MTG Salvation

So the idea is to take Naban, Dean of Iteration and Saheeli Rai to copy value creatures to trigger their ETB effects twice. Of course the creatures themselves are pretty handy and have value already, so they're not completely bad cards that are slotted in for the sake of being slotted in. Eventually you get to tap down guys, return guys, burn them for reach, and do some pretty fun things. I've been playing it on Arena and having tons of fun and success with it. But I do need some help with sideboard options in a heavy Red Meta.

It's much different from control where you sit back and counter things, and isn't as aggro and aggressive as 8 burn spells like Prowess Wizards, it's a nice tempo deck that just annoys people to no end with tons of tap downs, combat tricks, and of course reach with Burn. And Wizard's Retort being Counterspell makes me realize how overpowered Counterspell actually is if it's in Standard.



Post Rotation thoughts

Of course sadly this deck is probably going to last only 3 more months. When Champion and Saheeli rotates, but who knows. Mirror Image can sort of act like a Saheeli, as for Champion, maybe Snapcaster Mage will get reprinted!!! Or I can always play Silvergill Adept for +2 card draw, but it will be very hard with so little merfolks (Stormcaller can probably change to Mistbinder).

I'd probably maindeck Silvergill Adept and add the 4th Watertrap Weaver to support it.
Champion of Wits is good but pretty slow for an aggro-tempo deck so I'd probably keep it in the SB over In Bolas's Clutches (probably not castable).

Siren's Ruse seems pretty weak here, especially with almost no pirates in the deck.
I'd go to 4x Wizard's Lightning instead.

I'm not sure if Siren Stormtamer is that good here and would consider adding 2x Spell Pierce (or Censor) and 2x more Exclusion Mage instead.
Another option is Ghitu Journeymage as copies 5-6x of Viashino Pyromancer.

I'd also replace all the Lightning Strikes in the deck with Abrade (more versatile) and Perilous Voyage with Blink of an Eye.

I like your suggestions. I really wanted a one drop to activate the Wizard stuff ASAP. I'm really considering Mistcaller as the 1 drop. but currently I don't know.

Mistcaller doesn't seem very good, the ability doesn't really do much leaving it a 1/1 with no upside.

To be honest, I kind of like the idea of running a sort of Time of Ice style tap down and bounce deck. Tap down effects make Seal Away better than it normally is and turns Ice over into a pretty good option for removal as well.

Interesting idea (though not effective) but what does it have to with this thread ?

Quote from D90Dennis14 »

Interesting idea (though not effective) but what does it have to with this thread ?

Neban and Saheeli double the impact of wizards like trickster and watertrap weaver, as well as Viashino pyromancer. In a game of numbers the impact of Time of ice with those cards is significantly greater than Cast Out or even Seal Away.

I don't know if I would want to stretch it out to 3 colors, but I do like Time of Ice. That looks like the blow out card this deck will need by turn 6. Here's my deck now.



I really like Siren's Ruse since it's the only spell that protects my creatures from removal and there's some nifty combat tricks with it.

Quote from Underused Cards »

I don't know if I would want to stretch it out to 3 colors, but I do like Time of Ice. That looks like the blow out card this deck will need by turn 6. Here's my deck now.

Colt47's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Lands 4 Sulfur Falls 4 Spirebluff Canal 9 Island 5 Mountain Creatures 4 Merfolk Trickster 4 Viashino Pyromancer 4 Siren Stormcaller 4 Watertrap Weaver 2 Exclusion Mage 4 Naban, Dean of Iteration	Spells 4 Wizard's Retort 4 Wizard's Lightning 4 Saheeli Rai 2 Siren's Ruse 2 Time of Ice	Sideboard 2 Perilous Voyage 2 Shock 2 Negate 2 Sorcerer's Spyglass 1 Spell Pierce 2 In Bolas' Clutches 3 Lightning Strike

I really like Siren's Ruse since it's the only spell that protects my creatures from removal and there's some nifty combat tricks with it.

The only reason I was trying white for Jeskai was due to Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants since he is as close to Resurrection as we will ever get in white these days. Basically, I went white for options that help keep the gas going into the mid and late game like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.

I'm not sure you need to run 8x enhancement cards, though. The deck should be able to stand on it's own with just 6 to 7. Naban, Dean of Iteration is really important to land, but he is also legendary along with Saheeli.

I don't think Ajani would be good, since it needs double white. The deck already have a Double Blue in it with Trickster, granted you don't always cast trickster on turn 2, but it feels very greedy to go 3 colors.

Quote from Underused Cards »

I don't think Ajani would be good, since it needs double white. The deck already have a Double Blue in it with Trickster, granted you don't always cast trickster on turn 2, but it feels very greedy to go 3 colors.

It is unfortunately. I couldn't make it work with the mana that we have right now. Teferi was a lot easier to work with due to not being double white and being a 5 drop.

I've played with my friends on the kitchen table yesterday, and I am going to cut Time of Ice, it's just too slow and you always want a threat rather than trying to just be cute and tap things down by the time you can cast it. I needed more reach. And Drawing 2 for 2 and having a body with Silvergill is insanely good.

-1 Naban, -2 Time of Ice, -2 Stormcaller
+2 Lightning Strike, +1 Abrade, +2 Silvergill Adept, and +2 Abrade in the side.

As for more thoughts, this deck is really good against midrange creature decks, and decent against RDW. With 7 bolts, and a bunch of tap down stuff it's great. And you can be aggro enough to take down control. I really want to try 3 Nimble Obstructionists in the side, for the control matchup.

This deck has been great. Don't think it's tier 1 since it has a lot of trouble dealing with these insane big green dudes and Superfriends, but there's something here. I'm basically playing 8 bolts with Lightning Strike, Shock and Wizard's Lightning. Not always great without an early wizard, but the reach is defiantly there. And switching back and forth from control to aggro has been really fun.

And the Nimble's have been great.