed, a double striking boros charm with a countered path to exile with my spell pierce
Any thoughts/ concerns would be awesome to hear (semi-new modern player that loves seeing new ideas)
Thundermaw Hellkite is extremely underplayed in Modern (partially due to the meta being obsessed with 4 cc and below cards lol). Another card that is Thundermaw's brethren is Stormbreath Dragon.
You look very comfortable with your mainboard and sideboard because I do not see Wrath of God or Supreme Verdict. When a deck and pilot is at that level of comfort and confidence it is very good.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
The reasoning behind the thundermaw is because it says that it comes back. That means I kind of get a flicker effect. possibly tapping down annoying fliers (or killing spirits) twice when needed. Also, I am already prioritizing double red mana because of Chandra. I just thought he was a nice fit (I also just super love the card )
Thanks for the kind words! It makes me feel like I am on the right track, hopefully time to start playing FNMs and other things, not just group kitchen table shenanigans.
Welcome Modern Wenzey! You found the right place for your deck. It looks sweet. I too have a place in my heart for Kiln Fiend.
I am in the same boat as you right now. I have not been super impressed with Abbot outside of midrange matchups. I will probably cutting mine down to 1 as well. So I think your on the right track.
I am also in the same boat in terms of Nahiri. I love Nahiri, but want to make sure that I have a good option for her ultimate. I have been running Inferno Titan, but it has been stuck in my hand a couple of times and I run 20 lands so I will probably need to get it back down to a 4 CMC or 5 CMC creature or just stick with getting a snapcaster or geist.
I love your list and look forward to seeing how it plays for you. Welcome to the topic!
Thanks Jonny_Tempel. Your right about Spell Snare. I'm not sure it has ever been better than it is right now. I'm thinking about cutting an abott so I may be able to squeeze one back into the main deck.
I think your analysis is spot on and is very important. The deck style really dictates the counter magic in the deck. I have seen many players jam the "correct number" from the jeskai midrange deck into their jeskai delver decks.
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Restoration Angel
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Electrolyze
1x Cryptic Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
2x Mana Leak
4x Path to Exile
2x Remand
2x Spell Snare
1x Elspeth, Knight Errant
4x Arid Mesa
4x Celestial Colonnade
1x Ghost Quarter
4x Flooded Strand
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Mountain
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Steam Vents
2x Sulfur Falls
Sideboard (15)
1x Celestial Purge
1x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Izzet staticaster
1x Negate
1x Pithing Needle
2x Relic of progenitus
2x Stony Silence
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Wear // Tear
OK guys. I just got the new avacyn for 27 bucks! So now I must use it. Main or side?
And this is my updated list with sideboard
Thanks you very much DarkNightCavalier for the Sig.
I have been wanting to play the new Avacyn for awhile now. I just can't make if fit in my 20 land deck. I might put it in my sideboard for grindy/creature based matchups and for a Nahiri ultimate target. She definitely works very well in a Geist deck making him indestructible.
In your deck you would probably be forced to cut one Resto, Hellkite, or one Clique. I would probably go with the Hellkite because it's the five drop, but with resto and hellkite you may be better off without Avacyn. Flash is a very much underrated keyword so if you were to cut the hellkite all of your creatures with the exception of Geist would have flash enabling you to play almost your entire deck at instant speed. That would be awesome. Two resto's and an Avacyn would make your Geists almost always indestructible.
Love the deck by the way. Jeskai has made a huge comback lately and people have been streaming it like crazy on Twitch. Especially the Jeskai Nahiri deck.
On another positive note, a Jeskai Geist deck won a PTQ this weekend on Twitch TV at Geek Fortress Gaming. I don't know the list yet, but I will try to find it.
Also, little fun interaction I hope you could try is use the restoration angel to flash the hellkite to tap all the things again. I reaaalllly wish that you could flash the avacyn (probably in purifier form) to flash the invincible trigger again. Sadly, the non angel clause ruins all the fun.. I would say sideboard the avacyn for creature heavy things like zoo. (This could be totally wrong because I don't play sideboarded games often), but thinking that you could wrath your own clique or geist makes me hesitant to play it.
4x Delver of Secrets
3x Monastery Swiftspear
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Snapcaster Mage
1x Abbot of Keral Keep
1x Grim Lavamancer
Instant/Sorcery (26)
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
2x Distortion Strike
1x Emerge Unscathed
3x Path to Exile
2x Remand
2x Spell Pierce
1x Izzet Charm
1x Electrolyze
1x Vapor Snag
1x Boros Charm
4x Serum Visions
2x Gitaxian Probe
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
Land (19)
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Flooded Strand
2x Seachrome Coast
2x Sulfur Falls
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Steam Vents
Sideboard (15)
1x Celestial Purge
1x Dispel
1x Hallowed Moonlight
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Negate
1x Deflecting Palm
1x Aven Mindcensor
2x Stony Silence
1x Detention Sphere
2x Spreading Seas
1x Wear // Tear
I have "trimmed the fat" as I like to say and got the deck focused into one idea. The main deck is more tempo based now with more counter magic. I have cut the restoration angel and one abbot of keral keep and added a Chandra, Pyromaster and Stormchaser Mage or Grim Lavamancer. I wanted to cut the curve down a bit and add a bit more versatility to the deck. While abbot is a two drop, it really costs three+ to be valuable. Stormchaser is a more aggressive and cheaper threat and Grim Lavamancer is cheap and extra value. I will decide on which one soon. Restoration Angel is a great card, but is not impactful enough in this style deck to run as a 4 CMC card. I have added Chandra, Pyromaster as the one 4 CMC card because if we are ahead she fits the decks plan by pinging for 1 damage and removing blockers and/or adding additional card advantage and if we are behind or even on the board she can break stalls by killing things and/or giving us card advantage.
As for the mana base I cleaned it up a bit too. I cut the Glacial Fortress and added a second copy of Seachrome Coast. This way I have four copies of blue sources that are not affected by Choke and also have 4 duals that can come into play untapped at some point in the game (two fast lands for early untapped duals & two buddy lands for late untapped sources). I have no come into play tapped lands because we need our mana because we often will only get to 3-4 mana or possibly 5-6 mana if the game goes long. 6-7 fetches seems to be correct from my testing. This number gives us a good chance to fix our mana early, but doesn't cut too many mana cards from the deck so we can cast our later spells.
As for the sideboard, I cut that down a bit too. I cut Engineered Explosives because, although it's a great card, it's a bit slow for a tempo build. I added a Detention Sphere to get a similar affect only quicker. I also cut the Anger of the Gods as it doesn't work well with my deck. I added Grafdigger's Cage to deal with Abzan Company and the uptick in graveyard based strategies. I added the Stony Silences back into the deck and cut the Timely Reinforcements and Inferno Titan again because they are just to expensive to be reliable now that I cut from 20 lands to 19 lands now.
This is the last deck list I will post for a little while as I think you guys have helped me get to my optimal build. So thank you all for the help! I will probably be posting a lot of testing notes from MTGO, testing sessions, and FNM's/random tournaments now that I have the deck where I want it to be. Let me know what you guys think of the list and if you have any suggestions. Thanks again.
I really like the MB Chandra (although she is my girl and I love her to death so this is also a biased opinion ) The Seachrome Coast decision seems correct.
As far as your sideboard, I am going to quote you and ask the following question: What is your meta like? I can help a little bit more if I know what you're up against (and it may help if I understand both your LGS meta and the meta on MTGO since I hear they are a bit different)
Overall, I really like this cleaned up deck list. It's good that you can tell when your list is trying to do too many things at once and "trim the fat" for efficiency's sake, something I struggle with. I wish you luck and may Geist and Chandra guide your list to victory! Draw well and smash face.
-Gofy