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?
I agree on SFM. I think she would likely be fine in terms of power level. However it would probably homogenize the midrange archetype into one or two decks. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, just that it would be a must play in grindy matchups. I hadn't really thought about how Fatal Push really affects SFM. It does kill both parts. I also agree that the best jeskai build would be some sort of jeskai midrange or stoneblade deck just based on theory alone with no testing. I wouldn't be upset at all if she was unbanned, but I also don't think it's really needed right now. Just my opinion.
As for the keep or mull, I would keep it. I am fairly aggressive on my keeps on 6 cards and we have a playable hand. We are taking the controlish role in this game so stopping their early threats and disrupting their early plays should give us time to get to a threat. Deflecting Palm will be a house in this game. The hand could definitely go poorly if you just keep drawing more counter magic and don't get a threat or some removal, but I still think that 6 is better than a random 5.
Hi Everyone. Tonight we are going to do a little pro tour get together (I have heard that the stream begins tonight at midnight in the states). We are going to play against some of the decks we see and I will take notes and put them on this reply. I will just keep editing it.
It will be fun to see what it would be like against the feature match decks. I will keep you guys posted. I still have my fingers crossed that the pro I spoke to will choose our deck that I shared with him for his team, but that's a super long shot. Either way enjoy the pro tour!!
Played some games against Grixis Cruel Control last night. Games felt very 50/50. Would have probably done better if I had Geist in my deck. Some noticable plays I had was Remand or Vapor Snag a turn 2/3 Tasigur and then Snapcaster Mage Remand or Vapor Snag it again later in the game. Opponent's deck had too much removal for me to mount a real board presence to push damage through. The few games I won is because he ran out of removal and/or didn't have the right counterspell to answer my threats.
I think you are exactly right Need_More_DPS that Geist of Saint Traft makes every midrange/control matchup so much eaiser. It's a trade off, but I think it's worth it.
I don't personally run Blood Moon, but Mr.T is correct that when a deck is trying to play a UUBBBRR spell as the deck's namesake, then Blood Moon is likely going to ruin their day.
Another thing I have found is that early pressure is almost a must against control decks. They have to use removal to stay in the game and it makes our late game plays better. In addition, it makes our counter magic better if they are forced to respond.
On another note, if the pros would have given jeskai delver a try for the pro tour I think they would have been VERY happy. We have a great affinity matchup, a good burn matchup, a good humans matchup, and good tron matchup and our bad matchups were all but gone in the meta (except for Reid Duke who played Abzan). What do you guys/gals think?
I don't get why all the pro players decide to run the Jeskai Control lists even though our decks are so much better
Yesterday I watched several games live on Twitch and I seriously think that I would have done great against most of these guys. It was interesting to see how many mistakes these pro players make.
It was really impressive to see though how the Mardu Pyromancer deck can take over the game within 1 or 2 turns. I forgot the name of the guy who played it but he's very popular. It was also nice to see Entrancing Melody out of the Madcap Moon deck's SB. Thinking about it, this card is indeed great in the current meta. You can steal/kill a Shadow or steal a 5/5 Champion of the Parish for 3 mana for example.
*Edit: It was Gerry Thompson playing Mardu Pyromancer. Just watched him going 10-4 against 5C Humans. That was the best match I've seen in a long time! Awesome!
That's awesome that you went to the Pro Tour! What a great experience.
As for my deck, I really wouldn't make any changes (although I made several right before the pt). It was already ready for the pro tour meta by pure chance. I didn't predict the humans deck being 9+ percent at the pro tour. Hopefully this meta continues so our deck may pick up more players. Maybe I would run one additional EE in the sideboard, but I don't know what I would have cut.
I do hope people will now see the true power of Bedlam Reveler now with Gerry T's finish. I have been running 2 copies (1 main, 1 side) forever as many of you know, but I may go back to two in the main. With that said, you have to run about 10 cantrips to profitably run reveler and you have to have a aggressive slant to your deck.
As for Swiftspear I find her to be a necessary evil. I have found that a turn 1 threat really makes the deck perform a ton better, especially against control and big mana decks. I have cut her down to 3 copies, but she has been very good for me. I wouldn't fault anyone for running Young Pyromancer over swiftspear, but the deck would definiitely have to be more controlling or possibly pure tempo. I prefer a very aggressive slant to the deck because I think Geist fits best into that shell and it fits my playstyle. However, I think more people would like the safety and utility that young pyro or spell queller offer. It's more of my personal deck choice than what is right for everyone.
As for lanter, luckily there is nearly no lantern around here. That may change now. I assume the matchup is terrible if we don't get out ahead and stay ahead. If I saw a lot of lantern I would definitely add Shatterstorm to my board.
I would add 4 Snapcaster mage to my deck. I might sideboard 2 YP the card has been great for some games. 2 Stone silence sideboard as well. Main board 2nd echoing truth.
I would remove all the fluff cards I try that look cute and might work. I would aim to make my deck more aggro than it already is.
I played Lantern a couple of weeks ago and it did not seem bad. I played with B/W Tokens and got a quick clock on them before they started shenanigans I still lost. Token deck was/is a slow developing deck. By this experience alone I think Jeskia Aggro with its multiple angles of attack can handle Lantern as is with minor adjustments. Giving your opponent 1 card in hand to swing with a 1/1 swiftspear or a hoard of YP elementals, boast them up after attack is declared. Followed by burn.
G2 it should be a bit easier with SB to hate them out and counterspell.
I think you are correct Wicked App that Echoing Truth is silently really good right now. It's great against go wide strategies and strategies with a lot of 4 of creatures. I also agree that it is better in a more aggro version because bounce just gets a lot better in a more aggressive version. Just like remand is better in a more aggro version and logic knot/mana leak are better in the more controlling version.
I have been playing a miser copy of Faithless Looting to go with my 4 snapcaster mages and 1-2 bedlam revelers and I have to say I have been really pleasantly surprised with how good it has been. I have flashed it back way more than I thought I would and it has helped with land screw/flood. I am going to keep the one of copy for the foreseeable future.
Hey Jeskai Tempo/Delver/Prowess players. I'm usually a hardcore UW or Jeskai Control player, but after searching my soul, I figured I would play an aggressive deck as the format seems to be moving aggressively to hate out control strats (at least on Magic Online).
So, based on some old builds of the "suicide blue" deck back when Gitaxian Probe was legal, I decided to jam my own updated version and recorded a 5-match Modern Competitive League with it. The notable card being tested was Hazoret the Fervent and it was pretty awesome. You can check out the gameplay to the first match here: Jeskai Hazoret Aggro.
For those who don't want to be spoiled, I've included the decklist, results, and my thoughts below within the spoiler tags:
Overall, the deck went 4-1 in the Modern Competitive League, beating GB Elves, Ad Nauseam, Bant Knightfall, and UW Control. It lost to Dredge.
The maindeck felt great on all fronts. The land-base might need some tweaking, but was very smooth overall. The sideboard might need tweaking, as Rest in Peace, while powerful, felt weird in a 4-of Snapcaster Mage deck. Some number of Surgical Extraction may be more appropriate.
Hazoret the Fervent felt right at home and provided the aggressiveness as well as the reach necessary to close out games. I like having access to 1-2 in the 75. Geist of Saint Traft was also key in winning the Control and Ad Nauseam matchups.
Check out some Magic Gameplay and Commentary videos here, including Modern Grixis, Jeskai, and Esper videos as well as some Standard and Drafts too: My YouTube Channel!
I saw your post in the UWx group on FB, but forgot to save the list
From your list I'd cut a land (probably the mountain) and something else (personally I'd shave off a snap) and go with a couple of Boros Charms. Trust me on them, all modes are relevant, I've 12-14-16'd people on t2-t3 with it and a couple of Mutagenics. Also, I'd like the paths in the main. As for your SB, definitely go for RiP + Surgicals, they help in many match ups and only hose your snaps (always cut one for a RiP, unless you're playing against storm/dredge where surgical-snap-surgical is as good as RiP). I'd suggest a few Blood Moons and a Clique somewhere in there as well. Lastly, Deflecting Palm, play it, love it, make your opponents weep.
I've long been a proponent of Hazoret, so I'm glad more people are seeing her potential.
I saw your post in the UWx group on FB, but forgot to save the list
From your list I'd cut a land (probably the mountain) and something else (personally I'd shave off a snap) and go with a couple of Boros Charms. Trust me on them, all modes are relevant, I've 12-14-16'd people on t2-t3 with it and a couple of Mutagenics. Also, I'd like the paths in the main. As for your SB, definitely go for RiP + Surgicals, they help in many match ups and only hose your snaps (always cut one for a RiP, unless you're playing against storm/dredge where surgical-snap-surgical is as good as RiP). I'd suggest a few Blood Moons and a Clique somewhere in there as well. Lastly, Deflecting Palm, play it, love it, make your opponents weep.
I've long been a proponent of Hazoret, so I'm glad more people are seeing her potential.
Thanks for the suggestions MrTzoulis! I'll address them one at a time.
1) My original list had a 1-of Boros Charm in the main and 1 Deflecting Palm in the SB. They were both good, but narrow in my opinion. I felt like those slots could be used better, at least for the MTGO meta (guaranteed to run into Affinity or Dredge in a league, hence the triple Stony/RIP).
2) I tried Path to Exile in the main and just didn't quite like it to be honest. Vapor Snag just has so much more utility in Game 1's, like hitting your own creatures, especially against decks where Path to Exile does nothing. I do understand that maindecking them would free up some SB slots and help against creature-heavy metas.
3) Moving forward, I was considering the exact same thing regarding Surgical Extraction. They seem to also work well with Prowess (free triggers woo!). I was thinking something like 2-1 or 2-2 Rest in Peace-Surgical.
4) Blood Moon seems greedy, but the manabase could be configured in such a way where it could work. I just don't think it's all that necessary and Molten Rain deals damage and sets our opponent back a land which I think is quite relevant to our beatdown plan.
5) Vendilion Clique is also a card I considered but decided to hold back on because double blue can be sketchy for the manabase sometimes, but I agree it's quite a solid card somewhere in the 75.
6) Is 20 lands reasonable for a deck like this? And is basic mountain not useful against aggressive decks where we take the "control" role?
I'm glad you like Hazoret too! I think she's awesome and deserves some exploration. I know Mardu Pyromancer, Affinity and even Lantern Control have been trying her out in some capacity in the 75, so in an aggressive Jeskai shell, she seems right at home.
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For the mana base you can check my list here in previous posts, i runs 18 lands but can safely land Blood Moon. Regarding land count,since you only play 4 Visions (effectively 23 lands) and I'll assume an average CMC of 1.8ish (snaps counted as 3 drops and growths as 0) you'll be more than fine with 20+ 4 serums. You need to keep a balance of threats vs lands and since its an aggro list I'd favor more threats over lands.
After several hundred games with my list, which has 2 Boros Charms and 2 Deflecting Palms, I'd never cut them and I'd rather cut a helix than a charm. It can one shot several planeswalkers, save you from wraths and in your list get under many decks for an absurd amount of damage. You should look at Palms as 2 mana 4+ burn spells. They work on affinity, infect, knightfall/company decks, jund, breach decks, tron decks, titanshift and are epic in aggro mirrors. At this time I'd probably keep 2 stony's in for lantern purposes if you're mostly playing online though.
Hey Jeskai Tempo/Delver/Prowess players. I'm usually a hardcore UW or Jeskai Control player, but after searching my soul, I figured I would play an aggressive deck as the format seems to be moving aggressively to hate out control strats (at least on Magic Online).
So, based on some old builds of the "suicide blue" deck back when Gitaxian Probe was legal, I decided to jam my own updated version and recorded a 5-match Modern Competitive League with it. The notable card being tested was Hazoret the Fervent and it was pretty awesome. You can check out the gameplay to the first match here: Jeskai Hazoret Aggro.
For those who don't want to be spoiled, I've included the decklist, results, and my thoughts below within the spoiler tags:
Overall, the deck went 4-1 in the Modern Competitive League, beating GB Elves, Ad Nauseam, Bant Knightfall, and UW Control. It lost to Dredge.
The maindeck felt great on all fronts. The land-base might need some tweaking, but was very smooth overall. The sideboard might need tweaking, as Rest in Peace, while powerful, felt weird in a 4-of Snapcaster Mage deck. Some number of Surgical Extraction may be more appropriate.
Hazoret the Fervent felt right at home and provided the aggressiveness as well as the reach necessary to close out games. I like having access to 1-2 in the 75. Geist of Saint Traft was also key in winning the Control and Ad Nauseam matchups.
Hi Paradox Omega. Thanks for the awesome post and welcome! We always love to have new players and minds helping on the deck. Also, congrats on the 4-1 finish. I do think a jeskai aggro deck is very well positioned right now so I think you will enjoy playing the deck.
I agree with a lot of what Mr.T has already said. I would definitely cut a land and go down to 20. I currently play 19 but I also run 3 serum visions, 3 opt, and a faithless looting. For that reason I wouldn't go to far below 20 with only 4 deck manipulation spells. Opt actually works really well in your list, but the only cuts I could see is cutting one mantis rider and one mutagenic growth (this is a personal preference). I am actually surprised because I am typically one of the more aggressive players on this forum and this appears to be more aggressive than my version :). It definitely fits the meta right now.
I think you are spot on with your assessment of Geist of Saint Traft. He excels in matchups where we may have problems as aggro-control list. Specifically control decks. He is basically game over against them. Mr. T has been championing Hazoret, but my pet card at the top end is Bedlam Reveler. He has been in my deck for a long time and isn't coming out. I would recommend giving him a try, especially if Bloodbraid Elf gets unbanned and we see more grindy matchups in the meta.
I totally understand what you are saying about MTGO. MTGO is very different from local metas. Similar to Mr. T I am a huge advocate of Deflecting Palm. I just love the card against some of the wierd Emrukal decks, burn, eldrazi, tron, etc.
Overall I love the list and thank you for the video. I look forward to seeing how it develops in the future. Welcome to the team!
For the mana base you can check my list here in previous posts, i runs 18 lands but can safely land Blood Moon. Regarding land count,since you only play 4 Visions (effectively 23 lands) and I'll assume an average CMC of 1.8ish (snaps counted as 3 drops and growths as 0) you'll be more than fine with 20+ 4 serums. You need to keep a balance of threats vs lands and since its an aggro list I'd favor more threats over lands.
After several hundred games with my list, which has 2 Boros Charms and 2 Deflecting Palms, I'd never cut them and I'd rather cut a helix than a charm. It can one shot several planeswalkers, save you from wraths and in your list get under many decks for an absurd amount of damage. You should look at Palms as 2 mana 4+ burn spells. They work on affinity, infect, knightfall/company decks, jund, breach decks, tron decks, titanshift and are epic in aggro mirrors. At this time I'd probably keep 2 stony's in for lantern purposes if you're mostly playing online though.
Thanks for the analysis MrTzoulis. I'm not sure I'll play 2 Boros Charms to start with, but I might cut a land and add a charm. I will also re-consider 1-2 Deflecting Palm somewhere in my SB as I understand that it can be quite versatile vs. many decks.
Hey Jeskai Tempo/Delver/Prowess players. I'm usually a hardcore UW or Jeskai Control player, but after searching my soul, I figured I would play an aggressive deck as the format seems to be moving aggressively to hate out control strats (at least on Magic Online).
So, based on some old builds of the "suicide blue" deck back when Gitaxian Probe was legal, I decided to jam my own updated version and recorded a 5-match Modern Competitive League with it. The notable card being tested was Hazoret the Fervent and it was pretty awesome. You can check out the gameplay to the first match here: Jeskai Hazoret Aggro.
For those who don't want to be spoiled, I've included the decklist, results, and my thoughts below within the spoiler tags:
Overall, the deck went 4-1 in the Modern Competitive League, beating GB Elves, Ad Nauseam, Bant Knightfall, and UW Control. It lost to Dredge.
The maindeck felt great on all fronts. The land-base might need some tweaking, but was very smooth overall. The sideboard might need tweaking, as Rest in Peace, while powerful, felt weird in a 4-of Snapcaster Mage deck. Some number of Surgical Extraction may be more appropriate.
Hazoret the Fervent felt right at home and provided the aggressiveness as well as the reach necessary to close out games. I like having access to 1-2 in the 75. Geist of Saint Traft was also key in winning the Control and Ad Nauseam matchups.
Hi Paradox Omega. Thanks for the awesome post and welcome! We always love to have new players and minds helping on the deck. Also, congrats on the 4-1 finish. I do think a jeskai aggro deck is very well positioned right now so I think you will enjoy playing the deck.
I agree with a lot of what Mr.T has already said. I would definitely cut a land and go down to 20. I currently play 19 but I also run 3 serum visions, 3 opt, and a faithless looting. For that reason I wouldn't go to far below 20 with only 4 deck manipulation spells. Opt actually works really well in your list, but the only cuts I could see is cutting one mantis rider and one mutagenic growth (this is a personal preference). I am actually surprised because I am typically one of the more aggressive players on this forum and this appears to be more aggressive than my version :). It definitely fits the meta right now.
I think you are spot on with your assessment of Geist of Saint Traft. He excels in matchups where we may have problems as aggro-control list. Specifically control decks. He is basically game over against them. Mr. T has been championing Hazoret, but my pet card at the top end is Bedlam Reveler. He has been in my deck for a long time and isn't coming out. I would recommend giving him a try, especially if Bloodbraid Elf gets unbanned and we see more grindy matchups in the meta.
I totally understand what you are saying about MTGO. MTGO is very different from local metas. Similar to Mr. T I am a huge advocate of Deflecting Palm. I just love the card against some of the wierd Emrukal decks, burn, eldrazi, tron, etc.
Overall I love the list and thank you for the video. I look forward to seeing how it develops in the future. Welcome to the team!
Thanks CordBros! I do think this Jeskai build is very well positioned. Less lands and more cantrips is something I definitely considered myself. My original list had around 18 lands and 7 cantrips, but I wasn't sure if that was feasible for a Hazoret the Fervent version in the deck. I actually gave this build a shot a while back and had Bedlam Reveler as my top end (instead of Hazoret the Fervent). I only played about 10 or so matches and never got to see him, though. Faithless Looting is a card I also considered prior to making the 2nd build. The deck feels like it loses when it draws one too many lands and we don't particularly care about card advantage, so a prowess trigger + filtering could be super relevant (especially in a Bedlam Reveler build).
I'll give Deflecting Palm another chance down the road for sure. Thanks for the kind words and I look forward to jamming this deck in the future (whether I get more time to record with it is another question entirely).
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Is everyone hibernating? I forgot to do the matchup of the week this Monday so I guess it's as good as time as any. I think given the pro tour meta the natural matchup of the week should be 5-color humans
Game 1- There are a few problem cards in their deck, but the matchup is extremely winnable. I'm not sure how favored we actually are, but I do feel like I have a good game one matchup. The fact that we have bolt, helix, path, vapor snag, and even echoing truth can give us enough time to deal them damage and burn them out. They do have a couple problem cards in Cavern of Souls, Meddling Mage, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. In addition, it can be a kick in the pants when a Reflector Mage bounces two flipped delvers (happened to me). All in all I think the matchup is fairly even in game one and the play/draw goes a long way.
Sideboard- We have very good options in EE, Anger, Izzet Staticaster, Bedlam Reveler, sweepers, abrade, etc.
Post sideboard I think the matchup becomes favored for us. I haven't had too much problem against them, but it is a fun matchup to play and is skill intensive. What do you all think?
Is everyone hibernating? I forgot to do the matchup of the week this Monday so I guess it's as good as time as any. I think given the pro tour meta the natural matchup of the week should be 5-color humans
Game 1- There are a few problem cards in their deck, but the matchup is extremely winnable. I'm not sure how favored we actually are, but I do feel like I have a good game one matchup. The fact that we have bolt, helix, path, vapor snag, and even echoing truth can give us enough time to deal them damage and burn them out. They do have a couple problem cards in Cavern of Souls, Meddling Mage, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. In addition, it can be a kick in the pants when a Reflector Mage bounces two flipped delvers (happened to me). All in all I think the matchup is fairly even in game one and the play/draw goes a long way.
Sideboard- We have very good options in EE, Anger, Izzet Staticaster, Bedlam Reveler, sweepers, abrade, etc.
Post sideboard I think the matchup becomes favored for us. I haven't had too much problem against them, but it is a fun matchup to play and is skill intensive. What do you all think?
@Curdbros: my carpal tunnel is acting up again so typing is a bit of a pain (using 4th finger on my right hand to type now lols) hence not commenting much lately.
5C Humans (I call it Hearthstone Deck) is clearly the deck to beat as the reprinting of Aether Vial in IMA has made the deck really accessible to players. This and the quality of humans as a tribe has surpassed other tribes like Merfolk and Slivers.
As long as we have enough removal and gas in our hand to keep our handsize healthy, we can out last the deck. 5C humans play out of the hand, it doesn't play out directly out of the library. It doesn't run Collective Company (yet) which will give it more velocity when that happens. The deck runs mainly the following card as disruption:
Kitesail Freebooter
Meddling Mage
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Reflector Mage
all 4 of them are worthy Surgical Extraction targets. I put Meddling Mage on top of that list, with Thalia and Reflector Mage next in line. Try not to have Thalia's Lieutenant resolve or it will put Mantis Rider and Reflector Mage out of bolt range and allow stuff to get ridiculously huge after the Exhalted triggers off Noble Hierarch.
Its a winnable match up which has its banana skin moments. Just sequence well and remove key cards. G1 will be tough but things will be better post sidebopard when you have sweepers but watch out for Selfless Spirit(s), Grafdigger's Cage and the occasional Dire fleet Daredevil.
Well this changes things doesn’t it! I will definitely be adding have as a one of and also a copy in the board. I’m excited to see how he changes modern, although I hope we don’t ruin a good thing. I’m really just worried about lantern with jace.
Miracles may also become a thing. It’s going to be fun trying him!
TiTi is anti-synergistic with everything other than Snapcaster in your list. If anything I'd swap them for Geist in the main. In my experierce Pyro is a powerhouse against control decks, needing a wrath to answer it cleanly. Same with Geist.
In general you should fear BBE decks more now and prepare for them. Control decks are good match-ups and will remain so.
not really pleased that JTMS got unbanned. i was not playing but observing my friends play when he was legal in Standard back then and that type of deck is oppressive and encourages people to quit magic. if anything, having 3 "karn" type of decks (lantern, tron and jtms decks) in modern is bad. it makes people quite magic. maybe that is what wotc is trying to do.... sabotage modern so people will go play domineria standard. i am not trying to be melodramaic or am wearing the tinfoil hat here but ever since the spinter twin reprint in mm2 before it getting banned, unbanning and rebanning of GGT and eldrazi winter incidents, i have a lot less faith of wotc and their "well intentions". it reeks of another attempt at money grabbing as jtms is getting another reprint.
i foresee people trying all sorts of jtms decks the next 3 months. from the already ultra durdly grindy archetypes like Grixis/Jeskai control to fringe but more passive aggressive Bant control (turn 3 jtms off noble hierach with voice of resurgence in play and reflector mage in hand). Traverse and Grixis Shadow decks will have the best tools to deal with the general field. Traverse Shadow decks might want to play 1-2 copies of BBE but its hard to do so as that deck doesn't like cards that high CMC.
i do not know if our archetype will do as well as now in the post jtms unban metagame. i already mentioned on twitter that jtms is format warping and kills off a lot of other decks, many that are fringe and very fun to play with and against. i do hope i am wrong.
and yeah... miracles WILL BE A THING in modern. all the pieces are finally there. Search for Azcanta is the TOP for modern and it will never get banned because its a more intelligent design then Top. if you ever face up with a Search of Azcanta (flipped or unflipped... flipped is a nail in the coffin for you) in play and a resolved JMTS, just scoop because you are not going to beat that lock.
After testing have in my deck for one play session I can say that so far he is as good as advertised. I played one main and one sided and played against bloodbraid jund. It will be interesting to see if he is good against non-midrange decks in the future as I test more. I had underestimated the power of his fate seal ability (+2) until playing the card. Jace will definitely start making waves in modern very quickly.
Mazeron- love the deck. I really wanted to make TITI work, but never could find a deck that I like playing with it. I had always considered TITI a non-bo with delver and young pyro, however the guy at the pro tour proved me wrong.
I didn’t think modern needed any bans or unban a but now that it did, I’m excited to sleeve up my jaces again.
Lands
2 x Arid Mesa
2 x Flooded Strand
1 x Hallowed Fountain
1 x Sacred Foundry
2 x Scalding Tarn
2 x Inspiring Vantage
4 x Spirebluff Canal
1 x Steam Vents
3 x Celestial Colonnade
1 x Island
1 x Mountain
1 x Plains
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I agree on SFM. I think she would likely be fine in terms of power level. However it would probably homogenize the midrange archetype into one or two decks. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, just that it would be a must play in grindy matchups. I hadn't really thought about how Fatal Push really affects SFM. It does kill both parts. I also agree that the best jeskai build would be some sort of jeskai midrange or stoneblade deck just based on theory alone with no testing. I wouldn't be upset at all if she was unbanned, but I also don't think it's really needed right now. Just my opinion.
As for the keep or mull, I would keep it. I am fairly aggressive on my keeps on 6 cards and we have a playable hand. We are taking the controlish role in this game so stopping their early threats and disrupting their early plays should give us time to get to a threat. Deflecting Palm will be a house in this game. The hand could definitely go poorly if you just keep drawing more counter magic and don't get a threat or some removal, but I still think that 6 is better than a random 5.
It will be fun to see what it would be like against the feature match decks. I will keep you guys posted. I still have my fingers crossed that the pro I spoke to will choose our deck that I shared with him for his team, but that's a super long shot. Either way enjoy the pro tour!!
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
I don't personally run Blood Moon, but Mr.T is correct that when a deck is trying to play a UUBBBRR spell as the deck's namesake, then Blood Moon is likely going to ruin their day.
Another thing I have found is that early pressure is almost a must against control decks. They have to use removal to stay in the game and it makes our late game plays better. In addition, it makes our counter magic better if they are forced to respond.
On another note, if the pros would have given jeskai delver a try for the pro tour I think they would have been VERY happy. We have a great affinity matchup, a good burn matchup, a good humans matchup, and good tron matchup and our bad matchups were all but gone in the meta (except for Reid Duke who played Abzan). What do you guys/gals think?
Yesterday I watched several games live on Twitch and I seriously think that I would have done great against most of these guys. It was interesting to see how many mistakes these pro players make.
It was really impressive to see though how the Mardu Pyromancer deck can take over the game within 1 or 2 turns. I forgot the name of the guy who played it but he's very popular. It was also nice to see Entrancing Melody out of the Madcap Moon deck's SB. Thinking about it, this card is indeed great in the current meta. You can steal/kill a Shadow or steal a 5/5 Champion of the Parish for 3 mana for example.
*Edit: It was Gerry Thompson playing Mardu Pyromancer. Just watched him going 10-4 against 5C Humans. That was the best match I've seen in a long time! Awesome!
by Craig Wescoe
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=14429&writer=Craig Wescoe&articledate=2-2-2018
decent write up.
As for my deck, I really wouldn't make any changes (although I made several right before the pt). It was already ready for the pro tour meta by pure chance. I didn't predict the humans deck being 9+ percent at the pro tour. Hopefully this meta continues so our deck may pick up more players. Maybe I would run one additional EE in the sideboard, but I don't know what I would have cut.
I do hope people will now see the true power of Bedlam Reveler now with Gerry T's finish. I have been running 2 copies (1 main, 1 side) forever as many of you know, but I may go back to two in the main. With that said, you have to run about 10 cantrips to profitably run reveler and you have to have a aggressive slant to your deck.
As for Swiftspear I find her to be a necessary evil. I have found that a turn 1 threat really makes the deck perform a ton better, especially against control and big mana decks. I have cut her down to 3 copies, but she has been very good for me. I wouldn't fault anyone for running Young Pyromancer over swiftspear, but the deck would definiitely have to be more controlling or possibly pure tempo. I prefer a very aggressive slant to the deck because I think Geist fits best into that shell and it fits my playstyle. However, I think more people would like the safety and utility that young pyro or spell queller offer. It's more of my personal deck choice than what is right for everyone.
As for lanter, luckily there is nearly no lantern around here. That may change now. I assume the matchup is terrible if we don't get out ahead and stay ahead. If I saw a lot of lantern I would definitely add Shatterstorm to my board.
I would add 4 Snapcaster mage to my deck. I might sideboard 2 YP the card has been great for some games. 2 Stone silence sideboard as well. Main board 2nd echoing truth.
I would remove all the fluff cards I try that look cute and might work. I would aim to make my deck more aggro than it already is.
I played Lantern a couple of weeks ago and it did not seem bad. I played with B/W Tokens and got a quick clock on them before they started shenanigans I still lost. Token deck was/is a slow developing deck. By this experience alone I think Jeskia Aggro with its multiple angles of attack can handle Lantern as is with minor adjustments. Giving your opponent 1 card in hand to swing with a 1/1 swiftspear or a hoard of YP elementals, boast them up after attack is declared. Followed by burn.
G2 it should be a bit easier with SB to hate them out and counterspell.
I have been playing a miser copy of Faithless Looting to go with my 4 snapcaster mages and 1-2 bedlam revelers and I have to say I have been really pleasantly surprised with how good it has been. I have flashed it back way more than I thought I would and it has helped with land screw/flood. I am going to keep the one of copy for the foreseeable future.
So, based on some old builds of the "suicide blue" deck back when Gitaxian Probe was legal, I decided to jam my own updated version and recorded a 5-match Modern Competitive League with it. The notable card being tested was Hazoret the Fervent and it was pretty awesome. You can check out the gameplay to the first match here: Jeskai Hazoret Aggro.
For those who don't want to be spoiled, I've included the decklist, results, and my thoughts below within the spoiler tags:
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Stormchaser Mage
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Mantis Rider
2 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Hazoret the Fervent
Instants/Sorceries (19):
4 Serum Visions
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Mutagenic Growth
3 Vapor Snag
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
3 Spirebluff Canal
2 Seachrome Coast
3 Path to Exile
3 Stony Silence
3 Rest in Peace
2 Molten Rain
2 Wear // Tear
2 Dispel
Overall, the deck went 4-1 in the Modern Competitive League, beating GB Elves, Ad Nauseam, Bant Knightfall, and UW Control. It lost to Dredge.
The maindeck felt great on all fronts. The land-base might need some tweaking, but was very smooth overall. The sideboard might need tweaking, as Rest in Peace, while powerful, felt weird in a 4-of Snapcaster Mage deck. Some number of Surgical Extraction may be more appropriate.
Hazoret the Fervent felt right at home and provided the aggressiveness as well as the reach necessary to close out games. I like having access to 1-2 in the 75. Geist of Saint Traft was also key in winning the Control and Ad Nauseam matchups.
From your list I'd cut a land (probably the mountain) and something else (personally I'd shave off a snap) and go with a couple of Boros Charms. Trust me on them, all modes are relevant, I've 12-14-16'd people on t2-t3 with it and a couple of Mutagenics. Also, I'd like the paths in the main. As for your SB, definitely go for RiP + Surgicals, they help in many match ups and only hose your snaps (always cut one for a RiP, unless you're playing against storm/dredge where surgical-snap-surgical is as good as RiP). I'd suggest a few Blood Moons and a Clique somewhere in there as well. Lastly, Deflecting Palm, play it, love it, make your opponents weep.
I've long been a proponent of Hazoret, so I'm glad more people are seeing her potential.
Thanks for the suggestions MrTzoulis! I'll address them one at a time.
1) My original list had a 1-of Boros Charm in the main and 1 Deflecting Palm in the SB. They were both good, but narrow in my opinion. I felt like those slots could be used better, at least for the MTGO meta (guaranteed to run into Affinity or Dredge in a league, hence the triple Stony/RIP).
2) I tried Path to Exile in the main and just didn't quite like it to be honest. Vapor Snag just has so much more utility in Game 1's, like hitting your own creatures, especially against decks where Path to Exile does nothing. I do understand that maindecking them would free up some SB slots and help against creature-heavy metas.
3) Moving forward, I was considering the exact same thing regarding Surgical Extraction. They seem to also work well with Prowess (free triggers woo!). I was thinking something like 2-1 or 2-2 Rest in Peace-Surgical.
4) Blood Moon seems greedy, but the manabase could be configured in such a way where it could work. I just don't think it's all that necessary and Molten Rain deals damage and sets our opponent back a land which I think is quite relevant to our beatdown plan.
5) Vendilion Clique is also a card I considered but decided to hold back on because double blue can be sketchy for the manabase sometimes, but I agree it's quite a solid card somewhere in the 75.
6) Is 20 lands reasonable for a deck like this? And is basic mountain not useful against aggressive decks where we take the "control" role?
I'm glad you like Hazoret too! I think she's awesome and deserves some exploration. I know Mardu Pyromancer, Affinity and even Lantern Control have been trying her out in some capacity in the 75, so in an aggressive Jeskai shell, she seems right at home.
After several hundred games with my list, which has 2 Boros Charms and 2 Deflecting Palms, I'd never cut them and I'd rather cut a helix than a charm. It can one shot several planeswalkers, save you from wraths and in your list get under many decks for an absurd amount of damage. You should look at Palms as 2 mana 4+ burn spells. They work on affinity, infect, knightfall/company decks, jund, breach decks, tron decks, titanshift and are epic in aggro mirrors. At this time I'd probably keep 2 stony's in for lantern purposes if you're mostly playing online though.
Hi Paradox Omega. Thanks for the awesome post and welcome! We always love to have new players and minds helping on the deck. Also, congrats on the 4-1 finish. I do think a jeskai aggro deck is very well positioned right now so I think you will enjoy playing the deck.
I agree with a lot of what Mr.T has already said. I would definitely cut a land and go down to 20. I currently play 19 but I also run 3 serum visions, 3 opt, and a faithless looting. For that reason I wouldn't go to far below 20 with only 4 deck manipulation spells. Opt actually works really well in your list, but the only cuts I could see is cutting one mantis rider and one mutagenic growth (this is a personal preference). I am actually surprised because I am typically one of the more aggressive players on this forum and this appears to be more aggressive than my version :). It definitely fits the meta right now.
I think you are spot on with your assessment of Geist of Saint Traft. He excels in matchups where we may have problems as aggro-control list. Specifically control decks. He is basically game over against them. Mr. T has been championing Hazoret, but my pet card at the top end is Bedlam Reveler. He has been in my deck for a long time and isn't coming out. I would recommend giving him a try, especially if Bloodbraid Elf gets unbanned and we see more grindy matchups in the meta.
I totally understand what you are saying about MTGO. MTGO is very different from local metas. Similar to Mr. T I am a huge advocate of Deflecting Palm. I just love the card against some of the wierd Emrukal decks, burn, eldrazi, tron, etc.
Overall I love the list and thank you for the video. I look forward to seeing how it develops in the future. Welcome to the team!
Thanks for the analysis MrTzoulis. I'm not sure I'll play 2 Boros Charms to start with, but I might cut a land and add a charm. I will also re-consider 1-2 Deflecting Palm somewhere in my SB as I understand that it can be quite versatile vs. many decks.
Thanks CordBros! I do think this Jeskai build is very well positioned. Less lands and more cantrips is something I definitely considered myself. My original list had around 18 lands and 7 cantrips, but I wasn't sure if that was feasible for a Hazoret the Fervent version in the deck. I actually gave this build a shot a while back and had Bedlam Reveler as my top end (instead of Hazoret the Fervent). I only played about 10 or so matches and never got to see him, though. Faithless Looting is a card I also considered prior to making the 2nd build. The deck feels like it loses when it draws one too many lands and we don't particularly care about card advantage, so a prowess trigger + filtering could be super relevant (especially in a Bedlam Reveler build).
I'll give Deflecting Palm another chance down the road for sure. Thanks for the kind words and I look forward to jamming this deck in the future (whether I get more time to record with it is another question entirely).
Game 1- There are a few problem cards in their deck, but the matchup is extremely winnable. I'm not sure how favored we actually are, but I do feel like I have a good game one matchup. The fact that we have bolt, helix, path, vapor snag, and even echoing truth can give us enough time to deal them damage and burn them out. They do have a couple problem cards in Cavern of Souls, Meddling Mage, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. In addition, it can be a kick in the pants when a Reflector Mage bounces two flipped delvers (happened to me). All in all I think the matchup is fairly even in game one and the play/draw goes a long way.
Sideboard- We have very good options in EE, Anger, Izzet Staticaster, Bedlam Reveler, sweepers, abrade, etc.
Post sideboard I think the matchup becomes favored for us. I haven't had too much problem against them, but it is a fun matchup to play and is skill intensive. What do you all think?
@Curdbros: my carpal tunnel is acting up again so typing is a bit of a pain (using 4th finger on my right hand to type now lols) hence not commenting much lately.
5C Humans (I call it Hearthstone Deck) is clearly the deck to beat as the reprinting of Aether Vial in IMA has made the deck really accessible to players. This and the quality of humans as a tribe has surpassed other tribes like Merfolk and Slivers.
As long as we have enough removal and gas in our hand to keep our handsize healthy, we can out last the deck. 5C humans play out of the hand, it doesn't play out directly out of the library. It doesn't run Collective Company (yet) which will give it more velocity when that happens. The deck runs mainly the following card as disruption:
Kitesail Freebooter
Meddling Mage
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Reflector Mage
all 4 of them are worthy Surgical Extraction targets. I put Meddling Mage on top of that list, with Thalia and Reflector Mage next in line. Try not to have Thalia's Lieutenant resolve or it will put Mantis Rider and Reflector Mage out of bolt range and allow stuff to get ridiculously huge after the Exhalted triggers off Noble Hierarch.
Its a winnable match up which has its banana skin moments. Just sequence well and remove key cards. G1 will be tough but things will be better post sidebopard when you have sweepers but watch out for Selfless Spirit(s), Grafdigger's Cage and the occasional Dire fleet Daredevil.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Jace is back, everyone! Don't know if he'll be effective but only time will tell.
Miracles may also become a thing. It’s going to be fun trying him!
In general you should fear BBE decks more now and prepare for them. Control decks are good match-ups and will remain so.
i foresee people trying all sorts of jtms decks the next 3 months. from the already ultra durdly grindy archetypes like Grixis/Jeskai control to fringe but more passive aggressive Bant control (turn 3 jtms off noble hierach with voice of resurgence in play and reflector mage in hand). Traverse and Grixis Shadow decks will have the best tools to deal with the general field. Traverse Shadow decks might want to play 1-2 copies of BBE but its hard to do so as that deck doesn't like cards that high CMC.
i do not know if our archetype will do as well as now in the post jtms unban metagame. i already mentioned on twitter that jtms is format warping and kills off a lot of other decks, many that are fringe and very fun to play with and against. i do hope i am wrong.
and yeah... miracles WILL BE A THING in modern. all the pieces are finally there. Search for Azcanta is the TOP for modern and it will never get banned because its a more intelligent design then Top. if you ever face up with a Search of Azcanta (flipped or unflipped... flipped is a nail in the coffin for you) in play and a resolved JMTS, just scoop because you are not going to beat that lock.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Mazeron- love the deck. I really wanted to make TITI work, but never could find a deck that I like playing with it. I had always considered TITI a non-bo with delver and young pyro, however the guy at the pro tour proved me wrong.
I didn’t think modern needed any bans or unban a but now that it did, I’m excited to sleeve up my jaces again.
4x Mantis Rider
4x Lightning Angel
4x Snapcaster Mage
Spells
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
3x Boros Charm
2x Electrolyze
4x Vapor Snag
4x Mana Leak
4x Serum Visions
Lands
2 x Arid Mesa
2 x Flooded Strand
1 x Hallowed Fountain
1 x Sacred Foundry
2 x Scalding Tarn
2 x Inspiring Vantage
4 x Spirebluff Canal
1 x Steam Vents
3 x Celestial Colonnade
1 x Island
1 x Mountain
1 x Plains