If you were anywhere above 2 life -and from I get you where at 3 before the bolt- you should've won. Casting Deflecting Palm drops you to 1 (from Eidolon's trigger), then prevents the Bolt on you and deals him 3. Coupled with the Eidolon's trigger he'd take a total of 5 damage. There's no instance there that can result in a draw. Weird ruling.
I must have had the life wrong in my notes. I wrote down 3 damage instead of 2 from trigger so I must have been at two life. I can't remember exactly because my notes just say "draw from lethal trigger after snap attack". I will edit the write-up so it's correct. Even though, I thought it was a little wierd too at the time, but I don't really argue at FNM. Thanks for the heads up MR. Tzoulis.
I haven't changed a lot during the last two weeks. Just a few cards:
-1 Path
+1 Izzet Charm
Reason: I wanted one more filter/loot card to prevent flooding.
So far it has been good every single game because it's so versatile. At yesterday's FNM I saw the card during three games and used all three modes, countering a Jace, killing a Vizier and ditching two lands
-1 Hazoret
+1 Clique
I wanted to go back up to 2 Cliques main because unfair strategies are popular again and I wanted to have one more way to interrupt them.
Btw, I had 2 Cliques and 2 Geists in my starting hand yesterday against UW Control and guess who won that game
-1 Geist
+1 Elspeth
This decision was really hard because I still think that 4 Geists main are good in my deck but didn't know what else to cut for Elspeth. She is my favorite walker of all times and almost unbeatable together with Geist. Attacking for 12 in the air with Elspeth, Geist and a flipped Delver won me a game against Humans yesterday at FNM.
SB Change
-1 Palm
-1 Verdict
+2 Anger of the Gods
I made this change for my local FNM because we have a BW Tokens player, Elves, Merfolk and now 2 guys playing Humans. Online I am still using my old sidboard.
So, during the last two weeks the deck has been doing quite well. Around 70% win rate on MTGO and 3-1 at yesterday's FNM.
At FNM I beat Creature Toolbox, UW Control and Mono White Humans but I lost against a sweet Mono Black Vampires tribal deck. The loss was kind of ridiculous though since I didn't see a single copy of Bolt or Path during both games (lost 0-2). I didn't drew a single Geist or Anger either. Sometimes that's just how Magic is...
Stronghold won me a game yesterday, Search for Azcanta was a house during two games, but my MVP yesterday was Snapcaster Mage (again).
Next week I might try the following:
-1 Elspeth
-1 Clique
-1 Shinka
-1 Jeskai Charm
+2 Warkite Marauder
+2 Electrolyze
And add 1 Daredevil to my sideboard.
Will tell you how that worked out...
I totally agree with your recent change. I have run 3 path to exile for a long time and I just don't think we need the fourth. We run a ton of burn that can double as removal for small creatures and we often run 1-3 bounce spells like Vapor Snag and Echoing Truth. In addition, I have been really liking Faithless Looting lately so I can see how Izzet Charm can be awesome. I have often wondered if I should change it to izzet charm, but I like the 1 cmc cost and flashback.
I also think 3 Geist is the best number. Because he is a legendary creature and hexproof he really sticks around if you play him. In addition, he is kind of a mid to late game option for us. I don't think you will notice a huge difference dropping down to three to make room for another card. I really want to find a way to get Emerge Unscathed back in my deck. I love that card.
I can't wait to hear how the new cards work out. People are really high on the red snapcaster for opponents graveyard. I think he will be a really cool sideboard card.
@Curdbros: i think the red snapcaster is a missing piece from Jund Death Shadow. i am not totally sure how it will pan out but it is also a human so it will naturally make its way into the 5C humans deck eventually. with aether vial, its basically a free snapcaster and because of the unrestricted mana cost, it can almost cast any spell it wants.
@Curdbros: i think the red snapcaster is a missing piece from Jund Death Shadow. i am not totally sure how it will pan out but it is also a human so it will naturally make its way into the 5C humans deck eventually. with aether vial, its basically a free snapcaster and because of the unrestricted mana cost, it can almost cast any spell it wants.
Very good points NMDPS. I had not thought about that yet. I always think from a jeskai delver point of view and didn't think that non-blue decks would really like to have a psuedo-snapcaster mage.
This is my current list. Beats Storm and Burn, but loses hard to Affinity.
This looks like a Gofytomcat list. I always wanted to try a deck with mantis rider and lightning angel along with Savor the Moment. Also I have always wanted to give Hindering Light. How has it worked for you?
I just played against a bant company list so I thought that would be a good matchup of the week topic.
Game 1- I have always felt heavily favored in the first game against them. With access to bolt and helix as well as path they have a very hard time landing the combo. The combo is typically 90% of their game plan in game one. I always just make sure I have an answer ready for a Devoted Druid and can beat them down as I clear their board. I also hold onto most of my counter magic for Collected Company is possible. Those are the two cards that can beat us. The Bant version is a much harder matchup because they have access to interaction in the form of Spell Queller as well as a clock in Geist of Saint Traft. I still feel we are favored in the mathcup.
Post board games- I have found Izzet Staticaster to be amazing post board because most of their creatures have a 1 toughness. Sweepers in general are fairly good to clean up the board, but I don't believe they are necessary. I still would side them in if I had access. All in all I take a similar aggro-control approach. The post board games go a bit longer so I side in my more grindy options. As long as we keep them off the combo and have a clock we are good to go.
there are 3 g/w coco decks in modern. one is the Knight of the Reliquary / Ghost Quarter lock variant, the other 2 are counters company variants with splash abzan or bant.
i played all 3 variants before so i can try to offer some insight!
counters company: yes keep them off Devoted Druid. watch out for Rhonas the Indomitable and Tireless Tracker. when they cannot get the combo off, they will go for the beatdown plan. its very tricky to play against a learned coco player. they will bait your removal/counterspell with a combo piece (they can always get it back with Eternal Witness) before trying to resolve a Chord of Calling or Collected Company. Bant variant will have Spell Queller, Meddling Mage and Vendilion Clique. as mentioned, if the coco player feels that you have a slow start, they will go for an aggressive beatdown strategy while holding coco/chord in hand to race you / force you to commit / keep you off balance. this game has a tendency of going long and at times, end as a draw.
there are 3 g/w coco decks in modern. one is the Knight of the Reliquary / Ghost Quarter lock variant, the other 2 are counters company variants with splash abzan or bant.
i played all 3 variants before so i can try to offer some insight!
counters company: yes keep them off Devoted Druid. watch out for Rhonas the Indomitable and Tireless Tracker. when they cannot get the combo off, they will go for the beatdown plan. its very tricky to play against a learned coco player. they will bait your removal/counterspell with a combo piece (they can always get it back with Eternal Witness) before trying to resolve a Chord of Calling or Collected Company. Bant variant will have Spell Queller, Meddling Mage and Vendilion Clique. as mentioned, if the coco player feels that you have a slow start, they will go for an aggressive beatdown strategy while holding coco/chord in hand to race you / force you to commit / keep you off balance. this game has a tendency of going long and at times, end as a draw.
worship works well verses these decks but you need to watch out for the combo pieces, they also are light on flyers. The land destruct deck can be problematic but we run on light CMC so we can work around it mostly.
I wanted to add 1 Warkite Marauder main and 1 Dire Fleet Daredevil side but they weren't in my mail this morning.
Last week I used them on MTGO and they're quite fun.
Now I am back home and I have them on my desk but they'll have to wait a while until I can play them
Did someone notice the one card change in my deck?
I switched in a Mana Tithe for my Emerge Unscathed. I really like CMC1 counter spells in this deck but I don't want to play three copies of Spell Pierce so Mana Tithe got a new chance and it was great today!
So, here's how today's tournament went:
Round 1 vs Emeria
Game 1: I was able to deal 25 damage until turn 5 with Delver into Burn into Geist into Elspeth.
Game 2: Had to take a mulligan and then fix my mana with 2 SVs which slowed me down. Still managed to get him down to 1 but then I ran out of gas and at that point he had Flickerwisp + Sun Titan going and I died pretty quick.
Game 3: I drew only burn spells, 2 Bolts, 1 Helix and 1 Boros Charm I believe, but without creatures I couldn't do enough damage since he kept gaining life with Lone Missionary and Flickerwisp. When he had enough mana for his Titans and Emeria it was over. Unlucky start 0-1
Round 2 vs Affinity
Game 1: I had 2 Bolts in my starting hand which took care of a Signal Pest and a Ravager. When he had 3 Mana my opponent first played an Overseer and then a Vault Skirge which I was able to counter with Mana Tithe. On my turn I played Snap+Bolt on his Overseer. He ran out of gas and I started a Geist beatdown. He was able to deal 6 poison with Inkmoth Nexus & Plating. I had to survive his next turn to finish him with Geist and thanks to Azcanta I drew into an answer to his Nexus: my beloved Izzet Charm. Geist then finished him.
Game 2: Grim Lavamancer in my starting hand was great but he played Rest in Peace on turn 2. I drew a Wear//Tear at the right time and fused it to get rid of a Plating and the Rest in Peace (btw, in that case his cards are still exiled while Wear//Tear goes to your graveyard). That was the turning point. After that I flipped a Delver and my Search for Azcanta and overwhelmed him. 1-1
Round 3 vs Ponza
Game 1: Overran my opponent with Geist and Elspeth (she was so good today!) and Mana Tithe saved me because I was able to counter a turn 3 Blood Moon. I was lucky that I was on the play that game.
Game 2: He drew four land destruction spells and destroyed one of my lands for four turns, completely taking me off of blue mana. Inferno Titan came and I died with 6 blue spells in my hand. Not funny.
Game 3: On the play again, this game was awesome and interactive. He exiled my Geist with Anger, my Celestial Purge exiled his Huntmaster, Chandra killed my Delver, Deflecting Palm on his wolf token killed his Chandra, Path exiled his Panglacial Wurm (awesome card I had never seen before), Disdainful Stroke stopped his Inferno Titan and a second flipped Delver, a Snapcaster and two burn spells I found with Azcanta finally killed him. 2-1
Round 4 vs Blue Moon
Last opponent was the only player who stood 3-0 at that point.
(Modern tournament was pretty small. Most Magic players in the store played Rivals of Ixalan draft.)
He played a strange version. From what I saw he was running 3-4 Snapcaster Mages, 3-4 Cryptics, 3-4 Mana Leaks, 3-4 Goblin Dark-Dwellers, Ancestral Visions, Bolts and Electrolyze.
Game 1: We played a slow waiting game the first turns because he always left UU open. I think I got him to tap out with a Snappy EOT and could resolve a Geist on my next turn. It was a pretty long fight but I had Paths for his creatures and won the damage race eventually thanks to my Helixes.
Game 2: Elspeth took this game home. This one went pretty long but when he was at 7 lands he tapped 5 to cast Goblin Dark-Dwellers (getting Electrolyze for free). He held Mana Leak up but I also had a lot of lands in play at that point so I was able to resolve Elspeth by Spell Piercing his Mana Leak. She created a token and the flying token scored 8 points of damage before he bounced Elly with Cryptic. I played her again and he had to waste his resources on her while his life total got smaller and smaller. Boros Charm sealed the deal, dealing the last 4 points of damage. 3-1
All in all I was very happy with my deck. In fact, I have been very happy with it for months now. It was awesome in Hamburg, it works well online, it wins most games at FNMs and today too. If I get the chance to participate in GP Barcelona in June then I'll play this deck there for sure!
I wanted to add 1 Warkite Marauder main and 1 Dire Fleet Daredevil side but they weren't in my mail this morning.
Last week I used them on MTGO and they're quite fun.
Now I am back home and I have them on my desk but they'll have to wait a while until I can play them
Did someone notice the one card change in my deck?
I switched in a Mana Tithe for my Emerge Unscathed. I really like CMC1 counter spells in this deck but I don't want to play three copies of Spell Pierce so Mana Tithe got a new chance and it was great today!
So, here's how today's tournament went:
Round 1 vs Emeria
Game 1: I was able to deal 25 damage until turn 5 with Delver into Burn into Geist into Elspeth.
Game 2: Had to take a mulligan and then fix my mana with 2 SVs which slowed me down. Still managed to get him down to 1 but then I ran out of gas and at that point he had Flickerwisp + Sun Titan going and I died pretty quick.
Game 3: I drew only burn spells, 2 Bolts, 1 Helix and 1 Boros Charm I believe, but without creatures I couldn't do enough damage since he kept gaining life with Lone Missionary and Flickerwisp. When he had enough mana for his Titans and Emeria it was over. Unlucky start 0-1
Round 2 vs Affinity
Game 1: I had 2 Bolts in my starting hand which took care of a Signal Pest and a Ravager. When he had 3 Mana my opponent first played an Overseer and then a Vault Skirge which I was able to counter with Mana Tithe. On my turn I played Snap+Bolt on his Overseer. He ran out of gas and I started a Geist beatdown. He was able to deal 6 poison with Inkmoth Nexus & Plating. I had to survive his next turn to finish him with Geist and thanks to Azcanta I drew into an answer to his Nexus: my beloved Izzet Charm. Geist then finished him.
Game 2: Grim Lavamancer in my starting hand was great but he played Rest in Peace on turn 2. I drew a Wear//Tear at the right time and fused it to get rid of a Plating and the Rest in Peace (btw, in that case his cards are still exiled while Wear//Tear goes to your graveyard). That was the turning point. After that I flipped a Delver and my Search for Azcanta and overwhelmed him. 1-1
Round 3 vs Ponza
Game 1: Overran my opponent with Geist and Elspeth (she was so good today!) and Mana Tithe saved me because I was able to counter a turn 3 Blood Moon. I was lucky that I was on the play that game.
Game 2: He drew four land destruction spells and destroyed one of my lands for four turns, completely taking me off of blue mana. Inferno Titan came and I died with 6 blue spells in my hand. Not funny.
Game 3: On the play again, this game was awesome and interactive. He exiled my Geist with Anger, my Celestial Purge exiled his Huntmaster, Chandra killed my Delver, Deflecting Palm on his wolf token killed his Chandra, Path exiled his Panglacial Wurm (awesome card I had never seen before), Disdainful Stroke stopped his Inferno Titan and a second flipped Delver, a Snapcaster and two burn spells I found with Azcanta finally killed him. 2-1
Round 4 vs Blue Moon
Last opponent was the only player who stood 3-0 at that point.
(Modern tournament was pretty small. Most Magic players in the store played Rivals of Ixalan draft.)
He played a strange version. From what I saw he was running 3-4 Snapcaster Mages, 3-4 Cryptics, 3-4 Mana Leaks, 3-4 Goblin Dark-Dwellers, Ancestral Visions, Bolts and Electrolyze.
Game 1: We played a slow waiting game the first turns because he always left UU open. I think I got him to tap out with a Snappy EOT and could resolve a Geist on my next turn. It was a pretty long fight but I had Paths for his creatures and won the damage race eventually thanks to my Helixes.
Game 2: Elspeth took this game home. This one went pretty long but when he was at 7 lands he tapped 5 to cast Goblin Dark-Dwellers (getting Electrolyze for free). He held Mana Leak up but I also had a lot of lands in play at that point so I was able to resolve Elspeth by Spell Piercing his Mana Leak. She created a token and the flying token scored 8 points of damage before he bounced Elly with Cryptic. I played her again and he had to waste his resources on her while his life total got smaller and smaller. Boros Charm sealed the deal, dealing the last 4 points of damage. 3-1
All in all I was very happy with my deck. In fact, I have been very happy with it for months now. It was awesome in Hamburg, it works well online, it wins most games at FNMs and today too. If I get the chance to participate in GP Barcelona in June then I'll play this deck there for sure!
Awesome write-up Stevo. I love reading these. It sounds like you played the Blue Moon matchup perfectly. It's hard to be patient and pick your spots, but sometimes that's what the matchup calls for. Well done. I'm surprised and intrigued by how well Elspeth performed. I have felt like the meta has slow down a bit. I am seeing less dredge, zoo, affinity and more collected company, tron, Valakut, and mardu midrange. In this type of meta, Elspeth sounds like a great option.
I can't beleive I haven't been playing Disdainful Stroke until about two weeks ago. It's a perfect fit in a lot of our tougher matchups. I read that it was very good for you against the Valakut deck and that deck is one I have struggled with in the past. It has been great every time I play it so it's likely going to be in the sideboard for awhile.
As for the Emeria matchup I have literally no experience against it. The dedicated life gain decks like soul sisters which is extremely similar to this deck are likely some of our absolute worst matchups. If we don't get out in front we have a very tough time finishing them off. I am not usually a big believer in hoping to dodge a matchup, but these are the decks that make me hope just to dodge them.
I am at a similar point right now. Not much has changed from my list over the prior couple of months. With nothing new coming from the new set, the deck is still pretty much the same. The deck has been peforming well and I'm glad it's going well for you. I can't wait to watch you in the top of of GP Barcelona in June!
Playing against life gain is always annoying. Thragtusk and Obstinate Baloth can make games against Tron and Valakut really hard to win. That's why I wanted to add Skullcrack to my SB but I never managed to make room for it.
My Ponza opponent also played a nasty life gain card! I killed his mana dude with a Bolt and he played Life Goes On... I was pretty shocked.
Had to deal 36 points of damage during our third game.
If you play against Emeria you need to board in all the graveyard hate you have. I was able to surgically extract his Lone Missionaries but that wasn't enough. He gained too much card advantage with Court Hussar (always goes back to the graveyard without W). That's how he found a Negate so that I couldn't Bolt him when he was at 1...
I tested both online this week. Marauder was clunky so I took him out again. Daredevil as a 1-of mainboard has been fun so far.
Had two matches today against Esper Gifts Control and Infect and during the 4 games (won both matches 2-0) I was able to cast Daredevil two times.
Against Esper Gifts Control we both had 6 lands in play, I had a Geist and a Snappy and he had 2 spirit tokens and 4 mana left on my turn. I attacked with Geist & Snappy and he played Push on the angel token and snapped Push back on my Snappy, then he blocked my Geist with both spirits and his Snappy. I let it all happen just to do something funny with my six mana: second main I played my Daredevil and used him to cast Gifts Ungiven from my opponents graveyard (countered it before). I searched up Geist, Snapcaster, Azcanta and Elspeth and he gave me Geist and Snapcaster. Maybe this wasn't the best play but it was fun
Against Infect I was able to cast Might of Old Krosa on my Delver to make it 5/5. He had no creatures left at that point so I was able to fool around but it was fun as well.
@StevomatUWR: Dire Fleet Daredevil is probably the best card in Rivals of Ixalan. I would snap bought myself a playset if it had flying instead of first strike. I think it is a good card in Modern and possibly be able to make it into Legecy. I think in most of our decks, it makes for a great 5th reverse Snapcaster Mage. Borrowing your opponent's best instant/sorcery (and then exiling it) is really good.
I have not tried either yet. I am not a huge fan of the Warkite Marauder, but the Dire Fleet Daredevil caught my eye. I brought one copy of the daredevil to the last "FNM", but never played it. I keep telling myself if I don't have a full playset of Snapcaster Mage I probably shouldn't run dire fleet daredevil over it. It's a different card, but the flash just makes snap so much better. I know that's not what we are talking about, but that's the reason I haven't tried one yet.
I also thought if bloodbraid elf comes back and the meta shifts to like 10% jund, then dire fleet daredevil may become a staple in our sideboards. Keep us posted on how it goes and how well he plays. In the end, the point of the game is to have fun and enjoy playing. Any card that makes the game more fun and can be relatively competitive is a win in my book. It sounds like he was a blast to play Stevomat. I always wanted a red snapcaster mage. I originally though Abbot of Keral Keep (one of my top 5 favorite cards of all time) would fill that role, but it hasn't panned out since they banned Gitaxian Probe.
Hi guys, what's up? Has everyone gone into hibernation?
This morning I played a very interesting match against Affinity so I decided to share the third game here.
First game my opponent kept a bad hand and I won pretty easily. Second game he got me with a turn 2 Blood Moon -_-
(That's the reason why I fetch for a basic Island in case you're wondering...) You can click here to watch the third game.
This game was very close! Attacking with Delver on turn 7 might have been a mistake since it left me without board presence but I wanted him to loose a creature AND a land by blocking. Well, enough spoilers, just watch the video
(I didn't realize that sound is being recorded too, so I recommend muting the video if you don't want to hear me coughing)
Third game was defiantly interesting and close. Why did you not bolt a blinkmoth earlier (T6)? Search won you that game and was a house. ;D
My Deck has gone into Hibernation because I have come to the conclusion that with out 3 snapcasters the deck does not perform well enough. Most games come down to the last 5-6 life points or a flashback counterspell. The price of snappy I can not do. I will still stalk this forum ;D you guys are too nice to ignore. Other forums I have noticed are also a bit quiet this month as well.
Hail Jeskaites, and greetings from planet Mardu. Just a quick hypothetical, on the subject of possible unbans in the near future. Bloodbraid is all the chatter at the moment, but should wizards release stoneforge mystic into the modern pool instead (having never had her chance and wotc's desire to strengthen white's presence being my rationale) would Jeskai Geist, Tempo, and/or Prowess be interested in finding room for her? The mystic package is a powerful thing without any need for synergy in-deck, but there is an opportunity cost to the 6 card (minimum) slots dedicated to misty's and equipments, neither of which can be snapped back or grabbed by azcanta. Thoughts? Or even better... hypothetical deck lists?
I love popping in here, y'all are always so upbeat and friendly. Maybe thats a jeskai thing. Not that my folk are mean, but when your wedge's underlying philosophy is "kill anything that moves, and some things that dont", your people tend to be a bit... brutal. Taker easy.
Hi guys, what's up? Has everyone gone into hibernation?
This morning I played a very interesting match against Affinity so I decided to share the third game here.
First game my opponent kept a bad hand and I won pretty easily. Second game he got me with a turn 2 Blood Moon -_-
(That's the reason why I fetch for a basic Island in case you're wondering...) You can click here to watch the third game.
This game was very close! Attacking with Delver on turn 7 might have been a mistake since it left me without board presence but I wanted him to loose a creature AND a land by blocking. Well, enough spoilers, just watch the video
(I didn't realize that sound is being recorded too, so I recommend muting the video if you don't want to hear me coughing)
Cool game!!!
Haven't had time to meet up with friends or travel down to the store(s) for games lately. Playing Gwent or Hearthstone at home seems more convenient for me atm.
Hail Jeskaites, and greetings from planet Mardu. Just a quick hypothetical, on the subject of possible unbans in the near future. Bloodbraid is all the chatter at the moment, but should wizards release stoneforge mystic into the modern pool instead (having never had her chance and wotc's desire to strengthen white's presence being my rationale) would Jeskai Geist, Tempo, and/or Prowess be interested in finding room for her? The mystic package is a powerful thing without any need for synergy in-deck, but there is an opportunity cost to the 6 card (minimum) slots dedicated to misty's and equipments, neither of which can be snapped back or grabbed by azcanta. Thoughts? Or even better... hypothetical deck lists?
I love popping in here, y'all are always so upbeat and friendly. Maybe thats a jeskai thing. Not that my folk are mean, but when your wedge's underlying philosophy is "kill anything that moves, and some things that dont", your people tend to be a bit... brutal. Taker easy.
SFM requires the player to sacrifice deck space for it to tutor. May it be one of the Swords, Batterskull or something else, it actually dilutes the card pool. SFM would most likely help the hyper durdly decks like U/W control and Celestial Cannonade decks imho. The more aggressive Jeskai decks would find SFM not very rewarding as it will just be feeding the Grixis/Rakdos decks with Kolaghan Command blowouts.
FWIW, I cannot even tutor Smuggler's Copter with SFM and for my build, its just a non starter. The only card I want to play SFM with is Umezawa's Jitte and that is banned in Modern.
Inspired by you guys, I decided to bring back my old Boros Prowess Midrange. I've asked the Boros thread for help, but I figured I'd show you all as well, seeing as it shares a lot of strategy etc with Jeskai Prowess Tempo. (Don't worry, I am still a Jeskai mage at heart, since I love the Prowess mechanic)
Hi Guys/Gals. Sorry for the long delay. My family was lucky enough to pass the flu around for about a week. I think my 3 year old started it, but he was only sick for one day which was great. I would rather be sick for 10 days then have him be sick for 1 day. I wasn't playing much magic during last week and wasn't at the computer much. Enough about me, back to the deck and recent posts.
Twinacus- First off, hilarious end to the post. On the Stoneforge Mystic topic, I used to be a huge supporter of unbanning her because back when I played legacy a bit, I loved to play jeskai stoneblade (I have a definite style I prefer). With that in mind, I decided to test SFM in a couple of modern decks for about a week. I found here to be extremely good. I know that's fairly obvious, but I do think the "blade" style deck would become a minimum a tier 1 deck. A very surprising thing I found when playing jeskai was just how OP that Ojutai's Command became with SFM. Now with two great options for the first mode of "return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield",the card became very good. You could get her back search for another equipment or get snapcaster back and flashback a spell. Players could play graveyard hate, but playing hate for just a corner case wouldn't be beneficial. I do think a majority of her power comes from Baterskull. That card is just to good when it can be searched and played on a discount. If I were WOTC and wanted to unban SFM I would likely ban Batterskull at the same time.
I definitely think a SFM package would be placed into a jeskai delver shell. It's such a good tempo fit together and is super powerful. It would change the deck to a bit more midrange, but would increase the power level exponentially. I would definitely give it a try. I love me some delvers carrying swords. I don't have even close to enough information to say she should or shouldn't be unbanned, but my opinion stays on the safe side of not unbanning her right now.
Stevomat- Awesome video. I have had several games where Search for Azcanta just takes over the game. I love watching these vidoes! I love to see other players play their jeskai delver decks. It's always nice to get a win in the end of a great game.
Goyftomcat- I have always enjoyed your boros lists. I don't have any experience with that style of list, but it looks like the opponent would not have long to live. I really like the burn aspect.
On another neat note, I sent a email to a hall of fame player who is playing in the pro tour this weekend and included our list (and well wishes). He was very receptive of the list and was very kind to respond. He still hasn't landed on a list for the pro tour yet, so hopefully jeskai delver can be included in his team's deck choices to run against the gauntlet during testing.
I won't mention this player's name because it's not important. I know some will ask how I got their email address, but I got it a long time ago when I asked him a question via his place of employment and he wrote me back. I don't really do twitter so I use email. I only correspond with him once or twice a year (normally about jeskai delver in modern) so I'm not saying we are friends or anything, just letting you all know that our deck is at least in the testing phase for the pro tour with a major team :).
On to my list.
I am testing a few things lately. I have gone back to playing 1 spell pierce and 1 Unsubstantiate. I found the grindy matchups to be a little to tough in game one and wanted additional creature bounce. I will test that out for a bit and see how it goes. Faithless Looting continues to perform rather well in game 1. I do side it out a lot, but I have really enjoyed having it in game 1. It will stay for a bit. I have also been running 1 Soul-Scar Mage and 3 swiftspears. This is mainly due to a slight increase in fatty based matchups. It's great in those matchups and the lack of haste hasn't hurt me just yet. That's something more cute and probably isn't super necessary.
Other than that, nothing else has changed. I have thought about cutting the Spell Queller, but just can't find another option for it's slot. I may try Electrolyze or a 4th snapcaster mage instead. My goal is to make sure that the deck is aggressive enough in game 1. I don't want to dilute the plan too much as I still want the deck to function as an aggro-control style list.
I am testing a few things lately. I have gone back to playing 1 spell pierce and 1 Unsubstantiate. I found the grindy matchups to be a little to tough in game one and wanted additional creature bounce. I will test that out for a bit and see how it goes. Faithless Looting continues to perform rather well in game 1. I do side it out a lot, but I have really enjoyed having it in game 1. It will stay for a bit. I have also been running 1 Soul-Scar Mage and 3 swiftspears. This is mainly due to a slight increase in fatty based matchups. It's great in those matchups and the lack of haste hasn't hurt me just yet. That's something more cute and probably isn't super necessary.
Other than that, nothing else has changed. I have thought about cutting the Spell Queller, but just can't find another option for it's slot. I may try Electrolyze or a 4th snapcaster mage instead. My goal is to make sure that the deck is aggressive enough in game 1. I don't want to dilute the plan too much as I still want the deck to function as an aggro-control style list.
I have found that x3 Swiftspears are enough to apply good pressure at the start of the game. I think you really need that 4th Snapcaster because of the reason WickedApp explained before... At the mid or late game a Snapcaster draw with a bolt on youe grave or hand can close games very quickly or save you from something horrendous. It maybe be clunky at the beggining if you draw too many but you cant go wrong running all copies of snapy in this list
I think you may be exactly right Emilan87. I just keep thinking not running 4 Snapcaster Mage has to be wrong. I will be testing a 4th copy and let you all know how it goes. He is awesome with opt as well and can become an offensive weapon and a card advantage machine with opt and slip through space.
I am testing a few things lately. I have gone back to playing 1 spell pierce and 1 Unsubstantiate. I found the grindy matchups to be a little to tough in game one and wanted additional creature bounce. I will test that out for a bit and see how it goes. Faithless Looting continues to perform rather well in game 1. I do side it out a lot, but I have really enjoyed having it in game 1. It will stay for a bit. I have also been running 1 Soul-Scar Mage and 3 swiftspears. This is mainly due to a slight increase in fatty based matchups. It's great in those matchups and the lack of haste hasn't hurt me just yet. That's something more cute and probably isn't super necessary.
Other than that, nothing else has changed. I have thought about cutting the Spell Queller, but just can't find another option for it's slot. I may try Electrolyze or a 4th snapcaster mage instead. My goal is to make sure that the deck is aggressive enough in game 1. I don't want to dilute the plan too much as I still want the deck to function as an aggro-control style list.
I have found that x3 Swiftspears are enough to apply good pressure at the start of the game. I think you really need that 4th Snapcaster because of the reason WickedApp explained before... At the mid or late game a Snapcaster draw with a bolt on youe grave or hand can close games very quickly or save you from something horrendous. It maybe be clunky at the beggining if you draw too many but you cant go wrong running all copies of snapy in this list
I think you may be exactly right Emilan87. I just keep thinking not running 4 Snapcaster Mage has to be wrong. I will be testing a 4th copy and let you all know how it goes. He is awesome with opt as well and can become an offensive weapon and a card advantage machine with opt and slip through space.
I meant to say that a minimum of 3 snapcasters would be needed for the deck to run at an high level. I would strongly advocate for the 4th copy. Without any snappys the deck falls short too many times. Still very fun to play and can win with a high level of consistency without snappy.
Since I'll reply mostly on the SFM topic I'll use a spoiler tag, if you want it visible and up for a discussion I can change it.
First off, on the topic on whether she is "too strong": She just isn't, or rather isn't any bit stronger than T4 grapeshot for 20 or Empty for 20 goblins. In general combo/big mana decks do over the top game winning plays on T4, such as Karn/Ugin, Scapeshift/Primetime. What will a 4/4 vigilance lifelinker do to them? Annoy them at best, ignore it or go WAY over the top of it. As for midrange mirrors, Push -hits both the mystic and the token -, path -same as push - bolt, helix, liliana, goyf and of course thoughtseize and kommand cleanly answer her. It also is just a road bump against most aggro decks, with zoo (currently non existent) and burn getting hit harder than most and they can easily adapt to her.
As for her inclusion in the Jeskai delver lists, I think it'd be hard to find 6-7 non instant or sorcery slots to accomodate her. We already have trouble flipping delvers we shouldn't make it harder
In a jeskai aggro or midrange list on the other hand... Personally I'd build an esper stoneblade version, but this is a topic for another thread.
I've played in a few events since my last report, with mixed results and getting the bad end of variance and a couple of nights with some interesting mulligan decisions and one night of back to back bad decisions.
The interesting mulligan was this: G2 against infect, where you lost the first: 7 hander unplayable, 6 hander: Steam vents, island, staticaster, deflecting palm, spell pierce and remand or a cantrp. Keep or Mull?
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2x Arid Mesa
3x Celestial Colonnade
2x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Inspiring Vantage
2x Island
2x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
3x Boros Charm
2x Electrolyze
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
3x Remand
2x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
3x Lightning Angel
4x Mantis Rider
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendilion Clique
Planeswalker (2)
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Celestial Purge
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2x Hindering Light
1x Keranos, God of Storms
1x Negate
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Wear
This is my current list. Beats Storm and Burn, but loses hard to Affinity.
I must have had the life wrong in my notes. I wrote down 3 damage instead of 2 from trigger so I must have been at two life. I can't remember exactly because my notes just say "draw from lethal trigger after snap attack". I will edit the write-up so it's correct. Even though, I thought it was a little wierd too at the time, but I don't really argue at FNM. Thanks for the heads up MR. Tzoulis.
I totally agree with your recent change. I have run 3 path to exile for a long time and I just don't think we need the fourth. We run a ton of burn that can double as removal for small creatures and we often run 1-3 bounce spells like Vapor Snag and Echoing Truth. In addition, I have been really liking Faithless Looting lately so I can see how Izzet Charm can be awesome. I have often wondered if I should change it to izzet charm, but I like the 1 cmc cost and flashback.
I also think 3 Geist is the best number. Because he is a legendary creature and hexproof he really sticks around if you play him. In addition, he is kind of a mid to late game option for us. I don't think you will notice a huge difference dropping down to three to make room for another card. I really want to find a way to get Emerge Unscathed back in my deck. I love that card.
I can't wait to hear how the new cards work out. People are really high on the red snapcaster for opponents graveyard. I think he will be a really cool sideboard card.
Also congrats on the great finishes lately.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Very good points NMDPS. I had not thought about that yet. I always think from a jeskai delver point of view and didn't think that non-blue decks would really like to have a psuedo-snapcaster mage.
This looks like a Gofytomcat list. I always wanted to try a deck with mantis rider and lightning angel along with Savor the Moment. Also I have always wanted to give Hindering Light. How has it worked for you?
I just played against a bant company list so I thought that would be a good matchup of the week topic.
Game 1- I have always felt heavily favored in the first game against them. With access to bolt and helix as well as path they have a very hard time landing the combo. The combo is typically 90% of their game plan in game one. I always just make sure I have an answer ready for a Devoted Druid and can beat them down as I clear their board. I also hold onto most of my counter magic for Collected Company is possible. Those are the two cards that can beat us. The Bant version is a much harder matchup because they have access to interaction in the form of Spell Queller as well as a clock in Geist of Saint Traft. I still feel we are favored in the mathcup.
Sideboard options- Grafdigger's cage, Negate, Dispel, Hallowed Moonlight, Engineered Explosives, Flashfreeze, Search for Azcanta, Anger of the Gods, Supreme Verdict, Izzet Staticaster, Bedlam Revler etc.
Post board games- I have found Izzet Staticaster to be amazing post board because most of their creatures have a 1 toughness. Sweepers in general are fairly good to clean up the board, but I don't believe they are necessary. I still would side them in if I had access. All in all I take a similar aggro-control approach. The post board games go a bit longer so I side in my more grindy options. As long as we keep them off the combo and have a clock we are good to go.
How do you all feel about the matchup?
i played all 3 variants before so i can try to offer some insight!
counters company: yes keep them off Devoted Druid. watch out for Rhonas the Indomitable and Tireless Tracker. when they cannot get the combo off, they will go for the beatdown plan. its very tricky to play against a learned coco player. they will bait your removal/counterspell with a combo piece (they can always get it back with Eternal Witness) before trying to resolve a Chord of Calling or Collected Company. Bant variant will have Spell Queller, Meddling Mage and Vendilion Clique. as mentioned, if the coco player feels that you have a slow start, they will go for an aggressive beatdown strategy while holding coco/chord in hand to race you / force you to commit / keep you off balance. this game has a tendency of going long and at times, end as a draw.
g/w "value town": its a LD deck with KoR as finisher. Ramunap Excavator and Crucible of Worlds are the lock cards. Aven Mindcensor is to punish greedy decks. Knight of the Reliquary is usually the win condition but watch out for Tireless Tracker, its a value engine that should be removed or countered in the early game. Courser of Kruphix can block your guys all day so you need to burn/hit for the skies to race.
all 3 decks run Voice of Resurgence (always) and Kitchen Finks (usually). so Path of Exile wisely and watch your timing.
i think the match ups are slightly flavorable to us in g2/g3 with g1 being even chances. however, g2/g3 will be even more tricky as these decks have a large pool of sideboard cards to choose from. from Eidolon of Rhetoric, Selfless Spirit, Ethersworn Canonist, Unified Will to Glen Elendra Archmage to keep you guessing.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
worship works well verses these decks but you need to watch out for the combo pieces, they also are light on flyers. The land destruct deck can be problematic but we run on light CMC so we can work around it mostly.
Today I went to a small Modern tournament with my deck:
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
Instants/Sorceries (24)
3 Path to Exile
4 Serum Visions
2 Spell Pierce
1 Mana Leak
2 Remand
1 Izzet Charm
1 Vapor Snag
1 Mana Tithe
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
1 Boros Charm
1 Jeskai Charm
1 Search for Azcanta
Creatures (13)
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalker (1)
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dispel
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Celestial Purge
2 Stony Silence
1 Deflecting Palm
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Wear/Tear
1 Worship
I wanted to add 1 Warkite Marauder main and 1 Dire Fleet Daredevil side but they weren't in my mail this morning.
Last week I used them on MTGO and they're quite fun.
Now I am back home and I have them on my desk but they'll have to wait a while until I can play them
Did someone notice the one card change in my deck?
I switched in a Mana Tithe for my Emerge Unscathed. I really like CMC1 counter spells in this deck but I don't want to play three copies of Spell Pierce so Mana Tithe got a new chance and it was great today!
So, here's how today's tournament went:
Round 1 vs Emeria
Game 1: I was able to deal 25 damage until turn 5 with Delver into Burn into Geist into Elspeth.
Game 2: Had to take a mulligan and then fix my mana with 2 SVs which slowed me down. Still managed to get him down to 1 but then I ran out of gas and at that point he had Flickerwisp + Sun Titan going and I died pretty quick.
Game 3: I drew only burn spells, 2 Bolts, 1 Helix and 1 Boros Charm I believe, but without creatures I couldn't do enough damage since he kept gaining life with Lone Missionary and Flickerwisp. When he had enough mana for his Titans and Emeria it was over. Unlucky start 0-1
Round 2 vs Affinity
Game 1: I had 2 Bolts in my starting hand which took care of a Signal Pest and a Ravager. When he had 3 Mana my opponent first played an Overseer and then a Vault Skirge which I was able to counter with Mana Tithe. On my turn I played Snap+Bolt on his Overseer. He ran out of gas and I started a Geist beatdown. He was able to deal 6 poison with Inkmoth Nexus & Plating. I had to survive his next turn to finish him with Geist and thanks to Azcanta I drew into an answer to his Nexus: my beloved Izzet Charm. Geist then finished him.
Game 2: Grim Lavamancer in my starting hand was great but he played Rest in Peace on turn 2. I drew a Wear//Tear at the right time and fused it to get rid of a Plating and the Rest in Peace (btw, in that case his cards are still exiled while Wear//Tear goes to your graveyard). That was the turning point. After that I flipped a Delver and my Search for Azcanta and overwhelmed him. 1-1
Round 3 vs Ponza
Game 1: Overran my opponent with Geist and Elspeth (she was so good today!) and Mana Tithe saved me because I was able to counter a turn 3 Blood Moon. I was lucky that I was on the play that game.
Game 2: He drew four land destruction spells and destroyed one of my lands for four turns, completely taking me off of blue mana. Inferno Titan came and I died with 6 blue spells in my hand. Not funny.
Game 3: On the play again, this game was awesome and interactive. He exiled my Geist with Anger, my Celestial Purge exiled his Huntmaster, Chandra killed my Delver, Deflecting Palm on his wolf token killed his Chandra, Path exiled his Panglacial Wurm (awesome card I had never seen before), Disdainful Stroke stopped his Inferno Titan and a second flipped Delver, a Snapcaster and two burn spells I found with Azcanta finally killed him. 2-1
Round 4 vs Blue Moon
Last opponent was the only player who stood 3-0 at that point.
(Modern tournament was pretty small. Most Magic players in the store played Rivals of Ixalan draft.)
He played a strange version. From what I saw he was running 3-4 Snapcaster Mages, 3-4 Cryptics, 3-4 Mana Leaks, 3-4 Goblin Dark-Dwellers, Ancestral Visions, Bolts and Electrolyze.
Game 1: We played a slow waiting game the first turns because he always left UU open. I think I got him to tap out with a Snappy EOT and could resolve a Geist on my next turn. It was a pretty long fight but I had Paths for his creatures and won the damage race eventually thanks to my Helixes.
Game 2: Elspeth took this game home. This one went pretty long but when he was at 7 lands he tapped 5 to cast Goblin Dark-Dwellers (getting Electrolyze for free). He held Mana Leak up but I also had a lot of lands in play at that point so I was able to resolve Elspeth by Spell Piercing his Mana Leak. She created a token and the flying token scored 8 points of damage before he bounced Elly with Cryptic. I played her again and he had to waste his resources on her while his life total got smaller and smaller. Boros Charm sealed the deal, dealing the last 4 points of damage. 3-1
All in all I was very happy with my deck. In fact, I have been very happy with it for months now. It was awesome in Hamburg, it works well online, it wins most games at FNMs and today too. If I get the chance to participate in GP Barcelona in June then I'll play this deck there for sure!
Awesome write-up Stevo. I love reading these. It sounds like you played the Blue Moon matchup perfectly. It's hard to be patient and pick your spots, but sometimes that's what the matchup calls for. Well done. I'm surprised and intrigued by how well Elspeth performed. I have felt like the meta has slow down a bit. I am seeing less dredge, zoo, affinity and more collected company, tron, Valakut, and mardu midrange. In this type of meta, Elspeth sounds like a great option.
I can't beleive I haven't been playing Disdainful Stroke until about two weeks ago. It's a perfect fit in a lot of our tougher matchups. I read that it was very good for you against the Valakut deck and that deck is one I have struggled with in the past. It has been great every time I play it so it's likely going to be in the sideboard for awhile.
As for the Emeria matchup I have literally no experience against it. The dedicated life gain decks like soul sisters which is extremely similar to this deck are likely some of our absolute worst matchups. If we don't get out in front we have a very tough time finishing them off. I am not usually a big believer in hoping to dodge a matchup, but these are the decks that make me hope just to dodge them.
I am at a similar point right now. Not much has changed from my list over the prior couple of months. With nothing new coming from the new set, the deck is still pretty much the same. The deck has been peforming well and I'm glad it's going well for you. I can't wait to watch you in the top of of GP Barcelona in June!
My Ponza opponent also played a nasty life gain card! I killed his mana dude with a Bolt and he played Life Goes On... I was pretty shocked.
Had to deal 36 points of damage during our third game.
If you play against Emeria you need to board in all the graveyard hate you have. I was able to surgically extract his Lone Missionaries but that wasn't enough. He gained too much card advantage with Court Hussar (always goes back to the graveyard without W). That's how he found a Negate so that I couldn't Bolt him when he was at 1...
Did you like them?
I tested both online this week. Marauder was clunky so I took him out again. Daredevil as a 1-of mainboard has been fun so far.
Had two matches today against Esper Gifts Control and Infect and during the 4 games (won both matches 2-0) I was able to cast Daredevil two times.
Against Esper Gifts Control we both had 6 lands in play, I had a Geist and a Snappy and he had 2 spirit tokens and 4 mana left on my turn. I attacked with Geist & Snappy and he played Push on the angel token and snapped Push back on my Snappy, then he blocked my Geist with both spirits and his Snappy. I let it all happen just to do something funny with my six mana: second main I played my Daredevil and used him to cast Gifts Ungiven from my opponents graveyard (countered it before). I searched up Geist, Snapcaster, Azcanta and Elspeth and he gave me Geist and Snapcaster. Maybe this wasn't the best play but it was fun
Against Infect I was able to cast Might of Old Krosa on my Delver to make it 5/5. He had no creatures left at that point so I was able to fool around but it was fun as well.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
I also thought if bloodbraid elf comes back and the meta shifts to like 10% jund, then dire fleet daredevil may become a staple in our sideboards. Keep us posted on how it goes and how well he plays. In the end, the point of the game is to have fun and enjoy playing. Any card that makes the game more fun and can be relatively competitive is a win in my book. It sounds like he was a blast to play Stevomat. I always wanted a red snapcaster mage. I originally though Abbot of Keral Keep (one of my top 5 favorite cards of all time) would fill that role, but it hasn't panned out since they banned Gitaxian Probe.
This morning I played a very interesting match against Affinity so I decided to share the third game here.
First game my opponent kept a bad hand and I won pretty easily. Second game he got me with a turn 2 Blood Moon -_-
(That's the reason why I fetch for a basic Island in case you're wondering...)
You can click here to watch the third game.
This game was very close! Attacking with Delver on turn 7 might have been a mistake since it left me without board presence but I wanted him to loose a creature AND a land by blocking. Well, enough spoilers, just watch the video
(I didn't realize that sound is being recorded too, so I recommend muting the video if you don't want to hear me coughing)
My Deck has gone into Hibernation because I have come to the conclusion that with out 3 snapcasters the deck does not perform well enough. Most games come down to the last 5-6 life points or a flashback counterspell. The price of snappy I can not do. I will still stalk this forum ;D you guys are too nice to ignore. Other forums I have noticed are also a bit quiet this month as well.
I love popping in here, y'all are always so upbeat and friendly. Maybe thats a jeskai thing. Not that my folk are mean, but when your wedge's underlying philosophy is "kill anything that moves, and some things that dont", your people tend to be a bit... brutal. Taker easy.
Cool game!!!
Haven't had time to meet up with friends or travel down to the store(s) for games lately. Playing Gwent or Hearthstone at home seems more convenient for me atm.
SFM requires the player to sacrifice deck space for it to tutor. May it be one of the Swords, Batterskull or something else, it actually dilutes the card pool. SFM would most likely help the hyper durdly decks like U/W control and Celestial Cannonade decks imho. The more aggressive Jeskai decks would find SFM not very rewarding as it will just be feeding the Grixis/Rakdos decks with Kolaghan Command blowouts.
FWIW, I cannot even tutor Smuggler's Copter with SFM and for my build, its just a non starter. The only card I want to play SFM with is Umezawa's Jitte and that is banned in Modern.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
4 Arid Mesa
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Rugged Prairie/ Needle Spires
4 Sacred Foundry
CREATURES
4 Boros Reckoner/Brimaz, King of Oreskos (trying to decide the best 3 drop)
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
4 Exquisite Firecraft (A hedge against those darn Jeskai mages and their counter-spells )
OTHER SPELLS
1 Ajani Vengeant / Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2x Blood Moon
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Rest in Peace
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Spellskite
2x Stony Silence
3x Volcanic Fallout
1x Wear / Tear
Twinacus- First off, hilarious end to the post. On the Stoneforge Mystic topic, I used to be a huge supporter of unbanning her because back when I played legacy a bit, I loved to play jeskai stoneblade (I have a definite style I prefer). With that in mind, I decided to test SFM in a couple of modern decks for about a week. I found here to be extremely good. I know that's fairly obvious, but I do think the "blade" style deck would become a minimum a tier 1 deck. A very surprising thing I found when playing jeskai was just how OP that Ojutai's Command became with SFM. Now with two great options for the first mode of "return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield",the card became very good. You could get her back search for another equipment or get snapcaster back and flashback a spell. Players could play graveyard hate, but playing hate for just a corner case wouldn't be beneficial. I do think a majority of her power comes from Baterskull. That card is just to good when it can be searched and played on a discount. If I were WOTC and wanted to unban SFM I would likely ban Batterskull at the same time.
I definitely think a SFM package would be placed into a jeskai delver shell. It's such a good tempo fit together and is super powerful. It would change the deck to a bit more midrange, but would increase the power level exponentially. I would definitely give it a try. I love me some delvers carrying swords. I don't have even close to enough information to say she should or shouldn't be unbanned, but my opinion stays on the safe side of not unbanning her right now.
Stevomat- Awesome video. I have had several games where Search for Azcanta just takes over the game. I love watching these vidoes! I love to see other players play their jeskai delver decks. It's always nice to get a win in the end of a great game.
Goyftomcat- I have always enjoyed your boros lists. I don't have any experience with that style of list, but it looks like the opponent would not have long to live. I really like the burn aspect.
On another neat note, I sent a email to a hall of fame player who is playing in the pro tour this weekend and included our list (and well wishes). He was very receptive of the list and was very kind to respond. He still hasn't landed on a list for the pro tour yet, so hopefully jeskai delver can be included in his team's deck choices to run against the gauntlet during testing.
I won't mention this player's name because it's not important. I know some will ask how I got their email address, but I got it a long time ago when I asked him a question via his place of employment and he wrote me back. I don't really do twitter so I use email. I only correspond with him once or twice a year (normally about jeskai delver in modern) so I'm not saying we are friends or anything, just letting you all know that our deck is at least in the testing phase for the pro tour with a major team :).
On to my list.
I am testing a few things lately. I have gone back to playing 1 spell pierce and 1 Unsubstantiate. I found the grindy matchups to be a little to tough in game one and wanted additional creature bounce. I will test that out for a bit and see how it goes. Faithless Looting continues to perform rather well in game 1. I do side it out a lot, but I have really enjoyed having it in game 1. It will stay for a bit. I have also been running 1 Soul-Scar Mage and 3 swiftspears. This is mainly due to a slight increase in fatty based matchups. It's great in those matchups and the lack of haste hasn't hurt me just yet. That's something more cute and probably isn't super necessary.
Other than that, nothing else has changed. I have thought about cutting the Spell Queller, but just can't find another option for it's slot. I may try Electrolyze or a 4th snapcaster mage instead. My goal is to make sure that the deck is aggressive enough in game 1. I don't want to dilute the plan too much as I still want the deck to function as an aggro-control style list.
I think you may be exactly right Emilan87. I just keep thinking not running 4 Snapcaster Mage has to be wrong. I will be testing a 4th copy and let you all know how it goes. He is awesome with opt as well and can become an offensive weapon and a card advantage machine with opt and slip through space.
I meant to say that a minimum of 3 snapcasters would be needed for the deck to run at an high level. I would strongly advocate for the 4th copy. Without any snappys the deck falls short too many times. Still very fun to play and can win with a high level of consistency without snappy.
As for her inclusion in the Jeskai delver lists, I think it'd be hard to find 6-7 non instant or sorcery slots to accomodate her. We already have trouble flipping delvers we shouldn't make it harder
In a jeskai aggro or midrange list on the other hand... Personally I'd build an esper stoneblade version, but this is a topic for another thread.
I've played in a few events since my last report, with mixed results and getting the bad end of variance and a couple of nights with some interesting mulligan decisions and one night of back to back bad decisions.
The interesting mulligan was this: G2 against infect, where you lost the first: 7 hander unplayable, 6 hander: Steam vents, island, staticaster, deflecting palm, spell pierce and remand or a cantrp. Keep or Mull?