Small update. I have removed the two copies of Hallowed Moonlight from my sideboard and added an additional copy of Celestial Purge and Dispel. The Goryo's Vengeance deck and the Collected Company deck are both all but extinct here and there is a ton of Jund and Grixis so my sideboard is really prepared for both of those two matchups.
I am also trying a copy of Dispel or Swan Song in the place of one Remand in the main deck as well to see if it works out. If not, I will just go back to three Remands in the main.
Soooo... Has anyone tested any Retrace spells? I'm not quite ready to jump into this deck yet as I'm waiting on a few cards, but also I'm finishing off testing Boros Deck Wins in at least my local meta. PPTQ next Sunday! Always trying out new tricks to edge out all the different match ups and since my list is so Prowess heavy, what works there might work here also! Against many counter heavy decks or decks that manage to have creatures just ONE point out of range... Flame Jab has been on my radar! Past a certain point fetches either aren't able to hit a target or we have enough land where the only advantage would be to be trying to thin the deck further... Rebound gives us a second Prowess trigger for "free" but on if uncountered, this could be supplemental especially in a counter heavy meta. This last Thursday I ran through four rounds that went Fish, RUG Delver, GRIXIS Delver, into U/w Fish.
Soooo... Has anyone tested any Retrace spells? I'm not quite ready to jump into this deck yet as I'm waiting on a few cards, but also I'm finishing off testing Boros Deck Wins in at least my local meta. PPTQ next Sunday! Always trying out new tricks to edge out all the different match ups and since my list is so Prowess heavy, what works there might work here also! Against many counter heavy decks or decks that manage to have creatures just ONE point out of range... Flame Jab has been on my radar! Past a certain point fetches either aren't able to hit a target or we have enough land where the only advantage would be to be trying to thin the deck further... Rebound gives us a second Prowess trigger for "free" but on if uncountered, this could be supplemental especially in a counter heavy meta. This last Thursday I ran through four rounds that went Fish, RUG Delver, GRIXIS Delver, into U/w Fish.
Flame Jab is a really cool idea. I actually haven't tried any retrace cards yet. I played gigadrowse for a bit, but copies of spells don't trigger prowess. I was really hoping they did when I found haze of rage, but sadly they do not. However, I still love Haze of Rage. With a low enough curve, Flame Jab could be enough to just finish someone off without having to draw what you need. I will definitely be giving that a try. Awesome idea.
Your boros list is sweet. Congrats on your 4-0 on Thursday. Good luck at the PPTQ. Your deck will be all the rage when it takes down the PPTQ!
I have been testing a Restoration Angel at the top end with Chandra, Pyromaster in the board, but haven't played it enough yet to be sure it's right. Theoretically it is awesome in a deck with Snapcaster Mage and Abbot of Keral Keep, but we will see. Flash is a broken ability in my opinion.
Unfortunately my record from Thursday was 1-3... LOL the Flame Jab came after still needing more "finishing damage" and dumping like 4-5 cards off my list. The 3 Emerge Unscathed were okay but not potent enough once the trick was spoiled in game one or if they had the counter for it. Yes, against decks without counters or without redudent burn it's great but even still the Jeskai Prowess list should have better use of it than my Boros.
One heavy thing to note as me and WushamBuda talk back an forth while we are respectively at work or off the clock. Flame Jab not only give that extra damage, draws counters out, and triggers Prowess when the hand is looking light of spells, BUT!!! It would be a sweet reveal off of Day's Undoing. For those who don't Delve away lands, after Day's resolves you've made your deck land heavy. One Flame Jab and say 2 lands in hand sounds okay to me. Will of course require testing of 2 or 3 Jabs are correct. I'm on 2 in Boros as I should only need to see Jab once and only if the game goes longer than it should.
Resto was a classic combined with Geist, just not sure on if you have mana open after casting a 4 drop to play the Abbot revealed card or Flashback the Snapcastered card.
Unfortunately my record from Thursday was 1-3... LOL the Flame Jab came after still needing more "finishing damage" and dumping like 4-5 cards off my list. The 3 Emerge Unscathed were okay but not potent enough once the trick was spoiled in game one or if they had the counter for it. Yes, against decks without counters or without redudent burn it's great but even still the Jeskai Prowess list should have better use of it than my Boros.
One heavy thing to note as me and WushamBuda talk back an forth while we are respectively at work or off the clock. Flame Jab not only give that extra damage, draws counters out, and triggers Prowess when the hand is looking light of spells, BUT!!! It would be a sweet reveal off of Day's Undoing. For those who don't Delve away lands, after Day's resolves you've made your deck land heavy. One Flame Jab and say 2 lands in hand sounds okay to me. Will of course require testing of 2 or 3 Jabs are correct. I'm on 2 in Boros as I should only need to see Jab once and only if the game goes longer than it should.
Resto was a classic combined with Geist, just not sure on if you have mana open after casting a 4 drop to play the Abbot revealed card or Flashback the Snapcastered card.
I wouldn't worry to much about a 1-3 finish. That's the best way to learn. Magic is a fickle game. I love when a pro tour team brings the same deck and someone like BBD goes 1-5 and his teammate makes the top 8 with an identical deck. There is a lot of luck involved with your pairings and draws. Results definitely help, but one 4 round tournament doesn't mean your deck is bad or that you played poorly. What was your list for the tournament if you don't mind me asking?
You bring up a great point about resto. Your always look into the decks interactions very deeply. That is what makes a great brewer in my opinion. We actually had a conversation about Restoration Angel last night when we were discussing Vapor Snag. I have been hesitant to add snags to the deck because I feel they are a little narrow, especially with emerge unscathed already in the deck. Your comment reminded me about our conversation because we spoke about bouncing a snapcaster or abbot back to my hand. We ended up agreeing that in most cases the deck simply doesn't present enough mana to really depend on bouncing a snap or abbot back to our hand to gain value because we are talking 4 mana at minimum and most likely 5+. This is not something we can depend on regularly. As Restoration Angel is concerned, I utilize her more for protection and an evasive threat. The possibly of gaining additional value in a grindy game is a plus, but isn't considered when evaluating the card for the deck.
I am very excited to hear that Flame Jab is testing well. I am always in search for the final 2-3 flex spots in the deck so I love when new cards are brought up. Keep us posted in how your testing continues. I will be testing this evening and will post a few notes about how certain cards perform.
Thanks again for posting your results and letting us know which cards are performing well and which aren't. It's these types of posts that allow everyone as a group to continue to evolve our decks while implementing valuable information from other members.
No the 1-3 finish was perfectly fine. Every round is a chance to learn better about cards I'm trying to test, what is or isn't needed against certain decks, and simply experience piloting through Modern period. I'm trying to get a friend to come play Modern rather than Standard but I see how much I've adapted my thinking verse how he still sees Modern as "Standard on crack" or something. Every round went to three games and were close. I think I only managed maybe 1-2 misplays, and it was a good chance to finish testing a few things and reevaluate and return closer to a list that was bringing me more 2-2's and 3-1's.
The list below was too creature light and not as impactful as previous lists. I try to make sure to do a report after every event so others can follow through and maybe catch things I didn't see or make suggestions or agree on cards in match ups. Note 4 Rending Volley. I sided in all four in the first round and the only one I ever saw was flipped off an Abbot when I was trying to get greedy for a land drop... LOL
My updated list to work with this week if I can make it to my weekly Modern. I'm still trying to decide what needs shifting... I still feel a fourth Rending Volley is where I need to head. As to wether the Emerge Unscatheds will do the amount of work o want them to we'll see... The Volcanic Fallout count may need to go up in the side to at least 2 but it's only 1 I have while waiting for more. I don't like going down this low on creature count... But I need to know for sure that these cards will work, especially with the low CMC associated with the Abbot build.
Anyone have any updates on a Day's Undoing list? I haven't found it to be beneficial yet, but I typically don't play a really fast version of the deck so it's doesn't fit my playstyle.
I haven't made any major changes to the build so no updates here. I will post some testing results shortly.
I will go through the major play points of the matches because I didn't right down or remember all of the plays, but I did take notes and remember most of the major plays.
Round 1- vs Scapeshift
I HATE scapeshift. Almost as much as I hate Twin. I just don't like one or two cards combo decks. I think they are bad for modern, but that doesn't matter much when we are playing against them. The version the opponent ran is more into ramping than control.
Game 1- on the play
I was able to pressure him early and often. I played a Delver that flipped on turn 3 and also landed a Geist on turn three. Geist was able to finish the game off in two turns. I was able to distortion strike through a Sakura Tribe Elder and bolt for lethal. This was a fairly quick game.
You can go with two Geist's or both abbots if that is more comfortable. If the scapeshift deck is more on the control end I would suggest keeping the Geist's in because they hose control. We really don't have a ton for this deck because we don't run any land hate or land destruction. This deck is not a huge portion of the meta here so I don't plan on adding any more specific hate for the deck. I often will side out my Path to Exile instead of creatures instead. Sometimes this can be a mistake if they run a Inferno Titan package. I opted to keep them in because I knew this player runs a creature package in games two and three.
Game 2- I again had a fairly fast start with Monastery Swiftspear beating down early. I drew and played the Spellskite on turn three but was already at 15 life from my mana. I beat down a bit more with the swiftspear, he bolted a Kiln Fiend that I was hoping could end the game quickly. I was able to resolve a Lightning Helix at the end of turn with Dispel back up to get back to 18 life. He had the scapeshift and 7 lands to kill me, but the spellskite saved the day and a slide by to 1-0.
Round 2- vs Naya Burn
Burn is one of our tougher matchups. We do damage with our mana and most likely can't race them except with our best hands.
Game 1- on the play (thank God) *Mulled to 6*
This was a classic race. My opening hand was possibly the best 6 card hand I could draw. It consisted of 2x Delver of Secrets, Serum Visions, Island, Sulfur Falls, and Lightning Bolt. I flipped two Delver of Secrets on turn 3 with a turn twoSerum Visions. He started the game just going to the face, but He was forced to use some of his burn to kill the two delvers after taking some damage from them after they flipped. An Abbot of Keral Keep flipped a Lightning Bolt and I was able to win before being burnt to a crisp.
Because most of our burn kills their creatures I remove the paths. Probes cost to much life, charm is just ok, and I don't like to fill up on too many counter spells.
Game 2- This was an epic haymaker battle with little to no defense. He started off with a Goblin Guide and followed with a Monastery Swiftspear and several burn spells to get me to 10-11 life life fairly early. I removed his threats with a bolt and Celestial Purge and played a Monastery Swiftspear that did him a tiny amount of damage during his burning of my face until he killed it. I played a Delver which flipped on a Lightning Helix. He tried to kill my delver with bolt and I saved my delver with Emerge Unscathed. He then played an Eidolon of the Great Revel on his turn. I attacked with Delver and passed back. He attacks with Eidolon and I cast a Lightning Helix targeting Eidolon. He responds by casting Skullcrack which I Negateed. So I actually lost 1 life in the exchange and he lost 2. He played a land and cast Lava spike to put me at 3 with him at 6 and played another Eidolon of the Great Revel. I drew Slayer's Stronghold and was able to pump the Delver before damage to get him to 1 life instead of 3 which meant he couldn't cast any spells and he lost on the next attack. It was a really cool ending to the game where I didn't even think of Slayer's Stonghold as an out. It also helped that he ripped a few lands to not kill me, but a win is a win.
Burn is, at best, a 50% matchup. If you see a ton of burn in your area, we have a TON of possible sideboard answers. I will be keeping my sideboard the same for now, but if burn picks up I will be adding Kor Firewalker, Soulfire Grandmaster, Seeker of the Way, etc to the sideboard. I got somewhat lucky this time, but I do feel that we can beat burn if we want to.
I will post the next two rounds tomorrow because I need to get some sleep. They were Grixis Control and Jund. Will he go 4-0 or 3-1 or will he scrub out at 2-2. Come back tomorrow evening to learn the ending of CurdBros Modern night battle :).
Curdbros, have you thought about Glaring Spotlight? I'm testing this out as a 2 of in the deck and it seems to be pretty good. It is good against bogles of course, but also very nice to get another way to find that "unblockable" that we so desire in this deck. It does cost 3 and a sacrifice, but you can cast it on turn 3 and get unlockable or wait to use it.
Curdbros, have you thought about Glaring Spotlight? I'm testing this out as a 2 of in the deck and it seems to be pretty good. It is good against bogles of course, but also very nice to get another way to find that "unblockable" that we so desire in this deck. It does cost 3 and a sacrifice, but you can cast it on turn 4 and get unlockable or wait to use it.
Any thoughts on it?
That's a really cool idea. It's very rare to hear something that I haven't ever thought of, but I can honestly say I have never thought of Glaring Spotlight before. It actually sounds like a great idea in my Monastery Mentor/Young Pyromancer version of the deck. Also, boggles has always been a tough matchup so that would definitely be helpful there too.
I will have to test that out. I triggers prowess when it comes in as well for only 1 mana so it really is a very versatile card. Very cool. Thank you for sharing and I will test that out.
Welcome! I'm getting great results but need to test vs some better decks. if anyone tries this please let me know. it just feels like the right card to implement but figuring out the new deck list is now key.
Soulfire Grand Master would be good on the slower more controlling builds. Mom the aggro hoping to stay in the life points it just dies... Kor Firewalker is great if your mana base is set to regularly hit the double white needed. Do remember that a Skullcrack negates his protection in the case of being blocked or Pyroclasm effects. Still can't be targeted but will die. Seeker of the Way is an idea... As he gains life, should be another Prowess beater, and starts with x/2 for playing any Pyroclasms or Volcanic Fallouts. I have saved a Swiftspear by Path'ing my own Goblin Guide in the face of an enemy Pyroclams from RUG Delver before.
Have you seen many burn lists that use Inferno Titan?! Do they ramp into him? Seems too slow without some means of playing him turn 4 or dropping him with haste or sometime to get at least 6 damage in one turn if spending 6 mana.
On the Scapeshift I think you had the right call of siding out Vapor Snags in favor of some control without sacrificing aggression. They have zero early interaction even with the more controlling lists for the first like 3 turns. Easy choice to simply go for the throat out of the gate and hope to simple have the counters and such when/if they try to go off. The deck can be so fickle that it's not much of a threat to force you to even hold a single card dedicated to it in the sideboard. The SpellSkites obviously were enough. Turning 3 damaging into 2 or even 0 damage really holds them back. Against burn plans though to watch for that. I've baited Fish players into activating Skite with zero mana open so my two burn spells kill the Skite and hit their life points or they lose what they are trying to protect with the Skite in the first place.
Soulfire Grand Master would be good on the slower more controlling builds. Mom the aggro hoping to stay in the life points it just dies... Kor Firewalker is great if your mana base is set to regularly hit the double white needed. Do remember that a Skullcrack negates his protection in the case of being blocked or Pyroclasm effects. Still can't be targeted but will die. Seeker of the Way is an idea... As he gains life, should be another Prowess beater, and starts with x/2 for playing any Pyroclasms or Volcanic Fallouts. I have saved a Swiftspear by Path'ing my own Goblin Guide in the face of an enemy Pyroclams from RUG Delver before.
Have you seen many burn lists that use Inferno Titan?! Do they ramp into him? Seems too slow without some means of playing him turn 4 or dropping him with haste or sometime to get at least 6 damage in one turn if spending 6 mana.
On the Scapeshift I think you had the right call of siding out Vapor Snags in favor of some control without sacrificing aggression. They have zero early interaction even with the more controlling lists for the first like 3 turns. Easy choice to simply go for the throat out of the gate and hope to simple have the counters and such when/if they try to go off. The deck can be so fickle that it's not much of a threat to force you to even hold a single card dedicated to it in the sideboard. The SpellSkites obviously were enough. Turning 3 damaging into 2 or even 0 damage really holds them back. Against burn plans though to watch for that. I've baited Fish players into activating Skite with zero mana open so my two burn spells kill the Skite and hit their life points or they lose what they are trying to protect with the Skite in the first place.
Haha. Sorry, I can see how that is a bit confusing. The inferno titan package note was meant for the scapeshift matchup. It was a note for game three if they run an inferno titan package. I have fixed it. Thanks for catching that.
I have found, at least so far, that the deflecting palms, dispel, negate, spellskites, and purges have been enough to deal with burn so far. If they run a ton of 1 drop creatures I will side in the Engineered Explosives as well. I haven't had to run any dedicated life gain, but several people have told me to try Seeker of the Way in place of Kiln Fiend. He is easier to protect from bolts and such, but doesn't offer the same power level. I never say never so I will give it a try. I have had Soulfire Grandmaster in my board before but she just felt to slow for the matchups I needed her for. She would probably better in a boros build with more burn though.
I don't see a ton of scapeshift, but I feel that we are really 50-50 against the deck. At least that has been my results against the deck. I really feel like it is almost a race against land drops. If we start off fast and keep the tempo up we can win fairly easily in game one. If we don't we are likely going to lose to a scapeshift. Post sideboarded matchups we don't get a lot better. I have thought about just siding in another boros charm and possibly deflecting palms and just racing them again. I will probably try this next time. Because I don't see it a ton I'm not really going to worry to much about the deck.
Sorry it's taken so long to get the other notes up, but I have been super busy at work. I ended up 3-1 losing to Grixis Control. I don't feel like we have a bad matchup against them, but I didn't draw or play particularly well against them. I will post the notes as soon as I can.
Closest to Grixis Control I've spared off with was Delver and Twin. The Twin match up over all becomes easier compared to other Twin variants it seems since they go more control/midrange and less combo. That offers a chance to be able to simply maintain a position of control over their ability to go off, but if they decide to go for the simple grind and take the game the old fashioned way they do have a good position with Commands and efficient fatties. Delver too seems the same idea, and I have yet to find the right choice of siding appropriately against non-standard UR Delver. The torn part is on dedicated things like Rending Volley which do a great job of keeping away Snapcasters, Delvers, and other menacing things that tend to have some counter magic protecting them.
How have you felt with Abbots? That we haven't dug into too deeply yet. Since shifting my deck so much and finally ditching Soulfire Grand Masters I found room and a good opportunity to take advantage of a third Abbot. So far so good! Goldfishing anyways... I missed out on the PPTQ and the normal Thursday night grind but I'll try this week.
I absolutely love Abbot of Keral Keep. He has actually taken the mantle of my favorite card ever printed away from Geist of Saint Traft. I think he is possibly the second best creature in a tempo deck behind Snapcaster Mage at this point. He is been great in testing and in tournament play. I would definitely suggest trying a third. You would probably never play him as a four-of in a deck unless you played a very low curve, but 2-3 in a deck is perfect. I play two right now and love it.
Worse case scenario you have a 2/1 prowess for two mana. That's not that bad. Another often overlooked aspect of Abbot is that if you need to hit a land he can help you do so and even if he doesn't hit the land he exiled a spell to get you closer to hitting the land drop. The opposite is true as well. If you have enough land and hit flips a land then you just exiled a "dead" land card (lands are never truly dead). I have been calling him AOK and I really hope that catches on :).
I am currently tinkering with a mardu list as well featuring Abbot and Bob, but that is for another forum.
It's tough to make all the tournaments, but hopefully you have some good friends to get some testing in with. I have a twin brother (Hence the CurdBros name) so we can do a lot of testing when we don't get into the store for regular tournament play.
The current testing slots are the Restoration Angel and the Vapor Snag. I am always trying out a few new things to keep the deck current, but the core pretty much stays the same. Other cards I am currently trying are Logic Knot, Flame Jab, Dispel, and Electrolyze. So far the Snag has performed better than the alternatives, but if the meta shifts away from delve creatures that might change in the future.
The sideboard is always changing with the meta. We don't have a ton of Reanimator/Breach in my meta, but if you do I would suggest possibly Hallowed Moonlight in the board. I have a set of about 30 or so cards that rotate in and out of the sideboard as the meta shifts.
Thanks for looking and as always I love to hear new ideas/constructive critism to help the deck. Have a good one.
Funny you say cause I upped my Abbots to three in Boros Deck Wins. Loved it! I think I'm done with that deck for a little so I'm likely to bounce into this, Affinity, GB Elf midrange, and maybe some other janky decks...
Flipping a fetch off Abbot is awesome! Especially with two Steppe Lynx in play! Trust me event opponent was smiles!
Funny you say cause I upped my Abbots to three in Boros Deck Wins. Loved it! I think I'm done with that deck for a little so I'm likely to bounce into this, Affinity, GB Elf midrange, and maybe some other janky decks...
Flipping a fetch off Abbot is awesome! Especially with two Steppe Lynx in play! Trust me event opponent was smiles!
I REALLY want to up mine to three as well, but I think I'm already on the high end of creature count for the deck. I'm working on a Mardu list with 4 Abbot of Keral Keep to get my fix though :).
My brother runs the elf threat (Although we use the same screen name) on here so he would he happy to see you join their discussion. I have played against his GB Elf list many times and it's tough.
Enjoy the other decks, but don't forget to check back in with us. You have been an integral member in the creation of this deck.
I may be running the this list the next chance I can get to my local Modern. The Jeskai itch is starting to get real and I feel I might have tested BDW enough to start bouncing between a few decks. Mainly GB Elves, This, Affinity, and maybe my own homebrew Moonfolk landlock!
Really caught my attention when u mentioned playing with a dega(Mardu?) brew, Curd. Ive been trolling the local dega midrange forum for months now, with a walker based attrition deck thats seen some FNM success. Id love to see any lists you come up with, either in the forum or on tappedout, as your testing is so much more thorough than mine and you never seem to get salty or toxic when disagreed with (unlike some regulars on other forums.). I dig your work, looking forward to comparing notes on another common interest.
Really caught my attention when u mentioned playing with a dega(Mardu?) brew, Curd. Ive been trolling the local dega midrange forum for months now, with a walker based attrition deck thats seen some FNM success. Id love to see any lists you come up with, either in the forum or on tappedout, as your testing is so much more thorough than mine and you never seem to get salty or toxic when disagreed with (unlike some regulars on other forums.). I dig your work, looking forward to comparing notes on another common interest.
Thanks for the kind words as well. I don't understand people posting ideas and then not wanting any feedback from other members. To me, having other members that can help make a list even better seems like a great resource to have. No one person has all the answers so there is no point believing that I have ever made a perfect list that cannot be helped by others. I love seeing other people's lists as well as hearing any suggestions on how to better my brews.
MATCH 1 Vs. U/G Infect
Round 1. He mulls to 4 and only plays 1 creature the whole game. I take it easily.
Round 2. He mulls to 5 and gets his second land the turn I kill him. (1-0)
MATCH 2 Vs. Grishoalbrand. (I've never seen this deck before.)
Round 1. He mulls to 5. Plays a bunch of lands and a bunch of card draw, but not much else. I take game 1.
Round 2. I put down a turn 2 Grafdigger's Cage. Even though I've never seen the deck before, I know its a reanimator deck. He told me he was going to go off that turn. I played the cage just in time. He shows me what the deck does, then scoops. (2-0)
MATCH 3 Vs. Titan Bloom. (I've never seen this deck before.)
Round 1. He plays Amulet turn 1. Turn 2 he plays a Rav bounceland, Summer Bloom, a Rav bounceland 3 times, plays Titan, gets the Boros bounceland and Slayers' Stronghold, and attacks with an 8/6 Haste/Trample/Vigilance and I'm like WTF REALLY? Sucks I was tapped out with a Path in hand. :/ So next turn I path it. Whew. His next turn he does the same damn thing. I take another 8 while I'm again tapped out with a path in hand. So my next turn I path it. He next turn he uses the 0 cost green tutor, and does it again for lethal. I didn't have the Deflecting Palm, Wear//Tear, or Blood Moons in my sideboard at the time (cause I didn't know what this deck did, so I just put in the Torpors even though all I knew it would was slow it down a tad.
Round 2. Rinse, and Repeat. Pretty much an exact repeat of round 1 except I only had 1 Path that game. (2-1 FINAL)
Tonight's Breakdown.
MATCH 1 Vs. Some little kids' 40 something soccer mom playing a standard deck. The best cards I saw her play were Ajani and his Pridemate. This match isn't even worth writing about. I CRUSH HER. (1-0)
MATCH 2 Vs. U/G Infect.
This was an exact repeat of last week's match. Everything I wrote about the above match, I could have just copy/pasted it here. (2-0)
MATCH 3 Vs Grishoalbrand
Round 1. He mulls to 4 and only plays lands and a Night's Whisper. He showed me. He drew 2 more Night's Whisper but couldn't play them cause he was at 2. I win.
Round 2. Again I get turn 2 Grafdigger's. He doesn't get anything to win around it. He told me after the game he has no sideboard yet and no answers to cage. He said he has a way to win with a cage out, but I have yet to see it. The only thing I can think of from what I have seen of it is a hardcast Griselbrand, but I have him dead before he has that much mana.
Ok now for my analysis of my deck, now that I've gotten to play some games with it.
NOTE: I only really get to test it at FNM. We usually play Standard, but we have talked the owner to making the last Friday of the month modern. Last week was just a fluke. So I have learned to always just take a Standard and Modern deck.
Monastery Mentor has been the absolute BOMB. He's always my goto Distortion/Emerge target. Prowess is a killer with all the 1-2 cost spells
. Tokens with Prowess is icing on the cake and can get out of hand quickly. Especially with Rebound. Young Pyromancer has me frowning though. Every time I play him, I wish he was a mentor. Or Shu even. Abbot hasn't worked out well for me either. He's just not good before turn 4. Even on turn 4, I want to wait for 5. What I want to try is
-4 Young Pyromancer
-2 Abbot of Keral Keep
-1 Remand
+3 Geist of Saint Traft
+3 Kiln Fiend
+1 Emerge Unscathed
I would really like to try a more hard hitting aggro base. As such, 1 less counter spell, 1 more protection/unblockable would be my spell changes. As for my mana base, it was a little different last week. I went with the 2/2 u/w basic split because of the Blood Moons that went in the side to possibly help out with Titan Bloom since that's the best thing I could come up with. You guys got any ideas that would help with that matchup? The only thing I would still change would be -2 Bloodstained Mire/+1 Arid Mesa/+1 Scalding Tarn. This is ABSOLUTELY not going to happen until they get mass reprinted, or I can get them through trade. I don't really have much people would want for them so...
Anyways, just wanted to stop in. I love this deck. I was so excited when I ran across this thread. I was building a prowess/unlockable/rebound deck for modern because I have a buddy that I talked into coming up for standard. He actually moved in with me and the wife for a minute, so we had some extensive standard playtesting. He wanted a heroic deck. I saw with Dragons the power of Rebound/Heroic, so I thought about a prowess/rebound deck for Modern. I figured Jeskai was the way to go. My initial deck was pretty much what I'm running now, accept you guys led me on to Shu Yun, Gitaxian Probe, and Emerge Unscathed. I didn't know that one existed. I was going to use Center Soul. So that's how my deck started and changed. And where its hopefully going to go in the future. The Kilns shouldn't be too hard to get ahold of, but the geists are a different story. My local shop has never had it. The 3 other shops within 45 minutes of me never have it either. I've only ever even seen the card once in real life. It eludes me just like spellskite and inkmoth. I'll be around. But like I said, I only get to play the deck in an actual modern format once a month. Other than that, I use it at my Monday casual/multiplayer where it gets totally smashed. I can usually kill 1 or 2 people, but then I'm out. And its multiplayer, so it doesn't really count.
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These Are The Pale Deaths
Which Men Miscall Their Lives
All This I Cannot Bear
To Witness Any Longer
Cannot The Kingdom Of Salvation
Take Me Home
Prowess is bread and butter of the deck! Mentors are great if you hope to push into a slightly controlling list and push damage past semi stalled board states, but when pushing hard to hit fast before they can establish anything Abotts and lower CMC focus is key. Abotts also are a thousand times better when the average CMC is low enough. Geist is absolutely a fantastic creature! He's hard to remove and he brings the pain Ina fairly hard to deal with way since the Angel enters flying and attacking. A Distortion Strike or Emerge Unscathed on him can easily mean two turns of unblocked 6-7 damage.
Ok first off let me apologize. I still have no idea how these deck tags work. So I went 2-1 last week and 3-0 tonight with my version.
.................
Anyways, just wanted to stop in. I love this deck. I was so excited when I ran across this thread. I was building a prowess/unlockable/rebound deck for modern because I have a buddy that I talked into coming up for standard. He actually moved in with me and the wife for a minute, so we had some extensive standard playtesting. He wanted a heroic deck. I saw with Dragons the power of Rebound/Heroic, so I thought about a prowess/rebound deck for Modern. I figured Jeskai was the way to go. My initial deck was pretty much what I'm running now, accept you guys led me on to Shu Yun, Gitaxian Probe, and Emerge Unscathed. I didn't know that one existed. I was going to use Center Soul. So that's how my deck started and changed. And where its hopefully going to go in the future. The Kilns shouldn't be too hard to get ahold of, but the geists are a different story. My local shop has never had it. The 3 other shops within 45 minutes of me never have it either. I've only ever even seen the card once in real life. It eludes me just like spellskite and inkmoth. I'll be around. But like I said, I only get to play the deck in an actual modern format once a month. Other than that, I use it at my Monday casual/multiplayer where it gets totally smashed. I can usually kill 1 or 2 people, but then I'm out. And its multiplayer, so it doesn't really count.
First off, awesome post! We loving hearing results and play testing notes from the deck. Your deck looks like a ton of fun to play and I think you were almost exactly right with the changes you want to make to the deck.
In my opinion, Geist of Saint Traft is the best creature in the deck and this deck utilizes him better than any other deck has in the past. He is extremely hard to kill and his only downside is his two toughness and the fact that he has to attack. With protection and unblockable spells, the downside is removed. With all of midrangy decks running around he is most decks worst nightmare because they simply can't do anything about him. I highly suggest adding him.
Kiln Fiend is also awesome. The beast can win games all by itself. It is a bit fragile and that is why I only run two, but he is the base for the "all-in" version of the deck.
I too have never been a huge fan of Young Pyromancer. She is great in legacy with a ton of deck manipulation spells (brainstorm, ponder, etc), but I have always felt that she just lacks the power/speed to compete with the current modern meta full of linear/aggressive decks. I am a proud izzet guild card carrying member, but I have just never loved playing with young p.
The only disagreement we have is Abbot of Keral Keep. However, this is totally playstyle related. I do not think he is absolutely necessary for the deck like Geist is in my opinion. Abbot gives us the card advantage we need to compete in the later stages of the game, but can also slot into a game where we have gone aggressive as just a 2/1 prowess creature. He just offers a little flexibility to our plan and Jeskai decks typically thrive on flexibility, especially after sideboarding. However, like Seraphinwolf said, he does need a very low curve to be super successful, but luckily we have a super low curve.
I REALLY miss Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest in my build and have been working on getting a copy of him back in my deck. I'm really glad he has worked for you. I will most likely be cutting something to get him back into my list. He is simply awesome, especially if you run a total of 8 rebound spells.
I have tried Monestary Mentor in the past, but always felt is was a bit slow for my liking. I will admit I didn't give it enough testing. After hearing your results I will have to given him a second look. I also run only 19-20 lands and already have three Geist of Saint Traft. I may actually put a copy of Mentor in my sideboard for the more grindy matchups.
I'm really glad to hear from another member of the Jeskai Unblockable team. It sounds like you have been working on the deck as long as the rest of us. I'm glad you found your way here. I would love to hear how your deck evolves and how it plays at FNM. You had some tough matchups and still played to a great record. Thanks for posting your results and please keep us posted on your decks evolution/performance in the future. Welcome aboard!
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I am also trying a copy of Dispel or Swan Song in the place of one Remand in the main deck as well to see if it works out. If not, I will just go back to three Remands in the main.
What have you been playing in the board lately?
Flame Jab is a really cool idea. I actually haven't tried any retrace cards yet. I played gigadrowse for a bit, but copies of spells don't trigger prowess. I was really hoping they did when I found haze of rage, but sadly they do not. However, I still love Haze of Rage. With a low enough curve, Flame Jab could be enough to just finish someone off without having to draw what you need. I will definitely be giving that a try. Awesome idea.
Your boros list is sweet. Congrats on your 4-0 on Thursday. Good luck at the PPTQ. Your deck will be all the rage when it takes down the PPTQ!
I have been testing a Restoration Angel at the top end with Chandra, Pyromaster in the board, but haven't played it enough yet to be sure it's right. Theoretically it is awesome in a deck with Snapcaster Mage and Abbot of Keral Keep, but we will see. Flash is a broken ability in my opinion.
One heavy thing to note as me and WushamBuda talk back an forth while we are respectively at work or off the clock. Flame Jab not only give that extra damage, draws counters out, and triggers Prowess when the hand is looking light of spells, BUT!!! It would be a sweet reveal off of Day's Undoing. For those who don't Delve away lands, after Day's resolves you've made your deck land heavy. One Flame Jab and say 2 lands in hand sounds okay to me. Will of course require testing of 2 or 3 Jabs are correct. I'm on 2 in Boros as I should only need to see Jab once and only if the game goes longer than it should.
Resto was a classic combined with Geist, just not sure on if you have mana open after casting a 4 drop to play the Abbot revealed card or Flashback the Snapcastered card.
I wouldn't worry to much about a 1-3 finish. That's the best way to learn. Magic is a fickle game. I love when a pro tour team brings the same deck and someone like BBD goes 1-5 and his teammate makes the top 8 with an identical deck. There is a lot of luck involved with your pairings and draws. Results definitely help, but one 4 round tournament doesn't mean your deck is bad or that you played poorly. What was your list for the tournament if you don't mind me asking?
You bring up a great point about resto. Your always look into the decks interactions very deeply. That is what makes a great brewer in my opinion. We actually had a conversation about Restoration Angel last night when we were discussing Vapor Snag. I have been hesitant to add snags to the deck because I feel they are a little narrow, especially with emerge unscathed already in the deck. Your comment reminded me about our conversation because we spoke about bouncing a snapcaster or abbot back to my hand. We ended up agreeing that in most cases the deck simply doesn't present enough mana to really depend on bouncing a snap or abbot back to our hand to gain value because we are talking 4 mana at minimum and most likely 5+. This is not something we can depend on regularly. As Restoration Angel is concerned, I utilize her more for protection and an evasive threat. The possibly of gaining additional value in a grindy game is a plus, but isn't considered when evaluating the card for the deck.
I am very excited to hear that Flame Jab is testing well. I am always in search for the final 2-3 flex spots in the deck so I love when new cards are brought up. Keep us posted in how your testing continues. I will be testing this evening and will post a few notes about how certain cards perform.
Thanks again for posting your results and letting us know which cards are performing well and which aren't. It's these types of posts that allow everyone as a group to continue to evolve our decks while implementing valuable information from other members.
The list below was too creature light and not as impactful as previous lists. I try to make sure to do a report after every event so others can follow through and maybe catch things I didn't see or make suggestions or agree on cards in match ups. Note 4 Rending Volley. I sided in all four in the first round and the only one I ever saw was flipped off an Abbot when I was trying to get greedy for a land drop... LOL
I haven't made any major changes to the build so no updates here. I will post some testing results shortly.
I will go through the major play points of the matches because I didn't right down or remember all of the plays, but I did take notes and remember most of the major plays.
Round 1- vs Scapeshift
I HATE scapeshift. Almost as much as I hate Twin. I just don't like one or two cards combo decks. I think they are bad for modern, but that doesn't matter much when we are playing against them. The version the opponent ran is more into ramping than control.
Game 1- on the play
I was able to pressure him early and often. I played a Delver that flipped on turn 3 and also landed a Geist on turn three. Geist was able to finish the game off in two turns. I was able to distortion strike through a Sakura Tribe Elder and bolt for lethal. This was a fairly quick game.
Sideboard-
In- Dispel, Negate, 2x Spellskite and possibly Twisted Image if you suspect opposing spellskites which I did.
Out- Restoration Angel, 1x Geist of Saint Traft, 2x Vapor Snag, 1x Abbot of Keral Keep.
You can go with two Geist's or both abbots if that is more comfortable. If the scapeshift deck is more on the control end I would suggest keeping the Geist's in because they hose control. We really don't have a ton for this deck because we don't run any land hate or land destruction. This deck is not a huge portion of the meta here so I don't plan on adding any more specific hate for the deck. I often will side out my Path to Exile instead of creatures instead. Sometimes this can be a mistake if they run a Inferno Titan package. I opted to keep them in because I knew this player runs a creature package in games two and three.
Game 2- I again had a fairly fast start with Monastery Swiftspear beating down early. I drew and played the Spellskite on turn three but was already at 15 life from my mana. I beat down a bit more with the swiftspear, he bolted a Kiln Fiend that I was hoping could end the game quickly. I was able to resolve a Lightning Helix at the end of turn with Dispel back up to get back to 18 life. He had the scapeshift and 7 lands to kill me, but the spellskite saved the day and a slide by to 1-0.
Round 2- vs Naya Burn
Burn is one of our tougher matchups. We do damage with our mana and most likely can't race them except with our best hands.
Game 1- on the play (thank God) *Mulled to 6*
This was a classic race. My opening hand was possibly the best 6 card hand I could draw. It consisted of 2x Delver of Secrets, Serum Visions, Island, Sulfur Falls, and Lightning Bolt. I flipped two Delver of Secrets on turn 3 with a turn twoSerum Visions. He started the game just going to the face, but He was forced to use some of his burn to kill the two delvers after taking some damage from them after they flipped. An Abbot of Keral Keep flipped a Lightning Bolt and I was able to win before being burnt to a crisp.
Sideboard-
In- 2x Deflecting Palm, 2x Celestial Purge, 2x Spellskite, Negate, Dispel
Out- Restoration Angel, 3x Gitaxian Probe, 2x Path to Exile, Boros Charm, Remand
Because most of our burn kills their creatures I remove the paths. Probes cost to much life, charm is just ok, and I don't like to fill up on too many counter spells.
Game 2- This was an epic haymaker battle with little to no defense. He started off with a Goblin Guide and followed with a Monastery Swiftspear and several burn spells to get me to 10-11 life life fairly early. I removed his threats with a bolt and Celestial Purge and played a Monastery Swiftspear that did him a tiny amount of damage during his burning of my face until he killed it. I played a Delver which flipped on a Lightning Helix. He tried to kill my delver with bolt and I saved my delver with Emerge Unscathed. He then played an Eidolon of the Great Revel on his turn. I attacked with Delver and passed back. He attacks with Eidolon and I cast a Lightning Helix targeting Eidolon. He responds by casting Skullcrack which I Negateed. So I actually lost 1 life in the exchange and he lost 2. He played a land and cast Lava spike to put me at 3 with him at 6 and played another Eidolon of the Great Revel. I drew Slayer's Stronghold and was able to pump the Delver before damage to get him to 1 life instead of 3 which meant he couldn't cast any spells and he lost on the next attack. It was a really cool ending to the game where I didn't even think of Slayer's Stonghold as an out. It also helped that he ripped a few lands to not kill me, but a win is a win.
Burn is, at best, a 50% matchup. If you see a ton of burn in your area, we have a TON of possible sideboard answers. I will be keeping my sideboard the same for now, but if burn picks up I will be adding Kor Firewalker, Soulfire Grandmaster, Seeker of the Way, etc to the sideboard. I got somewhat lucky this time, but I do feel that we can beat burn if we want to.
I will post the next two rounds tomorrow because I need to get some sleep. They were Grixis Control and Jund. Will he go 4-0 or 3-1 or will he scrub out at 2-2. Come back tomorrow evening to learn the ending of CurdBros Modern night battle :).
Any thoughts on it?
That's a really cool idea. It's very rare to hear something that I haven't ever thought of, but I can honestly say I have never thought of Glaring Spotlight before. It actually sounds like a great idea in my Monastery Mentor/Young Pyromancer version of the deck. Also, boggles has always been a tough matchup so that would definitely be helpful there too.
I will have to test that out. I triggers prowess when it comes in as well for only 1 mana so it really is a very versatile card. Very cool. Thank you for sharing and I will test that out.
Have you seen many burn lists that use Inferno Titan?! Do they ramp into him? Seems too slow without some means of playing him turn 4 or dropping him with haste or sometime to get at least 6 damage in one turn if spending 6 mana.
On the Scapeshift I think you had the right call of siding out Vapor Snags in favor of some control without sacrificing aggression. They have zero early interaction even with the more controlling lists for the first like 3 turns. Easy choice to simply go for the throat out of the gate and hope to simple have the counters and such when/if they try to go off. The deck can be so fickle that it's not much of a threat to force you to even hold a single card dedicated to it in the sideboard. The SpellSkites obviously were enough. Turning 3 damaging into 2 or even 0 damage really holds them back. Against burn plans though to watch for that. I've baited Fish players into activating Skite with zero mana open so my two burn spells kill the Skite and hit their life points or they lose what they are trying to protect with the Skite in the first place.
Haha. Sorry, I can see how that is a bit confusing. The inferno titan package note was meant for the scapeshift matchup. It was a note for game three if they run an inferno titan package. I have fixed it. Thanks for catching that.
I have found, at least so far, that the deflecting palms, dispel, negate, spellskites, and purges have been enough to deal with burn so far. If they run a ton of 1 drop creatures I will side in the Engineered Explosives as well. I haven't had to run any dedicated life gain, but several people have told me to try Seeker of the Way in place of Kiln Fiend. He is easier to protect from bolts and such, but doesn't offer the same power level. I never say never so I will give it a try. I have had Soulfire Grandmaster in my board before but she just felt to slow for the matchups I needed her for. She would probably better in a boros build with more burn though.
I don't see a ton of scapeshift, but I feel that we are really 50-50 against the deck. At least that has been my results against the deck. I really feel like it is almost a race against land drops. If we start off fast and keep the tempo up we can win fairly easily in game one. If we don't we are likely going to lose to a scapeshift. Post sideboarded matchups we don't get a lot better. I have thought about just siding in another boros charm and possibly deflecting palms and just racing them again. I will probably try this next time. Because I don't see it a ton I'm not really going to worry to much about the deck.
Sorry it's taken so long to get the other notes up, but I have been super busy at work. I ended up 3-1 losing to Grixis Control. I don't feel like we have a bad matchup against them, but I didn't draw or play particularly well against them. I will post the notes as soon as I can.
How have you felt with Abbots? That we haven't dug into too deeply yet. Since shifting my deck so much and finally ditching Soulfire Grand Masters I found room and a good opportunity to take advantage of a third Abbot. So far so good! Goldfishing anyways... I missed out on the PPTQ and the normal Thursday night grind but I'll try this week.
Worse case scenario you have a 2/1 prowess for two mana. That's not that bad. Another often overlooked aspect of Abbot is that if you need to hit a land he can help you do so and even if he doesn't hit the land he exiled a spell to get you closer to hitting the land drop. The opposite is true as well. If you have enough land and hit flips a land then you just exiled a "dead" land card (lands are never truly dead). I have been calling him AOK and I really hope that catches on :).
I am currently tinkering with a mardu list as well featuring Abbot and Bob, but that is for another forum.
It's tough to make all the tournaments, but hopefully you have some good friends to get some testing in with. I have a twin brother (Hence the CurdBros name) so we can do a lot of testing when we don't get into the store for regular tournament play.
Here is the list.
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Kiln Fiend
2 Abbot of Keral Keep
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Restoration Angel
Instant/Sorcery
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
3 Distortion Strike
2 Lightning Helix
1 Boros Charm
2 Path to Exile
2 Emerge Unscathed
1 Spell Pierce
2 Remand
1 Vapor Snag
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Plains
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Faerie Conclave
1 Slayer's Stronghold
1 Boros Charm
2 Celestial Purge
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Deflecting Palm
1 Dispel
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Negate
1 Path to Exile
1 Rending Volley
2 Spellskite
1 Stony Silence
2 Wear / Tear
The current testing slots are the Restoration Angel and the Vapor Snag. I am always trying out a few new things to keep the deck current, but the core pretty much stays the same. Other cards I am currently trying are Logic Knot, Flame Jab, Dispel, and Electrolyze. So far the Snag has performed better than the alternatives, but if the meta shifts away from delve creatures that might change in the future.
The sideboard is always changing with the meta. We don't have a ton of Reanimator/Breach in my meta, but if you do I would suggest possibly Hallowed Moonlight in the board. I have a set of about 30 or so cards that rotate in and out of the sideboard as the meta shifts.
Thanks for looking and as always I love to hear new ideas/constructive critism to help the deck. Have a good one.
Flipping a fetch off Abbot is awesome! Especially with two Steppe Lynx in play! Trust me event opponent was smiles!
I REALLY want to up mine to three as well, but I think I'm already on the high end of creature count for the deck. I'm working on a Mardu list with 4 Abbot of Keral Keep to get my fix though :).
My brother runs the elf threat (Although we use the same screen name) on here so he would he happy to see you join their discussion. I have played against his GB Elf list many times and it's tough.
Enjoy the other decks, but don't forget to check back in with us. You have been an integral member in the creation of this deck.
I would love to compare notes on the decks. The deck I started with is very similar to the Jeskai Way deck. It focuses on prowess creatures which interact well with rebound spells. In this case- Virulent Strike and Emerge Unscathed. The rest of the deck revolves around value/card advantage with Abbot of Keral Keep, Dark Confidant, Kolaghan's Command, Liliana of the Veil, Chandra, Pyromaster, Zealous Persecution, etc. I won't go into too much detail on here, but I will send you a PM with my early version of the deck.
Thanks for the kind words as well. I don't understand people posting ideas and then not wanting any feedback from other members. To me, having other members that can help make a list even better seems like a great resource to have. No one person has all the answers so there is no point believing that I have ever made a perfect list that cannot be helped by others. I love seeing other people's lists as well as hearing any suggestions on how to better my brews.
4x Monastery Mentor
4x Young Pyromancer
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Abbot of Keral Keep
1x Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest
4x Distortion Strike
3x Emerge Unscathed
4x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
4x Serum Visions
3x Remand
2x Gitaxian Probe
4x Flooded Strand
2x Bloodstained Mire
3x Steam Vents
2x Sacred Foundry
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Plains
2x Island
1x Faerie Conclave
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Slayers' Stronghold
My meta consists of Burn, Soul Sisters, Infect, G-Stompy, Titan Bloom, Grishoalbrand, Dredgevine, and various scrub decks. So my side is
3x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Deflecting Palm
2x Blood Moon
3x Wear//Tear
3x Torpor Orb
3x Kor Firewalker
Ok so here is last week's breakdown.
MATCH 1 Vs. U/G Infect
Round 1. He mulls to 4 and only plays 1 creature the whole game. I take it easily.
Round 2. He mulls to 5 and gets his second land the turn I kill him. (1-0)
MATCH 2 Vs. Grishoalbrand. (I've never seen this deck before.)
Round 1. He mulls to 5. Plays a bunch of lands and a bunch of card draw, but not much else. I take game 1.
Round 2. I put down a turn 2 Grafdigger's Cage. Even though I've never seen the deck before, I know its a reanimator deck. He told me he was going to go off that turn. I played the cage just in time. He shows me what the deck does, then scoops. (2-0)
MATCH 3 Vs. Titan Bloom. (I've never seen this deck before.)
Round 1. He plays Amulet turn 1. Turn 2 he plays a Rav bounceland, Summer Bloom, a Rav bounceland 3 times, plays Titan, gets the Boros bounceland and Slayers' Stronghold, and attacks with an 8/6 Haste/Trample/Vigilance and I'm like WTF REALLY? Sucks I was tapped out with a Path in hand. :/ So next turn I path it. Whew. His next turn he does the same damn thing. I take another 8 while I'm again tapped out with a path in hand. So my next turn I path it. He next turn he uses the 0 cost green tutor, and does it again for lethal. I didn't have the Deflecting Palm, Wear//Tear, or Blood Moons in my sideboard at the time (cause I didn't know what this deck did, so I just put in the Torpors even though all I knew it would was slow it down a tad.
Round 2. Rinse, and Repeat. Pretty much an exact repeat of round 1 except I only had 1 Path that game. (2-1 FINAL)
Tonight's Breakdown.
MATCH 1 Vs. Some little kids' 40 something soccer mom playing a standard deck. The best cards I saw her play were Ajani and his Pridemate. This match isn't even worth writing about. I CRUSH HER. (1-0)
MATCH 2 Vs. U/G Infect.
This was an exact repeat of last week's match. Everything I wrote about the above match, I could have just copy/pasted it here. (2-0)
MATCH 3 Vs Grishoalbrand
Round 1. He mulls to 4 and only plays lands and a Night's Whisper. He showed me. He drew 2 more Night's Whisper but couldn't play them cause he was at 2. I win.
Round 2. Again I get turn 2 Grafdigger's. He doesn't get anything to win around it. He told me after the game he has no sideboard yet and no answers to cage. He said he has a way to win with a cage out, but I have yet to see it. The only thing I can think of from what I have seen of it is a hardcast Griselbrand, but I have him dead before he has that much mana.
Ok now for my analysis of my deck, now that I've gotten to play some games with it.
NOTE: I only really get to test it at FNM. We usually play Standard, but we have talked the owner to making the last Friday of the month modern. Last week was just a fluke. So I have learned to always just take a Standard and Modern deck.
Monastery Mentor has been the absolute BOMB. He's always my goto Distortion/Emerge target. Prowess is a killer with all the 1-2 cost spells
. Tokens with Prowess is icing on the cake and can get out of hand quickly. Especially with Rebound. Young Pyromancer has me frowning though. Every time I play him, I wish he was a mentor. Or Shu even. Abbot hasn't worked out well for me either. He's just not good before turn 4. Even on turn 4, I want to wait for 5. What I want to try is
-4 Young Pyromancer
-2 Abbot of Keral Keep
-1 Remand
+3 Geist of Saint Traft
+3 Kiln Fiend
+1 Emerge Unscathed
I would really like to try a more hard hitting aggro base. As such, 1 less counter spell, 1 more protection/unblockable would be my spell changes. As for my mana base, it was a little different last week. I went with the 2/2 u/w basic split because of the Blood Moons that went in the side to possibly help out with Titan Bloom since that's the best thing I could come up with. You guys got any ideas that would help with that matchup? The only thing I would still change would be -2 Bloodstained Mire/+1 Arid Mesa/+1 Scalding Tarn. This is ABSOLUTELY not going to happen until they get mass reprinted, or I can get them through trade. I don't really have much people would want for them so...
Anyways, just wanted to stop in. I love this deck. I was so excited when I ran across this thread. I was building a prowess/unlockable/rebound deck for modern because I have a buddy that I talked into coming up for standard. He actually moved in with me and the wife for a minute, so we had some extensive standard playtesting. He wanted a heroic deck. I saw with Dragons the power of Rebound/Heroic, so I thought about a prowess/rebound deck for Modern. I figured Jeskai was the way to go. My initial deck was pretty much what I'm running now, accept you guys led me on to Shu Yun, Gitaxian Probe, and Emerge Unscathed. I didn't know that one existed. I was going to use Center Soul. So that's how my deck started and changed. And where its hopefully going to go in the future. The Kilns shouldn't be too hard to get ahold of, but the geists are a different story. My local shop has never had it. The 3 other shops within 45 minutes of me never have it either. I've only ever even seen the card once in real life. It eludes me just like spellskite and inkmoth. I'll be around. But like I said, I only get to play the deck in an actual modern format once a month. Other than that, I use it at my Monday casual/multiplayer where it gets totally smashed. I can usually kill 1 or 2 people, but then I'm out. And its multiplayer, so it doesn't really count.
He Murders Some Part Of His World
These Are The Pale Deaths
Which Men Miscall Their Lives
All This I Cannot Bear
To Witness Any Longer
Cannot The Kingdom Of Salvation
Take Me Home
Cliff Burton---To Live Is To Die
My MOTL Refs
My H/W List
First off, awesome post! We loving hearing results and play testing notes from the deck. Your deck looks like a ton of fun to play and I think you were almost exactly right with the changes you want to make to the deck.
In my opinion, Geist of Saint Traft is the best creature in the deck and this deck utilizes him better than any other deck has in the past. He is extremely hard to kill and his only downside is his two toughness and the fact that he has to attack. With protection and unblockable spells, the downside is removed. With all of midrangy decks running around he is most decks worst nightmare because they simply can't do anything about him. I highly suggest adding him.
Kiln Fiend is also awesome. The beast can win games all by itself. It is a bit fragile and that is why I only run two, but he is the base for the "all-in" version of the deck.
I too have never been a huge fan of Young Pyromancer. She is great in legacy with a ton of deck manipulation spells (brainstorm, ponder, etc), but I have always felt that she just lacks the power/speed to compete with the current modern meta full of linear/aggressive decks. I am a proud izzet guild card carrying member, but I have just never loved playing with young p.
The only disagreement we have is Abbot of Keral Keep. However, this is totally playstyle related. I do not think he is absolutely necessary for the deck like Geist is in my opinion. Abbot gives us the card advantage we need to compete in the later stages of the game, but can also slot into a game where we have gone aggressive as just a 2/1 prowess creature. He just offers a little flexibility to our plan and Jeskai decks typically thrive on flexibility, especially after sideboarding. However, like Seraphinwolf said, he does need a very low curve to be super successful, but luckily we have a super low curve.
I REALLY miss Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest in my build and have been working on getting a copy of him back in my deck. I'm really glad he has worked for you. I will most likely be cutting something to get him back into my list. He is simply awesome, especially if you run a total of 8 rebound spells.
I have tried Monestary Mentor in the past, but always felt is was a bit slow for my liking. I will admit I didn't give it enough testing. After hearing your results I will have to given him a second look. I also run only 19-20 lands and already have three Geist of Saint Traft. I may actually put a copy of Mentor in my sideboard for the more grindy matchups.
I'm really glad to hear from another member of the Jeskai Unblockable team. It sounds like you have been working on the deck as long as the rest of us. I'm glad you found your way here. I would love to hear how your deck evolves and how it plays at FNM. You had some tough matchups and still played to a great record. Thanks for posting your results and please keep us posted on your decks evolution/performance in the future. Welcome aboard!