Something that really bothers me: decks with 23 lands, 15 3+ drops (counting the snaps in there as well) and 4 Colonnades and no remands can't be tempo...
Other than that, Rider needs a more aggressive build, which I tried last week, included 3 Lightning Angels too -went an epic 1-3, so I don't really like his build.
I've only managed to play one event with my usual deck, with the only change that I moved the Clique in the main and went an relatively easy 4-0. Played against Kiln fiend combo, Knightfall, GW Value town company and Abzan. I changed up my SB and at the moment it looks something like this:
I wanted to try the god, but didn't draw him in any game, but he'd be pretty good in every game. As for teferi, I didn't really play against any blue deck so still a mystery.
Hi guys,
I played a Modern Challenge today at MTGO (125 players) with my deck. The deck is the one I posted last, just that I run 1 Electrolyze instead of 1 Emerge Unscathed. Unfortunately the event started at 5 pm local time here in Germany but I played as long as I could bear it...
First round was terrible. Opponent, of course, had to play one of the decks I hate the most (even though it makes only 1% of the metagame): Ad Nauseum. First game he killed me turn 4, finding the card he needed with Spoils of the Vault (instead of just dying -_-).
Second game I could slow him down with Stony Silence but couldn't find a threat. I had a Path (left one in the deck) for his Grave Titan but he killed me faster than I could kill him. Result: 0-2
Second round opponent played Mono Blue Living End with As Foretold.
First game I killed him very fast with burn and Delver. Second game he cast Living End and got three creatures. I was able to handle these but he resolved a Ancestral Vision and drowned me in card advantage.
Third game I resolved Azcanta and it was awesome, letting me discard Geist and Snapcaster so that my graveyard looked even better than his while flipping my Delver. I was able to kill him with burn and Delver. Result: 2-1
Third round i played against UW Control. Won the first game fast with a second Geist after his Verdict. Second game we both had a flipped Azcanta but he was able to destroy mine and his own led him to victory. I flooded terribly that game ending up with 9 lands in play.
Third game ended with him being at 0 life and me conceding being at 21 life, because he had little Gideon and big Gideon in play with emblem and I had only a Remand left in hand. Result: 1-2
With two lost rounds I stumbled into round 4 and since my good match-ups like Death's Shadow usually fare better I ended up playing another real bad match-up: Eldrazi Hatebears. First game I lost due to a stupid mistake. I forgot that his Eldrazi Displacer can just flicker Geist's angel token and so my assumed deadly attack ended in a catastrophy.
Second game he overwhelmed me with Tidehollow -> Blade Splicer -> Thought-Knot Seer when I couldn't find removal... Result: 0-2
Round 5... I played against Eldrazi Tron. First game I got a good start with Delver, countering Chalice turn 2 and playing Geist turn 3. However, he played TKS on his third turn taking my Path and a Smasher on his next turn and won the race. Maybe I shouldn't have played Geist to keep up Path but that couldn't have been the right play since his deck has the better late game.
Second game I had 4 lands, 2 Paths and a Clique and decided that this hand is likely not good enough without early pressure so I took a mulligan. Next 6 cards of course had 0 lands so I had to mull to 5. Opponent played Eldrazi Temple turn 1 & 2 and TKS turn 2 & 3. WTF -_- Result: 0-2
So, since end of October I kept playing the same deck at FNMs and on MTGO at tournament practise. Since then I went 40-15 with the deck on MTGO and 9-2 at the last three FNMs. As you can imagine I was very confident when I joined today's tournament. Having great hopes and then ending up 1-4 (I dropped after 5 rounds when I got a bye for round 6) is really disheartening. I have to forget this quickly and look forward. Hopefully this report is at least somehow helpful to someone here. Good night.
@MrTzoulis ; I agree 23 lands with a definate midrange feel and little tempo/bounce does not read as tempo. Keep in mind that Tempo also means flow (speed) of game. Altho MTG refers to it more as quick response actions.
I felt the lightning angel would be good as well but they take too long to cast and use too many resources. That 1 extra mana is meaningful. thunderbreak regent same cmc but has protection.
Your Original decklist looked good why try a change that drastic?
@StevomatUWR ; bad variance, it happens. Reshuffle try again Better luck next time.
I have not been able to play at all this month so I have no testing data to add.
So I live vicariously though you guys and your results. TY
Hey Jeskai Mages,
Here is my latest deck. After testing, Muta Growth was cut in favor of more burn and midrange cards to provide late-game resiliency (and less dead cards in hand). Traft is awesome post board.
Questions:
1. Is Opt or Serum Visions the better cantrip for me?
2. Is Electrolyze best in its flex slot or is something better?
3. I think my board needs work. Opinions and suggestions welcome.
Questions:
1. Is Opt or Serum Visions the better cantrip for me?
2. Is Electrolyze best in its flex slot or is something better?
3. I think my board needs work. Opinions and suggestions welcome.
IMHO,
1. Depends on your play style. I have a kinda midrange-ish list, and I play 2-2 of them.
2. Deflecting Palm is also a thing. Fit flex slot as well. Flex slot best filled with mainboard-able sideboard-ish cards which fit your meta.
3. Board also depends on your metagame. It's super relative. I prefer Crumble to Dust over Spreading Seas though.
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
Hi guys,
I played a Modern Challenge today at MTGO (125 players) with my deck. The deck is the one I posted last, just that I run 1 Electrolyze instead of 1 Emerge Unscathed. Unfortunately the event started at 5 pm local time here in Germany but I played as long as I could bear it...
First round was terrible. Opponent, of course, had to play one of the decks I hate the most (even though it makes only 1% of the metagame): Ad Nauseum. First game he killed me turn 4, finding the card he needed with Spoils of the Vault (instead of just dying -_-).
Second game I could slow him down with Stony Silence but couldn't find a threat. I had a Path (left one in the deck) for his Grave Titan but he killed me faster than I could kill him. Result: 0-2
Second round opponent played Mono Blue Living End with As Foretold.
First game I killed him very fast with burn and Delver. Second game he cast Living End and got three creatures. I was able to handle these but he resolved a Ancestral Vision and drowned me in card advantage.
Third game I resolved Azcanta and it was awesome, letting me discard Geist and Snapcaster so that my graveyard looked even better than his while flipping my Delver. I was able to kill him with burn and Delver. Result: 2-1
Third round i played against UW Control. Won the first game fast with a second Geist after his Verdict. Second game we both had a flipped Azcanta but he was able to destroy mine and his own led him to victory. I flooded terribly that game ending up with 9 lands in play.
Third game ended with him being at 0 life and me conceding being at 21 life, because he had little Gideon and big Gideon in play with emblem and I had only a Remand left in hand. Result: 1-2
With two lost rounds I stumbled into round 4 and since my good match-ups like Death's Shadow usually fare better I ended up playing another real bad match-up: Eldrazi Hatebears. First game I lost due to a stupid mistake. I forgot that his Eldrazi Displacer can just flicker Geist's angel token and so my assumed deadly attack ended in a catastrophy.
Second game he overwhelmed me with Tidehollow -> Blade Splicer -> Thought-Knot Seer when I couldn't find removal... Result: 0-2
Round 5... I played against Eldrazi Tron. First game I got a good start with Delver, countering Chalice turn 2 and playing Geist turn 3. However, he played TKS on his third turn taking my Path and a Smasher on his next turn and won the race. Maybe I shouldn't have played Geist to keep up Path but that couldn't have been the right play since his deck has the better late game.
Second game I had 4 lands, 2 Paths and a Clique and decided that this hand is likely not good enough without early pressure so I took a mulligan. Next 6 cards of course had 0 lands so I had to mull to 5. Opponent played Eldrazi Temple turn 1 & 2 and TKS turn 2 & 3. WTF -_- Result: 0-2
So, since end of October I kept playing the same deck at FNMs and on MTGO at tournament practise. Since then I went 40-15 with the deck on MTGO and 9-2 at the last three FNMs. As you can imagine I was very confident when I joined today's tournament. Having great hopes and then ending up 1-4 (I dropped after 5 rounds when I got a bye for round 6) is really disheartening. I have to forget this quickly and look forward. Hopefully this report is at least somehow helpful to someone here. Good night.
These days/nights happen. It's never fun to run bad, but it's always great to let people know not only when you do well, but also when the deck doesn't do well. I have always learned more from my losses than my wins. It's never fun to run bad when we entire a larger event because that's when you really want to play well and run well, but in the end it's just a game. Thank you for sharing this because it's rare for someone to share losses which really helps learn about matchups.
I need to practice against Ad Nauseum. I have only ever played against it twice and both times were on MTGO. I beat them once by destroying his artifact mana and he just couldn't go off in time. The second time I played against Ad Nauseum I won game one on a text book delver, swiftspear beat down and then after turn 2 in game 2 the opponent conceeded the match. He/she must have kept a speculative hand and just didn't get there. I have almost no experience against the deck so I doubt I will be so lucky the next time I play against the deck.
It's great to hear that you beat the new hot deck- UB Living End. That deck seems like a legit deck, but does have some weaknesses. I have seen versions with tons of counter magic (the version I like best) and other versions with less counter magic. I don't think it will continue to do well however given how many people are running Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void right now.
I think you made the right call against Eldrazi Tron. They had to not only have the Thought-Knot Seer, but also have the Smasher and hope you don't get any further removal. If he doesn't have those exact cards you likely win that game. Sometimes they just have it and no matter how well you play they just have the nuts. Then of course the game after they have the nuts you have to mull to 5 and they have the nuts again. It sounds like fate was against you.
Eldrazi Hate-bears is a tough matchup. Bedlam Reveler is awesome in those matchups by refueling and they can't really bounce him. Snapcaster Mage is also super important in that matchup. The problem is that our delvers get a ton weaker against displacer. It's super important to keep displacer off the field, but they also have tons of other decent options against us. I have always found the Eldrazi hatebears deck to be rather finicky. They either destroy me or I destroy them.
Hey Jeskai Mages,
Here is my latest deck. After testing, Muta Growth was cut in favor of more burn and midrange cards to provide late-game resiliency (and less dead cards in hand). Traft is awesome post board.
Questions:
1. Is Opt or Serum Visions the better cantrip for me?
2. Is Electrolyze best in its flex slot or is something better?
3. I think my board needs work. Opinions and suggestions welcome.
First off, I like the changes you have made to your list. As for the questions, here is what I think:
1. I prefer Opt because I play both Spell Snare and Spell Pierce which are best early in the game. I run 4 opt and 2 serum visions. I still think serum vistions is great and going 3 opt, 3 visions for me would likely be fine. I probably won't run more serum visions than opt as long as I am running early counter magic.
2. Electrolyze is a great slot option. I prefer Spell Queller in my flex spot right now as a way to add a little more "counter magic" to the deck while also having a threat. You can't go wrong with electrolyze so I wouldn't recommend chaning anything unless it feels like they get stuck in your hand or unless you feel like you need more counter magic.
3. I think your board looks great. I don't currently run Spreading Seas because I haven't had too many problems beating Tron and they don't do enough against Scapeshift to side in. I have really been impressed with Izzet Staticaster in my board lately and I also think Hallowed Moonlight is a great option right now with the increase in Goryo's Vengeance deck. It also hits collected company, chord, aether vial, etc. That's the only changes I would recommend.
A close friend of mine plays the Goryo's Vengeance deck, the grixis one though, and the match up is massively in our favor even pre board. If they can't do a fast reanimate, they're already on the backfoot. The only times he's beaten me was when I had a mediocre hand and he had a T2/T3 Goryo's. Post board is even easier with RiP/Surgicals/Dispels. You just have to be careful, when or what to path or burn when they're comboing off, getting them as fast as possible to sub-14 life really hinders their plan, especially if you can remand/spell pierce a Shoal.
A close friend of mine plays the Goryo's Vengeance deck, the grixis one though, and the match up is massively in our favor even pre board. If they can't do a fast reanimate, they're already on the backfoot. The only times he's beaten me was when I had a mediocre hand and he had a T2/T3 Goryo's. Post board is even easier with RiP/Surgicals/Dispels. You just have to be careful, when or what to path or burn when they're comboing off, getting them as fast as possible to sub-14 life really hinders their plan, especially if you can remand/spell pierce a Shoal.
Great points Mr. Tzoulis. I too have had very good results against this deck. Like you said, you have to know the matchup well to make sure you are playing around what they can do, but it isn't too tough. Counter magic is great against them. That's one of the great bonuses about playing a jeskai aggro-control list because you have a good matchup against these "glass-cannon" style decks.
So perhaps I should work on a more "team-Geist" or "Jeskai Delver" list to compliment my aggro build? I did this in the past, during Eldrazi Winter, and it worked fantastically.
Hey Jeskai Mages,
Here is my latest deck. After testing, Muta Growth was cut in favor of more burn and midrange cards to provide late-game resiliency (and less dead cards in hand). Traft is awesome post board.
Questions:
1. Is Opt or Serum Visions the better cantrip for me?
2. Is Electrolyze best in its flex slot or is something better?
3. I think my board needs work. Opinions and suggestions welcome.
1. Serum visions digs deeper, which is relevant for you. Since you play prowess creatures you will be playing spells before combat or during to have a beefy creature. Having a spell that digs 3 instead of a possible 2 will come in handy more often than being able to flash opt on an opponents end step in my opinion. Chaining multiple serum visions together is a lot more effective than chaining multiple opt. You also need to be able to dig as deep as possible to hit that 4th land drop for Chandra.
2. I like Queller or Electrolyze. I would go with electrolyze with this build since you already are running 16 creatures, electrolyze will help out those prowess creatures. I can't speak more highly over my results over both though so you can't go wrong with either. But having electrolyze in my main has been FANTASTIC for me.
3. The sideboard is a very difficult thing to put together. First, find out what decks yours is good against and what decks you will have trouble with, and the ones that feel unwinnable. You want to focus on cards that will help you against the middle column and the more uses a card the higher likely you can use it for multiple matchups.
_____________________________
(I use the standard Jeskai Geist deck with 3 geist main deck, so my deck will be different than yours of course but...)
-Molten rain- Great against multiple decks that have greedy mana bases or rely on the Tron lands. I have 2 in my board. I like this better than sea and crumble for my personal choice.
-Relic of Progenitus- My card of choice for graveyard strategies, I use 2. Flexible and easy to use.
-Geist of Saint Traft- Great card for you to play sideboard if you dont want it main deck. Should be at least a 2 of I believe.
-I love Engineered Explosives, Dispel, and Izzet Staticaster is a HOUSE against multiple decks.
- Pia and Kiran Nalaar has also been actually pretty good against a variety of decks as well
Molten Rain: This deck plays out much like a Jeskai burn deck, so having cards that "Do a thing and hit the face simultaneously" are amazing for me. So I'm beginning to think that Molten Rain seems better than Seas or Blood Moon for my more aggressive shell, since it can kill a Tron land or Valakut, Shock the opponent, then hit the opponent his/her lands again a second time when I Snap it back.
Spell Queller: I LOVE Queller. Great in the "Team Geist" style tempo list (which is my second deck, seeing as how I like paying one brew locally and one netdeck for higher level events) but since this aggro shell is a more proactive deck, I probably would keep him in my board here as an additional reactive "counterspell" type tempo effect.
Geist of Saint Traft: How the heck did I forget this guy, seeing as I'm running him in the Team Geist shell? In this more aggro shell,He's probably best against removal heavy builds and things that can't answer him easily like Burn, as well as matchups where I am clearly the aggressor and I need another source of pressure. Definitely like him and wanna make room.
EE: Got one in my board already, considering another.
Staticaster: Where is he powerful? I've never figured out what matchups I want him against. I'll give him a shot once I learn how to use him.
Dispel: Love it, still working out the balance between Dispel and Pierce.
Molten Rain: This deck plays out much like a Jeskai burn deck, so having cards that "Do a thing and hit the face simultaneously" are amazing for me. So I'm beginning to think that Molten Rain seems better than Seas or Blood Moon for my more aggressive shell, since it can kill a Tron land or Valakut, Shock the opponent, then hit the opponent his/her lands again a second time when I Snap it back.
Spell Queller: I LOVE Queller. Great in the "Team Geist" style tempo list (which is my second deck, seeing as how I like paying one brew locally and one netdeck for higher level events) but since this aggro shell is a more proactive deck, I probably would keep him in my board here as an additional reactive "counterspell" type tempo effect.
Geist of Saint Traft: How the heck did I forget this guy, seeing as I'm running him in the Team Geist shell? In this more aggro shell,He's probably best against removal heavy builds and things that can't answer him easily like Burn, as well as matchups where I am clearly the aggressor and I need another source of pressure. Definitely like him and wanna make room.
EE: Got one in my board already, considering another.
Staticaster: Where is he powerful? I've never figured out what matchups I want him against. I'll give him a shot once I learn how to use him.
Dispel: Love it, still working out the balance between Dispel and Pierce.
If you're looking to attack manabases there isn't a better card than Blood Moon, especially in a deck like ours that can leverage the tempo loss or color stumbling of our opponents and oftentimes can still function with 2 out of 3 colors. Molten rain won't do much against Tron or Valakut, especially on the draw. Going Remand/Spell Pierce/Logic Knot w/e T2 into Blood Moon in T3 is far better than T3 Molten Rain, which won't work against valakut and tron will just shrug it off. Also, Blood Moon shuts off utility and man lands which is important against grindier/control match-ups, and can screw with hatebears/knightfall, whereas Molten Rain is nigh useless in these match ups.
1. I like Queller, but not in a delver list. This is mostly a personal opinion rather than something I've thoroughly tested
2. Geist is a powerhouse. I've been consistently told that it's a bad creature in modern etc, etc. but he's won me easily half of my games where he's in the deck. Other than Young Pyro, it's the card that get's 'Seized or Inquisitioned the most.
3. You can never go wrong with EE, so yeah nothing to say here.
4. Staticaster is a powerhouse against any deck that plays many x/1 creatures: G/x Company decks of all flavors, Lingering souls.dec, Dredge, Infect, Affinity and some others that I can't remember off the top of my head.
5. Dispel is awesome. I'm thinking of going to 2 copies in the board. I wouldn't play it in the main since it doesn't really help with many match-ups, but it's epic where you want it.
@ GofyTomcat1; Staticaster: Where is he powerful? I've never figured out what matchups I want him against. I'll give him a shot once I learn how to use him.
It has decent value against many meta decks with creatures with low toughness. Affinity, Soul Sisters, Goblins, Jeskai Delver, Anything with spirits or 1/1 tokens. It is also possible to hit larger guys with a combo off Electrolyze or Anger of the gods . There are a lot of decks that play 2/1 or 3/1 guys that can be taken down with staticaster. He just has a lot of useful targets in some decks.
1. Serum visions digs deeper, which is relevant for you. Since you play prowess creatures you will be playing spells before combat or during to have a beefy creature. Having a spell that digs 3 instead of a possible 2 will come in handy more often than being able to flash opt on an opponents end step in my opinion. Chaining multiple serum visions together is a lot more effective than chaining multiple opt. You also need to be able to dig as deep as possible to hit that 4th land drop for Chandra.
a hard card to play in modern. bolt(s), fatal push are its main enemies. will end up as removal bait in the early game. needs at least 7 (or 3/4 with L.bolt) mana to get any instant value and that is very late / later in the game. i am still very disappointed that r&d made the buyback cost at 4. would have been more playable if it was 1/ur/ur rather then 4 mana....
tbh, you are better off playing Cryptic Command. SFGM's opportunity cost is simply too high.
On Chandra, Torch of Defiance:: when does she perform well against and under what situation? 4 abilities PW seems cool, but can't find how she make our deck better.
(Especially since I already switched gear from Delver to Midrange-y list feat. Thundermaw Hellkite. So 4 mana PW seems fine.)
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
Chandra is good against midrange lists: GBx, Death's Shadow etc, as well as control if she resolves. At least that is what I've found. I also love her as a pet card of mine so I had to fit her in.
Soulfire was a house during standard. because there was less removal in every ones hand. In Modern there are lots of removal for it. The rebuy cost of spells is too high which slows your deck down trying to make it work. The lifelink of spells makes it nice, but then your playing it as a life gainer. which means lightning helix only a bit worst.
Also lifelink does not work with spells that do not do damage which is a lot.
I did play against a deck in modern built around Soulfire. It did not do well in FNM. Every game went to time in round, the win condition of his deck was to bounce spells with soulfire until the opponent died. Your deck is very different as speed, haste, and burn are important to you.
A better option if price is not important vexing devil
Edit: seeker of the way if your interested in Lifegain, has more synergy with your prowess theme.
If your interested in draw(bounce) to refill your hand, then chart a course has been good.
Mr Tzoulis- I have also questioned Spell Queller in a delver list in the past. I have been working on making sure the jeskai tempo deck doesn't bleed into my current build. I currently run one copy of spell queller in my flex spot, but I do think it's a little "slow" for game 1 in a delver build.
As for Izzet Staticaster I can echo what has been said above. I actually was not a huge fan of the card for a long time because I always thought I don't want to pay 3 mana for a 0/3 that can't attack. However, in the matchups in which she is good against she is often great or game ending. She is great against tokens (WB tokens, lingering souls, soul sisters, empty the warrens, etc) and is awesome against decks with a bunch of little guys/gals (collected company, affinity, dredge, etc). I have been very pleasantly suprised with how good izzet staticaster actually performs.
I haven't found the need for land destruction/disruption yet for my individual list. Bloodmoon is obviously very powerful, it just doesn't fit my playstyle (I dislike the card). I have found that I can beat the big mana decks in other ways that are more reliable than when I played land disruption because the land disruption seemed like a speed bump, but not powerful enough. I am talking about Spreading Seas and Molten Rain in particular as they are the only cards I have played in my board.
Soulfire Grandmaster is a great card, however, it is just to fragile for modern. It is very killable in most of the matchups we want lifegain. In addition, in the matchups in which we want life gain the games are so quick that we can rarely take advantage of her ability.
A card I am going to give a try is Faithless Looting. That way I can feed reveler and snapcaster mage and also help avoid flooding. I have thought about trying Izzet Charm in the past, but never loved it so I am going to give a faithless looting a chance.
A card I am going to give a try is Faithless Looting. That way I can feed reveler and snapcaster mage and also help avoid flooding. I have thought about trying Izzet Charm in the past, but never loved it so I am going to give a faithless looting a chance.
You know your deck better than me, but I do not think this is where you want to be. Loot is good with some styles. Unless your dumping lands, faithless does not equal card advantage. Your plan to put spells in the graveyard to fast cast reveler. Is that what you really want your spells to be used for? A low mana curve deck can chew through cards fast already without tossing them in.
Just wondering what your thoughts are.
Try it and share with us. I am not trying to discourage you.
A card I am going to give a try is Faithless Looting. That way I can feed reveler and snapcaster mage and also help avoid flooding. I have thought about trying Izzet Charm in the past, but never loved it so I am going to give a faithless looting a chance.
You know your deck better than me, but I do not think this is where you want to be. Loot is good with some styles. Unless your dumping lands, faithless does not equal card advantage. Your plan to put spells in the graveyard to fast cast reveler. Is that what you really want your spells to be used for? A low mana curve deck can chew through cards fast already without tossing them in.
Just wondering what your thoughts are.
Try it and share with us. I am not trying to discourage you.
Don't worry about discouragement. I am always looking for critiscm. I learn a lot more when people disagree then when they agree with me :).
I was actually watching Shahar Shenhar's interview in pro tour return to ravnica when he played jeskai delver. He mentioned that he used to run a faithless looting in the deck but was trying Izzet Charm. I haven't love izzet charm, but I haven't hated it either. I thought I would give faithless a try.
The idea behind faithless looting is to sculpt my hand (get rid of additional lands, search for a removal spell, etc). It is also there to maintain a low curve and because it has the flashback ability which is great with prowess creatures. In addition, it helps with bedlam reveler and Snapcaster Mage (although this is minimum because I will rarely be pitching multiple spells). It's definitely not card advantage (it's disadvantage if you count the faithless looting card as a loss) and that hurts my heart, but I do want to give it a try and see what happens.
I have noticed in a lot of my losses it's due to simply drawing one half of the deck and not any portion of the other. By that I will draw a ton of spells and no threats or I will draw a bunch of threats and no spells. I felt like adding a bit more manipulation and keeping the curve low. It may just be best to add another Serum Visions or Opt, but I wanted to see what faithless looting did. I will also be trying Izzet Charm as well.
Dangerous Wager is an interesting card in a prowess deck. I wonder if they made a card that was 2R and said "discard your hand, then draw three cards" if that would see play. I have thought of Ideas Unbound before, but it's been a bit. I will definitely test it as well. I'm always tinkering
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=14342&writer=Riley Knight&articledate=12-15-2017
He goes into detail on all of the different Jeskai archetypes currently being widely played. The first version is a Mantis Rider deck.
Other than that, Rider needs a more aggressive build, which I tried last week, included 3 Lightning Angels too -went an epic 1-3, so I don't really like his build.
I've only managed to play one event with my usual deck, with the only change that I moved the Clique in the main and went an relatively easy 4-0. Played against Kiln fiend combo, Knightfall, GW Value town company and Abzan. I changed up my SB and at the moment it looks something like this:
2x Deflecting Palm
3x Blood Moon
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Dispel
1x Rest in Peace
1x Wear/Tear
1x Locust God
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
I wanted to try the god, but didn't draw him in any game, but he'd be pretty good in every game. As for teferi, I didn't really play against any blue deck so still a mystery.
I played a Modern Challenge today at MTGO (125 players) with my deck. The deck is the one I posted last, just that I run 1 Electrolyze instead of 1 Emerge Unscathed. Unfortunately the event started at 5 pm local time here in Germany but I played as long as I could bear it...
First round was terrible. Opponent, of course, had to play one of the decks I hate the most (even though it makes only 1% of the metagame): Ad Nauseum. First game he killed me turn 4, finding the card he needed with Spoils of the Vault (instead of just dying -_-).
Second game I could slow him down with Stony Silence but couldn't find a threat. I had a Path (left one in the deck) for his Grave Titan but he killed me faster than I could kill him. Result: 0-2
Second round opponent played Mono Blue Living End with As Foretold.
First game I killed him very fast with burn and Delver. Second game he cast Living End and got three creatures. I was able to handle these but he resolved a Ancestral Vision and drowned me in card advantage.
Third game I resolved Azcanta and it was awesome, letting me discard Geist and Snapcaster so that my graveyard looked even better than his while flipping my Delver. I was able to kill him with burn and Delver. Result: 2-1
Third round i played against UW Control. Won the first game fast with a second Geist after his Verdict. Second game we both had a flipped Azcanta but he was able to destroy mine and his own led him to victory. I flooded terribly that game ending up with 9 lands in play.
Third game ended with him being at 0 life and me conceding being at 21 life, because he had little Gideon and big Gideon in play with emblem and I had only a Remand left in hand. Result: 1-2
With two lost rounds I stumbled into round 4 and since my good match-ups like Death's Shadow usually fare better I ended up playing another real bad match-up: Eldrazi Hatebears. First game I lost due to a stupid mistake. I forgot that his Eldrazi Displacer can just flicker Geist's angel token and so my assumed deadly attack ended in a catastrophy.
Second game he overwhelmed me with Tidehollow -> Blade Splicer -> Thought-Knot Seer when I couldn't find removal... Result: 0-2
Round 5... I played against Eldrazi Tron. First game I got a good start with Delver, countering Chalice turn 2 and playing Geist turn 3. However, he played TKS on his third turn taking my Path and a Smasher on his next turn and won the race. Maybe I shouldn't have played Geist to keep up Path but that couldn't have been the right play since his deck has the better late game.
Second game I had 4 lands, 2 Paths and a Clique and decided that this hand is likely not good enough without early pressure so I took a mulligan. Next 6 cards of course had 0 lands so I had to mull to 5. Opponent played Eldrazi Temple turn 1 & 2 and TKS turn 2 & 3. WTF -_- Result: 0-2
So, since end of October I kept playing the same deck at FNMs and on MTGO at tournament practise. Since then I went 40-15 with the deck on MTGO and 9-2 at the last three FNMs. As you can imagine I was very confident when I joined today's tournament. Having great hopes and then ending up 1-4 (I dropped after 5 rounds when I got a bye for round 6) is really disheartening. I have to forget this quickly and look forward. Hopefully this report is at least somehow helpful to someone here. Good night.
I felt the lightning angel would be good as well but they take too long to cast and use too many resources. That 1 extra mana is meaningful. thunderbreak regent same cmc but has protection.
Your Original decklist looked good why try a change that drastic?
@StevomatUWR ; bad variance, it happens. Reshuffle try again
I have not been able to play at all this month so I have no testing data to add.
So I live vicariously though you guys and your results. TY
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Stormchaser Mage
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Mantis Rider
Land
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Steam Vents
4 Flooded Strand
3 Spirebluff Canal
2 Inspiring Vantage
2 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Lightning Helix
3 Boros Charm
2 Electrolyze
1 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
Sorcery
4 Serum Visions
Planeswalker
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Stony Silence
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Dispel
2 Wear // Tear
2 Deflecting Palm
1 Negate
2 Anger of the Gods
Hey Jeskai Mages,
Here is my latest deck. After testing, Muta Growth was cut in favor of more burn and midrange cards to provide late-game resiliency (and less dead cards in hand). Traft is awesome post board.
Questions:
1. Is Opt or Serum Visions the better cantrip for me?
2. Is Electrolyze best in its flex slot or is something better?
3. I think my board needs work. Opinions and suggestions welcome.
IMHO,
1. Depends on your play style. I have a kinda midrange-ish list, and I play 2-2 of them.
2. Deflecting Palm is also a thing. Fit flex slot as well. Flex slot best filled with mainboard-able sideboard-ish cards which fit your meta.
3. Board also depends on your metagame. It's super relative. I prefer Crumble to Dust over Spreading Seas though.
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
These days/nights happen. It's never fun to run bad, but it's always great to let people know not only when you do well, but also when the deck doesn't do well. I have always learned more from my losses than my wins. It's never fun to run bad when we entire a larger event because that's when you really want to play well and run well, but in the end it's just a game. Thank you for sharing this because it's rare for someone to share losses which really helps learn about matchups.
I need to practice against Ad Nauseum. I have only ever played against it twice and both times were on MTGO. I beat them once by destroying his artifact mana and he just couldn't go off in time. The second time I played against Ad Nauseum I won game one on a text book delver, swiftspear beat down and then after turn 2 in game 2 the opponent conceeded the match. He/she must have kept a speculative hand and just didn't get there. I have almost no experience against the deck so I doubt I will be so lucky the next time I play against the deck.
It's great to hear that you beat the new hot deck- UB Living End. That deck seems like a legit deck, but does have some weaknesses. I have seen versions with tons of counter magic (the version I like best) and other versions with less counter magic. I don't think it will continue to do well however given how many people are running Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void right now.
I think you made the right call against Eldrazi Tron. They had to not only have the Thought-Knot Seer, but also have the Smasher and hope you don't get any further removal. If he doesn't have those exact cards you likely win that game. Sometimes they just have it and no matter how well you play they just have the nuts. Then of course the game after they have the nuts you have to mull to 5 and they have the nuts again. It sounds like fate was against you.
Eldrazi Hate-bears is a tough matchup. Bedlam Reveler is awesome in those matchups by refueling and they can't really bounce him. Snapcaster Mage is also super important in that matchup. The problem is that our delvers get a ton weaker against displacer. It's super important to keep displacer off the field, but they also have tons of other decent options against us. I have always found the Eldrazi hatebears deck to be rather finicky. They either destroy me or I destroy them.
First off, I like the changes you have made to your list. As for the questions, here is what I think:
1. I prefer Opt because I play both Spell Snare and Spell Pierce which are best early in the game. I run 4 opt and 2 serum visions. I still think serum vistions is great and going 3 opt, 3 visions for me would likely be fine. I probably won't run more serum visions than opt as long as I am running early counter magic.
2. Electrolyze is a great slot option. I prefer Spell Queller in my flex spot right now as a way to add a little more "counter magic" to the deck while also having a threat. You can't go wrong with electrolyze so I wouldn't recommend chaning anything unless it feels like they get stuck in your hand or unless you feel like you need more counter magic.
3. I think your board looks great. I don't currently run Spreading Seas because I haven't had too many problems beating Tron and they don't do enough against Scapeshift to side in. I have really been impressed with Izzet Staticaster in my board lately and I also think Hallowed Moonlight is a great option right now with the increase in Goryo's Vengeance deck. It also hits collected company, chord, aether vial, etc. That's the only changes I would recommend.
Great points Mr. Tzoulis. I too have had very good results against this deck. Like you said, you have to know the matchup well to make sure you are playing around what they can do, but it isn't too tough. Counter magic is great against them. That's one of the great bonuses about playing a jeskai aggro-control list because you have a good matchup against these "glass-cannon" style decks.
2 Arid Mesa
3 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Steam Vents
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Spirebluff Canal
1 Inspiring Vantage
1 Seachrome Coast
Instants/Sorceries (24)
4 Path to Exile
4 Serum Visions
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
2 Remand
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
2 Boros Charm
1 Jeskai Charm
2 Electrolyze
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Creatures (13)
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Spell Queller
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Dispel
1 Celestial Purge
2 Stony Silence
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Wear/Tear
2 Engineered Explosives
1. Serum visions digs deeper, which is relevant for you. Since you play prowess creatures you will be playing spells before combat or during to have a beefy creature. Having a spell that digs 3 instead of a possible 2 will come in handy more often than being able to flash opt on an opponents end step in my opinion. Chaining multiple serum visions together is a lot more effective than chaining multiple opt. You also need to be able to dig as deep as possible to hit that 4th land drop for Chandra.
2. I like Queller or Electrolyze. I would go with electrolyze with this build since you already are running 16 creatures, electrolyze will help out those prowess creatures. I can't speak more highly over my results over both though so you can't go wrong with either. But having electrolyze in my main has been FANTASTIC for me.
3. The sideboard is a very difficult thing to put together. First, find out what decks yours is good against and what decks you will have trouble with, and the ones that feel unwinnable. You want to focus on cards that will help you against the middle column and the more uses a card the higher likely you can use it for multiple matchups.
_____________________________
(I use the standard Jeskai Geist deck with 3 geist main deck, so my deck will be different than yours of course but...)
-Molten rain- Great against multiple decks that have greedy mana bases or rely on the Tron lands. I have 2 in my board. I like this better than sea and crumble for my personal choice.
-Relic of Progenitus- My card of choice for graveyard strategies, I use 2. Flexible and easy to use.
-Geist of Saint Traft- Great card for you to play sideboard if you dont want it main deck. Should be at least a 2 of I believe.
-I love Engineered Explosives, Dispel, and Izzet Staticaster is a HOUSE against multiple decks.
- Pia and Kiran Nalaar has also been actually pretty good against a variety of decks as well
Thanks you very much DarkNightCavalier for the Sig.
Molten Rain: This deck plays out much like a Jeskai burn deck, so having cards that "Do a thing and hit the face simultaneously" are amazing for me. So I'm beginning to think that Molten Rain seems better than Seas or Blood Moon for my more aggressive shell, since it can kill a Tron land or Valakut, Shock the opponent, then hit the opponent his/her lands again a second time when I Snap it back.
Spell Queller: I LOVE Queller. Great in the "Team Geist" style tempo list (which is my second deck, seeing as how I like paying one brew locally and one netdeck for higher level events) but since this aggro shell is a more proactive deck, I probably would keep him in my board here as an additional reactive "counterspell" type tempo effect.
Geist of Saint Traft: How the heck did I forget this guy, seeing as I'm running him in the Team Geist shell?
EE: Got one in my board already, considering another.
Staticaster: Where is he powerful? I've never figured out what matchups I want him against. I'll give him a shot once I learn how to use him.
Dispel: Love it, still working out the balance between Dispel and Pierce.
If you're looking to attack manabases there isn't a better card than Blood Moon, especially in a deck like ours that can leverage the tempo loss or color stumbling of our opponents and oftentimes can still function with 2 out of 3 colors. Molten rain won't do much against Tron or Valakut, especially on the draw. Going Remand/Spell Pierce/Logic Knot w/e T2 into Blood Moon in T3 is far better than T3 Molten Rain, which won't work against valakut and tron will just shrug it off. Also, Blood Moon shuts off utility and man lands which is important against grindier/control match-ups, and can screw with hatebears/knightfall, whereas Molten Rain is nigh useless in these match ups.
If you wanna attack these decks on another angle, namely the stack, you've got options in:
1. Ceremonious Rejection
2. Disdainful Stroke
As for the other suggestions:
1. I like Queller, but not in a delver list. This is mostly a personal opinion rather than something I've thoroughly tested
2. Geist is a powerhouse. I've been consistently told that it's a bad creature in modern etc, etc. but he's won me easily half of my games where he's in the deck. Other than Young Pyro, it's the card that get's 'Seized or Inquisitioned the most.
3. You can never go wrong with EE, so yeah nothing to say here.
4. Staticaster is a powerhouse against any deck that plays many x/1 creatures: G/x Company decks of all flavors, Lingering souls.dec, Dredge, Infect, Affinity and some others that I can't remember off the top of my head.
5. Dispel is awesome. I'm thinking of going to 2 copies in the board. I wouldn't play it in the main since it doesn't really help with many match-ups, but it's epic where you want it.
It has decent value against many meta decks with creatures with low toughness. Affinity, Soul Sisters, Goblins, Jeskai Delver, Anything with spirits or 1/1 tokens. It is also possible to hit larger guys with a combo off Electrolyze or Anger of the gods . There are a lot of decks that play 2/1 or 3/1 guys that can be taken down with staticaster. He just has a lot of useful targets in some decks.
I agree!
a hard card to play in modern. bolt(s), fatal push are its main enemies. will end up as removal bait in the early game. needs at least 7 (or 3/4 with L.bolt) mana to get any instant value and that is very late / later in the game. i am still very disappointed that r&d made the buyback cost at 4. would have been more playable if it was 1/ur/ur rather then 4 mana....
tbh, you are better off playing Cryptic Command. SFGM's opportunity cost is simply too high.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
(Especially since I already switched gear from Delver to Midrange-y list feat. Thundermaw Hellkite. So 4 mana PW seems fine.)
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
Soulfire was a house during standard. because there was less removal in every ones hand. In Modern there are lots of removal for it. The rebuy cost of spells is too high which slows your deck down trying to make it work. The lifelink of spells makes it nice, but then your playing it as a life gainer. which means lightning helix only a bit worst.
Also lifelink does not work with spells that do not do damage which is a lot.
I did play against a deck in modern built around Soulfire. It did not do well in FNM. Every game went to time in round, the win condition of his deck was to bounce spells with soulfire until the opponent died. Your deck is very different as speed, haste, and burn are important to you.
A better option if price is not important vexing devil
Edit:
seeker of the way if your interested in Lifegain, has more synergy with your prowess theme.
If your interested in draw(bounce) to refill your hand, then chart a course has been good.
As for Izzet Staticaster I can echo what has been said above. I actually was not a huge fan of the card for a long time because I always thought I don't want to pay 3 mana for a 0/3 that can't attack. However, in the matchups in which she is good against she is often great or game ending. She is great against tokens (WB tokens, lingering souls, soul sisters, empty the warrens, etc) and is awesome against decks with a bunch of little guys/gals (collected company, affinity, dredge, etc). I have been very pleasantly suprised with how good izzet staticaster actually performs.
I haven't found the need for land destruction/disruption yet for my individual list. Bloodmoon is obviously very powerful, it just doesn't fit my playstyle (I dislike the card). I have found that I can beat the big mana decks in other ways that are more reliable than when I played land disruption because the land disruption seemed like a speed bump, but not powerful enough. I am talking about Spreading Seas and Molten Rain in particular as they are the only cards I have played in my board.
Soulfire Grandmaster is a great card, however, it is just to fragile for modern. It is very killable in most of the matchups we want lifegain. In addition, in the matchups in which we want life gain the games are so quick that we can rarely take advantage of her ability.
A card I am going to give a try is Faithless Looting. That way I can feed reveler and snapcaster mage and also help avoid flooding. I have thought about trying Izzet Charm in the past, but never loved it so I am going to give a faithless looting a chance.
You know your deck better than me, but I do not think this is where you want to be. Loot is good with some styles. Unless your dumping lands, faithless does not equal card advantage. Your plan to put spells in the graveyard to fast cast reveler. Is that what you really want your spells to be used for? A low mana curve deck can chew through cards fast already without tossing them in.
Just wondering what your thoughts are.
Try it and share with us. I am not trying to discourage you.
other cool cards if your hell bent. ideas unbound dangerous wager
Don't worry about discouragement. I am always looking for critiscm. I learn a lot more when people disagree then when they agree with me :).
I was actually watching Shahar Shenhar's interview in pro tour return to ravnica when he played jeskai delver. He mentioned that he used to run a faithless looting in the deck but was trying Izzet Charm. I haven't love izzet charm, but I haven't hated it either. I thought I would give faithless a try.
The idea behind faithless looting is to sculpt my hand (get rid of additional lands, search for a removal spell, etc). It is also there to maintain a low curve and because it has the flashback ability which is great with prowess creatures. In addition, it helps with bedlam reveler and Snapcaster Mage (although this is minimum because I will rarely be pitching multiple spells). It's definitely not card advantage (it's disadvantage if you count the faithless looting card as a loss) and that hurts my heart, but I do want to give it a try and see what happens.
I have noticed in a lot of my losses it's due to simply drawing one half of the deck and not any portion of the other. By that I will draw a ton of spells and no threats or I will draw a bunch of threats and no spells. I felt like adding a bit more manipulation and keeping the curve low. It may just be best to add another Serum Visions or Opt, but I wanted to see what faithless looting did. I will also be trying Izzet Charm as well.
Dangerous Wager is an interesting card in a prowess deck. I wonder if they made a card that was 2R and said "discard your hand, then draw three cards" if that would see play. I have thought of Ideas Unbound before, but it's been a bit. I will definitely test it as well. I'm always tinkering