Jeskai Twin was the best deck I ever piloted in Modern. But, nowadays, I don’t know how it would fare. Modern has become extremely overpowered since those days.
Have you just seen the Javier Dominguez (Izzet Phoenix) against Devoted Vizier game in the RedBull Qualifier? Javier casted Aria 5 times, because it was bounced. And he won playing 1cmc spells with a Chalice in 1 counter in the battlefield and activating Aria. Are you still saying Aria is not good?
Who you’re referring to?
If it’s me, I never ever said that Aria of Flame is ‘no good’. Context, please. Is a powerful spell that becomes much worse when the opponent can deal with it (due to the life gain for the opponent). In that situation, a single Drake would have won the game even more easily. Same for Force of Negation, which would have prevented Chalice of the Void at all.
Yes, I’m pretty sure they would have been better cards in the flow of the game. And we’re talking about a mu where Aria is strong. Think about what it against BGx, UWx Control and Tron variants, for example. It’s utterly terrible 90% of the time, here.
This deck is the real deal. I would like to request from the mods for a primer for this archetype because, while similar in ways to both Jund and Grixis, it is really a whole new Shadow variant and IMHO more powerful than it's predecessors. It has the staying power of Grixis Shadow while supplying more consistent threats as Traverse Shadow could. It doesn't rely as much on the graveyard as either of the archetypes though and that may be the best part.
(I'm not volunteering to write the primer per se..because Flying Delver and Izzetmage are the BEST, but if no one is interested I would be willing to get started on it..anyone else interested?)
Personally I'm not sold on the Baubles in Abe & Jeremy's list from the SCG lineup but its hard to argue with their results. I can't imagine playing Shadow without Temur Battle Rage though. It makes winning matches like Tron and Burn so much easier. Even Hogaak can be difficult because they make a lot of blockers (despite 3 of their main cards inability to block).
Here is my list and some thoughts:
I'm always worried about losing to Tron and Burn so I've tailored my sideboard a bit. My biggest concern with the current stock list is that the sideboard has so many three-drops. It doesn't make sense to take out more than 1-2 captains so by bringing in something like 5-6 three drops I just worry it increases the curve too much post board. There are a few other lists that run zero baubles and instead run 3x Nihil Spellbomb and 20x land and then Seasoned Pyromancer as an additional way to help mitigate flooding. Seems promising but again, such a high mana curve with 5-6 maindeck three drops.
I really like Lightning Bolt in the deck as it gives another spell for Arcanist to target and it helps shore up the Infect and Humans match-ups. I won a game against Tron just by Bolting them twice and flashing it back twice with Arcanist (and a single attack from a 5/5 Shadow). In the few games I tried with the Bauble list I found that Arcanist often times swings blank because my graveyard has only Wraiths and Baubles. And regarding Arcanist and it's relevance against infect - he is sorcery speed even when your removal is instant, so it's good to have more instant speed removal in the case of Inkmoth Nexus. Bolt of course is also another way to hurt yourself when you need to swing big with Shadows.
I’mh testing a similar list (basically, -2 Nihil +1 Inquisition +1 Brutality). I’m not sold on the single Stepmom. It is tutorable, but I never felt like it was the correct pick (unless I ran out of Shadows). Having TTB in the maindeck also helps with blockers, obviously. I wonder if the fourth Arcanist wouldn’t be just better.
I wasn’t planning to share these thoughts, but chatting a little bit in the Ban topic lead me to the topic. This is what I’m trying, lately. The ‘usual’ Izzet Phoenix has felt pretty much unplayable in the last month. Aria of Flame is a good spell... IF the opponent can’t deal with it and he’s slower than you. Otherwise is pretty much terrible. Doh, half of the metagame is about decks that race us or that can remove it. Finale of Promise is an excellent card which suffers from graveyard hate. Guess what. GH is running rampant in Modern, right now.
What I noticed, is that the deck loses a lot against anything which goes against its primary gameplan. Chalice of the Void, Tron payoff spells, Ensnaring Bridge, Scapeshift, Narset, Parter of Veils and many others. We don’t have permission, nor discards. We’re not a turn three combo (most of the time). Ergo, even though the deck is resilient to hate cards, we pretty much die before we can close the game.
Force of Negation has been pretty sick, in my testing. It replaces Surgical + Aria slots, and i’m sure most people are going to dismiss the idea even before testing it. But, think about it: turn two Phoenix is still allowed by four Manamorphose, and it’s pretty rare anyway. Surgical is good in the mirror and vs Bridgevine, but those are games where the key is Thing in the Ice, and Force is equally good vs them. It shines against Control, Combo & Big Mana.
Strange. Lots of fair decks. But people decided that fair decks are unplayable in Modern ^^
I had a good experience with Arcanist, mostly because it’s a cc2 Spell, unlike Snappy. Especially when you put back the eighth discard spell maindeck.
Who you’re referring to?
If it’s me, I never ever said that Aria of Flame is ‘no good’. Context, please. Is a powerful spell that becomes much worse when the opponent can deal with it (due to the life gain for the opponent). In that situation, a single Drake would have won the game even more easily. Same for Force of Negation, which would have prevented Chalice of the Void at all.
Yes, I’m pretty sure they would have been better cards in the flow of the game. And we’re talking about a mu where Aria is strong. Think about what it against BGx, UWx Control and Tron variants, for example. It’s utterly terrible 90% of the time, here.
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Fiery Islet
4 Street Wraith
4 Death’s Shadow
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Gurmag Angler
Spells (28)
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour
4 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Stubborn Denial
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Fatal Push
1 Dismember
2 Temur Battle Rage
1 Terminate
2 Abrade
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Alpine Moon
2 Collective Brutality
I’mh testing a similar list (basically, -2 Nihil +1 Inquisition +1 Brutality). I’m not sold on the single Stepmom. It is tutorable, but I never felt like it was the correct pick (unless I ran out of Shadows). Having TTB in the maindeck also helps with blockers, obviously. I wonder if the fourth Arcanist wouldn’t be just better.
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Fiery Islet
1 Mountain
3 Island
Creatures (11):
4 Thing in the Ice
4 Arclight Phoenix
3 Crackling Drake
4 Opt
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour
4 Faithless Looting
4 Manamorphose
4 Force of Negation
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Flame Slash
2 Magmatic Sinkhole
4 Alpine Moon
3 Abrade
3 Spell Pierce
4 Surgical Extraction
1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
So.
I wasn’t planning to share these thoughts, but chatting a little bit in the Ban topic lead me to the topic. This is what I’m trying, lately. The ‘usual’ Izzet Phoenix has felt pretty much unplayable in the last month. Aria of Flame is a good spell... IF the opponent can’t deal with it and he’s slower than you. Otherwise is pretty much terrible. Doh, half of the metagame is about decks that race us or that can remove it. Finale of Promise is an excellent card which suffers from graveyard hate. Guess what. GH is running rampant in Modern, right now.
What I noticed, is that the deck loses a lot against anything which goes against its primary gameplan. Chalice of the Void, Tron payoff spells, Ensnaring Bridge, Scapeshift, Narset, Parter of Veils and many others. We don’t have permission, nor discards. We’re not a turn three combo (most of the time). Ergo, even though the deck is resilient to hate cards, we pretty much die before we can close the game.
Force of Negation has been pretty sick, in my testing. It replaces Surgical + Aria slots, and i’m sure most people are going to dismiss the idea even before testing it. But, think about it: turn two Phoenix is still allowed by four Manamorphose, and it’s pretty rare anyway. Surgical is good in the mirror and vs Bridgevine, but those are games where the key is Thing in the Ice, and Force is equally good vs them. It shines against Control, Combo & Big Mana.
Honestly, I do think it’s the way to go.