What I meant with the "there's no point in discussing bans" line, was since there isn't any oppressive combo/deck/card at the moment in modern, such discussion will only promote more banmania and similar discussions.(I was at uni with an iPad so I couldn't elaborate as good as I wanted to)
I never liked reveler because it oftentimes rots in your hand if you draw too few spells (which happened on Nate's decks) and you can't easily play RiP/relics in the SB. Plus I don't feel it's as strong a finisher as Cryptic or even Hazoret (her being my pet card, dismiss my bias ), since if you draw 3 lands or 3 dead cards in the late game you just got a 3/4 prowess creature, where similar finishers to those I mentioned above are good almost at all points in a game.
As for my list, this is with what I'm going today:
I'm debating the 3rd remand or the 3rd spell pierce in place of Emerge Unscathed, and swapped the Mindcensor for a Dispel because there are a few control and burn decks in my LGS. ALthough, Counterflux seems great against control, and storm... Totally forgot about that card
What I meant with the "there's no point in discussing bans" line, was since there isn't any oppressive combo/deck/card at the moment in modern, such discussion will only promote more banmania and similar discussions.(I was at uni with an iPad so I couldn't elaborate as good as I wanted to)
I never liked reveler because it oftentimes rots in your hand if you draw too few spells (which happened on Nate's decks) and you can't easily play RiP/relics in the SB. Plus I don't feel it's as strong a finisher as Cryptic or even Hazoret (her being my pet card, dismiss my bias ), since if you draw 3 lands or 3 dead cards in the late game you just got a 3/4 prowess creature, where similar finishers to those I mentioned above are good almost at all points in a game.
As for my list, this is with what I'm going today:
I'm debating the 3rd remand or the 3rd spell pierce in place of Emerge Unscathed, and swapped the Mindcensor for a Dispel because there are a few control and burn decks in my LGS. ALthough, Counterflux seems great against control, and storm... Totally forgot about that card
I won't go into the blood moon discussion further because their is a better place for that. Thanks for putting it under a spoiler heading. I should have done that as well.
You may be correct with Hazoret at the top end. I used to run 1 reveler and 1 hazoret and may have to give that a try again. Hazoret definitely fits the plan in a similar vain to Bedlam Reveler. Here are my pros and cons (please let me know what I miss):
Draws 2-3 cards (depending on hand size) to refuel in the late game
Often costs 3 or less mana
Prowess
Works well with Vapor Snag and Echoing Truth for value.
Can't be taken with inquisition or killed with fatal push
Very good against our worst matchups (Jund, Abzan, etc)
Actual card advantage at the top end
Cons-
RR casting cost
Can be awkward with counter magic in the deck
Can't be cast easily with Rest In Peace in play
We can't reliably run Rest in Peace (although we likely don't because of snapcaster mage and Grim Lavamancer.
Isn't good in multiples (We only run 1 main and 1 side so this isn't too bad)
Haste (can deal damage right away
Repeatable source of damage if you want to discard a card from hand
Doesn't die to wrath R casting cost
Cons-
Cost 4 mana
Only works in decks that have very few cards in hand near end game (which isn't that big of a deal if the deck is aggroish).
Nonbo with card advantage and instants (have to get hand to one card to attack or block).
If your meta is full of burn and control Hazoret, the Fervant may be better to avoid wrath effects. However, reveler leaves you with three cards when it gets wrathed. I think it really comes down to which pros you want and which cons your willing to live with. I honestly don't think either is better or worse, just different. We can disagree on that though.
Another card that seems to be well positioned right now is Izzet Staticaster. I need to try to fit one of those in the sideboard as well. Maybe I will also cut the Aven Mindscensor as well. I also need to fit in a Counterflux. I wish the sideboard was 16 cards!
As for your thoughts on your deck, I say give it a try. If I had to pick I would recommend a third remand before a 3rd spell pierce. It just seems like it would be dead less often. Emerge Unscathed isn't as necessary if you are running young pyromancer instead of swiftspear because you will attack wide and don't really need to utilize it proactively.
Again, I think Nate played extremely well. The main thing I would do differently is to bottom the second reveler off of the opt in game two. Having two revelers in hand isn't good because you have to discard one when you cast one. He figured that out the same way we all figure it out; having two in hand. Great Nate again played great lines and found a way to win. The deck is now 3-1 in the competitive league and 0-1 in a friendly match, although both loses could have been wins with more experience with the deck. All in all I am very happy with how the deck is holding up.
Also he made some awesome points about prior cards we used like Slip Through Space. I think he made up my mind on Chart a Course as well. I agree with him that it may be better in my sideboard. He also mentions adding Izzet Staticaster. It's like he is reading my mind. I'm also pleased to see Bedlam Revler performing well in the last game. I was getting a bit worried. I actually thought while watching the game, what if that was just Hazoret. the Fervant. I think we definitely still would have won the game with Hazoret, but the vapor snag we drew off of reveler was very good. I think Hazoret would have been just as good there. I will say that Bedlam Reveler loves Nate. He seems to have it in his opener every game :).
New Delver art in From the Vault: Transform is online. Not a big improvement in my opinion, but I am sure many Delver fans will get these new foil versions
I am really excited that he went 4-1 with the deck in the competitive league. To be honest, with a little more experience with sideboarding in round 1 I think he may have had a 5-0. It's a great showing for our deck and hopefully this will help the deck pick up some steam! The opponent didn't get the best possible draws I don't think, but the Nate navigated the match very well.
He did the math for me on the lands and convinced me that 19 lands (especially if I just play the deck at 19 lands and 61 cards) is the correct number of lands for my deck. He also convinced me to remove the Aven Mindcensor from my board so I can fit in my beloved Chandra, Pyromaster. Since I added the spell pierce to the main I have a slot still open, possibly for the second Shadow of Doubt like Nate said. Also Mr. Tzoulis you may want to contact him and let him know you play Hazoret, the Fervant at the top. He like the Bedlam Reveler but he did mention he just wanted the opponent dead so he may prefer Hazoret over Reveler similar to your deck. I will post my current list later today.
I do want to take this time to say one final thank you to GreatNate for giving the jeskai delver deck such a huge audience. He played great and was very honest with what he liked and didn't like about the deck. If you haven't already subsrcibed to him or don't follow him here is a link to his channel:
I hope you enjoyed the games. I think I played ok, not very to tight, but most major decisions played to the strengths of the deck, which was good enough.
I think you have all been doing good work on the deck as there were numerous times I was surprised/impressed by some cards.
I think the deck is solid, and it won’t be the last time I play it.
I hope you enjoyed the games. I think I played ok, not very to tight, but most major decisions played to the strengths of the deck, which was good enough.
I think you have all been doing good work on the deck as there were numerous times I was surprised/impressed by some cards.
I think the deck is solid, and it won’t be the last time I play it.
Thanks again Nate for giving the deck a chance and playing it in front of such a large audience. I am super excited to hear you might play the deck again. I had a ton of fun this week reloading your main page every hour to see if the new match was up. It was also very satisfying to see the deck get a few wins.
I also really liked your recommendations. I added the 19th land to the deck (however, at 61 cards) and removed the chart a course and added the second Spell Pierce to the maindeck. Pierce really over-performed in so of your games. I look foward to seeing GreatNate's version of Jeskai Delver.
Here is the deck I am currently playing as promised for anyone that wants to know:
I hope you enjoyed the games. I think I played ok, not very to tight, but most major decisions played to the strengths of the deck, which was good enough.
I think you have all been doing good work on the deck as there were numerous times I was surprised/impressed by some cards.
I think the deck is solid, and it won’t be the last time I play it.
Some minor mistakes -that can be attributed to your unfamiliarity with the archetype-, it was nice seeing a more prominent member of the UWx community, and staunch advocate of the Jeskai wedge, try other builds and promote them. 2 things though:
i) Why do you value Deflecting Palm so low? Whenever I'm playing a deck that includes Boros colors, there are always 2 spots reserved for it.
ii) If you want a more aggressive alternative to Reveler, I suggest trying Hazoret, the Fervent. People here know her as my pet card -and it very much is-, but she's never let me down.
Onward to some event reporting! I went to 2 events of 18-20 people withe list I posted above and came back with a 2-2 and a 4-1 (2nd place).
Now, all of the losses were due to bad draws versus good ones (was looking for a white land in the top 20+ cards of my deck and didn't find one) and one huge top deck.
There's not much to discuss about my 2-2 event, because the draws were poor, so I'll just say some things on today's event. As always, the stars of the deck were Pyromancer and Geist, with some highlights provided by Hazoret.
The one match I lost was against Tezzerator, where I was at 9 and he had a Herald of Anguish on the field tapped from an attack. I've got a token from a Pyromancer, a Snap, a Clique and cast a Hazoret and go for a big attack to drop him to 3. He then topdecks Tezzeret to make one of his artifacts a 5/5 and steal the match. I'll admit I made the small mistake of not leaving the token behind to block since I can overwhelm him the next turn, but man did it sting... The deck plays 2-3 Tezzerets and they're preety bad against a deck like mine...
I won the new humans deck that's all the rage at the moment and they can put up a fight when they get either of the Thalias on the board. I also handily won against Knightfall and I believe that Young Pyromancer alone flipped the match up in my favor because of the free blockers that my spells provide.
I hope you enjoyed the games. I think I played ok, not very to tight, but most major decisions played to the strengths of the deck, which was good enough.
I think you have all been doing good work on the deck as there were numerous times I was surprised/impressed by some cards.
I think the deck is solid, and it won’t be the last time I play it.
Some minor mistakes -that can be attributed to your unfamiliarity with the archetype-, it was nice seeing a more prominent member of the UWx community, and staunch advocate of the Jeskai wedge, try other builds and promote them. 2 things though:
i) Why do you value Deflecting Palm so low? Whenever I'm playing a deck that includes Boros colors, there are always 2 spots reserved for it.
ii) If you want a more aggressive alternative to Reveler, I suggest trying Hazoret, the Fervent. People here know her as my pet card -and it very much is-, but she's never let me down.
Onward to some event reporting! I went to 2 events of 18-20 people withe list I posted above and came back with a 2-2 and a 4-1 (2nd place).
Now, all of the losses were due to bad draws versus good ones (was looking for a white land in the top 20+ cards of my deck and didn't find one) and one huge top deck.
There's not much to discuss about my 2-2 event, because the draws were poor, so I'll just say some things on today's event. As always, the stars of the deck were Pyromancer and Geist, with some highlights provided by Hazoret.
The one match I lost was against Tezzerator, where I was at 9 and he had a Herald of Anguish on the field tapped from an attack. I've got a token from a Pyromancer, a Snap, a Clique and cast a Hazoret and go for a big attack to drop him to 3. He then topdecks Tezzeret to make one of his artifacts a 5/5 and steal the match. I'll admit I made the small mistake of not leaving the token behind to block since I can overwhelm him the next turn, but man did it sting... The deck plays 2-3 Tezzerets and they're preety bad against a deck like mine...
I won the new humans deck that's all the rage at the moment and they can put up a fight when they get either of the Thalias on the board. I also handily won against Knightfall and I believe that Young Pyromancer alone flipped the match up in my favor because of the free blockers that my spells provide.
Congrats on the awesome second place finish Mr. Tzoulis! I guess you are correct you could have left the token back, but like you said, there are maybe two copies of cards in his deck that could steal that game and he just got lucky to top deck one of them. If you go 4-1 in a tournament that means you played really well. Luck can help, but getting 2nd place and 4-1 means you played extremely well. Thanks for representing the jeskai delver crew!
I'm glad you posted to Nate about Hazoret. the Fervant. While I still prefer Bedlam Reveler at the top end, others may prefer something a bit higher in pure power level and speed (along with some reach).
To be honest, I have my finger crossed that GreatNate will play the jeskai delver deck again next week on youtube
I have been impressed with the one of Young Pyromancer in my sideboard. I may try two of them at some point for the more grindy matchups. I don't get to play against Knightfall very often, but I assume the Young Pyromancer heavy lists will fair better than the swiftspear lists.
Hi,
I am recovering from a surgery atm so I am at home and I found the time to play 11 games with my newest build (the list I just posted with Search, Stronghold, 2 Mana Leaks) since Oct 29th on MTGO. It went pretty well
2-1 vs Boros Burn
2-0 vs Lantern Control
2-1 vs Vampire Aggro
2-1 vs UB Control (Budget)
1-2 vs GR TitanShift with Breach
2-1 vs UR Aggro with Fiend, Thing, Enigma Drake
2-1 vs Naya Burn
2-0 vs a strange Sultai Ramp/Control Brew including Valakut
2-1 vs Affinity
2-0 vs Mono Black Devotion
2-0 vs Grixis Aggro Brew with hand disruption, Brutality, Swiftspear, Enigma Drake and Chart a Course
Not all of these are Tier decks but the games were all fun!
During these eleven games I'd say that these have been my Top6 MVP cards: Snapcaster Mage, Deflecting Palm, Lightning Helix, Mana Leak, Slayers' Stronghold and Search for Azcanta! The last two surprised me because they are much better than I had expected.
Well, Delver, Geist, Path of course also did a lot of work... I guess there is not a single card in my deck that I don't love
Btw, until now I uploaded videos with gameplay twice here in this forum and I was wondering if these were interesting? If many of you have watched them and found them helpful somehow (without comment and all) I can upload some interesting games from the ones I listed up above.
Next I will finally try to compete in a competitive league.
Hi everyone,
Since my last post I've played 9 more matches and won all of them, so now I am 19-1 with my deck in the tournament practice room (I didn't change the deck during these 20 matches).
1:0 vs Training Grounds & Umbral Mantle combo
2:0 vs UG Spirits Brew
2:0 vs Skred Red
2:1 vs Mono Green Devotion with Genesis Wave
2:0 vs Goblins
2:1 vs Naya Burn
2:0 vs Turbo Fog
2:0 vs Esper Gideon Control
2:1 vs Lantern Control
I don't play Reveler or Hazoret as a finisher in my deck since my mana curve ends at CMC3 (for the mainboard). However, the deck has an excellent endgame thanks to Slayers' Stronghold and Azcanta. Azcanta is insanely powerful in longer games.
I uploaded the second game against Skred Red here: Click to watch
Spell Pierce and Azcanta really shine in that game
It's rather easy to capture the videos with Tinytake but unfortunately it takes pretty long to upload them online in order to share them, so this time I'll post only this one video.
sweet game against Skred, which is one of our harder match ups because of removal and blood moon.
quick question: why didn't you mana leak his stormbreath dragon at 2:32? from my understanding, Chandra's ability cannot be used as an instant ability to pay for Mana Leak, if at all.
@StevomatUWR
I watched your game against Skred red, and I agree with you that Search for Azcanta performed extraordinarily well. I also considered playing it, but I was a bit afraid of it being too slow in the mainboard. I'm really intersted how your experiences with azcanta are in less grindy games.
sweet game against Skred, which is one of our harder match ups because of removal and blood moon.
quick question: why didn't you mana leak his stormbreath dragon at 2:32? from my understanding, Chandra's ability cannot be used as an instant ability to pay for Mana Leak, if at all.
Meanwhile, I got some new toys today!
Awesome pic! I really prefer the old spell pierce art. Spel pierce is so great right now.
Great video Stevomat! I love this videos. Also great record!
I believe Stevomat didn’t leak because he has deflecting palm in hand and his best line to winning the game was “burning” the opponent out because he likely wasn’t going to win an attrition battle on the board. I could be wrong but that was my thinking. I likely would have take. A similar line although I don’t have search to dig. The opponent actually played pretty well around deflecting palm but just couldn’t land the meaningful spells in time.
Steveomat- how many lands are you currently running? Do you ever have mana problems with so many utility lands? Are you just running slayers stronghold and shinka? I LOVED stronghold when I was playing a more midrange version of the deck. It singlehandedly won me some games. I just can’t fit it in with only 19 lands at 61 cards. It’s very underrated though.
Irdna- I agree with you about search. It's super powerful and I have tested it. I think if I were to play it I would definitely play it in the sideboard for grindy matchups.
@Need_More_DPS: CurdBros is right. At that point he would have died to his own attack thanks to Palm so there was no need to use Mana Leak. I was lucky that he didn't cast the dragon when he tried to resolve the Batterskull though
@Irdna: Azcanta in less grindy games... Well, against very aggressive decks like Burn, Goblins and Affinity I boarded my single copy out but against most decks I try to leave it in the deck. I can't really say how it is in less grindy games because they often end before I draw Azcanta. But in the grindy games like vs Esper Control and even vs Lantern Control it was really good!
8 fetches, 6 targets to fetch, 3 fastlands, 2 checklands & 2 utility lands
The two utility lands don't cause problems often. I have to be really unlucky to miss one of my three colors until turn 3, for example if would have Inspiring Vantage and Shinka in my starting hand and then only draw Mountain or Sacred Foundry, but that doesn't happen often...otherwise I wouldn't have reached my current score
Stronghold is so awesome because it "only" needs two other lands to do something really strong. I also liked Fumarole but the 4 mana activation cost often meant that I had to tap out so that I couldn't do anything else.
@Need_More_DPS: CurdBros is right. At that point he would have died to his own attack thanks to Palm so there was no need to use Mana Leak. I was lucky that he didn't cast the dragon when he tried to resolve the Batterskull though
@Irdna: Azcanta in less grindy games... Well, against very aggressive decks like Burn, Goblins and Affinity I boarded my single copy out but against most decks I try to leave it in the deck. I can't really say how it is in less grindy games because they often end before I draw Azcanta. But in the grindy games like vs Esper Control and even vs Lantern Control it was really good!
8 fetches, 6 targets to fetch, 3 fastlands, 2 checklands & 2 utility lands
The two utility lands don't cause problems often. I have to be really unlucky to miss one of my three colors until turn 3, for example if would have Inspiring Vantage and Shinka in my starting hand and then only draw Mountain or Sacred Foundry, but that doesn't happen often...otherwise I wouldn't have reached my current score
Stronghold is so awesome because it "only" needs two other lands to do something really strong. I also liked Fumarole but the 4 mana activation cost often meant that I had to tap out so that I couldn't do anything else.
At 21 lands I think two utility lands (especially one that taps for a color) is totally fine. I can't wait to see more of your matches. You are obviously onto a great deck that you play very well with those kinds of results. Keep it up!
I believe Stevomat didn’t leak because he has deflecting palm in hand and his best line to winning the game was “burning” the opponent out because he likely wasn’t going to win an attrition battle on the board. I could be wrong but that was my thinking. I likely would have take. A similar line although I don’t have search to dig. The opponent actually played pretty well around deflecting palm but just couldn’t land the meaningful spells in time.
@Need_More_DPS: CurdBros is right. At that point he would have died to his own attack thanks to Palm so there was no need to use Mana Leak. I was lucky that he didn't cast the dragon when he tried to resolve the Batterskull though
Thank you both for the enlightening insight!
I really like Slayer's Stronghold... from an EDH's players standpoint... how come I never knew about that card?!
With regards to Search for Azcanta, its a really good card. I am looking forward to acquiring it when the card's price bottoms out. It does what Smuggler's Copter does for me and is actually harder to remove.
I was kind off dissapointed, just at how the games turned out. There was nothing else I could have done. The matchups and matches were just so very unfortunate.
Hopefully the next games wont turn out as bad as those. I would have prefered to play against jund, rather than BW tokens.
Tough luck mate. I played Bushwacker Gobbos in the past and know first hand how fast that deck can be. If you have Kor Firewalkers or Auriok Champions in your sideboard, you might be able to stem the bleeding. I also have experience with B/W Tokens that packs Smallpox and plays asymmetrically. Izzet Staticaster would have been your lifeline in this case.
yesterday I had the opportunity off playing a small modern tournamet with 7 people.
I tried out a list without logic knot, but with 2 young pyros and 2 lavamancers in the main board, as well as 1 echoing truth main.
And sadly I cant really say anything about how the actually performed, except for 1 game, out of 5.
There were 3 rounds to play and before we started playing, on the way to the store, me and my friends were having fun, saying that my first match would be my new horror match up BW tokens and I even said something along the lines off: I have a feeling I will get stomped today.
Match one was against BW tokens and the first game was just a pure slaugther. There are not many cards that can really turn the tide in our favour, as most of their cards, if not countered, are 2-4 for one and I just got overwhelmed.
The second game was extremely close and I probably could have won this one. With vapor snags and echoing truth I was able to outvalue him somehow. But he was able to claw back into it and I ended up one point short.
The play that I wanted to point out was he inquisitioned me with 1 mana left and my hand was remand and snapcaster. And I decided to, instead of remanding the spell, because he only had a plains left untapped, play the snapcaster and vapor snag his last token, leaving me with the only creature on the field, but loosing the remand in the process. I drew into a geist but top decked a land afterwards, loosing to the BW manland as he had 1 token with 2 intangible virtues out.
The next game was against a friend off mine playing Naya Bushwhacker zoo, its not that bad of a match up and I have some experience against it. But what can you do against 8+ damage on turn 2, 3 turns in a row?
In game number one he was just to fast, deployed 4 creatures on turn 2 and kept the pressure comming with playing creautre after creature and i could not keep up with my removal.
The second game was very similar but I somehow stabilized at 1 life, with grim lavamancer putting in some serious work, as well as helices and snapcasters and finally stealing the game with geist and doging a bolt or artarkas command for 6 turns and me drawing perfect.
Game three was the worst, he had 11 damage with bushwhacker on turn to and I didnt even have time to play and pop EE.
Round 3 was a bye.
I was kind off dissapointed, just at how the games turned out. There was nothing else I could have done. The matchups and matches were just so very unfortunate.
Hopefully the next games wont turn out as bad as those. I would have prefered to play against jund, rather than BW tokens.
Edit: I will post my current list in a few hours from now.
I hate that damn local BW tokens deck. Noone is playing that deck and of course you get paired against it. That is really a tough matchup. I currently only have Echoing Truthmain and Engineered Explosives and Izzet Staticaster in the sideboard for go wide strategies. Obviously other cards like spell pierce, negate, and removal are fine, but in terms of actually clearing out tokens that's all for me. Sometimes you just get paired against a wierd deck that has your number. I have never played against the martyr life gain deck, but I have always assumed that would be a nightmare matchup that I would face in the first round of a modern GP :). I heard a story of a guy that took burn to his first GP ever and the opening hand his opponent had Leyline of Sanctity mainboard! I think Patrick Sullivan talked about it on stream, but talk about terrible luck.
The zoo matchup is actually favorable in my opinion. With that said, they do have nut draws that are nearly impossible to beat. Almost all good modern decks have nut draws on the play that are really tough to beat. The zoo deck is like that but on steroids. It sounds like luck just wasn't on your side during that tournament.
Would love to see the list. I am a sucker for deck lists and love to see them when you guys/gals post them
While I like that Jeff is taking on a true Jeskai PROWESS list, I am not a fan of the deck construction and gameplan. The true power of the jeskai prowess/delver deck typically comes in it's efficiency and spell density. I could definitely see this style of list working with 4 Chart a Course or back in the Treasure Cruise and or Gitaxian Probe days, but in terms of a "kill them quickly" style deck I think burn is just a more efficient build. In addition, I don't know if I would want to play a aggro list with only 4 one drop creatures (sources of continual damage). Jim Davis's build was a bit more successful because it had 4 Goblin Guides and 4 gitaxian probes.
This deck also lacks the ability to become a more midrange/control style deck when it needs to. It's a different style of deck than most jeskai prowess builds. That's not to say all jeskai builds have to do this, but it is a built in strength of the jeskai delver build.
I have actually talked to Jeff about the list and my list (via PM on twitch, I don't know him personally). He is a huge fan of Mantis Rider and said he wouldn't play jeskai without him. That's totally reasonable because mantis rider is well positioned right now. If you watch his streams, he is also a huge fan of being as linear as possibly in modern. That explains the reasoning behind the decks construction as is. I just don't know if the all in prowess style build is viable right now without Gitaxian Probe. Chart a Course could possibly fill that hole or a build around Monastery Mentor might work, but I have no idea. I haven't tested anything like that. What do you guys/gals think?
While I like that Jeff is taking on a true Jeskai PROWESS list, I am not a fan of the deck construction and gameplan. The true power of the jeskai prowess/delver deck typically comes in it's efficiency and spell density. I could definitely see this style of list working with 4 Chart a Course or back in the Treasure Cruise and or Gitaxian Probe days, but in terms of a "kill them quickly" style deck I think burn is just a more efficient build. In addition, I don't know if I would want to play a aggro list with only 4 one drop creatures (sources of continual damage). Jim Davis's build was a bit more successful because it had 4 Goblin Guides and 4 gitaxian probes.
This deck also lacks the ability to become a more midrange/control style deck when it needs to. It's a different style of deck than most jeskai prowess builds. That's not to say all jeskai builds have to do this, but it is a built in strength of the jeskai delver build.
I have actually talked to Jeff about the list and my list (via PM on twitch, I don't know him personally). He is a huge fan of Mantis Rider and said he wouldn't play jeskai without him. That's totally reasonable because mantis rider is well positioned right now. If you watch his streams, he is also a huge fan of being as linear as possibly in modern. That explains the reasoning behind the decks construction as is. I just don't know if the all in prowess style build is viable right now without Gitaxian Probe. Chart a Course could possibly fill that hole or a build around Monastery Mentor might work, but I have no idea. I haven't tested anything like that. What do you guys/gals think?
I agree. I've been going back to the 'Jeskai Well' and I've been trying to figure out how to make the following cards work in an aggro/midrange shell: Delver of Secrets, Snapcaster Mage, Spell Queller, Chart a Course, and Young Pyromancer. Other cards I would love to consider would be Monastery Mentor, Search for Azcanta, and Disrupting Shoal. I think there exists a deck that can effectively utilize Chart a Course to make up the any card disadvantage pitching cards Disrupting Shoal. Here was a list I tried last week:
I only have tried this list once and Chart a Course felt great especially with Elemental tokens. I didn't like Swiftspear because it seems like a dead late game and this deck is very grindy. I drew against GDS because our game 2 took so long. You can pitch Shoal to Chart a Course if the matchup is crap for a card like Shoal. The deck seems like it would have a really bad matchup against big mana decks. I don't know where to go from here. I would love to replace the Swiftspears with 4 Mantis Riders but I think that would slow down the deck too much but the deck does play on the slower side so maybe I need to shift the deck to a more midrangey/control/later game deck. The card advantage, the card filtering, and the grindiness of the deck is its strength. Deck is super fun to play. If you can Shoal something game 1 in a matchup you can bet Shoal is in the back of your opponent's mind when you play game 2 & 3. I'm open to suggestions but I really want to make Shoal and Chart of Course work in a Jeskai shell.
The card will win you games far more than it will mana screw you, and in a low-curve list, will win you far more games than a Celestial Colonnade will.
Best late game card in the deck, especially when you're running 10 or more burn spells.
Whether 19 or 24 lands, the card is a winner.
I'd love to run Slayers' Stronghold in my list (it's been wrecking my friends in my Aurelia commander deck ), but at 18 lands -4 of which are basics- and such strict color requirements it's hard to justify a spot for it :/
@Jdeezy In that kind of list I'd replace the Knots with Remands and the 3 mana flyers with Mantis Riders. You probably could use a finisher like Hazoret/Reveler or a swiss army knife-like card in Cryptic Command. A for your sideboard and big mana decks, one REALLY good option is Blood Moon and with 8 fetches you should be fine.
@Jdeezy: I mostly agree with MrTzoulis on the changes suggested by him. I would probably keep the Vendilion Clique as it is almost always a good proactive play. I may be wrong about this, but its probably its mainly a matter of preference. I'm not too sure about the Cryptic Command. I think it may be a bit too hard to cast. As for the swiftspears, I was thinking of Stormchaser Mage as a replacement. The evasion might give some extra late-game value and the fact that it is a blue spell might help casting Disrupting Shoal.
Slayer's Stronghold is a card I was a huge fan of when I was running 21 lands and a bit more midrange list. If you jump in the way back machine and read some of the earlier pages of this topic and the WUR delver topic I tried to sell that card to everyone. I also use to play a one of Faerie Conclave which was also better than I thought it would be. With fatal push running around I'm not sure how good conclave would be right now. I decided against the second basic island personally because I felt that it wasn't worth the additional strain on the mana base for the off chanced that I will draw into a second basic island against a Blood Moon deck. I will likely have to fetch the first island anyways. If they have a way to remove the island (like ghost quarter or spreading seas) I am more likely to have an answer for those things rather than trying to get the second island.
I too have cut the Aven Mindscensor and added the second copy of Shadow of Doubt. Keeping the Valakut player off of lands by hitting a fetch land or any of there multiple search spells is devastating to them. I have found shadow to be really great in the matchup. However, I haven't found a tone of other decks to side the shadows in against. I don't normally side them in against tron, but I'm not sure if I need to.
As for the deck I need to test a build with Young Pyromancer so I can be more helpful in decisions regarding a Young P style deck. I just can't cut monastery swiftspear because my personal build really performs better with a one drop threat. Decks that run swiftspear rather than young p just end up playing very differently. One is more aggressive to start and one is more controlling to start the game. Young P is super powerful right now with Opt, however, I feel she is better as a sideboard card for grindy matchups for my personal playstyle. With that said, I can still use theory to make suggestions, but I really don't like giving any suggestions without some experience with the specific suggestion.
I agree with you about Jeff's build Mazeron. I just don't think going all in on burn/prowess is the way to go right now. I was so excited when Stormchaser Mage was printed. I thought he might be the two drop my deck needed. However, he was just too weak to justify the additional mana. If he were 2/2 or even 3/1 he likely would see more play. However, at 1 damage on turn two he just isn't powerful enough. I also agree that if you are picking up blue to play mantis rider add to the deck you should definitely add Remand and possibly Spell Pierce to help deal with all of the unusual spells that are tough for burn decks to beat.
Edit- Mazeron- your deck includes some of the things Nate talked to me about as well so I think great minds think alike. He mentioned possibly playing two young p with a grim lavamancer in the main deck. You guys may be onto a great creature base. Also on the visions/opt thing, I have gone back to 4 opt and 2 serum visions. While visions is better for flipping delver, I normally don't have too many problems doing so. In addition, with all of the fetches in the deck and often fetching at the end of a turn, serum visions looses some value. Finally, with more spell pierces in the deck, opt is just much better early because you can hold up pierce and still opt if they don't play a pierce target.
I never liked reveler because it oftentimes rots in your hand if you draw too few spells (which happened on Nate's decks) and you can't easily play RiP/relics in the SB. Plus I don't feel it's as strong a finisher as Cryptic or even Hazoret (her being my pet card, dismiss my bias ), since if you draw 3 lands or 3 dead cards in the late game you just got a 3/4 prowess creature, where similar finishers to those I mentioned above are good almost at all points in a game.
As for my list, this is with what I'm going today:
2x Boros Charm
1x Electrolyze
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
3x Opt
3x Path to Exile
3x Remand
2x Spell Pierce
1x Valorous Stance
1x Vapor Snag
Sorcery (5)
2x Chart A Course
3x Serum Visions
Land (18)
4x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Seachrome Coast
3x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
4x Delver of Secrets
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Hazoret the Fervent
3x Snapcaster Mage
3x Young Pyromancer
1x Anger of the Gods
3x Blood Moon
1x Chart A Course
2x Deflecting Palm
1x Dispel
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Rest in Peace
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Wear / Tear
I'm debating the 3rd remand or the 3rd spell pierce in place of Emerge Unscathed, and swapped the Mindcensor for a Dispel because there are a few control and burn decks in my LGS. ALthough, Counterflux seems great against control, and storm... Totally forgot about that card
I won't go into the blood moon discussion further because their is a better place for that. Thanks for putting it under a spoiler heading. I should have done that as well.
You may be correct with Hazoret at the top end. I used to run 1 reveler and 1 hazoret and may have to give that a try again. Hazoret definitely fits the plan in a similar vain to Bedlam Reveler. Here are my pros and cons (please let me know what I miss):
Bedlam Reveler-
Pros-
Draws 2-3 cards (depending on hand size) to refuel in the late game
Often costs 3 or less mana
Prowess
Works well with Vapor Snag and Echoing Truth for value.
Can't be taken with inquisition or killed with fatal push
Very good against our worst matchups (Jund, Abzan, etc)
Actual card advantage at the top end
Cons-
RR casting cost
Can be awkward with counter magic in the deck
Can't be cast easily with Rest In Peace in play
We can't reliably run Rest in Peace (although we likely don't because of snapcaster mage and Grim Lavamancer.
Isn't good in multiples (We only run 1 main and 1 side so this isn't too bad)
Hazoret, the Fervant
Pros-
Haste (can deal damage right away
Repeatable source of damage if you want to discard a card from hand
Doesn't die to wrath
R casting cost
Cons-
Cost 4 mana
Only works in decks that have very few cards in hand near end game (which isn't that big of a deal if the deck is aggroish).
Nonbo with card advantage and instants (have to get hand to one card to attack or block).
If your meta is full of burn and control Hazoret, the Fervant may be better to avoid wrath effects. However, reveler leaves you with three cards when it gets wrathed. I think it really comes down to which pros you want and which cons your willing to live with. I honestly don't think either is better or worse, just different. We can disagree on that though.
Another card that seems to be well positioned right now is Izzet Staticaster. I need to try to fit one of those in the sideboard as well. Maybe I will also cut the Aven Mindscensor as well. I also need to fit in a Counterflux. I wish the sideboard was 16 cards!
As for your thoughts on your deck, I say give it a try. If I had to pick I would recommend a third remand before a 3rd spell pierce. It just seems like it would be dead less often. Emerge Unscathed isn't as necessary if you are running young pyromancer instead of swiftspear because you will attack wide and don't really need to utilize it proactively.
Per usual, that is one sweet deck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUKHY-6Qimc
Again, I think Nate played extremely well. The main thing I would do differently is to bottom the second reveler off of the opt in game two. Having two revelers in hand isn't good because you have to discard one when you cast one. He figured that out the same way we all figure it out; having two in hand. Great Nate again played great lines and found a way to win. The deck is now 3-1 in the competitive league and 0-1 in a friendly match, although both loses could have been wins with more experience with the deck. All in all I am very happy with how the deck is holding up.
Also he made some awesome points about prior cards we used like Slip Through Space. I think he made up my mind on Chart a Course as well. I agree with him that it may be better in my sideboard. He also mentions adding Izzet Staticaster. It's like he is reading my mind. I'm also pleased to see Bedlam Revler performing well in the last game. I was getting a bit worried. I actually thought while watching the game, what if that was just Hazoret. the Fervant. I think we definitely still would have won the game with Hazoret, but the vapor snag we drew off of reveler was very good. I think Hazoret would have been just as good there. I will say that Bedlam Reveler loves Nate. He seems to have it in his opener every game :).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpW_pHS703Y
Here is my discussion:
I am really excited that he went 4-1 with the deck in the competitive league. To be honest, with a little more experience with sideboarding in round 1 I think he may have had a 5-0. It's a great showing for our deck and hopefully this will help the deck pick up some steam! The opponent didn't get the best possible draws I don't think, but the Nate navigated the match very well.
He did the math for me on the lands and convinced me that 19 lands (especially if I just play the deck at 19 lands and 61 cards) is the correct number of lands for my deck. He also convinced me to remove the Aven Mindcensor from my board so I can fit in my beloved Chandra, Pyromaster. Since I added the spell pierce to the main I have a slot still open, possibly for the second Shadow of Doubt like Nate said. Also Mr. Tzoulis you may want to contact him and let him know you play Hazoret, the Fervant at the top. He like the Bedlam Reveler but he did mention he just wanted the opponent dead so he may prefer Hazoret over Reveler similar to your deck. I will post my current list later today.
I do want to take this time to say one final thank you to GreatNate for giving the jeskai delver deck such a huge audience. He played great and was very honest with what he liked and didn't like about the deck. If you haven't already subsrcibed to him or don't follow him here is a link to his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/GreatNateMTG
Thanks again Nate! Hopefully this made you catch the delver bug and possibly play the deck again in the future :).
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
I think you have all been doing good work on the deck as there were numerous times I was surprised/impressed by some cards.
I think the deck is solid, and it won’t be the last time I play it.
Thanks again Nate for giving the deck a chance and playing it in front of such a large audience. I am super excited to hear you might play the deck again. I had a ton of fun this week reloading your main page every hour to see if the new match was up. It was also very satisfying to see the deck get a few wins.
I also really liked your recommendations. I added the 19th land to the deck (however, at 61 cards) and removed the chart a course and added the second Spell Pierce to the maindeck. Pierce really over-performed in so of your games. I look foward to seeing GreatNate's version of Jeskai Delver.
Here is the deck I am currently playing as promised for anyone that wants to know:
4 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Spell Queller
1 Bedlam Reveler
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
1 Boros Charm
3 Path to Exile
2 Vapor Snag
3 Remand
2 Spell Pierce
3 Serum Visions
3 Opt
1 Distortion Strike
1 Echoing Truth
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
2 Spirebluff Canal
2 Seachrome Coast
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Deflecting Palm
1 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Wear // Tear
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Young Pyromaster
1 Bedlam Reveler
2 Shadow of Doubt
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Izzet Staticaster
Some minor mistakes -that can be attributed to your unfamiliarity with the archetype-, it was nice seeing a more prominent member of the UWx community, and staunch advocate of the Jeskai wedge, try other builds and promote them. 2 things though:
i) Why do you value Deflecting Palm so low? Whenever I'm playing a deck that includes Boros colors, there are always 2 spots reserved for it.
ii) If you want a more aggressive alternative to Reveler, I suggest trying Hazoret, the Fervent. People here know her as my pet card -and it very much is-, but she's never let me down.
Onward to some event reporting! I went to 2 events of 18-20 people withe list I posted above and came back with a 2-2 and a 4-1 (2nd place).
Now, all of the losses were due to bad draws versus good ones (was looking for a white land in the top 20+ cards of my deck and didn't find one) and one huge top deck.
There's not much to discuss about my 2-2 event, because the draws were poor, so I'll just say some things on today's event. As always, the stars of the deck were Pyromancer and Geist, with some highlights provided by Hazoret.
The one match I lost was against Tezzerator, where I was at 9 and he had a Herald of Anguish on the field tapped from an attack. I've got a token from a Pyromancer, a Snap, a Clique and cast a Hazoret and go for a big attack to drop him to 3. He then topdecks Tezzeret to make one of his artifacts a 5/5 and steal the match. I'll admit I made the small mistake of not leaving the token behind to block since I can overwhelm him the next turn, but man did it sting... The deck plays 2-3 Tezzerets and they're preety bad against a deck like mine...
I won the new humans deck that's all the rage at the moment and they can put up a fight when they get either of the Thalias on the board. I also handily won against Knightfall and I believe that Young Pyromancer alone flipped the match up in my favor because of the free blockers that my spells provide.
Congrats on the awesome second place finish Mr. Tzoulis! I guess you are correct you could have left the token back, but like you said, there are maybe two copies of cards in his deck that could steal that game and he just got lucky to top deck one of them. If you go 4-1 in a tournament that means you played really well. Luck can help, but getting 2nd place and 4-1 means you played extremely well. Thanks for representing the jeskai delver crew!
I'm glad you posted to Nate about Hazoret. the Fervant. While I still prefer Bedlam Reveler at the top end, others may prefer something a bit higher in pure power level and speed (along with some reach).
To be honest, I have my finger crossed that GreatNate will play the jeskai delver deck again next week on youtube
I have been impressed with the one of Young Pyromancer in my sideboard. I may try two of them at some point for the more grindy matchups. I don't get to play against Knightfall very often, but I assume the Young Pyromancer heavy lists will fair better than the swiftspear lists.
Hi everyone,
Since my last post I've played 9 more matches and won all of them, so now I am 19-1 with my deck in the tournament practice room (I didn't change the deck during these 20 matches).
1:0 vs Training Grounds & Umbral Mantle combo
2:0 vs UG Spirits Brew
2:0 vs Skred Red
2:1 vs Mono Green Devotion with Genesis Wave
2:0 vs Goblins
2:1 vs Naya Burn
2:0 vs Turbo Fog
2:0 vs Esper Gideon Control
2:1 vs Lantern Control
I don't play Reveler or Hazoret as a finisher in my deck since my mana curve ends at CMC3 (for the mainboard). However, the deck has an excellent endgame thanks to Slayers' Stronghold and Azcanta. Azcanta is insanely powerful in longer games.
I uploaded the second game against Skred Red here: Click to watch
Spell Pierce and Azcanta really shine in that game
It's rather easy to capture the videos with Tinytake but unfortunately it takes pretty long to upload them online in order to share them, so this time I'll post only this one video.
quick question: why didn't you mana leak his stormbreath dragon at 2:32? from my understanding, Chandra's ability cannot be used as an instant ability to pay for Mana Leak, if at all.
Meanwhile, I got some new toys today!
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
I watched your game against Skred red, and I agree with you that Search for Azcanta performed extraordinarily well. I also considered playing it, but I was a bit afraid of it being too slow in the mainboard. I'm really intersted how your experiences with azcanta are in less grindy games.
Awesome pic! I really prefer the old spell pierce art. Spel pierce is so great right now.
Great video Stevomat! I love this videos. Also great record!
I believe Stevomat didn’t leak because he has deflecting palm in hand and his best line to winning the game was “burning” the opponent out because he likely wasn’t going to win an attrition battle on the board. I could be wrong but that was my thinking. I likely would have take. A similar line although I don’t have search to dig. The opponent actually played pretty well around deflecting palm but just couldn’t land the meaningful spells in time.
Steveomat- how many lands are you currently running? Do you ever have mana problems with so many utility lands? Are you just running slayers stronghold and shinka? I LOVED stronghold when I was playing a more midrange version of the deck. It singlehandedly won me some games. I just can’t fit it in with only 19 lands at 61 cards. It’s very underrated though.
Irdna- I agree with you about search. It's super powerful and I have tested it. I think if I were to play it I would definitely play it in the sideboard for grindy matchups.
@Irdna: Azcanta in less grindy games... Well, against very aggressive decks like Burn, Goblins and Affinity I boarded my single copy out but against most decks I try to leave it in the deck. I can't really say how it is in less grindy games because they often end before I draw Azcanta. But in the grindy games like vs Esper Control and even vs Lantern Control it was really good!
@CurdBros: My landbase is still the same
2 Arid Mesa
3 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Spirebluff Canal
1 Inspiring Vantage
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Glacial Fortress
8 fetches, 6 targets to fetch, 3 fastlands, 2 checklands & 2 utility lands
The two utility lands don't cause problems often. I have to be really unlucky to miss one of my three colors until turn 3, for example if would have Inspiring Vantage and Shinka in my starting hand and then only draw Mountain or Sacred Foundry, but that doesn't happen often...otherwise I wouldn't have reached my current score
Stronghold is so awesome because it "only" needs two other lands to do something really strong. I also liked Fumarole but the 4 mana activation cost often meant that I had to tap out so that I couldn't do anything else.
At 21 lands I think two utility lands (especially one that taps for a color) is totally fine. I can't wait to see more of your matches. You are obviously onto a great deck that you play very well with those kinds of results. Keep it up!
Thank you both for the enlightening insight!
I really like Slayer's Stronghold... from an EDH's players standpoint... how come I never knew about that card?!
With regards to Search for Azcanta, its a really good card. I am looking forward to acquiring it when the card's price bottoms out. It does what Smuggler's Copter does for me and is actually harder to remove.
Tough luck mate. I played Bushwacker Gobbos in the past and know first hand how fast that deck can be. If you have Kor Firewalkers or Auriok Champions in your sideboard, you might be able to stem the bleeding. I also have experience with B/W Tokens that packs Smallpox and plays asymmetrically. Izzet Staticaster would have been your lifeline in this case.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
I hate that damn local BW tokens deck. Noone is playing that deck and of course you get paired against it. That is really a tough matchup. I currently only have Echoing Truthmain and Engineered Explosives and Izzet Staticaster in the sideboard for go wide strategies. Obviously other cards like spell pierce, negate, and removal are fine, but in terms of actually clearing out tokens that's all for me. Sometimes you just get paired against a wierd deck that has your number. I have never played against the martyr life gain deck, but I have always assumed that would be a nightmare matchup that I would face in the first round of a modern GP :). I heard a story of a guy that took burn to his first GP ever and the opening hand his opponent had Leyline of Sanctity mainboard! I think Patrick Sullivan talked about it on stream, but talk about terrible luck.
The zoo matchup is actually favorable in my opinion. With that said, they do have nut draws that are nearly impossible to beat. Almost all good modern decks have nut draws on the play that are really tough to beat. The zoo deck is like that but on steroids. It sounds like luck just wasn't on your side during that tournament.
Would love to see the list. I am a sucker for deck lists and love to see them when you guys/gals post them
Edit: he just did! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ZIYlAbnJs
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
While I like that Jeff is taking on a true Jeskai PROWESS list, I am not a fan of the deck construction and gameplan. The true power of the jeskai prowess/delver deck typically comes in it's efficiency and spell density. I could definitely see this style of list working with 4 Chart a Course or back in the Treasure Cruise and or Gitaxian Probe days, but in terms of a "kill them quickly" style deck I think burn is just a more efficient build. In addition, I don't know if I would want to play a aggro list with only 4 one drop creatures (sources of continual damage). Jim Davis's build was a bit more successful because it had 4 Goblin Guides and 4 gitaxian probes.
This deck also lacks the ability to become a more midrange/control style deck when it needs to. It's a different style of deck than most jeskai prowess builds. That's not to say all jeskai builds have to do this, but it is a built in strength of the jeskai delver build.
I have actually talked to Jeff about the list and my list (via PM on twitch, I don't know him personally). He is a huge fan of Mantis Rider and said he wouldn't play jeskai without him. That's totally reasonable because mantis rider is well positioned right now. If you watch his streams, he is also a huge fan of being as linear as possibly in modern. That explains the reasoning behind the decks construction as is. I just don't know if the all in prowess style build is viable right now without Gitaxian Probe. Chart a Course could possibly fill that hole or a build around Monastery Mentor might work, but I have no idea. I haven't tested anything like that. What do you guys/gals think?
I agree. I've been going back to the 'Jeskai Well' and I've been trying to figure out how to make the following cards work in an aggro/midrange shell: Delver of Secrets, Snapcaster Mage, Spell Queller, Chart a Course, and Young Pyromancer. Other cards I would love to consider would be Monastery Mentor, Search for Azcanta, and Disrupting Shoal. I think there exists a deck that can effectively utilize Chart a Course to make up the any card disadvantage pitching cards Disrupting Shoal. Here was a list I tried last week:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Spell Queller
1 Vendilion Clique
Sorceries (7)
4 Serum Visions
3 Chart a Course
Instants (18)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Opt
3 Path to Exile
2 Logic Knot
2 Disrupting Shoal
2 Spell Pierce
1 Electrolyze
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
3 Spirebluff Canal
1 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Negate
2 Stony Silence
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Path to Exile
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Wear // Tear
2 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Engineered Explosives
I only have tried this list once and Chart a Course felt great especially with Elemental tokens. I didn't like Swiftspear because it seems like a dead late game and this deck is very grindy. I drew against GDS because our game 2 took so long. You can pitch Shoal to Chart a Course if the matchup is crap for a card like Shoal. The deck seems like it would have a really bad matchup against big mana decks. I don't know where to go from here. I would love to replace the Swiftspears with 4 Mantis Riders but I think that would slow down the deck too much but the deck does play on the slower side so maybe I need to shift the deck to a more midrangey/control/later game deck. The card advantage, the card filtering, and the grindiness of the deck is its strength. Deck is super fun to play. If you can Shoal something game 1 in a matchup you can bet Shoal is in the back of your opponent's mind when you play game 2 & 3. I'm open to suggestions but I really want to make Shoal and Chart of Course work in a Jeskai shell.
I'd love to run Slayers' Stronghold in my list (it's been wrecking my friends in my Aurelia commander deck ), but at 18 lands -4 of which are basics- and such strict color requirements it's hard to justify a spot for it :/
@Jdeezy In that kind of list I'd replace the Knots with Remands and the 3 mana flyers with Mantis Riders. You probably could use a finisher like Hazoret/Reveler or a swiss army knife-like card in Cryptic Command. A for your sideboard and big mana decks, one REALLY good option is Blood Moon and with 8 fetches you should be fine.
I too have cut the Aven Mindscensor and added the second copy of Shadow of Doubt. Keeping the Valakut player off of lands by hitting a fetch land or any of there multiple search spells is devastating to them. I have found shadow to be really great in the matchup. However, I haven't found a tone of other decks to side the shadows in against. I don't normally side them in against tron, but I'm not sure if I need to.
As for the deck I need to test a build with Young Pyromancer so I can be more helpful in decisions regarding a Young P style deck. I just can't cut monastery swiftspear because my personal build really performs better with a one drop threat. Decks that run swiftspear rather than young p just end up playing very differently. One is more aggressive to start and one is more controlling to start the game. Young P is super powerful right now with Opt, however, I feel she is better as a sideboard card for grindy matchups for my personal playstyle. With that said, I can still use theory to make suggestions, but I really don't like giving any suggestions without some experience with the specific suggestion.
I agree with you about Jeff's build Mazeron. I just don't think going all in on burn/prowess is the way to go right now. I was so excited when Stormchaser Mage was printed. I thought he might be the two drop my deck needed. However, he was just too weak to justify the additional mana. If he were 2/2 or even 3/1 he likely would see more play. However, at 1 damage on turn two he just isn't powerful enough. I also agree that if you are picking up blue to play mantis rider add to the deck you should definitely add Remand and possibly Spell Pierce to help deal with all of the unusual spells that are tough for burn decks to beat.
Edit- Mazeron- your deck includes some of the things Nate talked to me about as well so I think great minds think alike. He mentioned possibly playing two young p with a grim lavamancer in the main deck. You guys may be onto a great creature base. Also on the visions/opt thing, I have gone back to 4 opt and 2 serum visions. While visions is better for flipping delver, I normally don't have too many problems doing so. In addition, with all of the fetches in the deck and often fetching at the end of a turn, serum visions looses some value. Finally, with more spell pierces in the deck, opt is just much better early because you can hold up pierce and still opt if they don't play a pierce target.