I haven't missed Magma Jet at all after replacing it with Wild Slash. The scry is valuable, but I get a lot more play out of the single mana burn spell to counter turn 2 or 3 creatures...especially if I have just played a tap-land myself.
Yes. Abzan was a rough matchup, but I think we get some help from Valorous Stance. Gryff to help shut off Rhino and random Whip activations. Glare of Heresy for Sorin/Elspeth/Windmgate/Rhino/Fleecemane.
i always dread fighting Abzan. one moment i have them nearly within burn range, then they dance out of it with lifegain. disgusting.
After fiddling around with control decks all week, I feel like sleeving up something more aggressive later this week. Curious as to how y'all feel about a list like the following:
Won Gameday today with this list. I've been tinkering and bouncing back and forth, and I feel like this list is pretty much exactly where I want to be.
Couple of notes of what I've learned with all the changes I've gone through with this deck:
Monastery Mentor was a last minute add to the deck before I went to the tournament. And he was amazing all day, serving as Rabblemaster 4 & 5 that was even more of a must-answer. I'm pretty sold on him.
24 Land - I felt like I was flooding all day. I think going back to 23 is where I want it.
Jeskai Charm - I keep cutting this down, and then asking myself why. This card swings games so hard. I think +1/+1 and lifelink is the mode I use 9/10 times, it screws combat math so bad and forces bad trades on chumps, etc. If I go to 23 lands, I'm probably going back to 4.
Hushwing Gryff - This is not the Abzan catch-all I was hoping for. Truthfully, I survived my only Abzan matchup today by a carefully timed Negate on a Drown in Sorrow.
Valorous Stance - One of the standout all-stars today, also. Handily takes down R/G's fatties, Courser, Rhino, or saves creature in a pinch.
I feel like this deck is very well-positioned right now. It pretty much has a great game against everything except Abzan, and even then a good pilot can pull wins out.
Citadel Siege performed well. putting 2 +1/+1 counters on Mantis Rider is good. putting them on Goblin tokens is hilarious.
looking at the top 8 winners in some SCG tournaments this weekend, i think it's safe to say that Jeskai decks are the most flexible decks around. the deck can be tailored to what the pilot wants to do.
Citadel Siege performed well. putting 2 +1/+1 counters on Mantis Rider is good. putting them on Goblin tokens is hilarious.
looking at the top 8 winners in some SCG tournaments this weekend, i think it's safe to say that Jeskai decks are the most flexible decks around. the deck can be tailored to what the pilot wants to do.
I like your list. What do you think of stormbreath instead of the rocs?
I think Citadel Siege is a bad card in this deck. Against anything Abzan or control the card is dead. And only the Khan mode is relevant, the Dragon one is utter crap. Outpost siege is much better.
I like your list. What do you think of stormbreath instead of the rocs?
i think they are actually better than wingmate rocs. they can activate Ferocious for Icy Blast and Shaman of the Great Hunt (and Wild Slash, if need be). i'll try to get ahold of a few copies to replace the birds.
I think Citadel Siege is a bad card in this deck. Against anything Abzan or control the card is dead. And only the Khan mode is relevant, the Dragon one is utter crap. Outpost siege is much better.
i think i'll disagree with your assessment that Citadel Siege is weak against Abzan. on the contrary, it can make the creatures more resilient against Abzan. putting counters on Rabblemaster puts him out of Bile Blight or Drown in Sorrow range. put the counters on Mantis Rider and it can block Siege Rhino without dying.
against control, well, i've play tested it against one. in several rounds i lost only once. but i don't think that's a fair assessment because the deck belonged to another player, it was not his. anyway, i quite agree that Citadel Siege vs control may be bad, so better replace it with suitable cards from the sideboard.
Dragons mode is something that could be good against U/W heroic. they may waste protection spells to counteract tapping, and if they tap out it's the perfect time to Jeskai Charm or Valorous stance their voltron creature. other than that, Dragons mode may have few other applications.
to be fair with Citadel Siege, other Siege cards have only one mode that's frequently used. like Outpost Siege, for example. most of the time, only the Khans mode is used. it's the same case with Frontier Siege.
I think Citadel Siege is a bad card in this deck. Against anything Abzan or control the card is dead. And only the Khan mode is relevant, the Dragon one is utter crap. Outpost siege is much better.
I have to disagree. I'm playing R/W midrange at the moment and I play a citadel siege on the sideboard for U/x control match up. Citadel Siege is hilarious against Pearl lake ancient.
Maybe its good against U/W heroic, but the matchup is already good enough, you dont need to add another card against.
Against U/x control, maybe it can shutdow for a while a pearl lake ancient but that's about it. Since early pressure is the key against control, stoping the giant snake for a few turns is not what you want to do.
This is a good limited card, not a competitive card for me. The fact you don't see it in any good top8 tells more than I do.
let's agree that Citadel Siege has limited use, but when it does what it's supposed to do it totally rocks. i asked a friend to help me improve my deck, and keeping with the theme of using Sieges, we agreed to replace Citadel Siege with Monastery Siege to help filter through the deck and fuel delve for Dig Through Time. we prefer Monastery Siege over Outpost Siege it has lower casting cost and because sometimes you just need to keep the card you drew, and if it's a counterspell or removal that one reveals in Outpost Siege then the card could probably be wasted. and since the card is exiled instead of going to the graveyard, it's wasted resource for delve. that can't be good. will post the deck contents soon.
let's agree that Citadel Siege has limited use, but when it does what it's supposed to do it totally rocks. i asked a friend to help me improve my deck, and keeping with the theme of using Sieges, we agreed to replace Citadel Siege with Monastery Siege to help filter through the deck and fuel delve for Dig Through Time. we prefer Monastery Siege over Outpost Siege it has lower casting cost and because sometimes you just need to keep the card you drew, and if it's a counterspell or removal that one reveals in Outpost Siege then the card could probably be wasted. and since the card is exiled instead of going to the graveyard, it's wasted resource for delve. that can't be good. will post the deck contents soon.
why 4 Deflecting Palm? lots of U/W Heroic and Temur Battle Rage in your local meta?
I was thinking mainly for the devotion decks and heroic. Deflecting Palm is often a 2 mana Lava Axe that gains you 5 life against those decks. Even against decks like RW Aggro it is pretty strong.
I was thinking mainly for the devotion decks and heroic. Deflecting Palm is often a 2 mana Lava Axe that gains you 5 life against those decks. Even against decks like RW Aggro it is pretty strong.
well, i was killed by Deflecting Palm when my Rabblemaster attacked together with 3 tokens, so yeah that might also work against RW, though of course i am using Jeskai.
I was thinking mainly for the devotion decks and heroic. Deflecting Palm is often a 2 mana Lava Axe that gains you 5 life against those decks. Even against decks like RW Aggro it is pretty strong.
well, i was killed by Deflecting Palm when my Rabblemaster attacked together with 3 tokens, so yeah that might also work against RW, though of course i am using Jeskai.
Just a heads up that Wild Slash will counter their palm in that scenario, so if you suspect your opponent has one Wild Slash is one way to play around it.
I'm going to try out this build the next time I go in. Should be pretty good against the uptick of green devotion and G/R devotion. Will be able to pick off their dorks, kill bigger things, and fly over their blockers.
I would never go below 4 Stoke the flames. It is just too good. It is one of your only way to kill Stormbreath dragon. Remove 1 jeskai Charm and one valourous stance to make room for 4. Also Monastery Siege is for me not as good as outpost siege, so you sould about replacing both with Outpost siege.
Also I would rather put 2 End hostilies in the SB than 1, since it can be a critical spell to have against those G devo G/R decks. You can remove one Keranos, he is not that good, only good in mirror and U/B.
Been dabbling with this and its pretty similar to the Martin Juza list. I'm very happy with it except for whatever Dig Through Time should be. Went 3-1 at FNM. 3-0 going into Round 4 and lost to UB Control in the most heartbreaking way, but I think I figured out the match-up today when I tested today and pretty sure I sideboarded incorrectly Friday (I think what I should be doing is sideboarding out all the Burn and upping the threat density A LOT; this seemed to work pretty well today). Got smashed by Abzan Aggro in testing though, but I didn't feel like that was a very good match-up as well as that deck seems to be falling off as it is.
Other Notes:
1. The Disdainful Stroke is a flex slot. Haven't actually casted it game 1 so I can't say how great it is in the maindeck. Can see it being something like Dissolve though.
2. 3 Valorous Stance has been fantastic. Wouldn't play more than 3 that being said.
3. Have not lost when I resolve an Outpost Siege. Card is insane. Everything I wanted from Chandra without the drawback of being a Planeswalker. It's probably win-more in multiples and a bit clunky vs aggro decks so I like 2 at the moment. U/B can't beat it and by the time they can with Ugin/Vault, they are usually buried.
4. Dig Through Time has been absolutely atrocious. I used to play Treasure Cruise in its place, but the deck is so creature based that there is barely anything in my graveyard when I need to cast either of them. I'm contemplating taking them out for something like Jeskai Charm or Hordeling Outburst to make Stoke a little more live. Any thoughts on this?
5. Wouldn't change a thing about the manabase. It is perfect.
i always dread fighting Abzan. one moment i have them nearly within burn range, then they dance out of it with lifegain. disgusting.
3 Temple of Triumph
3 Flooded Strand
3 Battlefield Forge
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Island
2 Plains
2 Mountain
3 Seeker of the Way
4 Mantis Rider
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Flamewake Phoenix
3 Shaman of the Great Hunt
2 Wild Slash
3 Valorous Stance
4 Stubborn Denial
2 Treasure Cruise
2 Jeskai Charm
3 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Seeker of the Way
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Monastery Mentor
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
3 Jeskai Charm
3 Valorous Stance
2 Dig Through Time
4 Hordeling Outburst
2 Mana Confluence
2 Island
2 Plains
2 Mountain
3 Temple of Epiphany
2 Temple of Triumph
2 Shivan Reef
3 Battlefield Forge
2 Mystic Monastery
2 Negate
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Searing Blood
2 Hushwing Gryff
2 Abzan Advantage
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Arc Lightning
1 Ride Down
1 Glare of Heresy
Couple of notes of what I've learned with all the changes I've gone through with this deck:
Monastery Mentor was a last minute add to the deck before I went to the tournament. And he was amazing all day, serving as Rabblemaster 4 & 5 that was even more of a must-answer. I'm pretty sold on him.
24 Land - I felt like I was flooding all day. I think going back to 23 is where I want it.
Jeskai Charm - I keep cutting this down, and then asking myself why. This card swings games so hard. I think +1/+1 and lifelink is the mode I use 9/10 times, it screws combat math so bad and forces bad trades on chumps, etc. If I go to 23 lands, I'm probably going back to 4.
Hushwing Gryff - This is not the Abzan catch-all I was hoping for. Truthfully, I survived my only Abzan matchup today by a carefully timed Negate on a Drown in Sorrow.
Valorous Stance - One of the standout all-stars today, also. Handily takes down R/G's fatties, Courser, Rhino, or saves creature in a pinch.
I feel like this deck is very well-positioned right now. It pretty much has a great game against everything except Abzan, and even then a good pilot can pull wins out.
2 Battlefield Forge
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Mountain
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Plains
3 Shivan Reef
2 Swiftwater Cliffs
4 Wind-Scarred Crag
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
2 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Treasure Cruise
2 Outpost Siege
Creatures
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Soulfire Grand Master
3 Seeker of the Way
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Wingmate Roc
1 Erase
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Valorous Stance
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Disdainful Stroke
(lifelands instead of temples because we have very agressive meta)
Possible changes for next FNM
Main
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster - move them out for 2nd game each match
+ 2 Soulfire Grand Master - very powerful effect
+ 1 Seeker of the Way
+ 1 Jeskai Charm - all modes are great
Side
- 1 Jeskai Charm
+ 1 Erase
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Seeker of the Way
1 Outpost Siege
4 Dig Through Time
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Valorous Stance
4 Wild Slash
3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Battlefield Forge
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Plains
4 Shivan Reef
4 Temple of Epiphany
2 Temple of Triumph
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
3 Battlefield Forge
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
3 Mountain
4 Mystic Monastery
4 Plains
2 Shivan Reef
2 Temple of Triumph
Spells
2 Citadel Siege
2 Dig Through Time
2 Icy Blast
3 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Valorous Stance
2 Wild Slash
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Mantis Rider
3 Seeker of the Way
2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
1 Soulfire Grand Master
2 Wingmate Roc
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Arc Lightnning
1 Deflecting Palm
3 Disdainful Stroke
2 End Hostilities
2 Erase
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Negate
Citadel Siege performed well. putting 2 +1/+1 counters on Mantis Rider is good. putting them on Goblin tokens is hilarious.
looking at the top 8 winners in some SCG tournaments this weekend, i think it's safe to say that Jeskai decks are the most flexible decks around. the deck can be tailored to what the pilot wants to do.
i think they are actually better than wingmate rocs. they can activate Ferocious for Icy Blast and Shaman of the Great Hunt (and Wild Slash, if need be). i'll try to get ahold of a few copies to replace the birds.
i think i'll disagree with your assessment that Citadel Siege is weak against Abzan. on the contrary, it can make the creatures more resilient against Abzan. putting counters on Rabblemaster puts him out of Bile Blight or Drown in Sorrow range. put the counters on Mantis Rider and it can block Siege Rhino without dying.
against control, well, i've play tested it against one. in several rounds i lost only once. but i don't think that's a fair assessment because the deck belonged to another player, it was not his. anyway, i quite agree that Citadel Siege vs control may be bad, so better replace it with suitable cards from the sideboard.
Dragons mode is something that could be good against U/W heroic. they may waste protection spells to counteract tapping, and if they tap out it's the perfect time to Jeskai Charm or Valorous stance their voltron creature. other than that, Dragons mode may have few other applications.
to be fair with Citadel Siege, other Siege cards have only one mode that's frequently used. like Outpost Siege, for example. most of the time, only the Khans mode is used. it's the same case with Frontier Siege.
Maybe its good against U/W heroic, but the matchup is already good enough, you dont need to add another card against.
Against U/x control, maybe it can shutdow for a while a pearl lake ancient but that's about it. Since early pressure is the key against control, stoping the giant snake for a few turns is not what you want to do.
This is a good limited card, not a competitive card for me. The fact you don't see it in any good top8 tells more than I do.
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Seeker of the Way
3 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Outpost Siege
4 Dig Through Time
4 Lightning Strike
4 Jeskai CHarm
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Valorous Stance
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Plains
4 Shivan Reef
3 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Triumph
3 Ashcloud Phoenix
4 Deflecting Palm
2 Keranos, God of Storms
3 Anger of the Gods
3 End Hostilities
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
why 4 Deflecting Palm? lots of U/W Heroic and Temur Battle Rage in your local meta?
I was thinking mainly for the devotion decks and heroic. Deflecting Palm is often a 2 mana Lava Axe that gains you 5 life against those decks. Even against decks like RW Aggro it is pretty strong.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
I did play 1 in my list however, and it was great!
well, i was killed by Deflecting Palm when my Rabblemaster attacked together with 3 tokens, so yeah that might also work against RW, though of course i am using Jeskai.
Ferocious Wild Slash can also get around color protection it seems.
1x Treasure Cruise
2x Dig Through Time
2x Monastery Siege
Interaction
4x Lightning Strike
4x Wild Slash
2x Stoke the Flames
3x Valorous Stance
3x Jeskai Charm
Creature
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Mantis Rider
4x Seeker of the Way
3x Stormbreath Dragon
3x Battlefield Forge
3x Shivan Reef
4x Flooded Strand
2x Plains
2x Island
1x Mana Confluence
4x Mystic Monastery
2x Temple of Epiphany
3x Temple of Triumph
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Arc Lightning
1x Banishing Light
2x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3x Disdainful Stroke
1x End Hostilities
2x Keranos, God of Storms
2x Negate
1x Valorous Stance
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Also I would rather put 2 End hostilies in the SB than 1, since it can be a critical spell to have against those G devo G/R decks. You can remove one Keranos, he is not that good, only good in mirror and U/B.
2 Battlefield Forge
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Temple of Epiphany
2 Mana Confluence
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mystic Monastery
3 Shivan Reef
2 Island
2 Plains
Creatures (16)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Mantis Rider
3 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Soulfire Grand master
4 Lightning Strike
3 Valorous Stance
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Outpost Siege
3 Wild Slash
3 Dig Through Time
1 Disdainful Stroke
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Erase
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Negate
Other Notes:
1. The Disdainful Stroke is a flex slot. Haven't actually casted it game 1 so I can't say how great it is in the maindeck. Can see it being something like Dissolve though.
2. 3 Valorous Stance has been fantastic. Wouldn't play more than 3 that being said.
3. Have not lost when I resolve an Outpost Siege. Card is insane. Everything I wanted from Chandra without the drawback of being a Planeswalker. It's probably win-more in multiples and a bit clunky vs aggro decks so I like 2 at the moment. U/B can't beat it and by the time they can with Ugin/Vault, they are usually buried.
4. Dig Through Time has been absolutely atrocious. I used to play Treasure Cruise in its place, but the deck is so creature based that there is barely anything in my graveyard when I need to cast either of them. I'm contemplating taking them out for something like Jeskai Charm or Hordeling Outburst to make Stoke a little more live. Any thoughts on this?
5. Wouldn't change a thing about the manabase. It is perfect.
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX