What do you all think about Paul Cheon's list? It looks like he's aiming to just improve the Abzan matchup as much as possible with Stormbreath over Sarkhan, two Hushwings in the MB, a singleton Stroke in the main (with extra in the side), and a playset of Suspension Fields in the side. I'm thinking about buying into this deck and his versions seems pretty streamlined and more in-line with my playstyle. Only change I would make is +1 Keranos over Chandra and +2 End Hostilities in place of two of the Suspension Fields.
I sleeved up some proxies and played mono green devotion last night. It felt pretty even, with me taking a match loss on account of a pretty stupid misplay. I liked transitioning into more of a control deck for game 2. I was able to deplete his resources and hang on by 3 life by casting three Digs, an End Hostilities, two Strokes, and the beating him down from 30 life with a Stormbreath Dragon and Mantis Rider.
I've been campaigning for Hushwing Gryff in the main since I joined this thread. It's just amazing. It's hard to find room, however.
Suspension Field is very good against Abzan and IMO it's probably the only extra thing you need to punch through. If you max on Suspension Field and still need removal, Singing Bell Strike is another option.
Disdainful Stroke mainboard is probably fine even in a metagame that is short on Abzan. Another card for consideration is probably Nullify.
Not trying to be a dick but if you're still on the train of trying to figure out how to beat Abzan you are behind, the real demon for Jeskai is Temur Monsters and Sultai Whip. Rising in popularity and with Temur Monsters probably being the best deck in the format, we need to look way past Abzan.
Yeah, Temur Monsters is a huge problem for us. Their matchup against us is so good that they don't even need to bring in Arbor Colossus, which stops us dead in our tracks.
The Whip decks can be combated against with Erase in the sideboard. You really just need to keep them off Whip and burn out their guys.
Took first place at a GPT last weekend with this list. only lost one Abzan matchup, beat another two, along wih three mirrors and a couple aggro decks.
Not trying to be a dick but if you're still on the train of trying to figure out how to beat Abzan you are behind, the real demon for Jeskai is Temur Monsters and Sultai Whip. Rising in popularity and with Temur Monsters probably being the best deck in the format, we need to look way past Abzan.
You're not being a dick, but I am just now getting into this deck (sold off my previous deck to buy in) and my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, so I'm really just focused on beating that for now.
Now with that being said, with the rise of Whipdisi and Temur in the format, do you (or anyone else) think that running a transitional sideboard is more viable? To be honest, I have yet to actually play against either deck (when I say my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, I mean that probably 90% of all my FNM matchups are against Abzan), so I don't know how weak they are to control. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that something like Knuckleblade is pretty hard for control to beat.
Not trying to be a dick but if you're still on the train of trying to figure out how to beat Abzan you are behind, the real demon for Jeskai is Temur Monsters and Sultai Whip. Rising in popularity and with Temur Monsters probably being the best deck in the format, we need to look way past Abzan.
You're not being a dick, but I am just now getting into this deck (sold off my previous deck to buy in) and my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, so I'm really just focused on beating that for now.
Now with that being said, with the rise of Whipdisi and Temur in the format, do you (or anyone else) think that running a transitional sideboard is more viable? To be honest, I have yet to actually play against either deck (when I say my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, I mean that probably 90% of all my FNM matchups are against Abzan), so I don't know how weak they are to control. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that something like Knuckleblade is pretty hard for control to beat.
Your sideboard cards will win you the match against Sidisi/Whip and Temur.
Against Temur, burn their dorks, run Magma Spray for this. It also kills Ashcloud Phoenix DEAD. You can also use Harness by Force to wreck them once they think they've stabilized and start going for your throat.
In both matchups, Dissolve and Nullify will be useful. You're right, Savage Knuckleblade is a difficult card for us to beat.
In game one you have to take the beatdown role and run with it. If you sit back at all, you will not win. You have to kill them quickly before they get a bunch of mobs on board. Rabblemaster, while normally good in our deck, is very bad against them. If you want to use him, you should also use 1-2 Gods Willing mainboard to protect him. Most players will block a 6/2 Goblin Rabblemaster with something. Gods Willing then basically becomes a removal spell. KEEP THEM OFF THEIR DORKS!
Game two you can board in all your Nullify, Disdainful Stroke (huge here), and Magma Sprays and sit back a little bit. You don't have to kill them right away, you need to prevent them from attaining board presence. They don't have any kind of draw power so it becomes a war of attrition where you must maintain parity until you can safely play a mob with mana up to do something. They have Crater's Claws and Lightning Strike as well—don't forget that.
It is highly winnable but you have to play very tight.
As for the Sidisi deck, use Erase and your counterspells. They are slower than we are and it is very important that they not stick a whip. Kill Sidisi as soon as you can. If you really fear this matchup, Tormod's Crypt will help immensely and it is not shameful to stock up on 2-3 in your sideboard..
I went down to 23 land for the obvious reason that I also cut the maindeck walkers. I want to be slick and smooth and aggro the living sh*t out of them.
The two Chandra are in the sideboard to bring in against Abzan, ostensibly to dilute their blocking plan.
Has anyone considered Ride Down in this deck? It seems pretty powerful, and in many cases is better than Gods Willing.
Also, I really, really love Hushwing Gryff. He nerfs a lot of stuff.
Not trying to be a dick but if you're still on the train of trying to figure out how to beat Abzan you are behind, the real demon for Jeskai is Temur Monsters and Sultai Whip. Rising in popularity and with Temur Monsters probably being the best deck in the format, we need to look way past Abzan.
You're not being a dick, but I am just now getting into this deck (sold off my previous deck to buy in) and my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, so I'm really just focused on beating that for now.
Now with that being said, with the rise of Whipdisi and Temur in the format, do you (or anyone else) think that running a transitional sideboard is more viable? To be honest, I have yet to actually play against either deck (when I say my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, I mean that probably 90% of all my FNM matchups are against Abzan), so I don't know how weak they are to control. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that something like Knuckleblade is pretty hard for control to beat.
The biggest way to beat Whipdisi is to not let Whip resolve. With whip on the field it's nearly impossible to beat that deck (unless you are already ahead).
I dropped the Nyx-Fleece Rams because while they were awesome against aggro, they were terrible against control and barely average against midrange (like most people predicted; my results were skewed due to what I was testing against).
Seeker is out and so far I'm happy with it gone, it just underperformed too much for me. There were definitely times I was glad to have it, but overall, I haven't missed it too much.
Stormbreath > Sarkhan hasn't been a huge difference but I prefer the Dragons right now.
I put End Hostilities back in and am glad I did, missed it a lot. It sucks against control, but it's so good in so many other matchups. I had an Aetherspouts for a period of time as well (because it's better against decks that run Whip and kills tokens anyway) and still might go back to it, but I'm not sure which is better right now. Spouts being instant speed is really nice, but requiring an attack and only being able to get rid of attacking creatures kind of sucks.
Started experimenting with counters and I have been liking it a lot, just not sure if I'll keep the 2/1 split with Stroke and Dissolve right now, or if I'll end up running a Nullify, three Stroke, or whatever. I do know that the counters have been helping a lot, though.
Other than those things, also messed around with the mana base a bit since I needed more blue.
Oh, and the lone Jace has actually been pretty good (surprisingly), too. I mainly use him for the -2 then pseudo-scrying, but he's not as bad as I originally though.
What's everyone else doing for Whip matchups? We can't really out aggro them so it seems like we just have to hope we can burn them to zero in time or hope our board is good enough before they go crazy with Whip. Jace has helped me a bit there, as have Stroke and Dissolve, but that's really all I have main deck to deal with those matchups.
Edit: Think I'm going to cut Jace, just not sure what for yet. Too dead against Abzan, any aggro, control, etc.
Not trying to be a dick but if you're still on the train of trying to figure out how to beat Abzan you are behind, the real demon for Jeskai is Temur Monsters and Sultai Whip. Rising in popularity and with Temur Monsters probably being the best deck in the format, we need to look way past Abzan.
You're not being a dick, but I am just now getting into this deck (sold off my previous deck to buy in) and my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, so I'm really just focused on beating that for now.
Now with that being said, with the rise of Whipdisi and Temur in the format, do you (or anyone else) think that running a transitional sideboard is more viable? To be honest, I have yet to actually play against either deck (when I say my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, I mean that probably 90% of all my FNM matchups are against Abzan), so I don't know how weak they are to control. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that something like Knuckleblade is pretty hard for control to beat.
If you want to smash abzan then run the mainboard End Hostilities lists. I don't think I've lost a game to abzan since I did. And Game 1 is basically an auto-win.
Not trying to be a dick but if you're still on the train of trying to figure out how to beat Abzan you are behind, the real demon for Jeskai is Temur Monsters and Sultai Whip. Rising in popularity and with Temur Monsters probably being the best deck in the format, we need to look way past Abzan.
You're not being a dick, but I am just now getting into this deck (sold off my previous deck to buy in) and my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, so I'm really just focused on beating that for now.
Now with that being said, with the rise of Whipdisi and Temur in the format, do you (or anyone else) think that running a transitional sideboard is more viable? To be honest, I have yet to actually play against either deck (when I say my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, I mean that probably 90% of all my FNM matchups are against Abzan), so I don't know how weak they are to control. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that something like Knuckleblade is pretty hard for control to beat.
The biggest way to beat Whipdisi is to not let Whip resolve. With whip on the field it's nearly impossible to beat that deck (unless you are already ahead).
Hushwing Gryff will also assist you in the event that they do resolve a Whip. They won't get their constellation triggers and Hornet Queen becomes a Shock.
Not trying to be a dick but if you're still on the train of trying to figure out how to beat Abzan you are behind, the real demon for Jeskai is Temur Monsters and Sultai Whip. Rising in popularity and with Temur Monsters probably being the best deck in the format, we need to look way past Abzan.
You're not being a dick, but I am just now getting into this deck (sold off my previous deck to buy in) and my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, so I'm really just focused on beating that for now.
Now with that being said, with the rise of Whipdisi and Temur in the format, do you (or anyone else) think that running a transitional sideboard is more viable? To be honest, I have yet to actually play against either deck (when I say my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, I mean that probably 90% of all my FNM matchups are against Abzan), so I don't know how weak they are to control. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that something like Knuckleblade is pretty hard for control to beat.
If you want to smash abzan then run the mainboard End Hostilities lists. I don't think I've lost a game to abzan since I did. And Game 1 is basically an auto-win.
End Hostilities is indeed very good against Abzan. They dump their hands so quickly that you will often get 3- and 4-for-1's.
That said, you have to be careful. If they have resolved a planeswalker you have to do something about it first, or they will just re-stabilize.
For the folks on the 25-land version, Fated Retribution is also a thing. It is the best "reset" button we have in our colors though it is pretty expensive.
End Hostilities is indeed very good against Abzan. They dump their hands so quickly that you will often get 3- and 4-for-1's.
That said, you have to be careful. If they have resolved a planeswalker you have to do something about it first, or they will just re-stabilize.
For the folks on the 25-land version, Fated Retribution is also a thing. It is the best "reset" button we have in our colors though it is pretty expensive.
Fated Ret is ridiculously expensive, even as the control build I don't like seeing 7 land. Usually once I hit 6 all my land scrys go to the bottom so we can jam fire down their throat. At 5, usually they've dumped most of their hand, we can mitigate planeswalkers with burn/banishing light (and get a bonus if it's Nissa!) and we untap turn 6 with time and gas to win the game. End Hostilities is just so damn good game 1.
The way I see it, we can fit four into the main deck in two ways:
1) Lower the curve and drop Sarkhan/SBD in favor of playset of Jeskai Ascendancy to support Seeker of the Way and Gods Willing. This will also help you combo off with an infinity/infinity unblockable attacker in games 2/3.
2) Maindeck Briber's Purse over Magma Jet or Lightning Strike. In game one without the other combo pieces, this helps you push through Rabbles or avoid big monster attacks.
The other eight have to sit in the board for game one.
As the meta has adjusted in many ways to face our core Jeskai Tempo cards, this is a gimmicky way to punish people for boarding in all their hate.
Went 4-1 last night and finished 2nd overall against a really diverse meta at one of my LGS. My only loss was to complete and utter mana-screw two games in a row, so....just the luck of magic.
My wins last night were against Sidisi Whip, Naya Walkers, U/W Heroic and last match was against a Temur Aggro build.
My loss was against a Jeskai Tokens that I should've beat, but I drew a hand with two land (both games) and proceeded to not draw another land until 4-5. It didn't go well I had anger of the gods in hand, but just couldnt play it to wipe out 6 tokens
Keranos is a card I just traded for last night, and I like having him mainboard. With scrylands he's very powerful and I was always happy to have him in hand.
Rabblemaster won multiple games for me using Jeskai Charm to bounce blockers and using the goblin tokens to case stoke to avoid running into blockers so I could bounce them the next turn and attack for 6 with rabble and two tokens. That move happened at least 3 different times.
I feel good about a single hushwing gryff in the main. Even if it doesnt shut anything down most people aren't running a lot of flyers and it's good to get in some easy damage, if nothing else. Either way, I prefer having the single gryff over a fourth Seeker.
Seeker still isn't doing much for me, but I'm happier having a few more targets for removal. If they arent in the board the removal is saved for my mantis and rabblemaster, and that's absolutely not what I want.
The only sideboard cards that did much for me (and by much, I mean anything) were End Hostilities and Prognostic Sphinx (mostly for the scry 3).
I dropped Gods Wiling in favor of a fourth Magma Jet and didnt miss it tonight, but I do like the card. I'll probably put 2, or at least 1, Gods Willing in the sideboard.
There isn't a consensus on him, but most successful decks have still been main-boarding 4x Rabblemaster.
I believe most of his value lies in siding him in against aggro match-ups and the mirror.
I plan to try 1 in place of a seeker (2 Seeker + 1 Brimaz instead of 3 seekers) and see how I like that. He'll never replace rabblemaster for me though. I win too many games off of the back of early rabblemasters.
Went 4-1 last night and finished 2nd overall against a really diverse meta at one of my LGS. My only loss was to complete and utter mana-screw two games in a row, so....just the luck of magic.
My wins last night were against Sidisi Whip, Naya Walkers, U/W Heroic and last match was against a Temur Aggro build.
My loss was against a Jeskai Tokens that I should've beat, but I drew a hand with two land (both games) and proceeded to not draw another land until 4-5. It didn't go well I had anger of the gods in hand, but just couldnt play it to wipe out 6 tokens
Keranos is a card I just traded for last night, and I like having him mainboard. With scrylands he's very powerful and I was always happy to have him in hand.
Rabblemaster won multiple games for me using Jeskai Charm to bounce blockers and using the goblin tokens to case stoke to avoid running into blockers so I could bounce them the next turn and attack for 6 with rabble and two tokens. That move happened at least 3 different times.
I feel good about a single hushwing gryff in the main. Even if it doesnt shut anything down most people aren't running a lot of flyers and it's good to get in some easy damage, if nothing else. Either way, I prefer having the single gryff over a fourth Seeker.
Seeker still isn't doing much for me, but I'm happier having a few more targets for removal. If they arent in the board the removal is saved for my mantis and rabblemaster, and that's absolutely not what I want.
The only sideboard cards that did much for me (and by much, I mean anything) were End Hostilities and Prognostic Sphinx (mostly for the scry 3).
I dropped Gods Wiling in favor of a fourth Magma Jet and didnt miss it tonight, but I do like the card. I'll probably put 2, or at least 1, Gods Willing in the sideboard.
Were there an situations in which you brought in the rest of your planeswalkers? What were they, and how did they perform?
I bring in the other Sarkhan to replace Stormbreath whenever I board in End Hostilities against Temur/Abzan or any other deck running 5+ toughness creatures.
I board in Chandra when I'm facing a tokens deck or aggro deck like boss sligh/rabble red. Will also bring her in against more controlling decks to help with card advantage.
I boarded in Chandra against the Jeskai Tokens deck I faced, but both games I lost by turn 6 because I couldn't draw any land so I never had a chance to play her.
So far I'm happy having both in my sideboard and running Keranos mainboard. Chandra mainboard (which I have done the past few weeks) has been too situation specific, so I'd rather have her ONLY be situation specific and live in the sideboard.
So far I'm happy having both in my sideboard and running Keranos mainboard. Chandra mainboard (which I have done the past few weeks) has been too situation specific, so I'd rather have her ONLY be situation specific and live in the sideboard.
Yes! This is exactly why I moved mine to sideboard, and there they shall stay. I like her against aggro and control, but she usually meets a bad end against midrange lists.
EDIT: Has anyone used Dauntless River Marshal at all? He seems somewhat relevant and can help you lock something down before an Alpha Strike. Some of the earliest lists for this deck had him and I just wonder what happened to make folks not play him anymore.
went 4-2 at FNM, getting 8th place on breakers(woot woot). Losing to Temur Mid/aggro which I got out card valued game 1 and game 2 i didnt draw a blue source til like the 6-7th turn which wouldve won me the game, he lived at 1. And I lost to Mardu Midrange which were some pretty close games even though I mull'd to 5 game 3.
I cut the ashcloud out of the board. I liked it, but didnt at the same time. I dont like it with azban being big still(charm) and magma spray being more played thanks to the heroic combo deck.
Im very satisfied with my sideboard except for the following cards;
Narset - This card is a complete blowout but it also feels win-more, I'm not sure, but it is def a house. You cant really bring it in agaisnt mardu though because of crackling doom and azban brings in drown in sorrow so there is that too.
Disdainful stroke - Im likely readjusting the number of this card between my side/mainboard. I like the card a lot and it is really good. I will likely not go below 3 in the 75.
SBD - I am thinking of cutting the walkers and if I do i will play another SBD mainboard and possibly cut the sideboard one.
Only changes mainboard im thinking about is cutting the walkers(although they are very strong) for more aggression and cutting 1 Dig Through Time/1 Disdainful stroke.
I kinda want to play a 1-of God's willing but I remember i Previously didnt care for it that much but im willing to revisit it.
I also kind of want to try out Stymied Hopes. Has anyone tried this card?
Twitter: twitter.com/axmanonline
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Standard: BW Control
Legacy: Death and Taxes :symw::symr:
Vintage: NA
Suspension Field is very good against Abzan and IMO it's probably the only extra thing you need to punch through. If you max on Suspension Field and still need removal, Singing Bell Strike is another option.
Disdainful Stroke mainboard is probably fine even in a metagame that is short on Abzan. Another card for consideration is probably Nullify.
Yeah, Temur Monsters is a huge problem for us. Their matchup against us is so good that they don't even need to bring in Arbor Colossus, which stops us dead in our tracks.
The Whip decks can be combated against with Erase in the sideboard. You really just need to keep them off Whip and burn out their guys.
Nice! Congratulations.
Do you miss Seeker of the Way at all?
4 Seeker of the Way
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Narset, Enlightened Master
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Island
3 Mountain
2 Plains
3 Battlefield Forge
2 Flooded Strand
2 Mystic Monastery
3 Shivan Reef
4 Temple of Epiphany
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Dig Through Time
1 Deflecting Palm
4 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Hushwing Gryff
3 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dissolve
1 Fated Conflagration
2 Negate
1 Keranos, God of Storms
2 Anger of the Gods
2 End Hostilities
Taking this is Columbus this weekend
"Death & Taxes"
Legacy:
"Death & Taxes"
Although that version has done well, I'm not a fan of Brimaz.
Twitter: twitter.com/axmanonline
Stream: twitch.tv/axman
Current Decks
Modern: Affinity
Standard: BW Control
Legacy: Death and Taxes :symw::symr:
Vintage: NA
"Death & Taxes"
Legacy:
"Death & Taxes"
You're not being a dick, but I am just now getting into this deck (sold off my previous deck to buy in) and my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, so I'm really just focused on beating that for now.
Now with that being said, with the rise of Whipdisi and Temur in the format, do you (or anyone else) think that running a transitional sideboard is more viable? To be honest, I have yet to actually play against either deck (when I say my meta is being oppressed by Abzan, I mean that probably 90% of all my FNM matchups are against Abzan), so I don't know how weak they are to control. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that something like Knuckleblade is pretty hard for control to beat.
U/R Delver
Against Temur, burn their dorks, run Magma Spray for this. It also kills Ashcloud Phoenix DEAD. You can also use Harness by Force to wreck them once they think they've stabilized and start going for your throat.
In both matchups, Dissolve and Nullify will be useful. You're right, Savage Knuckleblade is a difficult card for us to beat.
In game one you have to take the beatdown role and run with it. If you sit back at all, you will not win. You have to kill them quickly before they get a bunch of mobs on board. Rabblemaster, while normally good in our deck, is very bad against them. If you want to use him, you should also use 1-2 Gods Willing mainboard to protect him. Most players will block a 6/2 Goblin Rabblemaster with something. Gods Willing then basically becomes a removal spell. KEEP THEM OFF THEIR DORKS!
Game two you can board in all your Nullify, Disdainful Stroke (huge here), and Magma Sprays and sit back a little bit. You don't have to kill them right away, you need to prevent them from attaining board presence. They don't have any kind of draw power so it becomes a war of attrition where you must maintain parity until you can safely play a mob with mana up to do something. They have Crater's Claws and Lightning Strike as well—don't forget that.
It is highly winnable but you have to play very tight.
As for the Sidisi deck, use Erase and your counterspells. They are slower than we are and it is very important that they not stick a whip. Kill Sidisi as soon as you can. If you really fear this matchup, Tormod's Crypt will help immensely and it is not shameful to stock up on 2-3 in your sideboard..
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Hushwing Gryff
4 Mantis Rider
4 Seeker of the Way
Artifacts & Enchantments (2):
2 Banishing Light
Instants & Sorceries (20):
2 Dig Through Time
1 Gods Willing
4 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Island
2 Mountain
3 Plains
2 Battlefield Forge
2 Shivan Reef
2 Flooded Strand
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Temple of Epiphany
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Deflecting Palm
3 Disdainful Stroke
2 Erase
2 Hushwing Gryff
2 Negate
2 Singing Bell Strike
I went down to 23 land for the obvious reason that I also cut the maindeck walkers. I want to be slick and smooth and aggro the living sh*t out of them.
The two Chandra are in the sideboard to bring in against Abzan, ostensibly to dilute their blocking plan.
Has anyone considered Ride Down in this deck? It seems pretty powerful, and in many cases is better than Gods Willing.
Also, I really, really love Hushwing Gryff. He nerfs a lot of stuff.
The biggest way to beat Whipdisi is to not let Whip resolve. With whip on the field it's nearly impossible to beat that deck (unless you are already ahead).
Twitter: twitter.com/axmanonline
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Current Decks
Modern: Affinity
Standard: BW Control
Legacy: Death and Taxes :symw::symr:
Vintage: NA
4 Mantis Rider
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Lightning Strike
4 Jeskai Charm
3 Stoke the Flames
3 Magma Jet
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dig through Time
2 Banishing Light
1 Jace, the Living Guildpact
1 End Hostilities
1 Dissolve
4 Flooded Strand
3 Temple of Epiphany
3 Temple of Triumph
3 Shivan Reef
2 Battlefield Forge
2 Plains
2 Island
1 Mountain
I dropped the Nyx-Fleece Rams because while they were awesome against aggro, they were terrible against control and barely average against midrange (like most people predicted; my results were skewed due to what I was testing against).
Seeker is out and so far I'm happy with it gone, it just underperformed too much for me. There were definitely times I was glad to have it, but overall, I haven't missed it too much.
Stormbreath > Sarkhan hasn't been a huge difference but I prefer the Dragons right now.
I put End Hostilities back in and am glad I did, missed it a lot. It sucks against control, but it's so good in so many other matchups. I had an Aetherspouts for a period of time as well (because it's better against decks that run Whip and kills tokens anyway) and still might go back to it, but I'm not sure which is better right now. Spouts being instant speed is really nice, but requiring an attack and only being able to get rid of attacking creatures kind of sucks.
Started experimenting with counters and I have been liking it a lot, just not sure if I'll keep the 2/1 split with Stroke and Dissolve right now, or if I'll end up running a Nullify, three Stroke, or whatever. I do know that the counters have been helping a lot, though.
Other than those things, also messed around with the mana base a bit since I needed more blue.
Oh, and the lone Jace has actually been pretty good (surprisingly), too. I mainly use him for the -2 then pseudo-scrying, but he's not as bad as I originally though.
What's everyone else doing for Whip matchups? We can't really out aggro them so it seems like we just have to hope we can burn them to zero in time or hope our board is good enough before they go crazy with Whip. Jace has helped me a bit there, as have Stroke and Dissolve, but that's really all I have main deck to deal with those matchups.
Edit: Think I'm going to cut Jace, just not sure what for yet. Too dead against Abzan, any aggro, control, etc.
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If you want to smash abzan then run the mainboard End Hostilities lists. I don't think I've lost a game to abzan since I did. And Game 1 is basically an auto-win.
And apparently I've changed my name: Ugh
Hushwing Gryff will also assist you in the event that they do resolve a Whip. They won't get their constellation triggers and Hornet Queen becomes a Shock.
End Hostilities is indeed very good against Abzan. They dump their hands so quickly that you will often get 3- and 4-for-1's.
That said, you have to be careful. If they have resolved a planeswalker you have to do something about it first, or they will just re-stabilize.
For the folks on the 25-land version, Fated Retribution is also a thing. It is the best "reset" button we have in our colors though it is pretty expensive.
Fated Ret is ridiculously expensive, even as the control build I don't like seeing 7 land. Usually once I hit 6 all my land scrys go to the bottom so we can jam fire down their throat. At 5, usually they've dumped most of their hand, we can mitigate planeswalkers with burn/banishing light (and get a bonus if it's Nissa!) and we untap turn 6 with time and gas to win the game. End Hostilities is just so damn good game 1.
And apparently I've changed my name: Ugh
You need three of 12 dedicated cards and a creature in play to combo off with Jeskai Ascendancy.
Instead of a transitional sideboard into control, can we transition into combo?
We'd need to commit 12 of 75 to:
4x Jeskai Ascendancy
4x Retraction Helix
4x Briber's Purse
The way I see it, we can fit four into the main deck in two ways:
1) Lower the curve and drop Sarkhan/SBD in favor of playset of Jeskai Ascendancy to support Seeker of the Way and Gods Willing. This will also help you combo off with an infinity/infinity unblockable attacker in games 2/3.
2) Maindeck Briber's Purse over Magma Jet or Lightning Strike. In game one without the other combo pieces, this helps you push through Rabbles or avoid big monster attacks.
The other eight have to sit in the board for game one.
As the meta has adjusted in many ways to face our core Jeskai Tempo cards, this is a gimmicky way to punish people for boarding in all their hate.
This is going to require some testing.
In Testing Brimaz has been worse than Rabble in just about every match-up.
Standard
UB UB Midrange UB
Modern
GRWUBTribal Flames ZooGRWUB
RUGTemur DelverRUG
Legacy
UW Stoneblade UW
4 Shivan Reef
2 Battlefield Forge
2 Temple of Epiphany
3 Temple of Triumph (I now have 4)
2 Flooded Strand
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Island
2 Plains
3 Mountain
Creatures
1 Hushwing Gryff
3 Seeker of the Way
4 Mantis Rider
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
Spells
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Lightning Strike
4 Jeskai Charm
4 Magma Jet
2 Dig Through Time
2 Banishing Light
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Sarkhan, The Dragonspeaker
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Suspension Field
1 Negate
1 Deflecting Palm
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 End Hostilities
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Arc Lightning
1 Prognostic Sphinx
1 Hushwing Gryff
My wins last night were against Sidisi Whip, Naya Walkers, U/W Heroic and last match was against a Temur Aggro build.
My loss was against a Jeskai Tokens that I should've beat, but I drew a hand with two land (both games) and proceeded to not draw another land until 4-5. It didn't go well I had anger of the gods in hand, but just couldnt play it to wipe out 6 tokens
Keranos is a card I just traded for last night, and I like having him mainboard. With scrylands he's very powerful and I was always happy to have him in hand.
Rabblemaster won multiple games for me using Jeskai Charm to bounce blockers and using the goblin tokens to case stoke to avoid running into blockers so I could bounce them the next turn and attack for 6 with rabble and two tokens. That move happened at least 3 different times.
I feel good about a single hushwing gryff in the main. Even if it doesnt shut anything down most people aren't running a lot of flyers and it's good to get in some easy damage, if nothing else. Either way, I prefer having the single gryff over a fourth Seeker.
Seeker still isn't doing much for me, but I'm happier having a few more targets for removal. If they arent in the board the removal is saved for my mantis and rabblemaster, and that's absolutely not what I want.
The only sideboard cards that did much for me (and by much, I mean anything) were End Hostilities and Prognostic Sphinx (mostly for the scry 3).
I dropped Gods Wiling in favor of a fourth Magma Jet and didnt miss it tonight, but I do like the card. I'll probably put 2, or at least 1, Gods Willing in the sideboard.
I believe most of his value lies in siding him in against aggro match-ups and the mirror.
I plan to try 1 in place of a seeker (2 Seeker + 1 Brimaz instead of 3 seekers) and see how I like that. He'll never replace rabblemaster for me though. I win too many games off of the back of early rabblemasters.
I board in Chandra when I'm facing a tokens deck or aggro deck like boss sligh/rabble red. Will also bring her in against more controlling decks to help with card advantage.
I boarded in Chandra against the Jeskai Tokens deck I faced, but both games I lost by turn 6 because I couldn't draw any land so I never had a chance to play her.
So far I'm happy having both in my sideboard and running Keranos mainboard. Chandra mainboard (which I have done the past few weeks) has been too situation specific, so I'd rather have her ONLY be situation specific and live in the sideboard.
EDIT: Has anyone used Dauntless River Marshal at all? He seems somewhat relevant and can help you lock something down before an Alpha Strike. Some of the earliest lists for this deck had him and I just wonder what happened to make folks not play him anymore.
3 Shivan Reef
4 Mystic Monastery
4 Flooded Strand
3 Temple of Triumph
3 Temple of Epiphany
2 Battlefield Forge
2 Plains
2 Island
1 Mountain
// Creatures
4 Mantis Rider
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Dig Through Time
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Jeskai Charm
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Disdainful Stroke
I cut the ashcloud out of the board. I liked it, but didnt at the same time. I dont like it with azban being big still(charm) and magma spray being more played thanks to the heroic combo deck.
Im very satisfied with my sideboard except for the following cards;
Disdainful stroke - Im likely readjusting the number of this card between my side/mainboard. I like the card a lot and it is really good. I will likely not go below 3 in the 75.
SBD - I am thinking of cutting the walkers and if I do i will play another SBD mainboard and possibly cut the sideboard one.
Only changes mainboard im thinking about is cutting the walkers(although they are very strong) for more aggression and cutting 1 Dig Through Time/1 Disdainful stroke.
I kinda want to play a 1-of God's willing but I remember i Previously didnt care for it that much but im willing to revisit it.
I also kind of want to try out Stymied Hopes. Has anyone tried this card?
Standard:RWUJeskai WinsRWU
Modern:GWBMelira PodGWB
Legacy:WDeath & TaxesW
3 is also what I've settled on for Disdainful stroke. 1 main and 2 side feels good.
You have felt ok not having any mainboard exile? I'm running two and happy to be running two so far, lol.