Against Mardu I'd board like this with your deck:
OUT: 1 SV, 1 Delver, 1 Helix, 1 Leak, 1 Gideon
IN: 2 EE, 1 Surgical, 2 Relics
Depending on if they leave in Blood Moon and/or add Ensnaring Bridge also add 2 Wear//Tear in Game 3
Regarding your mana base, I'd do the following:
OUT: 2 Field of Ruin, 1 Plains
IN: 1 Seachrome Coast, 1 Spirebluff Canal, 1 Inspiring Vantage
But that's just me
Maybe the other Jeskai Mages here in the thread see things differently? I'd be interested to read other opinions as well.
Btw, I just came back from FNM where I beat UW Control 2:0 and Mardu Pyro 2:0
Echoing Truth was great in both matches, bouncing an Ensnaring Bridge from my Mardu opponent (is that a common tech now?) and my own Snappy against UW Control in response to a sweeper. CurdBros, I really have to thank you. Without your ongoing praise for that card I might have never added it to my mainboard.
Little Gideon was awesome against UW Control dodging Terminus several times.
I also lost one round against Bant Spirits but that was really weird... and epic
I started with a 3 Bolt + Snap hand so and drew into Bolt and Snap so I went upstairs with the burn. But my opponent didn't do a single point of damage to himself (no fetches, no shocks) so all the Bolts weren't enough and I had to start burning his creatures to not get destroyed. I used a lot of resources to deal with his Geist. My opponent played very slow (at a tournament I would have called a judge) and after about 40 minutes we both were at 5 life, I had 1 Snappy and 1 Gideon with 6 loyality and Emblem in play and he had a copied Snappy, 1 Supreme Phantom and 1 Hierarch. Unfortunately after that he top decked 2 Collected Companies and won on the third extra turn. I found 1 Helix and put him to 2 but I failed in finding that last burn spell. Since time was up I lost 0-1.
I am playing the same deck on MTGO and during the last week I won 5 out of 6 matches and, yet again, I really love my current deck. I wish there was a Grand Prix this weekend were I could play...
Wow. A Browbeat x2 at instant speed. That's a fun card- Risk Factor. Not sure how powerful because it's a situational card, but it's a really cool card. I bet Dzung is happy to see this one!
Apparently Risk Factor is quite a card. Its blowing up pre-release and some are trying it in U/R / Jeskai Shells.
Hi,
played a nice match against Abzan this morning.
You can watch the first game here.
A nice comeback after failing to find a third land for several turns even with scrying 4 cards to the bottom... Never give up
Second game he got me good with a turn 3 Choke. I managed to play 3 Delvers that game but none of them flipped and I lost.
Third game I won thanks to Echoing Truth which I casted twice with Snappy and thereby bounced 2x4 spirit tokens. Without these blockers he had no chance against turn 2 flip Delver and turn 3 Geist.
I agree with Mr. TZoulis. I have really like Alpine Moon thus far in the land based matchups. Especially if you are playing a more aggro or burn heavy build. I am going to give Ionize a try as a one of in my flex spot just to see how it goes.
StevomatUWR- I absolutely love to play against Abzan and Jund. It's always a back and forth fun match with a lot of choices. Echoing Truth is never leaving my mainboard. That is one contribution I think we will have for the future of jeskai on this forum. We have been playing and championing Echoing Truth for awhile.
How does Mana Tithe perform for you. It was really good in that game, but I was wondering if it's ever a dead card for you. I'm interested to give it a try. I currently have an open slot and am struggling to find a card for it.
I haven't seen a Choke in awhile, but with Abzan and Jund likely picking up soon with the new set, we will have to look out for those. Thanks again for the videos. I love watching these!
NMDPS- I hadn't realized that. I hope it does break out since there were NO other good jump start cards for modern. As you can see I'm still a little bitter about how WOTC treated Izzet in GRN.
Thanks Hal 9001. I hope your pre-release went well too. I am going today so hopefully I can pull a Ral Zarek, Izzet Viceroy.
Mana Tithe is good 90% of the games (when I actually draw it) because Magic players always tend to tap out. Also, I board it out against all decks that run 23-25 lands and/or ramp.
Mana Tithe is good 90% of the games (when I actually draw it) because Magic players always tend to tap out. Also, I board it out against all decks that run 23-25 lands and/or ramp.
That's actually a very positive thing in our deck. Having cards that can easily be sided out but are versatile in game 1 are very good for us. I will give it a try in my "flex slot"
In my experience with Mana tithe they play around it next game any way. I ussualy board in a counter that is more hateful to their deck in it's slot G2.
Blue has the same card/spell I do not recall the name.
That's awesome Mazeron! Thanks for the write up. You really got the raw end of the matchup lottery. Two boggles, blue moon, and thopter foundary! Those are some tough matchups. Coming out of that at 4-3 is extremely good. I see boggles a lot and that's why I run EE, Deflecting Palm, and wear/tear. Even with all of that and my removal it's still a tough matchup. Infect is so draw dependent. It can be a very manageable matchup or they can just run us over. We simply can't beat their absolute best hands. And that's ok, because post board we are advantaged.
From what I have been seeing, burn is really back on the incline in terms of play. I have seen a lot of burn lately. It's a fairly straightforward matchup, but it's not an easy one. Definitely keeping Eidolon of the board is a major priority for us. Snapcaster-Helix is the single best thing we can do. I keep thinking I need the fourth copy of helix, but can't pull the trigger.
Thanks again for the write-up. I love reading these things. Just think if you had 3 byes to start the tournament like a top pro and then started 4-1. You would end the day at 7-1 and near the lead. Those byes make a huge difference, but I still like having them because we have to have players we want to root for each week and there should be some type of benefit for playing every week as your job. It's not necessarily "fair", but in a game with this much variance it's tough to market players without having some type of "advantage".
I think you are correct about Mission's Briefing. It's not going to change our deck completely or be an all star like snapcaster mage and bolt, but it does help with late game consistency and additional card advantage. Most importantly it's an instant. I have been running 1 copy and it's been good thus far.
Hi everyone,
I updated my deck on Tappedout.
The description is very long but contains nothing I haven't posted here already. If you want Jeskai Delver to draw more attention then please upvote. I also put a link our thread in there.
I wish you all a nice week
Hi StevomatUWR. I upvoted the deck and added to the featured section on the front page. I was fairly active on TappedOut until I found the forums. My original list is still on there to this day I believe. My name on tapped out is CurdBrosBrewingCompany. I need to post an updated list on there at some point.
Exitenz- I really like Ionize in your deck. The style of that card fits great into a more midrange aggro-control style deck. Figure of Destiny also fits this style of play well. You and Stevomat play somewhat similar styles right now and it looks like a great place to be.
Now that release is almost upon us (yay!) I've been thinking of building an incredibly aggressive (and glass cannon-y) list. Don't know how it will fare, but has extremely consistent T4 wins when goldfished and a decent amount of reach. Might need to relegate interaction like Spell Pierce etc. to the SB but I'd be happy to hear comments on the list.
Some cards don't perform well when goldfished, namely Risk Factor and Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice, so I'm just throwing them there for testing. Both provide reach/evasion and in general extra damage, but might go back to Hazoret, the Fervent or do a split of 1/1 on the 4CMC slot. I'm also not sure on the land count, goldfishing around 30ish games hasn't produced extreme results that wouldn't be produced with 19 lands, but it might be a good idea to got to 19.
Sideboard will definitely include Blood Moons, Surgicals, some counters, geists and the usual goodies of the Jeskai clan.
As said before, I appreciate any feedback/ideas and suggestions!
Now that release is almost upon us (yay!) I've been thinking of building an incredibly aggressive (and glass cannon-y) list. Don't know how it will fare, but has extremely consistent T4 wins when goldfished and a decent amount of reach. Might need to relegate interaction like Spell Pierce etc. to the SB but I'd be happy to hear comments on the list.
Some cards don't perform well when goldfished, namely Risk Factor and Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice, so I'm just throwing them there for testing. Both provide reach/evasion and in general extra damage, but might go back to Hazoret, the Fervent or do a split of 1/1 on the 4CMC slot. I'm also not sure on the land count, goldfishing around 30ish games hasn't produced extreme results that wouldn't be produced with 19 lands, but it might be a good idea to got to 19.
Sideboard will definitely include Blood Moons, Surgicals, some counters, geists and the usual goodies of the Jeskai clan.
As said before, I appreciate any feedback/ideas and suggestions!
I think your testing has shown some of the feedback I would suggest. I am not a huge fan of Risk Factor in general. I have to put a disclaimer that I have not tested it yet so this is purely theory from my end. I just feel like it's always going to be 4 damage for 3 mana unless the opponent is really low and likely losing the game anyways so the three cards aren't really all that important at that point since you are likely winning the game anyways if the opponent is willing to give you 3 cards. Instant speed is super important for this card, but I don't think it's a card I will be playing. I think a couple copies of Remand might be good, but you don't want to much counter magic in an aggro list. You may just want to up the lightning helix count to 4.
I also think Aurelia is not necessary either. I don't think it's a bad card in the deck, but I do think Hazoret or Revler are much better choices. Especially in a spell heavy aggro list.
A card I am really interested in hearing how it tests in a deck like this is Chance for Glory. That card looks really great in this deck and I hope it works out well.
As for the lands, I have really enjoyed 19 lands in a 61 card deck. I have been running it like this for a long time. I was in between 18 and 19 land so I thought why not just add a land and keep everything else. So far so good so that is something you may want to play around with when testing your list. This is really awesome take on jeskai prowess and I really hope some of these cards shine so we can add some new spice to our lists. Thanks for posting.
A few notes include:
1) Is 0 Snapcaster a sin? Mission Briefing is slightly harder to cast but is a Spell for delver, fills the GY for Drake, certain interactions (like surgical) can’t interact with surveil as well, etc
2) Not entirely sold on Crackling Drake yet. I love that it doesn’t care about GY hosers, so I can play it with RIP. Just wish there was a way to protect it on 4, Shame we can’t support Disrupting shoals.
3) The counter suite I chose doesn’t work the best with Path to exile, so any recommendations there would be appreciated.
Thanks for the help guys!
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Rosheen Meanderer
A few notes include:
1) Is 0 Snapcaster a sin? Mission Briefing is slightly harder to cast but is a Spell for delver, fills the GY for Drake, certain interactions (like surgical) can’t interact with surveil as well, etc
2) Not entirely sold on Crackling Drake yet. I love that it doesn’t care about GY hosers, so I can play it with RIP. Just wish there was a way to protect it on 4, Shame we can’t support Disrupting shoals.
3) The counter suite I chose doesn’t work the best with Path to exile, so any recommendations there would be appreciated.
Thanks for the help guys!
Here are my thoughts on your questions
1). I would say yes. In most cases not including Snapcaster Mage is likely just wrong. Budget purposes may come into play and that is totally understandable. However, if a player has access to snapcaster mage it is likely the best creature you can include in a jeskai deck that has a decent amount of burn and/or cantrips.
2). I haven't tried Drake yet, but it looks great. The casting cost makes it a touch inclusion and other options at the 4 CMC cost may be better. Hazoret looks like it would fit into this deck nicely. As many of you know I am a very big supporter of Bedlam Reveler as well. Keep us posted on how the drakes test.
3). The counter suite looks ok. I am not a fan of mana leak in a path deck so I personally would replace them with Remand,but other than that I think it looks good.
As for overall comments I really don't have a lot to add yet because much of the deck hasn't been tested by myself yet. I haven't tested Risk Factor or 4 copies of Mission's Briefing yet. I have tested with 1-2 copies of mission's briefing and it was very serviceable. It doesn't change the deck my a major factor but it does give us a bit more consistency and deck manipulation so I do like it. Keep us posted on how it goes. I have a feeling the creature suite will change slightly (maybe cutting a spell queller and/or a drake for snapcaster mage), but I look forward to seeing what you find.
I played my usual list but to spice things up I played Elspeth, Knight-Errant instead of one of my Gideons.
Round 1 vs UR Delver
Path, Helix and Geist make our deck so much better than their's.
Easy 2-0 Round 2 vs Green Tron
First game went long, my opponent couldn't assemble Tron and I kept attacking with Delver while disrupting him with Spell Pierce and Remand, until I could finish him with Bolt, Bolt, Snap, Bolt.
Second game went like a dream: turn 1 Delver into Turn 2 Stony Silence into turn 3 Damping Sphere.
Easy 2-0 Round 3 vs UW Spirits
Opponent won the dice roll and had Vial. I think he completely destroyed me in 5 turns.
This match is so hard in my opinion. All our burn spells are good for nothing if the opponent can vial in Mausoleum Wanderer or Selfless Spirit to protect his lords or just plays Rattlechains with flash for protection or plays any lord with flash if Rattlechains is in play, or plays Spell Queller...
Second game I had a fast start with Delver into Delver + Figure into Geist. Still he fought back hard and I barely won before I ran out of gas and life.
Third game went really long and I had no luck ending up with 8 lands in play. Thanks to that I had an 8/8 flying Kithkin Avatar for the first time but since it doesn't have lifelink or trample it still wasn't enough.
My last chance was to play Geist and to give it haste with Slayer's Stronghold and to attack with him and Super Kithkin in order to make my opponent block. That way I would have survived the back swing but my opponent had a Queller for Geist and I died.
Very tough one 1-2 Round 4 vs Grixis Control
Also a deck that is very hard to play against. Inquisition takes the good things out of your hand, if you cast something there's Mana Leak, if you commit too much to the board there's Damnation, if you're too passive then Liliana, the Last Hope takes over and then there's Nicol Bolas, the Ravager...
First game he destroyed all my cheap creatures with removal and Lilly and my Geist couldn't get past his Pia and Kiran Nalaar. K-Command brought Pia & Kiran back and I died.
Second game we both changed 7 cards. However, it was Elspeth won the game single-handedly.
Third game was very grindy but my Azcanta slowly won me the upper hand. It was like we had switched roles. He only had few lands and attacked aggressively with Bolt, Snap, Bolt, and Creeping Tar Pits. I was down to 5 life and he was still at 20 when I stabilized and managed to resolve Elspeth again. After that flying Geist hit him for 9 and Azcanta had found me Dispel and Helix to stay alive. He then played Kalitas but I found Gideon who rendered Kalitas useless, while Geist finished him off.
Grindy 2-1
Thanks for the write-up StevomatUWR. I think your deck is in a great place. You have been dropping 3-1's and 4-0's all over the place. Well done.
I worked on the Jund/Abzan matchup today and I think I have found a really great sideboard option against them. Now for this card to work you have to have a fairly aggressive deck and side out a number of counter spells. The card is Experimental Frenzy. I know it sounds crazy that a 4 drop enchantment that doesn't affect the board is a good sideboard card, but it was nothing short of ridiculous nearly every time I cast it. I would say on average it drew me 2-3 cards a turn. With Reveler and Experimental Frenzy at the top end we can really out card advantage them. I typically side out a remand, a spell pierce, and maybe the spell snare (if I run two copies of frenzy). I only tested one copy and it was really good.
I know I sound like I'm selling the card to high, but I really suggest you guys/gals give it a try. It is a broken card when it works. I have never had a solid sideboard plan against Jund/Abzan so I think this is finally the answer.
Hi CrudBros,
very interesting SB tech. I am just wondering against which other deck besides Jund/Abzan you could bring it in?
Jund & Abzan only make 5% of the Modern metagame. Have you tested the card against UW Control? If it's good against that deck then it would cover another 13% of the current metagame (even though it would only be a win-more card against them since the match-up is really good).
I am also wondering if it wouldn't just be better to use Chandra, Torch of Defiance instead. She also let's you play additional spells while she builds up to a game ending ultimate. On the other hand it might be easier for opponents to deal with her than to deal with a CMC4 enchantment.
I would test another round with Experimental Frenzy and consider how games would play out if you had Chandra instead.
So I went to an even (5 rounds) and some things were immediately obvious: Remand was BAD, so was Hazoret. I'd go with 1 Risk Factor instead of 2 (if I even play one).
Now, the outliers: Aurelia was busted, 4/5 vigilant, trampling flyer who mentored my other fliers closed games. Fast. They couldn't chump block her and it. Integrity // Intervention had me pleasantly surprised. The +2/+2 helped me close games in 1 turn coupled with Boros Charm or Mutagenic Growth and its 2nd mode was relevant and lifesaving a few times. I recommend it if you're ever going to play a list similar to mine. Chance for Glory... Well... BOY THAT CARD IS AWESOME. Not only it won me games out of the blue, but I was actively wanting to draw it (mind you I played one during the event because I hadn't gotten my 2nd copy yet).
Overall I went 2-3, losing twice to burn to bad luck (missing 2nd landrop for 6 turns in a row twice in a match, and the 2nd time losing a 3rd game to 3 searing blazes -_- . The 3rd loss was against GDS, where we both just played land drops for the first 7 turns (yeah...) and I was drawing only burn. At one point I say go for it and got hit by 5 Stubborn Denials. I mean... wtf...
In general I thing the 3rd Helix is a must and remands are bad. I also missed some kind of sweeper and/or card that can help me race. I'll try Deafening Clarion since it can be both a sweeper and grant my creature lifelink, and with prowess on most of my creatures the 3 damage won't matter as much. Also, I'd play 2 Aurelias as a top end. Trample and mentor were relevant more often than not.
@Curdbros, I've thought about Experimental Frenzy and I think it'd be really cool addition. I've only tried it in my Saheeli commander deck, but it has overperformed there, so I'd suggest some testing to see if it really helps
Mr. Tzoulis- I'm glad to hear some of your new tech looks promising. It's always fun to try new stuff and it's even more fun when it works out. I have long been a big fan of Remand in my build. With that said, I can see how it has lost some power level given that creatures continue to just get better and better and most have ETB effects so keeping them off the board for a turn doesn't do as much damage to their plan as it used to. Remand has performed well for me, but I haven't tested Logic Knot in those slots or Mana Leak. I have never been a huge fan of leak, but it may be our best option currently.
I think remand needs to be in a specific style deck. The more aggro-control or tempo lists typically get the most out of remand. I haven't seen remand played in the more aggro versions with mutagenic growth and such so you are likely right on point that it just doesn't work well in your new list.
I am super excited that Chance For Glory works well. It feels like it has a perfect home in your deck. I do think a third helix is a must right now with all of the burn going around. A fourth would be great, but I haven't found room in my deck for a fouth copy. Deafening Clarion really interests me because it can hit two different style deck. It would basically end burn's day if you can land it and not get Skull Cracked or Atarka's Commanded.
StevmatUWR- I plan on testing Experimental Frenzy a lot more in the near future. I don't think it will be as good against UW Control because they have counter magic and Detention Sphere. However, I have not tested it against them yet and will definitely be doing so soon. I will make sure to think of the card as Chandra each time I play it to make sure that wouldn't be better. I think the deck style will really dictate which card fits better. If you have a stronger top end and play a bit more midrange then Chandra may be a better option. If you have a very low CMC and depend on casting a large number of spells, burn, or prowess than Experimental Frenzy will likely be better (I think). Again, I don't have a ton of testing with the card yet, but look forward to trying it more. I have been looking for something to play against Jund and especially Abzan since day one so I am really hopeful this works out.
Has anyone else tried Risk Factor? I haven't given it a go yet, but a lot of the writers at Star City Games are very high on Risk Factor. To me it doesn't feel like it fits in my build, but I would be happy to be wrong. I think 99% of the time it will be 4 damage for three mana. With that said, Jump Start is a super powerful trait and the fact that you can do it at the end of turn makes this card deceptive in power level I think. I am interested to see if it works for anyone. I do think Burn would love a copy of this card and therefore a super burn/prowess oriented build of jeskai prowess/delver may love it.
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Against Mardu I'd board like this with your deck:
OUT: 1 SV, 1 Delver, 1 Helix, 1 Leak, 1 Gideon
IN: 2 EE, 1 Surgical, 2 Relics
Depending on if they leave in Blood Moon and/or add Ensnaring Bridge also add 2 Wear//Tear in Game 3
Regarding your mana base, I'd do the following:
OUT: 2 Field of Ruin, 1 Plains
IN: 1 Seachrome Coast, 1 Spirebluff Canal, 1 Inspiring Vantage
But that's just me
Maybe the other Jeskai Mages here in the thread see things differently? I'd be interested to read other opinions as well.
Btw, I just came back from FNM where I beat UW Control 2:0 and Mardu Pyro 2:0
Echoing Truth was great in both matches, bouncing an Ensnaring Bridge from my Mardu opponent (is that a common tech now?) and my own Snappy against UW Control in response to a sweeper. CurdBros, I really have to thank you. Without your ongoing praise for that card I might have never added it to my mainboard.
Little Gideon was awesome against UW Control dodging Terminus several times.
I also lost one round against Bant Spirits but that was really weird... and epic
I started with a 3 Bolt + Snap hand so and drew into Bolt and Snap so I went upstairs with the burn. But my opponent didn't do a single point of damage to himself (no fetches, no shocks) so all the Bolts weren't enough and I had to start burning his creatures to not get destroyed. I used a lot of resources to deal with his Geist. My opponent played very slow (at a tournament I would have called a judge) and after about 40 minutes we both were at 5 life, I had 1 Snappy and 1 Gideon with 6 loyality and Emblem in play and he had a copied Snappy, 1 Supreme Phantom and 1 Hierarch. Unfortunately after that he top decked 2 Collected Companies and won on the third extra turn. I found 1 Helix and put him to 2 but I failed in finding that last burn spell. Since time was up I lost 0-1.
I am playing the same deck on MTGO and during the last week I won 5 out of 6 matches and, yet again, I really love my current deck. I wish there was a Grand Prix this weekend were I could play...
Apparently Risk Factor is quite a card. Its blowing up pre-release and some are trying it in U/R / Jeskai Shells.
I think it has space in our decks as a 1 or 2 of.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
played a nice match against Abzan this morning.
You can watch the first game here.
A nice comeback after failing to find a third land for several turns even with scrying 4 cards to the bottom... Never give up
Second game he got me good with a turn 3 Choke. I managed to play 3 Delvers that game but none of them flipped and I lost.
Third game I won thanks to Echoing Truth which I casted twice with Snappy and thereby bounced 2x4 spirit tokens. Without these blockers he had no chance against turn 2 flip Delver and turn 3 Geist.
StevomatUWR- I absolutely love to play against Abzan and Jund. It's always a back and forth fun match with a lot of choices. Echoing Truth is never leaving my mainboard. That is one contribution I think we will have for the future of jeskai on this forum. We have been playing and championing Echoing Truth for awhile.
How does Mana Tithe perform for you. It was really good in that game, but I was wondering if it's ever a dead card for you. I'm interested to give it a try. I currently have an open slot and am struggling to find a card for it.
I haven't seen a Choke in awhile, but with Abzan and Jund likely picking up soon with the new set, we will have to look out for those. Thanks again for the videos. I love watching these!
NMDPS- I hadn't realized that. I hope it does break out since there were NO other good jump start cards for modern. As you can see I'm still a little bitter about how WOTC treated Izzet in GRN.
Thanks Hal 9001. I hope your pre-release went well too. I am going today so hopefully I can pull a Ral Zarek, Izzet Viceroy.
SV = Serum Visions
EE = Engineered Explosives
That's actually a very positive thing in our deck. Having cards that can easily be sided out but are versatile in game 1 are very good for us. I will give it a try in my "flex slot"
Blue has the same card/spell I do not recall the name.
From what I have been seeing, burn is really back on the incline in terms of play. I have seen a lot of burn lately. It's a fairly straightforward matchup, but it's not an easy one. Definitely keeping Eidolon of the board is a major priority for us. Snapcaster-Helix is the single best thing we can do. I keep thinking I need the fourth copy of helix, but can't pull the trigger.
Thanks again for the write-up. I love reading these things. Just think if you had 3 byes to start the tournament like a top pro and then started 4-1. You would end the day at 7-1 and near the lead. Those byes make a huge difference, but I still like having them because we have to have players we want to root for each week and there should be some type of benefit for playing every week as your job. It's not necessarily "fair", but in a game with this much variance it's tough to market players without having some type of "advantage".
I think you are correct about Mission's Briefing. It's not going to change our deck completely or be an all star like snapcaster mage and bolt, but it does help with late game consistency and additional card advantage. Most importantly it's an instant. I have been running 1 copy and it's been good thus far.
I updated my deck on Tappedout.
The description is very long but contains nothing I haven't posted here already. If you want Jeskai Delver to draw more attention then please upvote. I also put a link our thread in there.
I wish you all a nice week
Exitenz- I really like Ionize in your deck. The style of that card fits great into a more midrange aggro-control style deck. Figure of Destiny also fits this style of play well. You and Stevomat play somewhat similar styles right now and it looks like a great place to be.
2x Boros Charm
2x Chance for Glory
2x Integrity // Intervention
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
3x Mutagenic Growth
2x Opt
2x Risk Factor
3x Spell Pierce
2x Unsubstantiate
4x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Inspiring Vantage
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Scalding Tarn
1x Seachrome Coast
3x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
1x Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Monastery Swiftspear
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Stormchaser Mage
Sorcery (4)
4x Serum Visions
Some cards don't perform well when goldfished, namely Risk Factor and Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice, so I'm just throwing them there for testing. Both provide reach/evasion and in general extra damage, but might go back to Hazoret, the Fervent or do a split of 1/1 on the 4CMC slot. I'm also not sure on the land count, goldfishing around 30ish games hasn't produced extreme results that wouldn't be produced with 19 lands, but it might be a good idea to got to 19.
Sideboard will definitely include Blood Moons, Surgicals, some counters, geists and the usual goodies of the Jeskai clan.
As said before, I appreciate any feedback/ideas and suggestions!
I think your testing has shown some of the feedback I would suggest. I am not a huge fan of Risk Factor in general. I have to put a disclaimer that I have not tested it yet so this is purely theory from my end. I just feel like it's always going to be 4 damage for 3 mana unless the opponent is really low and likely losing the game anyways so the three cards aren't really all that important at that point since you are likely winning the game anyways if the opponent is willing to give you 3 cards. Instant speed is super important for this card, but I don't think it's a card I will be playing. I think a couple copies of Remand might be good, but you don't want to much counter magic in an aggro list. You may just want to up the lightning helix count to 4.
I also think Aurelia is not necessary either. I don't think it's a bad card in the deck, but I do think Hazoret or Revler are much better choices. Especially in a spell heavy aggro list.
A card I am really interested in hearing how it tests in a deck like this is Chance for Glory. That card looks really great in this deck and I hope it works out well.
As for the lands, I have really enjoyed 19 lands in a 61 card deck. I have been running it like this for a long time. I was in between 18 and 19 land so I thought why not just add a land and keep everything else. So far so good so that is something you may want to play around with when testing your list. This is really awesome take on jeskai prowess and I really hope some of these cards shine so we can add some new spice to our lists. Thanks for posting.
4 Spell Queller
3 Crackling Drake
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
3 Opt
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Mission Briefing
3 Lightning Helix
2 Mana Leak
2 Risk Factor
2 Flooded Strand
2 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Inspiring Vantage
2 Island
1 Mountain
2 Alpine Moon
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dispel
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Rest In Peace
1 Stony Silence
1 Abrade
1 Hide//Seek
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Anger of the Gods
A few notes include:
1) Is 0 Snapcaster a sin? Mission Briefing is slightly harder to cast but is a Spell for delver, fills the GY for Drake, certain interactions (like surgical) can’t interact with surveil as well, etc
2) Not entirely sold on Crackling Drake yet. I love that it doesn’t care about GY hosers, so I can play it with RIP. Just wish there was a way to protect it on 4, Shame we can’t support Disrupting shoals.
3) The counter suite I chose doesn’t work the best with Path to exile, so any recommendations there would be appreciated.
Thanks for the help guys!
Modern: UWR Control
EDH: Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Titania, Protector of Argoth
Phelddagrif
Glissa, the Traitor
Rosheen Meanderer
RIP Jimmy foREVer
Here are my thoughts on your questions
1). I would say yes. In most cases not including Snapcaster Mage is likely just wrong. Budget purposes may come into play and that is totally understandable. However, if a player has access to snapcaster mage it is likely the best creature you can include in a jeskai deck that has a decent amount of burn and/or cantrips.
2). I haven't tried Drake yet, but it looks great. The casting cost makes it a touch inclusion and other options at the 4 CMC cost may be better. Hazoret looks like it would fit into this deck nicely. As many of you know I am a very big supporter of Bedlam Reveler as well. Keep us posted on how the drakes test.
3). The counter suite looks ok. I am not a fan of mana leak in a path deck so I personally would replace them with Remand,but other than that I think it looks good.
As for overall comments I really don't have a lot to add yet because much of the deck hasn't been tested by myself yet. I haven't tested Risk Factor or 4 copies of Mission's Briefing yet. I have tested with 1-2 copies of mission's briefing and it was very serviceable. It doesn't change the deck my a major factor but it does give us a bit more consistency and deck manipulation so I do like it. Keep us posted on how it goes. I have a feeling the creature suite will change slightly (maybe cutting a spell queller and/or a drake for snapcaster mage), but I look forward to seeing what you find.
I played my usual list but to spice things up I played Elspeth, Knight-Errant instead of one of my Gideons.
Round 1 vs UR Delver
Path, Helix and Geist make our deck so much better than their's.
Easy 2-0
Round 2 vs Green Tron
First game went long, my opponent couldn't assemble Tron and I kept attacking with Delver while disrupting him with Spell Pierce and Remand, until I could finish him with Bolt, Bolt, Snap, Bolt.
Second game went like a dream: turn 1 Delver into Turn 2 Stony Silence into turn 3 Damping Sphere.
Easy 2-0
Round 3 vs UW Spirits
Opponent won the dice roll and had Vial. I think he completely destroyed me in 5 turns.
This match is so hard in my opinion. All our burn spells are good for nothing if the opponent can vial in Mausoleum Wanderer or Selfless Spirit to protect his lords or just plays Rattlechains with flash for protection or plays any lord with flash if Rattlechains is in play, or plays Spell Queller...
Second game I had a fast start with Delver into Delver + Figure into Geist. Still he fought back hard and I barely won before I ran out of gas and life.
Third game went really long and I had no luck ending up with 8 lands in play. Thanks to that I had an 8/8 flying Kithkin Avatar for the first time but since it doesn't have lifelink or trample it still wasn't enough.
My last chance was to play Geist and to give it haste with Slayer's Stronghold and to attack with him and Super Kithkin in order to make my opponent block. That way I would have survived the back swing but my opponent had a Queller for Geist and I died.
Very tough one 1-2
Round 4 vs Grixis Control
Also a deck that is very hard to play against. Inquisition takes the good things out of your hand, if you cast something there's Mana Leak, if you commit too much to the board there's Damnation, if you're too passive then Liliana, the Last Hope takes over and then there's Nicol Bolas, the Ravager...
First game he destroyed all my cheap creatures with removal and Lilly and my Geist couldn't get past his Pia and Kiran Nalaar. K-Command brought Pia & Kiran back and I died.
Second game we both changed 7 cards. However, it was Elspeth won the game single-handedly.
Third game was very grindy but my Azcanta slowly won me the upper hand. It was like we had switched roles. He only had few lands and attacked aggressively with Bolt, Snap, Bolt, and Creeping Tar Pits. I was down to 5 life and he was still at 20 when I stabilized and managed to resolve Elspeth again. After that flying Geist hit him for 9 and Azcanta had found me Dispel and Helix to stay alive. He then played Kalitas but I found Gideon who rendered Kalitas useless, while Geist finished him off.
Grindy 2-1
I worked on the Jund/Abzan matchup today and I think I have found a really great sideboard option against them. Now for this card to work you have to have a fairly aggressive deck and side out a number of counter spells. The card is Experimental Frenzy. I know it sounds crazy that a 4 drop enchantment that doesn't affect the board is a good sideboard card, but it was nothing short of ridiculous nearly every time I cast it. I would say on average it drew me 2-3 cards a turn. With Reveler and Experimental Frenzy at the top end we can really out card advantage them. I typically side out a remand, a spell pierce, and maybe the spell snare (if I run two copies of frenzy). I only tested one copy and it was really good.
I know I sound like I'm selling the card to high, but I really suggest you guys/gals give it a try. It is a broken card when it works. I have never had a solid sideboard plan against Jund/Abzan so I think this is finally the answer.
Has anyone else tested Experimental Frenzy in their list?
very interesting SB tech. I am just wondering against which other deck besides Jund/Abzan you could bring it in?
Jund & Abzan only make 5% of the Modern metagame. Have you tested the card against UW Control? If it's good against that deck then it would cover another 13% of the current metagame (even though it would only be a win-more card against them since the match-up is really good).
I am also wondering if it wouldn't just be better to use Chandra, Torch of Defiance instead. She also let's you play additional spells while she builds up to a game ending ultimate. On the other hand it might be easier for opponents to deal with her than to deal with a CMC4 enchantment.
I would test another round with Experimental Frenzy and consider how games would play out if you had Chandra instead.
Now, the outliers: Aurelia was busted, 4/5 vigilant, trampling flyer who mentored my other fliers closed games. Fast. They couldn't chump block her and it. Integrity // Intervention had me pleasantly surprised. The +2/+2 helped me close games in 1 turn coupled with Boros Charm or Mutagenic Growth and its 2nd mode was relevant and lifesaving a few times. I recommend it if you're ever going to play a list similar to mine.
Chance for Glory... Well... BOY THAT CARD IS AWESOME. Not only it won me games out of the blue, but I was actively wanting to draw it (mind you I played one during the event because I hadn't gotten my 2nd copy yet).
Overall I went 2-3, losing twice to burn to bad luck (missing 2nd landrop for 6 turns in a row twice in a match, and the 2nd time losing a 3rd game to 3 searing blazes -_- . The 3rd loss was against GDS, where we both just played land drops for the first 7 turns (yeah...) and I was drawing only burn. At one point I say go for it and got hit by 5 Stubborn Denials. I mean... wtf...
In general I thing the 3rd Helix is a must and remands are bad. I also missed some kind of sweeper and/or card that can help me race. I'll try Deafening Clarion since it can be both a sweeper and grant my creature lifelink, and with prowess on most of my creatures the 3 damage won't matter as much. Also, I'd play 2 Aurelias as a top end. Trample and mentor were relevant more often than not.
@Curdbros, I've thought about Experimental Frenzy and I think it'd be really cool addition. I've only tried it in my Saheeli commander deck, but it has overperformed there, so I'd suggest some testing to see if it really helps
I think remand needs to be in a specific style deck. The more aggro-control or tempo lists typically get the most out of remand. I haven't seen remand played in the more aggro versions with mutagenic growth and such so you are likely right on point that it just doesn't work well in your new list.
I am super excited that Chance For Glory works well. It feels like it has a perfect home in your deck. I do think a third helix is a must right now with all of the burn going around. A fourth would be great, but I haven't found room in my deck for a fouth copy. Deafening Clarion really interests me because it can hit two different style deck. It would basically end burn's day if you can land it and not get Skull Cracked or Atarka's Commanded.
StevmatUWR- I plan on testing Experimental Frenzy a lot more in the near future. I don't think it will be as good against UW Control because they have counter magic and Detention Sphere. However, I have not tested it against them yet and will definitely be doing so soon. I will make sure to think of the card as Chandra each time I play it to make sure that wouldn't be better. I think the deck style will really dictate which card fits better. If you have a stronger top end and play a bit more midrange then Chandra may be a better option. If you have a very low CMC and depend on casting a large number of spells, burn, or prowess than Experimental Frenzy will likely be better (I think). Again, I don't have a ton of testing with the card yet, but look forward to trying it more. I have been looking for something to play against Jund and especially Abzan since day one so I am really hopeful this works out.
Has anyone else tried Risk Factor? I haven't given it a go yet, but a lot of the writers at Star City Games are very high on Risk Factor. To me it doesn't feel like it fits in my build, but I would be happy to be wrong. I think 99% of the time it will be 4 damage for three mana. With that said, Jump Start is a super powerful trait and the fact that you can do it at the end of turn makes this card deceptive in power level I think. I am interested to see if it works for anyone. I do think Burn would love a copy of this card and therefore a super burn/prowess oriented build of jeskai prowess/delver may love it.