Hello, I recently went to my first ever real life magic night. As a result I did a draft instead of standard. A very nice person handed me a grocery bag FULL of magic cards. They are 90% Thero and Khans block. Didn't see any M15 in there. Obviously the rares were all taken away but I have playsets of pretty much every common, and have numerous uncommons. (P.S, I'm not really in the market for picking up any other cards even if they are cheap, its not a hobby i'm willing to spend money on yet so keep that in mind, I do have alot of cards though.)
I was hoping to get some help on making a reasonably competent standard deck using what I've got.
(While I don't want to list my cards as there are atleast 500+ unique cards, the majority as I've said are from Khans , and some from Theros.
***edited***
Alright this is looking pretty close to my final deck list.
First of all a few comments.
Echoes of the Kin Tree doesn't fit the theme but I feel like it could really help me if my combat tricks start running out of gas. This could keep the pressure up when I have mana open. Illusory Gains, again doesn't really fit the deck but this is my only blue rare (kind of want to play with it) and I also feel its my version of a bomb, beacuse it will steal theirs. Forcing them to remove it which can then be soul'd or willing'd. It also lets me be more selective with my disdainful strokes since I can choose if I want it to move, or counter it when they play a creature. Also helps me when I run out of steam.
2 Refocus Is replacing 2 copies of defiant strike to maintain the draw count in the deck. Would 4x defiants be more useful? I can probably get them from a friend they are just commons.
That's it for the main deck, onto the sideboard. My comments are mostly in the deck list, I am very shady on what to have in a sideboard and even if my sideboard IS good. I will need even more help on what I can remove from my deck to swap it in.
P.S*
None of my friends seem to play blue or white, so there's a decent chance they will donate a couple rares for my deck (that's where I got the spear). So any suggestions on some rares is a possibility thanks@*
Thanks everyone, you've been a great help, special thanks to Nev for giving me a great starting point and continued feedback!
wow that's definately not something I would come up with. I guess my main concern would be countering their bombs and planeswalkers, but I guess this is a fairly fast deck with lots of ways to save my own creatures and some decent access to unblockable creatures. I'll give it a try.
What is the benefit of anticipate vs say treasure cruise or weave fate, is the cost really so good as it only gets one card? (I do get that it will usually be the card you need though.)
I do have a few dual lands and evolving wilds, did you not include them because of my budget or because I need to hit my drops ontime!?
If you've got a lot of blue and white from Theros block, it might be worth thinking about UW Heroic instead of prowess... Check the Competitive threads for some deck ideas there. I believe Tom Ross played one at PTDTK or a recent GP.
Alright using what I've got I did a close approximation of yours, how does it look? I have some other options, kill shots, crippling chills, a couple different counterspells, an erase. I also have 2 copies of battle mastery (double strike aura) I think it could fit nicely into my deck. I was also curious if having a whirlwind adept or a heroes blade would be useful at all. (The blade would help aggression on my weenies if I am running low on my prowess triggers, and the whirlwind could be my win condition with hexproof (even though it isn't the biggest it should be resilient).
I also have some removal spells I am brainstorming on sideboarding.
Now, onto my rares (few).
For u/w I currently only have 1 wall of reverence 1 profound journey and 1 illusory gains could any of these fit into a deck like this? The wall is mostly out, the profound journey doesn't seem valuable as most of my creatures have low cost, the gains however seems quite promising to me.
Last but not least I have 2 copies of the Ojutai Monument would this slow me down too much as it is a decent win condition if the game goes longer than I want it to.
Hero's blade is pretty bad in general. Whirlwind costs too much. Kill shot is bad because it doesn't kill things that block. Try to keep proactive. The rares don't really fit which is fine.
Do you have jeskai elders? They're at least 2 drops and let you looter.
10 of each lands isn't going to work out at all. Its just too inconsistent. You'll need 4 tranquil cove and probably 2-3 evolving wilds. Tilt the deck to a slight blue base more heavy than white since most of the creatures are blue which need to precede spells anyway. 14-16 blue sources is what I'd recommend depending on how mulligan allergic you are, counting evolving wilds as a color of either. Illusory gains on 20 lands I can't really advise. Do you have valorous stances? If you do, I'd play that over a bunch of disdainful strokes. Stroke is basically to counter midrangey things like siege rhino which you're geared to go around anyway even though its hard or a board wipe which valorous stance somewhat solves. Hard control decks where most of that happens can be pressured with 1-2 creatures making stance work just fine. Proactive decks don't want so many dead cards so I'd move disdainful stroke to the side and put the more proactive use valorous stance or at least a wider use card in its place mainboard.
I'll have to ask my friend who got me into this if he has any Elders/Stances kicking around.
Do I take out equal parts windscout and spellfists to fit the elders in? Valorous I will swap out strokes if possible. I may just sideboard my illusory gains and try it out infrequently.
Will update accordingly.
Windscouts are the worst of the creatures noted because they cost 3. That's why I included them in the lowest numbers. That's why you play evasion and pump. Also, you can play one aqueous form.
I like being able to keep the blue lean, personally. The reason why seeker of the way is just because its so good. Leaning your color requirements makes you more consistent when on a budget mana base. There are worse things than jeskai student, though. If you're lacking stuff, you can play it but I think you're fine.
For anyone else reading this thread, its extremely budget friendly! Only a handful of uncommons and those don't even have to go into the deck, and most uncommons are sideboarded. Should be just a couple of bucks!
well I took this deck to my local FNM, it didn't do to well, I won a few games but no matches. My deck constantly ran out of steam. My small prowess guys couldn't keep up with the dragons people dropped on me or the bigger bolster guys. I had a severe lack of removal and I just couldn't keep enough pressure up to force people to make bad blocks.
MVP's were the seeker of the ways, and the spellfists. The other prowess guys felt totally underwhelming. I added in a few treasure cruises to try and keep my steam going, haven't been able to test it out yet. Here is my current list I'm trying. (lack of removal and counters is bugging me, but I have no idea what to cut!!!!)
Too many lands. Too many subpar creatures. Not enough creatures. This is not heroic where you drop one thing and go to town. You need multiple creatures so play the cheapies and play 18-20. You absolutely need the low cmc ones and cannot cut corners on that.
I actually did alright, went 2-3, I did better than my friend with thought siezes, lilianas, whips etc...
Some things I noticed even with 8 Draw spells I found myself running out of cards at times (just not drawing into my draw) but I think that's just randomness, can't put more draw spells in.
Springleaf Drum was handy but could be cut, it allowed me to save my seeker of the way by tapping it out and casting a protection spell with the extra mana (handy but wouldn't make or break the deck)
Spear of Heliod was also just a small but significant boost to my creatures, it also triggers prowess the turn i play it for a nice +2/+2 effect. In longer games the kill effect helped me a few times.
Illusory Gains: Put this one in just to see how it went, it was actually a really strong play and won me a few games. Basically as I was running out of steam and I was losing control of a game, they dropped a big fatty. On my turn I steal it, trigger prowess, swing in with my team and swing in with the big fatty I just stole. Won me a few rounds.
What kind of creatures would I be looking into aquiring? I am going to pick up a shu yun or two he's like 50 cents or something.
P.S*
None of my friends seem to play blue or white, so there's a decent chance they will donate a couple rares for my deck (that's where I got the spear). So any suggestions on some rares is a possibility thanks@*
Get rid of drum, whirlwind adept, and jeskai student asap. +1 elusive spellfist. Jeskai elders over your worse creatures because it lets you filter away things you don't need while being cheap prowess. Shu Yun is ok. I would play defiant strike over anticipate since you're not digging for things in particular. Instead, you just want cheaper cantrips that also happen to be minor combat tricks.
Myth realized is really good if you can get your hands on some and helps the control matchup quite a bit. I'd say that's the big one.
Haven't found all the cards but here is my current iteration I'm working on from nevs suggestions. I'm at 63 cards so looking for a few things to cut. Looking at maybe cutting 1 defiant strike, 2 jeskai sage. Thoughts? (I feel like the loss of versatility and dig from the anticipates might hurt me. While the +1 power helps from defiant strike it isn't likely to save my creature from alot of things, the lower cost is nice... Also, adjusted the mana base to be more even, ( i need blue for creatures, but I tend to need more white open for my evasion suite.
*deck edited in first post*.
I'm also coming up short on my sideboard usage.
I have mostly a control suite, and a soft removal suite.
Defiant strike isn't for saving your stuff so much as it is for pushing damage without losing total cards in hand. If you have 2 creatures hitting them it basically adds 3 damage to the count and draws a card. Jeskai sage is also important for a similar reason. Basically, it is there to be a cheap prowess that your opponent will want to kill but you'll get stuff for. Not running out of steam matters.
As for sideboarding, you'll want to identify what your bad matchups are and will aim to improve them with cards that harm them. Erase is alright if you see lots of enchantments to shoot. Say, whip of erebos and courser of kruphix. Sandblast is probably not great. Valorous stance does most of what sandblast does but better. Singing bell and surge of righteousness are fine. So is whichever counter of your choice. Anyway, what you'll remove to make room for sideboarding depends on the matchup. However, this deck is rather synergistic so there's not a whole lot to just cut. You need to strike a balance. However, sideboarding is mostly going to hinge on how you plan to race them here. If you plan to go a little slower and outlast them, you can cut some of your stuff that's meant to move faster. And so on. Another very real possibility is to transformative sideboard into UW heroic since prowess is more about the numbers than individual creatures. UW heroic is more about a single one. So many of the cards that beat one don't do a ton against the other.
Nev's first suggestion is the best list still. Each creature has value beyond P/T, each spell protects your assets and gets you another spell. You need about 18 creatures to consistently have a threat out. Only way I know around this is 14 + 4 Myth Realized. (Who would be really good here. Punishes people for sweepers, and gives lasting value for prowess spells cast.) All the cantrips are what allows him to run only 20 lands.
Myth realized is the big one. Almost the only one that matters. If I had to add rares...
1 dig through time because why not. Anything beyond that is mostly sb material.
Polymorphist's jest?
Maybe Icy blast?
I could see boarding monsastery siege.
Talent of the telepath as a boarded card to fight control. That's funny. Double prowess trigger. Nab a dig through time from them and refuel.
Honestly, budget rares aren't really needed other than the first one mentioned. Not really. Board anchor to the aether vs midranges and that will help you more than any budget rare would and aside the myth realized and 1 dig probably more than any rare or mythic that doesn't have the land subtype because obviously flooded strands and temples help you.
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I was hoping to get some help on making a reasonably competent standard deck using what I've got.
(While I don't want to list my cards as there are atleast 500+ unique cards, the majority as I've said are from Khans , and some from Theros.
**Edited**
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Jeskai Sage
4 Jeskai Windscout
3 Elusive Spellfist
1 Lightform (replacing my 4th spellfist I don't have.
Spells 25
4 Anticipate
4 Artful Maneuver
4 Gods Willing
2 Defiant Strike
4 Center Soul
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
1 Echoes of the Kin Tree
2 Refocus
6 Plains
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Ojutai Monument (will board in vs control decks possibly)
1 Erase
1 Learn from the Past (mill shananigans and can also 'reset' opponents graveyard shananigans)
1 Surge of Righteousness
2 Battle Mastery (can board these in if I'm noticing they don't have much removal)
1 Whisk Away (Keep some tempo going)
2 SandBlast (A bit more versatile than killshot, 5 damage kills most threats)
2 Fate Forgotten (whips and the like)
1 Honor's Reward (could help me win a race vs aggro possibly?)
1 Smite the Monstrous (nice kill cards to deal with threats)
1 Great Teacher's Decree (really nice aggressive card, might be too high on the curve though?)
1 Illusory Gains
***edited***
Alright this is looking pretty close to my final deck list.
First of all a few comments.
Echoes of the Kin Tree doesn't fit the theme but I feel like it could really help me if my combat tricks start running out of gas. This could keep the pressure up when I have mana open.
Illusory Gains, again doesn't really fit the deck but this is my only blue rare (kind of want to play with it) and I also feel its my version of a bomb, beacuse it will steal theirs. Forcing them to remove it which can then be soul'd or willing'd. It also lets me be more selective with my disdainful strokes since I can choose if I want it to move, or counter it when they play a creature. Also helps me when I run out of steam.
2 Refocus Is replacing 2 copies of defiant strike to maintain the draw count in the deck. Would 4x defiants be more useful? I can probably get them from a friend they are just commons.
That's it for the main deck, onto the sideboard. My comments are mostly in the deck list, I am very shady on what to have in a sideboard and even if my sideboard IS good. I will need even more help on what I can remove from my deck to swap it in.
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Evolving Wilds
8 Islands
6 Plains
DRAW (7)
3 Treasure Cruise
4 Anticipate
4 Seeker of the Way
3 Elusive Spellfist
2 Jeskai Student
4 Jeskai Sage
2 Jeskai Windscout
1 Whilrwind Adept
4 Center Soul
4 Gods Willing
4 Artful Maneuver
1 Illusory Gains
ENCHANTS/ARTIFACTS: (2)
1 Spear of Heliod
1 Springleaf Drum
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Evolving Wilds
7 Islands
7 Plains
DRAW (3)
3 Treasure Cruise
4 Anticipate (removed for Defiant strikes)
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Elusive Spellfist
4 Jeskai Elder
4 Jeskai Sage
2 Shu Yun, The Silent Tempest
SPELLS: (19)
4 Center Soul
4 Gods Willing
4 Artful Maneuver
1 Illusory Gains
4 Defiant Strike
2 Myth Realized
P.S*
None of my friends seem to play blue or white, so there's a decent chance they will donate a couple rares for my deck (that's where I got the spear). So any suggestions on some rares is a possibility thanks@*
Thanks everyone, you've been a great help, special thanks to Nev for giving me a great starting point and continued feedback!
4 elusive spellfist
4 seeker of the way
4 jeskai elde
2 jeskai windscout
4 center soul
4 artful maneuver
2 valorous stance
4 anticipate
3 gods willing
1 aqueous form
Something sort of like that.
What is the benefit of anticipate vs say treasure cruise or weave fate, is the cost really so good as it only gets one card? (I do get that it will usually be the card you need though.)
I do have a few dual lands and evolving wilds, did you not include them because of my budget or because I need to hit my drops ontime!?
I appreciate the help.
4 Jeskai Sage
4 Jeskai Windscout
3 Elusive Spellfist
1 Lightform (replacing my 4th spellfist I don't have.
3 Artful Maneuver
4 Gods Willing
2 Defiant Strike
4 Center Soul
3 Disdainful Stroke
1 Feat of Resistance
1 Echoes of the Kin Tree
2 Refocus
Alright using what I've got I did a close approximation of yours, how does it look? I have some other options, kill shots, crippling chills, a couple different counterspells, an erase. I also have 2 copies of battle mastery (double strike aura) I think it could fit nicely into my deck. I was also curious if having a whirlwind adept or a heroes blade would be useful at all. (The blade would help aggression on my weenies if I am running low on my prowess triggers, and the whirlwind could be my win condition with hexproof (even though it isn't the biggest it should be resilient).
I also have some removal spells I am brainstorming on sideboarding.
Now, onto my rares (few).
For u/w I currently only have 1 wall of reverence 1 profound journey and 1 illusory gains could any of these fit into a deck like this? The wall is mostly out, the profound journey doesn't seem valuable as most of my creatures have low cost, the gains however seems quite promising to me.
Last but not least I have 2 copies of the Ojutai Monument would this slow me down too much as it is a decent win condition if the game goes longer than I want it to.
Thoughts? ok ttyl.
10 of each lands isn't going to work out at all. Its just too inconsistent. You'll need 4 tranquil cove and probably 2-3 evolving wilds. Tilt the deck to a slight blue base more heavy than white since most of the creatures are blue which need to precede spells anyway. 14-16 blue sources is what I'd recommend depending on how mulligan allergic you are, counting evolving wilds as a color of either. Illusory gains on 20 lands I can't really advise. Do you have valorous stances? If you do, I'd play that over a bunch of disdainful strokes. Stroke is basically to counter midrangey things like siege rhino which you're geared to go around anyway even though its hard or a board wipe which valorous stance somewhat solves. Hard control decks where most of that happens can be pressured with 1-2 creatures making stance work just fine. Proactive decks don't want so many dead cards so I'd move disdainful stroke to the side and put the more proactive use valorous stance or at least a wider use card in its place mainboard.
Do I take out equal parts windscout and spellfists to fit the elders in? Valorous I will swap out strokes if possible. I may just sideboard my illusory gains and try it out infrequently.
Will update accordingly.
I'll have to see if I can aquire tranquil coves.
It's basically trading evasion and 1 attack for having more toughness and opportunities of leaving mana open more often.
MVP's were the seeker of the ways, and the spellfists. The other prowess guys felt totally underwhelming. I added in a few treasure cruises to try and keep my steam going, haven't been able to test it out yet. Here is my current list I'm trying. (lack of removal and counters is bugging me, but I have no idea what to cut!!!!)
24 Lands
DRAW (8)
3 Treasure Cruise
1 Weave Fate
4 Anticipate
4 Seeker of the Way
3 Elusive Spellfist
2 Jeskai Student
2 Jeskai Sage
2 Jeskai Windscout
1 Whilrwind Adept
4 Center Soul
4 Gods Willing
4 Artful Maneuver
ENCHANTS/ARTIFACTS: (1)
1 Spear of Heliod
1 Springleaf Drum
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Evolving Wilds
8 Islands
6 Plains
DRAW (7)
3 Treasure Cruise
4 Anticipate
4 Seeker of the Way
3 Elusive Spellfist
2 Jeskai Student
4 Jeskai Sage
2 Jeskai Windscout
1 Whilrwind Adept
4 Center Soul
4 Gods Willing
4 Artful Maneuver
1 Illusory Gains
ENCHANTS/ARTIFACTS: (2)
1 Spear of Heliod
1 Springleaf Drum
I actually did alright, went 2-3, I did better than my friend with thought siezes, lilianas, whips etc...
Some things I noticed even with 8 Draw spells I found myself running out of cards at times (just not drawing into my draw) but I think that's just randomness, can't put more draw spells in.
Springleaf Drum was handy but could be cut, it allowed me to save my seeker of the way by tapping it out and casting a protection spell with the extra mana (handy but wouldn't make or break the deck)
Spear of Heliod was also just a small but significant boost to my creatures, it also triggers prowess the turn i play it for a nice +2/+2 effect. In longer games the kill effect helped me a few times.
Illusory Gains: Put this one in just to see how it went, it was actually a really strong play and won me a few games. Basically as I was running out of steam and I was losing control of a game, they dropped a big fatty. On my turn I steal it, trigger prowess, swing in with my team and swing in with the big fatty I just stole. Won me a few rounds.
What kind of creatures would I be looking into aquiring? I am going to pick up a shu yun or two he's like 50 cents or something.
P.S*
None of my friends seem to play blue or white, so there's a decent chance they will donate a couple rares for my deck (that's where I got the spear). So any suggestions on some rares is a possibility thanks@*
Myth realized is really good if you can get your hands on some and helps the control matchup quite a bit. I'd say that's the big one.
*deck edited in first post*.
I'm also coming up short on my sideboard usage.
I have mostly a control suite, and a soft removal suite.
That sort of stuff
My questions are twofold.
A: What should I be taking out of my main deck when I do sideboard?
B: What to put in my sideboard in general.
As for sideboarding, you'll want to identify what your bad matchups are and will aim to improve them with cards that harm them. Erase is alright if you see lots of enchantments to shoot. Say, whip of erebos and courser of kruphix. Sandblast is probably not great. Valorous stance does most of what sandblast does but better. Singing bell and surge of righteousness are fine. So is whichever counter of your choice. Anyway, what you'll remove to make room for sideboarding depends on the matchup. However, this deck is rather synergistic so there's not a whole lot to just cut. You need to strike a balance. However, sideboarding is mostly going to hinge on how you plan to race them here. If you plan to go a little slower and outlast them, you can cut some of your stuff that's meant to move faster. And so on. Another very real possibility is to transformative sideboard into UW heroic since prowess is more about the numbers than individual creatures. UW heroic is more about a single one. So many of the cards that beat one don't do a ton against the other.
7x Plains
7x Island
4x Tranquil Cove
4x Temple of Enlightenment
18 CREATURES
4x Seeker of the Way
4x Ojutai Exemplars
4x Jeskai Elder
2x Jhessian Thief
2x Elusive Spellfist
2x Shu Yun the Silent Tempest
4x Feat of Resistance
2x valorous stance
2x Disdainful Stroke
3x Defiant Strike
2x Anticipate
4x Ajani Presence
2x Artful Maneuver
Working on the side yet.
Nev: any budget rares you'd add to this?
1 dig through time because why not. Anything beyond that is mostly sb material.
Polymorphist's jest?
Maybe Icy blast?
I could see boarding monsastery siege.
Talent of the telepath as a boarded card to fight control. That's funny. Double prowess trigger. Nab a dig through time from them and refuel.
Honestly, budget rares aren't really needed other than the first one mentioned. Not really. Board anchor to the aether vs midranges and that will help you more than any budget rare would and aside the myth realized and 1 dig probably more than any rare or mythic that doesn't have the land subtype because obviously flooded strands and temples help you.