Do you like free spells? Do you like endless value? Do you like playing legacy staples in modern? Welcome to Jeskai Surge!
Jeskai Surge aims to play a lot of spells to trigger creatures like Young Pyromancer, easily flip Delver of Secrets, and enable surge whenever it is needed. It can be built as an aggressive delver deck, or as a midrange value-based deck.
Snapcaster Mage - The core of any blue non-creature based deck. He triggers Jori En very easily, and provides a ton of value as well as a good body. Note that sadly, you cannot flashback a spell and cast it for its surge cost.
Young Pyromancer - With so many cheap or free instants and sorceries, Young Pyromancer will be producing tokens like crazy, very early on. Provides you with an army of blockers and attackers, rapidly developing a threatening field.
Delver of Secrets - If you want to go for an aggressive approach, Delver of Secrets will get you there. Backed up by a lot of solid counterspells, he is even more resilient of a threat than normal.
Jori En, Ruin Diver - If you want to play a more midrange and value-based version, Jori is a great option. This may be just about the only place I'd ever advocate playing Jori En, but he works miracles in this deck. With so many free spells, you're able to very consistently proc Jori multiple times. If he is left on board, your advantage will be massive. If he is removed, you can pop out a counterspell to save him or anything else to just draw a card before he dies. Turn 3 Jori into Gitaxian Probe will draw 2 cards. Snapcaster flashing back anything will draw a card. Free spells into anything will draw you a card. Jori into Bolt or Path will draw you a card. The list goes on...
Grim Lavamancer - With so many spells and fetches going off each turn, you will always have a plentiful graveyard which you can exile to Lavamancer.
Manamorphose - An essentially free spell that triggers Jori and Pyro, draws you a card, and enables surge very early on.
Gitaxian Probe - The other free spell. Only sorcery speed, but it still costs 0 and draws you a card. Snapcaster on turn 2 getting back Probe is a very viable play if you need early pressure while still maintaining resources.
Path to Exile - Cheap removal. Especially needed with so much Eldrazi and Death's Shadow running around these days.
Lightning Bolt - More cheap removal, and can put the pressure on when needed.
Serum Visions - Draws you a card, triggers Pyro, and lets you set up more gas all for just 1 mana.
Lightning Helix - A slightly more costly Bolt, but the life gain can be a lifesaver in some matchups.
Overwhelming Denial - Manamorphose turns Denial into a true turn 2 UU counterspell. Works very well together with the deck as a whole, as you're always throwing spells around. As well, the fact that Denial can't be countered is very huge in some matchups.
Crush of Tentacles - The other relevant surge card. A complete bomb in some matchups, mainly against zoo and midrange creature-focused decks. It can come down on turn 5 if you're holding a Probe or Manamorphose. 5 mana for an 8/8 and a board bounce? Sign me up! It lets you stabilize very easily by resetting your opponent's work and plopping down a nice behemoth of your own. It puts your opponent into a spot where they have to reestablish their board and try to deal with an 8/8 at the same time. And best of all, you get to win by attacking with an Octopus. What more could you want?
Grip of the Roil - Another surge card that can keep aggro decks in check, and draws you a card right back.
Electrolyze - A bit costly, but can be very useful in some matchups and it draws you a card back.
Mana Leak - The other counterspell of choice. It's good, but it doesn't synergize well with path. And a jeskai grind deck typically goes to the point where they're able to pay for leak before the game ends.
Monastery Mentor - The reason it works in legacy is because it gives control a finisher, as they already have good draw and advantage. This deck already has a solid stream of tokens off of Pyro, but no real advantage engine. For this reason, Jori tends to work better than Mentor in this deck.
Helix and Snares I've considered putting in. I probably should get some helixes up in here especially. I'm also considering Grip of the Roil. Dispel doesn't really seem main deckable, a lot of decks are just throwing creatures around from what it seems.
The reasoning for Crush is a tech against all these big zoo decks popping up lately, like eldrazi. It lets you immediately stabilize. Even in matchups where they lay nothing down, I've had times where I will Crush just to get an Octopus and bounce some Snapcasters back too. You hold Crush if you're ahead. When you're behind, you're using the tokens from Pyro to block or trade anyway.
Edit: Added to the card choices section. Matchups will come after I've gotten more testing and an FNM or two in.
I like a mix of fumarole and colonnade because fumarole kills an unprotected Liliana a turn earlier, which is probably going to be pretty important for you.
Is crush really better than supreme verdict for that purpose? Comes out a turn later and all it really does is save you dude (maybe), while providing them with card advantage.
I value the 8/8 very highly, its won me many of my games so far by itself. Verdict can clear the board, but if you have nothing to back it up, you're still not in a great spot. And you've probably committed your creatures to the board early, so it will likely leave you without any defense. Crush can bounce more stuff, like problematic chalices and planeswalkers. Verdict has a decent number of matches where it does little to none, but Crush has proven to be pretty good in almost every matchup. Bouncing back Snapcasters has also proven to be a lovely additional benefit to it, when it happens. Perhaps my opinion will change after more testing, but these are my current thoughts and I've been liking it a surprising amount more than I thought I would.
First tournament with the deck, and I learned a ton. Didn't get to play against any zoo, which kinda sucked as this is what it's designed to fight. 2-2 with wins against Burn and Sultai Control, losses to Jeskai Geist and Burn. The main thing I noticed was the absolute lack of counters, I always wanted more counters.
Overwhelming Denial performed amazingly well beyond belief, but I was only running 2 at the time. Every time I drew it, it took down a threat and it never sat dead in my hand. Early on, surge is easily enabled. If you end up hellbent lategame, you have enough mana to hardcast it. I even snap'd a Denial and casted it for its full 2UU twice. Hard counters are phenomenal, this card is phenomenal.
Remand tested alright. Most of the time I had to remand some pretty pitiful 1 mana spells which were just cast again. Against the blue decks, remanding my own stuff helped out a bit.
Crush of Tentacles of course didn't do well due to the complete lack of decks that keep creatures or anything on the field. I would put it in if your meta has lots of zoo, but mine had no eldrazi or zoo-style decks whatsoever.
I was very unprepared to fight burn, which ended very poorly. I definitely want to find some room for some Lightning Helixs, they seem quite solid right now in most matchups. 3 Dragon's Claw have been added to the sideboard. I upped Denial to 4 and adding in a Grim Lavamancer. Not sure if anything else could be cut for Lavamancer, so I put Jori down to 1 for now.
Overview
Do you like free spells? Do you like endless value? Do you like playing legacy staples in modern? Welcome to Jeskai Surge!
Jeskai Surge aims to play a lot of spells to trigger creatures like Young Pyromancer, easily flip Delver of Secrets, and enable surge whenever it is needed. It can be built as an aggressive delver deck, or as a midrange value-based deck.
Decklist and Card Choices
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer
Spells (30)
4 Manamorphose
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Overwhelming Denial
3 Remand
2 Lightning Helix
1 Electrolyze
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Keranos, God of Storms
3 Stony Silence
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Shadow of Doubt
1 Gut Shot
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Celestial Purge
1 Disdainful Stroke
Snapcaster Mage - The core of any blue non-creature based deck. He triggers Jori En very easily, and provides a ton of value as well as a good body. Note that sadly, you cannot flashback a spell and cast it for its surge cost.
Young Pyromancer - With so many cheap or free instants and sorceries, Young Pyromancer will be producing tokens like crazy, very early on. Provides you with an army of blockers and attackers, rapidly developing a threatening field.
Delver of Secrets - If you want to go for an aggressive approach, Delver of Secrets will get you there. Backed up by a lot of solid counterspells, he is even more resilient of a threat than normal.
Jori En, Ruin Diver - If you want to play a more midrange and value-based version, Jori is a great option. This may be just about the only place I'd ever advocate playing Jori En, but he works miracles in this deck. With so many free spells, you're able to very consistently proc Jori multiple times. If he is left on board, your advantage will be massive. If he is removed, you can pop out a counterspell to save him or anything else to just draw a card before he dies. Turn 3 Jori into Gitaxian Probe will draw 2 cards. Snapcaster flashing back anything will draw a card. Free spells into anything will draw you a card. Jori into Bolt or Path will draw you a card. The list goes on...
Grim Lavamancer - With so many spells and fetches going off each turn, you will always have a plentiful graveyard which you can exile to Lavamancer.
Manamorphose - An essentially free spell that triggers Jori and Pyro, draws you a card, and enables surge very early on.
Gitaxian Probe - The other free spell. Only sorcery speed, but it still costs 0 and draws you a card. Snapcaster on turn 2 getting back Probe is a very viable play if you need early pressure while still maintaining resources.
Path to Exile - Cheap removal. Especially needed with so much Eldrazi and Death's Shadow running around these days.
Lightning Bolt - More cheap removal, and can put the pressure on when needed.
Serum Visions - Draws you a card, triggers Pyro, and lets you set up more gas all for just 1 mana.
Lightning Helix - A slightly more costly Bolt, but the life gain can be a lifesaver in some matchups.
Overwhelming Denial - Manamorphose turns Denial into a true turn 2 UU counterspell. Works very well together with the deck as a whole, as you're always throwing spells around. As well, the fact that Denial can't be countered is very huge in some matchups.
Crush of Tentacles - The other relevant surge card. A complete bomb in some matchups, mainly against zoo and midrange creature-focused decks. It can come down on turn 5 if you're holding a Probe or Manamorphose. 5 mana for an 8/8 and a board bounce? Sign me up! It lets you stabilize very easily by resetting your opponent's work and plopping down a nice behemoth of your own. It puts your opponent into a spot where they have to reestablish their board and try to deal with an 8/8 at the same time. And best of all, you get to win by attacking with an Octopus. What more could you want?
Remand
Spell Snare
Dispel
Grip of the Roil - Another surge card that can keep aggro decks in check, and draws you a card right back.
Electrolyze - A bit costly, but can be very useful in some matchups and it draws you a card back.
Mana Leak - The other counterspell of choice. It's good, but it doesn't synergize well with path. And a jeskai grind deck typically goes to the point where they're able to pay for leak before the game ends.
Monastery Mentor - The reason it works in legacy is because it gives control a finisher, as they already have good draw and advantage. This deck already has a solid stream of tokens off of Pyro, but no real advantage engine. For this reason, Jori tends to work better than Mentor in this deck.
Matchups
---Coming soon---
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
And yeah, I honestly completely forgot about Serum Visions. What do you think could be cut for it?
I don't like remand in this deck. Or leak really. Path works at crossed purposes with both a bit when you aren't comboing.
Crush also seems bad with pyro.
Think you may also want helixes somewhere.
Spell snare and dispel may be main deck able
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Helix and Snares I've considered putting in. I probably should get some helixes up in here especially. I'm also considering Grip of the Roil. Dispel doesn't really seem main deckable, a lot of decks are just throwing creatures around from what it seems.
The reasoning for Crush is a tech against all these big zoo decks popping up lately, like eldrazi. It lets you immediately stabilize. Even in matchups where they lay nothing down, I've had times where I will Crush just to get an Octopus and bounce some Snapcasters back too. You hold Crush if you're ahead. When you're behind, you're using the tokens from Pyro to block or trade anyway.
Edit: Added to the card choices section. Matchups will come after I've gotten more testing and an FNM or two in.
Is crush really better than supreme verdict for that purpose? Comes out a turn later and all it really does is save you dude (maybe), while providing them with card advantage.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I value the 8/8 very highly, its won me many of my games so far by itself. Verdict can clear the board, but if you have nothing to back it up, you're still not in a great spot. And you've probably committed your creatures to the board early, so it will likely leave you without any defense. Crush can bounce more stuff, like problematic chalices and planeswalkers. Verdict has a decent number of matches where it does little to none, but Crush has proven to be pretty good in almost every matchup. Bouncing back Snapcasters has also proven to be a lovely additional benefit to it, when it happens. Perhaps my opinion will change after more testing, but these are my current thoughts and I've been liking it a surprising amount more than I thought I would.
Overwhelming Denial performed amazingly well beyond belief, but I was only running 2 at the time. Every time I drew it, it took down a threat and it never sat dead in my hand. Early on, surge is easily enabled. If you end up hellbent lategame, you have enough mana to hardcast it. I even snap'd a Denial and casted it for its full 2UU twice. Hard counters are phenomenal, this card is phenomenal.
Remand tested alright. Most of the time I had to remand some pretty pitiful 1 mana spells which were just cast again. Against the blue decks, remanding my own stuff helped out a bit.
Crush of Tentacles of course didn't do well due to the complete lack of decks that keep creatures or anything on the field. I would put it in if your meta has lots of zoo, but mine had no eldrazi or zoo-style decks whatsoever.
I was very unprepared to fight burn, which ended very poorly. I definitely want to find some room for some Lightning Helixs, they seem quite solid right now in most matchups. 3 Dragon's Claw have been added to the sideboard. I upped Denial to 4 and adding in a Grim Lavamancer. Not sure if anything else could be cut for Lavamancer, so I put Jori down to 1 for now.