I really hope that, assuming Narset really is alive and a planeswalker, she isn't U/R. We already have Ral Zarek AND Dack Fayden. You know what color combinations are in Jeskai colors that we don't have? W/U and W/R. Venser's dead and Ajani is no longer vengeant. I'd much prefer Narset to be one of those two than a third U/R.
I think Narset has to be UWR. The blue and white are essential to her enlightenment, but the red is essential to her freedom and her rejection of Ojutai. Taigam will be UW, not Narset.
On the other hand, if she is two color, the red in the artwork shown today is much more understated than the blue and white, so that would be my guess.
Unfortunately, as Skynight has pointed out, there won't be any wedge cards in DTK. So Narset is almost certainly going to be two or less colors.
I have to ask, why do you say that blue AND white are essential to her enlightenment? Red representing her rejection of Ojutai and his teachings, sure, I get. And sure, enlightenment is a blue thing. But White? White doesn't really care about enlightenment at all. Like, I mean, some philosophies claim that enlightenment can come about as a result of being socially aware and trying to do good in your community and what not. That's true. But in MtG, White's goals and methods have nothing to do with enlightenment, and any enlightenment that is achieved would be secondary to the goal of "achieving peace through structure".
Blue might be knowledge, but to me enlightenment implies more than that. There's a serenity/inner peace/self-control that's essential to enlightenment, which is what white provides. Without white, you get Izzet, blowing up entire city blocks in their grand experiments. It's possible that Narset doesn't have that inner control after growing up under the tyranny of Ojutai, but that is quite the change in her character. And to be a bit meta, her outfit in the hair-whip picture screams White.
I really hope that, assuming Narset really is alive and a planeswalker, she isn't U/R. We already have Ral Zarek AND Dack Fayden. You know what color combinations are in Jeskai colors that we don't have? W/U and W/R. Venser's dead and Ajani is no longer vengeant. I'd much prefer Narset to be one of those two than a third U/R.
I think Narset has to be UWR. The blue and white are essential to her enlightenment, but the red is essential to her freedom and her rejection of Ojutai. Taigam will be UW, not Narset.
On the other hand, if she is two color, the red in the artwork shown today is much more understated than the blue and white, so that would be my guess.
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury. Her battle cry effect is less relevant than Thundermaw's tap ability, but she's still a hasty 5/5 flyer for 5 on her own, she can close out games fast.
Josh Utter Leyton and Paul Cheon continued to say that Jeskai Ascendancy was tier 0.5 and needed to be banned despite it putting up mediocre results at best. They're Chicken-Littles about the format and far from experts on the power levels of cards.
I realize I'm probably the only person that cares about this, but I really like Temur Battle Rage in Kiln Fiend. It's an instant double strike spell that also gives pseudo unblockable, letting it work as additional copies of Assault Strobe and Artful Dodge. 2 mana, but since it fills the role of two spells I'm willing to run a couple for now.
I think the trick to Soulflayer is that you need to play him with creatures you want to hardcast. While it's tempting to try and live the dream with cards like Drogskol Reaver and Sphinx of Steel Winds, the better plan is to stick to creatures like GoST, Siege Rhino, etc.
Elvish Mystic has worked fine so far, although there have been awkward times when I couldn't wrangle enough colored mana for Ascendancy. I'm going to try replacing it with Kiora's Follower tonight, although I'll miss being able to keep hands with one green land and an Elvish Mystic (I know, I shouldn't keep those anyway because one removal spell is a blowout, but mulliganing can be awful too as you need as many cards in hand as possible to consistently combo).
Karametra's Favor is essential with Elvish Mystics, both because it let's you tap them for colored mana but also because, after casting Jeskai Ascendancy you may only have a Mystic and a forest left to start your storm, so having as many spells that can be cast off of just green mana is essential. Even with Kiora's follower, though, I feel there are enough games where I want to win off of two Rattleclaw Mystics that I would want to keep the utility of Karametra's Favor.
I run Crater's Claws as a 3 of not only for the redundancy with Commune with the Gods but also because it is a 1 cmc spell. If I have two dorks and a Jeskai Ascendancy, I want to be trying to combo off, but to eventually cast a second Jeskai Ascendancy so I can actually start banking mana, I need to cast something for one mana. Running multiples of Craters Claws let's me do that more consistently than relying on Dragon's Mantle. And in a real pinch, I can potentially use it as a removal spell to buy more time to find my combo.
I can generally start storming Turn 4 or 5, although Turn 3 is possible with a God hand. I've had trouble deciding between Elvish Mystic and Kiora's Follower, Mystic is both cheaper and easier to cast but can't make non-green mana without Karametra's Favor. Phenax is a good idea I hadn't thought of, gives me a Win Con I can find off of Commune and doesn't require I store up 20 mana to win (If I can store up 5 I can probably do 20, but Phenax would also drastically cut down on the time required to combo off).
I like Soul of Innistrad in BG dredge. Mill him into the graveyard, bring back any Nighthowlers or Heralds you milled. You probably don't want him as a 4-of, though, because he's much worse drawn than milled (you can use Lotleth troll to pitch him now, but post rotation that's not an option).
I went 4-0 in last night's legacy daily with the Balustrade Spy version of this deck. Only saw one graveyard hate spell, which was a turn 3 Deathrite Shaman (one turn too late to stop me from comboing off). The only game I lost was to burn when I didn't have a dredge card in my first 10.
Overall, I think the meta is still pretty soft to Dredge. TNN encouraged everybody to play midrange-y StoneBlade decks, and nobody's playing enough graveyard hate because they expect their counterspells to stop the combo decks. Perfect environment for a super-consistent combo deck that isn't particularly fazed by counterspells. Unfortunately, Reanimator has also been making a resurgence recently (I would've thought them to have trouble with all the counter magic, but I guess I'm missing something) so the graveyard hate is probably coming back soon.
Aurelia, The War leader+Fellhide Spiritbinder+2 mana dorks, one of which can make red=Infinite Combat Phases! Surely This will be the deck to beat in standard.
Blue might be knowledge, but to me enlightenment implies more than that. There's a serenity/inner peace/self-control that's essential to enlightenment, which is what white provides. Without white, you get Izzet, blowing up entire city blocks in their grand experiments. It's possible that Narset doesn't have that inner control after growing up under the tyranny of Ojutai, but that is quite the change in her character. And to be a bit meta, her outfit in the hair-whip picture screams White.
I think Narset has to be UWR. The blue and white are essential to her enlightenment, but the red is essential to her freedom and her rejection of Ojutai. Taigam will be UW, not Narset.
On the other hand, if she is two color, the red in the artwork shown today is much more understated than the blue and white, so that would be my guess.
4 Ornithopter
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Hero of Iroas
4 Heliod's Pilgrim
Planeswalkers
1 Ajani Steadfast
Artifacts
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Ghostfire Blade
Enchantments
4 Ensoul Artifact
4 Stratus Walk
1 Singing Bell-Strike
1 Spectra Ward
4 God's Willing
Lands
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Flooded Strand
4 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Mana Confluence
4 Island
3 Plains
4 Master of Waves
4 Stubborn Denial
3 Suspension Field
2 Erase
1 Mortal Obstinancy
1 Ordeal of Heliod
Karametra's Favor is essential with Elvish Mystics, both because it let's you tap them for colored mana but also because, after casting Jeskai Ascendancy you may only have a Mystic and a forest left to start your storm, so having as many spells that can be cast off of just green mana is essential. Even with Kiora's follower, though, I feel there are enough games where I want to win off of two Rattleclaw Mystics that I would want to keep the utility of Karametra's Favor.
I run Crater's Claws as a 3 of not only for the redundancy with Commune with the Gods but also because it is a 1 cmc spell. If I have two dorks and a Jeskai Ascendancy, I want to be trying to combo off, but to eventually cast a second Jeskai Ascendancy so I can actually start banking mana, I need to cast something for one mana. Running multiples of Craters Claws let's me do that more consistently than relying on Dragon's Mantle. And in a real pinch, I can potentially use it as a removal spell to buy more time to find my combo.
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid
Enchantments
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
4 Karametra's Favor
4 Dragon's Mantle
2 Nylea's Presence
4 Commune with the Gods
4 Divination
3 Crater's Claws
2 Dig through Time
I can generally start storming Turn 4 or 5, although Turn 3 is possible with a God hand. I've had trouble deciding between Elvish Mystic and Kiora's Follower, Mystic is both cheaper and easier to cast but can't make non-green mana without Karametra's Favor. Phenax is a good idea I hadn't thought of, gives me a Win Con I can find off of Commune and doesn't require I store up 20 mana to win (If I can store up 5 I can probably do 20, but Phenax would also drastically cut down on the time required to combo off).
Overall, I think the meta is still pretty soft to Dredge. TNN encouraged everybody to play midrange-y StoneBlade decks, and nobody's playing enough graveyard hate because they expect their counterspells to stop the combo decks. Perfect environment for a super-consistent combo deck that isn't particularly fazed by counterspells. Unfortunately, Reanimator has also been making a resurgence recently (I would've thought them to have trouble with all the counter magic, but I guess I'm missing something) so the graveyard hate is probably coming back soon.
Yeah, but you have 8 of them, so even if you've used 4-5 you still have enough mana to cast lab maniac.
Aurelia, The War leader+Fellhide Spiritbinder+2 mana dorks, one of which can make red=Infinite Combat Phases! Surely This will be the deck to beat in standard.