2 cool Jace lists both went 7-2 in the Modern Classic at SCG Worcester this weekend. Both playing 2 Copies of Jace, 1 still playing 2x Retreat and 1 without.
I've liked the look of the bant Company decks featuring Jace I've seen 5-0 (zmagic went 6-2 at the end of february with this list. hyper just got a 5-0 posted with something similar, and this guy and this guy top 24rd the SCG classic, which, while not top results, looked good enough to pique my interest.
If anyone could give me a run down on what sort of matchups are good/bad for the deck, and if there's anyone whose streamed any leagues with a list I can watch before pulling the trigger?
It seems like a weird mix of an all-in devoted druid deck that just runs some synergy / midrange cards for value. Finks, but no viscera seer. Jace, because you're in blue anyway? Can't help but think Selfless Spirit would work better if you're trying to combo off.
I've been on this deck for a long time now, but this was the first time playing it with JtMS. Jace was fine in the deck, but not super impressive. Gideon on the the other hand was a beast. More impressive than jace. The whole deck felt really good, although I want to play one more Clique main. Not sure what to cut. Thinking about Courser. I also want to add another Blessed Alliance in the board with all the Bogles decks running around. Blessed Alliance proved to be really good against humans. Their best card against us is Mantis rider, and this can get an exalted Mantis Rider AND/OR kill a phantasmal Image AND/OR gain 4 life. Really flexible.
It's overall fairly solid. I don't mind not playing the combo, though I do miss Kessig sometimes. That card is just so good with KotR.
I think the Field of Ruin is a bit greedy and I think I'm going to just play a second GQ in the board and play either another shock or a second Sanctum in place of Field of Ruin. I also might cut a Clique and replace it with the second Scooze - could be wrong but I keep drawing multiples. Jace has been solidly medium. I definitely need more practice playing with the card.
I'm also really not impressed with Blessed Alliance. I feel like without Courser (maybe I can make room for one) we're super weak to Burn and Alliance just isn't a good card in that MU - two mana gain four is just so weak. It's great against stuff like Boggles and Infect, but against most midrangey decks I never bring in the card because there's really not much to board out and we want CoCo to remain relevant. I feel like it just rots in my sideboard most of the time.
It's overall fairly solid. I don't mind not playing the combo, though I do miss Kessig sometimes. That card is just so good with KotR.
I think the Field of Ruin is a bit greedy and I think I'm going to just play a second GQ in the board and play either another shock or a second Sanctum in place of Field of Ruin. I also might cut a Clique and replace it with the second Scooze - could be wrong but I keep drawing multiples. Jace has been solidly medium. I definitely need more practice playing with the card.
I'm also really not impressed with Blessed Alliance. I feel like without Courser (maybe I can make room for one) we're super weak to Burn and Alliance just isn't a good card in that MU - two mana gain four is just so weak. It's great against stuff like Boggles and Infect, but against most midrangey decks I never bring in the card because there's really not much to board out and we want CoCo to remain relevant. I feel like it just rots in my sideboard most of the time.
Kessig is the card I miss the most by cutting red too. It makes Knight a bit weaker for sure. Izzet staticaster isn't that great right now so I don't really miss it from the board. Blessed Alliance is pretty average against burn, but it's serviceable. It's like just another negate. Blessed Alliance is pretty solid against affinity though. I generally lose against affinity when they play etched champion, and it's an easy way to kill them since they like to go all-in on etched champions. It's also great against humans, like I said in my previous post. I wouldn't bring them in against midrange matchups though (Except against DS decks).
Overall it seems like Jace has been a good card, but not the best. Once again: would Nissa, Steward of Elements be better? Nissa can be played on turn 2 (with a dork) and +2, from turn 3 on her 0 ability with 3 counters seems awesome: you put a land or creature into play every turn, unless your top card is CoCo, path, or another Nissa (and SB cards on post board games). Her +2 can be somewhat compared to Jace's 0 if what we need is find sideboard cards.
Cons are:
- she's not a win condition
- does not bounce creatures
- dies to abrupt decay
Other cons:
-Nissa can be discarded with Inquisition to Kozilek
-When Detention Sphered, she returns to play with Loyalty 0
Pro:
She can be played late game as a sorcery spell that costs 8 and deals 10 damage.
The thing is that most planeswalkers don't really help in our weak matchups (combo decks and big mana). I'd say Nissa is better than Jace against control decks (comes out quicker, gets out creatures for free, scryes, comes back bigger when recast after being bounced by Cryptic Command). However, Jace might be better against other midrange decks (-1 bounce ability). However, as others have mentioned, Nissa shines more than Jace if the deck is built with Nissa in mind. Using her 0 to play a Reflector Mage from the top of the deck is great. Gideon (and to an extent, Elspeth) is good against combo and big mana because he gets in lots of damage and provides a fast clock.
The recent good results from Knightfall decks might be because more people are trying BBE decks (midrange) and control (Jace), which our deck is good against. Not because we have Jace. That's my hunch.
I've been playing 1 Nissa main and 1 in the side and I've been nothing but pleased every time I see her
Idk if I would say she's not a win condition. The matchups she really shines in are the games that tend to go long (control, Midrange mirrors). I've won a lot of games where I topdeck her at 8 mana in a board stall and just win on the spot.
She has crazy synergy with Courser. I'm only running one of each of these cards in the main but I enjoy the interaction so much that I've been tempted to find room for another Courser
I also really like using her +2 to set up a CoCo (bottoming lands/dorks etc). I wouldn't go so far as to say she's more powerful than Jace (because that's obviously untrue), but I think I do like her better for this particular deck.
Idk if I would say she's not a win condition. The matchups she really shines in are the games that tend to go long (control, Midrange mirrors). I've won a lot of games where I topdeck her at 8 mana in a board stall and just win on the spot.
I guess I did not express myself well enough when I said she wasn't a kill condition. I meant like a "different kind" of kill condition, like Jace, that allows to ignore ensnaring bridge when we have him on the battlefield. But I agree with you, when the board is stalled she's a hell of a topdeck.
I went 3-0-1 last night running the latest Chew 5-0 list with the changes mentioned above: -1 VoR +1 Pridemage, -1 JTMS -2 Will +1 Elspeth +2 Negate in the board.
Round 1 vs RUG Kiki Moon 2-0
Opponent was playing a RUG Moon deck with Krasis+Kiki. I didn't see either of these cards in two games. G1 he got a T3 Moon, but I had a Noble and Plains out and landed a Pridemage the turn after he moon'd. Ended up just beating him down, IIRC he played like... Goyf, Pyre, Snap->Pyre and that's basically it.
I remember sideboarding fairly poorly, but it didn't really matter. I had a 10/10 Knight and a Scooze which was keeping his Goyfs tiny and eliminating Pyre as an out. He dismembered my Scooze the one turn I tap out to Gavony, but it didn't really matter. Got a second Knight with Queller backup and he shows me the Krasis that can't save him.
Round 2 vs 4C Reveler 2-0
My opponents deck was essentially the Mardu reveler deck with green for Grim Flayer and Traverse. G1 he got kind of mana screwed and died fairly easily after I path'd his Reveler.
I bring in Reflector Mages, Scooze, Elspeth and Bojuka Bog over a Bird, Pridemage, Field of Ruin, both Cliques (bad vs souls) and a Meddling Mage. G2 is very long and drawn out. He plays 3 of his souls and all four Revelers. He probably had 10-15 cards left in library at the end of the game. I had lethal one turn where he was at two with two souls and a Reveler. He attacked with one of the souls vs my board of IIRC Voice and Tracker. I could have Jace bounced the other souls and killed him, but cast company instead since by that time I am very likely to hit a Mage and clearly this guy didn't leave himself DOB intentionally (he knew about Jace). I hit solo bird which felt awful and he draws Duress for my Jace, but Tracker ends up pulling it out after drawing like four cards.
Round 3 vs G Tron 1-1-1
I was playing against a friend I hadn't seen in a bit, and we basically drew because we spent too much time shooting the *****. Despite how much I hate playing against Tron, the games were pretty good and I think all of them could have gone either way with slightly better draws on either of our part.
G1 I am on the draw with T1 noble + flash dudes. No Knight but I manage to disrupt him from getting Tron with Field and Clique. I end up taking a Scrying out of his hand and using Queller on an O-Stone. I get a pretty mediocre company of Birds + Pridemage He gets to six mana and casts a Wurmcoil, but I have pridemage to stop lifegain for a turn. I've got lethal but he draws his seventh land to cast All is Dust. I throw out triple VoR, which he kills with O-Stone and then has the second O-Stone to wipe my lethal board again. He gets a Coil before I draw another relevant card and kills me.
I sideboard 4 counters, 2 stony, & 2 mage for 4 Path, 1 Scooze, 2 Tracker, 1 bird. G2 I mulligan into a medium hand of two land no blue source, stony, and blue three drops. Stony happens to be amazing this game and basically carries me to victory. I make a misplay where he has a 2/2 ballista and I don't reflector mage it because I forget about my own Stony. I end up winning anyway, Jace Fatesealing to ensure he doesn't draw any more lands.
G3 I have an amazing tempo hand with T1 Noble into Queller, Field, & Clique. I also have a Negate. He doesn't really have any gas, and I clique a Cage since I have company in hand. Time is called and I have just enough gas to kill him on the fifth turn. Unfortunately, I get a terrible company hitting Bird+Hierarch. I clique him and he has Scryings to hit Tron and an Ancient Stirrings. I am supposed to take Stirrings here, since it's 5 deep vs one when I CLique it. I don't and he finds Ulamog. Oops. He was dead anyway if my company wasn't so trash, but I still have outs. I missed trying to Jace into GQ, but I wouldn't have found it anyway. Ulamog eats my two fliers. If I had Unified Will instead of Negate in hand, I could stop his follow-up Ballista and out-race Ulamog with Birds+Exalted, but since it was Negate he decides not to concede. I think I could have earned a concession or actually won had I played tighter.
Round 4 vs Jeskai control 2-0
My opponent is playing a fairly top-end heavy Jeskai deck. I don't think he had JTMS, since I saw an Architect of Thought in G2. He had Rev, Torrential Gearhulk, & Secure the Wastes. G1 he buys a lot of time with Secure for 4-5, but he can't get an answer to my Knight which just beats in every turn. Jace was also pretty good, though he could actually pressure him well thanks to the Secure and bolt/electrolyze. He revs for 5 but draws into nothing and I win.
I board in 4 counters, scooze and Elspeth for 4 path & 2 birds. G2 I have a Knight that gets remanded, and then I decide to play on his turn since i have Clique/Queller/Company/Will. Finally I decide to cast a VoR and he casts Secure for 3... well, there goes the Unified Will plan! I manage to get ahead on board and he gets a board wipe. I follow up with Clique, which is bolted, and see Elspeth and Rev! I take Elspeth and untap to play a Knight. I am at seven and he has colonnades, so I am at risk to just dying if he has bolt and my follow up company doesn't hit a flier. He mainphase revs for 4, leaving a single U/W source open. I EoT company into Knight + Mage naming Path and win the game.
I think going forward I am going to try dropping Mage from the MB for +1 Scooze, +1 VoR and +1 Pridemage or Courser, and then having 2x Mage in the board. I might experiment with running Retreat again... likely would go to 1 Jace MB and drop the Pridemage/Course for 2x Retreat.
I posted my deck to another bant thread and was suggested to ask help here. I very much enjoy the midrange-style, and have settled to traverse version of knightfall. The list is by no means ready or smooth but the general idea is there. I'm still considering renegade rallier to replace ojutai's command as value two-for-one. Rallier c'd also get back GQ's and tormod's crypts in game one. (Cryptic is a no go with my manabase and is not a good fit here.) Some choises came from the fact that my local fnm is riddled with burn and tron.
Main board Tormod's Crypt and Blessed Alliance doesn't seem right. Hooting Mandrills doesn't really play well alongside Knight. Hard for one to do well without hurting the other. Declaration in Stone is a terrible card. I would play detention sphere if you want that kind of effect. 4 Ghost Quarter is definitely greedy. Plus you should be playing Kessig and Gavony. Reflector Mage and Spell a Queller are too good not to play. I'm assuming you aren't playing Nobles and CoCo for budget reasons?
Right now your list is really top heavy. You don't have any dorks to accelerate into your 3 and 4cmc cards, and you're really not running anything for the early game. I'm expecting you'll get left in the dust a lot of games, especially without CoCo to claw your way back in from behind or the tempo creatures (Queller, Reflector) to swing things.
You said your meta is a lot of Burn and Tron, but the list I'm looking at is likely to have a hard time dealing with either of those
I posted my deck to another bant thread and was suggested to ask help here. I very much enjoy the midrange-style, and have settled to traverse version of knightfall. The list is by no means ready or smooth but the general idea is there. I'm still considering renegade rallier to replace ojutai's command as value two-for-one. Rallier c'd also get back GQ's and tormod's crypts in game one. (Cryptic is a no go with my manabase and is not a good fit here.) Some choises came from the fact that my local fnm is riddled with burn and tron.
Any feedback w'd be appreciated!![/deck]
I put a fair amount of time and testing into something similar prior to Opt becoming Modern legal. I was never able to get it to function smoothly, it was too weak to GY hate and just typically felt a turn slower than I'd generally want to be in Modern. Here's the MD 60 I'd last saved:
What does everyone think about dropping jace and going back to Bant splash red for kessig and staticaster? Jace has been pretty unimpressive for me, although not terrible. Just not good. I am going to run a league tonight and replace my two maindeck jace with two maindeck retreats again. That makes me want to pick up red again too because I won't need double blue anymore (I would have to drop Clique too).
I've also noticed an influx of green decks on mtgo, specifically Vizier combo decks and green Saheeli combo decks. Izzet staticaster can decimate those matchups (as well as other matchups like elves, affinity, lingering souls, and storm) and I don't like not having staticaster in the board. I think if I'm dropping jace, I'm going back to red.
Gideon, AoZ has been a beast in the board, and I want to have two of him in the 75. Maybe I just replace the 2 maindeck jace with 2 maindeck gideon instead of retreats and see how it goes. I think Gideon is more matchup dependent though.
I think it's important to have at least 2 of some planeswalker in the deck. Not many decks can handle all our creatures, so PWs are back-breaking. Have you considered Bloodbraid Elf if you're going red? You just can't run Spell Quellers (as they'll counter BBE on cascade), but running Blood Moon is good tradeoff. You can run 2-3 Retreats and cascade into them.
I'm personally not a fan of Staticasters. They sometimes can't stop combo fast enough as Devoted Druid can be activated on the stack (right?). When you get Izzets with Elvish Archdruid already out, it doesn't do much. Getting that red mana is sometimes awkward, too. I like Phyrexian Revoker a lot more. Shut down Ezuri and Elves aren't very good anymore. Revokers are really good versus Affinity too.
I like Gideon, too. He is very proactive and aggressive, and sometimes Knightfall doesn't feel aggressive enough. In grindy matchups, his Knight token is serviceable, at least. It's just more of a risk to use him as an attacker cause he can be Pathed.
I think it's important to have at least 2 of some planeswalker in the deck. Not many decks can handle all our creatures, so PWs are back-breaking. Have you considered Bloodbraid Elf if you're going red? You just can't run Spell Quellers (as they'll counter BBE on cascade), but running Blood Moon is good tradeoff. You can run 2-3 Retreats and cascade into them.
I'm personally not a fan of Staticasters. They sometimes can't stop combo fast enough as Devoted Druid can be activated on the stack (right?). When you get Izzets with Elvish Archdruid already out, it doesn't do much. Getting that red mana is sometimes awkward, too. I like Phyrexian Revoker a lot more. Shut down Ezuri and Elves aren't very good anymore. Revokers are really good versus Affinity too.
I like Gideon, too. He is very proactive and aggressive, and sometimes Knightfall doesn't feel aggressive enough. In grindy matchups, his Knight token is serviceable, at least. It's just more of a risk to use him as an attacker cause he can be Pathed.
We managed with zero planeswalkers in our deck before JtMS got unbanned. I think we can still manage :). I think if you want to play BBE and cut Queller, we need to re-tool the deck completely.
While you're right about Staticaster not being able to stop the natural Devoted Druid combo, we have enough disruption postboard with path, Reflector Mage, and Queller to slow them down. And then Staticaster cleans everything up. I've had a lot of success with this strategy when Devoted Druid combo was everywhere on mtgo last year. Getting red mana is sometimes awkward though. Revoker sounds like a decent strategy. He's just a temporary solution though. Affinity can galv blast him, elves can push/decay him, etc. At least staticaster can kill some stuff before he dies
I dropped knightfall for a bit when bloodbraid was unbanned, mostly as a change of pace. I wanted to share some perspective for those of you who (like myself) only really play knightfall.
One thing I found fascinating was how different a hand feels depending on which deck you're on. If you're playing zoo, Noble voice knight 4 lands is pretty borderline (you're probably going to flood and die if you draw another land), but it's a great knightfall hand. I've recently been happy keeping hands that I used to think were bad.
Zoo also got me used to being really really aggressive with my manabase, often taking 7 damage off lands over the course of a game. Obviously that doesn't translate perfectly to knightfall, but honestly I was surprised with what I could get away with. I've moved back to clique recently, and it's been fantastic (similar Mana to the winning Jace list).
If you've only really played knightfall, I strongly recommend trying other decks. My two conclusions were that a) you should almost always keep a seven card hand that can cast it's spells, and b) I was being too cautious with my mana (clique is great!)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Adam Gouveia -
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
2 Tireless Tracker
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands (22)
3 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
4 Collected Company
3 Path to Exile
3 Reflector Mage
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Stony Silence
2 Worship
3 Blessed Alliance
3 Unified Will
1 Bojuka Bog
Kevin Jones (Grixis/UWx aficionado) -
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Reflector Mage
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Spell Queller
2 Tireless Tracker
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Vendilion Clique
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands (22)
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Botanical Sanctum
1 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Strand
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Collected Company
4 Path to Exile
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Reflector Mage
2 Stony Silence
1 Worship
1 Courser of Kruphix
3 Blessed Alliance
3 Unified Will
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Bojuka Bog
If anyone could give me a run down on what sort of matchups are good/bad for the deck, and if there's anyone whose streamed any leagues with a list I can watch before pulling the trigger?
Pretty sure this is Kyle Boggemes's list (or someone from RIW) - He had a short piece of an article on it here: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/kyleboggemes-02222018-jace-in-modern/
4x Noblie Hierarch
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Scavenging Ooze
3x Voice of Resurgence
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Spell Queller
2x Courser of Kruphix
2x Tireless Tracker
1x Vendilion CLique
4x Path to Exile
4x Collected Company
4x Windswept Heath
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Flooded Strand
1x Temple Garden
1x Breeding Pool
1x Hallowed FOuntain
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Gavony Township
2x Forest
1x Plains
1x Island
1x Botanical Sanctum
1x Razorverge Thicket
1x Stirring Wildwood
2x Negate
3x Unified Will
2x Stony Silence
2x Blessed Alliance
3x Reflector mage
2x Kitchen Finks
I've been on this deck for a long time now, but this was the first time playing it with JtMS. Jace was fine in the deck, but not super impressive. Gideon on the the other hand was a beast. More impressive than jace. The whole deck felt really good, although I want to play one more Clique main. Not sure what to cut. Thinking about Courser. I also want to add another Blessed Alliance in the board with all the Bogles decks running around. Blessed Alliance proved to be really good against humans. Their best card against us is Mantis rider, and this can get an exalted Mantis Rider AND/OR kill a phantasmal Image AND/OR gain 4 life. Really flexible.
It's overall fairly solid. I don't mind not playing the combo, though I do miss Kessig sometimes. That card is just so good with KotR.
I think the Field of Ruin is a bit greedy and I think I'm going to just play a second GQ in the board and play either another shock or a second Sanctum in place of Field of Ruin. I also might cut a Clique and replace it with the second Scooze - could be wrong but I keep drawing multiples. Jace has been solidly medium. I definitely need more practice playing with the card.
I'm also really not impressed with Blessed Alliance. I feel like without Courser (maybe I can make room for one) we're super weak to Burn and Alliance just isn't a good card in that MU - two mana gain four is just so weak. It's great against stuff like Boggles and Infect, but against most midrangey decks I never bring in the card because there's really not much to board out and we want CoCo to remain relevant. I feel like it just rots in my sideboard most of the time.
Kessig is the card I miss the most by cutting red too. It makes Knight a bit weaker for sure. Izzet staticaster isn't that great right now so I don't really miss it from the board. Blessed Alliance is pretty average against burn, but it's serviceable. It's like just another negate. Blessed Alliance is pretty solid against affinity though. I generally lose against affinity when they play etched champion, and it's an easy way to kill them since they like to go all-in on etched champions. It's also great against humans, like I said in my previous post. I wouldn't bring them in against midrange matchups though (Except against DS decks).
Cons are:
- she's not a win condition
- does not bounce creatures
- dies to abrupt decay
Thoughts?
-Nissa can be discarded with Inquisition to Kozilek
-When Detention Sphered, she returns to play with Loyalty 0
Pro:
She can be played late game as a sorcery spell that costs 8 and deals 10 damage.
The thing is that most planeswalkers don't really help in our weak matchups (combo decks and big mana). I'd say Nissa is better than Jace against control decks (comes out quicker, gets out creatures for free, scryes, comes back bigger when recast after being bounced by Cryptic Command). However, Jace might be better against other midrange decks (-1 bounce ability). However, as others have mentioned, Nissa shines more than Jace if the deck is built with Nissa in mind. Using her 0 to play a Reflector Mage from the top of the deck is great. Gideon (and to an extent, Elspeth) is good against combo and big mana because he gets in lots of damage and provides a fast clock.
The recent good results from Knightfall decks might be because more people are trying BBE decks (midrange) and control (Jace), which our deck is good against. Not because we have Jace. That's my hunch.
Idk if I would say she's not a win condition. The matchups she really shines in are the games that tend to go long (control, Midrange mirrors). I've won a lot of games where I topdeck her at 8 mana in a board stall and just win on the spot.
She has crazy synergy with Courser. I'm only running one of each of these cards in the main but I enjoy the interaction so much that I've been tempted to find room for another Courser
I also really like using her +2 to set up a CoCo (bottoming lands/dorks etc). I wouldn't go so far as to say she's more powerful than Jace (because that's obviously untrue), but I think I do like her better for this particular deck.
I guess I did not express myself well enough when I said she wasn't a kill condition. I meant like a "different kind" of kill condition, like Jace, that allows to ignore ensnaring bridge when we have him on the battlefield. But I agree with you, when the board is stalled she's a hell of a topdeck.
Round 1 vs RUG Kiki Moon 2-0
Opponent was playing a RUG Moon deck with Krasis+Kiki. I didn't see either of these cards in two games. G1 he got a T3 Moon, but I had a Noble and Plains out and landed a Pridemage the turn after he moon'd. Ended up just beating him down, IIRC he played like... Goyf, Pyre, Snap->Pyre and that's basically it.
I remember sideboarding fairly poorly, but it didn't really matter. I had a 10/10 Knight and a Scooze which was keeping his Goyfs tiny and eliminating Pyre as an out. He dismembered my Scooze the one turn I tap out to Gavony, but it didn't really matter. Got a second Knight with Queller backup and he shows me the Krasis that can't save him.
Round 2 vs 4C Reveler 2-0
My opponents deck was essentially the Mardu reveler deck with green for Grim Flayer and Traverse. G1 he got kind of mana screwed and died fairly easily after I path'd his Reveler.
I bring in Reflector Mages, Scooze, Elspeth and Bojuka Bog over a Bird, Pridemage, Field of Ruin, both Cliques (bad vs souls) and a Meddling Mage. G2 is very long and drawn out. He plays 3 of his souls and all four Revelers. He probably had 10-15 cards left in library at the end of the game. I had lethal one turn where he was at two with two souls and a Reveler. He attacked with one of the souls vs my board of IIRC Voice and Tracker. I could have Jace bounced the other souls and killed him, but cast company instead since by that time I am very likely to hit a Mage and clearly this guy didn't leave himself DOB intentionally (he knew about Jace). I hit solo bird which felt awful and he draws Duress for my Jace, but Tracker ends up pulling it out after drawing like four cards.
Round 3 vs G Tron 1-1-1
I was playing against a friend I hadn't seen in a bit, and we basically drew because we spent too much time shooting the *****. Despite how much I hate playing against Tron, the games were pretty good and I think all of them could have gone either way with slightly better draws on either of our part.
G1 I am on the draw with T1 noble + flash dudes. No Knight but I manage to disrupt him from getting Tron with Field and Clique. I end up taking a Scrying out of his hand and using Queller on an O-Stone. I get a pretty mediocre company of Birds + Pridemage He gets to six mana and casts a Wurmcoil, but I have pridemage to stop lifegain for a turn. I've got lethal but he draws his seventh land to cast All is Dust. I throw out triple VoR, which he kills with O-Stone and then has the second O-Stone to wipe my lethal board again. He gets a Coil before I draw another relevant card and kills me.
I sideboard 4 counters, 2 stony, & 2 mage for 4 Path, 1 Scooze, 2 Tracker, 1 bird. G2 I mulligan into a medium hand of two land no blue source, stony, and blue three drops. Stony happens to be amazing this game and basically carries me to victory. I make a misplay where he has a 2/2 ballista and I don't reflector mage it because I forget about my own Stony. I end up winning anyway, Jace Fatesealing to ensure he doesn't draw any more lands.
G3 I have an amazing tempo hand with T1 Noble into Queller, Field, & Clique. I also have a Negate. He doesn't really have any gas, and I clique a Cage since I have company in hand. Time is called and I have just enough gas to kill him on the fifth turn. Unfortunately, I get a terrible company hitting Bird+Hierarch. I clique him and he has Scryings to hit Tron and an Ancient Stirrings. I am supposed to take Stirrings here, since it's 5 deep vs one when I CLique it. I don't and he finds Ulamog. Oops. He was dead anyway if my company wasn't so trash, but I still have outs. I missed trying to Jace into GQ, but I wouldn't have found it anyway. Ulamog eats my two fliers. If I had Unified Will instead of Negate in hand, I could stop his follow-up Ballista and out-race Ulamog with Birds+Exalted, but since it was Negate he decides not to concede. I think I could have earned a concession or actually won had I played tighter.
Round 4 vs Jeskai control 2-0
My opponent is playing a fairly top-end heavy Jeskai deck. I don't think he had JTMS, since I saw an Architect of Thought in G2. He had Rev, Torrential Gearhulk, & Secure the Wastes. G1 he buys a lot of time with Secure for 4-5, but he can't get an answer to my Knight which just beats in every turn. Jace was also pretty good, though he could actually pressure him well thanks to the Secure and bolt/electrolyze. He revs for 5 but draws into nothing and I win.
I board in 4 counters, scooze and Elspeth for 4 path & 2 birds. G2 I have a Knight that gets remanded, and then I decide to play on his turn since i have Clique/Queller/Company/Will. Finally I decide to cast a VoR and he casts Secure for 3... well, there goes the Unified Will plan! I manage to get ahead on board and he gets a board wipe. I follow up with Clique, which is bolted, and see Elspeth and Rev! I take Elspeth and untap to play a Knight. I am at seven and he has colonnades, so I am at risk to just dying if he has bolt and my follow up company doesn't hit a flier. He mainphase revs for 4, leaving a single U/W source open. I EoT company into Knight + Mage naming Path and win the game.
I think going forward I am going to try dropping Mage from the MB for +1 Scooze, +1 VoR and +1 Pridemage or Courser, and then having 2x Mage in the board. I might experiment with running Retreat again... likely would go to 1 Jace MB and drop the Pridemage/Course for 2x Retreat.
I posted my deck to another bant thread and was suggested to ask help here. I very much enjoy the midrange-style, and have settled to traverse version of knightfall. The list is by no means ready or smooth but the general idea is there. I'm still considering renegade rallier to replace ojutai's command as value two-for-one. Rallier c'd also get back GQ's and tormod's crypts in game one. (Cryptic is a no go with my manabase and is not a good fit here.) Some choises came from the fact that my local fnm is riddled with burn and tron.
Any feedback w'd be appreciated!!
3x stubborn denial
4x thought scour
4x traverse the ulvenwald
2x tormod's crypt
1x declaration in stone
1x blessed alliance
2x search for azcanta
2x retreat to coralhelm
2x ojutai's command
1x jace, vryn's prodigy
1x qasali pridemage
4x knight of the reliquary
1x geist of saint traft
1x courser of kruphix
2x hooting mandrills
22x lands
8x fetch
4x ghost quarter
4x shock
2x celestial purge
1x scavenging ooze
1x kataki, war's wage
1x thrun, the last troll
3x ceremonious rejection
1x additional courser
Right now your list is really top heavy. You don't have any dorks to accelerate into your 3 and 4cmc cards, and you're really not running anything for the early game. I'm expecting you'll get left in the dust a lot of games, especially without CoCo to claw your way back in from behind or the tempo creatures (Queller, Reflector) to swing things.
You said your meta is a lot of Burn and Tron, but the list I'm looking at is likely to have a hard time dealing with either of those
I put a fair amount of time and testing into something similar prior to Opt becoming Modern legal. I was never able to get it to function smoothly, it was too weak to GY hate and just typically felt a turn slower than I'd generally want to be in Modern. Here's the MD 60 I'd last saved:
2x Breeding Pool
4x Flooded Strand
1x Forest
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
1x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
4x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Scavenging Ooze
3x Snapcaster Mage
4x Tarmogoyf
Enchantment (4)
2x Cast Out
2x Retreat to Coralhelm
Instant (11)
4x Path to Exile
4x Remand
3x Stubborn Denial
4x Serum Visions
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
Artifact (4)
4x Mishra's Bauble
I've also noticed an influx of green decks on mtgo, specifically Vizier combo decks and green Saheeli combo decks. Izzet staticaster can decimate those matchups (as well as other matchups like elves, affinity, lingering souls, and storm) and I don't like not having staticaster in the board. I think if I'm dropping jace, I'm going back to red.
Gideon, AoZ has been a beast in the board, and I want to have two of him in the 75. Maybe I just replace the 2 maindeck jace with 2 maindeck gideon instead of retreats and see how it goes. I think Gideon is more matchup dependent though.
I'm personally not a fan of Staticasters. They sometimes can't stop combo fast enough as Devoted Druid can be activated on the stack (right?). When you get Izzets with Elvish Archdruid already out, it doesn't do much. Getting that red mana is sometimes awkward, too. I like Phyrexian Revoker a lot more. Shut down Ezuri and Elves aren't very good anymore. Revokers are really good versus Affinity too.
I like Gideon, too. He is very proactive and aggressive, and sometimes Knightfall doesn't feel aggressive enough. In grindy matchups, his Knight token is serviceable, at least. It's just more of a risk to use him as an attacker cause he can be Pathed.
We managed with zero planeswalkers in our deck before JtMS got unbanned. I think we can still manage :). I think if you want to play BBE and cut Queller, we need to re-tool the deck completely.
While you're right about Staticaster not being able to stop the natural Devoted Druid combo, we have enough disruption postboard with path, Reflector Mage, and Queller to slow them down. And then Staticaster cleans everything up. I've had a lot of success with this strategy when Devoted Druid combo was everywhere on mtgo last year. Getting red mana is sometimes awkward though. Revoker sounds like a decent strategy. He's just a temporary solution though. Affinity can galv blast him, elves can push/decay him, etc. At least staticaster can kill some stuff before he dies
One thing I found fascinating was how different a hand feels depending on which deck you're on. If you're playing zoo, Noble voice knight 4 lands is pretty borderline (you're probably going to flood and die if you draw another land), but it's a great knightfall hand. I've recently been happy keeping hands that I used to think were bad.
Zoo also got me used to being really really aggressive with my manabase, often taking 7 damage off lands over the course of a game. Obviously that doesn't translate perfectly to knightfall, but honestly I was surprised with what I could get away with. I've moved back to clique recently, and it's been fantastic (similar Mana to the winning Jace list).
If you've only really played knightfall, I strongly recommend trying other decks. My two conclusions were that a) you should almost always keep a seven card hand that can cast it's spells, and b) I was being too cautious with my mana (clique is great!)