MTG Salvation

The first week of the Standard Super League brought us this gem from Josh Utter-Leyton:



He lost in the first round to Gerry Thompson's Sidisi Whip deck, but this deck looks like something I'd really enjoy playing.

Initial Thoughts:
-4 Soulfire Grand Master seems like overkill. The buyback is going to be fantastic when it comes online, but is this card really a 4-of? He needs targets for Ojutai's Command, but I have to wonder whether some number of Seekers of the Way would be better?

-Is there enough graveyard fodder to enable 4 Treasure Cruise & 1 Murderous Cut? The 8 fetches and spell heavy list helps, but there's no Jeskai Ascendancy to continually restock the graveyard.

-Raise the Alarm and/or Secure the Wastes seem like they could be good here

-Ashiok is so well positioned right now, I'd try to find room for it mainboard.

Here's what I'm thinking. Secure the waste would be good but what could be removed for them.

Alright, here's my take on the deck:



Haven't done any testing or anything.

I'd personally try to jam a Tasigur in the mainboard.

I certainly don't hate Tasigur mainboard.

I've been playing esper Mentor since mentor got printed. My deck (quite different) is in my sig. It's pretty sweet. Not a top tier deck but very fun to play.

Lunch: you're running 4 negates mainboard, do they ever seem useless in game one? Running four seems excessive.

I saw this deck and couldn't help wondering why it wasn't simply Jeskai. The mana would be a bit worse, sure, but are the six main-deck black spells really worth running black? Jeskai gives us better removal than what's being showcased here, and better synergy with the Soulfire Grand Masters.

Quote from Valonus88 »

Lunch: you're running 4 negates mainboard, do they ever seem useless in game one? Running four seems excessive.

Negate is almost never useless in any matchup except for maybe something like Mono Green. Even against RDW, it has a lot of applications.

Here is a list that my brother and I have been tooling around with. Its more of a tokens strategy but its more the direction we would like to go with a mentor list. It still needs lots of work though

I played an Esper Mentor deck last night at FNM and went X-1. Looked at another list and decided it looked more fun than traditional Esper Dragons I was playing. Made a few changes and will be running this at the next event:

I played Esper Dragons the past 2 months or so, kind of tired of it and just wanted to play something different but still in those colors. Plus it has caught several people off guard who think it's Esper Dragons and play/sideboard conservatively around that (like leaving up UU or 1U, even though I don't run any main deck counters). The misdirection and inability for them to properly sideboard was very useful. Plus, Mardu can't play Anticipate or Treasure Cruise, and Dragonlord Ojutai is pretty nice to slam after they waste on their removal on Seekers and Mentors. If I did cut Ojutai down, it would be to 2 and replaced with 2x Brimaz, King of Oreskos.

I think the way to go with this deck might be Jeskai splash black or Esper splash red. I think red is too important if you plan on running Soulfire Grand Master. I'd want some number of burn spells and a couple of Dragonlord Ojutai. I don't really understand the Master of Waves in the sideboard either, because there are no other blue permanents in the main deck. I guess the idea is that the deck probably struggles against red aggro, so you bring in all the Encase in Ice, Ashioks and the Master of Waves all at the same time so you do get a few blue symbols for the Master, but still...

Looking at the list again, I'm almost certain that Jeskai with a splash of black would be the way to go about it. I think Ojutai's Command is too important for U not to be there, we obviously need white or else you can't run Mentor, and red is really helps with the tempo and allows for a much more proactive game plan when the game calls for it. Black is a better control colour though and opens up a lot more sideboard options, lets us run Ashiok, Cuts, Crackling Doom, and if anyone decides to run Brimaz in the list then Sorin could also be something worth considering.

For the Mardu lists: would it be cool to run Kologhans Command? It seems like it has solid synergy with Soulfire. If the game goes long and you get to a stalled out board state, 7-mana per turn means instant speed discard and drain for 2 EVERY TURN. If your opponent is top decking, it's likely GG.

Quote from Valonus88 »

For the Mardu lists: would it be cool to run Kologhans Command? It seems like it has solid synergy with Soulfire. If the game goes long and you get to a stalled out board state, 7-mana per turn means instant speed discard and drain for 2 EVERY TURN. If your opponent is top decking, it's likely GG.

Kolaghan's Command would actually be a very good replacement for Ojutai's Command if you decided not to run blue, and isn't a card I considered. Just returning a dude and then killing one of theirs and/or making them discard is pretty solid, and the discard mode gives you about the same amount of card advantage as drawing one and returning your dude, and killing a creature with the "deals 2 damage mode" is also comparable to countering a creature. The main difference is that Ojutai's Command costs 1 more, but returns your dude straight back to the battlefield instead of to your hand, counters any creature instead of just killing 2 toughness dudes, and in fringe cases can destroy an artifact, while Kolaghan's Command will gain you life with its damage mode if you have a Grand Master on the board, can get you back a Monastery Mentor (probably the biggest selling point), and you can go to the face with the burn if you need to.

With Kolaghan's Command, straight Mardu might be better because you can recur your Mentors.