Arclight Phoenix has been lightning up Standard, Modern, and I've even seen people such as LSV trying it in Legacy. It's a very powerful card and this is a deck capeable of a abusing it.
The deck has a solid pedigree with a Pro Tour Top 8 by Yuuya Wantanabe, another 2 in the top 32, GP Top 8 in the hands of Owen Turtenwald with another 3 in the top 32, 7 copies placing in the last MOCS, and 2nd at a SCG Classic.
While Arclight Phoenix is the namesake and a very powerful engine in the deck, most of the games are won by Enigma Drake and Crackling Drake. With a ton of cheap cantrips, those two hit very hard indeed and one is often a 3 turn clock on it's own. 4 toughness is critical and paired with flying, makes them quite a problem for many decks. The ability to protect such a threat with Dive Down means the deck can steal wins against anyone.
As of yet, there is no consensus on the best build although most stick to UR with Goblin Electromancer. Still, others eschew the 2/2 in favor of more 1 Mana cantrips.
My personal preference is a version splashing W for Deafening Clarion and Ixalan's Binding. Deafening Clarion is backbreaking against Mono R, WR Aggro, and many versions of GB. Our Drake's 4 toughness make it especially backbreaking clearing the opponent's side and granting Lifelink to win nearly any race.
Ixalan's Binding is the perfect answer to Niv-Mizzet, Parun which has become Jeskai Control's wincon of choice and a mirror breaker. It's also great against Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and any other problematic permanents.
These lists are a good representation of the top preforming versions. They vary from 27-31 Instants and Sorceries and 18-21 lands.
I've been getting a lot of Arena Competitive 5-0s with the deck lately. Several Pros said they felt Electromancer was the weakest card in the deck and without it, the decks built around it can be too clunky. Running maindeck Deafening Clarion makes it even more of a liability. So, I've cut it and went with more Drakes and 1 mana cantrips instead of some of the 2 mana ones. Niv-Mizzet is just insane with them and untapping with it is often GG vs many decks so I moved one to the main.
- Is The Mirari Conjecture worth it? If it is, is it safe to assume that Blink of an Eye is part of that package deal?
- People have been playing Entrancing Melody in the sideboard for a while now but I honestly don't see it. Even with discounts it is a really expensive control magic effect. I get that people thought it was a solution to Adanto Vanguard but Murmuring Mystic deals with that issue much more elegantly. Does it have applications in any other matchup? While we are discussing white decks do you feel that Murmuring Mystic and Fiery Cannonade are mutually excluding plans for those matchups? Running a sweeper against along with a token chump plan seems counter intuitive.
- Would you play a Dive Down over a third Negate or a Disdainful Stroke? It is a card I'm personally enamored with and I can't imagine playing this deck without access to at least one copy of the card in the 75, possibly even two. Negate seems like the stronger counter on the basis that it helps you in counter-wars but mostly because the two creatures you want to spend a counter on can't be countered so Disdainful Stroke hitting creatures doesn't come up as much.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
In my dream, the world had suffered a terrible disaster. A black haze shut out the sun, and the darkness was alive with the moans and screams of wounded people. Suddenly, a small light glowed. A candle flickered into life, symbol of hope for millions. A single tiny candle, shining in the ugly dark. I laughed and blew it out.
Many thanks to HotP Studios. Special thanks to DNC for this great sig.
Some people like the Mirari Conjecture, I'd rather have Niv-Mizzet.
I haven't used Entrancing Melody myself, but I've had a Crackling Drake stolen. I've also blown out an opponent with Dive Down when they tried. With my white splash version, I don't feel that it's needed.
The Mystic is good, but it's still worth playing sweepers. The Mystic actually makes cannonade better because it forces them to play into it.
I personally maindeck 3 Dive Down. The Drake's are such huge threats that protecting one can easily win a game.
Disdainful Stroke is better than Negate vs Golgari, Grixis and is still good against Jeskai.
I have a more burn-focused build
Are Risk Factor and Ral wrong here? RF can be inconsistent. Ral is a bomb, is he too slow or high CMC? What's wrong with Steam-Kin though?
I don't like Crash Through and Warlord's Fury mainly cantripping. At least Opt filters
I also prefer counters that can hit anything - here, Sinister Sabotage or Devious Cover-Up, maybe Syncopate. If I run Cover-Up, a lot sounds good since recurring previous copies is part of the fun
Devious Cover-Up totally failed in playtesting, antisynergy with Drakes. It seems great in a lot of control decks but not this one. Experimental Frenzy was a pain the butt, Blink of an Eye or perhaps other bounce SB seems useful for problem permanents I can't just burn (or big creatures I'd have to 2 for 1 burn), could bounce a planeswalker and pressure opponent rather than attack the walker
I was often colorscrewed blue, -1 Mountain +1 Island seems useful with the increased emphasis on that color in this build
I built a Midrange deck and am happy with it. Only thing I need to do is get 2 more Steam Vents and ditch the other 2 Guildgate.The Right is my Sideboard.
Just a Noob trying to learn everything I can about MTG. I love going to FNM and playing in the Arena. I also Record MTG Arena Live on Twitch, Youtube, and Facebook. You can Follow me on Twitter Recordings will be saved on my Youtube Channel. Feel free to Listen to what I do when playing MTG Arena.
Esper Control hs a real pain for me especially since I can't match it in counterspell ammo
Was wondering how to update this with War of the Spark cards
Samut's Sprint seems related to what this deck tries to do moreso than some other cheap spells Saheeli, Sublime Artificer pumps out a lot of 1/1's, could help go wide iuf there's a problem with getting a Drake through, accelerate the Drake clock, produce chump blockers Ral, Storm Conduit most of what we do pings opponent or walker. the copy effect helps provide gas and take down something too big for 1 piece of our removal Jaya, Venerated Firemage Shock on legs and amplifies our other damage, particularly Ral pings Chandra, Fire Artisan Light Up the Stage on legs. but have to play it the same turn. Would be painful to remove. the few times i've tried her I didn't hit something I had the mana to cast but I'm still giving her a chance.
Bolt Bend likely to have a big enough creature, could really mess with things like spot removal
Bond of Insight seems cool but had the problem of having enough mana to play what I just got back (similar to Chandra)
I think Saheeli is going to have a home in the drake version of deck.
I don't think Chandra, Fire Artisan or Jaya, Venerated Firemage make the cut here. Too much mana investment. Still looks like you want to offload some of the damage output to the PW.
Lazotep Plating should be tested which could help with the esper matchup but then again esper has so many weapons it's just a bad matchup.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
I was thinking about cutting Chandra, maybe Jaya has to go too.
I thought about Lazotep Plating, but as a replacement for Dive Down post-rotation rather than now
Lazotep plating protects you as well which may help in the discard matchup.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
I just have a Standard Phoenix deck Then I added Saheeli and i seems pretty good. I have been flipping between drakes and phoenix depending on my local meta but I am worried about the edicts in War so I am back to Phoenix. My sideboard has been pretty standard for either deck for the preWAR meta.
Well, Narset is unbeatable so I am back to Drakes instead of Pheonix.
I have seen a lot of Pheonix decklists but I just couldn't get them to work in my local metagame.
Drakes has a lot more flexibility as it doesn't need to cast all the spells in the same turn and can get on board early.
Been having trouble with the version of the deck I posted on May 5th.
Agreed Jaya is no good here. Been quite happy with Ral, Storm Conduit. Saheeli is hit or miss
Crash Through rarely does anything besides cantrip, I'd rather have a 1 mana spell that does something in and of itself. Similarly, I'm not a huge fan of Discovery//Dispersal.
Beacon Bolt is rarely relevant (stuff out of range of other removal but still within its range)
Invade the City would be more useful with Lazotep Plating and I'm sticking with Dive Down for now.
Found a Reddit thread on what WAR brings to Drakes that seems useful - https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/bfomzh/standard_izzet_drakes_in_war/
they did not care for Bolt Bend. I had minimal results either way, so I'll take their word for it
they felt Saheeli clashed with Enigma for a 3CMC slot, but I wasn't running Enigma anymore anyway.
Narset sounds intriguing now that they mention it.
The combination of Narset, Parter of Veils and Sorcerer's Spyglass can just lock out the planeswalker decks they can't attack her easily and you can also remove their ability to remove her.
I understand cutting Discovery // Dispersal I cut it every single game for my sideboard cards but I feel like I cut it for completely different cards against control and against aggro.
I had to add a whole bunch of burn in order to kill off the walkers and since walkers are the main threats Spell pierce is really strong
Sorcerous Spyglass - but yes, Narset would make it easier to find Spyglass, and harder for them to draw removal.
So you're sympathetic to cutting Discovery but not sure what to replace it with? That tells me pick something and put the other thing in sideboard? Seems like it would be better in Dimir with surveil matters stuff like Disinformation Campaign and more black sources to enable Dispersal.
My list actually had 2 Spell Pierces main and 2 side. Cutting Discovery/Dispersal allows me to put a 3rd main, freeing up a sideboard slot which I'll use for a Spyglass. And that means I can replace the Blood Crypt with another Mountain.
I went 3-1 at standard showdown Tuesday so I don't really want to mess with it since its working so far. FNM tonight if I struggle I might switch it up for store champs on Sunday.
The issue is that draw lava coil against control sucks but drawing discovery helps you hit land drops. Against aggro negate is sometimes still useful but not efficient to hold up.
Ral and Disdainful are for mid-range matchups (and not control since Teferei, Time Raveller makes counter magic suck)
A lot more mythics in the Pheonix deck :s. I think I have a good set up against Narset now, that was frustrating me before. I am still struggling to play against Chandra since I don't actually win that fast against Red even if I can remove all their creatures. I am worried about the mid-range match up which has a lot of life gain and large hard to remove creatures, typically I have had to use two burn spells to remove some of their cards. But Kefnet is quite good both as an advantage and a recurring blocker.
Today was the last standard tournament at my LGS as it is closing down next week :(, that along with this site also closing down as left me considering retiring from MTG. I wont be updating the list since I am just not playing standard atm and might not do so for awhile.
I top8ed in a tournament of 25 people, 3-1-1 then a loss in the top 8. I lost to mono-red (due to mana problems) and then Bant midrange in the top 8 Nissa + huge Krasis = dead.
Arclight Phoenix has been lightning up Standard, Modern, and I've even seen people such as LSV trying it in Legacy. It's a very powerful card and this is a deck capeable of a abusing it.
The deck has a solid pedigree with a Pro Tour Top 8 by Yuuya Wantanabe, another 2 in the top 32, GP Top 8 in the hands of Owen Turtenwald with another 3 in the top 32, 7 copies placing in the last MOCS, and 2nd at a SCG Classic.
While Arclight Phoenix is the namesake and a very powerful engine in the deck, most of the games are won by Enigma Drake and Crackling Drake. With a ton of cheap cantrips, those two hit very hard indeed and one is often a 3 turn clock on it's own. 4 toughness is critical and paired with flying, makes them quite a problem for many decks. The ability to protect such a threat with Dive Down means the deck can steal wins against anyone.
As of yet, there is no consensus on the best build although most stick to UR with Goblin Electromancer. Still, others eschew the 2/2 in favor of more 1 Mana cantrips.
My personal preference is a version splashing W for Deafening Clarion and Ixalan's Binding. Deafening Clarion is backbreaking against Mono R, WR Aggro, and many versions of GB. Our Drake's 4 toughness make it especially backbreaking clearing the opponent's side and granting Lifelink to win nearly any race.
Ixalan's Binding is the perfect answer to Niv-Mizzet, Parun which has become Jeskai Control's wincon of choice and a mirror breaker. It's also great against Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and any other problematic permanents.
These lists are a good representation of the top preforming versions. They vary from 27-31 Instants and Sorceries and 18-21 lands.
3 Crackling Drake
4 Enigma Drake
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Chart a Course
4 Discovery // Dispersal
3 Lava Coil
1 Maximize Velocity
4 Opt
4 Radical Idea
4 Shock
1 Izzet Guildgate
5 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Beacon Bolt
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Entrancing Melody
3 Firemind's Research
1 Murmuring Mystic
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
2 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
1 Spell Pierce
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Crackling Drake
4 Goblin Electromancer
1 Beacon Bolt
1 Blink of an Eye
4 Chart a Course
2 Discovery // Dispersal
1 Entrancing Melody
3 Lava Coil
4 Opt
4 Radical Idea
4 Shock
1 The Mirari Conjecture
2 Tormenting Voice
6 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Banefire
1 Beacon Bolt
2 Entrancing Melody
1 Lava Coil
2 Murmuring Mystic
2 Negate
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
2 Shivan Fire
1 Star of Extinction
4 Arclight Phoenix
3 Crackling Drake
3 Enigma Drake
2 Goblin Electromancer
1 Blink of an Eye
4 Chart a Course
2 Crash Through
3 Deafening Clarion
2 Discovery // Dispersal
2 Maximize Velocity
4 Opt
2 Radical Idea
4 Shock
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Warlord's Fury
3 Island
2 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Beacon Bolt
1 Chemister's Insight
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dive Down
1 Invoke the Divine
2 Lava Coil
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
1 Shivan Fire
1 Spell Pierce
4 Arclight Phoenix
3 Crackling Drake
4 Enigma Drake
1 Beacon Bolt
4 Chart a Course
4 Crash Through
3 Dive Down
4 Lava Coil
4 Opt
4 Shock
3 Tormenting Voice
4 Warlord's Fury
5 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Deep Freeze
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Fiery Cannonade
2 Negate
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
2 Sailor of Means
2 Search for Azcanta
Modern: UW Spirits
4 Arclight Pheonix
4 Crackling Drake
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
3 Crash Through
4 Opt
3 Warlord's Fury
1 Maximize Velocity
3 Dive Down
4 Chart a Course
2 Discovery/Dispersal
1 Tormenting Voice
2 Lava Coil
1 Beacon Bolt
3 Deafening Clarion
1 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Maximize Velocity
3 Legion Warboss
2 Spell Pierce
1 Negate
1 Lava Coil
3 Ixalan's Binding
1 Deafening Clarion
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Modern: UW Spirits
Hopefull we have some productive discussion here.
- Is The Mirari Conjecture worth it? If it is, is it safe to assume that Blink of an Eye is part of that package deal?
- People have been playing Entrancing Melody in the sideboard for a while now but I honestly don't see it. Even with discounts it is a really expensive control magic effect. I get that people thought it was a solution to Adanto Vanguard but Murmuring Mystic deals with that issue much more elegantly. Does it have applications in any other matchup? While we are discussing white decks do you feel that Murmuring Mystic and Fiery Cannonade are mutually excluding plans for those matchups? Running a sweeper against along with a token chump plan seems counter intuitive.
- Would you play a Dive Down over a third Negate or a Disdainful Stroke? It is a card I'm personally enamored with and I can't imagine playing this deck without access to at least one copy of the card in the 75, possibly even two. Negate seems like the stronger counter on the basis that it helps you in counter-wars but mostly because the two creatures you want to spend a counter on can't be countered so Disdainful Stroke hitting creatures doesn't come up as much.
Many thanks to HotP Studios. Special thanks to DNC for this great sig.
I haven't used Entrancing Melody myself, but I've had a Crackling Drake stolen. I've also blown out an opponent with Dive Down when they tried. With my white splash version, I don't feel that it's needed.
The Mystic is good, but it's still worth playing sweepers. The Mystic actually makes cannonade better because it forces them to play into it.
I personally maindeck 3 Dive Down. The Drake's are such huge threats that protecting one can easily win a game.
Disdainful Stroke is better than Negate vs Golgari, Grixis and is still good against Jeskai.
Modern: UW Spirits
Are Risk Factor and Ral wrong here? RF can be inconsistent. Ral is a bomb, is he too slow or high CMC? What's wrong with Steam-Kin though?
I don't like Crash Through and Warlord's Fury mainly cantripping. At least Opt filters
I also prefer counters that can hit anything - here, Sinister Sabotage or Devious Cover-Up, maybe Syncopate. If I run Cover-Up, a lot sounds good since recurring previous copies is part of the fun
6 Island
9 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
Creature (16)
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Crackling Drake
4 Enigma Drake
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Lava Coil
Instant (17)
4 Ionize
3 Lightning Strike
4 Opt
4 Shock
2 Sinister Sabotage
4 Devious Cover-Up
4 Fight with Fire
4 Goblin Chainwhirler
1 Lightning Strike
2 Radical Idea
4 Sinister Sabotage
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
Experimental Frenzy was a pain the butt, Blink of an Eye or perhaps other bounce SB seems useful for problem permanents I can't just burn (or big creatures I'd have to 2 for 1 burn), could bounce a planeswalker and pressure opponent rather than attack the walker
I was often colorscrewed blue, -1 Mountain +1 Island seems useful with the increased emphasis on that color in this build
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
https://article.hareruyamtg.com/article/22668/?lang=en
Was wondering about the Esper matchup mostly.
2 Pteramander
4 Enigma Drake
4 Crackling Drake
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
4 Chart a Course
4 Shock
2 Skewer the Critics
2 Lightning Strike
4 Lava Coil
4 Opt
3 Dive Down
3 Sinister Sabotage
6 Island
7 Mountain
2 Steam Vents
2 Izzet Guildgate
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Essence Scatter
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Negate
1 Beacon Bolt
1 Ionize
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
2 Spell Pierce
1 Fiery Cannonade
1 Shivan Fire
1 River's Rebuke
1 Skarrgan Hellkite
Esper Control hs a real pain for me especially since I can't match it in counterspell ammo
Was wondering how to update this with War of the Spark cards
Samut's Sprint seems related to what this deck tries to do moreso than some other cheap spells
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer pumps out a lot of 1/1's, could help go wide iuf there's a problem with getting a Drake through, accelerate the Drake clock, produce chump blockers
Ral, Storm Conduit most of what we do pings opponent or walker. the copy effect helps provide gas and take down something too big for 1 piece of our removal
Jaya, Venerated Firemage Shock on legs and amplifies our other damage, particularly Ral pings
Chandra, Fire Artisan Light Up the Stage on legs. but have to play it the same turn. Would be painful to remove. the few times i've tried her I didn't hit something I had the mana to cast but I'm still giving her a chance.
Bolt Bend likely to have a big enough creature, could really mess with things like spot removal
Bond of Insight seems cool but had the problem of having enough mana to play what I just got back (similar to Chandra)
Thought about Jaya's Greeting, Chandra's Pyrohelix, Ral's Outburst
Trying this:
7 Island
6 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
Creature (10)
4 Crackling Drake
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
4 Pteramander
Sorcery (8)
4 Lava Coil
4 Chart a Course
4 Dive Down
4 Opt
4 Samut’s Sprint
Enchantment (1)
1 Search for Azcanta
Planeswalker (7)
1 Chandra, Fire Artisan
2 Jaya, Venerated Firemage
2 Ral, Storm Conduit
3 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
1 Beacon Bolt
3 Blink of an Eye
4 Bolt Bend
2 Crash Through
1 Disdainful Stroke
4 Fight with Fire
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
I don't think Chandra, Fire Artisan or Jaya, Venerated Firemage make the cut here. Too much mana investment. Still looks like you want to offload some of the damage output to the PW.
Lazotep Plating should be tested which could help with the esper matchup but then again esper has so many weapons it's just a bad matchup.
-Stay Frosty
I thought about Lazotep Plating, but as a replacement for Dive Down post-rotation rather than now
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
-Stay Frosty
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Crackling Drake
Plainswalker (3)
3 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
Sorceries (13)
4 Chart a Course
4 Lava Coil
3 Discovery // Dispersal
2 Tormenting Voice
4 Shock
4 Opt
4 Radical Idea
Lands (20)
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Blood Crypt
6 Island
5 Mountain
2 Shivan Fire
2 Entrancing Melody
2 Sorcerer's Spyglass
2 Negate
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Beacon Bolt
2 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I have seen a lot of Pheonix decklists but I just couldn't get them to work in my local metagame.
Drakes has a lot more flexibility as it doesn't need to cast all the spells in the same turn and can get on board early.
3 Pteramander
3 Augur of Bolas
4 Enigma Drake
3 Crackling Drake
Sorceries (11)
4 Chart a Course
2 Lava Coil
4 Discovery // Dispersal
1 Beacon Bolt
4 Shock
4 Opt
4 Lightning strike
4 Spell Pierce
Lands (20)
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Blood Crypt
6 Island
5 Mountain
2 Shivan Fire
2 Sorcerer's Spyglass
2 Negate
2 Lava Coil
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
3 Firery Cannonade
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Agreed Jaya is no good here. Been quite happy with Ral, Storm Conduit. Saheeli is hit or miss
Crash Through rarely does anything besides cantrip, I'd rather have a 1 mana spell that does something in and of itself. Similarly, I'm not a huge fan of Discovery//Dispersal.
Beacon Bolt is rarely relevant (stuff out of range of other removal but still within its range)
Invade the City would be more useful with Lazotep Plating and I'm sticking with Dive Down for now.
Found a Reddit thread on what WAR brings to Drakes that seems useful - https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/bfomzh/standard_izzet_drakes_in_war/
they did not care for Bolt Bend. I had minimal results either way, so I'll take their word for it
they felt Saheeli clashed with Enigma for a 3CMC slot, but I wasn't running Enigma anymore anyway.
Narset sounds intriguing now that they mention it.
What I'm trying now:
7 Island
5 Mountain
1 Blood Crypt
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
Creature (10)
4 Crackling Drake
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
4 Pteramander
Sorcery (8)
4 Chart a Course
1 Discovery // Dispersal
3 Lava Coil
4 Dive Down
4 Opt
3 Samut’s Sprint
3 Shock
1 Spell Pierce
Enchantment (1)
1 Search for Azcanta
Planeswalker (4)
2 Ral, Storm Conduit
2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
3 Blink of an Eye
1 Disdainful Stroke
4 Fight with Fire
1 Lava Coil
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
1 Samut’s Sprint
3 Spell Pierce
1 Shock
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
I understand cutting Discovery // Dispersal I cut it every single game for my sideboard cards but I feel like I cut it for completely different cards against control and against aggro.
I had to add a whole bunch of burn in order to kill off the walkers and since walkers are the main threats Spell pierce is really strong
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
So you're sympathetic to cutting Discovery but not sure what to replace it with? That tells me pick something and put the other thing in sideboard? Seems like it would be better in Dimir with surveil matters stuff like Disinformation Campaign and more black sources to enable Dispersal.
My list actually had 2 Spell Pierces main and 2 side. Cutting Discovery/Dispersal allows me to put a 3rd main, freeing up a sideboard slot which I'll use for a Spyglass. And that means I can replace the Blood Crypt with another Mountain.
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
Proposed changes
- 4 discovery // dispersal
+ 2 Lava Coil
+ 2 Negate
Sideboard
+ 2 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
+ 2 disdainful stroke
The issue is that draw lava coil against control sucks but drawing discovery helps you hit land drops. Against aggro negate is sometimes still useful but not efficient to hold up.
Ral and Disdainful are for mid-range matchups (and not control since Teferei, Time Raveller makes counter magic suck)
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
So I am back to Pheonix but with some modifications
3 Augur of Bolas
3 Goblin Electromancer
4 Arclight Phoenix
2 Crackling Drake
2 God-Eternal Kefnet
Sorceries (11)
4 Chart a Course
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Lava Coil
2 Finale of Promise
1 Beacon Bolt
4 Shock
4 Opt
3 Lightning strike
3 Radical idea
Lands (21)
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
7 Island
6 Mountain
2 Shivan Fire
2 Sorcerer's Spyglass
2 Lava Coil
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
2 Firery Cannonade
2 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
1 Star of Extinction
A lot more mythics in the Pheonix deck :s. I think I have a good set up against Narset now, that was frustrating me before. I am still struggling to play against Chandra since I don't actually win that fast against Red even if I can remove all their creatures. I am worried about the mid-range match up which has a lot of life gain and large hard to remove creatures, typically I have had to use two burn spells to remove some of their cards. But Kefnet is quite good both as an advantage and a recurring blocker.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I top8ed in a tournament of 25 people, 3-1-1 then a loss in the top 8. I lost to mono-red (due to mana problems) and then Bant midrange in the top 8 Nissa + huge Krasis = dead.
3 Augur of Bolas
3 Goblin Electromancer
4 Arclight Phoenix
2 Crackling Drake
2 God-Eternal Kefnet
Sorceries (14)
4 Chart a Course
3 Tormenting Voice
4 Lava Coil
2 Finale of Promise
1 Beacon Bolt
4 Shock
4 Opt
2 Lightning strike
planeswalker (1)
1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
Lands (21)
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Temple of epiphany
6 Island
5 Mountain
2 Shivan Fire
2 Spell pierce
2 Fry
2 Aether gust
2 Entrancing melody
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Fight with Fire
1 Star of Extinction
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own